A Presentation by EventTechBrief.com

USING SECOND SCREEN TO CONNECTWITH YOUR AUDIENCE (AND PEOPLE WHOLIKE TO WATCH ZOMBIES)

Article by Traci Browne

Instead of trying to create events that are soengaging our attendees put away their mobile

devices, organizers should be embracingsecond screen the way entertainment

companies do.

Second screen is a term most often used to describethe use of an additional screen, such as a tablet orsmartphone, while watching television. Recently, theterm has been popping up in reference to both in-person and online events.

Sports franchises and television shows create second screen experiences thatenhance the viewer experience. By getting viewers more involved in thebroadcast, they are creating more engaged and more loyal viewers.

The popular AMC show“The Walking Dead”excels at creating acaptive and engagedaudience through theAMC Walking Dead StorySync platform. Theiraudience does notsimply spend an hourwatching the televisionshow. Via second screendevices, viewersparticipate in triviaquizzes, have access toflashback and instantreplay of scenes, makepredictions as to whatwill happen next, link tothe original comics, andmuch more.

This kind of interactionall but guarantees the

viewer will stay glued totheir televisions week

after week. It alsoreinforces their

knowledge and recall ofeach episode. This idea

of reinforcement andrecall is something

events can easily takeadvantage of.

By incorporating quizzes into a presentation, thepresenter and the attendee can quickly see if aconcept is truly understood and if key learningpoints are sinking in. Based on the responses, thepresenter could review that particular point orprovide access to more information for the audienceto review at a later date.

By asking a survey question at the beginning of apresentation, the presenter can quickly gauge the

areas of highest interest of his audience. He orshe can then jump right into that area and

eliminate the portion of his presentation that willnot resonate.

Any presentation could beenhanced with supplementalcontent much like the experienceone has when using an e-reader. Ifthe reader does not know what aword means, a tap on that wordbrings up a definition. If the authormentions the protagonist waswearing a chapeau, the reader maybe curious as to what that particularheadwear looks like. A quick switchto the browser and they can viewimages of chapeau giving them abetter understanding of theappearance of the protagonist.

Similarly, the presenter need notgo into depth on, say, the formulafor ROI when presenting to anaudience of marketing directors.The presenter can assume his orher audience already knows thisinformation. So as not to alienatethose in the audience who arenot up-to-speed, the presentercan provide a link the formula.

For data heavy presentations,links to detailed studies andgraphs can be provided forfurther reference. This allows thepresenter to focus on just therelevant data while still providingproof of his theories to theaudience.

Second screen platforms suchas SlideKlowd allow a presenterto view, in real time, whenaudience members exit thepresentation and open anotherapp on their device. While thepresenter cannot see whatspecifically each attendee isdoing, they can see they havelost their audience’s interest.Perhaps the speaker realizes heor she was presenting too heavyon the data and decides to tell astory instead to draw theaudience’s attention back tothem.

Heightened activity on the platformaround a certain portion of thepresentation could alert an eventorganizer to a topic that has a higherlevel of interest they were not awareof. The organizer could quickly createa pop-up discussion on that topicduring a break, and invite theaudience and the speaker to sit downand discuss that particular issue inmore depth.

One pitfall to look out for is adapting this type ofsecond screen engagement without the properpreparation it requires. A professional presentermay have no problem adapting their presentationon the fly, but many event speakers are notprofessional presenters. Simply standing on stagein front of an audience is a challenge enough.

Adding all these bells and whistles could be too much to ask of some presenters. PhilHamstra, vice president strategic initiatives at Meeting Tomorrow, says that they’vefound when the presenters drive second screen, it almost always works. When it isdriven by the event organizer that’s where there tends to be problems.

For events looking to implement second screen platforms, you need to build trainingfor their presenters into the equation. Hamstra recommends live training withpresenters over online training.

For events considering a second screen experience, good adviceis dream big, but start small. As much as we all might like to seesomething like the Walking Dead Story Sync at our next event, a

better approach would be to try it out with yourexperienced keynote speakers and then build from there.

Read the full article:http://bit.ly/1n082Cr

Subscribe to thenewsletter:

http://bit.ly/1zN8v3q

Follow EventTechBrief: