ISSUES SOLVED  ::  The State of the Association Problem

Play It Cool

We have all been there: the opening general session or the business portion of the general session and the next agenda item is the dreaded “State of the Association” speech. Last year blends into the year before blends into 1986 blends into gentle sea breezes under a cool 68 degree Tuscan sun … WAKE UP!! This deadly 20 minute speech can just really kill the mood.

So, while in a “State of the Association” meeting one day, our minds wandered into another state: how could this be done better? Having just reviewed, once again, the statistics that say that people not only retain more in a conversation setting they also pay attention longer, it struck us: we should try having the president interviewed about the state of the association.

We could create a talk show set and still use graphics and video support. We could go as far as having a graphic roll-in and music to give it that talk show feel and build the anticipation. The interviewer could come out and set it up for the audience, then bring out the president, much like Larry King might do, and off they go. It would be scripted: the interviewer knows what to ask and the president knows how to answer. Like television, they could stop to look at the video rolls. Sound nice?

Well, we’ve done it numerous times with expert interviewers from Larry King to Derek McGinty. When budgets don’t allow, we have used local professional interviewers. This method keeps the audience's attention much better than a straight speech and it leads to discussion among the audience at the end.

This is a radical thing that can be a challenge to sell. But once sold, our clients almost never want to go back.