Opportunity International is a microfinance organization that serves 17 million people around the world living in extreme poverty. Headquartered in Chicago, the organization helps clients build sustainable livelihoods and access quality education for their children. Its signature educational and fundraising event, the Summit (formerly The President’s Forum), is an annual multi-day national gathering featuring a variety of international thought leaders.

Background

By 2007, the event had grown to a 4-day experience with up to 16 speakers and more than a dozen breakout presenters and panel participants. Because each unique presentation had the potential to cumulatively deepen donor commitment, event organizers wanted to guarantee not only message consistency across all presentations but the quality of the delivery  — and needed one person to manage the event content from development to execution.

Opportunity International commissioned Paul Quinn to serve as head writer and presentation coach, capacities in which he served for five successive Summits and four national Board of Governors events through 2013.

Challenges

Early on, Paul recognized the many challenges in overseeing content development for ever-growing numbers of presenters from inside and outside the organization. Adherence to outline deadlines was uneven. Some speakers submitted content that would’ve exceeded their allotted time. Statements in some presentations contradicted those made in others, and some presenters expected to be able to make substantial last-minute content changes. Though such issues are not uncommon in events of this size, they needed to be addressed.

Process Management

In response to these and other challenges, Paul created processes and schedules to keep presenters and their content on track, from outline development to final draft. He and the marketing team met with keynotes and other speakers to both discover and influence their material, set expectations, and eliminate surprises — thus ensuring message continuity and process clarity. To confirm accuracy, scripts for all presentations and videos were routed to staff fact checkers. Weekly status meetings identified where each presentation was in development. One week before the event, Paul joined the marketing team and CEO in a read-through of all presentations and slides, after which all content was ruled final.

Scripting

The comprehensive knowledge Paul gained from overseeing the full content arc informed his writing of the CEO’s remarks, Master of Ceremonies script, and donor appeals that needed a more persuasive “ask.” Paul was also responsible for finalizing a master document containing every scripted word or outline featured in the event, which became the onsite “bible” for the production staff.

Presentation Coaching

Except for keynotes and Opportunity International’s more accomplished speakers, Paul scheduled and led rehearsals to help many of the event presenters, panelists, and breakout leaders become more concise, conversational, and confident in their delivery. This support was especially important for presenters who though conversant in English had never given presentations in the language.

Paul also prepared panel facilitators with introductions and questions, and trained key donors to lead audiences through a dynamic roleplay of microfinance in the field, which Paul helped develop. During Paul’s tenure at Opportunity International, distinguished keynotes included authors Dr. Ken Blanchard, Ambassador Tony P. Hall, Pastor Rick Warren, Cheryl WuDunn, Carly Fiorina, Bill George, Knight Kiplinger, and Ward Brehm.

Success Ongoing

Thanks to the continuing success of the Summit and other fundraising efforts, Opportunity International serves clients in 30 countries through microbanking, Agriculture Finance, Education Finance, and innovative programs. In addition, they combine and focus these programs in 11 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.