CCPA

By: Jenny Benedict, CCPA Intern

“Be the leader for the common good of all,” Pat Ciarrocchi, CBS 3 News Anchor stated so eloquently, “work for the highest good of everybody in the room and you will achieve graciousness.” What a pleasure it was to have the experience to meet with Pat and learn tips from the one of the best when it comes to moderating an event.

After arriving at CBS Channel 3, I was warmly greeted by CBS’ friendly staff, while setting up for our event. Large television screens filled the open lobby, with a “live” Pat on air for the twelve o’clock news. Talk about having a tight schedule! As soon as she walked out of the news room, she was ready to meet us and give a tour of the station.

She was so down to earth and genuine! We got a behind the scenes tour of the control boards in the studio and sat in the anchor’s chairs in front of the cityscape picture of Philadelphia. What a fun field trip!

After settling back into the CBS board room, CCPA President Emeritus Krista Bard and Ms. Ciarrocchi gracefully lead the CCPA Brown Bag Braintrust: “How to Moderate an Event”.

With 20 members eager to learn the skills involved in being a moderator, running a meeting, public speaking and becoming a gracious leader, Ms. Bard and Ms. Ciarrocchi systematically laid out the details:

Preparation

It is imperative to prepare as the moderator.

Pat gave several examples of how to better prepare oneself:

• know who you are speaking to
• know why you are speaking
• know what the ultimate goal is
• know how the audience should feel during the event/meeting and when they leave

Time is valuable! Know how much time to allow. Know the speaker’s time frame. Make sure that you have left enough time for questions and answers. Often a speaker can talk longer than expected. Make sure that you ask him or her “how would you like me to cue you?” Sometimes, even this won’t work. Krista shared a polite way to end a presenter’s speech. She suggested you try, “Excuse me, we will have time for more details later…” Or when all else fails, as Pat somewhat jokingly stated, “pray for the angels to make them stop talking.” You do what you need to do to keep the event on schedule, being fair and mindful of all.

Confidence is key. Have a sense of who your panelists/speakers are, and know their bios front and back. You will be even more confident. Give your panelists/speakers credibility when you introduce them by presenting one or two credentials from their bio. Know how to pronounce their names! Write out the names phonetically and practice. You can and should always double check with the speakers. Krista says to be diplomatic and simply say, “Please help me to pronounce your name correctly.” Be prepared to set the stage. Let the audience know that they will leave the event having a greater understanding of a particular topic. Pat says a good way to introduce this idea would be to say, “We believe that after you walk out of here you will have a better understanding of …”

Know yourself

If you are the type of person who gets really nervous, be extra prepared. Making a copy of speaking points to hold on to and look at is perfectly acceptable, and sometimes a necessity. This is also very important if you are giving the keynote speech. One CANNOT “adlib” a keynote speech.

If you are good at being funny, be funny; maybe not in the first sentence, but in the first few lines. If you are not very funny, do not try to be. It can backfire. Do what you can to be naturally charming, warm, and engaging. If listeners think that you are genuine in your actions and words they are more likely to listen. That is why it is imperative to be comfortable to present yourself as you, and to use the energy that is natural to who you are.

Smile, be well rested, and get sleep. Wear something you are comfortable and confident in. Do not wear something distracting, to the audience or yourself. Similar to appearing on TV, Pat suggests wearing a solid color. Minimize the stripes and accessories. Ladies: a scarf or broach is fine.

Live Out Loud

In order to deliver the best speech possible, speak out and annunciate your words. Pat suggested that you talk as if you are reading to a child so that you do no come off sounding monotone. As a moderator, you want to be formal but natural. If you are speaking and you feel yourself getting nervous, take a deep breath and slow down! People are more likely to talk quickly when they are nervous. Just breathe.

Awareness

While moderating an event it is important to be aware of your surrounding and the audience. If you see signals of boredom, agitation, you may need to move things along. LISTEN closely to presenters and take notes. Prepare questions for the speakers when the audience has none. Know the topic well so that you will know what may have been omitted during a speaker’s presentation. You can use this for closing comments or questions.

Leadership

It is also important to have a sense of leadership to allow people to be able to say what they want to say. Allow for different opinions, and make sure to be aware that everybody leaves feeling okay and not as if they had a wrong opinion or were ignored. At times moderators are faced with difficult questions, unrelated comments, or personal statements from the audience. Krista discussed ways to handle this situation respectfully. She suggested thanking them for the question or comment and then saying “perhaps we can, or the speakers can, address this afterwards” or “Wow, you seem to have enough here for a whole new seminar, we should talk about this afterwards.” Remember, it takes a great leader to work for the greatest good of everyone.

Le Fin

What is the best way to end the event? Be prepared with a short list of key points you want to make. At the conclusion of the event, Krista talked about the order in which to close. She said to wrap up the subject matter first, then not to forget the “thank yous”!

So in conclusion, I hope you have learned not only about how to prepare and organize to better moderate an event, but also how to better participate in business meetings, and have a quality leadership role in events. I hope you feel that you have learned something by taking the time to read this, and I thank you for you attention and graciousness.

There is not such thing as Vanity Publishing anymore. Self publishing is becoming weighting more and more in the publication choice of many manuscripts, fiction or non-fiction. Krista Bard, Beth D’Addono and Susan Shain shared the experience with both options and offered helpful recommendation to the writer in each one of us.

Traditional Publishing:

• Starts with a Book Proposal that contains: summary, overview, information about the author, market/platform, competition/look of the book, annotated table of contents, sample chapter.
• With that in hand comes the search for a literary agent that will put the proposal in the hands of publishing houses.

Some good resources:

• Read: How to write a book proposal by Michael Larsen, Write the perfect book proposal: 10 that sold and why by Jeff Herman
• Surf: www.asja.org (to find an agent), www.craigslist.org (to find a ghost writer or an editor)
• Visit: ASJA Conference, April 25-26

Self-publishing:

• Unexpensive ($200 to $500 in average)
• Complexe: takes a lot of time and sweat to understand the mechanisms of the website and all the outside questions (cover design, ISPN, copyright, barcode…)
• Allows (for a fee) to be distributed in major outlets: Amazon, Barnes & Nobles… and does the fulfillment for you (print on demand)

Some good resources:

• www.lulu.com
• www.iuniverse.com
• www.outskirt.com
• Books gone wild: the digital age reshapes literatures (Time – 01/21/09)
• Self-publishers flourish as writers pay the tab (The New-York Times – 01/28/09)

For more information feel free to contact Krista Bard (kbard@bardadvisors.com), Beth D’Addono (bethdaddono@comcast.net) or Susan Shain (sshain@bardavisors.com)