A word of advice for those people who run a series of sponsor and other slides on loop for delegates to view as they are waiting for a conference program to start:

Don’t.

Having delegates’ first taste of your conference being a highly repetitive, very low engagement experience like that sends ALL the wrong messages (“Welcome to this special day of very repetitive messaging where, clearly, you’re in the hands of a group of people who haven’t thought about whether what we’re delivering to you is interesting or not”!)

It’s better to have (as an example) a slide with some sponsor logos and a “TEN MINUTES TO GO” message, which is set to transition to the next slide in 60 seconds time that has the sponsor logos and the message “NINE MINUTES TO GO”.

The “ONE MINUTE TO GO” slide should have music on it … something a bit lively … which serves as an alert to the delegates (who’ve probably been busying themselves with other tasks) and they know it’s time to have a look at the screen.

Or, for something a little different, you could try a Grin & Tonic™ Conference Reel (click here for some samples) in that final minute.

I know you can never be sure whether any of your speakers will bore the delegates … but if you’re the organiser, try not to do it before the day has even begun!!