How can you share the spotlight with other speakers during a presentation?

Ensure that you and your fellow presenters establish a mutual understanding of who is best equipped to convey specific messages. Each speaker possesses unique strengths and limitations in public speaking and presentation. Some excel at articulating logical arguments and factual information, while others are more adept at conveying emotions and narratives. Furthermore, each speaker approaches the stage with a pre-existing audience perception influenced by their professional titles, achievements, and experiences. It is crucial to consider these factors, as they play a significant role in how the audience perceives and receives your message.

I love to create a conversational environment from the start. I refer back to things the other speaker or panelists have said, and ask them to expand on it. I also ensure I know their skillset before the session, so I can ask them for their thoughts or experience at the right time. For example, recently I was on a panel and was asked a question about portfolios for UX jobs. I answered the question with a caveat that this was my perspective from a private sector background, and then I asked my fellow panelist if that different in the public sector. This created an opening for him to put in his experience, and also created clarity for the audience to understand where our perspectives were coming from.

I love co-presenting with a friend or colleague. I feed off the energy of others and if I have a pre-existing rapport with my fellow presenter it shows on stage. I think the main thing to think about is preparation. Practicing with your partner shows.

Agree in advance what areas to cover to avoid duplication (and then stick to that agreement!). Agree the order and the timing (and stick to that!) I always listen carefully to what others say to support what I am saying - I would use the other speakers' names and use the same vocabulary they used when referring to a point they made. This helps the audience to hear it again and also shows respect to other speakers. When someone does this for me, I feel genuinely appreciative.

As a leader of powerful co-presenters, I ensure that I demonstrate my role as a servant leader, partner and model of collegial and shared leadership in planning and executing our presentations about family and community engagement - whether locally or nationally! Nothing is more important to me as a leader than developing and sustaining a positive, productive, and supportive relationship with my teammates. I acknowledge and incorporate their funds of knowledge, strengths and talents! Finally, as a leader, I manage my ego, and step out of the way so that their lights shine bright equitably!

Honor the time in which you agreed to present your section(s), so you don't put your co-presenter into a time-crunch. If, for whatever reason, your material/presentation begins to outpace your allotted time, make a decision about what you can skip and come back to later if time allows. Its OK to say, "I see I'm running long and don't want to disrupt the rest of the presentation, so I'm going to skip over X for now and hopefully we can come back to it later or in Q&A."

I highly recommend connecting well in advance of the main event to confirm or validate synergy and energy, and create a run of show that highlights relative strengths, and considers ways to engage the audience. Copresentations are amazing opportunities to demonstrate partnership and collaboration.

You should come across as one team and entity regarding the look & feel as well as the tonality. Yet, individual characteristics are crucial for each team member in order to be authentic. Talk about this and plan ahead. Agree on a structure and give full attention to your colleagues on stage during their parts.

Unless I go first I will always find a way to link my talk to the points made by previous speakers. It gives a sense and realityh of integration and gives the audience the linkages, and it adds to the substance of what the whole panel is there for.

Use questions to involve each other, to acknowledge each other's strengths, and to hand the presentation over to the other one. When one speaker asks the other a question, the audience tends to more easily identify with the speaker, feel like they're part of a conversation, and pay more attention (our brains don't like to not get an answer when it's heard a question). This makes questions a great way to get more buy-in from your audience, keep the presentation dynamic and exciting, and give you and your co-presenters the opportunity to highlight (brag about) each other's skills by signaling an interest in learning from each other on stage (even if you already know the answer).

To make maximum impact make your session an interactive session, people are more likely remember the discussions they were part of or engaged in as against what they just listened to.

Co-presenters can play a vital role in keeping the audience engaged through the use of positive body language. For example, you can nod your head in agreement or use a silent but visible clap to applaud key talking points. Using positive body language can be as simple as smiling from the stage, making eye contact with audience members, and maintaining an attentive body posture. This helps model appropriate and engaging behavior for the audience. The opposite of this would be to slump in your chair, appear bored, or scroll through your phone. These are examples of things not to do, as they model disengaging behaviors and are likely to bring audience interest and energy levels down.

Engaging your audience can be more fun when co-presenting, e.g. with one colleague on stage and the other one in the audience picking up questions, paraphrasing them for you and adding to the dynamics. But be careful: Stay authentic! If you are not a born entertainer, don't pretend to become standup comedians and embarrass yourselves.

A great way to encourage engagement and involvement is to be engaged and involved yourself. When your co-presenter has the floor, be engaged in active listening - watch his/her presentation, nod your head to show agreement, show appropriate emotions (laugh, be surprised, clap, etc.). Don't be reading your notes for the next section, and certainly do not start scrolling on your phone!

Engage your co-presenters and involve them in your own stories. This will make the interaction on stage or on the panel lively and this allows the audience to keep track of the discussion easily.

Sometimes mistakes make us MORE relatable. The audience is able to see that mistakes happen, and if we are resilient and shake it off (or laugh it off, if that is your personality and it is appropriate), then our audience is likely to be more bought-in. The resilience builds a type of camaraderie and rapport that can be helpful when we want high engagement and to build a dialogue with the audience.

