372-SYB-Handle-Tech-Panels.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
Learn how to handle tech glitches, Q and A’s, and panels with confidence on this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur, and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience. Hi there and welcome to the Speaking Your Brand podcast. I’m your host, Carol Cox, joined today by our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz. Hi, Diane.
Diane Diaz:
Hi, Carol.
Carol Cox:
Well, we are continuing our podcast series to help you level up your speaking. Last episode, you heard from Diane as she talked about why you should have a speaker video reel and a speaker page on your website and what to include in it, including one thing that you may not think to include on your speaker page. So definitely go back and check out that episode episodes. Before that, we’re all about overcoming nerves, how not to be boring, and steps for creating your speaking and visibility plan for 2024. Now the more you speak, something will go wrong, inevitably. Diane and I have done a lot of public speaking over the years in our careers, both online and in person, and there is bound to be a time when there’s a tech glitch or you get a question from the audience that feels like it comes from left field. Or maybe you’re preparing to moderate a panel or to be on a panel. So we’re going to help you how to handle some of these things that may come up, because we want to make sure that you don’t panic, that you don’t overthink it when something is happening. And we really want you to enjoy your speaking engagements, no matter what happens, that you may not feel like you have planned for. So perhaps you had a time when the slides just did not work. The AV was not working, so you swore off slides forever, which you don’t have to do.
Carol Cox:
Like there’s a way to handle that which we’ll talk about. Or someone asked a question that stumped you or you want you were on a panel and you felt like your responses were just not that great. So that’s where we’re going to cover today. We’re also going to share with you our stories of what happened to us when things went wrong. Because yes, it has happened to us as well. If you’re new to speaking your brand, welcome. We’re so glad that you’re here. We work with women entrepreneurs, executives and leaders to develop their thought leadership and to create their signature talks. We primarily do this with our online Thought Leader Academy program. We also have our three day in-person client retreat, Speaking Intensive, coming up at the end of February in Orlando, Florida. It is truly the best place for you to create that lasting confidence and to build your stage presence. You can get all of those details as speaking your brand comm slash retreat. All right, Diane, so let’s dig in to helping the listeners prepare for the unexpected or the unplanned. So let’s start first with tech glitches. I know we have both had our share of hours. And I know you had an experience a few years ago where the slides just did not work. Can you tell us about that, how you felt in the moment and then what ended up happening?
Diane Diaz:
Yes. And so this talk was to a group of students, because I teach at a university and I had a lovely slide deck. I had everything ready to go. I had printed out copies of my a copy of my slides, like four to a page just to have it, just in case. Good thing I did. And I was told, oh, when you get there, just use the connector that’s on the desk to hook up your laptop, yadda yadda. Well, I get to the room. There’s no connector. I didn’t bring a connector, so there’s not going to be any slides. So what to do? Well, the good news is I had printed it out the four to a page copy of my slides, and I was honest with the group of students that were there. And I would say there was probably 20 or 30 students. That’s a decent sized group. And I said, well, I had some slides. Unfortunately, I can’t connect them. But you know what we’re going to do? We’re just going to have a conversation. And so I launched into what I wanted to talk about with them. And then I used my slides as a guide for just having a conversation with them. And in fact, I moved from the front of the room kind of into the audience. So I was among the students kind of between aisles, and I just took a more casual approach, had a conversation. I brought up the topics that I was going to share with them. Then I asked for questions. We had conversations about their questions. So it actually turned into, I’d say, a much more a less formal presentation and a more engaging conversation, which for their needs really served them. It turned out great. They loved it.
Carol Cox:
And so in that sense, like you just rolled with it, you know, you didn’t freak out and like, okay, let me go spend 15. Teen minutes trying to hunt down a connector or someone who can help me, right? Instead, you’re like, let’s just find a find a way to make this work for me and for the audience. And it ended up being even better.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I do think it was better because it wasn’t this person, you know, older than them, standing at the front of the room telling them what to do. It was a conversation based on what they needed and what I had to share with them that could help them.
Carol Cox:
And now I assume that you didn’t have not sworn off slides forever.
Diane Diaz:
I have not, right? No, I still use slides, but I learned a good lesson actually. A couple of lessons. I’ll always print out a copy of your slides always, and bring it with you just in case. Because you’re a good speaker, you can speak just from the pages without the slides. So if everything fails and you just have the copies of your slides as a guide for yourself, that’s all you need. So always bring that. Second, always bring your own connectors and never rely on whatever group to have the technology and connectors and things that you need to make your presentation work. So be prepared for all contingencies.
