Planners…Do You Ever Get to the Day of the Conference and ask yourself ‘what was I thinking??’ when one of your speakers opens
their mouth?
I speak at conferences quite a lot. I love it because the audience typically has chosen to be there and is energized and ready.
I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon lately. The last three times I’ve spoken at conferences there was a cringe speaker. This is a speaker that makes the planner who booked them, fellow speakers who pride themselves on the profession, and anyone truly paying attention in the audience cringe at their obvious disconnect with the audience.
There was a pseudo motivational speaker who gives motivational speakers a bad name, a sales guy who spent 50 of his 60 minutes selling from the stage, and a wallflower. Each of these speakers were there, amidst truly inspirational and knowledgeable content focused presenters, and everyone wondered why.
Would you like to make sure THIS NEVER HAPPENS TO YOU?
Before I provide you some easy tips to weed out the cringe speakers let me elaborate on the different categories.
- Pseudo motivational speaker- This is a speaker who jumps around, has tons of energy, often scares the audience, is meant to inspire but instead the audience leaves with only a few common cliches and no actual value. (as a high energy speaker I am particular unhappy with this cringe speaker because their lack of content makes event planners think anyone who is dynamic isn’t offering real value)
- Sales Guy speaker- This is a speaker who thinks he/she isn’t being paid enough so they have vowed to squeeze the money straight from the pockets of the attendees. There is a time and place for selling from the stage and an educational conference isn’t one of them. Give Value People!
- The “Wallflower”- This is a speaker that often has a tremendous amount of education, technical expertise, and wisdom but unfortunately no one in the audience knows it because they’ve all nodded off. With presentation coaches and Toastmasters in every city there’s really no reason why technical speakers can’t receive training to at least make them interesting enough to keep people focused for 45 minutes.
Now for the tips. If you want to make sure all of your speakers provide top quality, dynamic, value driven presentations follow these simple suggestions. I know sometimes you are extremely busy and it seems like some of these things will take too much time but trust me- the time you save having to explain yourself afterward will more than make up for it.
- Conversation- make sure to take the time to have a full discussion with the speaker to make sure they are the right fit. Have a list of questions (I’m happy to provide these- email me heather@heatherhansenoneill.com) handy to assess. Skype is an even better option if possible.
- Extra content- ask if the speaker is willing to offer some extra content prior to or after the event. I do this automatically in the form of promo videos and reinforcement articles. Most speakers will provide something if requested.
- Recent testimonials- ask the dates of the testimonials the speaker is offering. Sometimes a speaker has been ‘on the circuit’ for awhile and has great testimonials from 20 years ago…but hasn’t kept up with the changing times. And if you suspect a wallflower demand a video.
- Customization- I have a questionnaire and offer pre-event calls with several key players to customize my content. Speakers don’t always like to do this because the perception is that it is too time consuming and cuts into profit. It’s true. It does. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. For example speakers can customize with specific industry related stories and/or add in recognition of people in the audience.
- Responsiveness- take into consideration the responsiveness of the speaker. You shouldn’t have to beg, plead and send any more than one reminder to receive bio, pictures, takeaways, power points, AV requirements or any other necessary information you need to promote or prep for the event. In my experience a lack of attention to these details will come through in other areas.
I hope these tips help to ensure you avoid the cringe and continue to have hugely successful events! Let me know if there’s anything else you need.
