Hello UBTech speakers. We have posted preliminary session times and room assignments on our website, www.ubtechconference.com. These are subject to change, so please don’t make travel plans or other commitments that would preclude a change in your session’s time slot.

Speaking of travel, if you haven’t yet made your travel plans, please make your hotel reservations as soon as possible. Our great room rate of $169 at the Omni ChampionsGate is only available until May 10th.

Now, about your presentations. People’s attention spans drop quickly at about the 20-minute mark. (That’s why those popular TED talks are all 18 minutes.) But your session is 40 minutes. So how can you keep the audience focused on you, and not their phones and tablets? By injecting a dramatic change of pace 15 to 20 minutes after you begin. Here are some tactics:

• If you’ve been talking mostly about theory, briefly relate a relevant anecdote (ideally with some humor).
  
  
• If you’re delivering a case study, briefly discuss a book, report or website that supports your position.
  
  
• If your slides have mostly been textual, show one or two with a dramatic (and simple) chart, interesting photo or meaningful graphic.
  
  
• Perhaps best, pose a question to the audience, let them discuss it with their neighbors for a couple of minutes and then take some responses.
  
  

Another important presentation note: While you may reference products of relevance during your session, we ask that you refrain from endorsing or disparaging specific vendors or products.

We’ll be issuing these speakers updates more frequently as we get closer to UBTech. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Best regards,

JD Solomon, Program Director
jdsolomon@promediagrp.com

Kurt Eisele-Dyrli, Associate Program Director
kdyrli@promediagrp.com