Become “The Speaker of Choice” for Conference Organizers Part 2

Being the best speaker at a conference is going to make the conference organizer shine. Let’s learn more 5 more tips to make you the speaker of choice.

6) Give them some fun – Conference attendees endure hours on end of listening to speaker after speaker. Make it worth their time and attention. Add humor in the form of videos, pictures and infographics. Doing a joke is risky, unless you really know the audience well. Run the joke by colleagues before taking it on the road.

7) Eliminate the what if? – If you are nervous or concerned about the possibility that something will go wrong, develop a contingency plan for each scenario that concerns you. If you are afraid that you’ll be late to the conference, always travel a day before the conference begins. If you are concerned that the projector won’t work, bring a backup projector and cords with you. A Plan B will help calm your fears.

8) Take comfort in your organizer – They are masters at problem-solving. If something comes up, smile, remain calm and let the organizer fix it. They have a staff of people waiting to lend a hand.

9) Repeat Yourself – Not like Uncle Harry does when he tells the same joke at every holiday. Repeat your key points to drive the message home and make it memorable. Half of what you say is heard. Then a certain amount is filtered through the audience’s perspectives. A simple rule of thumb: first explain your point, then give examples of how the point can be applied, last provide the audience with action steps they can take based on that point. What you repeat has a much better chance of being remembered.

10) Always run short! – Finish earlier than the time you have been given. If you have 30 minutes, take 25 minutes. If you have one hour, be done in 50 minutes. Any presentation you do should have an hour-long version, a 30 minute one and a 15 minute one. I was the last speaker at an event and I was told that would have 30 minutes to present. However, each of the previous speakers took more than their allotted time, which left me with 10 minutes. After that, I made sure that I could deliver a good message in 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

Becoming a better, more engaging speaker is who is remembered for years to come requires preparation. If you implement the tips above, you will certainly make the journey to a memorable and engaging speaker shorter.

Learn more about the safe, supportive community of speakers who are on the same journey to speaking success as you are. Check out Engaging Speakers at https://engagingspeakers.com/

Gail Brown, Founder of Engaging Speakers, gail@engagingspeakers.com