On Wednesday, September 30th, a panel made up of seven members of Colorado Women in Social Media did an awesome job presenting “Becoming an Influencer” at Denver Startup Week. Over 200 people attended, and many more had to be turned away for lack of space.

As mentioned in last week’s post, “Prepping for a Panel Presentation,” this appearance had been in the works for several of months, spearheaded by Valerie Morris, Founder and Account Manager at Tintero Creative. See that post for tips on how to prepare for and promote a panel presentation. This one is devoted to giving the presentation itself and following up afterwards.

CWSM Panel at DSW

 

The Stars of “Becoming an Influencer”

Moderator: Beth Johnston, Founder and CEO, Social Bridges

Panelists:

  • Erin Cell, Founder and CEO, Socially Powered
  • Hollie Clere, CEO, The Social Media Advisor
  • Joyce Feustel, Founder, Boomers’ Social Media Tutor
  • Lisa Haas, Founder and President, Actuate Social
  • Michelle Hoglan, Owner, Top Hat Creative
  • Melody Jones, Founder/CEO, Social Media Management Services
  • Valerie Morris, Founder and Account Manager, Tintero Creative Services

 

Making it Happen – Giving the Panel Presentation

  • Bring all the essentials, including some helpers
  • Equipment: This includes the computers/laptops on which each presenter has stored his or her presentation, projectors (if not supplied by the venue), pens, handouts, notepads, a basket to collect business cards.
  • If possible, have someone who is not on the panel record the presentation and have that person or someone else take professional-quality photos during the event.
  • Plan to have some informal photos taken on your own camera or smart phone – especially of you in action while presenting.
  • Get to the venue in plenty of time, especially if parking options are a bit complicated. Bring change for meters!
  • Set up a table in the back of the room on which panelists can leave their business cards, brochures, and other giveaways.
  • Bring a table cloth and some decorations to make it festive.
  • Be sure the moderator and the panelists are familiar with how to use the microphones. (This is something you will have practiced during your rehearsal, but do a sound check at the site to make sure everything works properly.)
  • Create a hashtag for the presentation – we used #CWSMInfluencer. Then, instead of taking questions directly from the audience, people can send questions via Twitter. One of our helpers kept track of those questions and brought them to us at the end so we could answer them. For such a large audience and no easy way to get a microphone out into the crowd, we felt this was the best approach.
  • Remember to look at the audience when you’re speaking and at your fellow panelists when they’re speaking and avoid looking down at your notes as much as possible, especially when you’re not speaking.
  • When you are speaking, be authentic, clear, and use real-life examples, and remember that this is supposed to be fun; you need to entertain the audience as well as inform them.
  • Wrap up the presentation before the scheduled end to allow time for informal mingling with audience members.
  • To collect the maximum number of business cards, have a drawing with fun items donated by panelists and displayed in a basket or back pack.

 

Following Up

  • Keep the momentum going after the presentation by hosting a happy hour at a nearby location and inviting everyone in the audience to attend.
  • Use social media to let folks know how successful the event was through photos taken during the event and comments about your experiences. Remember to tag your fellow panelists and others involved in the presentation.
  • Keep a close eye on all your social media sites in order to respond to comments via Twitter, invites to connect on LinkedIn, comments on your posts, etc.
  • Write recommendations for fellow panelists (and the panel moderator) on their LinkedIn profiles.
  • Have the panel coordinator create a project in the projects section on LinkedIn and add all the team members.
  • Put the PowerPoint of the presentation into a pdf and send it to those for whom you have business cards and to those not able to attend who supplied contact information.

 

 

How About You?

How have you been part of a panel presentation? What tips would you offer from your experience, especially ideas related to prepping for and promoting the program?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers' Social Media Tutor

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, leaders of nonprofit organizations, job seekers, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.