Ep. 93 Hybrid Speaking

Hey there, Mark Brown. Everything is starting to open. I know. The day of recording this June 1st, we have opened Vegas. There are no restrictions, no anything. And I recently talked to Jennifer Joseph Leir, who booked speakers and she's an agent, she books me Ford, you. And she just said it's starting to get busy. So it's gonna take a while to get that momentum going. But we're going back. But we're going back a little different. I believe that there's gonna be a lot more hybrid events ever before. And speaking hybrid is different than speaking live. So we're going to be speaking live, but we also have to be aware that there are people online at a lot of meetings as well. So how do you do that? And we've been doing that for years.

Exactly. In our live events, we have to.

Do a little quick brag in just a second that we just heard some amazing news that we had no idea of after this.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the unforgettable presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation. Ahas. Let's dive right in.

All right, Mark, we got to do the humble brag here. Like, this is so cool. We've been doing this for a year and a half now. And we got a random email out of nowhere from this reviewing service called Whelp. So we'll start where it started. Unbeknownst to us, they did a 2021 top presentation podcast and we were listed first out of all the podcast. Presentation. Podcast Presentation presentations. All the podcast about presentations or the presentations about podcast? No, no, it's right. The podcast about presentations. So that was cool. We didn't expect that. And Mark, you did a little research too. And what did you find? I just. This blew me away. Go ahead.

Well, yeah, I don't know. I was searching the Internet to look at different search engines and different podcast providers, platforms that feature our podcast. And I stumbled upon Listen Notes. Listen Notes is described as the best podcast search engine and database providing a user facing website and the developer facing API, whatever that means. But they have the best podcast surgery. So I said, oh, listen notes. I clicked on their website and I found unforgettable presentations. And I saw a little note that said Global rank top 1.5% with a question mark. I clicked on it and I saw this. What is global rank? This podcast, the Unforgettable Presentations podcast is one of the top 1.5% most popular shows out of, get this, 2,443,869 podcasts globally.

Wow.

Top 1.5% of two and a half million podcasts globally. And we were trying to find this out. It popped up. So twice in this course of a week we've been told we may be doing something good. And in all honesty, Darren, I feel blessed because you and I started this a year and a half ago and.

We did not know what we were doing.

No, we didn't. With one goal in mind, to help presenters become unforgettable. Little knowing that a year and a half later, almost two years later, we'd get this kind of response. So we consider ourselves blessed. We're thankful. And we thank you, our listeners and viewers, our supporters, for liking subscribing. Tell your friends about us. We're happy to share everything we've learned. We've got some great guests coming up. We've had some amazing guests in the past. We want to continue serving you. So we thank you, our listeners, for Giving us that one. Top 1.5% globally out of two and a half million podcasts. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you again.

Yeah, thank you. There's a lot of statistics and things behind it, but just, we just, hey, we've been doing this for a long time and this is free. We get nothing for doing this. But we love what we do. We get to interview really cool people, hang out with some of our best friends and best speakers in the world. So I don't wanna sound like we're just doing this out of kindness. Hey, we're trying to build our business, but at the same time we get zero revenue. We sponsor our own podcast, so we're not trying to get sponsorships. Maybe that'll happen someday down the road. I don't wanna say it'll never happen, but that's not our intention. Our intention is to help people get coaching clients, get people to our events, bring em into stage time, but because we've helped them. So now going to our topic of the day, hybrid speaking. Mark, we've been doing the workshops for five years and I just, we needed that constant reminder. So if you've ever gone, if you've moved over now to virtual presenting, you know, okay, you gotta remind yourself to look in your, in the camera. As Mark always says, look at your friends behind the lens. Okay, so now you've trained yourself to do that while you're sitting down or maybe standing up. But now when you go live, you've gotta remember these new lessons in the new hybrid setting. So we're talking about speaking live, yet they're still live streaming it. And so, Mark, I remember when I was going back on the big stage in front of a couple thousand people, I pulled aside people like Dan Thurman, Mike Rayburn, and asked for advice on what do I need to remember in front of the big audience. And it actually relates to hybrid, which is you gotta deliver your key lines to the camera even though you're speaking live. Why? Because in the large settings, you get 80% of the people, even though they're sitting right in front of you, they're looking up at the imac screens rather than the physical you right there. So if you want to connect with them, you can't look at them. You have to look at the camera, which is counterintuitive. So when you go back to hybrid, Regina, when she's setting up our workshops, she has a big arrow that says, remember to look here, look here. Because we have a. And so for a long time we were looking at the display. And just like everyone learned, when you move it over virtual, you can't look at the display. So you've got to find ways to get that display closer to the camera. So it's a more of a natural.

