A guide to presenting at a Terrapinn event

Show business

www.terrapinn.com
The Terrapinn difference The Chairperson

You’re in charge of the proceedings. A chairperson can make or

break the event experience. You have an important role and as
such need to take it seriously and prepare in advance.

Before the event:

1. You will be sent copies of all presentations received to date.
It is advised that you read these and prepare questions for the
presenters.
Terrapinns’ events are different:
2. It is also encouraged that you contact some of the presenters
• Real case studies presented by CEO’s. before the conference. You can do this using our “Contact”
system. See section later in this booklet.
• PowerPoint actively discouraged. Interaction and humour encouraged.
3. Copies of all presenters biographies will be sent to you in
• Q&A sessions a formal part of proceedings. advance. Again, it is advised that you read and familiarise
yourself with these before the event.
• Panel sessions creating a talk show rather than a lecture.
4. Prepare your own “Introductory remarks” paper. This should
• Round tables that facilitate brainstorming. set the scene for the day, overview the topics and set the
tone for the presenters to follow. Submit this to Terrapinn at
• Buffet lunches that make networking happen. least 3 weeks before the conference date.

• Speed networking enabling everyone to meet everyone.

• Contact: Facilitating before, during and after event networking.

• Gala dinners and cocktails to network and relax.

On the day:
• A year long, very extensive marketing campaign.
1. Please arrive at least 30 minutes before the conference is due to
• Real value for sponsors and speakers. commence. The Conference Director will brief you on the stage and
audio visual setup, advise you of any speaker changes and any general
• Music: tune into the event theme. house keeping issues.

A Terrapinn event is an experience. 2. You are required to introduce each presenter. You will have been sent a
copy of the presenters biography before the event. However, don’t read
it verbatim. Just focus on relevant, and, perhaps, the more quirky facts.
Keep it short.

3. Time keeping. A presenter who runs over the allotted time will bore the
Your part in the experience. audience and start to have a negative impact on the experience. Hurry

Y
them along, and, if necessary, interrupt them.
As a presenter at a Terrapinn conference you play an

O incredibly important role in the overall success of the 4. Question and answer sessions are an integral part of a Terrapinn
event. conference programme. These sessions are very important and allow the

U
attendees to actively participate in the event. Start the process by asking
The attendees chose to attend this event because the presenter two hard hitting questions yourself. Invite questions from
you are speaking. They believe you have something the floor, asking the questioner to identify themselves.
interesting to say and look to you as an expert in your
field. And so do we at Terrapinn. 5. Please thank our conference sponsors and exhibitors. And encourage
participants to spend time browsing any exhibition stands at the event.
To help you prepare for the event we have put together
this booklet. We strongly advice that you do read it and 6. Terrapinn will provide a conference workbook for all attendees. As you
take on board the advice given. The booklet will help will see from this booklet we actively discourage the overuse of
you: PowerPoint. We ask all our presenters to submit a white paper. All
papers and PowerPoint slides will also be available for participants to
download after the event.
• Prepare your presentation.
• Ensure you get the most out of the experience. 7. At the close of the conference please thank all participants on behalf
of Terrapinn. Please also ask them to complete the conference
• Help you to relax and enjoy the day. evaluation forms provided to help us improve the conference and our
service in the future.
Good luck.
The Moderator The Panellist

Your role is to stimulate interesting discussion, probe difficult You will be one of between three and six panel members invited
and controversial issues and engage the audience. to discuss and debate a relevant industry issue.

To ensure a stimulating panel you should prepare well before

the event date. Before the event:
Before the event: 1. Contact all your panel members in advance, particularly the
panel moderator. You can do this by using our “contact”
1. Contact all your panel members in advance. You can system (see later section of this booklet).
do this by using our “contact” system (see later
section of this booklet). 2. Prepare a five minute introductory presentation. Terrapinn
discourages the use of PowerPoint slides. If slides are used
2. Prepare a five minute introductory opening for your please keep them to a minimum of three slides. Your speech
panel. Terrapinn discourages the use of PowerPoint should be interesting and relevant. A company sales pitch is
slides. If slides are used please keep them to neither!
a minimum of three slides. Your speech should be
interesting and relevant. A company sales pitch is 3. You may also wish to prepare some searching questions for
neither! your fellow panellists.

