11 Things To Do When You Arrive at Your Speech Location

You’ve scheduled the speech. It’s the day of your presentation. You’re about to time your arrival so that you’re helpful without getting there too early or too late. What should you do when you arrive?

It’s different with each person and each presentation. But here are a number of things to consider…

1. Talk to the organizer (duh!). Offer to help her out in any way you can; confirm the time of your presentation and any other odds and ends.
2. Ask the organizer about the officers or board of the organization and make sure she either points them out to you or makes an introduction.
3. Check any AV equipment to make sure it works, especially if it’s not yours.
4. If you’re recording the program (and you should record!), do a one minute test and play it back to make sure your recorder is working.
5. If there is no microphone and the room is small, have one or two of the organizers make sure they can hear you in your ‘normal presenting voice’ from the back of the room.
6. Check sight lines from around the room to make sure all seats can see you. This includes any sight lines to your PowerPoint screen and where you may be standing – make sure you plan to stand in a location where everyone can see the screen.
7. Introduce yourself to people as they arrive. Make mental notes of names and businesses, and any related story they mention. Chances are you can reference it somewhere in your speech: “When I was chatting with Jim earlier, he mentioned that his tradeshow marketing really benefitted by using this technique…”
8. If there’s a meal involved, plan on either skipping or eating light (eat before or after).
9. If there are handouts from the organization that relate to your topic, review them for errors or updates.
10. Give your pre-written introduction to the person that will introduce you. This ensures that you will be properly introduced. It should be succinct, but thorough enough to cover the reason(s) you’re speaking to them today: brief background qualifications and title or topic of the talk.
11. Take a deep breath. Smile. You’re here to have FUN!

photo credit: hectorir