I enjoyed the honour of being the keynote speaker at a conference last week.
It was a big event, particularly for the organisers, who wanted to make sure it went brilliantly.
From the moment I was invited, I got a clear sense of the pressure they felt under.
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They were full of questions:
Wanted to get everything organised very early, check my travel arrangements, what I would be covering, audiovisual requirements, the lot.
Which was fine by me.
I’m a big fan of preparing, preparing, and preparing some more.
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But more than that, I’m also committed to trying to provide a great service.
Which means keeping everyone involved in anything I do happy and reassured.
So, on this occasion, I communicated with the organisers more than I usually would.
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Some of it, admittedly, was under the guise of checking details:
Would there be a clicker for my slides?
A clip on microphone, so I could wander around?
Were the audience playful, and up for some entertainment, as well as education?
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The rest was simply updating the organisers how I was getting on:
I’d sorted the slideshow, and here was a look…
But I was going to spend the week rehearsing and editing it to make sure the presentation was as good as it could be.
So, feel free to send any suggestions.
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Another update was that I’d booked my travel. I was taking the 9.09 train from Cambridge…
Which got into King’s Cross at 10.04…
Which meant, given I planned to walk, I would be at the venue at Regent's Park at about 10.30.
All in very good time for my talk.
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It was much more than I would usually communicate with an organiser.
On average, I was in touch every two or three days.
But it worked. I could tell they felt reassured, and confident in me, and were grateful for the updates.
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Even on the day of the conference itself, I sent them a text to say the train was on time.
And for that, given the challenges of the British transport network…
They were particularly appreciative.
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The event (I was talking about my favourite subject, storytelling) went beautifully.
I'm happy to say we got lots of wonderful feedback.
The organisers were hugely grateful for my efforts, and particularly…
How well I had communicated with them.
It made their lives much easier, and more relaxed, they said.
Which was precisely the plan.
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The moral of the story being to read the room. Or the situation, to be more accurate.
Clients, bosses, even colleagues all like - and often need - to know what's going on.
So communicate, communicate, and communicate some more.
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If you’ve worked with someone before, and they’re confident in you, and what you do…
You don’t necessarily need to update them so much.
But if it’s someone new, good communication can go a very long way to making everyone involved in an event happy…
And so, more importantly, making it a success.
