Amber Mac

I'm sitting in the lounge at the Winnipeg airport, just finished my last Keynote of 2008!  Since the fall of 2007, I've been working exclusively with The Lavin Agency as a speaker and, needless to say, they've kept me very busy.  From talking about the Do's and Don'ts of Social Media to Building Customer Loyalty on the Web, it's been an immersive year of learning and sharing.

After dozens of new cities, wonderful event hosts, and bad airplane food, I figured it might be time to write a post about my experiences (OK, who I am kidding, this blog post comes thanks to much prodding from my Twitter friends).

Here's is a pic of me taken with fellow Keynote Speaker David Warlick at an Education 2.0 event last week in London (thx Doug!)

THE DECK - Keep it fresh
When I first started doing Keynote speeches, I was constantly scrambling to create that one presentation that would really knock the socks off an audience (whether I was speaking to 10 people or 1,000).  But what I've realized over time is that it's critical for me to update my slides based on the audience that will sit in front of me.  Sounds like a pretty obvious concept, one that becomes more apparent over time (also, in the web world, trends change too quickly to rely on one deck).  Since I've spoken to such varied groups, from teams of probiotic scientists, oil engineers, and all-grades educators, I strive to find specific social media examples that will be relevant to each crowd.  This usually means I spend a lot of time researching new Web 2.0 trends, videos, articles, and tips online (with lots of help from my social networking communities and my partner in crime, Chris).

THE CONTENT - Keep it moving
Earlier this year, I consulted with Tony Robbins and worked at his events on behalf of my company MGImedia (we were helping him to launch a social network, which is still in the works).  I feel very fortunate to have experienced how Tony approaches his work, from backstage to on-stage to sitting in the audience.  What I've learned is that it's critical to keep your energy up on stage.  It's also important to engage an audience, which often means bringing people up on stage (which I do on a regular basis, so watch out!).  Tony also uses a lot of music and videos during his events, something that I try to incorporate in every single talk I do.  Just like people are opting to shift away from passive television viewing to active Internet participation, I believe event audiences want to actively taking part in each presentation they attend.

QUESTION PERIOD - Be prepared
My favourite part of speaking to small and big audiences is the question and answer period that follows each presentation.  This is valuable time to really connect with your audience, which often means having specific examples on hand to answer any question that might come your way.  I also think it's important during this time to have a pen and paper on hand, just in case you can't answer a question on the spot you definitely want to follow up with the person sending the stumper your way.

BEFORE AND AFTER - Be present
After interviewing author Don Tapscott, I am constantly reminded that in order to teach you must also listen.  I try to participate in all casual gatherings before and after I speak at events.  This time is really precious for me because I get a chance to hear about specific challenges an industry faces, and I often get wonderful examples of how individuals and organizations in a specific industry are already experimenting (successfully and unsuccessfully) with social media. 

On the topic of public speaking, there are hundreds of books and even more blog posts on the subject.  In other words, presentation advice comes in all shapes and sizes.  The best advice I can give is to know your "stuff" inside out and focus on thinking about how you can truly educate your audiences.  If you're fearful about getting up in front of a big crowd of people, practice your presentation in front of a mirror over and over again.  It sounds silly, but it can definitely help.

If anyone else has advice, by all means leave a post here on my blog.  Looking forward to more Keynotes in 2009, more wonderful event hosts, and (well, not so much) more bad plane food!

December 16th, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (9)