Recently, several bloggers have written about conference speakers including their own personal experiences as a presenter.
Six things to provide to help your conference speakers succeed.
- Some have discussed how a conference organizer has surprised them with magnification of the Twitter feed on the stage while they presented. They didn’t know this was going to happen before they presented.
- Others like Patrick O’Keefe have written about the conference speaker’s responsibility to conference organizers and attendees.
- Michael McCurry posted about the importance of providing guidance to your speakers, especially if you are hosting a hybrid event.
- Midori Connolly provided Speaker Tips and Guidelines for those presenting to virtual audiences.
- TED Conference organizers shared their TED Commandments for speakers.
- Andy Sernovitz suggested ways to help your speakers talk about your event.
I’ve been on both sides of the presentation gig—as the presenter and as the customer or conference organizer. I know that the closer to the event, the more last minute minutiae the conference organizer handles, and the less likely he/she will think about the presenter. (I admit it. It happens to me as the organizer!) I also know that typically I’m not the only customer the speaker has as they are usually traveling from one conference to another.
Speaker Helpful Tips & Guidelines
If you’ve ever hired a professional speaker, you’ve probably signed a speaker contract that contains the details of the event and the deliverables. You’ve also probably completed a lengthy speaker questionnaire that asks the A to Z of the event and audience. (Speakers, if you don’t have a questionnaire for your customers, you might want to create one.) I also require all my industry speakers to sign a contract too.
When I secure a speaker, I’ve already done my due diligence to make sure their content is the right fit and that they have better than average delivery skills. While the signed speaker contract has all the important information, I know that my attendee’s satisfaction is directly related to my speaker’s success. So, it’s imperative that I help the speaker succeed and do the best they can.
In addition to the speaker contract, I require that all of my speakers complete the following documents. (Go ahead and download them for your own files. They’ll help!)
- An AV form with their specific requirements
- An audio/video recording release (I require all speakers to sign this, even if they are denying permission to record their presentation.)
- A travel and lodging form
- A Speaker’s Guidelines Form (includes information about using non-sexist and non-discriminatory language, the use of intellectual property, as well as a non-sales from the podium) This is an important form that protects you, the conference organizer and lets the speaker know you expect professionalism.
I also provide two more things:
- At least one conference call a couple weeks before the event to discuss all the last minute details
- A customized speaker’s tip sheet – this contains the speakers hotel arrival, departure, confirmation number, presentation room, av, etc.
If there were one take away I could give you to help your conference speaker succeed, it would be the customized speakers’ helpful info sheet. Your speakers will love you if you provide this a couple weeks in advance of their presentation. And, they’ll send plenty of kudos your way for it.
What other steps do you take to help your conference speakers succeed? Share your tips with readers.
Thanks for the mention. Good stuff here. Some people would leave this stuff unsaid and assume – with things like language, for example. Assuming is bad.
Thanks,
Patrick
@Patrick
Thanks Patrick for stopping by and adding to the discussion. Yes, assumptions are the wrong direction to take.
Jeff, another great post! Reading this article made me think of an article that I was interviewed for a couple years ago (but still pretty relevant) on speaker management, selection and coaching. http://tinyurl.com/ydte2pe
Hope it helps add to the dialog!
Dave Lutz – @velchain
@VelChain
So true that event professional needs to become an expert in upgrading the attendee experience and providing quality education. Learning how to coach speakers so they can improve their presentations is a definte plus for a meeting professional. The article is a gem too. Thanks for adding it.
Well done Jeff.
I love getting a customized speaker tip sheet from a meeting planner!
As a speaker I often get pieces of the information in a variety of emails. And sometimes am not sure they apply to me as a speaker because it’s sent to all attendees.
We do pull together a one-sheet of information for me before I go to speak – which includes a lot of what you showcased. (I’ve been doing this long enough I know what to ask.) Just takes more effort to track everything down – and make sure it’s right.
Also I love the call before the presentation.
As someone who customizes all my programs, it helps me to know what’s going on, to be able to weave very current examples into my program – and gives me opportunity for the fine-tuning I need to make my meeting planners look brilliant for bringing me in.
Thanks for sharing your process with others.
Thanks for including my document, I hope it’s helpful.
And sweet speaker tips form! You’re so fantastic for sharing all of this…
Don’t worry about replying, it’s just a kudos comment
Midori
@Cynthia
As the conference organizer, I try to make it easy for my speakers. The speaker’s helpful tip sheet has been one of those documents that always receives a lot of thanks from professional and industry speakers alike. It helps that I’ve been on both sides of presentation world. Thanks for leaving a comment and dropping by!
@Midori
What, not leave you a reply? (grin, wink, wink). Appreciate the kudos and glad you dropped by.
Hi Jeff,
Nicely done, my friend, and I really thought there were some great tips and content in this article.
This is a topic (Speaker relationships/management) that really needs some attention across the event professionals sector.
Much of the technology being encountered by both speakers and eventprofs is new and therefore there are some definite pain points on both sides… growing pains if you will!! Working together and exchanging best practices we can raise the level of productive support provided to this key element of our conferences.
When I think back on my knowledgebase at the beginning of this year versus what I know now… it is pretty amazing what I’ve learned… I know that is the same for all of us. But there is so much more to learn….
