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Some of the most common event planning mistakes involve speaker coordination or management. For example, you could encounter issues with speaker scheduling, failure to submit presentation materials on time, or even technical difficulties with your audiovisual (AV) system.
How do you prevent common mistakes? One of the top tools you can use is an event and speaker management software that helps organize everything in one place. That way, you can organize everything, confirm important details, and monitor your tech setup at events.
We’ve created this guide to help you identify 10 common event speaker management mistakes, develop strategies to solve them, and plan effectively using tools and technology that can help.
Why Do Event Planners Struggle with Speaker Management?
There are many reasons why managing event speakers can feel stressful or even troublesome at times. Those include:
- Communication errors, such as long email threads where information gets missed
- Disorganized manual processes, like big spreadsheets of information that can lead to confusion
- Last-minute cancellations or changes that affect scheduling, timing, and the event’s flow
- Having to accommodate the needs of all the speakers, like different technologies for different types of presentations
- Having to collect a lot of deliverables like presentations, videos, audio recordings, or audience handouts
A lot of things can happen that prevent teams and speakers from staying on the same page during event planning. That’s why the right event technology, such as an event management system (EMS), is so important.
An EMS is software that keeps all the essential information in a centralized place with an organized display. It makes it easier to plan ahead, maintain consistent communication, and implement a task management system so you have everything you need by the event date.
What Are the Most Common Event Planning Mistakes with Speakers?
Here are 10 of the most common mistakes event planners will encounter with speaker management:
1. Speaker Scheduling Errors
It’s common to run into problems with speaker scheduling, especially if you have a large event where a lot of speakers are presenting. Miscommunication, scheduling conflicts, or last-minute changes can all affect your planning.
Fortunately, technology like an EMS can make things easier. It’ll help you plan a clear speaker schedule, notify everyone involved of any changes, and offer options for speaker communication right on the platform.
2. Presentations Not Aligning With the Event Theme
Sometimes, a speaker prepares a presentation that doesn’t align with the event’s theme or message. This can lead to attendees feeling disconnected or the speaker feeling out of place.
Cadmium’s EMS, Eventscribe, offers solutions that can help with that, allowing you to collect abstracts from potential speakers ahead of time, review and approve presentation ideas, and collect presentation materials before the event.
3. Sending Speakers to the Wrong Venue
This is common if you’re planning many events or juggling schedules for future events, and it can quickly lead to frustration for everyone involved. A system for clear venue scheduling and sharing essential details is crucial; it helps ensure speakers show up at the right place at the right time.
4. Not Communicating Speaker Requirements
When speakers aren’t clear on what’s expected, things can quickly go off track. You might end up with a presentation that misses the mark or goes off-theme, or a session that runs over time and throws off the schedule. That’s why clear communication is essential in event planning, and why having a good system in place to share the event requirements makes all the difference.
5. Technical Difficulties
Technical issues are a common headache, whether they pop up pre-event or during the proceedings. Microphones, speakers, projectors, and other pieces of equipment can fail, leaving you to troubleshoot on the spot.
Our Eventscribe EMS can help with this, too, by integrating with technology like your AV system to help you identify potential issues ahead of time.
6. Overlooking Individual Speaker Needs
Each speaker may have different needs that you must account for during the planning process. For example, one speaker may plan to use PowerPoint, while another wishes to play a video during their presentation. You’ll want to ensure your event tech is prepared for all needs ahead of time so presentations can go off without a hitch.
7. Not Having a Backup Plan
Errors and issues can happen during events, and you might not be able to solve all of them on the spot. So, it’s important to have a backup plan in place. For example, planning other activities to fill in time if a speaker doesn’t show up, or how you’ll increase audience engagement if it seems low.
8. Relying on Manual Systems
Too many manual systems or complex spreadsheets can lead to simple human errors or delays. Using technology to manage information and automate common tasks can help event organizers operate more efficiently and accurately.
9. Not Planning Far Enough Ahead for Your Next Event
Successful events require starting the planning process early. That way, you can get commitments from great speakers, give them enough time to come up with impactful presentations, and ensure your tech setup is ready to go. Otherwise, you can end up rushing or having your team feel stressed during the planning process.
10. Not Thinking About Engagement During the Event Experience
You want your speakers to deliver presentations that provide valuable information and are engaging for attendees. Failing to account for audience engagement can make presentations feel less impactful.
Fortunately, the right event technology can help. For instance, you can use an EMS like Eventscribe to add elements like real-time audience responses, live polls, or quizzes to presentations to get the audience involved and immersed in the experience.
How Do You Create Clear Communication Processes for Future Events?
Here are some of the best ways to ensure you maintain great communication with speakers for future events:
- Using a centralized software like an EMS for event planning and speaker management
- Starting the planning process early so your team and speakers feel prepared
- Proactively checking in with speakers to answer any questions or solve any problems
- Setting up automatic reminders for deadlines when speakers need to submit presentation ideas, materials, etc.
- Using event apps and technology that allow you to make presentations more engaging
How Does Audience Engagement Suffer from Speaker Management Mistakes?
Speaker management mistakes can affect an event’s success by creating gaps in your schedule, failing to meet attendee expectations, making presentations less immersive, or leaving your event theme and message disjointed. That’s why it’s important to plan ahead, have a good system to minimize mistakes, and have backup plans ready if needed.
To read more about Attendee Engagement and Top Strategies To Increase Attendee Engagement At Your Next Event, read our blog!
What Event Planning Technology Prevents Common Mistakes?
Looking into a well-rounded event management system is an effective way to reduce speaker management mistakes. It creates a centralized system where you can communicate with speakers, review abstracts, have speakers submit presentation materials, manage your schedule, and send timely reminders throughout the process.
If you’re looking for a great place to start, our Eventscribe EMS at Cadmium offers many features that can help you manage speakers and each stage of event planning.
How Can Eventscribe Streamline Speaker Management for Corporate Events?
When you use Eventscribe for event and speaker management, our speaker-ready system offers many features that will help you plan, communicate, and execute your event strategy effectively. Eventscribe can:
- Organize communication between your staff and speakers
- Help you set up a system for abstract submissions and reviews
- Create a complete schedule for all event preparation tasks
- Allow speakers to submit presentation materials for review
- Help you submit event and speaker information to registered attendees
- Integrate with your AV system to monitor equipment and identify issues ahead of time
- Allow you to create an event app to add immersive audience engagement options during presentations
- And more
Eventscribe is built to help you manage each stage of event planning, such as attendee registration, speaker management, logistics planning, attendee engagement, and data and analytics.
Click here to learn more about how Eventscribe can make a difference for your organization.
