Speech and Presentation Planning for Events

Getting the opportunity to present on big stages at conferences is easier if you have a plan. During a 1:1 with a leader on my team, she brought up that some team members want to present at large user conferences such as re:Invent and AWS Summits. However, those speaking slots are very hard to obtain and usually go to speakers with proven sessions—ones that have been presented multiple times and have solid ratings. I'm not only a public speaker but also serve as a Speaker Bar Raiser, coaching others on public speaking and presenting. I've delivered dozens of sessions at large events worldwide and learned valuable lessons about getting ideas onto big stages. (Spoiler alert: It isn't enough to submit an abstract and hope for the best) It seems like a Catch-22, but there is a process that can tilt the odds in the aspiring speaker's favor. Content - Ensure your content is new, unique, relevant, insightful, timely, and/or important to your target audience. Irrelevant content is a non-starter. Structure - Have a framework for presenting the content that makes it easy to follow and understand. There is a science behind using the "Rule of Three" in public speaking. Keep things simple and interesting. Repetition - Give your presentation as many times as possible. Ask to present at brown bag lunches, weekly team calls, stand-alone learning sessions, your local Toastmaster's club meetings—even to your family and friends. After each presentation, ask for feedback and explore other presentation opportunities. These "at-bats" will improve your speaking skills and provide valuable feedback to enhance your session. (Hint: when presenting to larger groups, ask them to complete a survey capturing CSAT data. You can use this later when submitting for the biggest stages) Refine - Use all feedback to improve your presentation and make it more impactful. Collect notes from audience members and look for ways to incorporate their suggestions. If a joke or anecdote doesn't land, try something else. If your closing statement falls flat, take a different approach. Continuous iteration leads to improvement. Marketing - Once you have a relevant topic that you can present in a structured format, refined and updated through multiple presentations, you'll still need to market it effectively to track owners. Share data about your presentation frequency, CSAT scores, and audience testimonials. Don't let rejection discourage you—keep going until you get a "Yes." Developing and following a plan like this will help increase your chances of getting on big stages, more often.

 Planning and prepping for talks can be a game-changer. Here's my process – maybe it'll help you too! 1. Audience & Theme: I start by selecting my audience and the theme of the talk. 2. Key Takeaway: On a piece of paper, I jot down the main message I want the audience to remember. 3. Brain Dump: I do a complete brain dump on paper, getting all my ideas and thoughts out. 4. Storyline Development: Next, I reorganize these ideas into a coherent storyline, adding research where needed. 5. Slide Planning: Once I have a clear story, I outline each slide and its key takeaway on a new sheet. 6. PowerPoint Creation: My PowerPoint is then created to visually reinforce the story and key points. 7. Practice: I practice out loud, record myself, and refine my delivery, focusing on cadence, timing, and voice modulation. 8. Final Prep: On the day of the talk, I either go for a run or just sit and think. If I can mentally run through the entire talk, I know I'm ready! Hope sharing my method helps you nail your next talk!

HOW I'VE LEARNED TO TAILOR MY TALKS: 5 PROVEN STRATEGIES FOR BETTER ENGAGEMENT. The last thing your audience wants is to sit through a presentation full of analytics with no actionable content nuggets. The best feedback I receive is when I've taken the time to make my talk bespoke to the people in the audience. By tailoring your talk to the audience, you create a more engaging, interactive, and relevant experience. Here's how I ensure my presentations resonate with my audience: ONE ↳Ask the organiser: Find out who will be in the audience. While organisers can't share data lists, they can give you an idea of the types of businesses and individuals attending. Use this information to research and add relevant examples to your talk. TWO ↳Arrive early: Get to the event early and speak to the audience. Learn about their biggest pains and challenges related to your topic. Incorporate these insights into your presentation to make it more relatable. THREE ↳Encourage questions: Allow your audience to ask questions throughout your talk. This will make the presentation more engaging and ensure that you're addressing their specific needs and interests. FOUR ↳Q&A session: Include a dedicated Q&A session at the end of your talk. This will allow the audience to seek further clarification and help you address any lingering questions. FIVE ↳Pre-event survey: Conduct a pre-event survey with the attendees to ask about their biggest pains and challenges. Use this feedback to tailor your presentation content to their needs. And guess what? It works. Tailoring my talks has resulted in more engaged audiences and better feedback. Attendees feel that the presentation is relevant and that they're part of a collective experience. Now, every time I present, I ensure my content is bespoke to the audience, making it impactful and actionable. To anyone looking to improve their speaking engagements: Make your presentations relevant and engaging by tailoring them to your audience's needs. Connect, educate, and inspire by making your audience feel heard and valued. How do you make your presentation relevant for your audience? To your successes, Zoe. ____________ If you like this post, you will love my newsletter 💜 Join my newsletter for a FREE weekly growth strategy for speakers and thought leaders - see the first comment below to join 👇

