Unfortunately many conferences begin to go downhill from the moment the first speaker utters those all-too familiar words, “We have a lot to go through today, so we’ll press on and try to get through it all as swiftly as possible.”
The easiest and most productive conferences stick to accurately-timed and well-rehearsed agendas and have good supporting-content prepared in advance. For instance, embedding video sequences into your presentations can significantly raise the level of interest and engagement in the room – it’s actually very simple to include video clips in PowerPoint slides. And of course, today your presentation can be made even more seamless by streaming it wirelessly from your iPad or other tablet – no more awkwardly standing within reach of your laptop’s spacebar.
More importantly, video can convey a crucial point very clearly in just a few seconds – something that even the most eloquent speaker might stumble with on the big day. A video can of course also be approved and perfected in advance, so it’s one less thing to worry about. Purely from a sympathetic onlooker’s point of view, we’ve put together some other suggestions that will also help make your event go with a swing:
1. Consider arranging overnight accommodation near (or at) the venue for key guests and speakers. We’ve all heard of conferences where the senior management team and main presenters were held up on the motorway for the most obscure of reasons – but, cows on the carriageway? Always be there ahead of your delegates!
2. Get your room and its acoustics correct in advance. Even for a modest event a dedicated conference-staging company can resolve a lot of potential issues at your venue ahead of time. Starting your day with a room that’s freezing-cold, missing the crucial cable to get the pictures on the screen, or a lack of batteries for your microphones isn’t just a hassle for you, it doesn’t present a very polished image to your guests!
3. Never put yourself in the position of wasting the pre-conference coffee and networking time to kneel by the podium shifting your slides or attempting to reinvent your talk with last-minute details. You’ll risk look scatterbrained when you reach a slide you weren’t expecting to see.
4. Avoid vague and rambling introductions about yourself or your business, think ‘elevator-pitch’, taking less than a minute to explain why you’re the authority on your subject is often plenty – and hopefully you are the speaker everyone has already been anticipating hearing!
5. Use slides only to further reinforce or enhance what you’re saying. The audience doesn’t need you to read word-for-word from slides they can see for themselves. Otherwise, why are you up there talking? If you’re adding nothing by being there you could have just emailed your PowerPoint!
6. Don’t cover old ground and use the back-arrow to return to previous slides. Know when you’ve made your point then move on – skipping around your presentation will only serve to trip you up.
7. Unless you actually have a successful sideline in stand-up comedy be wary of using jokes. Few things kill a presentation quicker than polite laughter to a mediocre gag, or an inside-joke which half the audience aren’t in on. Strive to be interesting and relevant, not to attain the biggest laugh for a corporate anecdote.
8. Decide how you’ll end your piece, go out with a bang – not a whimper! Winding-down to a vague close with “Thank you for listening” or by asking “Any questions?” more often than not gets a lacklustre response whilst the audience considers whether or not it would be polite to leave for lunch. If you’re hoping for feedback, have a couple of pertinent questions in mind to ask your audience. If you’re intending to do a Q&A with a large audience make sure your AV company will provide a wireless microphone for the room – it helps when both you and the rest of the room can actually hear the questions that are being asked!
9. Always compare presentations with other speakers in advance to avoid duplication, or unknowingly preempt something that will be happening later on.
We heard, via a conference organiser, of an AGM where the final profit for the year was to be revealed at the end of the morning session, complete with a rousing video build-up, drum-rolls, and pyrotechnics on the stage. At the very beginning of the day the Chief Executive took his place at the podium, welcomed everyone to the conference… and proudly announced that year’s profit. The production team stifled a yell and sat down, head in hands. If there is a planned dramatic cue in the running order for the day make sure all the speakers are aware of it, there’s no need to duplicate information – or worse, jump the gun!
10. Lastly, would your wider organisation benefit from being able to watch either the whole conference, or selected highlights? Don’t miss the opportunity to make more of your investment in the day, or your guest speakers, by recording it for further syndication.
