One of the most overlooked aspects of event marketing is preparing executives for panels. Executives are often left to prep themselves without input from the marketing team. They go up on stage and do their best.
Sometimes that has excellent results but other times it leads to a wasted opportunity to directly communicate with customers, partners and prospects. By spending a little bit of time preparing, executives and brands can maximise the potential of their event presence.
Having helped our clients prepare for panels and participated ourselves, we’ve seen a few things that really matter for getting panels right. Too often, panellists wing it and forget that they are representing their brand and helping to shape an overall image of their company. The keys to success as a panel speaker are purpose, focus, clarity and control.
Here are a few ways a speaker can put this into action:
- Have Objectives
Panellists should decide what they want to achieve by being on the panel. Too often they just want to chat instead of thinking about how the conversation can support their business. Objectives can include discussion topics that are critical to their business or delivering key messages that drive interest in their company. These are simple things but should be planned and prepared for. Like any other activity, speakers have to have a purpose.
- Lock in Your Messages and Soundbites
Messages shouldn’t be about products. They can be about challenges, issues or trends that matter to the audience and drive engagement with the panellist’s company. These messages should be consistent with marketing and communications around the event. The audience should be receiving the same messages across multiple channels, offline and online.
- Think About Delivery
It seems simple but too often panellists forget that they should try to be engaging. They need to look like they care while speaking confidently and plainly. If there’s debate, don’t just be right, bring something entertaining to the conversation. At tech and telecoms events, there’s often a tendency to go deep into the detail while forgetting the overall story they could be telling. Delivery matters, otherwise no one is listening.
- Know Your Panellists
Before panellists go on stage, they should know who the other panellists are. They can play to their strengths and get a lively conversation going. The marketing team can share a Briefing Book with names, titles and experiences outlined. They can also give a panellist the key questions to ask each of the other panellists. A good briefing book can go a long way.
- Never Sell
The greatest sin on a panel is to sell the product. There is nothing more painful in a panel session than listening to someone answer a question by selling their services. The audience will be instantly turned off and no one has ever sold something by relentlessly pushing it during a panel. The aim is to use thought leadership and ideas to encourage new conversations. Leave selling to sales meetings.
At Ilex Content Strategies, we support our clients with messaging, Briefing Books and a whole ecosystem of content that goes around events like Blogs, Social Media, Direct Emailers, Brochures, Design and Advertising. We make maximising the potential of events easy.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more info {@} ilexcontent.com
