Authored by: Leslie Bailey

The true nature of a conference or meeting is to learn.

Through sessions, brain dates, even networking events, education is meant to be shared and interpreted to benefit the individual, inspiring ideas for the overall organization. As planners, we rely on our speakers to be the leaders and advocates of that education, however that starts with us in the speaker management process.

Included in a typical speaker management process is the educational aspect to set your speaker(s) up for success. Understanding the process and, in most cases, the technology involved is crucial for instilling confidence and assurance in your partnership and future engagements.

In the webinar, “How to Build the Ideal Speaker Management Process”, hosted by Sessionboard, we discussed the importance of educating speaker teams on the speaker management process and technology platforms used for session preparation. Often, the speakers we choose for our events are pressed for time and training on a process or platform isn’t priority number one. It is part of our role to help them fully grasp the usefulness and why it is in fact, worth their time.

Making training and education staples of your process paves the way for easier communication and lends more time for creativity and collaboration toward maximum engagement.

Below are four points of speaker education to focus on in your conversations with speakers.

Tools to Educate🛠️

‍Provide a range of tools that speakers can access to understand the process and technology. For example, if someone wants a quick tutorial, produce a short training video. For someone who likes step by step instructions, create and share a process doc. To go one step further, offer supplementary calls to walk through the process.

The “How”- technology platform(s) and process💻

‍In your timeline, build in time and calls for “live” training on the technology platform(s) used to collect content and speaker information, such as bios, headshots, and social media channels for promotion.

Pro tip: include this step in your speaker agreement for expected time commitment.

The “Why”🤔

‍Reiterate the significance of the speaker management process. While it might seem cumbersome to a veteran speaker or someone creating a shorter session, by agreeing to speak, they become an extension of your events team for a successful meeting.

The “When and Where”⏰🌉

‍Share the project timeline and content management platform with deliverables, due dates, and notes with speakers, specific to their session. Giving them a visual from the beginning of how your organization prepares and produces a session will help ensure they follow the process and ask questions.

Conclusion

Think of the education portion of your process as a cost/benefit analysis. The cost is time, commitment and understanding the process. The benefit is a happy and confident speaker, leading to a successful session and attentive participants. Providing necessary education puts more control and responsibility on the speaker, making them feel a part of the team that ensures participants have a memorable session experience.

For more information on how to build or refine your own speaker management process, and specifically a training plan, find us on LinkedIn to connect.

Sessionboard:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sessionboard/

Leslie Bailey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-wingler-events/

About Sessionboard

Sessionboard is a next generation speaker & content management platforms that simplifies the complex workflows and disjointed communications that exist around speaker and content management. From call for papers, abstract evaluation, awards, applications, agenda building, speaker onboarding and communication, Sessionboard helps event organizers work smarter, move faster, and improve their ROI.

The results? A faster-growing event, more productive staff, seamless collaboration with speakers and more time back to do what you do best—building epic experiences.

Sessionboard integrates with platforms like: ExpoPlatform, SwapCard, Gleanin, Snoball, Fuzion and many others.

Schedule a free demo today.

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