Experienced Speakers Share Their Secrets for Hybrid & Virtual Event Success - Part 1

Prepping your industry and other non-professional speakers is crucial for your event’s success. Presenter deficiencies particularly stand out in virtual and hybrid forums. Most talent my bureau books developed substantial experience for years before the more recent compelled shift. Hybrid and virtual platforms have major similarities and differences for speakers, planners and producers. Here’s part one of my network’s best ideas.

Hybrid vs Virtual:

Share a key takeaway and invite the audience to post what they intend to do with what’s been heard. If it’s a hybrid meeting, ask them to write down what they commit to doing. Look directly into the camera and ask the online audience to post in the chat. Select a few and shine the spotlight on them. (Simon Bailey)

Try to avoid “instruction fatigue” (people exhausted from all the new things they needed to understand in order to participate). If there’s an in-person element, visit tables, help them to participate in any digital elements. Find a way to design platforms that interact more directly where your participants and members ALREADY ARE… i.e. Instagram / text / a new app. Instructions for other communication portals can be A LOT and sometimes TOO MUCH for a networking-instruction-seeking registrant to digest.
(Jeanne Stafford)

Try not to refer to specific dates because some participants are watching the recorded event on demand instead of live, in real time. (Sarita Maybin)

Playing to the live audience will be your natural inclination, but don’t neglect your virtual audience viewing from home. When you look your audience in the eye, include the camera as an extra special viewer. Give the camera some love!

Utilize technology such as polling and other mobile applications that work for both audiences simultaneously. This transcends the dual formats and the unites the audience. (Anders Boulanger)

Create a keynote with cross region examples to keep the audience engaged. More important: How would you deal with an audience split up in 5 parts? The English group starts laughing about a joke... and every few seconds later the Japanese or Spanish participants laugh. For the speaker, it means watching 5 groups closely... time, speed up or delay. Or tap into one of the 5 groups with a follow up remark. (Igor Breuker)

Be clear on how many in the audience will be live versus streaming. Do you want the speaker to focus on the live audience? Should the speaker acknowledge the virtual audience? (Joel Zeff)

Look out for part two coming soon.

By Mike Taubleb – Owner, Promenade Speakers Bureau
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