Bringing Your Remote Speaker In to Your Event

Having decided on the content for your event you may discover that some of the speakers you would like to take part are actually based some physical distance away from your event which could mean you have to incur some travel and accommodation expenses for your speaker(s).

This is fine as long as you have sufficient budget but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. You still want the speaker but have limited budget and this could naturally lead you to asking your speaker to join your event as a remote speaker. This would mean that you bring your remote speaker(s) into your event from their location(s) by using the wonders of modern technology.  

You might also have made a conscious decision that you are not bringing in speakers that are based outside the immediate location of your event. This could be particularly the case if you are demonstrating strong environmental credentials.

Bringing speakers into an event can be both exhilarating and challenging and usually both at the same time. You definitely need to make sure that the remote speaker is aware of how everything will happen and what they need to do at their end.

After all there is a limit to how many times someone asking ‘can you hear me’ becomes just annoying and I have yet to hear an outside news reporter shouting at the camera asking the same (can you hear me) question. It doesn’t happen.

You can be sure that the news reporter is aware of how he or she is looking and sounding. All the pre-production work has been done.  

If a speaker isn’t able to understand how to run the presentation/technology at their end, if they don’t have the correct technology and as importantly if they are unable to for whatever reason join you for a rehearsal then my advice would be to evaluate whether they really are the speaker for you.  There is just too much at stake for you including your reputation.

You can imagine the scene; you as the event planner have a room full of delegates, press, other VIPS etc and the event has been running really well. All is good until the hook up with the remote speaker melts into chaos as the remote speaker isn’t able to deliver. Now how is your reputation looking?

But don’t panic just make sure the pre-production work is executed well.

The important thing is that there is lots of communication between you (the event planner) and your remote speaker(s). Make sure all expectations are met; test the equipment until you are happy that the sound and vision are working in the most effective way for your audience(s).

And above all, trust your instinct. If you have a feeling that a remote speaker isn’t going to deliver for you, well that could well be right so make your decisions and do not compromise on speaker delivery.

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