Engaging audiences

The three keys to a successful keynote: rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Savvy executives live by this advice…whenever possible. But when rehearsing is simply not an option, you can still knock it out of the park if you keep these four basics in mind once you’re on stage: 1) Make eye contact with different people in your audience (even if all you can see is a black void); 2) Slow down your speech and remember to breathe; 3) Pause between topics; and 4) Use your hands when you speak (it will help engage your audience and draw them in).

Being interviewed on camera? Here are some more insider tips to make sure you look and sound great: Tuck your jacket tail under and then sit on it. This prevents awkward wrinkles from appearing around your shoulders and neck. It also keeps you from slumping. Stay conversational, as if you were engaged in a friendly chat. And, as in a conversation, keep your eyes focused on your interviewer, whether live or off-camera. If you let your eyes wander, you’ll look shifty to the audience. Don’t act…relax, and be yourself.

Launching a product

It used to be that achieving professional-quality results always required professional tools. But with continually major advances, the lines between professional, pro-consumer and even consumer applications of these technologies are blurring across everything from desktop multimedia to iPads. Staying on top of continually evolving technology in both your personal and professional life can really pay off, as DSA recently discovered while producing a series of marketing events for a global life sciences company.

At one event, in Marbella, Spain, the company was introducing new and updated products to their international sales and marketing groups. Unfortunately, some key executives, whose participation was critical, could not be physically present. We could have set up a satellite broadcast (for tens of thousands of dollars) or an ISDN TV connection (for thousands of dollars). Instead, we enrolled the execs on Skype Premium for under ten dollars, created a ‘group call’ and brought them live to the conference via the web…right from their hotel rooms. The difference in image quality between Skype in HD and the other options was not at all noticeable to the audience in this symposium-like setting. The difference in money saved, however, was more than evident to our very appreciative client.

Advancing healthcare

Question: When does it make sense to not sell your product? Answer: When that product represents a true game-changer in an emerging market. Case in point: one of DSA’s long-time clients, Varian, a leading medical device manufacturer, recently introduced the industry’s first, fully-integrated proton therapy treatment system.

When the client asked DSA to produce a marketing video, instead of taking the usual approach of highlighting the product’s key features and benefits, we interviewed international thought leaders about the growing importance of proton therapy—no specific mention of our client’s product.

The result? A meaningful, highly acclaimed presentation that not only substantiated the critical role proton therapy will play in the future of cancer treatment, but also helped build strong credibility—and opportunity—for our client…all without selling.

Click here to view the video.