After the Talk: Relax, Evaluate, and Connect

The talk doesn’t end with the final applause! Sometimes, it’s just the beginning.

Many ways to connect

Is your session a single-shot event, or is it something that you’re cultivating?

Do you have business cards to hand out to people at the end of the talk, especially to people who surround you to ask questions? Have you put your contact details on the final slide of the presentation, the one that’s projected during the Q&A?

If your presentation is part of something bigger, like a project that you’re growing or a subject that you want to master, you can create a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group, or a Yammer group (depending on the topic and the audience) to stay in contact with people. You can also use the channel to inform them about other initiatives, to let them share their experiences, and so on.

You can link to a forum or a social page (related to the subject) if you’re active on it and you don’t want to create another resource that you have to maintain.

Are you accepting LinkedIn connections but not Facebook requests? Tell them at the end of your session, or message people before denying a friendship request.

Are your slides online for everybody or just for conference attendees? If you can post them online, do it when people are still interested in your talk and share the news. Use the slides to connect with more people.

Was the session recorded? When it’s online, share the video so you can increase your connections and ask for more feedback.

Don’t forget side events

Sometimes it’s easier, especially for introverts, to skip conference side events like dinners, parties, and so on. They’re important because you can ask for feedback in an informal setting from people that attended your session, or, if yours is after the event, you can introduce your talk to people and other speakers and ask for feedback regarding your ideas, the flow that you’ve created, and so on.

Feedback is essential to your growth—reward it!

Did you ask for feedback at the end of the presentation? If people sent you an email or posted something on social networks, take some time at the end of the session, and at the end of the day, to respond, retweet, “heart,” or “like.”

Did you receive some criticism? Analyze your criticism and respond quietly, letting people know what your reasons were, and if you accept their suggestions. If you don’t agree with them, thank them anyway, and then try to explain your reasons.

Use all feedback as an opportunity to grow and connect. If people spend their precious time giving feedback, perhaps they care about the topic. Use their knowledge to expand your own. Try to understand their point of view.

If the session is not a single event, try to incorporate relevant feedback in the slides immediately, or at least, try to record them somewhere for future use. If you see that people keep asking the same questions after your sessions, try to incorporate the answers into the presentation.

Note: I post online all the evaluation scores from conference feedback forms when organizers send them to me—and not just positive ones. When I receive negative or neutral results, I use that post or tweet to ask for additional feedback from people that were at the session, something like: “I scored 60/100 at the XYZ session. If you were there, please send me your thoughts on how to improve my performance.”

Relax after the talk

How was the talk? Very good? You can enjoy a well-deserved rest after you’ve connected with people.

Was it not so good? This is not the right time to worry—first, try to relax, and think about what to improve after some hours or the day after.

Especially the first few times that you deliver a talk, there could be many things that you don’t like, but you need time to address them, and you need a fresh mind to do it the right way!

Always go back to your standards

Was your session in line with your standards? Is it time to raise them a little bit? Is it time to change gears and propose something at a bigger conference?

Just remember, standards are essential to your growth as a public speaker, so don’t forget to reflect on them after every session!