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An Open Letter To All Public Speakers And Soon-To-Be Speakers

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On behalf of conference program managers and producers everywhere, I’d like to share some insights for all public speakers and soon-to-be speakers. Conference season is coming. Submissions are being examined. LinkedIn pages are refreshing at a furious rate. And you might soon get that email that says, “You’ve been chosen to speak at XYZ Forum in Las Vegas! Congratulations! You’re going to crush it on stage.”

As the person who once-upon-a time chose, managed, and served as your shepherd to that fateful 30-minutes on stage, here are some helpful tips to make you and your session shine.

  1. Your presentation. I know you’ve got bigger fish to fry. Your presentation probably isn’t THE most important thing in life right now, but you know what? It will be for those 30 minutes you’re on stage. Pay attention to the deadline the conference gives you and get it to them on time. And give them the final version. There’s nothing worse than running into a room late waving a thumb drive to switch out your presentation because you had a eureka moment at 2:36 am to change “that” for “which” on slide 17. You know what? No one cares. And if it’s a number or data issue, make the correction on stage. Late presentations also increase the chances for errors so get that thing in and let it go. For some tips on making your presentation turbocharged, check out this post from my colleague Marcia Rhodes.
  1. Check the agenda. Programming an event is a lot like herding toddlers after packets of Fun Dip. There are a lot of moving parts. Things happen. I’ve had speakers cancel for plane delays, traffic, food poisoning, kids falling ill, and babies being born. COVID has introduced even more issues – for instance, a keynote speaker who was denied entry 20 minutes before go-time. It happens and things change so bookmark that agenda page and hit refresh. At least have a look at the agenda before you close your eyes the night before and dream of thundering applause and lines of people congratulating you as you come off stage.
  1. Know where you’re going. Have you been to Las Vegas? The Orange County Convention Center? Those places are immense. HIMSS alone has about 25,000 people and more signs than people. If possible, check where your room is the night before and if you can’t, check over your morning coffee while updating your presentation – which you won’t be doing. See? Caught you. Find your room and make sure you’re registered for the event and your badge is proudly hanging. I’ve had speakers running down the hall while the rest of their panel were taking the stage and, while they are drenched in sweat and trying to catch their breath, we’re trying to fish a microphone down their suit coat. Being late puts you in a bad mood and the AV person is none too happy either – trust me. Come early. Get a coffee or whatever you need and relax.
  1. Introduce yourself to the AV team. They’re there all day, couldn’t care less about the conference, the topic, or your presentation – but they’re making it happen, so introduce yourself. Ask them if everything is running on time (people tend to wax poetic on stage) and ask them where to wait when you’re getting close to your go-time. Be respectful. They might not care about your AI solution, but they do care about getting your mic on and making you sound good. If you’re anxious about your video on slide 24, you can certainly ask to review your deck but remember they’re managing 3-4 screens, have a pile of laptops to coordinate and more. If they are overwhelmed or dealing with someone who brought in a late presentation, it’s best to just trust the system.
  1. Go-time. When you’re finally on stage don’t use the podium. Walk. Pace. Stalk that stage like Mick Jagger, less hips, please. These conference rooms are big, cavernous and frankly can suck the life out of you. You have 20 to 30 minutes to shine. Make eye contact throughout the room. Talk to the audience. Use stories. Anecdotes. Show pictures of your kids. Throw a joke in if that’s your thing. Make it relatable. Show, don’t tell. I had a CISO from a major healthcare org explain to a group his sleepless nights when he realized his career had evolved from keeping credit cards secure to keeping people alive. It hit home. We had a vendor at an event illustrate his story about patient experience by sharing from pictures of a serious car accident he was in – and the room was silent throughout his whole presentation. Not a single piece of text appeared and it might have been the best presentation I saw in almost 10 years.
  1. Be cool. This last piece of advice is my favorite. Be cool. Just. Be. Cool. I might have suggested you act like Mick on stage, but off stage you’re just another speaker in a room full of them. Treat the conference staff well, your fellow speakers well, and the organizing team well. After the applause dies down, thank the emcee as you leave the stage and get yourself to the AV team to let them remove your mic and your job is done. Conferences are a lot of work – look around at some point next time you’re at one and think about all those moving parts. Sure, it’s not brain surgery, but it’s a lot of work and you’re one piece of the puzzle. Be an easy piece. The easier you are, the more you connect with people, the greater chance you’ll have of being invited back. I had speakers I’d email before I even put an agenda together because they were smart, easy, dependable and dynamic. Be that.

There is more but your Golden Rule is No. 6.