3. Prepare at least two questions for each of your panellists.

At the event: At the event:

1. Please arrive at least an hour before the panel is due to 1. Please arrive at least an hour before the panel is due to commence.
commence.
2. Each panellist will be introduced one at a time and invited to speak for
2. Each panel has between three and six members five minutes.
representing different industry perspectives.
3. You will be asked a few pre-prepared questions by the panel moderator
3. As the moderator you are invited to make a five minute
introductory presentation about the nature of the panel topic 4. You should interact with your fellow panellists to enhance the audience
and a brief introduction of each panel member. experience

4. Each panellist will be seated along side you and will make a, 5. Please remain on the stage until all speakers for your session have been
maximum 5 minute, introduction to their perspective on the interviewed.
topic.
6. At the end of the panel session the audience will be invited to ask the
5. You will then need to ask a few pre-prepared questions to panel questions.
each panel member.
7. We strongly encourage you to attend the entire event. There will be
6. This process will be repeated until you have finished hundreds of interesting people for you to network with and you may
discussions with all panellist. also have some fun!

7. Once all questions have taken place you can then open up
the discussion to include the audience.

8. Please stick to the allotted time for your panel. Ensuring that
there is plenty of time to take questions from the audience.

9. At the close of the panel please thank all panellist for their
participation.

10. We strongly encourage you to attend the entire event.

There will be hundreds of interesting people for you to
network with and you may also have some fun!
Presenting a case study Your white paper

You have been invited to present because we believe you Ever attended a conference, thought a speech was
have a very interesting and relevant case study that the particularly interesting and wanted to share the content
audience will find stimulating and interesting. with your colleagues back in the office? You circulate the
PowerPoint slides, but no-one seems as enthused as you
Remember, you are presenting a case study – not a and you end up having to write up your notes to explain the
company profile or sales pitch. Nether of which are slides.
stimulating or interesting for the audience.

Y
Even worse, ever been on the receiving end? Trying to
understand the message from twenty PowerPoint slides is

D
Before the event:
impossible.

TS U
1. Contact the Conference Manager to discuss your presentation
content. So Terrapinn has a different approach. Speakers, moderators
and panelists are all required to produce a conference white
2. Prepare your white paper and presentation at least three weeks paper.
before the event date. Submit these to Terrapinn. Don’t leave
this to the last minute, you’ll cause yourself and us a lot of White papers are articles, abstracts or opinion pieces related
stress! to your presentation. White papers should be interesting
and informative. They are an excellent platform for your
3. Spend the next three weeks practicing and refining your ideas and opinions on the industry. They do not have to be
presentation. a long dissertation: just one to two sides of A4 is more than
adequate.
4. Read the “Eight tips to keep your listeners on the edge of their seats.”
Writing this will also help you with your presentation – write
5. Read “Death by PowerPoint” in this booklet. Terrapinn strongly discourages the use of PowerPoint it before you start on the presentation. It will help you to
and actively encourages you to reduce the volume of slides you use. formulate and order your thoughts. We also advise that you
try brainstorming and mind mapping your paper before you
write it. Included in this booklet is a section on mind mapping
to help those of you that aren’t used to the technique.

Terrapinn uses white papers to provide additional information

for attendees. They are published on our global internet
site and in the conference proceedings. All attendees have
At the event: access to these and use them regularly for research. We do
not publish PowerPoint slides.
1. Please arrive no later than 2 hours before your
presentation. This will allow enough time for you to We would appreciate the document be produced in MS Word
receive an onsite brief and to familiarise yourself with the or PDF.
stage and audio visual equipment.

2. You will be introduced by the chairperson before your

presentation is due to begin.

3. Please respect the time that has been allocated to your

presentation.

