Conferences are just networking events interrupted by sessions.
Too many panelists just blather away about their company. Not enough data is shared. Actionable data. Not enough story telling.
I’ll say it again, if you show a video during your session, you should never speak in public again. A presenter’s role is to tell a story. To paint a picture.
I have seen too many videos in the slide deck. It has never made an impact.
May I suggest practice? Get your thoughts together and practice at least once.
Do you know why there is no one in your session? Because too many people have sat through too many sessions that were worthless. Invaluable use of their time. Time isn’t money – it is way more valuable than that. An attendee is trading her time to get a valuable nugget.
This is the problem that conference owners have: how do you overcome the years of worthless sessions?
At least in the early days of TV, they were honest. Now a word from our sponsors. Some podcasts do that (although 2 minutes of ads is too much for anyone).
I don’t know if you noticed but ads are stuffed everywhere – LinkedIn, twitter, every web page, every article, every video. And as an expo producer, the thinking is stuff more sponsored content in there? Do you know why they have to pay to have a session? Because no one would listen otherwise!! The only one happy is the expo producer who got the cabbage.
Now after years of this, after the pandemic, the flood gates of virtual and live events are open – and the competition for attention (and attendees) is huge. So if you want to have a better conference, start with Conference 3.0. Reset. Get rid of the same stale speakers that you have traipsed out on stage often. Get rid of the guy selling his book.
Facilitate. Germinate. Create Value.
Need help? Look at what we are doing at CVX Expo in November in Scottsdale. Or look at the format for Ignite (5 minute with 20 slides auto-advancing) or BarCamp (the Un-conference) or TEDx. This gets audience participation, social mentions, and so much more. It builds community. Trust me, I did it in Tampa Bay.