For anyone who has ever planned a corporate event of any size, the details and logistics can be daunting. Now take that to an enormous scale, where several hundred, if not thousands of industry leaders convene to learn and network. How do you create a presentation that will cut through the competition of conversations, acoustics and local distractions?
To find out, I spoke with Carlo Tamburro, Vice-President & General Manager at Williams/Gerard Productions. While his colleagues manage everything from managing logistics, venues, travel, general and breakout sessions and entertainment, Carlo hones in on the general session presentation.
“I help clients deliver their message in the most appropriate and memorable way,” he explained.
What advice can we take from Carlo’s 20 years of experience in event production?
- Talk to your audience. Engage them. Don’t read to them.
- If you must have support slides, use images, large fonts and only a few words. This is far more effective than bullets.
- When presenting content, create a pleasant visual contrast for your slides. Try a blue background and a gold san serif font.
He’s seen an increasing demand for “stingers,” an opening animation capable of grabbing the attention of a noisy audience (and effectively silencing them to make way for the presenter).
“I love what I do because there’s something different every day. I’ve been exposed to many industries and non profits and worked with some great people, and we’ve worked on events of all sizes.”
One other insight for presenters from Carlo, “Practice. Make time to practice. When you really know your content the audience knows it, and it makes all the difference.”
Williams/Gerard Productions (WG) is a strategic corporate communications company that focuses on developing purposeful and inspired solutions to a broad range of organizational communications needs and challenges.
