Event Preparation and Audience Engagement Strategies

Luke Hannan is one of Australia’s leading Professional Conference and Event MCs, who lives and breathes the value of meaningful communication. Catch Luke's infectious energy as he chats with Andrew and Angela Poon about the basics of communication, meticulous preparation, in-depth research, and training the ability to remain calm and handle any situation that arises.

With over 450 successful events under his belt, Luke has captivated audiences from leading companies like Westpac, Google, and IBM. 

With a background in banking and finance, Luke brings a wealth of experience to his craft. Luke lives in Sydney with his wife and 3 children, and he loves trail running, playing the piano, and motorsport.

"If you decide you're going to do something...you ARE. Not you're becoming. From that moment on..."I was a professional MC" it's not "I am aiming to become one, I am one!" This is my identity now..."

In this episode Andrew, Angela and Luke discuss:

5:45 Why Luke loves communication so much, why people fail at communicating effectively and Luke’s 3 pillars of communication.

10:00 The value of good communication, to jazz hands or to not jazz hands and going for a run to burn off energy before a presentation.

13:00 Getting nervous and changing your state before a presentation, how Luke grew up loving to talk and how that led him to where he is now and how to recover control over an audience.

17:00 How to get people’s attention when they don’t want to give it, the importance of holding a pause and Luke using a poem as an opening monologue at an event.

20:45 The importance of planning ahead for a live event, taking notes in the sauna and the shower and building rehearsals into your daily routine.

25:35 Tips for those that get nervous presenting live, realising that live presentations aren’t about you and speaking is a journey where you never stop improving.

33:00 Getting gradual exposure to live presenting, finding out why you are the one presenting and not relying on slides.

40:30 Watching your footage back to review, coming to terms with your own unconscious competence and using your nerve memory, not your muscle memory.

47:30 Ange’s story of going off script and trying to be Andrew in a webinar, what Ange learned from that experience and Andrew having to shift his mindset when he started at KPMG.

1:00:00 The importance of getting into flow when you present, Ange’s continual improvement in presentations and looking back on your negative experiences as positive influences.

1:07:05 Why storytelling is a valuable tool that can be hard to pull off, about half of all storytelling bombing and an example of one of Luke’s live presentations.

1:14:30 Luke’s story of how he decided to become an MC, learning to harness his ADHD growing up and the magic of sitting back and saying less.

Find Luke at his Website: https://lukehannan.com.au/
Or at his LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukehannan

Learn more about Andrew at www.andrewmay.com

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