Carol Cox:
Yes, I always bring my own laptop. I have a MacBook Pro, I bring my own connectors. Obviously I have my power cord with me as well. My own PowerPoint slide clicker with fresh batteries. Even if they say they have their own laptop, which is fine. I always bring mine just in case. I prefer to use mine if they’ll let me, because I know my slides look best and work best, like all the fonts are installed on my own laptop, but if I have to use theirs, that’s fine. I’ll go with whatever they prefer because that they already have it hooked up. One thing to do is that obviously get to the room early. So if you’re speaking at a conference, make sure you get to the room you’re speaking in early, even earlier in the day. Then say if you’re speaking in the afternoon, try to go there in the morning. If it’s just a local event, obviously make sure to get there early because you want to make friends with the AV person. If they have one there, someone may will at conferences, someone who is in the back controlling the slides and controlling the mic and the speakers because you want to make sure that they have your most up to date version of your slides, especially for conferences where they’ll ask you to send your slides in advance. And you may have sent an initial draft, and then maybe you sent a final version at the end.
Carol Cox:
And this has happened to our clients where they sent their final version. But the AV people, for whatever reason, didn’t have their final version. The client is up on the stage speaking the slide start, and they quickly realize that’s not their final slide deck. That was the first draft and they had changed their slides substantially since then. So I always go make friends with the AV person, look at their laptop, have them bring up my slides, a double check. It’s the right ones. If I have any video clips, which I usually do, I’ll make sure the video plays on their laptop. Make sure the audio is piping through the speakers. I get their name. I learn their name. Make sure to remember it, jot it down. Because in the session when I’m speaking, if something does go awry, I don’t want to say, hey AV person, right? Can you help? I want to say, Hey John or hey Joan or whoever it happens to be, you know, can you help with this? And don’t be afraid to pause for a moment if you really need to, to make sure something gets situated. Obviously you don’t want to pause for 15 minutes, but if it’s just for, you know, 30s, then that’s totally fine.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I like that idea of knowing the AV person slides, getting to the room early, making sure everything works. I am known for being very early to things like that, even an hour ahead of time, because I just feel more comfortable once everything’s set and I know everything’s working as planned, and then you can work out anything before the audience is all assembled. You’ve worked out all glitches and made sure that everything is functioning properly, and then you’re not stressed out. It also, I think it also presents you in a better light to the organizers because it’s like, oh, she’s really prepared. I went to an event once where there was a speaker before me, like just doing a little presentation, and then I was the main speaker. But that speakers clicker didn’t work. But don’t worry, because I brought a clicker, so I gave them my clicker to let them use it, and they were like, oh my gosh, thank you so much. Yes, because I am prepared. I’m bringing everything with me.
Carol Cox:
Yeah, exactly. Have like I actually have a checklist printed out and then I will make sure to check everything off. And then we actually in our our Speaking Your brand resource library that you get as part of the Thought Leader Academy. We have a training video about how to prepare for your speaking engagements, including a checklist of what we recommend that you bring, like these connectors and your slides printed out. Now you also want to make sure that you’re checking the tech if you’re presenting online. So over the past few years, most of us have gotten used to presenting online. A lot of us use zoom, and so we kind of have everything working on our computers. With zoom, sometimes you’ll get invited to speak to another group or to participate in an online summit, and they’re using some. Type of different technology. Maybe they’re using StreamYard or Crowdcast, or they’re using the zoom webinar instead of regular zoom meeting. I highly recommend signing up for whatever that tech platform is if free trial so that you can check your camera, your microphone, everything on your computer with that tech platform that that event is going to be using, sometimes that event or summit will have a kind of a tech check with their presenters. Sometimes they won’t. So I always make sure that I do that, make sure if I’m sharing slides at the SlideShare works because some tech platforms are a little funky, like you have to use Google Chrome, you can’t use other browsers, so make sure you do that. I definitely had my mishaps with online presentations and different tech platforms because it is inevitable it’s going to happen, and as long as you stay calm, then it’s going to be fine. I remember Diane, we were doing a webinar on Crowdcast. This was a few, maybe a year or two ago.
