While yes, I’ve been an audience member recently, sitting and listening to presentations by a handful of speakers at a couple meetings and events, we’ve all sat in such conferences, workshops, and the like for various aspects of our career. (Plus, I served on the Speaker Placement Committee for Tampa Bay Business Owners.) On the flip side, I do a good deal of speaking myself, having presented a Lunch & Learn earlier this month and being scheduled as a speaker in just under two weeks. I’m also booked to speak at an event in Las Vegas in October and am optimistic about a conference in November in Washington DC relative to presenting there as well. That would be at least four speaking engagements in four months. You can be assured that I won’t commit the following offenses, which I’ve seen far too often from a number of presenters over the years.
“Can you hear me now?” – One of the first lines a speaker will utter when they open is, “Can everyone hear me okay?” Or they’ll ask a derivation of that, which is, “Can you hear me in the back?” Wow. Am I the only one who sees the common sense in this? If they can’t hear you in the back, then they won’t know that that’s what you are asking – to them specifically! There are a few ways to handle this. So as to allow for moving on to other observations, the one that I’ll throw out is, before you are introduced, ask ONE person in the back to signal you when you start, and make direct eye contact in order to imply that you’re looking for a thumbs up or thumbs down for whether they can hear you or not. You don’t want to lose people, plus it’s embarrassing when audience members are yelling, “Can’t hear you!”
Insulting the organizer – I was at an event recently where from the stage a panelist said, “I’m not even really a fit for this panel.” Sometimes a similar version is said jokingly, “I don’t even know why I’m on this panel.” For openers, you need to show gratitude for the opportunity. Secondly, you won’t get many more opportunities – at least from the person that brought you there – if you basically insult them by making it seem like they did a poor job in placing you appropriately. If you honestly don’t feel you should be on a certain panel, remember, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ Keep it to yourself, put your best foot forward, make an impact by delivering value, and you just might be rewarded from an interested audience member and/or a re-booking!
“Don’t listen to me” – If you’re going to give handouts to the audience, don’t do so at the beginning of your talk. In a roundabout way you’re giving them permission to not listen to you. They are going to be distracted looking at what you passed out to everyone, rather than giving your talk their undivided attention.
“This event and you people aren’t important to me” – I saw a keynote speaker recently who dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I guess we’d interrupted his leisure time. His wardrobe essentially told me what his opinion of the event (and, by extension, us as audience members) was, and trust me when I say, it wasn’t, “I feel comfortable with you (strangers).” Yes, I understand that certain industries and events give jeans and a t-shirt the green light, but this wasn’t one of them. Dress the part, speakers. Dress the part.
Setting low expectations – First impressions mean so much, which is why I was really turned off when a speaker got up at an event that I was at and said, “I will probably be the least professional person among today’s speakers.” My whole attitude shifted just by that one statement. It should come as no surprise to you that he not only used profanity in his presentation but even expressed his political opinions.
“I hope this is good” – Too many times I hear speakers (particularly at business meetings, as opposed to conferences or workshops) tell the audience, “This is my first time doing this presentation.” We didn’t need to know that. Go up there with the confidence of someone who has done the presentation 100 times. If you’ve polished it and it comes across that way, we won’t know – nor will we have cared – that this was the first time. I’m closing this blog with this one because it really is also a combination of others above; setting expectations, insulting the organizer, and almost implying a lack of importance.
Take these to heart and to the stage and be the speaker everyone remembers for all the right reasons.
To book me to speak at your next meeting, workshop, conference, or event, email me directly.
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