I personally look forward to whats before us… meaning… whats coming next as I know it is going to be exciting and challenging…
Thanks to all of you commenting on this blog post for your knowledge, and willingness to share with others, and for your collective insights, as by collaborating we can together move event management to an even greater level.
I’m proud to know all of you!
@michaelmccurry
Mike McCurry
I got into a real interesting discussion with an event prof at IAEE. He told me that he used LinkedIn to source a few speakers for his show. Now this is no fly by night planner I talked to. This is like one of the top 100 shows or something and a really smart dude.
What he did is used the powerful search tools in LinkedIn to ID well connected thought leaders in his industry. You can bet that if you attract folks with large networks, they’ll help promote the heck out of their session and your event. That’s just smart! It’s just one idea, but I think the big point is that your best and most influential speakers, will probably not fill out a call for papers doc. You got to go mine for that gold.
Dave Lutz – @velchain
@MichaelMcCurry
Thanks Michael for adding to the discussion. I believe that often managing and maintaining speaker reltationships falls into the Education Department’s duties in nonprofit associations and not in the meeting’s management department. There is often a disconnect between the needs of the Education department and the meetings professional, especially regarding speakers and sessions. When that happens, the speaker realtionship suffers and ultimately so does the attendee. Those meeting professionals that can strengthen speaker relationships help everyone win.
@VelChain
Great point that now all speakers will complete a call for proposals. I’ve seen many conference organizers and meetings professionals using social media to source speakers this past year. I’ve see a lot of requests in Twitter as well as in LinkedIn Groups. While I’ve used speaker bureaus in the past, I often turn to my trusted online social networks first for ideas. Finding thought leaders in LinkedIn, on blogs and in other social networks is a great place to start. Then I want to talk to someone who has used that person as a speaker to find out about the speaker’s delivery style. I’ve seen some great thought leaders with great ideas that are terrible speakers too. Thanks for adding to the conversation.
hi there jeff and all others,
i certainly agree with everything here, and I’d like to add a couple of items. One is the importance of how the speaker is introduced/ presented.
I did a whole blog about this but i’ll sum up: avoid introductions that are a) too long and b) too glowing. more at http://bit.ly/21Z8vK
a big part of the success of a show is maintaining a proper pace. while content is what generally what drives bringing in a speaker, this does not eliminate the need for a sense of show biz.
I once had to follow a presenter whose computer crashed and the audience was forced to sit thru a windows 2000 boot-up sequence projected on screen, and it went downhill from there. I call that event my lazarus show, because when i finally went on, I had to bring an entire audience back from the dead.
This entire thread i think is all about one thing: communication. I just did a presentation for an association here in MA and I spent 3 hours having lunch with the event owner. he talked the whole time in answer to one question: who is in this audience? far from being bored by all this minutiae, that info greatly enhanced my ability to communicate with the group. hearing the audience, perceiving the audience, this can never be taken for granted. there’s always more to it.
I actually find that many event owners are not used to this idea. i enjoyed the questionnaire but it needs an open ended essay question: who are you? who is in this audience, and what do they want/ need from the speaker? also, if we are having a conversation after the event, if this was the best presentation ever, what did it accomplish?
–jl
@Justin
Thanks for adding to the conversation. You provided some great tips for any event professional and conference organizer. I love your Lazarus story too.
I agree that answering questions for the speaker is extremely important. The challenge for the event professional is that sometimes we can have 20, 50, 100 or even more speakers per conference. Most speaker professionals have their own questionairres each with their own spin. I didn’t mind completing one for a speaker but when I had more than 200+ speakers for one event, completing those forms became tedious. I resorted to completing one form and giving it to all the speakers. Then as you can imagine, 200+ conference calls took some time…so, I went to having several Webinars where my speakers could askk me questions and hear each other as well.
Bottom line, like you said, “Communication” is the key!
well jeff thank you so much for those kind comments. you bring up an interesting series of puzzlements,
one is, while a speaker generally wants to do what the event owner asks, not all event owners have a truly clear picture to share of what the audience is or what that audience really wants to hear. that’s not true of you or anyone reading this of course
i hear a lot about speaker questionnaires but i have always used the interview approach so i have never used one. and as you point out, it creates extra work for a client. i am sure they are great but i would fear to rely too much upon such a device– who knows what i might forget to ask? altho i would be curious to see what you think such a questionnaire should ask. next blog??
also, there’s always the wade in and listen approach, even if the client/event owner’s time is limited, if i have questions there’s usually an insider at the event who can clue one in
–jl
Aha…and we come full circle.
You see, Justin, what I deduce here is the shining glory of social networks! As speakers we are generally provided access to the organization’s online community. From there we can begin a conversation with attendees and gather the most important information we’d like to have – whether it be through direct or indirect methodology.
I know I personally like to gather as much as I can from the most vocal participants and then spread out from there. There is much to be learned from the profiles and commentary of our audience members…so between that and a synopsis from the conference educational committee, we should be able to target our content without having to trouble event organizers with ponderous questions.
Cool discussion!!
mec
@Midori
I like how you brought it all back to a social eCommunity. Justin, I typically give my speakers five to ten people they can call and have deep conversation with too. The conference social eCommunity just opens the door wide for the speaker to connect with as many people as they want. Thanks for adding the tip Midori.