4. We strongly encourage you to attend the entire event. Beware the sales pitch
There will be hundreds of interesting people for you to
network with and you may also have some fun! Sales pitches kill conferences, and
destroy your and your company’s
credibility. They are totally self
defeating.

Attendees at Terrapinn events

crave ideas, inspiration, and
intelligence. They are not
interested in your company’s
products. So please, no sales
pitches.
Eight tips to keep your listeners on the edge of their seats.

1. Incite, don’t inform. 4. Simpler is better.

Effective presentations don’t
end with nodding heads and
polite applause. They end with
action. The most important
question to ask before any
presentation is, “What do I
want my audience to do and
how do I convince them to do
it?”
1+1=2
Maybe it’s our talk-show
society. Maybe it’s the allure
of multimedia technology.
Whatever the cause, too
many presentations are too long, too slick, and too
convoluted. Make your presentations shorter and
more candid.

The best presentations answer

basic questions that few
presenters ever bother asking:
What’s my core message? How
does that message benefit
my audience? What barriers
are there to people accepting
the message? What common
ground (values, experience,
goals) do I share with the
audience? When I finish, what
do I want the audience to
do? Presentations are about
objectives, benefits, and
actions.
5. Perform, don’t present.
The impact of a typical
presentation is 55% visual (how
you look), 38% vocal (how you
talk), and only 7% verbal (what
you say). In other words, you
don’t deliver presentations, you
perform them.
6. The show must go on.
If you are using
technology,
have a back up
and test it well
in advance.
7. There’s one in every crowd.
Your presentation’s gone great.
You invite questions from the
audience -- and suddenly it’s
World War III! One hostile
question, handled poorly, can
erase the goodwill created by
an hour’s worth of flawless
presenting.
How do you handle a hostile
member of the audience?
Disagree without being disagreeable. Don’t pick a
fight. Repeat and rephrase the question, including the
emotions that accompanied it. This way the questioner
knows you’ve heard him. That alone can defuse some of
the negativity.

2. Don’t talk to strangers. 3. First (and last) impressions are everything.

It’s hard to
persuade an
audience when
you don’t
know who’s
in it - their
backgrounds,
interests, goals,
pet peeves.
You should know as much as you can about
who you’re speaking to. What are their
expectations? Where are they positioned
on the issue? What’s their knowledge level?
What are their demographics and cultures?
Why not:
• Get a list of attendees job titles,
company names and countries from
Terrapinn
• Contact attendees before the event and
ask them questions using “Contact”. See
later in the booklet for more details.
Arrive before your presentation and talk to
some attendees over coffee or lunch.
8. Practice, practice, practice.
The two most important parts
The simple truth
of your presentation are the
about presentations,
first 30 and the last 15 seconds.
like almost
Everything else is, no matter
everything else in
how substantive, utterly
business, is that
forgettable if the presentation
the only way to
starts or ends badly. People
get better is to
make a decision in the first 30
practice. What’s
seconds about whether they’re
painful is that most
going to listen to you.
people only have
one way to practice
Warning: capturing your audience’s attention up front does
-- in public, by giving
not mean telling a joke or entertaining them.
presentations. That’s
a mistake. Practice
A powerful close leaves the audience with something of
on colleagues, family
value and relates directly to the opening. If you opened
or the dog!
with a story, complete the story at the close. If you
opened with a statistic or quote, restate it at the end.
People should walk away with something specific in mind.
Presenters should always finish early. It creates positive
feelings in the audience that can influence how people
feel about your message.
Source: Fast Company. www.fastcompany.com
Death by PowerPoint Be creative

