The impact of audiovisual support may seem incidental to some healthcare meeting planners. However, keynote speakers need to have the right AV setup in order to deliver an impactful and powerful presentation. What is the bare minimum when you’re thinking about the AV setup and the technologies you need to ensure a great presentation from your speaker?
- First every speaker needs a confidence monitor so they can see what the audience is seeing on the screen. A confidence monitor is positioned at the bottom of the stage and it prevents the speaker from needing to look back, which is incredibly distracting to both the speaker and the audience. You should also have the monitor in “Presentation View” so that the speaker can see the current program slide and also the thumbnail of the next slide. This provides for a very smooth transition for the speaker.
- Your speaker needs a professional RF remote control to make certain that the slides advance properly. The industrial standard is the DSAN.com CUE Remote, in fact, I would argue it’s your only choice. This may seem incidental until you’ve seen a speaker at an event trying to stand on their tiptoes to get a signal to move their slides forward, it’s a disaster.
- Your speaker needs a lapel wireless microphone that is connected to the AV booth with external antennas, consumer-style wireless microphones will not work. If you’ve ever witnessed a presentation where the speaker’s voice is cutting out, you can see why a professional wireless lapel microphone system is critical.
- Last, but not least you should always provide the speaker with a large professional countdown digital timer that is positioned at or below the confidence monitor. Even the best professional speakers require a countdown timer in order to ensure they don’t go over their allotted time. If you’ve ever had a speaker go over their talk time, you know the catastrophic impact of taking time away from other speakers. The countdown timer is the only way to get there. Obviously, there are other technologies that can improve and enhance a presentation, but these four technologies are the basics, don’t skimp on your AV budget.