9 Tips to Effectively Use Handouts to Keep the Focus on You and the Message

You’re having a conversation on your cell phone and suddenly you realize your listener is no longer there.  Your phone lost its signal and you have no idea how long you’ve been talking to yourself.  Do you ever have a similar experience leading a conference call while interacting with handouts?  Your listeners have a copy of your handouts and you have no idea if they’re following you or are pages ahead in the handout.

We’ve fallen into the trap of reading to our listeners and treating them like 2-year-olds.  We make the assumption our listeners can’t read.  I’ve asked my audiences thousands of times, “What drives you crazy when you’re participating in a conference call?”  The top two responses are:

1.  "When the facilitator is boring and doesn’t know how to hold my interest."
2.  "When the facilitator reads to me page by page from their handout."

Your handout's purpose is to add impact and emphasis to your message, which means you will better connect and engage your listeners.  You’ll also have more control over what your listener hears and what they remember.

The key is to create balance between you, your listener and the handout. Follow these 9 tips for your listeners to get the most out of your message and the handout.

1.  Acknowledge the handout immediately at the beginning of the conference call: “Does everyone have their handouts with them?  Who has had the opportunity to review the handout?”  You first MUST identify who is with you in the beginning.

2.  Continue to set your standards for the success of the call.  “You may be tempted to page through the handout rather than follow along as I explain the takeaway from each page.  To give you a clear understanding of how we came up with these results I recommend you follow along as I move through the handout.”  I’m not saying this will guarantee EVERYONE stays with you 100%.  Your goal is to facilitate and manage the information your listener walks away with.  Therefore, you need to do whatever you can to keep the majority of your listeners with you.

3.  If your listeners have the tendency to turn to the back of the handout because that’s where the “good stuff” is located (results, benefits, action steps, etc.), consider placing these pages in the front of your handout.

4.  Frequently throughout the call, check in with your listeners.  Are they still with you?  Do they need additional information based on the handout takeaway?

5.  Provide an introduction prior to displaying a new page, concept or idea.  This is a reminder to your listeners where you are within your handout.

6.  Take your time as you move from page to page and point to point.  Pause immediately after moving onto a new page, concept or idea.  Pausing will give you time to think and give your listener time to see, absorb and understand.

7.  Rather than reading from the handout, explain the takeaway from each page.  Your listeners know how to read!  When you pause after introducing a new page, your listeners have an opportunity to READ.  If you’re reading from the page while your listener is trying to read, they’ll MISS your message!

8.  If there are individuals joining you in the conference room during the call, avoid getting trapped in your handouts.  Talk to your listeners in the room rather than talking to the handout.

9.  Ask your listeners to move their handout off to the side when you’re getting ready to close the call.  When you can capture everyone’s attention on you and your closing action steps, they won’t miss a beat and are more likely to take action.  Your listeners can’t act on what you have to say when they’re busy reading your handout.  Your knowledge of the information presented within your handout is just as important as the knowledge you convey in relaying your message.

Continuously try new methods when you’re interacting with handouts during a conference call.  Ask your listeners what methods work BEST for them to hold their attention and to get the MOST out of the call.  If you’ve been facilitating your conference calls the same way for a loooong time, don’t you think it’s time to make a change?

The Power of Public Speaking

Hello class, here’s our first lesson. In this lesson we will cover the business benefits of public speaking and how to find opportunities to speak at trade shows, seminars, meetings and more.
One way businesses can brand themselves as the "go-to" experts in an industry is by taking advantage of public speaking opportunities. By doing so you share your knowledge with an audience and make a connection. If you appear to be an expert, you are an expert. This will give you an advantage when attendees are looking for a product or service. They are likely to seek out people they already know, or industry experts they have met or heard speak at a seminar.

Seminar Opportunities at Trade Shows
There are both free and paid speaking opportunities. You really can’t go wrong with free opportunities, though they tend to be much more restrictive about the topic you can cover. They are typically focused on education and facts about industry trends you are observing, changes in technology, etc.
 
That doesn’t mean you can’t mention your company name or products, it just means you have to be a little more skillful in weaving that type of information into your presentation. An easy way tends to be using your product or company as an example for an industry trend or change in technology. But be careful not to do this in an obvious manner; this easily becomes a “turn off” to attendees who are serious about learning new information.

Paid sessions can be great marketing tools or expensive flops. I always feel bad for companies that spend significant money to speak during a buffet lunch, thinking they will get a lot of attendees to listen, only to find that attendees are doing e-mail, chatting amongst themselves, on the phone or find other ways to ignore the speaker. Before signing up for any paid session, make sure you can attract the audience you are looking for at a time that the audience is willing and able to pay attention to you.

Picking a Company Speaker
When deciding to jump into the public speaking arena your company will need to pick a skillful public speaker. Selecting the perfect company speaker is a little like selecting the perfect booth staffer. You are looking for someone who is obviously not afraid of speaking in front of a crowd, should be eloquent yet easy to understand, be quick on his feet when it comes to thinking of good answers to questions, humorous, as well as knowledgeable about your industry, products and company.

Most likely you’ll have to compromise on some of those traits, but being knowledgeable and coming across as confident and easy to understand are essential must haves. If your company is starting to implement a plan for obtaining speaking sessions at various industry shows, consider professional speaker training for the company’s speaker; for enhancing their presentation skills and better representing your company.

How to Become Selected for Speaking Opportunities
When thinking about becoming a speaker at trade shows in your industry or verticals, keep in mind that show producers start selecting the seminar speakers, typically nine or more months before the show. The seminars are a big part of a show’s appeal and are used heavily in pre-show promotions. In order to have a good shot at securing a free seminar opportunity, have your proposal submitted very early on. Call for speakers and submission deadlines are usually well published on show websites and should be easy to find.

Getting Asked to Speak Again at the Next Show
Most likely you will want your company to be presenting at the next year’s event also. While there are many factors contributing to who is selected, good reviews are important for repeat presenters. Most shows ask attendees to evaluate each seminar; having good evaluations helps greatly with securing a session the following year.

Attendees want to learn about the topic you are speaking about, so cover information that goes beyond average knowledge. At the same time, attendees want to enjoy the session, they want to be entertained. Finding the right combination of dry facts and entertainment takes a little bit of experience and time and you should always ask for a copy of your evaluation results, so you can make the necessary corrections.

Public Relations Opportunities
Besides reaching the seminar audience, your company gains an opportunity for media attention. It certainly warrants a press release and you should invite media specifically to that event.

When  you send a press release or pitch letter inviting media to attend, provide a list of the most important items they will learn during the session to spark their interest. A session like this should also be announced within your own company and sales and marketing should work on a strategy to invite current and potential customers to attend. Mention the seminar on a company blog if you have one and prominently announce it on your company web site to support industry experience claims.
Now that you have learned about speaking opportunities at trade shows it's time to move on to the homework part of the lesson so you can put this information into practice!

HOMEWORK
For homework there are several things you will need to do.
1. Decide what type of trade shows have the key prospects you'd like to reach
2. Create a spreadsheet to track the speaking opportunities
3. Search for trade shows in your industry and verticals to find speaking opportunities
3. Prepare a short biography of the proposed speaker; the typical length is 50 or 100 words
4.  Prepare and submit customized speaking proposals
5. Track speaking proposals submitted