Podium perils

I went to a lot of meetings this autumn as an advisor to the organiser, as a guest, or as a speaker.  Some conferences had 350 people but I also took training courses with only 4 people.  I noticed how thoughtlessly people decorated the stage or used the front area. They just scattered around some furniture,microphones, panels, and a projector.

Screen competition

The hardest belief to shake is that the projection screen should be in the middle of front wall, so the speaker is central to the often boring PowerPoint slides.  The speaker is quite literally pushed out to the edge, which can sometimes be quite dark. That's fine if you want to be nothing more than a voiceover to images on the screen.  But if this happens to me as a speaker, I often turn the projector off so I can stand in front of the group, and have real contact with my audience.  No one has a problem with a screen in the corner, on an angle.

Light on the lectern

Speakers hide too often behind tall lecterns.  They also often have an open laptop on the lectern.  The distance between the speaker and the audience is too far, especially if a microphone is hiding the speaker away. Dear speaker, ask the organisers for a low table for your laptop and a lapel microphone so you can have contact your audience. Turn up the house lights so your audience can see you, and so they're not just looking at a wall.    Check to make sure the light doesn't affect the quality of the projection.

Panel tables

The saddest thing I have ever seen was a prestigious mega-conference, where the stage had a massive, metres-long panel table. The 'gentlemen experts' sat behind it, talking to each other, a huge distance away from the audience. They not only sat there during their discussion, but sat there with the chairperson before they held their lecture, the whole morning long!  Some of them naturally sat playing with their smart phones. The conference manager got on the stage three times to discuss a programme change with the chairperson. Who organised that?  Modern organisers got rid of that rigid way of sitting twenty years ago. These days you luckily often see standing tables, bar stools, or armchairs in discussions or interviews.  The professional conference organisers let the women know the seating arrangements so they can adjust their clothing choices. ;-)  

"The lighter the stage, the better"