7 Ways Event Organizers Create More Value From The Stage

By Bryan Funk, Event Marketing Executive In Residence 

The Power of Concise Communication

Why does limiting stage time deliver more value for speakers and audiences?

In a world saturated with information, the ability to deliver a powerful message succinctly has become an invaluable skill. And it matters for event organizers and event content teams, especially in terms of speaker selection, content curation, and stage time. 

Stage time is a precious resource. In fact, it comes down to cognitive backlog. If you give an audience too much attention at once, it creates a cognitive backlog. Biologist John Medina, author of Brain Rules, found that given a topic of moderate interest, people’s brains will get bored and tune out after 10 minutes. 

Optimizing a speaker's ability to tell a powerful story and to make sessions as valuable as possible requires organizing content delivery in shorter amounts of time. 

How Money20/20 Boosts Engagement with Shorter Sessions

In a recent interview with Rachel Morrissey, Head of Content at Money20/20, she offered invaluable insights into why her team adopted session time limitations of 5, 8, and 15 minutes long and how that strict guideline has increased audience engagement and overall event performance year over year. 

“If you leave an audience wowed, they don’t care how long you spoke. Your goal shouldn’t be to be on stage for a long time. It should be to inform and inspire,” shares Rachel. “It should be to hear yourself quoted in every hallway, booth, and corner of the show. It isn’t about the time on stage but about the delivery of the message.”

So how can show organizers deliver a powerful message that resonates? Here are 7 key tactics that help event teams limit stage time to drive more value: 

• The importance of time constraints in presentations
• Have a call for sessions, not speakers
• Craft concise, memorable moments 
• Create memorable content off-stage 
• Train speakers to back up every strategy or data point with a human, emotional story
• Align operations to content
• Leverage technology to take content in and push content out
  

1. The Importance of Time Constraints in Presentations

Time is a precious commodity, especially in today's fast-paced world. Limiting speakers to 15 minutes or less not only keeps the audience engaged but also forces the speaker to focus on the most critical aspects of their message.

Research shows that most people begin to tune out after just 10 minutes of a presentation. This reality underscores the importance of structuring content in a way that captures and holds attention. Just look at the TED Talk format, which limits speakers to 18 minutes, as an example of how powerful ideas can be effectively communicated within a tight timeframe.

Shorter, more focused presentations tend to be more memorable. By distilling a message to its core, speakers can ensure that their key points resonate long after the presentation ends. 

The takeaway here is clear: when you have less time, you’re compelled to make every word count.

To maintain audience engagement, suggested techniques include:

• Varying the presentation’s pace
• Using visual aids strategically
• Breaking content into digestible segments. 

Understanding and respecting your audience’s attention span is key to delivering a message that sticks.

2. Have a Call for Sessions, Not Speakers

A critical adjustment Rachel made was shifting from a call for speakers to a call for sessions. This shift requires potential speakers to submit their session concepts in tweet-length synopses. This method forces applicants to distill their messages succinctly, ensuring that only the most focused and compelling content is presented at the event.

And if you think about it - she is already training and setting an expectation on the power of brevity with speakers. Less is more, and it starts at the very beginning of submitting a call for sessions. 

Many speakers fear that a shorter presentation won’t allow them to cover all their material. Rachel challenged this notion by explaining that brevity actually forces clarity. When time is limited, speakers are compelled to focus on what truly matters.

Rachel’s advice: embrace brevity. By doing so, you’re likely to deliver a more powerful and memorable message, leaving your audience wanting more rather than feeling overwhelmed.

3. Craft Concise, Memorable Moments 

Brevity doesn’t mean sacrificing depth. Rachel highlighted the importance of distilling complex ideas into concise, yet powerful messages. The challenge lies in stripping away the non-essentials while preserving the essence of the content.

Rachel shared strategies for focusing on the core message, using precise language, and avoiding filler. The goal is to ensure that every word serves a purpose, enhancing clarity and impact. This approach not only respects the audience's time but also elevates the quality of the presentation.

Beyond content, emotional engagement plays a critical role in holding an audience’s attention. Rachel discussed how to use emotional language, storytelling, and visual elements to connect with the audience on a deeper level.

Speakers who can tap into emotions are more likely to leave a lasting impression. Rachel provided examples of how to incorporate emotional hooks into presentations, making the content not only informative but also memorable.

No two audiences are the same, which is why it’s essential to tailor your content to their specific needs and expectations. Rachel emphasized the importance of understanding your audience’s background, interests, and what they hope to gain from your presentation.

By adapting your content to fit the audience, you increase the likelihood of engagement and retention. Rachel encouraged speakers to perform thorough audience analysis during the preparation phase to ensure that their message is relevant and compelling.

