What to Do When Your Event Cancels

Covid-19/The Corona Virus has disrupted the events sector when it wasn’t quite ready for it. Not just the corporate event industry either. Cancellations are happening all over the world.

Quickbooks 2020 in London was cancelled with very little notice. One of my speaker colleagues had flow all the way there from Australia only to be cancelled the day before.


Japan has shut most schools for a month. Some say it is to stabilise the outbreak as much as possible prior to the olympics.

Universities are rapidly looking for ways to reach out to their students without having them on campus. What was going to be future technology implementations have become urgent projects.

And most recently, Italy has shut down. Minimal movement EVERYWHERE!

So how do you continue to engage your team, marketplace, suppliers, associations, and all those in your circle of influence under the global influence of COVID-19?


Virtual Presentations For Virtual and Hybrid Events.

Never has it been easier or more affordable to present to large number of people using the technology you already possess. While you can upgrade to professional AV equipment, in most instances your phone or your computer has you covered.

Here are some key tips for presenting online:

  • No dead air. From my time on radio, nothing kills you like dead air. If the audience don’t know what is going on they tune out. You have to be talking with them at all times. Pauses are great, but dead air is a killer.
  • You are On Before You Are On. If you are running a session, get a host to come on 5 minutes before start time to start chatting with people. Some people will always be early. They can warm up the crowd for you and start to build their energy.
  • Don’t Do It Alone. Having a second person to look at the chat comments, do the intro, put up polls, change the visuals allows you to focus on your message. After awhile you may build the skill for a solo effort but don’t start that way. A tech team or someone like me can really help here.
  • Talk WITH Them and not TO Them. It is easier for you to stand there and spout your message. But the audience will be asleep or looking at emails (or even FaceBook). Get them doing something. Ask for suggestions, feedback, thoughts, polls, coffee orders – anything so that they are part of the session. This is more important virtually than face to face as they will not get the synergy from the people around them. They need you to connect them.
  • Give the audience something. Having some form of collateral will help them stay engaged and follow along. This is more than copies of your slides. It may be key points, summaries, an infographic, polling info, statistics, reference material or a pdf with space for them to write their notes on what’s next.
  • Start Now. Too many people are waiting until they HAVE to do virtual presentations. Like all skills, practice makes perfect. The sooner you start, the more practice you will have at it and the better you will get. So start now.

Virtual presentations are here to stay. For a place as geographically dispersed population like Australia, it can’t come quick enough. With the rise and rise of video popularity and consumption, you have to embrace this and get better FAST!

So whether you call it remote presenting, virtual presenting, online presenting, hybrid conference or a virtual event, the key question is the same, how do I keep my online audience engaged throughout my presentation. The tips above are a good place to start!

Warwick is running a 30 minute power session on Powerful Presentations Online on Thursday 19 March 2020. 
Find out the details here.