MBA2377 How I Prepare to Speak on Stage at Conferences

0:08Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show! Practical business lessons you can count on, delivered on a silver platter. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. I'm also the co-founder of Webinar Ninja, an innovative software company I started back in 2014. And in today's lesson, you will learn how I prepare to speak on stages at conferences. I've been public speaking professionally for about 10 years now. I've invested a lot in this skill. I've had multiple coaches, speech coaches, stage performance coaches, you name it. And in today's lesson, I'm going to walk you through the A to Z of my process of preparing a great presentation and making sure I deliver from the conception of the topic or the idea of my presentation all the way to the moment I step on stage.

0:58And even a little bit after I get off stage, getting on stages instantly makes you an authority. You are literally above everybody else in that moment. and it's a great way for you to build upon your brand and get your message out in the world. I also find it to be like networking on steroids. When you speak on stages at conferences, people wanna speak to you, people wanna meet you, people wanna work with you. So it's actually worth you investing to make speaking on stages a part of your business, part of what you do as an entrepreneur. Let's get into it, let's get down to business. Now I admit that in the last few years, I haven't spoken a lot on stages, primarily because of COVID.

1:36And most times I would speak at conferences through Zoom, online, you get it. But in the last year or so, I have been making an effort to speak more publicly, get on stages, get to those conferences, and make it happen. In fact, in the month of October, I'm sitting at two conferences in the same week. So let me walk you through my whole process of making sure I deliver at these conferences and do my best on stage. I like to start by saying that my goal when I speak on stage is to give so much value that the audience feels like it was worth the price of admission for the actual conference, the flights, the accommodations, the everything, just from my speech alone.

2:15Talk about pressure, right? But seriously, I'm really trying to make whatever time I have on stage, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, really matter, to really make an impact on the audience, whether I'm going to change their mindset about something or give them some strategies they haven't thought about that could really help their business or show them a different way to do things or think about something. The reason why this is my goal is because I resonate with this goal. Because when I experience a speech like that, I fall in love with the speaker. I want to figure out what they do and check out their website, buy their books, buy their programs.

2:47I want more. And that's exactly the impression I want to make on my audience. So it starts about two months before the actual date I'm on stage at the conference. This is where the real work begins. Now, some work happens before that, months in advance where I'm going back and forth with the conference. Organizers were nailing down a topic for the actual speech or workshop. They let me know how much time I have, all that kind of stuff. But once it's nailed down, I will then get to work about two months before the conference. Now, one thing I want to say when it comes to topics is don't agree to topics you are unfamiliar with.

3:29They might say it'd be great for you to talk about this. And you might say, oh, they think I know about this. I got to figure it out by then. That's not a good idea. You should have a set of topics that you feel comfortable talking about. This is your area of expertise. This is what you really know how to add value and show people what to do with. You should have a set of topics that you know you can add value to. This is kind of like a comedian has a bunch of sets that they work on and they only work on those sets. The best speakers in the world only speak about certain topics and they have a set talk on each topic.

4:04So maybe they say, I speak about these three topics and each topic has a set talk. They don't create new talks every day. They just give the talk to new audiences. So just keep this in mind. Don't feel forced to talk about something you're not comfortable with. When you're having this discussion, say, hey, here are my three topics. Here are my three titles. Here are some bullet points for these titles. This is what I'm good at. This is where I can deliver value to your conference. And if they say, hey, none of these work for us, and they want you to speak about something completely different that you're not familiar with, maybe it's not a good match.

4:36Maybe it's time to move on and find another conference, another opportunity. All right, 60 days out. This is what I do. I got my topic. I got my outline already set up. I know what I'm trying to cover here. I know I'm trying to communicate through the topic and the outline. When I say outline, it's literally five or six bullet points of the outcomes I want my audience to achieve. And it all starts with a blank Google doc. I literally write word for word a script of what I want to communicate on stage. This is super, super rough. I'm just basically doing a brain dump, dropping all the ideas in the order I'd like to communicate them.

5:14And this is just how I work. I'd like to do this because I just want to get everything out there on paper. And then I read that whole script out loud. I look how much time it takes. I realize, of course, this needs refinement. It needs some work. And of course, if I read it and it took me, you know, say 25 minutes to read it when I'm on stage, it's going to be far longer than that because I'm going to pause. I'm going to elicit answers from the actual audience. I'm going to stretch it out. I'm moving around. I'm not just reading off a script. So once I have my roughed script all written out, what I do then is I start editing.

