I spoke at a two-day tech conference recently and was scheduled to speak on the second day. This turned out to be a huge advantage for me because I spent the whole first day following the (substantial) Twitter traffic surrounding the event and I noticed some interesting trends in the audience reactions to speakers and their content.
The crew can play a huge part in your success, and, if you are a rude arrogant person (they’ll enjoy watching your failure). Get there early, make friends with them and learn their names. The biggest compliment that you can pay them is to ask for their help and advice. Find out which part of the stage is illuminated. Ask politely for a sound check. Ask to view your PowerPoint slides on the big screen – you can see where I’m going with this. Ask nicely and anything is possible.