Carol Cox:
So I have used Crowdcast before. So my camera was working, my mic was working and all of that, and we had, you know, every all the attendees started coming into the chat and we’re getting ready to start. And I was trying and I had and I rebooted my laptop beforehand to kind of clear everything out. But I had decided to to quit, like to my Google Drive app and my Dropbox app so that they wouldn’t sync in the background and take up bandwidth. Well, I didn’t realize that I could no longer access my keynote slide deck because my Google Drive app was turned off on my laptop and I couldn’t get to it, so I couldn’t open the slides after I rebooted. And literally it was like one minute before the webinar was supposed to start. And then I couldn’t, like, get the Google Drive app back working because I had to go find it. I mean, like, I was like, of course, of all things, I did not think to test what happens when you you disable the Google Drive app. So anyways, so the webinar started probably 2 or 3 minutes later, then the top of the hour. But Diane, I think you kept them entertained in the chat. I don’t even know. Maybe I was on screen and we we just basically was like, okay, like coming soon. In the meantime, here’s some questions. Let us know in the chat where you’re from. Whatever. Like we just kind of kept things going while we waited. So it’s okay. Things are going to happen and just learn to like just go with it. Keep the audience informed so that they know what’s going on. But then but don’t panic about it and then they’ll feel fine.
Diane Diaz:
Yes. And if you’re doing a presentation like that on your own, where it’s not an event you’re speaking to, it’s just your webinar or whatever you can beforehand, maybe a week beforehand, have a friend give a friend or your spouse or somebody have them register, come into it as if they’re the attendee, and then you can test out how everything is working. And you can just ask them, like, how does this look? Is this functioning? Can you see this? You know, and then you can make sure everything opens. Everything plays correctly that that way you can practice it a little bit like a dry run before you do the real thing.
Carol Cox:
Excellent idea. I love that suggestion. Okay, so that is handling tech glitches. Just know that they it is inevitable that something will happen and it is okay. And you will learn from it. And you will you will go on. Let’s talk about Q&A sessions at conferences. I hear this a lot from clients that they get nervous about these Q&A blocks of time. So a lot of times a conferences or event organizers would say, okay, you have 30 minutes for your talk, and then there’s going to be a 15 minute Q&A afterwards. Now I feel like 15 minutes for Q&A is a long time, because you just may not have a lot of questions. People kind of start to filter out of the room when Q&A starts. You’re losing precious time that you could use for your presentation. So I like to, number one, integrate Q&A throughout the presentation. You know, short, short little blocks of time for people to ask 1 or 2 questions and then maybe have five minutes at the end just for dedicated Q&A. So that’s what I prefer to do. Now, what makes speakers nervous is that they’re afraid someone’s going to ask a question that they don’t know the answer to, so they’re going to feel like, you know, like they’re not the expert or they’re not as informed on the topic as they should be, or they’re afraid that someone in the audience is going to hijack the conversation with what is supposed to be a question.
Carol Cox:
But, you know, we’ve all been there in the audience when someone takes the mic to ask a quote unquote question and ends up being some type of diatribe on whatever they happen to feel. Now, I will say for most of the clients we work with, their topics are not that controversial or even political that this is going to happen. So I would say, don’t worry about it for the questions that you get where you don’t know the answer to, it is perfectly okay to say, you know what? That’s a great question. I actually am not sure right now. Can I get back to you later? Like, I would love to exchange information. You know, we can talk about that later. It is okay to say that, Diane, I don’t know if you’ve ever had any Q&A that you remember where anything like this has come up.
Diane Diaz:
I have had Q&A sessions where someone was monopolizing the conversation and. I try to redirect. So the person’s talking, I answer the question and then they’re still going to go on. I’ll kind of cut it short and I’ll say, well, that’s you know, that’s a really great observation, Susan. Now, Jim, you had a question and I’ll move to the next person and that and they can’t really do anything at that point because you’ve moved on. So they usually kind of get the hint. But it makes for a better experience for your entire audience. If you can control and manage how the audience is interacting with you. And then as far as not knowing the answer, I have had questions come up before and I think I agree it is perfectly fine to say, you know, I’m really not sure about that, but just make an effort to let them know, you know, great question and just praise them for the really good question. And then it takes the pressure off you and nobody’s going to think that you’re stupid or oh my gosh, I can’t believe she didn’t know that. That’s just humans right? We just we can’t know everything, even about our own topics. So admit to not knowing and then just say, you know, I’d love to connect with you afterward. So I have had also where an audience member who was more versed in a certain topic will go, actually, and then they’ll share something. I allow that too. That’s fine. I want the audience to have a good experience. Yes, I’m the expert and I’m the one speaking, but I don’t have to feel like I know everything and I want the audience to get a lot out of it. So, you know, I think it’s all in how you react to it. Just like with the tech glitches, it’s all in how you react and manage it.
