Ready with Supporting Materials

The best speakers have all their supporting materials readily available: Undoubtedly, before your scheduled event, you'll need a biography, an introduction, a write-up of the presentation, and perhaps a photo of the speaker. The seasoned pro has such items and others readily available. These aren't things he or she has to go round up; most professional speakers offer such elements on the Internet so that you can examine them at will.

When these materials are not readily available, it may a sign that something is amiss -- a speaker without a portfolio is like a firefighter without a hose.

Reaction, Behavior, Results

When a speaker is making a presentation to an audience there are three observable indicators of effectiveness:

1. Reaction - How do audience members respond to the speaker while the presentation is in progress? What kind of feedback do they offer following the presentation? Were they informed, inspired, and entertained? Were they glad they attended?

2. Behavior - What observable changes in behavior have taken place following the presentation? Can participants cite changes in their own behavior? Do they take steps to alleviate problem situations? Are they better able to perform their jobs as a result of something that they learned at the presentation?

3. Results - Here's the ultimate payoff; what long-term changes have ensued as a result of what participants learned from the presentation? How have they been more effective at their jobs? How have they supported the overall goals of their organizations? Was the presentation sufficiently worthwhile such that they want to hear more from the same speaker?

Excellent Meeting Resource Books

Event Planning by Judy Allen

Planning Successful Meetings and Events by Ann Boehme

Complete Idiot's Guide to Meeting and Event Planning

How to Start a Home-Based Event Planning Business by Jill Moran

Complete Guide to Public Speaking by Jeff Davidson

Four Basic Audience Needs

Since my first paid presentation in 1983, I’ve learned a great deal about what audiences need, want, and expect, which primarily boils down to four vital ingredients:
* to be informed,
* to be entertained,
* to participate in some way,
* and most of all to be inspired to take action.

Over the course of 26 years, remarkably, these four basic needs prevail.

Keynotes: Less is More

In a keynote speech it is better to present one key idea four different ways than it is to cram your keynote full of material that is guaranteed to miss the mark with 75% of the audience.

Death by Powerpoint

What audiences find irritating about Powerpoint presentations:

speaker read the slides 60%

text too small to read 51%

text too wordy 48%

poor color choices 37%

moving text or graphics 25%

irritating sounds 22%

complex charts 22%

What is the Speaker's Impact

A strong positive reaction from the audience members and the visible exhibition of learning are desirable outcomes for any speaker. A larger question, however, is "what impact did the presentation have on job performance?"

It behooves you to make follow up efforts to determine what changes in behavior, if any, on the parts your audience members resulted from a speaker’s presentation. Have audience members done anything differently since the presentation? Has their behavior changed? Has their performance improved? Do groups handle their responsibilities with greater ease? The simple speaker evaluation rating sheets that audience members complete directly following the presentation don't and can't answer these types of questions.

Addressing a Group's Anxiety

John Kenneth Galbraith once said, "All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership."

In the context of speaking to a group, what can you do to address their major anxiety and give them a path, or hope, so as to raise the value and impact of your presentation?

The Length of a Keynote

How long should keynote speakers’ presentations last? Sarah Braley, writing for Meetings and Conventions offers results from a poll of 125 meeting professionals:

30 minutes: 18%
45 minutes: 41%
60 minutes 29%
90 minutes: 12%

Bureau's Pet Speakers

Some meeting professionals fear that speakers bureaus will only recommend "pet speakers" -- the ones that they always recommend. This may be true to a certain extent; however, if a bureau recommends the same handful of speakers over and over again, chances are that those speakers are good.

No bureau would risk its reputation on continually sending out a speaker who does not do a stellar job. Sure, in some cases bureaus owned by one spouse will continually recommend the speaker spouse. Ethical bureaus will be up front about this. In general, speakers bureaus and their respective agents do their homework to make sure they have identified whom they believe to be the right speaker for your situation.

These days, with everyone having websites, you could get on a search engine, type in the word speaker, and get hundreds of hits. While it is easy to identify many, many speakers, the task of weeding out who exactly represents the right match for your needs can be a daunting task. All the more reason to turn it over to a speakers bureau.