5:48I start changing. I start removing things that are kind of unnecessary. I don't really need this. I just kind of get brutal about what actually needs to be said. And in this process, I will start writing things in a different color that will be internal notes that will help the script get shorter and get more concise. What are these internal notes? Well, things like show slide of this. Sometimes you can just show an image and it'll communicate so much. I don't have to say a lot. I then go through and I like to then modify my script to make it entertaining. This is very important. A lot of people don't do this is that you want to be memorable.

6:25You want it to be fun and people actually learn better and comprehend and retain the information better when it's fun, when it's funny, when it's entertaining. Think about your favorite teachers in school. They're the ones who are cool and nice and funny. You want to be that kind of person on stage so that you could be memorable. So I actually intentionally make sure I have something fun or funny or a joke or an anecdote or a story that will get a laugh or get a giggle or get them thinking or even shock them every so often, maybe every five minutes or so. And I make those green because when I'm later on going to practice the script, I want to make sure that I have good comedic timing and I focus on those.

7:07Once I have a script pretty laid out, edited, modified, got my notes in there, I do another run through, I read it out loud and see how it feels as it flows. Does it seem natural? It does. Great. The next step are my slides. Now, I highly recommend you get professionally designed slides for your speeches. You only have to do this once because you're just going to brand it with your own personal brand or your business brand and they're going to look brilliant. And there's lots of freelancers that could do this for you, create versions on Canva, PowerPoint, Keynote, you name it. I have somebody on my team who does a brilliant job, Cindy, and she creates a template for me.

7:42Now, this template doesn't have a content, but now it's time for me to transfer how I'm going to communicate the script with slides. Now, rule of thumb is if I can read your slides, if I can go through your slides and pretty much you get the gist of your speech, you are useless. okay the slides are a visual aid they're not the teacher they're not the script it's not a transcription of your speech i shouldn't fully understand what's going on by looking at your slides it kind of should make me curious what is this speech about what is this all about what's this thing that's funny what's that relating to i like the teacher rule which is you don't want to put so many words or texts on the slides where they have to like read it like a book the teacher rules says basically whatever you put on a t-shirt put on a slide no more than that you wouldn't put more than two sentences on a t-shirt otherwise it would take people a little bit longer to read what's on your t-shirt they would like follow you around to find out what what else does it say i like to use visuals and punchy language even one word slides now when it comes to multimedia i like to keep it simple because there's so much that can go wrong on stage with tech with software with the clicker.

8:56I don't have any animations on my slides. I actually do manual builds, meaning you know how you can have slides build one point at a time with an animation? I don't even do that. I actually create a separate slide for each bullet point as it builds. So maybe slide one will have one bullet point, slide two will have bullet point one and then bullet point two, and so on and so forth because I don't want to risk anything to any software. I don't need anything fancy. It's fine if it does that. You are the star of the show on stage, not your slides, okay? So don't overdo it with the slides where things can go wrong.

9:29That means I seldomly use video. I've done it once and it went well, but it was touch and go. I use images. I use GIFs. I use text, of course, illustrations, and the element of surprise. I like to surprise my audience with the next slide where they're like, whoa, I didn't expect that to happen. And it works really well with what I'm about to say next. Now, your slides are visual aid. They help you through the speech. And they're incredibly effective when you never look at them. The best speakers on stage never look at their slides. They don't look backwards. They don't look down on the screen in front of them.

10:07They know their slides. That means you have to rehearse. That means you have to know your script. You have to know your speech so well. You know when to click. You know when next slide is going to appear. Next slide, next slide, next slide. So when I rehearse my speech, I might go through my script over and over, and then I will stand up. I will actually deliver my speech in my office with my slides, and I know exactly when to click. And I practice when I have to click every single time with a little manual clicker in my hand. There's something more impactful when you're making a point, and you're looking at the audience in the eye, and then you switch slides, and then the actual point drops.

10:43And people are like, whoa, that was a good point. And you never lost that connection. One of the things I learned from Michael Port, my speech coach, is you want to always keep that connection with the audience. Never look down, never look up, look straight into the audience, look eye to eye with a member of the audience. Stay connected and the slides are there to help you. So this means you're going to rehearse a lot. So about a month away, I'm rehearsing over and over once a week, twice a week, three times a week as we get closer. A few days away, I'm rehearsing a couple times a day. Now, I might not rehearse as much if I've done this speech before, but if it's a new speech, I'm rehearsing my pants off because I want to make sure it's perfect and my delivery is amazing.

