Conference and Moderator Showreel

Here is my new 2018 showreel of my conference hosting and moderating work.

I thought it would be painful to get this collated and edited. It was.

Can you imagine watching over four hours of your own and others public speaking and deciding which bits are good, whilst trying not to get upset at the bits you hate.

What I was not expecting was that this whole process turned into an extraordinary opportunity to reflect and learn again from a decade of experience.

So this is what I now understand about my role as a conference host, public speaking and conferences in general:

1. The audience are the real clients of the moderator. If they are engaged then the conference is working.

2. Senior staff on stage might sometimes be under a bit of pressure, but they look good when they answer questions.

3. Only the moderator has the right (and the duty!) to keep things on time. That may mean asking the CEO to hurry up.

4. Audiences are very generous if you are obviously “live” and not pre-scripted. That goes for the moderator and for all the speakers too…so take a risk, go off script and tell your story!

5. Humour and a quick wit can really help move a conference forward even when the going gets bumpy

and

Perhaps the going SHOULD get bumpy….

Conferences can cost hundreds of thousands to put on. Is there really a better time to deal with difficult issues than when everyone has taken the time and trouble to gather in one place? So let’s celebrate success AND deal with tough questions.

The new technologies to allow real-time LIVE questions from the delegates such as Sli.do can be initially alarming. But the results are (so far) ALWAYS worth it – because they increase engagement and allow conferences to sort out problems LIVE in the room.

Thank you, and have a great conference!

This video is thanks to the exemplary storytelling skills of Bespoke Reels. Thank you Charlie! 

Bletchley Park Advertisement

Continuing with the war theme, it has been fantastic to work with Bletchley Park (the centre of WW2 code breaking).  I am the voiceover on this new radio advertisement for one of their exhibitions. The story of Bletchley Park and its code breakers is fascinating and I am in awe of Dr Sue Black who helped save the crumbling site back in 2003 by a colossal fundraising scheme. 

Thank you so much to Claire Puplett at Global who produced this advert.  You can listen to it below. 

Memorial Museum Passchendaele – Audio Guides

I am proud to have been working with the Memorial Museum Passchendaele on their English Audio Guides for many years now. I have also done the narration for the moving documentary film they show you during your visit. It is great that they have raised enough money to do a version for kids. It is now even more important that the next generation learn about the horrors of World War One in Europe…(and World War Two in Europe…)

Kids Audio Guide for Memorial Museum Passchendaele from Piers Gibbon on Vimeo.

New elearning showreel

I love using my voice to help people learn new skills. Over the last few years I have been investing heavily in software and hardware to enhance my studios ability to complete even the largest elearning voiceover project – recording and naming and processing THOUSANDS of sound files. Here is my latest elearning showreel.

Charity Auction – £632,000 raised!

I am happy to say that I played a small part in raising over £632,000 for Children Action (a Swiss charity) through my hosting and voiceover work with A. Lange & Söhne, generating interest in the auction of a watch: the 1815 “Homage to Walter Lange.” The auction took place on May 13th in Geneva and was this one-of-a-kind collectors item was won by an anonymous bidder.

Below is a video about the watch (with an impressive 166,000 views!), for which I provided the voiceover.

During the live Facebook broadcast I talked to many people about the auction of the watch. Here I am talking to Aurel Bacs  – the famous auctioneer with more than 20 years of experience in the auction scene – about why an auction is the perfect way to give people the chance to buy something as unique as the 1815 “Homage to Walter Lange.”

The Delegate Wranglers and GDPR

Today I am grateful for the value of collegiate community! I had a great time yesterday up in Birmingham at Resorts World Birmingham for the The Delegate Wranglers – Job List Social Event Number Three.

This is a meta-event – it is an event for all of the people who make events happen….and they are an eclectic and friendly bunch not afraid to speak their minds – as a conference moderator this makes me very happy!

Paul Harris from etouches gave a great talk on GDPR and the new legal boundaries surrounding “personal data” for people running conferences. He started using “inside leg measurements” as the kind of data we are collecting. His idea was enthusiastically taken up by my colleagues so this is obviously an industry trend we need to be aware of

Lots of networking and lots of laughter is always a good mix, but there is also something really special when a group of people, who could regard each other as competitors, actually go out of their way to help each other.

Huge thanks to Neil Thompson for the photo below – and for wrangling all The Delegate Wranglers into one place (not unlike cat herding) and to the very funny Daniel Skermer of Genting International Casino, Birmingham for hosting us all so graciously. I am looking forward to more lively meta events about events in the future.

Looking Back: Care Fertility (Vox Award Winner)

Looking forward to the One Voice award ceremony this weekend.

Bringing back memories of when I won Best Male Voiceover at the Vox Awards a couple of years ago, the same year when Louisa Gummer (at the time sharing the same Neumann) won Best Female Voice Over!

The Delegate Wranglers: Interview

Piers was recently interviewed by Neil Thompson of The Delegate Wranglers – a superb site highly recommended for all conference professionals. You can find the interview below.

Here’s our latest ‘Getting To Know’ – this time we caught up with Piers Gibbon – who has combined a career presenting TV shows like The Witch Doctor Will See You Now (available on Netflix) with regular work hosting conferences, moderating high end Q&A’s for clients worldwide, and recording voiceovers in his studio in Hackney Wick.

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Q: In a nutshell, tell us the about your services and the some of the industries you’ve freelanced for?

A: I am a conference host and moderator for events around the world – sectors like computers/web/tech, motoring (from Michelin to Rolls Royce via BMW), plus medical/veterinary/pharmaceutical (I have a degree in Human Sciences), financial services, energy and lots of luxury and bluechip clients. I have a voiceover recording studio where I record the narration for conference videos and Voice of God announcements. I also coach a regular stream of leaders to give superb LIVE presentations. I am known as a Ted Talk Whisperer 😉

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Q: How did you get started in the events industry?

A: Well I have hosted TV and Radio shows for ages…but years ago I was coaching a group of sales execs on their presentations. To get the energy up I would do mock introductions that set audience expectations super high. They asked if I’d introduce them like that at the actual conference. I also moderated my first Q and A – the senior team turned things around by answering difficult questions from the delegates. The company made huge steps forward in a few hours – the CEO told us it was the first time he felt excited to sign the cheque. And I was hooked!

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Q: Most memorable moment working as a freelancer?

A: Interviewing Martin Clunes live onstage at the NEC last year was hilarious. And nothing beats the adrenaline of hosting Facebook Live events – it’s that tasty blend of well-rehearsed and anything-can-happen. The best memories are often about working as part of a conference team, pulling out all the stops all night long. I love the contrast between last minute hyperactive chaos and that moment when the show starts. Suddenly it is LIVE and it has to be ALL about the delegates.

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Q: Best location you’ve worked at?

A: They are starting to blur and I never really see anything outside the conference hall – any spare time I’m pacing up and down in my room practicing my speeches, or coaching others. Sintra in Portugal was lovely – there was a beach, and a bar…or was that Barcelona?

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Q: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself when you first started out in the events world?

A: I wish I had been a bit more forceful in the early days when asked the question “I have 53 slides – is that enough?” I would also try and offer more advice at the conference planning stages – shorter speeches, more Q&A’s…and hire an experienced moderator 😉

Shortlisted: The One Voice Awards 2018

I am delighted to be on the shortlist for Commercials Best Performance (Radio) at the One Voice Awards 2018. Looking forward to the awards ceremony in April. Huge thank you to Nicki Marinovic, Sara Hashem and Louise Mulroy at Maple Street Creative for producing this wonderful ad for “A Spokesman Said”!