Connection without ignoring or neglecting your live audience as well, which in itself can be challenging in with the still a degree of physical distancing in some parts of the country and the world when it comes to live or hybrid events. So, yes, we want to get back to full live events, and that's coming. I know that Las Vegas has opened up right now, but several presenters will tell you they go to the virtual, the hybrid virtual in person. And even the individuals who are there in person still have to observe some degree of physical distancing, which can make it a bit challenging. So your eyes have to focus at key points on the lens. You still want to interact with your audience who's there live with you in person. So it does become a bit of a challenge, which might take some getting used to.

Yeah, speaking hybrid. Hybrid speaking however you want to refer to it, you got to do both. And so to some speakers, it's not a major change, but maybe they're going to have more chat that they didn't have before all of the COVID craziness. So we've got to be aware that now things live is going to be different than it ever has before because now so many people are being forced to learn. Virtual companies are realizing the power of virtual, the expense savings of virtual. So I don't think it's going away. And we as presenters, especially if we want to be unforgettable, we've got to realize, okay, now we're live, we're on a big stage, and we've still got to connect to those people, whether it's through chat. Mark, you and I have seen some churches do this. Elevation Church does an amazing job with interacting, using the chat. So we've got to do that if we're going to stay relevant and stay unforgettable. So, number one, we've got to present standing up just like we were if you're sitting down when you speak virtually. So hybrid speaking, we got to be with a chat. And this is a new question for event planners to ask them ahead of time. Is there going to be chat? How are we going to be engaging the people who are virtual? So new questions for our event planners.

And also on a much lighter note, we got to consider, do I need to get new trousers because my waist.

Is now bigger or the elastic waistband.

Sitting at a desk all the time. But in all seriousness, yeah, we have to adjust. We have to adapt and get back into that groove because you don't perform in the same way you have for several months. It's easy to get a bit rusty. But we have to really think positively and be excited about the idea. The prospect of being able to go back out there and do what we do in front of a live audience while not neglecting the virtual audience we have built and developed over the course of a year or more. I find this whole thing is exciting, Darren. And as you said, it's not just what we do on the platform or on screen. It's the entire every dimension of what it means to have the audio visual piece and the live piece all married together. We should talk about that too, today, don't you think?

Yeah. And our buddy, Ed Tate, I talked to him last night. He's actually on a plane today to Colorado for his first live training for a group of executives up there. So it's happening. We're hearing it, we're seeing it. I know Marvelous Mark, who we've interviewed as well before. He's got many new gigs coming up soon. And I had also Mark talked to Denise Merrick, who we had coached before, and checking in with her today, and she was saying she heard on the news that Vegas was opening up. She's in Ottawa, Canada. They're in 100% lockdown. Their stores aren't even opened. Like, that's crazy. We all see it from our own perspective. So going back to what you just said, Mark, our AV team. So this is a little reminder. If you forgot what it's like to be at a live event, we want to remind you the importance now of your AV team has just increased because they're also the ones who are going to be handling your interaction. How are you going to interact with the people who are virtual? If it's a hybrid event, we've got to remember that the AV team, a lot of, let's just say, arrogant speakers. I'll just say it. They're arrogant speakers that they poo poo the AV team, that they're their little slaves. Oh, my gosh, please, no, please realize they've got to be your favorite. They're poo pooed by a lot of people even. Maybe I've seen it with the corporation that came in, or they hired them and they kind of look at them like they're little. You know, they're little workers. They're minions. And it's. This is a person here, Mark. I remember we did one of our events, the humor camp, at a big casino here. And there was some miscommunication because we were using the equipment because it was in a comedy club. I won't mention which hotel or which comedy club was in a comedy club where we were teaching the humor camp. And there was obviously some communication that this DJ owned the equipment and we were going to be using the microphone and such. And nobody communicated to him that we were going to use his equipment. So he came in and he was yelling the casino. And he were yelling back and forth. And I just said, okay, I can't let this affect our event. So after the casino people cleared out, I walked over and I said, look, I'm sorry for any miscommunication. What can we do to make this right? And I said, I just want to thank you for coming in today and turning on the equipment. I know you didn't expect it. And I handed him a hundred dollar bill. I just said, I'm sorry for your troubles. That hundred dollars bill changed him. His whole demeanor changed. And I just, like, I carry a spare with me for, you know, prosperity thinking. So I just happened to have it. I was like, if I'm ever gonna use it, here's a day in time.