Carol Cox:
Absolutely. Because as the speaker, you are the leader in that room at that time where you have the floor and your audience will thank you for interrupting someone who is going on too long or who is kind of hijacking the conversation, who was, you know, quote unquote question is turning into something that’s very, very long. Your audience will be glad that you were very gently and nicely kind of steering the conversation somewhere else. The other thing is that if you’re if the content of your presentation is solid, if you’ve already set the tone, like kind of set the culture of the experience in the room, you’ve already handled any kind of objections or any kind of questions people would have about uncertainties, about the way you’re presenting your topic. If you validated where the audience is at and any questions or concerns that they have. If you’ve done all that already in your presentation, which is what we do in our framework, then by the time you get to the Q&A, those are not even going to be questions that people have. They’re going to have hopefully kind of deeper questions about what they’ve learned from it. Because remember, yes, you are the expert, but you’re there to help the audience think differently about your topic, to think about it from a new way or a different way. You’re actually not there to give them all of the answers, because you can’t possibly do that in that amount of time. Plus, that doesn’t leave them any room for growth and learning. All right. So then oh, and this is a great point, Diane, about if you’re worried that there won’t be any questions in that Q&A time, what’s something that people can do.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I have had that fear before that somebody won’t have a question because every audience dynamic is different. So some audiences are more engaged, some are less engaged. The size of the audience impacts at everything. So I like to kind of have some questions already, or maybe common questions that you do get just in your work. And then if there’s when it’s time to take questions at the end, maybe nobody has a question. You can say, you know, since nobody, if you have a question, shout it out. But since nobody’s saying anything, I do want to share. I was talking to a client recently and she asked me, or I was out in the lobby chit chatting with everybody before we got started. And I got a great question about XYZ. So then you can just like pepper it with your own questions, and that might stimulate someone else in the audience to think, oh, actually, I do have a question, but you can get it started. That’s okay. And you’re still sharing with the audience.
Carol Cox:
I love that idea. You’re like pre-planting questions, but not like directly with audience members. But what you could do if you know people in the audience as well.
Diane Diaz:
100%, you can definitely do that.
Carol Cox:
Okay, so let’s talk about panels now because I know again, we we have a lot of clients who serve on panels, a lot of clients who are being asked to serve on panels more and more. And so there is definitely an art to being a great panelist. There’s also an art to being a great panel moderator. Diane, I know you and I have done both. We’ve served on panels. We’ve also been panel moderators. We’ve also attended a lot of events and conferences where we’ve been in the audience with panels. And I’ll be honest, I think most panels are really boring.
Diane Diaz:
No, totally. I agree they’re.
Carol Cox:
Boring because everyone ends up agreeing with each other. The questions are kind of surface level. They’re a little bit saccharine, the answers are very general and kind of cliches. And so if you are, whether you’re a moderator or a panelist, we we want you to stand out. We want you to stand out as someone who gives those really insightful answers from those lessons learned from your own stories and experiences. Don’t give, like pat answers that those generalized answers that anyone could give and said, say something like, you know, this reminds me of an experience I had really early in my. A career. I was only 25 years old and blah blah blah. Wow. The audience is going to perk up and engage with that so much more than, well, early in your career. Make sure that you find a mentor. Blah. Like.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I’d much rather hear in any talk, but especially even on a panel. I’d rather hear someone’s personal relationship to and experience with whatever that topic or question is versus just, you know, do this or here’s my idea on that because it is. You’re right. The panels, they’re typically very like they’re softball questions. And I think maybe to help make everybody on the panel look good and not stump anybody because they’ve not really necessarily prepared anything. But they do tend to get kind of bland and boring. And so if you can incorporate your story and your experiences into it, now, you’ve created more interest. And now as an audience member, I’m listening and I care more about what you’re saying.