4. Create Memorable Content On and Off-Stage 

The best speakers don’t leave a lasting impression on stage. They leave an impression that compels post-session engagement with an audience - at the stage, in the lobby or exhibit hall, or even at a cocktail hour later. If the audience is compelled to connect with the speaker because of the session, that conversation is even more impactful. 

Make your session content “bar worthy”: what’s said on stage isn’t nearly as interesting as the conversations that take place at the bar afterwards. If you're planning content at a conference, say what you would say at the bar on stage. First of all, and then get repeated at the bar. The biggest compliment you can get at a conference is somebody repeating something that you said on stage,  even if they're trying to take credit for it. It is seriously the most sincere form of flattery.

Your conversations on stage should be as candid, concise, and impactful as a passionate conversation you are having with a friend or peer.

Effective speakers often leverage humor and relatable analogies to simplify complex topics. By addressing the audience as intelligent yet uninformed six-year-olds, speakers are urged to break down their content into digestible pieces that leave lasting impressions.

Rachel often advises speakers to "think about being a teacher. Think about thinking of the audience like really smart 6-year-olds... if you can simplify it, they’ll get it."

Event organizers can create memorable moments on and off-stage by:

• Say what you would say at the bar on stage
• Leverage humor and relatable analogies to simplify complex topics 
• Address your audience like you were a 6th grade teacher 

5. Train Speakers to Back Up Every Strategy or Data Point with a Human, Emotional Story

Every speaker has to be a storyteller. It’s how the audience connects with you. We are storytelling creatures and we understand the world in narrative for good or for bad.

Rachel, who has an extensive background in theater, utilizes theatrical principles to coach her speakers. Drawing parallels between stage performances and public speaking, she coaches speakers to frame their content through narratives that resonate emotionally with the audience. 

Just like actors and stage theater groups practice and rehearse - so must our speakers. These are the crucial steps in refining a presentation. Even the best ideas can fall flat without proper delivery. Rehearsing allows speakers to become more familiar with their material, enabling them to deliver it confidently and within the set time limits. Hold speakers accountable to practicing multiple times, seeking feedback, and making adjustments as needed to ensure a polished performance.

Utilizing visual aids effectively also helps us drive home the story we are looking to tell. Keeping visuals simple and directly related to the key points of the presentation. Overloading slides with information or using too many visuals can distract from the message rather than support it. Use visuals as a complement to your spoken words, helping to reinforce key points and aid in audience understanding.

By training our speakers, we spend time: 

• Clearly connecting data points to emotional, human stories
• Identifying the key words and phrases that draw in the audience 
• Mastering the use of our body language to drive memorable moments 
• Fine tuning the pitch and tone of our voice to translate emotions 
• Ensuring visuals are a complement to your spoken words

6. Align Operations to Content

Aligning the efforts of content and operations teams is crucial for a seamless speaker experience. The operations team’s role extends beyond logistics:

• they handle speaker onboarding 
• manage communication
• ensure the speakers feel valued and prepared. 

This holistic approach translates into a lifted, more confident delivery on stage, enhancing the overall attendee experience.

The operations team should have a hand in designing the stage setup to flow seamlessly with the show floor. At Money20/20, Rachel and her team intentionally choose industry speakers that want to spend time on the show floor once they step off stage. It creates a seamless interactive experience beyond the stage. 

7. Leverage Technology to Take Content In and Push Content Out

Managing thousands of session submissions and selecting hundreds of speakers requires event teams to leverage modern technology. A call for sessions or speakers is the point of entry in which content is brought into the system. From there, event teams are able to organize that content, effectively navigate speaker selection, and design the conference sessions. 

Once speakers are confirmed, all of the selected speakers, session designs, and conference schedule gets pushed back out to the web. Rachel’s team manages this all in one unified system. 

She also shared that technology doesn’t get them all the way there. A strong system is dependent on the platforms, processes, and people to make a successful event happen. Broken processes lead to broken results, as does poor communication. Having a solid foundation of process and communication to bring your team into harmony with technology is the key to executing events successfully and driving highly engaging, memorable experiences for audiences and speakers. 

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Conclusion 

Concise, powerful presentations enhance audience engagement and speaker effectiveness. When event marketing teams utilize shorter speaking slots, such as five-minute sessions, it compels speakers to focus on delivering high-impact content. 

This approach leads to improved event outcomes, leaving a lasting impression on attendees as well as speakers when they see the impact of their thought leadership, expertise, and content click with audiences.

About Sessionboard

Sessionboard’s focus on continuous innovation in speaker and content management has resulted in saving organizers hundreds of hours per event while providing speakers with a streamlined, modern experience. From call for papers, abstract evaluation, awards, applications, agenda building, to speaker onboarding and communication, Sessionboard helps event organizers work smarter, move faster, and improve their ROI.

To learn more, click here.