Welcome Address Preparation

Outline | Introductions | Thumbs Up | Exceptions

 

This web page is for those who have been asked to be part of the welcome address at a Connect event, either as a dignitary or as a Thumbs Up presenter.

 

This page lays out the format of a typical welcome program, and provides helpful hints to help you prepare for your role in it.  Since not all addresses are the same, we recommend that you confirm your involvement.  Participation in this address is by invitation only.

 

 

At 8:00AM, in most facilities, we gather the entire audience together for the only general session of the event.  The purpose of the session is to orient attendees on the workings of the event and start them on the path of talking and networking with each other about technology topics. 

 

Pre-address

                  Slide Show

                  Agenda orientation

 Introductions

                  Chamber official

                  Other officials

 Thumbs Up Program

                  Introduction

                  Speakers/Questions

 Event Orientation

 

(under construction)

 

 

We invite speakers to talk to the audience for five to six minutes each.  Half way through their presentation, the speaker should pose a issue to the audience, for them to vote on as a table.  If the presentation is on eCommerce, a first question at the mid-point of the presentation might be, “Will your business EVER earn more revenues via the web than it does via all other channels?”  Then we give them one-two minutes to discuss, waiting for the discussion to die down.  In the course of the discussion, they will discover what each other does at a table, and vote as a table.  Some tables will vote thumbs up, and others thumbs down.  The perfect question divides the audience in half.  There is typically enough time for three of our Title sponsors to participate in the welcome program in this fashion.

 

 

Sometimes, due to physical or other limitations, the Welcome Address is radically different than described above.  If we simply do not have a room which can hold the entire audience (a campus situation), then the Welcome address responsibilities may be distributed to the various briefing rooms (like a home room at school).  Where possible, we try to get sound or multimedia to each room, but even this is difficult in some circumstances.