It's a Good time. Yeah.

And it was. It was magical because he felt respected. He felt that he hadn't just a few minutes earlier, and he turned into MacGyver. You know, we need. We needed an adapter or something. He would make one out of a paper clip now.

Wow.

Whereas had he not. Had I not acknowledged the respect that he needed and deserved, he might have not had any adapter for anything and just said, oh, sorry, buddy. I'm just here to turn on the equipment. So I think it's just a great little example that's magnified in everything we do that we need to raise up the AV team and everyone who works for them. What do they need? How do they need it? What are their questions? And just make friends with them because they're the key between connecting to you and your audience live and online. Anything else about the AV team, Mark?

Yeah, you know what? I like the particular train of thought that says, I want to be their favorite. I want them to say, you know what? I loved working with that crazy Jamaican guy with the gray beard because he was cool. He understood us, you know, And I. For those who don't know who MacGyver is, I think Darren's trying to date himself and me right now of making that reference. Please forgive him. The TV show back in the 90s, I guess, of a guy who could do anything with anything and just rig anything to make it work. So I get the point you're making Darren about MacGyvering, but in all seriousness, it is very easy to not regard wait staff, hotel staff, you know, ancillary workers, and even the AV team, but if you approach them with the attitude, I want to be their favorite, you'll be amazed at what they'll do for you. They make you sound good. They make you look good. And when you appreciate them, whoever they may be, and the team, it creates a wonderful working relationship that almost guarantees they'll do everything they can to make sure you'll sound good right there live on stage, and you'll come through looking and sounding good on screen as well for your hybrid participants who are not physically in the room.

And this next point may seem obvious, but it really isn't. We've got to go deeper. You want to be unforgettable, You've got to look at these the same way an unforgettable speaker presenter would. So can we see you? Yeah, of course. Well, I'm on a stage. Well, I love. And I don't remember exactly who I learned this from. It may have been Patricia, but I don't know, but I know it wasn't me. But when I was in the comedy world, it was obvious where you stood. The main point in the middle of stage. That's where the spotlights were focused. And especially, let's just say, at a lower budget or lower fee event. But it could be any event. Can we see you? Can we hear you? And here's one of the things that I recommend. Sit in the four corners of the chairs of the room. Sit in the chair. The most leftist, the most rightest, the most, most back leftist, the most back rightist. And can we see? Because a lot of people, event planners, they may be the event planner, but they may not have a lot of experience. And I've walked into a professional room with a full budget and a full team, and they put the lectern on the stage. And the place that they put it blocks off part of the audience from seeing you if you're standing center stage. Also, the lighting, is there a dead spot? Study the other presenters before you. Is there a spot that if you stand right there, we don't see you? Now, if it's a dark spot, maybe you use that as a little metaphor to, you know, the place you don't want to be or something like that. But you've got to be aware. You've got to study. Can we see? You can. Where's the best lighting? Is it. Maybe it's a step back. Maybe you come right out to the edge of the stage, but when you do, it's not lit well. So you've got to realize. And again, study the people before you. Where do they go? Where's the best lighting? And a lot of people don't take the time to do that. But we're here now that. Mark, now we have the pressure of being in the top 1.5%. Now the pressure's on. We gotta deliver. Go deeper. Mark, your thoughts on Can I see?

