Years ago, my daughter and I attended a Backstreet Boys concert in Montreal. The Bell Centre was filled with more than 20,000 screaming girls. For the performers, Montreal was probably just another stop in a long, international tour.
For the audience, however, this was a once in a lifetime event. And the Backstreet Boys didn’t disappoint.
When Nick Carter said, “Je t’aime, Montréal,” I thought the screaming would blow off the roof.
With one simple sentence, the Backstreet Boys won over their audience and made the evening memorable for their fans.
From away
While I’ve never heard any screaming or swooning at genealogy conferences, I have attended many great presentations by genealogists who lived in the area where they spoke and by genealogists who travelled from another country, province or city.
The speakers from away, who won me over were those who learned about their audience beforehand and tailored their presentation and handout for us.
Unfortunately, I’ve also attended presentations that ticked me off. The speakers annoyed me because they gave the impression they had no idea where they were and couldn’t be bothered adapting their presentation for the audience.
The smallest lack of consideration for the audience can take a great presentation and ruin it.
Know your audience
One speaker who won over his audience was the late Mel Wolfgang. I had the great pleasure of meeting and introducing Mel at the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) conference in Kingston in 2012.
Mel knew his Canadian audience, perhaps in part because he lived in upstate New York and had attended McGill University in Montreal. He understood Canadians, or more importantly, he made us think he did.
Throughout his presentation about newspaper research, he included Canadian resources, along with American ones. He knew how to pronounce the names of Canadian cities and knew where they were located. He also knew enough history about our country to refer to it.
Learn about the country’s history
At an OGS conference in Toronto in 2016, Judy G. Russell was a terrific speaker from away.
Although one of her presentations was on a case study that included only American resources — and she told me she had warned OGS about it — she began her presentation with, “I know, I know. You whooped our ass in 1812,” and she immediately won over her audience. She knew who her audience was, and she acknowledged us — and the War of 1812 — throughout all of her presentations.
Look at your presentation from your audience’s perspective
In comparison, another speaker, who was scheduled to speak about newspaper research to Canadians at a different venue, hadn’t given a moment’s thought to including Canadian resources.
I had reached out to her/him to learn more about the presentation for my blog and to ask if s/he planned to include any Canadian content.
The answer to my question was brief: “I haven’t thought of adding any Canadian newspapers.”
When I politely suggested the speaker think how people in another country would react if I spoke to them solely about Canadian newspapers in a Researching in Newspapers presentation, s/he said, “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
To help speakers who come from away, I’ve put together a list of ways to make a better presentation in another country, province, state or city. It’s a list I use for my own presentations whether I am scheduled to speak in the United States, Toronto, Ottawa, or even downtown Montreal, near where I live.
Top 10
Here are the top 10 ways to deliver a better presentation away from home.
- Learn about the city and country you will be speaking.
- Be sincere and say something nice about the city you are visiting, even it is just about the great weather that day, the architecture, or the friendly cab driver.
- Unless your topic is about genealogy research specific to where you live, limit the number of times you mention your country or home town to two or three mentions.
- Include a lot of local resources in your presentation, whether they be at the municipal, regional, provincial or national level. When appropriate, list the local resources before those where you live.
- Before preparing your presentation and writing your handout, ask other genealogists and the conference host where to find the local or national resources. We’re a friendly group and are willing to help.
- Don’t make references to your country’s history and assume we all know about it. If you refer to Abraham Lincoln, tell us he served during the American civil war during the early 1860s. Don’t assume everyone knows the time period and context.
- Replace most of your anecdotes and examples with ones from the host city or country.
- Customize your PowerPoint presentation to include mostly local examples.
- Review your presentation and handout from the audience’s perspective. Ask someone in the host location to review it for you, and listen to the feedback.
- Convert the currency. When referring to the cost of a genealogy program, book, or DNA kit, give the cost in the local currency. Don’t give the cost where you live because the audience doesn’t live there. If the product is available through a local or national supplier, find out the exact price and the name of the supplier.
If you are a speaker from away and plan to speak in Canada, I recommend you take advantage of the lists of many Canadian resources on Dave Obee’s website, CanGenealogy.com, and in my Genealogy Research Toolbox. Cyndi’s List can help you with presentations delivered almost anywhere in the world, including Canada.
Genealogical societies can also do their part. Tomorrow, look for part two in this series, called 5 ways for genealogical societies to help speakers ‘from away’ deliver a better presentation.
What a great article! I have used a couple of these ideas before and certainly helps to make a connection with the audience. A couple of new ones to try especially about the local record offices. Will definitely try these tips in my next presentation! Thanks!
Great tips. I do try to include local references. I’ve never spoken in another country but now I have something to think about!
So well said.
I remember an esteemed genealogist presenting at Rootstech to an international audience. It was obvious that he has a collection of talks that he trots out at various venues around the United States and that he had not adjusted his talk for that particular audience. When he talked about “The Civil War” my hackles rose. That was just the first instance of his lack of respect for the non US people in the audience. I would have left but I was stuck in the middle of a row.
So true, Gail. I’ll go further and say that I observe for the few talks I give, every example needs to resonate with the audience if you want to hold their attention for the entire time. It’s fine if I talk about, for example, Henderson’s Directory for Edmonton on my blog, but if I’m talking about Henderson’s Directory at my local genealogy society, I will absolutely be using SK-based examples. In BC I gave a talk about Force 136, and the names and resources I used were all BC-born veterans and resources. The only exception to this rule, possibly, would be presenters who are speaking for free.
I did a presentation for Legacy last year about Polish resettlement and the first word I said was cześć which means hello!