How to ... warm up a conference

Whether you're an event planner or conference chair, meeting your speakers before the event is one of the best things you can do. You'll get to know them. They'll get to meet you and each other. And you can begin to build valuable rapport and chemistry between the group. As a result, the event organiser and the audience benefit from a group of contributors that arrive well organised, in tune with each other, and ready to deliver.

Here's what to cover in this meeting to get the most from it.

Brief introductions: invite your speakers to share a short personal introduction and an elevator pitch on what they are going to speak about. As chair or facilitator, you can establish your credibility by asking a useful question, or highlighting your personal connection with the area under discussion.

Running time: ask your speakers whether they plan to run to time, under time or whether they're finding it hard to meet the time deadline. If they're running under, the emergency questions can be useful. If they're planning to run over, ask them by how much and then how they might adjust their presentation. In all cases it can be useful to agree on a discreet signal to indicate '5-minutes to go'.

Emergency questions: ask each of the speakers to give you a couple of questions that you can ask them. These are your 'safety nets' should there be a space between audience questions. And they smooth over any uncomfortable silences (AKA 'tumbleweed moments').

Format: what are they going to be using as part of their presentation? Slides are standard, but there may also be audio or video involved. Some speakers may plan to pause half way through, run a poll amongst the audience or to check in on the chat (if the session is online). By knowing what each speaker has planned and what they need from you, you'll be able to support them effectively.

Any other concerns: invite your speakers to share anything that might support them to deliver their part of the event well. Make a note of what comes up and pass it on to the organiser, asking for their input. Or you can offer support yourself should you be able to help.

Having this meeting helps you to help your speakers. And your speakers to help you. Working as a team, you become more than the sum of your parts. And elevate the value that you deliver to the audience, making it something quite special.

About the author:

John Scarrott is a communication skills trainer and ICF PCC Coach. He supports associations, societies and federations to add value to their events by offering training that enhances the performance of their speakers, chairs and facilitators.