Public speaking is a lot. It’s not for everyone but remember, all those people in the audience, whether it’s 150 or 7,000, are there to hear what you have to say so you’ve already been accepted. They want you. The hard part is done. The mic is on, the PowerPoint is perfect and you’re going to crush it. Just get up on stage and take a deep breath. Everyone is rooting for you!

Need some inspiration? Here is a public speaker I thought was a particularly good presenter.

Think of Your Upcoming Summit as the Next Blockbuster Release

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You’ve invested substantially in your upcoming trade shows, congresses, conferences or summits (collectively referred to as “summits” in this blog piece). Speaker submission forms. Sponsorships. Booth-install, technology and set-up. Videos. Meeting spaces. Air fare. Hotel blocks. Meals and entertainment. Just to name a few of the common and worthwhile expenses.

But, how do you make your speakers stand out from the others? How will you pique interest and draw attendance? How can you show target audiences the value in your solution and engage with them?

Think about your upcoming summit as if you were bringing a new movie to theaters building anticipation and excitement for your specific offering, making sure your audience gets an entertaining learning experience and then at the end leave them wanting more.

1. Coming Soon! (Build Anticipation)

You should begin preparing months in advance of the summit. If possible, make sure the save-the-date goes out to key audiences (including internal sales and marketing teams) during the previous year’s summit. If that isn’t possible, then send out the save-the-date as soon as your appearance at a summit or a speaking opportunity is secured.

During the months leading up to it, create talk tracks for sales and account teams to help drive attendance to the summit. Talking points can also be used in emails to clients, customers and prospects. Develop landing pages and digital flyers with information about the summit and speaker.

Something to keep in mind is, if you’re securing speaking sessions or educational forums, make sure they offer continuing education credits. This helps to build interest in your key audiences and leads to better attendance.

As the show draws closer, supply your sales and account teams with social media posts that they can easily post and share. These take only minutes to compose and can be a simple push to their Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts.

2. Showtime! (Creating a Meaningful Experience)

From the time the summit opens, you should be taking advantage of opportunities to engage your appropriate audiences. There are various media and formats to create a dialogue and draw attention to your company and solution offering.

If it’s allowed, during keynotes and other speeches, you could consider live-streaming them for your customers, clients and prospects who are unable to attend. This is also a great way to create a “pull” and desire to attend the show in the future.

For social media, make sure that you have an ambassador who is taking pictures and writing recaps of sessions that link to next year’s save-the-date for the show. Include something in the social post like, “Reserve your spot NOW for next year’s summit!”

If you have clients on-site, help them share their stories through testimonials. You can also have a videographer, who is visible to other attendees, grabbing people in the hallway or aisles and asking them about their conference experience, what they’ve learned and their most important takeaways. This is an excellent way to create buzz and get people talking. It also provides content for a recap video to promote future conferences and can be an amazing tool for digital campaigns.

Be sure to have a booth or pop-up in the vendor display area. In addition to having a space to demonstrate your solution, this gives you a meeting area for clients to discuss their successes and prospects to ask questions and sign up to learn more. And, make sure that sales and account management teams are taking notes so they can conduct proper follow-up opportunities. To keep attendees engaged and returning to your booth, consider some sort of raffle or giveaway.

If you have speakers and clients presenting, create polls during the sessions. This gives another chance to engage the audience and gives you statistics and material to post on social media. Build in an appropriate time for questions and answers those, too, can be posted on social channels. For future material, assign writers to record the sessions and create bylines or post-session articles to add to your marketing content pipeline for months to come.

3. Now Streaming! (Post Show Tactics and After Effects)

As soon as the show ends, issue a press release with a recap of any important announcements, how many people attended, a list of organizations that attended (if it’s impressive) and any awards that may have been given to your customers or clients. Be sure to include client quotes”¦especially those related to your product or solution.

Create a virtual summit, in a webinar format, with a series of the best sessions. You may need to fill out forms and work with the show’s continuing education people, but it may be possible to offer continuing education for the virtual summit as well.

For those who attended the summit, consider creating a gated microsite, with links to all materials from the show’s sessions, and a link to the next year’s save-the-date. You can also include links to the virtual summit schedule, registrations and the media recap session that was produced during the show (or post-show) as well.

Finally, email your target list to keep them engaged! Develop a cadence of one-a-month, with key takeaways, follow up materials and calls to action.

To get the most from the investment you’ve made in summits, have a strategy and devote the time to plan, execute and follow-up. Remember that the latest big blockbuster movie had many resources devoted to its preparation and release, as well as continuing its popularity after it left theaters. With the tactics in this blog, hopefully you, too, will have a summit that’s a hit for a long time to follow and attracts audiences to many sequels.