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great for their profile to be seen hosting , and even the runners up get weeks of coaching – great for professional development .
It ’ s great that the advent of Slido and similar apps allow the audience to feedback immediately .
As a warmup , I once asked the audience at an Emirates Airlines conference in Dubai to give me one fact about themselves no one else in the room would know . We found a relative of one of the Abba members , a guy who had had a chart hit in Belgium , and someone who worked as a sheep dagger in Australia . ( cutting the excrement off the sheep ’ s fleece before you shear them .) Now that ’ s a company with diverse talent .
But with more access for audiences comes more responsibility for presenters . You have to keep things moving , not allowing anyone to hog the time allowed . There ’ s a polite way of shutting down questions , removing the microphone from contributors and continuing the conversation outside . Be polite , but ruthless .
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There are many types of stage sessions , from panel-based set ups , to single presentations , to roundtable type discussions . How can an organiser hit upon the format that is right for their event ? Whichever way it ’ s done , all presentations should be produced rather than thrown together . Thought has to go into them . The best are produced with one thing in mind – What ’ s In This For The Audience ? |
“ One of my bugbears is when a speaker has been told how long to fill , rather than being asked how long it would take to land their message .”
n Contact Paul via www . paulcoia . com
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Even Shakespeare built scene changes and intervals into his plays to keep up interest .
The audience attention span has shortened over the years . The Digital Native needs more stimulation , more scene changes , more repetition of messages .
One of my bugbears is when a speaker has been told how long to fill , rather than being asked how long it would take to land their message .
One of the best presentations I saw was from Paul Polman , the former Unilever CEO , in Davos . He had been given an hour ’ s slot , but told me he ’ d speak for 20 minutes because that ’ s how long it would take to get his message across . He also opened it up to the floor for questions . He filled the hour charismatically and received a standing ovation .
Audience members will rarely say : “ I wish they ’ d talked for longer .”
Think how you can surprise people . Be adventurous . Remember , it ’ s all about the audience , not you .
Shake . It . Up . n
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