Whatever happen, happens! Work around mistakes as a team, support one another and don't take yourself too seriously. Assure that your audience has a good time - it is all about them and neither about you, nor about your colleagues.

Being flexible is vitally important when public speaking. What if you have a heckler? What if there is someone disengaged? What if the tech isn't working!!!?? If you can't adapt and be flexible the who presentation might fall flat. Equally, if you are too perfect you will likely sound robotic. Be ready to shift gears at any moment. It is sometimes worthwhile discussing plan b's and plan c's when prepping for a speech with your co-presenter. Remember the age-old adage of improvisation: "Yes...and" We don't block our co-presenters flow. We keep flowing with them. Now go shine bright like a diamond and rock that presentation!

A music mentor of mine who had been a recording artist in the 1950s once emphasized to me how chaotic and unpredictable life can be. Not every performance goes perfectly; it’s about being able to get passed the hiccup and just focusing on the next notes and going through the song in a straight flow. Often times, people won’t even notice or remember. I took this lesson to heart during the finals of a fintech challenge I did earlier this year. There was a slide that didn’t properly play a clip we embedded on the deck, so I just rolled with it and stated what the clip intended to convey. No one really noticed the error, and my teammates commended me on how coolly I played it off. In the end, the message is what matters, go with the flow.

Flexibility and adaptability are crucial when sharing the spotlight with other speakers during a presentation. Despite careful planning, unforeseen circumstances can arise. Being able to adjust and improvise while maintaining focus and poise is key. Supporting co-presenters with empathy and respect fosters a collaborative and cohesive presentation. Openness to feedback and integrating of relevant insights enhances the overall impact and relevance of the presentation. Adaptability demonstrates professionalism and strengthens the collective effort.

I love ?? having fun and warming up the presenters and the audience before the the presentation. ?? I assign myself the commentator role of the event. ?? My job is to drive results through courageous conversations. These are a few of my power questions! ?? 1. Why are you here when you could be enjoying your favorite hobby? 2. If you could ask a presenter one question what would it be? 3. What is the one thing that you want to implement as a result of this presentation? #LeadLoudly #bold #courageous #leadership

I don't think we should underestimate the importance of bringing a bit of lightness, positivity and humour to a conference! Conference can often be formal and stuffy, but humour reduces cortisol, and stimulates oxytocin. Oxytocin opens the heart to new connections and opens the brain to new learning and ideas! As Victor Borges said "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." ??

As a speaker or facilitator if we aren’t having fun, enjoying ourselves, passionate about the topic, engaged and interacting and charismatic…..we can’t expect the audience to be either. As a speaker we are in charge of the context of the room….that includes how we show up, our energy and our overall ways of BE-ING.

It's always good to keep Dale Carnegie’s suggestions in “How to Win Friends and Influence People" in mind. Have some deference to your copanelists' work and points they have made. Incorporate their points along with yours without overtaking them. I've seen some who are asked to present on a topic and they want to make sure they shine. In doing so, they Bigfoot their colleagues, and try to promote themselves. If you were asked to present, you don't need to prove your value or reason to be there. You already did that in your work - that is why you're presenting. Being gracious makes you a good colleague, one worth inviting to present again. Stealing the spotlight is also apparent to an audience and is not likely to increase your reputation.

Fun Props Here is an example of two speakers having fun dressed as pirates standing in front of a big group. One has a map, likening it to how communication guides us through vast seas of understanding. The other showcases a glass bottle and parchment to illustrate historical messaging, comparing it to modern tools like laptops and cell phones. The first one shows how the ship's wheel emphasizes leadership in conveying a clear direction, culminating in a treasure chest of techniques, highlighting our success through effective communication. Tying it all together, they relate it back to the treasure map, emphasizing the endless possibilities unlocked by effective communication. Ask the audience about their experience in communication.

In the last month I have presented and MC'd 2 major conferences and here's what I did to include other speakers: 1. Chat to them before the day. Understand the content, their emotions and how to frame their talks to provide a segue. 2. Say their names clearly during our presentation, and positively frame their content. For example, "The story I am sharing now will tie beautifully into Sarah's presentation about Mattering this afternoon" 3. As an MC - LISTEN intently. Take 3 points from the speaker's presentation, discuss them, and create a segue which ties into the next speaker. When we share the spotlight with other speakers, remember that our words can comfort them - think about how we create this comfort as we speak.

Understand your fellow speakers and who they are is very important! If you know they’re background, when asked a question you can football pass it them and say “Jeff, you have been through this before. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.” Sharing the stage through collaboration makes the panel have better flow and energy. It’s never fun when 1 panelist eats up all the energy.

Apply the rules of Improv. Your role is to make the other speaker look like a star. You should invoke the "Yes and..." approach to support what they are staying and make them look good (hopefully they will do the same for you). The more you do this, the better you get at it and the better the other speaker seems. This then reflects positively on you.

To deliver a successful presentation, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of each speaker's role and their respective topics. Each presenter should have a specific area of expertise or section to cover to ensure a well-organized and engaging discussion. By doing so, you can guarantee that your audience will be captivated and leave with a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Reference, highlight, and reinforce a point another speaker shared during or after the event. Lessons shared continue for a lifetime not just a moment.