How To Help Your Speakers Give Their Best Presentation Ever

We know that, as a conference planner, you put massive amounts of energy into making sure that your event is successful. But what’s a successful conference without strong, effective speakers?

No matter how much experience a speaker has, they can still get flustered or uncomfortable without the right kind of support. We pride ourselves on our ability to send speakers onstage feeling confident in the technology they’re using, but there are many things you can do before your event to help your speakers succeed!

IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO YOUR EVENT...

SEND OUT A POWERPOINT GUIDE.

Even the most experienced speakers sometimes struggle with creating presentation visuals. Luckily, we have a great resource for creating slides that read well onstage. Click here to download it, and feel free to share it as you please!

HAVE SPEAKERS SUBMIT THEIR MATERIALS AHEAD OF TIME.

Whether it’s PowerPoint slides, a Keynote deck, a Prezi presentation, or especially video content, have your speakers submit their presentation materials prior to the event so that you & your tech team can review them. We often ask for presentation materials a week in advance so that we can run through them, make sure that they play seamlessly, and fix any problems while we have time.

GIVE GUIDELINES FOR TECH-FRIENDLY CLOTHING.

If your speakers are going to be using headset microphones, you’ll want to let them know that dangly earrings may be problematic, as they may bump up against the mic and cause unwanted noise. If the speaker has long hair, they may wish to pull it back or push it behind their ears for the same reason. Or, if they are planning to use a lavaliere microphone, they’ll want to have somewhere on their clothing that they can clip the mic, and ideally, something like a belt or pocket that they can clip a transmitter pack onto. We can always get creative if needed, but sometimes it helps to mention these points ahead of time.

BE CLEAR ABOUT TIME LIMITS.

By providing your speaker with their time slot beforehand, they can practice their talk and make sure that they pace it to fit within their given time limitation. If your event has a firm wrap time, make sure that you stress the importance of not going overtime to your speakers.

 

DURING THE WEEK OF YOUR EVENT...

HAVE A REHEARSAL.

It can be daunting stepping into a new environment, coordinating which side of the stage to enter from, knowing where the tech table is and at what time you need to go get mic’ed, and choreographing interactions with hosts & other speakers onstage. Having a rehearsal during which your speakers can practice and ask questions eliminates many of these stressors, both for you and for your speakers.

 

ON THE DAY OF YOUR EVENT…

This is when we take over. We’ll be stationed at a tech table and will be ready for any questions that you or your speakers may have day-of. When your speakers come to us to get mic’ed before going onstage, our professional and knowledgeable staff will help them to feel at ease, making sure that they are comfortable with any tech they’re using and reaffirming any points they need to remember. 

We love being the facilitators of your vision, and we want your event (and your speakers) to succeed as much as you do! We’d love to assist you with fine-tuning your next event or conference!

5 Ways to Use Event Video as a Marketing Strategy

When given the choice, 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service than any written media.* 

Video is the future of marketing & advertising. We’re already seeing it in social media platforms as they continue to find new ways to integrate video content into users’ feeds - like Instagram’s new IGTV feature. Youtube is now the second largest search engine, just behind Google.** More and more people are turning to video content as a primary source of obtaining information and engaging with brands. 

It’s no secret that “content is king” these days - but creating consistent video content can take a lot of time that you may not have! That’s why it’s so important to repurpose content, and what better source of content than your live event or conference?

If you’ve invested in video recording for your event, you’ve got yourself a wealth of content that you can use across multiple platforms to spread your message! Here are some ways that you can repurpose your event video as part of your marketing strategy:

1. PROMO FOR FUTURE EVENTS

This may be a rather obvious one, but it can be a powerful use of video. If your event or conference is recurring, use pieces of your video content to promote future events. Using footage from the actual event can help to communicate the value provided and can incite curiosity in your audience to learn more. You can also hire a video company to capture B-roll footage - attendees networking, shots of the audience participating in the sessions/breakouts, etc. - which will make your promotional video much more engaging.

2. RELEASE SNIPPETS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AS "TIPS" OR HELPFUL INFO

You can add value to your social media presence by sharing clips of event video that contain helpful tips or information for your audience. Choose a short & specific section of a presentation that is inspiring, entertaining, or educational, and share it across your social media channels to spread targeted messaging. 

 

3. CREATE AN ONLINE COURSE 

If you have a multi-day conference full of useful information, you can take your presentation recordings, package them together, and create an online course for those that could not attend. You can offer this for free, like Adobe does with its annual conference, or make it a paid feature and create a passive income stream for your business or organization.

4. REPLACE TEXT BLOCKS ON YOUR WEBSITE

Your website can benefit from your event recordings too! If you have footage of a speaker explaining a concept that is integral to your business or organization, you can replace longform informational text on your website with this recording. As we said before, people prefer to watch than to read - so make it easy on them to learn about your brand! You can even use footage from a compelling speaker on the homepage of your site to hook users and keep them scrolling.

5. BUILD INTERNAL PROGRAMS

Ever heard of “intrapreneurship”? It’s a concept that encourages the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization. Intrepreneurship initiatives encourage employees to take ownership on solving problems creatively, taking innovative ideas and transforming them into profitable ventures for the company.  

More and more large businesses are building programs like this, but sometimes these intrapreneurs need extra support & training to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the company’s work. Having conference recordings available for people to access as training within these programs could empower them & incentivize them to get onboard! Never underestimate the power of "internal marketing" in getting your team aligned & on the same page.

Video recording has so many potential uses during an event, but we can’t forget about all of the potential to put it to work for us after the event. If you want to learn more about our video services & other uses for video recording, select one of the options below!

*Source: https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics-2018/

**Source: https://www.mushroomnetworks.com/infographics/youtube---the-2nd-largest-search-engine-infographic/

Bringing Your Logo To Life

We've talked before about the importance of event graphics (click here for our previous blog post on the subject), and it's no secret that dynamic graphics can help keep your audience interested & hold their focus during an event. One type of graphic that is easy to integrate into your show is an animated logo. Here are several benefits to having this type of content in your arsenal!

We have one client that begins each session of their conference with a short animated logo video and accompanying music that calls the audience to attention. It is an exciting moment that increases interest and communicates the importance of what is to follow. Dynamic content is a great way to start out a program or set up an impactful speaker entrance, and incorporating your logo helps direct the excitement & anticipation towards your brand or organization.

Logo c/o Sentara Healthcare, animation by The AV Company

You can easily complement dynamic speaker content with animated transition graphics. Even still graphics or logos can help to make transitions appear seamless, but animated graphics are great for maintaining energy between speakers.

Graphics & animation by 10/Half Studios & Jonah Tobias

Most conference sets use screens as their main focal point, and sometimes screens are even used in lieu of decor. In these cases, the graphics become the decor - and motion graphics help to take the set up a notch. Even when running in the background as ambient video, animated logos are a great way to infuse the set with your brand aesthetic and terminology.

Aside from event applications, animated logos are useful to have on hand when producing videos or event recordings! They can be used as intros, outros, transitions, or placeholders, and can help to add excitement & professionalism to your videos.

Logo c/o VASHRM, animation by The AV Company