Fireside chat definition series#

Engage your audience before the event by encouraging them to share any questions. Invite an interesting speaker and a highly skillful interviewer. A successful dynamic will generate the feeling of sitting by a fire and speaking to a good friend.Ĭonsidering this aspect, providing an informal atmosphere should be a top priority.įor this setting, you can experiment with the stage design, maybe installing comfortable armchairs or sofas and dim, relaxing lightning.įireside chats could be the jewel of your event and bring everyone together to enjoy an informal, yet insightful experience. Subsequently, you can share this structure with your audience at the beginning of the fireside chat to prepare them for what comes next.īuild the narrative with the informal atmosphere in mindįireside chats are especially popular because of the amicable vibe they convey.

You’ll have to know the main topics that will be tackled and in which order, and how much time the moderator will dedicate to each topic. Before the event, brief the moderator and agree upon a specific structure of the dialogue. There’s nothing worse than a disorganized fireside chat with a moderator who jumps from one topic to another.

Make sure that the structure of the dialogue is easy to follow Make sure your moderator will take into consideration what your attendees want to hear about during the fireside chat and encourage him or her to prepare accordingly.

Ask the attendees to post any questions they have before the event via social media or an event mobile app. There’s no point in a fireside chat if you don’t offer your audience the opportunity to ask questions. Involve your audience and listen to what they want to know If you want to run a highly engaging and immersive fireside chat session, you’ll have to do your research and hire an interviewer or moderator who has a journalistic background or is known for leading highly interesting interviews. What makes a fireside chat truly great is the person who’ll be interviewing the speaker. Not all moderators have the talent to ask good and insightful questions. Inviting an interesting speaker is only 1% of the equation. Hire a moderator with a good interviewing experience However, you’ll have to make sure that the speaker is indeed beneficial to your attendees and has plenty of stories to share with them. Obviously, you shouldn’t obsess over inviting industry rock stars or high-profile figures. That’s why you’ll want to invite someone who has interesting things to talk about. Invite speakers who have something interesting to shareįireside chats are an incredible opportunity for attendees to get to know a speaker in a friendlier and more familiar way. Now, we have the privilege of enjoying fireside chats with Elon Muskand Jeff Bezos, and getting more insights into the way they think and act while enjoying a laidback environment.Īre you intrigued and now thinking about running a fireside chat for your next event? Here’s a list of requirements to consider for good results: His press secretary said the informal talks were meant to make people feel like FDR was talking to families next to his fireplace, according to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.'

Fireside chat definition series#

Obviously, there’s no fire or flames, so why is it called a fireside chat, then? The first fireside chat 'is credited to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who held a series of radio addresses beginning in the Great Depression. What’s a fireside chat? Compared to other traditional presentation formats, a fireside chat is an informal, yet structured dialogue between a speaker and a moderator, who focuses on adding a casual tone to the conversation while providing massive value to the audience. You get a detailed understanding of someone’s character and being. This is why fireside chats are incredibly popular. One-on-one meetings, on the other hand, are more intimate and focus mostly on building a trust-based exchange of information. It’s much more general or detached and shows a clear distinction between the speaker and the attendees. The answer is obvious: During a keynote speech, you only get a superficial overview of what that person represents. What’s the difference between listening to a great entrepreneur’s keynote speech and having a face-to-face conversation with the same person?