Carol Cox:
And it’s okay to have a different perspective than someone else on on the panel. Now, you don’t have to say, well, unlike Susan, I think of something completely differently. Like, you don’t want to. There’s no need to be antagonistic, so you don’t even have to say that at all. You can just just share your story or share whatever insight you want to do. The audience will realize it’s different. You don’t have to tell them that it’s different from someone else’s answer. Yes. Uh, all right. And then, as if you’re the one moderating a panel, which can be a lot of fun, I would definitely, you know, prep your panelists ahead of time, give them ideas of the questions, or kind of like the conversation points or the topics that you want to make sure to address. You don’t have to ask every panelist the same question like you answer, then you answer, then you. Because again, like, you know, switch it up. You know, make sure that you obviously you’re balance coming to the different people who are on the panel. So they all have about equal time. Let them know in advance that you’re not going to ask every single person the same question to answer, so that they know what the process is going to be like. Let them know again that you know you want their specific stories and experiences and insights and lessons and keep the conversation moving, you know, have good energy, you know, have some humor. You, as the panel moderator, should also be coming back to the audience again, making it that two way conversation, like directing back to the audience, like, okay, so audience, what do you think about Show of Hands? Like, have you tried that? Like, do they get as you would as a speaker do that as a panel moderator as well?
Diane Diaz:
I love that idea of involving the audience in it, because I think that that helps sort of avoid that idea of the panel. The panelists are just Anser anser, anser anser, anser anser, and the audience is sitting there thinking, this is so boring.
Carol Cox:
And if you are a great panel moderator, which is why we’re giving you these suggestions, it is you’re going to be invited to be moderator and moderator at more events. And it is an extremely great tool for building your network among other prominent people, because a lot of people who are invited to be on panels, they’re prominent in your community or in your industry, so you’re building relationships with them. So say yes to be a panelist, say yes to be a panel moderator and do a great job so that then you’re invited to many more. All right. So all these things that we talked about, handling tech glitches, Q&A sessions and panels is because we want you to feel really comfortable and confident not only with your material, with your presentations, but also with handling the room that you’re in so that you can be the leader in that room. Trust us, the more you speak, the easier it gets. Doing podcast interviews is actually a great way to kind of build this confidence, because you’ll get questions from the podcast host that you may not necessarily have prepared for. It helps you to think on your feet. Take an improv class. Diane, we have talked about this. I can’t believe it’s been four years since we took that improv class in person, right before the pandemic started in 2020.
Diane Diaz:
That is hard to believe, and it seems like a long time ago, but it also seems like yesterday. Right?
Carol Cox:
And it was even though we, like we say we hated it and loved it at the same time, it really has, I think, helped us to improve our speaking both in person and online.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I think the improv class two will definitely help with this idea of managing the unexpected, because in an improv class, you you don’t know what to expect. That’s what improv is. That’s the nature of it. So if you want to feel less worried and concerned and nervous about what could go wrong, definitely take an improv class because it will get you out of that. You’ll just roll with things.
Carol Cox:
And guess what? At our in-person client retreat that’s coming up in February in Orlando, and along with the instruction and the coaching and the practice that you get on our stage, we also have some fun improv games that we play with everyone and the women hated at first, and then they end up loving it and they keep wanting to do more of it during those three days, because it’s such a great way to get out of your head and into your body, which is what we want you to do. We all spend so much time in our heads, on our computers, on zoom, you know, reading, writing, working on our presentations, that this is your opportunity to get into your body, practice on our stage, build that confidence, build that stage presence, build the ability to to react to things in a positive way no matter what happens. And then on day three, you get professional filming of your speaking segment. So you have that footage for your speaker reel and an edited video. Diane, I think I’m looking really looking forward to the improv games at the Client Retreat and of course, bringing together 12 incredible women.
Diane Diaz:
Yes, I’m looking forward to it too. It’s always fun to see how other people interpret those games and what comes from it. It’s always a good time.
Carol Cox:
If you’re interested in joining us, we are closing registrations at the end of January. You can get all the details including pricing, agenda, dates, location, all of that as speaking your brand comm slash retreat. Again, that’s speaking your brand.com/retreat. And then once you’re there you can submit the application form. And then we’ll have a zoom call so we can talk about your goals. I will answer all of your questions and we’ll make sure that it is exactly what you want to do next week. We are continuing the series that we’re doing to help you level up your speaking. We are going to talk about from free to fee, how to get an ROI from the speaking that you’re doing. Diane, thank you so much for being here.
Diane Diaz:
Thank you so much. I love these conversations too, and I hope they’re helpful to everybody.
Carol Cox:
Likewise. Until next time. Thanks for listening.
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