All as we have already discovered, events are not the same. Similar, sure… but there are caveats to each type and throughout different industries. So, if you find yourself organizing a tech event for the first time in your career, the following will provide you with some tips and tricks to use while navigating your new venture effectively and efficiently.
The Lingo
As someone who does not have much (or any) technical knowledge, understanding the terms used by developers and software engineers may prove to be a substantial hurdle at the start of your tech event journey. A brief deep dive during some part of your focus time is helpful, assuming that you have a plan to go forward. Making your plan by using session topics or talk abstracts to locate terminology that you do not understand and doing some reading on the speakers that you will be working with is going to be the most logical way forward. More likely than not you will not need to understand all of the minute details being spoken about during every talk session at your event, but your beginner’s level knowledge on the terminology used will prove useful. Benefits of some knowledge around basic vocabulary can open you up to assist with Q&A or even to ensure that a speaker’s broader topic would be relevant to the audience.
Devices & Software
To speak to my experience when jumping into tech events, I saw myself as tech-savvy but I learned very quickly that not all devices nor software are treated equally. I also learned very quickly that folks can not only be passionate about the tools that they use, but also about the tools you use around them. The biggest lesson I can share with you is not to assume what tools others are using. Everyone has opinions on different tools, has their preferred tool to use, and may not take nicely to your assumption. To this day I find myself pausing before speaking more times than not in tech checks to ensure I am not coming across as demanding in regards to tools used during a live event. Despite all of the tech check prep and suggestions, I have still seen speakers’ devices crash during live events for one reason or another. At that point in time the only thing to do is to go with the flow and not to add any further stress to the situation for the speaker. You should be the calm voice that gets the speaker and the session back on track. At the end of the day, we can only do our best to be patient as well as suggest tools that we have personally had success with.
Try New Products
While we can get stuck using our preferred tools, as event organizers it is important to stay open to using various tools to best accommodate your speaker’s, sponsor’s, or attendee’s needs. There are so many different applications, operating systems, and even online software to use for just about everything. It is very easy to slip into a habit of using the one tool that you are most comfortable with and not try any alternatives. By doing so, we simply forget that those we work with can use a slew of other tools that may work better. The more we can be aware of different tools and have a rudimentary understanding of them, the better able we are to help a speaker troubleshoot before, during, or after a live event. As an organizer we are not meant to know everything a developer would know but we can always provide our experience in a cool, calm, and collective manner. Ultimately providing the best possible experience for those around us.