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Introducing Guest Speakers
Speaker Introduction: EGO Conference
- Read & review your guest speaker's book well in advance.
- If you need assistance with the book, visit WIU's Malpass Library to see if it's available via interlibrary loan. If unavailable, consult with our Departmental Chair, Dr. Marjorie Allison.
- Read and took notes on the book.
- Prepared a ~2.5 double-spaced page (~5 minute) introduction, mainly noting their credentials and summarizing key parts of her book.
- Submitted introduction to various EGO members and faculty advisor for review and revision suggestions.
- Met with your guest for dinner before the conference.
Best Practices For Prep
3 Weeks Ahead: Contact your speaker by email to introduce yourself and ask questions about what to include in the introduction a few weeks before the conference.
- Ask for all links they wish to have promoted in relation to the event
- Ask for comprehensive needs list for A/V needs, and check with University Technology to ensure the room can accommodate all hardware, software, apps, internet feeds, etc.
- Ask your speaker to please send a HI RESOLUTION PHOTO to you and forward it to university relations as soon as possible for the press kit
- Consider asking university relations for a brief media training to hone your soft skills, boost your vita, and help get to know our WIU university relations professionals
- View all your presenter's digital materials to ensure they work, you have access to them, can load the presentation and put everything on a backup flash drive
The Night Before: It is incredibly important to have met the speaker before introducing him/her.
- Discuss the introduction with the speaker with enough time afterwards to revise based on his/her preferences.
- Practice saying their preferred name, title, credentials
- Have your speaker's thank you note the night before and have your team sign it. Include the number for university relations in case they have questions about the news coverage.
- Load up your speaker's digital files on the A/V equipment if possible.
- Prepare Nametags for all leaders and speakers
- Prepare sign-in sheet.
Press Kit Final Checklist
Your official "Press Kit" for the conference should include, for each speaker/topic;
- A high resolution photo suitable for publishing in newspapers submitted to University Relations
- The speakers/books/topic one page bios/summaries in PDF for easy download
-
Contact Sheet - List all persons able to answer questions about this conference for quotes, comments, filler for news releases, including:
- Correct Name Spellings
- major or credentials
- hometown (so their hometown newspaper can be contacted and promote it)
- links to relevant blogs, websites, other resources
- Put all items in a folder. Compress the folder, and send copies to all presenters, faculty advisor, DGSE, and University Relations.
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