In a recent interview, I was asked, what is, in my humble opinion, after producing so many virtual and hybrid events, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝟏 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 & 𝐡𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡?
We’ve had over 24 months of figuring out our tech setup at home, and while many speakers are somewhat still challenged by that, it’s definitely better than what we started with.
𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 #𝟏 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡?
In the post below, keeping things short and sweet, I will share what I see more often than not.
#𝟏 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭
Individual sessions in a virtual format (and even in-person) should not exceed 45 min, and for a solo presenter, should not be longer than 20 min tops with room for Q&A, with the flexibility of extending the session if the audience is really engaged.
#𝟐 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
I’ve been saying this a lot part of my regular posts and blogs, our brains are hardwired for stories and we connect and engaged the most with stories. The stories and examples told during a presentation should not compete with the PowerPoint slides and the words on those slides so the audience doesn’t struggle with listening to the story while trying to read slides all at the same time. 𝑮𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈.
#𝟑 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
As an event organizer or event producer, it is your responsibility to find a way to mix up the format, rather than having a long block of back-to-back presentations, how about your break it up with shorter table discussions/breakout rooms, experiential workshops, pre-recorded video, panel discussions with the audience partaking in the conversation, a yoga calming session or even a middle of the day dance party to get the body moving and the brain cells activated again.
And if the technology and production elements get in the way, don’t let that be the reason why your audience loses interest fast and becomes disengaged.
Let’s chat, we’d love to remove that hurdle away so you can focus on your content, your speakers, your sponsors, and your audience.
Below, I’ve got a limited number of spots left for some 𝒐𝒏𝒆-𝒐𝒏-𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 60 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒚𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 tailored for your event, may that be a meeting, a conference, or a fundraising gala.