PowerPoint is easy to use and compatible with everyone. But you need to be aware of the downside of Mindmapping is one of the simplest, yet most powerful, tools a person can have in her creativity toolbox. It
PowerPoint too. is a non-linear way of organising information and a technique that allows you to capture the natural flow of
your ideas. Here’s a five minute workshop on how to use this flexible tool – try it when writing your white
Edward Tufte, a renowned expert on the presentation of information, in his book “The paper, it will really help.
cognitive style of PowerPoint” makes the following observations
about PowerPoint presentations: Allow
Work fast!
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• “PowerPoint is entirely presenter-orientated, and not i s
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Think Fast
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lightweight evidence, abrupt and thinly-argued claims.” ut ev
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• “With so little information per slide, many slides are needed. eas mpty line en
if unrelated
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Audiences consequently endure a relentless sequentially, one use keywor an ?
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damn slide after another” ym
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• “PowerPoint is a competent slide-manager. But rather than
supplementing the presentation it has become a substitute for it.”
Step 1: Center First. Our mind focuses on the center ... so
So what should presentations be? mindmapping begins with a word or image that symbolizes what you
want to think about placed in the middle of the page.
• “The way to make big improvements in a presentation is to get better content.” So spend
the time on this rather than making pretty slides. Step 2: Lighten Up! Mindmapping is simply a brain dumping process
that helps stimulate new ideas and connections. Start with an open,
• Write the content first then chose the medium most appropriate to enhance the presentation. playful attitude ... you can always get serious later.
This may or may not involve PowerPoint.

• “Paper handouts at a talk can effectively show text, numbers, data graphics, images…Thoughtfully Step 3: Free Associate. As ideas emerge, print one or two word
planned handouts at your talk tell the audience that you are serious and precise; that you seek to leave descriptions of the ideas on lines branching from the central focus. Allow
traces and have consequences. And that you respect your audience.” the ideas to expand outward into branches and sub-branches. Put down
all ideas without judgment or evaluation.

Step 4: Think Fast. Your brain works best in 5-7 minute bursts so
At Terrapinn we have very strong feelings about capture that explosion of ideas as rapidly as possible. Key words,
PowerPoint. In fact so strong that internally no one symbols and images provide a mental short-hand to help you record ideas
uses it any more. We too have endured years of sitting as quickly as possible.
through meetings and conferences full of hundreds
of PowerPoint slides. It’s time to add excitement and Step 5: Break Boundaries. Break through the “A4 mentality” that says
creativity back into presentations. The best presenters you have to write on white, A4-size paper with black ink or pencil. Use
around don’t use any slides, they have great content and ledger paper or easel paper or cover an entire wall with butcher paper
speak well. ... the bigger the paper, the more ideas you’ll have. Use wild colors, fat
colored markers, crayons, or skinny felt tipped pens..
Maybe consider using other creative aids:
Step 6: Judge Not. Put everything down that comes to mind even if
• Still pictures it is completely unrelated. If you’re brainstorming ideas for a report on
• Video the status of carrots in Texas and you suddenly remember you need to
• Music pick-up your cleaning, put down “cleaning.” Otherwise your mind will get
• White boards stuck like a record in that “cleaning” groove and you’ll never generate
• Flip charts those great ideas.

If you wish to read more about PowerPoint read:

The cognitive style of PowerPoint by Edward Tufte
Step 7: Keep Moving. Keep your hand moving. If ideas slow down,
draw empty lines, and watch your brain automatically find ideas to put on
www.edwardtufte.com. Or search google “death by
them. Or change colors to reenergize your mind. Stand up and mindmap
PowerPoint” and you’ll find many blogs and articles on
on an easel pad to generate even more energy.
this subject to convince you.
Source: Joyce Wycoff, Co-Founder, InnovationNetwork.
Let’s respect our audience.
www.thinksmart.com
Network pre, during and post event Speed Networking

As an attendee at a Terrapinn event you gain access to our unique “Contact” system. This is the revolutionary, exciting
and non-pressurised way to meet
You can: fellow conference attendees and
industry peers in one fifty-minute
• Securely contact attendees to pre-arrange meetings at the event session. It is a part of the formal
• Download event documentation conference agenda.
• Receive event updates
These brief meetings are the
starting point for conversation
The system is very easy to use, simply follow these 7 steps: and networking throughout the
conference. This is where long-
lasting and profitable business
Step 1: Go to: http://contact.terrapinn.com. You can also find a link on the navigation bar on the event relationships begin.
website.
We strongly advise that as a
Step 2: Then enter your: conference speaker you ensure that
you are present for this session. It’ll
• Email address be the most profitable hour you’ll
• Password (this will be emailed to you a few weeks before the event) spend this year! Guaranteed.

