I hardly ever write blog posts just to complain about something. So I’m calling this a “tip” or “advice”. Yeah, that’s what I’m going to say this is…

I’ve attended and presented at many conferences, lunch-n-learns or [insert corporate event name with a guest speaker name here] …and i have a pet peeve with the a few guest speakers and how they start their presentations. Stop me if you’ve heard this one:

1.) Introduction is given by the organizer of the event…
2.) Then, the guest speaker get’s up and begins by taking the first 1-minute to thank the organizers all by name and for asking them to speak at the event.

Why do people do this?
The audience almost never cares to hear this.

Isn’t the 101-rule-of-public-speaking to “know your audience”? I don’t think anyone came to your presentation to hear ‘thank yous’. And you’re cutting away from the time they paid to learn from you. Can’t these ‘thank yous’ be done off-stage?

This idea isn’t going to change the world…
…but can’t we respect everyones time and move the ‘thank yous’ off-stage? Or send them a card.

Thank you,
–

There are a handful of people in the online space that I follow and respect almost everything they publish online. Recently, I had a chance to not only video blog but also have dinner with one of those people, Mitch Joel. Furthermore, he’s actually a pretty laid back and funny guy.

Disclaimer: Shane Adams contacted me from Cerner and provided me free access to the 2009 Cerner Health Conference, in which Mitch was the keynote. I was not paid to do this blog post or video blog.

Mitch Joel is the President of Twist Image, a marketing and communications agency. He also runs blog and podcast that I really enjoy following regularly. I had a chance to ask Mitch 4 questions in regards to social media + business + marketing. Check out his responses in the video blog.