Cruise ship speakers need to be good storytellers. Or do they?
True enough, most people (all?) who attend a lecture by a cruise ship speaker do so for mainly one reason.
They want to kill time.
In many cases, one of the attendees is likely just dragged along by their significant other and really doesn’t really want to be there at all.
There’s a lot of down time on a cruise ship. Cruise ship directors want to fill up the day with any and everything … and with multiple options inserted into time slots.
The cruise ship speaker may be speaking to folks who have been to the destination more time than the lecturer! And some attendees might just be there to see if/where they do know more than the speaker. Really!
What can the cruise ship speaker do?
The easy answer is – nothing special. Fill up the time. Give the information – this is this and that is that. Just get done before bingo starts or the first seating for dinner or the lunch buffet opens. No harm, no foul.
The hard answer is – step up your game.
One key way is to add good storytelling to the mix. Everyone loves a good story. The cruising demographic in general grew up with stories.
The good cruise ship speaker, make that great cruise ship speaker will be/is a student of good stories and how to tell them. Tell stories well and watch, and your audience will be a lot more attentive.