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Some conferences like to tap into C-level executives and industry experts as keynote speakers for their events. For example, a large technology conference would target C-level executives from large companies and industry experts as speaking resources.
Hiring a well-known executive/expert is a huge win for event planners because these speakers will draw more people to the conference based on name recognition alone and provide a significant amount of informational value. Also, these people will usually speak at the event for free, the cost of travel and accommodation, or actually pay to be on the platform. For the executive/expert, a great conference could really get your name or product in front of your target market.
This, of course, sounds like a win-win plan. The event planner qualified a top level executive/expert to speak for little or no cost and the executive/expert gained great exposure for their company in front of their target market.
Unfortunately, what seems like a win-win usually turns out to be a win-win-lose. Both people forgot about the people who are actually putting their money on the line and butts on the seats; the public -or as I like to call it- the most valuable person in the room; the client.
The customer usually ends up sitting through hours of poor delivery by someone who has no platform skills and may well have paid for the privilege. I’ve seen audience members spend more time checking email and hitting their high score on Angry Birds than listening to the person they came to listen to. Just because someone is a “talking expert” does not make them a “talking expert”.
One attendee, at a conference that will remain unnamed, said: “It was a total waste of time. Everyone was talking about ‘Cloud Computing’, promoting their latest product under the guise of poor education, and the information was incongruous from a point of view. view. person to the next”. This attendee was a director of a large company who brought 15 of his employees to the conference at a cost of $3,000 each. That conference just lost a $45,000 client. If you think it doesn’t matter because the room is full of attendees, you are sorely mistaken. Many conferences experience a significant drop in repeat attendees due to poor platform delivery, regardless of speaker name, rank, and serial number.
By not putting the customer first, this means that event organizers have to constantly fill the pipeline with new attendees because the original customers won’t waste money. And recovering them is a chimera. Fortunately, with a small investment from the hiring organization, this can be quickly remedied.
Use the professionals to improve the experts
Before the conference starts, select a single professional speaker who will prepare the audience for an amazing event and/or train the executives/experts to do it flawlessly.
For example: I have a background in information technology, which means I understood the geek language of selected executives/experts at a recent technology conference. I worked with them ahead of time to create their speeches and streamline their messages, improve delivery skills to engage the audience, and improve platform skills to deliver like a pro. As the rookies killed the audience with PowerPoint bullets; newly trained executives/experts received high engagement ratings and very happy audience members.
Reduce expenses with premium activities
This is one of the least used areas and it is the most powerful. Use your professional speaker to create opportunities to increase revenue and offset costs while leveraging your executives/experts. As part of my contract, I created a networking activity for attendees and also moderated a “Meet the Experts Luncheon Panel.” Both events were open to only 10% of the 3,000 event attendees, were hosted by a sponsor, and were sold at a premium to participants. Imagine having lunch with Bill Gates or Padmasree Warrior. This event alone was enough to cover the costs of having a professional speaker available.
Close on a HIGH NOTE
When the last day of a major conference arrives, people are ready to head to the airports; however, this is also a great time for a great mixer. Instead of seizing every moment for yet another class of some kind, use your speaker to close with an activity to solidify the benefits of the conference and get people to sign up for the next one.