Step 3: Click on my profiles on the navigation bar. Check your details are correct.

Step 4: Click on Search for contacts on the navigation bar. You can filter this by Attendees, Exhibitors, 
Sponsors and Press. To view all attendees click on All

Step 5: You can view a companies  or

Og a persons  profile
P by clicking the icons.

Step 6: To contact a person, click on the  icon

Contact next to that person. In the box that appears, type
in your message and click on send. An email will be sent directly to that person’s personal email box.

Step 7: Click on My messages in the navigation bar. This section details all the people that you have
contacted, and all the people that have contacted you. At any time you can view a message either received
or sent by clicking “view”.

Privacy
In order to protect your privacy only your
name, job title, organisation name and
Terrapinn - at your service
profiles appear in the system. The only way
Terrapinnos - readily identifiable by
you can be contacted or that you can contact
the orange flowers - are here to
someone else is by using CONTACT.
ensure your full enjoyment of the
If you receive an email from another conference experience.
participant they do not know your email
address - unless you reply to them. Hence, If there is anything extra we can do,
you have full control over your email address. please ask. Over the years we have
recovered phones from taxis, made
If you do not wish to take part in Contact key introductions, recommended
then you can simply opt out. Click on My restaurants… Gone the extra mile.
profiles on the navigation bar and uncheck If you have any suggestions as to
the box “Participating member of Contact”. how we can improve your event
Your details will no longer appear in the experience please let us know.
“search for contacts section” and you will Please complete our Customer
not be able to contact attendees yourself. Survey.

Assistance
If you have any problems with logging on
or need assistance making contacts please
contact contact.help@terrapinn.com
Market yourself and your company Checklist

This is a great opportunity for you and for your company. You This checklist is designed to help you get the most from the
are about to take centre stage in front of senior executives event. It will act as a reminder for pre-event planning and
from your industry. Make sure you capitalise on this. will ensure that you get the most from the event.

Here’s a few tips on how to do just that:

l Submit biography and photograph to Terrapinn
1. Ensure everyone in your company knows you’re speaking.
You will be sent several copies of the conference brochure, and
a PDF version. Send this to all staff. Your staff are all eligible for
a discount – encourage them to attend, they will learn a lot and
l Complete and return administration form
even do business.

2. Ensure your clients and suppliers know you are speaking. l Submit written paper to Terrapinn
It’s great PR that you have been asked to speak. Encourage
them to also attend the event. Our marketing department have
years of experience in Direct Marketing and will be more than
willing to aid you in distributing literature. l Practiced, practiced and practiced my presentation
3. Post an announcement on your website and intranet site.

4. Inform your PR department. They can also do a press l Email brochure to staff
release.

5. If you are really interested in making a name for your l Email brochure to suppliers and clients
company in this industry, investigate sponsorship opportunities.
The Conference Manager can give you more information.

6. Closer to the event review the attendee list on “Contact” l Inform PR department
and set up meetings with key attendees. Don’t waste this
opportunity.

7. Read the presentation tips in this booklet and ensure you l Announcement made on website and intranet
are prepared. You want to make a good impression.

Remember this is a great marketing opportunity – treat it as

l Investigated sponsorship opportunities to maximise our
such. exposure
 Love the turtle

Australia Singapore
Level 6, 12 Prince Edward Road
241 Commonwealth Street #03-01 Podium A
Surry Hills Bestway Building
NSW 2010 Singapore 079212
Australia

Tel: +61 2 9005 0700 Tel: +65 6222 8550
Fax: +61 2 9281 3950 Fax: +65 6226 3264
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Tel: +27 11 516 4000 Tel: +44 207 092 1000
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