As part of our call for speakers, we’re encouraging those who haven’t presented before to apply to speak at Digital Construction Week.

The show is all about sharing ideas, hearing from different perspectives, and growing the community. As well as established speakers, we want to give a platform to new voices working in the built environment to share new insights and diverse experiences.

If you’re new to presenting, then here are some tips on how to make your session stand out from the competition.

Choose your words

We have 10 different theatres with over 120 hours of content – that’s a lot of presentations. So it’s important that your session grabs visitors’ attention in the programme. The title should be catchy, clear and concise.

The session summary should highlight exactly what prospective audience members can expect to get out of the session. Make it clear why they should attend. What makes your session exciting? And (bringing us to our next point) what will they learn?

Key takeaways

Think about the key learning points that your audience members will be able to take away with them. What new information will they learn and how can they implement what they’ve learned in their own work? When submitting your session summary make these points clear so people know what they’ll get out of attending.

Live and interactive

We love presentations that are interactive. Not only does it usually make for a more fun and engaging session, but interactivity helps learning retention too.

If you’re showcasing your work with technology such as VR, why not get someone up from the audience to have a go for themselves? If you’re discussing new ways of working, consider polling your audience using Sli.do or something similar and get their views. Or if you’re presenting a case study, try inviting the client, architect, contractor, or supply chain for a live Q&A at the end.

Bright and bold

The best presentations are often fun and interactive, but that’s not always possible. If your session doesn’t feature live demos or audience participation, visual aides can really lift a presentation.

Make sure images are big, bright and colourful. The same goes for graphs and charts, make sure they’re eye-catching and bold.

This was one of the top tips shared by some of our former first-time presenters when we spoke to them about presenting at DCW. You can read the rest of their advice here.

Want to speak at Digital Construction Week?

Now you’ve read through these tips, you’re ready to apply to speak at the show. The call for speakers for Digital Construction Week is open now.

APPLY  NOW

We’d love you (and anyone you know who you think would make a great speaker) to submit a presentation for this year’s event.

The call for speakers is open until Friday 23 February 2024. To apply, fill out the speaker application form here.