It's funny. Yeah. When I was doing youth programs in schools across North America, I get, as I told you before, different kinds of rooms. I'd get the cafetoria. I'd get the gym. The gym. A cafetorium. It is a gym. A cafe. A cafetorium. It's also an auditorium. It's npr, not npr, but the MPR multipurpose room. But once in a while, I'll go to a school, they do have an auditorium or theater. And I try to get as much light on the. On the young people on the stage, but not wash out the screen with PowerPoint. That's a trick in itself. And sometimes the lighting had three different spots of orange light that only hit certain places on stage. I had to kind of go and almost feel for the warmth of the light to know I wasn't in a dark shadow somewhere. Oh, it's time for a scary Tory time. It sounds almost ridiculous, but you have to physically walk that platform, walk that speaking area. Especially if you can't control where the lights are. You've got to find the right spots in those lights. Now, hopefully even for our for the hybrid events you may be involved in, the speaking area will be well lit and there'll be no problem. But it's a combination of a well lit speaking area and good cameras to pick you up in the best light. And it may seem like a no brainer, but not every event has the highest quality lighting equipment, the best speaking area, the best monitor. So you can see your on screen attendees as well as your attendees in the building. There are many variants here. You want to give yourself every advantage and make sure that you get well lit. I've seen TedX talks. They tell you stay on the red dot, but even then the lighting was not that great on the red dot. But they said I must stay on the red dot, so I'll stay on the red dot even though my left side is partly in shadow. Nobody intends to give you poor lighting, but it does happen. It's up to you. It is incumbent upon you to make sure you do everything to give yourself every advantage. And Darren's first tip. Watch other speakers. Look. Where the lighting is is a very simple but very important thing. In the same way I've always told my clients, if you happen to be on a stage, walk the stage, listen for the and the creaks and the cracks and the croaks. Because that can make a difference depending on how well you can be heard or seen. These are small little details, but you have to ask, can they really see me? And sometimes, particularly with a hybrid, you may think where you are on stage, they get the right image of you on the screen. But be careful because sometimes you may find your head gets cut off or the camera zooms in too close. There's so many variations. You work with the AV team, make sure the image is as you want it to be and again, be very accommodating. You're part of a team to make the event work and these small details handled properly can create an unforgettable event.

Yeah, make sure if it is hybrid or if it is a large where they're using the IMAX screen. Find out from the AV team where you can stand on stage, because it may work for the live audience, that you go way over to the right, but the cameras might not be able to cover you, so the people online might not be able to see you. So can you see you? Can we hear you? We've got to hear you. We talked about this when we introduced all the intricacies of speaking virtually the importance of the microphone. Well, we're getting back to it. Do you want the handheld? I know that's Patricia Fripp's favorite because it gives you so much.

Power.

To be able to use it, to have it far away, to bring it close up because you use your voice. I can't do the handheld because then I'm. Because I'm animated. I would be like a duck with one wing. I would just keep turning left, keep turning, and do circles. So I prefer the lapel, but there's also the countryman, which is the one that goes over here, which sometimes you might not have any choice but in your AV requirements, by the way, you might update them now because of slides, and if you're doing virtual, so you might update that now, or you have videos built into your slides, things like that. But can we hear you? What's the best microphone? And as professionals, we've got to work and do the best we can with what we have. But sometimes I've heard horror stories from Jennifer and from other professionals where the celebrity speaker just shows up and expects a teleprompter. But they never told them ahead of time. And if you're at one of the big casinos in downtown Vegas or right on the Strip, they're gonna charge you a ton for the teleprompter. Now, if they know ahead of time, they can budget it. And now you just put the event planner in a really tough situation. Now someone has to jump through hoops to get that for you. And you might have 30 minutes before your presentation. So you got to let them know ahead of time. Which type of microphone do you want? Do you work best with. Mark your thoughts on microphones very quickly.

Before I jump there for those who may be new or emerging speakers. And you heard Darren say, AV requirements. The AV requirements as part of your agreement, your contract act, it's what you want the meeting planner and the facility to know are your requirements so you can best serve. They aren't there because you demand them, but you want to choose AV equipment that will help you serve your audience best. And some people, like Fripp and Salisbury will always go with a corded handheld mic. And as Darren says, you have different options. You want your client to be very clear on what would. What you will need so you can best serve them. So in your contract, you'll have the audio visual requirements. So there's no mistake, no misunderstanding. No. Oops, I didn't know I was supposed to come yet. Use my microphone. Oh, 100 bucks. I'll take it. The AV requirement eliminates the angst and the nervousness and the concerns. And bear in mind your meeting planner very often has a gazillion and two things to do. You make their job easy, they will love you. So make sure you choose wisely. You have the handheld, the lapel, the headset, different options. But you want to make sure that you can be heard very, very clearly. There have been times, I confess, Darren, I have gone to an event and I've carried my own microphone with me, and I have had my own transmitter, my own receiver, and sometimes I'll use a microphone and plug it into the client's receiver. And they're cool with that. Sometimes they aren't cool with that. But you want to make sure there are no misunderstandings, because if you're happy, the AV team is happy, you can be at your best and serve your clients, those who are physically there in the room and the others who are coming in online to see you virtually. And you can create a very successful hybrid event.

