How to make the most of your networking event presentation – that’s the theme for this article
I’m based in the South West and 2026 seems to have started with a proliferation of small business events, often promoted as networking opportunities with an audience of between 12 and 60 or so and with one or more ‘speakers’.
Attending some of these events prompted me to offer some ideas on how to make the most of your networking event presentation
These events don’t pay speakers and often give these valuable slots to their sponsors and members, who usually aren’t regular speakers and who sometimes overlook two simple things that make such a difference to presentations: Preparation and Practice.
Speaking slots at these sort of events are usually 10 minutes or less and most speakers rock up with PowerPoint slides.
If you’re lucky enough to be offered a speaking slot then here are 4 tips to help you make the most of that presenting opportunity:
- Know your audience and build your presentation for them – I was at an event a week or so ago and the sponsor speaker asked how many of the audience were looking for a new job. The audience were largely small business owners so the answer was none of them. The speaker then preceded to share tips on how to prepare to be interviewed for a job. Find out who your audience will be and then build your presentation so it’s relevant for them.
- If I go to a business event with speakers I’m looking to be engaged, educated, enthused and ideally entertained. For non-regular speakers that can be quite challenging so here are simple ways to achieve those 4 E’s:
Engage– the easiest way to engage your audience is to tell them right at the start what they can expect from your 10 minutes and how it will benefit them eg ‘Over the next 10 minutes I’m going to share three tips that will help your website become much more attractive to potential customers’ – make sure this same message is relayed in the promotion of the event so the audience know in advance what to expect from you.
Educate– using your knowledge and expertise tell me things I’m unlikely to know that will be helpful, thought provoking and explaining. One networking event I regularly go to features an ‘expert at 8’ slot – someone shares their expertise at 8am for 8 minutes. I’ve learnt loads from these speakers who focus on sharing tips, advice and knowledge rather than talk about themselves. The 8 minutes is followed by a Q&A which is always very busy with questions.
Enthuse – In my view you are doing a great job as the speaker if I’m thinking during your presentation – ‘I need to do that, I will do that’
Entertain – you don’t need to tell jokes or eat fire but what you can do is deliver your presentation with energy, some humour (not jokes though!) in a fast paced way and make it obvious you are enjoying it. That combination will make me think I’m being entertained.
3. Screens and Slides – most speakers at these sort of events rock up with slides. What they don’t seem to do is find out in advance how big the screen is at the event. The answer for the majority of these type of events is that the screen is almost always not that big. So ensure your slides are designed for the screen size you will be using.
Have a look on your Linked In feed. You will see, as I do, photos of speakers alongside small screens full of words, often in sentences, that few people can see.
And when you use slides please keep the words to a minimum. Start with one word per slide and work up if you need to. Do this and it will be transformational for your presentation.
Here’s how to check yourself on words: If you put words on a slide what are you asking your audience to do?
Easy – it’s read them
You wouldn’t say – ‘please do not read the words on my next slide’
Work on the basis therefore that any words on your slides are expected to be read easily by every member of your audience regardless where they are sitting.
Do not find yourself saying ‘You may not be able to see this at the back’
And do not read your own slides!
Words on slides are a prompt not a script!
4. Don’t overrun your time slot. If you’ve been given 10 minutes and you take 13 or 14 then you are being disrespectful to the event organiser, the audience and the next speaker.
Here’s a tip to ensure you run on time:
When you practice aim to deliver your presentation in 85% of your allocated time
For a 10 minute presentation that’s 8.5 minutes in practice
Try it, it works
All of the above will help you deliver a stand out presentation.
I hope they are useful and given you some ideas on how to make the most of your networking event presentation
And don’t forget enjoy presenting!
If you need help with your presenting check my offerings here: https://www.trevorjlee.com/presentation-training/
And if you prefer to learn in your own time at your own pace then follow this link to my series of on-demand presentation courses, each of which come with a 1:1 coaching session: https://www.ondemandpresentationcourses.com/
