Archive for the ‘Business Events & Gatherings’ Category

Question The Questioner

Friday, October 8th, 2021

It is one thing to think you are great at designing or asking questions when facilitating at an event (symbolic), it is another thing to be proven right by the demonstrable improvement in the audience’s condition after the event is done (meaningful results).

Return To Work

Tuesday, August 31st, 2021

If you are returning this week or next week to work, after the end of Summer and holidays with the expectation, your colleagues, business partners, investors and competitors are all slowly “picking up the pieces” and in the same boat, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. This has been the busiest August for many (sustaining and growing businesses), some of whom have not taken a “break”, their calendars and diaries heading into September and October are all already full to bursting. If you are not “in their diary” or “on their calendars”, you need to move very fast or face unscheduled delays. The same applies for booking meeting venues and getting tables in the most desirable restaurants in cities that have largely relaxed social and travel restrictions.

Private Equity International’s Operating Partners Forum Europe: 2020

Monday, October 5th, 2020

You can see James chairing Day 3 at Europe’s foremost gathering of value creators on Wednesday 7th October, 2021 (9:55 London / 4:55 New York / 4:55pm Hong Kong)

In addition moderating a superb panel on

“Managing the CFO-CEO relationship at portfolio companies” (10:30 London / 5:30 New York / 5:30pm Hong Kong))

alongside

  • Steven Dunne, Senior Partner, Frog Capital
  • Krzystof Drozd, Senior Managing Director, Varde Partners
  • Victor Vadaneaux, Operating Partner, Cairngorm Capital

21 Best Practices for Uncommon Virtual Presentations

Monday, October 5th, 2020

Here is a collection of best practices for those embarking on a digital presentation, workshop, speech or event:

  1. Would you benefit from a producer (morphing as a videographer)?
  2. What is the best location – home, office or an alternative venue?
  3. Would a Livestream vs. Zoom event be more appropriate? Livestream giving you the freedom to move around, take questions, refer to whiteboards or illustrations and interact more intimately with your audience. At $10,000 for annual subscription, this should be serious considered if you a frequent event host, speaker and so on. If Zoom, are you better served with the interaction of a live video call or the webinar setting?
  4. Are you using a wired headphone or earbuds? What looks more professional and suitable for the event?
  5. Who is controlling the microphones on/off and and the speakers on/off? What settings make sense for your event? Is it picking up ambient noise or excessive volume?
  6. If you wear glasses have you considered distortions picked up by your reflecting glasses?
  7. Lighting – natural or interior lighting that softens and flattens your image? O-rings or other staged lighting?
  8. Background – what precisely do you want to project? Bookcases are they ideal or not? If not, what will add to the professional image?
  9. Think of you digital backdrop as a picture frame. Does it distract or enhance what you plan to say and how you convey it?
  10. Image – is it the professional or home environment you want to convey? Why?
  11. Movement – how important is movement to your audience? Is it distracting or does it actually project a “live” natural conversation?
  12. Camera positioned at eye-level – 80% of Zoom and other video calls are incorrectly used. If you need height use a book under the device.
  13. Dress – is it appropriate for the audience and the image you want to project? Do the colours and “cut” reflect who you are and wish to be seen as?
  14. Looking down the lens – you are always taught in broadcast media to keep your eyes looking down the lens for 5-10 secs after the talking stops. Are you doing that or cutting away too soon?
  15. Is the tone/pitch of your voice natural and varying to emphasise words or questions? Does it fall away softly such that the microphone loses the last word or two?
  16. Do I hear high energy and enthusiasm for the subject that is deliberately maintained throughout the segment to excite the audience or indifference? Is it false or natural?
  17. Is humour used intelligently and appropriately to engage the audience or purely for the speaker’s amusement? Would it be described as well-developed or crass?
  18. Content – are you telling people what they need to know, not everything? Is it each point clear, concise and supported by facts, hard evidence, anecdotes, stories? In 30 mins,
    opening (3-5 minutes preferably with a story), 4 key learning points (4×4=16 minutes), questions and answers (5-7 minutes), closing (2 minutes).
  19. Call to action – if you want this to lead to further follow up, are you using directional points at the appropriate time (“please drop me a note for my recent survey results at this email address”, “please sign up for my next event by doing this…..”)
  20. No “happy sheets” – avoid sending out “did you find this helpful surveys” (waste of time), do review with one or two trusted sources for improvements.
  21. You are after success, not perfection. The more you do these virtual events the better you will get it. Have fun!

Morose Events

Friday, November 30th, 2018

I speak at 10 events a year, attend a further 35 events a year and probably get invited to 250 globally. I find there to be a direct correlation between the number of “paid for speaking slots” and boredom. Yet a great many event hosts cannot see it or marvel at “I love what she had to say….”, expecting me to be a cheerleader for their false excitement.  Let me share a blunt truth: people predominantly pay to speak, as a shortcut to getting their ideas out there without any validity or authority.  

UK’s Tech Gem

Friday, July 6th, 2018

I have just finished a week of speaking to Thai and Swiss fintech and insurtech delegations here in London. There is a marvel at the high tech “community” that the UK and in particular, London, has created, built and exploited globally. I am talking about a digital community experience where people interact frequently, are drawn together by the quality of the people “present”, acts as peers, reciprocate and in so doing, help everyone live a more fulfilling life. Entrepreneurs, investors, venture builders, advisers, large corporates and governmental organisations in harmony. It is incredibly difficult to create community, as this week’s visitors readily pointed out. It requires a strong brand, impressive new intellectual property, fearless promotion and new ideas.

