I’m keeping it short and sweet today. Mainly because I want you to use this time to assess your own “host behavior” and see if you do these things. If you do, stop it! If you don’t, good on you. Your guests appreciate it.
Weird Thing #1
Start before you’re ready.
You know what this looks like. If you haven’t done it, you’ve seen it. You go live and then make your audience wait while you figure out if everything is set up right. You ask them to tell you if your sound is working, if your camera is good, if you look alright. This is not your audience’s job. Test that stuff before you go live. Be ready. Be polished and professional. Act as if your attendees are the most import people in the world. To you, they are right now.
If you don’t appear ready for an event you’re hosting, how can your audience trust that you are ready to serve them?
Weird Thing #2
Ignore Your Surroundings/Background
Come on! We’ve been doing this virtual thing for well over a year now. If you expect people to show up and listen to what you have to say – and pay money for it – you owe them a professional appearance. You would never show up at a live event and present in a cluttered, dark, poorly lit space. So, why do you think it’s alright in a virtual environment? It’s not. Put the same effort into your virtual stage as you would a live stage. Your audience will respect the effort.
If you’re not putting the effort into making a good impression and clearing distractions, will you put the effort into caring for your clients the way they deserve? You could be planting this seed of doubt.
Weird Thing #3
Running Out of Time To Cover All Your Content
Truth, this is not only a virtual weird thing, it happens during live events too. Far too often. It sounds like this, “I’m going to just run through these last 20 slides really quick cuz we’re running out of time.” Or, “I want to be respectful of your time, so I’m going to run through this last part really quickly.”
I know it’s hard. You have so much amazing information to share, you just can’t possibly leave anything out. So, you pretend you’re going to fit it all into your agenda and allotted time. And you might be able to do it, if you don’t care about your audience retaining the information. Stop that!
If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this: Just because you say it, doesn’t mean they remember it.
Here’s a tip. After you’ve created your entire agenda, cut out 1/3 of it. Focus on the most important stuff and provide a resource for the rest.
Speeding through content or not getting through it all can leave your audience feeling like they didn’t get everything they came for. It might also leave them wondering where else you’re not delivering on everything you promise. And as for respecting their time, that begins when you’re planning your content.
That’s it, my top 3 weird things I see virtual (and live) event hosts do and how they hurt your credibility. There are more, but let’s start here for now. Will you promise me you’ll try? I thank you. Your audience thanks you.
If you need help figuring out how to cut that 1/3 of your content, or delivering in a way that attendees will actually remember what you taught them let’s talk. I’m also sharing this cool resource with you below. It will help you design activities that increase retention. (See how that resource thing works?)
Until next time, happy event hosting! Sheri
Grab your free Design Menu, packed with delicious exercises for engaging your audience and increasing learner retention.
