If you are a speaker for one of our events, first of all, THANK YOU! We could not do this without you.
This page lists some things you will need to know as well as some suggestions for making your session better. Some of this is common sense, some of it is unique to Philly as a market (hey, we're Philly...we've got a certain "atty-tood" :-) ).
All sessions are 75 minutes long – 60 minutes for the presentation and 15 minutes for Q&A. All session rooms will hold approximately 50 people. Feel free to use whatever slide template you would like for your slides. We will send out 2-3 slides to be inserted into all speaker’s decks a few weeks before the event. *Most* rooms have internet access but we cannot guarantee it. If you absolutely must have internet access for your presentation and do not have other options, please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.If you are a product or services company, your session is NOT the opportunity to do a sales pitch. We all know your company/product/service is wonderful, but you WILL alienate your audience if you try to do a sales presentation to them. That's not what they're here for. The best presentations will mention your company/product on the "About Me" slide in about 20 seconds and then go into the topic material never mentioning the company/product again. If are from a sponsor company, you can always invite people back to your booth after you session is over to discuss things further, and at that point, feel free to pull out the full sales pitch. If you are not from a sponsoring company, you can invite people to chat with you further in the hallway or other common areas.If you are new to SPSPhilly as a speaker, it is a fairly laid-back event, but people still have high expectations of the speakers. Try to engage your audience in a conversation rather than just lecture to them. 50 people in a room is a far more intimate venue than 500 people in a conference hall. Attendees want to feel a connection to the speakers. People will tend to be pretty forgiving if a demo doesn't work, so long as you don't BS them. Unfortunately, they can also be fairly tough in their evaluations if multiple demos don't work or they feel you are trying to pull the wool over their eyes.If you are new to the speaker circuit, don't sweat it. This is a great venue to get your feet wet. The most important thing is to practice your presentation and your demos beforehand. Once you get in the room and begin your sesion, RELAX. Go slowly and try to connect with the audience. As I've said, most people are pretty forgiving if they see you making a sincere effort to teach them a few things and that you've done your preparation ahead of time.I can't speak for other markets, but in Philly, if you don't know the answer to a question, just say so. Don't try to BS the audience. They'll see that and rip you to shreds for it. Just say, "I don't know, but it's a great question. Keep an eye on my blog and I'll get an answer posted there as soon as I can" - and then follow up with the blog posting ASAP. You can usually get away with 1 or 2 of these. If you try to do this too many times, though, it won't go over well.I really cannot stress #5 enough. In the past, the worst speaker evaluations we have received have ALL included comments along the lines of "it was a sales pitch". Have fun! Connect with your audience both during your session and afterwards. People may want to chat later in the day - encourage it!
Hopefully these pointers will help you out. If there's anything we can do to help make your session better, please feel free to contact us. |