Those who bemoan the waning global appeal of the UK in a post-Brexit world, might want to take note of Britain’s singular success.

 

© James Berkeley 2018. All Rights Reserved.

 

Lousy Speaker Requests

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

If you are trying to understand the value of public speaking at an industry event, professional association or private gathering, here is some tell-tale signs it is unlikely to be a valuable use of your time:

1. The Event Host is visibly disorganised, requests go unanswered, your contribution is unclear or is constantly being moved.

2. The Event Host is too busy to introduce you to fellow panel members or the moderator pre-event.

3. The Speaker list is overweight in providers and suppliers, who are clearly only there because of their sponsorship.

4. The Moderator slots are predominantly reserved for professional service firms who are sponsors, not because of their moderating skills.

5. The location is visibly “cheap”, located in an underwhelming part of town that operates successfully solely because of the high volume of low margin events.

6. The Event Host is a highly commercial organisation that operates on a constant churn of events each year. If in doubt email me.

7. You don’t recognise any of the keynote speakers as global experts in their particular domain.

8. The commercial event model operates on a free or massively discounted incentive to a particular category of participant, at the expense of professional service firms (a feeding frenzy forms around those few “special guests”).

9. You find little or no significant track record of meaningful media coverage for the event within your industry or in the mainstream business media.

10. You find the same old faces chairing or moderating the event each year. One London Wealth Management event insisted on the media company’s Chairman, Alan, the dullest man in the world, chairing 18 events in a row!

11. Less than 30% of the Agenda is reserved for “new” topics not previously covered in the prior 3 years.

12. Mention is made of “Continuing Assessment” credits for attending the event. Who really needs those other than mid- and lower level employees (rarely buyers of your services).

© James Berkeley 2018. All Rights Reserved.

 

Five British Myths

Friday, June 8th, 2018

This past week has been a whirlwind of evening cocktails in London, here is a few reflections:

  • “This is a time to start battening down the hatches with valuations of businesses at unsustainable levels reminiscent of 2006.” Yet talking to over 40 entrepreneurs this week, particularly with strong and dynamic mid-sized and smaller businesses the reality sharply contradicts that statement. Order books are near record levels, access to cheap capital persists and a great many are experiencing double-digit growth in existing and new markets.
  • “Brexit is an uncontrollable mess”. In the company of the chief protagonists, UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond on Tuesday night at Lancaster House, yes, the process resembles a tartan-kilted drunk on Edinburgh’s Princes Street staggering home but isn’t it premature to start fretting about the impact, positive or negative, for businesses and families that is many years ahead?
  • “Me Too has changed everything.” Really? Looking across the room at three events, which are highly representative of London as a financial centre, there are still far too few women in influential positions (banking, private equity, real estate, professional services and so forth). Yet those, who have succeeded are treated to the naked eye with absolute respect and dignity.
  • “Cyber warfare is a battle we cannot win.” Talking to Robert Hannigan, the past Head of Britain’s GCHQ, the real battle that is within our power and control, is the attraction and retention of the finest technologists and engineers. It is leaders in government agencies, and businesses, who are able to sustain a visceral connection between the purpose of those organisations, to safeguard people’s lives, and the ability to do the job without the constraints of endless bureaucracy. Leadership is a bigger issue than money but no one talks about that.
  • “Ultra High Net Worths are abandoning London in their droves.” A major New York real estate developer suggested to me 3,000 of them had become resident in Monaco over the past 12 months, Roman Abramovich’s travails are adding weight to the exodus. The facts and strong anecdotal evidence don’t support that view. My daughter’s private school in Central London has record levels of international families including Russians schooling their children in her Senior School. Almost exclusively those wealthy Parents are resident here, working and pursuing career opportunities. Last night in London’s famed, Annabel’s nightclub, it was a hive of lavish spending by London’s superich. Brits are in a minority. You cannot find the same opportunities to spend gargantuan incomes on fun and excitement in Europe, anywhere quite like London, on a balmy Thursday night.

© James Berkeley 2018. All Rights Reserved.

Natural Conversation

Thursday, May 24th, 2018

 

 

I think of getting to know people in a business social setting (a hosted event or forum), akin to peeling an onion. The enjoyment is asking small considered questions in an arc that encourage others to reveal themselves, listening attentively, and the depth and breadth of my intellectual curiosity that is stirred by their responses. It sounds simple but how many times have you been seated next to someone, who enjoys and excels at that pursuit? There is a name for them, great conversationalists. It is not something that is taught in school or learned staring into a backlit phone screen. It is best learned watching others, who excel in a natural, not staged, conversation and building your own intellectual firepower (reading, watching, experiencing). Individuals, who are comfortable in themselves to the extent that they don’t feel an abject need to impose their thinking on others (agenda hunters, as I think of them) or to consider diametrically opposed viewpoints.

© James Berkeley 2018. All Rights Reserved.

Calling UK Entrepreneurs

Monday, April 30th, 2018

 

I am a current judge of “The Inflexion Entrepreneur of the Year Award”, one of 16 categories, at the Lloyd’s Bank UK National Business Awards, which was a great success last year. Would you, your clients, your investee companies or acquaintances have a use for participating in one of the categories, and hopefully, winning this year? If so, who should I address this to? The immediate deadline for submissions is 1st June, 2018. I’d be happy to offer some friendly guidance on the submission/judging process and the “value” they might reasonably walk away with.