Speak to Me

Your mind wanders, soon the paper in front of you is filled with doodles and you’ve lost track of what the speaker is saying. It’s happened to all of us, or our attendees, at one point in time. For me, part of the problem is that I have very little patience, but a good speaker can win me over.

Last year, I attended an event (name excluded to protect the guilty) and I was ready to leave within an hour because of a few key errors relating to speaker selection.

1. Repetition: The keynote speaker and one of the breakout session speakers covered the same topic.
2. Vague guidelines: The speakers didn’t quite have a handle on what the attendees were looking for from the sessions.
3. Talking down: One breakout session speaker spent so much time explaining the basics that he never got to talk about his expert knowledge or give advice.

As an audience member, I realized how important the speaker is to my experience. To keep the attention of those of us whose minds wander, I offer these few key tips, some you may already know, from the experts and from experience.

Audience Uncovered > Different generations adapt to situations differently. As a member of Generation X, I come by my impatience naturally. I’m part of a generation raised on television and technology; we’ve got short attention spans and are more likely to respond to visual aids such as videos and images. “Today’s audiences are generally younger, more educated, more diverse and more sophisticated than in the past,” says Susan Friedmann, CSP, and author of Meeting and Event Planning for Dummies (www.thetradeshowcoach.com). She advises surveying the audience to find out about the characteristics they posses that would effect how they would react to a speaker, such as age, gender and education.

The Right Fit > “Thorough knowledge of the needs of your group is essential in selecting the right speaker,” explains the National Speakers Association (www.nsa.org) in its “10 Tips for Finding the Right Speaker.” Listening to a motivational speaker when you are looking for specific advice and information from an expert can be an unwelcome surprise. Determine whether you audience is in need of technical information, educational advice, motivation or entertainment. Then, advertise the type of speaker and the “degree of difficulty” clearly in your program so your audience has the ability to make an educated decision between speakers.

Look Before You Leap > Friedman suggests planners “test drive” their speakers by listening to an audiotape or watching a video of that speaker in action. “Watch or listen carefully to how the speaker builds rapport and interacts with the audience.” How that speaker interacts live can tell you a lot, but to know whether that speaker is right for your audience requires research and asking the tough questions. Does your speaker really know the industry well enough to talk about it? Does your speaker have the experience? What do others say about the speaker? Be sure your speaker is willing to tailor his or her presentation to your group, advises the International Speakers Bureau (www.internationalspeakers.com).

Well-Armed Speakers > A speaker who talks down or gives an off-topic presentation can turn off an attendee quickly. The more information you can share with your speaker, the better off he or she will be. Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE (www.fripp.com) believes planners should treat speakers like attendees. With access to brochures, audience profiles and a detailed program of an event, a speaker can avoid topics the other speakers are covering and tailor his or her presentations to the audience’s age, interest and level of expertise.

Timing is Everything > “If your attendees are flying home or driving home at the end of the day, stretch out the meeting and introduce the speaker at the time you were to adjourn,” jokes Michael Broome (www.motivationalmichael.com), an inspiring, original and comedic motivator, who wrote a list of the “17 Things NOT to Do at an Event” for the Premiere Speakers Bureau (premierespeakers.com). The lesson from his quip is that you must schedule wisely. “Putting the right speakers in the wrong time slots makes them the wrong speaker,” says Fripp. At the end of the day, attendees are tired and ready to go home. Schedule your most entertaining speaker for this time and keep to your schedule. If that means you have to cut a speaker off, so be it. Leave your attendees wanting more.

As a self-proclaimed impatient attendee, I’m not the ideal audience, but I’m also the one most in need of your attention. By taking extra steps to match the best speaker to the event, planners can win over the hardest audience of all. 

Ellie M. Bayrd is our associate editor. Read more of her thoughts on the speaker selection and share your opinions at www.mn-meetings.blogs.com