Easter through to early summer seems to be the main season for learning, training and development conferences. These range from the big international events to the small, but thoroughly worthwhile sector-specific gatherings.

Given my job, I tend to spend a lot of my time speaking or listening so I’m going to offer a few observations to both organisers and presenters. I do hope the comments don’t appear over-critical. Most of these events are beneficial to participants and, as is well known, the opportunity for face-to-face networking is always worthwhile. It’s just that so often the programme could, with a small effort, be a much better experience for the participants.

So let’s start with the organisers. My first suggestion is to ask the speaker nicely if they would like to attend the conference. This is almost always the case but the occasional departure can cause friction. Recently, for example, I received an invitation from a government agency asking for a CIPD speaker. They asked if either I or Mr Armstrong were available to speak. However, once they had read our biographies, Mr Armstrong would be their preferred choice. Boy, did that make me want to attend!

I realise, though, that this is mercifully rare and what is much more common is to be asked to participate in a grossly over-crowded programme. My view is that a speaker who has anything worthwhile to say should be allowed at least an hour. You can understand how the conference organisers hope to attract more delegates by packing a programme with names from blue chip organisations and fit them all in compressed slots accordingly. The event starts late. Inexperienced and nervous speakers always take comfort in presenting a lot of unnecessary detail on their organisation. The session overruns and the tea-break is shortened.

Incidentally, a CIPD conference team suggests the following rule on slides: Have no more than 15 slides per 30 minutes.

If the above sounds a bit negative, let’s offer some positive advice for speakers. First, always remember that PowerPoint is a visual media. A good photograph illustrates the point far better than a grindingly slow build-up of bullet-pointed text.

My second and third suggestions are grounded in some prejudices of mine. They are: don’t try to be funny if you’re not and avoid the St James brevity promise. The first of these two is obvious to anyone who has sat through a laboured joke followed by polite laughter. If you can’t make your colleagues laugh over the lunch table, you’re unlikely to be able to achieve it with a conference audience.

The St James brevity promise is named after a large and successful church that my wife and I used to attend every Sunday morning. The services were long, often over-ran, and were punctuated by announcements of events from the laity which often began with “I’m told that I must be very brief and that’s not something I’m used to doing. In fact, my wife/ husband always says that I talk too much...” or “The vicar says that if I talk for too long a trap door will open …” The point here is get straight to the point.

Finally two comments on dealing with nerves. The first tip I learned is from the US expert in e-learning Allison Rossett. Well before any session began, after assuring herself that the technology was working, she’d walk out in the centre aisle and talk individually with the audience. What this does is make the start of the talk much easier. The person sitting directly before you in the front-row is not an awkward sceptic who has seen it all before. You now know that he or she is someone who works in local government in Yorkshire, is interested in your subject but has confessed to knowing nothing and is looking forward to what you’ve got to say. This prior mixing with the audience also seems to make the opening atmosphere much more positive – they seem more attentive.

The second comment is one that someone told me some 20 years ago. Try deep breathing for a couple of minutes before you start. Apparently there is bed of nerves at the base of the solar plexus that is massaged by the diaphragm. I’ve got no idea if this is true and, since it works for me, I’ve deliberately not tried to find out in case it’s wrong.

There is a famous quote by Mark Twain. He said: “There are only two types of speakers in the world. The nervous and the liars.”

Enjoy your conferences.

Martyn Sloman is CIPD adviser in learning, training and development. From 1997-2000 he worked as director of management education and training for Ernst & Young. He is a visiting professor at Glasgow Caledonian and Kingston Universities. He can be contacted at m.sloman@cipd.co.uk

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