All right, so we talked about speaking hybrid, the AV team, making them your favorite. Can we see you? Can we hear you? Last subject that we want to cover and touch upon, which is which I think is really important is. All right, Mark, you're going to like my wordsmithing here. Optimal seating for the setting. Optimal seating for the setting.

I'm very impressed, Darren.

I learned this the incredibly hard way from working B level comedy rooms at best, sometimes C level. I had one, Mark, where I had the actual chicken wire up. If you remember, from, like, the Blues Brothers Roadhouse. Yeah. Roadhouse.

Roadhouse. Patrick. Crazy. The name is Dalton.

So they throw the beers at the band.

Yeah. Wow.

I did the comedy in one of those. Behind the chicken wire. I should do. I should write a book about that. Behind the chicken wire, man.

That's crazy.

But for you and I. And again, the event planner, they may or may not have the experience they may not get. So sometimes it's our job to. To educate them that. Let's just say you're speaking for the actuarial accounting managers of America. I don't even know if There is a such a group, but let's just say there is. You're speaking for them, and you get there and the room is set up, it's Perfect, and there's 300 seats. And then you remember that when you talked to the event planner, they said there were 200 people coming. And so you do the math. There's gonna be 100 open seats, and that's if everyone shows up. So you pull the event planner aside and just clarify. Be professional. Don't be cranky. I learned that lesson. Doesn't get you anywhere. So you ask the event player, okay, please remind me how many people are coming, because maybe you just weren't aware that more people were coming. And say, oh, 200. I noticed you have 300 seats. Well, now, I understand at the time of this recording, social distancing is a thing. That part will go away. And of course, if there's social distancing, they're only gonna have seats, and some of them will be separated. But if they are, and we're past that, and you have 300 people or 300 seats and 200 people. My comedy mentor had this great line, Dave Fitzgerald. He said, you know, they say laughter is contagious, but if people are sitting far apart, it doesn't contage.

Contage. I love it. It doesn't contage.

And so for us, I was trained in the ComEd environment. You want as few seats as possible, as close together as possible. That's why they made the cocktail tables for comedy clubs. So you're not separated, but you become more at one with the audience. It becomes a more intimate atmosphere. But some event planners, you know, they might have put in, hey, we need 300 seats six months ago when they booked the hotel. Now, they only had 200 set up. So let's get rid of the chairs. But it's not on their radar screen, Mark, Just like you said, they have a hundred things they're worried about. They're not worried about having the right amount of seats. But I would, depending on the situation, I would say, well, hey, look, do you want your event to be more exciting or to look like 100 people didn't show up? Well, of course. More exciting. Well, we could, if possible, physically possible. And if you're not at a union hotel, I'll get and move the chairs, and I'll stack them up in the back of the room to only have 200 chairs closer together, closer to the stage. Never mind the gap or the Moses Parting of the Red Sea in the middle. Where is that large Wide aisle, which is horrible. But most presenters don't even know this. A lot of them do, but a lot more event planners don't understand that that wide aisle, even though it's well meaning, makes it more challenging for us to be unforgettable because of the energy. The energy is almost. It's like this. This dark. What would you say? A black hole that just sucks energy into it. So we want to tighten it. I remember when I was speaking in China, they were having this big pomp and circumstance parade beforehand. And I said, I understand. And if we bring the seats closer together, it's gonna be better for the entire event. Now, there's a point where we, as the professional speaker, we have to let go. All right? I'm just gonna upset them, but it's still my job to help them make it a better event. So if we can't physically move the seats, can we rope off the back seats? Can we get a piece of tape and invite people? Cause you can invite people all you want. Have the emcee, hey, come right up front. They ain't moving. They ain't moving. So sorry, Patricia, for the ain't, but that's the right word for that. They ain't moving. So the more you can do before they even come in the room, before they come in the room, the better the whole event will feel. The more energy they'll feel. And what does an event planner want? The event planner wants them to come back next year.

Yes.

And so if they're like, it was an okay event. And the sad part is it could just be how far the seats are apart. Like, and that was the key. But they're not aware. So Mark and I, through our decades of experience, want to make you aware that we have to do our best for the optimal seating for that setting.