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞. – 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐧 I get asked often- how do you communicate effectively as a public speaker? Lately, I’ve found myself on the podium a bit and while public speaking terrifies many, I actually draw energy from it. Most people think great communicators are born that way. Nope. They just prepare better. Here’s my fool-proof method to sound sharp, engaging, and at high-stakes events: 1.    𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐜𝐡. Yes, all of it. Sounds tedious, but trust me—seeing your words on paper reveals the clunky bits. 2.    𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝. If your tongue stumbles, so will your audience. Fix it. Swap out heavy words for simpler ones. 3.    𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. Stand in front of a mirror and speak. Notice where you ramble. Edit again. 4.    𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫. Give it a day or two. During that time, you will revisit the speech in your head whether you like it or not. Next day, come back to it with fresh eyes. 5.    𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭: Read it aloud, practice at least thrice in front of a mirror. Now, the secret sauce: Start with a short self-deprecating story. If you can make people laugh, you’ve got them. Then, give them a fresh perspective. Something they hadn’t thought of before. And finally, end on a positive note. Leave them wanting more. Remember, great communicators aren’t just talkers. They’re also editors, timers, and storytellers. #CommunicationSkills #PublicSpeaking  

The strategy is important, but execution makes or breaks the result. Here’s an example for everyone running SME Live events (webinars). Here’s my experience as a speaker. Most of these events invite the SMEs to speak on topics relevant to their expertise. Usually, they send over a quick prep document or just ask the SME(s) to connect on their own or create the content. If there are multiple people speaking, they just hope the talking points and chemistry work. After all, they are SMEs, so the content will be good, right? Not necessarily! ❌ They do the event, and the content is okay but not as good as it could be. Why? Preparation and content validation. You need to make sure it is valuable for your audience. Every SME does have something valuable, but it needs to be focused for your audience. The event concludes, and you don’t see much after the event as a speaker or participant. You’ll get a link to the recording and maybe a blog summary. ✌️ Two big misses 🟡 There is NO CONTENT VALIDATION OR FEEDBACK before the event. 🟡 Content creation and distribution strategy post-event that includes the SMEs. Here’s how you should do it ⬇️ 1. Be organized - provide a run of show, key talking points you want to SMEs to touch on, and operations (calendar invites, docs, promo assets etc.) 2. Facilitate a great prep session - Secure key talking points, who is going to talk about what, and who will lead and support each key point, and allow the speakers and host to get to know each other so the conversation is more natural. (Trust me, this helps the speakers be more confident and deliver a better live experience) 3. Share the post-event plan and set expectations - How will the video be repurposed, and if they plan on using your content, how so? If they plan to create a written asset will you get to review it before it goes live? Enable your speakers to share the event after (video clips, social posts) and also be a distribution engine for any additional assets produced from it. If you take the time to do this, your speaker's content WILL BE BETTER, the additional content you can create WILL BE BETTER, and it WILL RESONATE BETTER with your audience! Win-win-win Shoutout to Corrina Owens and UserGems 💎 for running a top-notch virtual event process. I was blown away in our prep session earlier today. See you next Wednesday, Adam Jay ♾️ to talk about The Cheat Code to Unlock More Pipeline.

I’ve spent the past few weeks working with a group of speakers preparing for a large corporate event, and I keep seeing the same 5 pitfalls. It felt right to share here on LinkedIn, because it’s relevant for anyone pitching a client, presenting to your team, or speaking on a stage: 1. Resist the urge to lead with an intro, "Hi, my name is." Start with a strong hook - a question, a statement that announces the problem you’re about to solve, instead of leading by introducing yourself. And let’s please stop going around with some “hot start” where your entire team gives intros in a cheeky way for a new business pitch or client presentation. Just introduce yourself before you’re about to speak and then go into what problem you’ll be solving for the client if they hire you. 2. Establish the stakes. Why is the work you’re doing so important? What would happen if you didn’t do it? What are the stakes of the problem or challenge you’re outlining? 3. Tell a personal story. If you can take a personal story (yours, a customers, someone your work impacted) and thread it through the talk or presentation, everyone in the room will walk away remembering some part of that person’s journey. They’ll visualize the person, they’ll develop an emotional connection to them, and they’ll remember your talk long after it’s over. 4. Practice your steps and hand gestures. Choreography is a big part of presenting, and far too many people focus only on the words they’re saying. I am someone who speaks with my hands, which can be distracting on stage. That’s why when I’m preparing for a talk, I run through how I will walk around on the stage and when I will stop to make a point. Ask me about the triangle method I learned while prepping for my TEDx talk! Be aware of your body but not too self conscious of it. Move your hands so they add emphasis but don’t distract. Record yourself walking around your office or living room rehearsing, even if it makes you cringe. This will help you make any necessary adjustments as you go. 5. Focus on ONE message. Be clear on the one major takeaway you want people to remember after you leave the stage, the room, the meeting. Don’t muddle your message or try to communicate too many things in too little time. Keep going back to your one main thing. Repeat it if you have to. Make your point, and don’t dilute the point with tangents or unnecessary details. Restate your point in closing. What else makes or breaks a great presentation? I’d love to hear your best advice!