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I& #39;ve been doing a *lot* of talks since lockdown, and I have been amazed by how smooth and low effort some are, and how painful others are.
For 95% of them, you are not paid. An hour of good content takes 8 hours to develop.
So, conference organisers, what can you do better?
For 95% of them, you are not paid. An hour of good content takes 8 hours to develop.
So, conference organisers, what can you do better?
1. Allow the presenter to use their own slide template and present from their own machine.
I average a slide or animation every 20 seconds. Don& #39;t make me use some weird tool that breaks animations, or worse, ask me to say "next slide".
I average a slide or animation every 20 seconds. Don& #39;t make me use some weird tool that breaks animations, or worse, ask me to say "next slide".
2. Don& #39;t overdo it with the dry-runs and tests. If your platform works, then dialling in 15 minutes ahead of time is enough.
I& #39;ve had to sit through two dry-runs before, taking up an additional hour of time.
I& #39;ve had to sit through two dry-runs before, taking up an additional hour of time.
3. State the time zone for times! I don& #39;t want to guess if you mean my time zone or yours.
And use a sensible format for dates, not the US format.
And use a sensible format for dates, not the US format.
4. Choose a good platform. I& #39;ve used some that are really, really awful. I know that big audiences can& #39;t just use Zoom, but some are really painful.
5. If you allocate Q&A time, have some ready-made questions! Not all audiences are vocal. Especially for first-time presenters, if the audience says nothing, it can feel quite disheartening.
