Outstanding conference staging

Two recent conferences that I have been involved in stand out for me. The first was Google Zeitgeist in the UK ,which was once again a spectacular success not just in content and structure but also in the way it was staged. Brand Fuel created a unique high-tech, TV studio type environment for several hundred European CEOs and senior business leaders. Loads of lights and gantries. Well positioned screens around the room. Lots of ground-breaking video clips brought by panellists to illustrate how they are shaping the future.

The other was the MTN global leadership summit. This was held in South Africa. Massive screen across the entire stage area. Stage itself projected right into the audience in three spokes from the centre, again with brilliant varied lighting, and huge globes onto which all kinds of images were projected to create a feeling of different worlds. It created a sense of theatre the moment people walked in. You can see the results by watching video clips....

http://www.youtube.com/pjvdixon

Tips for conference organisers

Do make sure that the conference venue is easy to get to by a variety of routes – especially if the conference is relatively short.  I went to speak at a conference in the Lake District today (Northern England) – beautiful setting by Lake Windermere but no airports anywhere near and roads in and out are slow. Fastest rail to London over three hours.

 

Delightful of course once you arrive, but limiting for an international event (the participants were almost all from the UK and many from the North.

 

 

Chad Hurley interviewed by Dr Patrick Dixon at Zeitgeist Europe 2007

Chairing of event for Google CEO Summit on the fascinating growth of YouTube to a $1.6bn company in just 15 months.

Conference speakers need proper briefing

Many conference organisers have only an outline in their mind when they first start to look for speakers to fill their programmes. Great ideas develop best together, and the strongest corporate events often come out of early conversations with world class thinkers, about what the biggest issues will be for participants in a few months time.

All great conferences are meeting points between the organising team, their faculty of speakers and participants.

The most important thing is to know what you want out of the event, what take home messages you want people to have in their minds as the event closes, and what you want them to remember in a year or two.

The next most important thing is to line up your biggest speakers as early as possible. People who have a great reputation for delivering wonderful, provocative, thought-provoking and entertaining presentations.

One reason for early action is that diaries get booked up a long time ahead. Another reason is that they will bring with them vital insights which will help your conference develop - at least that is what you hope. The best speakers at conferences are usually team players whose greatest concern is the wider success of your event, rather than just their own time slot. They get involved, they make themselves available before and after their own sessions, and contribute in many other subtle ways to the atmosphere of the event.

Try to avoid speakers who seem to have no interest in you or your event apart from turning up (briefly) to give a their standard message and getting paid.
Audiences can tell the difference and you will too.

Tips for conference speakers

Always listen to the client and never give the same presentation twice.

Make sure that every presentation you give is a unique process that comes out of a conversation with the conference organisers and the people they report to. Each element in a conference should continue the story line in a joined-up way to build a powerful and comprehensice picture for participants.

Listen to your audience, watch their every move. Every gesture and subtle change in posture or expression can be giveaway signs of what is within.

Involve them, tell the stories, look for reaction, and ask questions.

Straw polls can be very revealing to you and the organisers as well as to participants, helping us all to understand what people are really thinking and feeling about particular issues, or to identify common experiences.