Let's take a trip back to your junior high days. If you're like me, immediately your palms begin to sweat. Your throat tightens. Your heart starts racing and your mouth gets dry as you remember those trying teen years. Imagine that today is that day! It's the big day when you have to deliver your first speech. Your mind is racing. "Will I remember everything to say? Did I wear the right clothes? Will they laugh at me? Will they boo me?" You say to yourself, "Remember what Ms. Smith said. … [Read more...]
They Are The Heartbeat Of Your Presentation: Do You Know Them?
"Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Getting to hope you like me." These lyrics from the King and I's "Getting To Know You" would make a great theme song for every presenter. They clearly articulate one of the very first steps all presenters should take: get to know your audience. It's About Them What's at the heart of your presentation? Your audience. As a presenter, you need to remember that it's not about you. Your presentation is not about your … [Read more...]
Speaker Tips When Using A Live Stream, Backchannel And Face To Face Experience
In the past two weeks, I've done three live streamed presentations. It's more work than a traditional presentation. With a few tweaks to my traditional face to face presentation, everyone benefits. The rewards of the extra work are worth it! Presenting To Three Audiences At Once The challenge when presenting for a hybrid event is juggling three audiences. The face to face audience in the room. The remote audience following the live stream online, sometimes within a hybrid or virtual … [Read more...]
The HIPPO In The Room: You Are Not Your Audience
Dear Conference Organizer: You are not your audience. You are not your customers. Yes, you have your own preferences, your own likes, your own tastes. But you are not planning that event for yourself. And what you like is probably far from what your audience likes. You have to get out of your own mind. You have to get beyond your personal inclinations. You must get beyond your own fondness for things done a specific way. You are no one except yourself. You are but one bit of anecdotal … [Read more...]
The Omnipresent Presentation: Does It Offer Good ROI?
Presentations are one of the most used and abused instructional methods. They are everywhere. Conferences, meetings, webinars, board rooms, seminars, workshops, exhibit halls, online learning. Worldwide, presentations are the most common method for training adults. (What's The Use Of Lectures? by Donald Bligh). Most conferences rely 100% on lecture-based presentations. Show-And-Tell Revisited Remember show-and-tell from elementary school? You'd bring something from home to show your … [Read more...]
Planning Presentations With The Brain In Mind
Most association education, whether online or face-to-face, actually inhibits learning. In a typical presentation, attendees sit and listen while presenters stand and deliver. That is the sure sign of learning failure. Lectures And Bicycles I remember when I first learned to ride a bike. My parents had given me my first bike complete with training wheels. After a couple of days of riding with the training wheels, I was ready to take them off. I wanted to ride my bike like my father did. I … [Read more...]
Confessions Of An Industry Speaker: What I Dislike About Your Conference
I feel like a professional conference attendee lately. I have attended and spoke at nine different conferences in the last 63 days. That's one conference for every seven days. In reality, I spoke more than nine times because sometimes I had two or three presentations at each event. Seeing Your Speakers As Partners As a meeting professional, I've always considered my speakers as my partners in creating a great conference experience. They are the ones that will help my attendees learn something … [Read more...]
Giving Your Conference Content Handles
Presentations are a way to move information from my head into your actions. If I do it right, I give my ideas handles, so that you can run with what I've started and make it your own. ~ Chris Brogan Do you design your conference content so that it has handles? Have you ever even thought about it in that context? Handles Are Good For... So what exactly are handles good for? Literally, handles are parts of something that are to be grasped or held by the hand. Conference takeaway - … [Read more...]
