Top Tips for Session Success
- Use a title that says clearly what it is - titles drive attendance.
- Present something new and relevant to the audience.
- Use real examples - avoid abstract terms and acronyms.
- Use storytelling and data to illustrate key points.
- Take questions during the session.
- Use quizzes and questions to keep the audience engaged.
- Field a speaker who is engaging, knowledgeable and passionate - good speakers drive attendance.
- Be prepared to quantify costs, time-frames and outcomes with at least comparative data.
- Don’t start with a slide “Who we are”.
- Don’t start by assuming you know the audience - if possible ask them / have an idea of what they want to know BEFORE launching into the conversation.
- Don’t stick to the script - it may be far better to answer audience questions than run the planned presentation.
- Don’t read slides - tell a story.
- Don’t use more than 10 slides for a 30 minute presentation and make sure at least 10 minutes are left for interaction and dialogue.
- Don’t avoid answering questions of how much it costs or how long to deploy by saying: “it depends” - give an illustration with possible ranges and contexts.