Welcome to Radical Change Makers. Every week, I write about topics that I have learned about or want to learn about hoping that my learning can help you accelerate yours. I hope that my learnings and mistakes might help you improve your career, thought leadership, leadership, financial life, etc., Today’s post is to help you on your path to speaking at conferences written by Anita Rao

In the previous post, we shared tips to write a strong speaker submission. Whether you have been invited to speak at a conference or your application has been selected, it is time to start preparing. In this final part of the mini-series to amplify your voice, Anita Rao shares some tips on how to prepare for your speaking engagement.
Your preparation varies depending on the track and session format. Some common suggestions will apply to any session.
It would be best to have a structure that will include an introduction to the problem, the solution, and finally, the conclusion with benefits. Think about how you walk the audience through “What?”. “So What?” and “Now What”? Stories and metaphors are great ways to get your point across. A memorable and engaging story will not be forgotten. Use graphs, data, evidence, and case studies to drive your point.
Before starting to prepare your content and think about:
Who is audience
Where do they come from
What do they know
Why are they here
What biases do they have
Name the bias in the beginning (if there is one)
Let us cover some tips for a few session formats.
Presentation:
Check with the conference/event organizers if there is a template with the logo of the conference that they would prefer all speakers to use. If yes, use it. As you prepare your slides, consider having the following segments.
Introduction
Place the central message at the top of the slide
Start with a hook, get them on the edge of their seats to listen
Less is more
Less than five bullets per page
Pictures speak louder than words
Tell stories that people will remember
Body
Make your points in numbers – for example, tell them I will give you three reasons to lose weight. Number 1, it keeps you healthy. That way, they are paying attention and waiting for all 3.
Begin each body slide with a sentence-assertion headline that is left justified and no more than two lines
Conclusion
What will they learn and take back with them
What outcomes do you want them to remember
Other suggestions for slide preparation
Think in complete sentences, not a topic or title. Begin with the end in mind
Animation is for movement. It is effective while controlling the flow of information. Don’t show all data at once. Use flow charts and control the flow of information.
Use icons
Avoid using tech jargon
Summarize at the end
Repeat. Remind the audience what you talked about
Keep it visual – show a relevant graphic. Use words and suitable images. People are twice as likely to remember the information.
Use a full-sentence headline on a slide. State what you want the audience to learn and remember on a slide. Every slide has a storyline. State the central message of the slide in the headline.
Here is a suggested Assertion‐Evidence Slide Structure as documented in The Craft of Scientific Presentations (Michael Alley 2013)
Style
Begin each body slide with a sentence-assertion headline that is left-justified
and no more than two lines
Support the assertion headline with visual evidence (photographs, drawings, graphs, films, or words and equations arranged visually)—avoid bullet lists
In the body of the slide, use words only when necessary—design your slides
so that the audience reads no more than 20 words per minute
Typography
Use a bold sans serif typeface such as Calibri
Use 28 point type for the headline, 18–24 point type for the body text, and 12-14
point type (not bold) for reference listings
Avoid setting text in all capital letters, in italics, or with underlining
Layout
Keep blocks of text, especially the headlines, to no more than two lines
Keep lists to less than four items
Use small margins on the sides so that you can insert sufficient white space between elements—for instance, leave at least a half-inch of white space below the headline
Plan to spend no less than 3 mins per slide. Save time for Q&A. Practice numerous times. Have a friend video record your practice session and ask her to help you with feedback.
Hosting a Panel
While preparing for a panel, plan to have sessions with panelists to set expectations, review questions, and time allocation for each set of questions. It is a good idea to decide in advance if you would like every panelist to answer each question or move on to the next question if one or two panelists have addressed the question well and others would not offer new information. About four panelists with one moderator are optimal.
At the start of the panel, check the pulse of the audience. Then, ask the audience questions that are relevant to the session to gauge their experience, background, etc., so that you can steer the conversations as needed. Finally, throw in a live poll or two to engage the audience and make it interactive. Remember each session may need some pivots to cater to the audience. Do it on the fly.
Find points of common ground to engage the audience. Panelist answers should include the “so what” without deep technical details. So, what does all of this mean? It is important because of <explain>.
Give an interpretation of information, not just information. Try to connect the answers to a bigger picture.
Panelists establish a relationship of trust with the audience. Don’t fall in love with the details; filter and focus on the essential points. Some contention in a panel discussion makes the conversation interesting. Therefore, diverse panelists with differing points of engagement in a debate are most appealing.
Running a Workshops
It is good to have at least two speakers conducting a workshop. Prepare and practice with a partner. Take turns to present content and engage the audience in real-time exercises. Use materials for the workshop. It breaks the monotony of listening to slides and gives some hands-on experience of the content. The activities set the learning from the content presented.
Motivate the participants to go on a trip in the introduction
Keep the audience on the path
Use Video clips – to inspire interaction
Interactive live polls make the session interesting
In closing, I wanted to leave you with some tips that can apply to any session format:
Check out the room in which you are to speak in advance. Get familiar with it and mentally visualize yourself speaking confidently to an engaged audience
Build suspense and excitement
Ask thought-provoking questions – answers in a live poll or just raising hands
Use stories and examples
Use metaphors and analogies that make your data/content meaningful
Engage with a poll; conduct these at intervals to get a break from any repetitiveness
Have fun; if you get tense, the audience will feel your tension
Be creative and connect with the audience
Move around on a stage or platform (if you can)
Make eye contact with your audience
Change the intonation of your voice; monotonous tones put the audience to sleep
And finally, promote your session and event on social media before and after the event – remember you are building your brand! Enjoy the experience. Once you do it, you will want to keep doing it!
Remember the benefits of speaking at conferences:
You can hone your public speaking and leadership skills
Build technical and professional relationships
Showcase your work to thousands of technologists
Grow your skills through professional development
Develop your brand
To reference previous posts refer to this link. I would suggest reading the posts in succession.
Resources to help prepare for sessions
www.polleverywhere.com – to conduct polls with audience participation
https://thenounproject.com/ - for icons
https://venngage.com/ - for infographics
www.duarte.com/diagrammer - shapes to help build slides
Google Images – for visuals
https://unsplash.com/s/photos/presentation - for pictures
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