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As a meeting and event professional, Jeff Hurt has hired more than 2,500 speakers in the past 10 years - and two criteria have risen to the top of his "must have" list for a good speaker: Delivery and Content. Yes, that might sound obvious, but how can you tell from a marketing video or canned presentation whether the speaker you're considering will "make or break" your event?
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Great question Rebecca and one I plan to explore more in upcoming blog posts. For me, I can usually tell from a video if the speaker has good delivery and content that will connect with my audiences. It's not about what I like in a presenter, it's about knowing my audience and what will resonate with 80%-90% of them. It helps that I have a background in education, pedagogy and training and have been evaluated for much of my adult life by audiences.
When I'm looking at a speaker's marketing video, I fast forward past the hype to the actual presentation. Most speakers win or lose their audiences in the first couple of minutes of the presentation. If the video does not contain a presentation, I automatically dump it and move to another speaker. I also look for camera shots that also include the audience.
I watch how the speaker interacts with his/her audience.
Is the speaker engaging that audience?
Do they start the presentation with an agenda? “Here’s what we’re going to cover today.”
Do they have good eye contact?
Are they using visuals?
Are they standing behind a podium or moving around the stage?
Are they reading a script or do they know their content well enough to present without it?
What's their stage presence like?
Do they command attention?
Do they have inflection in their voice?
How are they dressed?
Those are just a few of the questions I consider in the first couple of minutes.
One other thought, in my previous job, my salary was based on the average score of all the presenters I secured in a year. That made me study human dynamics, presenters and presentation skills even further because bottom line, it affected my wallet.
If you're looking for more information on good presentation skills, go to http://myweb.stedwards.edu/corinnew/commcoach/ It's a website dedicated to helping college students become more effective presenters. It contains ten topics, each with four flash videos. You watch the four flash videos and choose which one had the most effective presentation style for that topic. Example...eye contact with four videos. 3 show poor eye contact from a presenter and one shows good eye contact. It's a great tutorial for anyone wanting to learn more about good presentation skills or delivery as I call it.