DEBORAH GARDNER,
C M P , provides Meeting News
For Speakers™. As a CMP, she has
presented to hundreds of meeting
industry organizations. Reach her at
Deborah@DeborahGardner.com.
;
MAKE AN
IMPACT
ARE YOU FEEDING
AUDIENCE ADDICTION?
What could possibly be wrong with
activities that bring fun and levity
into the mix? According to Je; Hurt
of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting,
a conference improvement firm,
“Moments of ‘wow’ create fleeting
moments of dopamine-induced
pleasure. Dopamine is the feel-good
neurotransmitter.”
As speakers, we want to be mem-
orable. We want our audiences and
meeting planners talking about us
long after we are gone. But is memo-
rable the same as transformational?
Hurt says, “Effective conference
planning teams identify the challenges
and problems their customers need to
solve. Then they design the conference
experience around those solutions.
They seek to engage the audience’s
prefrontal cortex to engage with
deeper insights that last.”
Successful speakers understand
the goal of their presentation and
then design the mix of essential
content, engagement, reflection, and
transformation that meets the client’s
and the audience’s needs. If we can
do all of that and have everyone
talking about us long after the pre-
sentation, all the better. ■
ARE YOU READY TO
AMP UP ENGAGEMENT?
Debi Scholar, CMP, a corporate meet-
ing professional, recommends you
“experiment and be bold by amping
up participant engagement with role
plays, games, group discussions, and
demonstrations.”
That’s what Corey Perlman, a social
media and digital marketing expert,
does with his audiences by using col-
orful strings in his wrap-up activity.
“I do this exercise to summarize my
message,” Perlman says. It gets people
moving and more engaged, and it’s a
ton of fun. Plus, it makes for an awe-
some photo op!”
Linda Keith, CPA, CSP, starts o;
her two-day training on tax return
analysis by passing out Legos.
“Chatting with each participant as I
give them toys immediately reduces
their anxiety that the training will be
boring or beyond their abilities.” Keith
also knows that some learners will
absorb the content better if they are
engaged in doing something creative
at the same time.
Visit speakermagazine.com to
check out these blog posts about
impactful engagements:
Change the Way You Talk
About Change ¢ Learn the two
elements necessary for audience
transformation.
Seated Ovations: How to Measure
Your Presentation’s Success
¢ How to get your audience to
think and feel deeply.
5 WAYS
TO BUILD
ENGAGEMENT
Try one or more of these effective
experiential and interactive ideas
to help engage your audiences:
LIVE BAROMETER, also called
body voting. Participants receive
a statement or challenge, then
physically move and measurably
create solutions within groups.
SPEED NETWORKING, an
accelerated networking process
with a bell. Participants connect
during multiple three- to four-minute knowledge rounds.
UNCONFERENCE, also called
open space, has no agenda or
program. Instead, the content is
participant-driven.
FIRESIDE CHATS are informal
discussions facilitated by a
participant expert in each group.
TIME-LIMITED PRESENTATION,
examples include Ignite or Pecha
Kucha, where a speaker shows
20 images, each for 20 seconds.
The whole talk is done in less
than six minutes and participants
take over the rest of the session
to discuss.