Yes. And remember, I'll put it very plainly. That front, center aisle is really great for a wedding, but for a speaker, that is prime real estate. And I will tell you this, Darren, There have been times I've had an event where a center aisle was set up in a room. And I was there early enough to get some help and create not a center aisle, but to move chairs in and create two side aisles to create a true theater style environment. So the front and center was reserved. Well, not reserved, but it was. You could feel the energy. You could feel the difference. It was amazing feeling. Knowing the audience is right out there in front of you. That's important. And the other thing is, when Darren mentioned roping off the back of the Room. Some hotels have the velvet ropes like in the bank. You can use those. Others have. I've seen simple rope. Some of use actual tape, like masking tape or electrical tape or duct tape. I do not recommend crime scene tape.

Unless it's a humor boot camp. We've done that at the humor camp.

You did?

Well, it's funny because it's like. And we call it. We actually put a poster up mark and we say the no sense of humor section. So nobody wants to sit there.

There you go. And of course we acknowledge, friends, that being in a physically distanced world, that does create some kind of challenges. And as Darren says, you may find yourself getting a chance to present to an audience as hybrid with an inexperienced meeting planner or someone who isn't clear on the best way to do this because they're saying I gotta have six feet apart, I gotta have six feet apart. But you also can help them to arrange and stagger the seats so no one feels left out or too far back. And I've learned that to be professional sometimes involves getting involved in the so called down and dirty nitty gritty pieces of it. Working with meeting planners, working with hotel staff to create an environment that's conducive for learning. I can recall once Darren and I had a full day program somewhere in New England. And the venue had set the room up as they know how. This is how you set a room up for a conference meeting. We walked in there a couple of hours early and Darren was so cute, he had little footprints in the lobby that led all the way to the meeting room, down the hall to the left and hang a right. We found the room and it looked to us that the meeting room was set up something like a bowling alley. It was just lengthwise for us. We literally spent. My wife. My wife was with me, my daughter was with me that day. And we turned the room sideways. The whole room, we turned the whole room sideways and created a better theater style look. And it was much more conducive for us to have the event. Now I realized that was a small hotel, a smaller event. You will always get the big events in Las Vegas Central. It's not going to happen. We want to be realistic here. And you want to make sure you want to create for the audience the best experience possible. And if it means doing a room rearrange, you do that. I remember 1996, my first year delivering a session at Toastmasters convention after I'd won the world championship 25 years ago. And I saw my room and they were all laid out beautifully square to each other. But the room was so wide, the people on the ends were looking at the exit signs. And I had a crew of friends with me the night before. We got in there and we literally just turned chairs and created a true theater style so that it was no longer flat, it was curved. All eyes on the audience. I did the same thing when I went to Australia, Perth, Western Australia for a conference. Andrea and I and our host did the same thing because the hotel thought you have to lay it out perfectly symmetrically square. But they weren't thinking of the ergonomics or what it was like for the attendees. I say all that to say you want to create the most conducive learning environment both for your audience coming in virtually and for your audience in the room physically. You want to create a truly pleasurable hybrid event.

Yeah, it's optimal seating for the setting is critical. And look, we need to remember that the person who set up the room, they maybe never spoke before. Their heart's in the right place. They got a thousand other things going. So it's our job to educate them as to remind them, what do they want? They want a great event. They want high energy. Okay, so go back to the result they want and then show them how your idea. Don't just tell them this would be better. They're like, what do you mean? Why does that matter? So we've got to bring them back to what's the result they want and then educate them to our best. And then we just got to let it go and do the best we can with what we have. And last quick tip for me on the hybrid speaking is remember, even though you're in this live setting now, remember to acknowledge the people online right near the front, if not at the beginning, before your opening, if not during the opening, as soon as you finish your opening and before you go into the body of your speech, reach out to them, say hello, ask the audience in the room to give them a round of applause. Now you just connected the two of them, which connects them to you. Mark, final thoughts for hybrid speaking.

I'm so thankful we got a chance to do this several years in a row and you're mentioning acknowledging those who are coming in virtually. We happily had staff members who were there monitoring the chat and we would deliberately force ourselves to ask any comments coming in from our virtual attendees. So they felt engaged, they felt involved, and we rigged it so they could even talk to us to on a workshop from their homes. We hear them in the room and actually interact. And I remember one individual said he felt he was even better taught in the virtual hybrid environment than he had been had he been there live. So if you are going to be doing a hybrid event you want to make sure work with the ad team, make sure they can see you, make sure they can hear you and you want to have optimal seating for the setting and you can make your hybrid event unforgettable.

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