11:22You may know your content, but do you know how to deliver it in an amazing way to just knock their socks off? And I want to make sure of that. When you know your material, you know how to deliver, you know your script, you know your slides, you know it so well, it doesn't matter how nervous you are. It's just like knowing your favorite song. Now, we're a couple of days away from the actual conference. I like to have the day before the conference as free as possible. No appointments, no work. I like to get a good night's sleep. I like to have like an easy day that day. Maybe go out for lunch, enjoy a company with some interesting people, maybe other speakers.

11:54I may go back to my room later that night, maybe in the early evening, rehearse my speech one more time, go to bed, get up early. I like to exercise and give myself some energy in the morning, rehearse it one more time. And then I like to do a tech check the morning of the actual conference. So if I'm getting on stage that day, I like to do a tech check before the conference opens or starts. Make sure my slides work on the screen and all that kind of stuff. My laptop, if I'm hooking up my laptop or their laptop. Just want to go through everything, make sure it looks good before all the attendees are in the room.

12:26Looks great. Tech check is working. Mike is working. We're good to go. I feel confident. I feel ready. I like to request early slots in the conference. I like to get my speech done and dusted before lunch on the first day. Ideally, I like to do it the second session. So usually the first session of the conference is an opening session by the conference organizer. And then I like to then do my speech. I have people fresh, they're warmed up, their coffee's kicked in. They are ready for me. After lunch, people are a little bit sleepy. Right before lunch is okay, but they might be thinking about the food.

13:01So that's kind of the timing I like. before I get on stage. I make sure I have good enough water, gone to the bathroom. I empty my pockets. I make sure there's nothing in my pocket to distract me. I take off my Apple Watch that could go off at any time. I get mic'd up. I'm ready to go. And I just rehearse in my head the first minute of my speech. Usually once you get going and you just know really well how to get started, it all starts to flow again because you rehearsed it so much. So I just do that over and over and over. Maybe I have it on my phone and I look at it over and over. The next slide, next slide, next slide.

13:32until I drill it into my head and I feel super confident. I take a couple of deep breaths and I get on stage and I do my best. I deliver. If there's time for Q &A, I like to answer questions and interact with the audience. And even during the speech, I like to have interaction as much as possible. I'm going to write things down to think about things, to answer questions, to raise their hands, to get them moving, get them invested in my speech. I like to close off by saying, hey, if you have any questions about what I shared today, I'm going to be around at the conference, at lunch, at whatever.

14:04Please come up to me. I'd love to have a discussion with you. This gives them an invitation to come up to me, an excuse to network with me. And I like to meet people so I can learn about them and I can learn how I can help them and how they can help me and all that kind of stuff. Now, speaking on stage is tiring. Immediately when you get on stage, you're going to feel high, but you're going to also feel very tired. So it's okay if you want to take a little break, 10, 15 minute break, go back to your room or get a coffee, go for a stroll, and then head back into the room. Throughout the rest of the conference, I want to meet people, talk to people, get to know people.

14:34I make myself as much available as possible. I don't have anything on my calendar when I'm on conferences. I don't do any of the regular work I do during the regular week because this is what I'm doing. This is my job is to meet people, to understand people, to understand my market, understand opportunities that might be around the corner, and just give value and help people. It's all going to come back to you eventually. I hope that helps sharing my whole methodology, A to Z, preparing for a speech at a conference. It's worked for me so far, and I'm always refining it because you can always get better and better.

15:07Thanks so much for listening to The$100 BA Show. If you love what you hear, hit follow, hit subscribe on your favorite podcast app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, whatever it might be. Hit follow, hit subscribe so you get the next episode automatically, and you get access to our archive episodes, over 2 ,300 episodes in our archives. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Once it's time to get on stage, it's time to have fun. You've worked so hard on the speech, on your slides, on your script, on your content, on your delivery. You rehearsed your heart out, right? Now, when it's time to just jump on stage, I remind myself, smile, have fun, enjoy it.

15:43Because when you're enjoying yourself, the audience will enjoy themselves. They will feel your excitement and your happiness. And hey, you should be proud. You've worked hard on this. Now it's time to enjoy. Have a good time. Be yourself. Show your personality and just leave it all on the stage. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Wednesday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

16:23You