10 things your Professional Speaker should do
Hiring a professional speaker can be expensive, however if you do your research beforehand it could prove to be a great investment for your event. Here we look at the attitudes and actions which professional speakers should exhibit.
Guest Speakers - What should you consider before booking one?
One of the most important questions to ask before you book a guest speaker for your event is What message do you want the speaker to convey to your audience?
Top 5 Tips for finding the right venue for your event
Finding the right venue for your next event need not be a major headache if you follow our 5 Top Tips ....
It will never happen to me! Event Insurance - do I really need it?
How many people in our industry consider Event Insurance? Specialist insurer Hiscox stated that there was a predictable rise in claims for event insurance earlier this year. Despite this, most events were not insured for bad weather at all. Read on for our Top 10 insurance tips ...
The Disability Discrimination Act - Profiting from compliance
As an Event organiser, you know it is the right thing to do, you know you have to do it and you know it makes commercial sense..
10 Commercial reasons to address DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)
7 Top Tips for finding an accessible venue
10 Essential Budget Planning Tips for your Event
Preparing a definitive budget for an event is a challenging task with so many factors to consider, however with the help of our 10 Essential Budget Planning Tips, we hope that the next budget you prepare will be easier to create and pleases the purse holders!
7 Top Tips for a successful Site Inspection visit
Site inspections, or showrounds, serve only one purpose - to ascertain whether a venue is the most suitable venue for your particular event. Below we identify our 7 Top Tips for a successful Site inspection visit:
6 Top Tips for Hosting a Successful Corporate Golf Day
How to use the "Credit Crunch" to your advantage
How can Red Dragon Events help you benefit from the Credit Crunch? More than ever venues need to retain as much exisiting business as possible whilst continuing to attract new business. There are a number of ways in which this can be used to your advantage:
The Spying Game - How Safe is your conference?
"Eureka" moment at 10.04pm
10.04pm "Eureka" moment may spell the end of the early nights! - 4.33pm is the least creative time of the day; - The shower is found to be the most inspiring space; - Women are better at retaining their creative ideas
Conference Food and its effect on your delegates
Conference food - how does the food you serve effect your delegates?
Referral Incentive Scheme
New - Referral Incentive Scheme! Earn a minimum of £50 Bonus Bond vouchers for every successful referral you provide us over a certain booking value! Plus another £50 worth of bonus bond vouchers to the person you referred us to!
Crash Course in organising a Christmas Party 2008
Christmas parties are often the highlight of the year for many companies. Below we have listed some helpful tips to make sure you have a great time!
Early-Eager or PM Professional
A new report shows tapping into a delegate's natural human rhythms can aid productivity, concentration and retention. The Meeting Minds report by Dr Lawrence Smith, senior lecturer at the Institue of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, applies psychological theory regarding human rhythms, sleep and work scheduling to the meetings industry.
Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement - incorporating new technology
Crash Course in Audio Visual
Using the latest technology can be an important tool in getting the message across at your next event. We have identified below some key points to consider when creating the maximum effect from your AV.
Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event
Read our Top Tips for Welcoming Guests to your event!
Top Tips for Hosting a Memorable Corporate Golf Day
Golf is considered one of the most important tools in Corporate Entertaining.
10 Top Tips for Holding Greener Meetings
1. Save Paper. Using new media and electronic technology can cut down your paper use.
Hiring a professional speaker can be expensive, however if you do your research beforehand it could prove to be a great investment for your event. Here we look at the attitudes and actions which professional speakers should exhibit. 1 - Tailor the speech to your audience. There's no excuse for delivering the same presentation every time, regardless of who is listening. Every audience is different, so every speech needs to be tailored to meet their needs too. 2 - Never complain A professional never criticises the technology, the acoustics or the organisation of the event. They simply do the best job they can under the circumstances. 3 - Start and finish on time. As a mark of respect to the audience, the organisers and the other speakers, timekeeping is paramount. It is never appropriate to appeal to the audience to try to get more time (this is not a rock concert after all!). The next speaker will suffer as a result. 4 - Keep the organiser informed. It is not good enough simply to turn up on the day, an hour or so before your speech. They should make contact a day or two before the event, and on their way there on the day. You will feel much more comfortable if they do. 5 - Match the talk to the description. Make sure that what they prepare matches what has been promised, and written-up in the event literature. One of the main causes of disappointment is that the audience expected something different from what was delivered.
6 - Make an early start. Make arrangements for them to get into the room long before the sessions start to do a full technical rehearsal. This will give them ample time to check the audio, go through their moves on stage, run through any slides, and check the handover between speakers. If possible, ask the conference chair to be there too for a few minutes to check arrangements. 7 - Be in the room as the audience arrives. This will provide the opportunity for some conversation with them, which will make an early connection, and help to relax both you and them. They should never rehearse their presentation while audience members are present. 8 - Don't promote products. Unless you have made an arrangement with them, they should not promote their products from the stage. Even if it is agreed, make sure it is a minor part of their speech, and clearly separate from the main body of the presentation. 9 - Tell them how not why. The audience has come to learn something that they can take away and use. Although they may be interested in the reasons, what they really want to know is how to make things different. 10 - Have fun.. There's nothing worse than a presenter who looks like they are sucking a lemon. If they have fun, so will your audience, and they will be open-minded and relaxed, so they will learn much more.
Source: This information was initially written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk. Alan Stevens is an expert in dealing with the Media.
