Hello everyone
I'm Special Collections Librarian at the University of Bradford and really enjoy speaking at conferences. But it has taken me time to build up to this and to find presenting styles that work for me and my audience.
Afraid I can't join in much today (combo of strongroom work and a 2 hour evacuation of campus this morning!) but will enjoy reading the emails later on. Best of luck to everyone and hope to hear lots of great new speakers at future conferences.
All the best
Alison
Top tips:
Give it a go! I have cringey memories of events that went very wrong but I have learned from them.
Plan ahead. Think about the venue and what you will do if things go wrong (dodgy IT, fire alarms, having to alter the timetable). If they do go wrong, and you carry them off well, audience will be impressed!
Make sure you build in time to write your presentation in advance and think about it beforehand. What do you want to say? What might your audience find interesting?
Reflect on other people's performances. What worked? What didn't? How could you adapt what works for your practice?
Get training if you can - someone who will be honest about your performance. This may come in as part of other training, for instance in fundraising.
Conference speaking skills overlap with writing, teaching, advocacy and many other kinds of communication.
Understand and stick to the parameters - above all timing. You will feel better if your presentation fits its slot and you aren't galloping to fit it all in. Organisers and delegates will love you and invite you back.
Get involved if you can in organising events - it gives a great insight into the way conferences work.
If you're enthusiastic and enjoy sharing what you have to say, that will come across, and audience will respond.
-----Original Message-----
From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Welsh, Anne
Sent: 08 September 2015 12:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Welcome and introductions
Hi Jennifer
All lurkers welcome! And lovely to know who some of you are ;)
Anne
On 08/09/2015 12:39, "CIG E-Forum on behalf of Jennifer Smith (Library
Services - Collection Management and Development)"
<[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I'll introduce myself as a lurker...
>
>I'm a Metadata Specialist at the University of Birmingham. I haven't
>attended many conferences but I am starting to have my eyes opened to
>the possibilities of not only attending but even presenting one day, if
>the right call for papers came along. I hope to learn more about it
>here, so thanks for all the interesting e-mails so far.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Jennifer Smith
>University of Birmingham
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: CIG E-Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Welsh, Anne
>Sent: 08 September 2015 11:46
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [CIG-E-FORUM] Welcome and introductions
>
>... If there are any other participants who think theyıre more likely
>to be listening / reading in than answering questions, please do feel
>comfortable to identify yourselves!
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