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Top 3 reasons you should DOUBLE marketing efforts for your speaking business NOW by @KerryHeaps

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by Kerry Heaps  | Featured Contributor

These are turbulent times, and the event industry is no exception. If you are considering halting your marketing efforts, here’s three reasons why you shouldn’t.

  1. Meeting planners are more accessible.  Even though most people are required to work from home, they are still answering emails and phone calls. After a few weeks of self-isolation, people are more open to having a conversation then before. Also, because some events have been cancelled for April and May most Meeting Planners are focusing on future events including booking speakers, don’t be shy about picking up the phone.
  2. Events are still being planned.  In the event industry educational content is selected six to twelve months prior to the actual event. For example, current educational slots are being filled for end of year events and early 2021.  These are events that you would not be considered for if you stop marketing now.
  3. Keep your sales momentum going.  The marketing and sales side of this industry has to build momentum, anytime there is a bump in your marketing efforts, and you are not following up with Meeting Planners, you lose the momentum you have built up. Once you start marketing again, you have a certain amount of ramp up time to get back to where you were before.

Would you hire you to speak? by @KerryHeaps

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by Kerry Heaps  | Featured Contributor

Taking inventory of how meeting planners can connect with you.

Sometimes we try to protect ourselves from an onslaught of unwanted calls, emails and solicitations, however, when we place a protective shield up, it can make the process difficult for others to do business with us. After a recent Speaker selection process, these were the top four items that deterred us (not by choice) from moving forward with certain candidates.

  • Website contact page. Your site should have all the information about how to connect with you.  Its fine to have a contact us form, but make sure it works.  You should have your phone number, email and mailing address.  Take it a step further and add social media buttons.
  • It should work, period.  Have a dedicated phone number for your business.  You can get a phone number with an answering service for under Twenty dollars a month.  Don’t use your home number unless you have a professional voicemail for meeting planners to leave a message.  Again, look like the professional that you are.
  • Always check your junk file, sometimes messages get missed because they get flagged.  You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity and find the email months later.
  • Have a professional message for your business, even if you work from home, keep your phone numbers separate.  Always make sure you check your voicemail and delete messages, nothing is more frustrating than hearing a voicemail and you can’t leave a message because the voicemail box is full.

These are things to mindful of, remember, there are more speakers than paid events, so if you make it difficult for the meeting planner to reach you, they will move on to another prospect.

Secure more stages in 2020 with these 3 Tips by @KerryHeaps

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by Kerry Heaps  | Featured Contributor

If you want to secure more speaking engagements this year, make sure that you are not only providing great content that solves a problem, ensure that you are helping the meeting planner make the event as successful as possible. These three tips can be implemented with very little effort and will go a long way in your favor.

  1. Help fill the room. One way you can help the meeting planner fill the room for the workshop or keynote that you are speaking at is to create a video under one minute, share a tip that you will be teaching. Make sure this is something that highlights one of the issues or concerns the attendees are facing in their industry.  If you are speaking at a workshop for at a human resource show, you may want to share it tip to help attendees recruits the best talent.  The video does not need to be fancy, it can be shot from your cell phone or laptop, it’s the quality of the advice that you’re offering not the background or fancy music.

  1. Have a conversation with the audience. Make sure during the event that you are having a conversation with the audience, talk with them not at them. Show up 10 minutes early and meet and greet people as they fill the room, you can always ask them why they signed up for your workshop or keynote and make them feel welcome. It is much better to be approachable as a Speaker those tend to get better feedback.
  1. Create audience retention with video. Audience retention is something every meeting planner is facing these days. With so much packed into a two or three-day conference, sometimes it’s information overload for the Attendees. When they return to work most of what they learn goes to the side and is never picked up again. Create another video that can be shared a month or two after the event as a refresher. If you don’t want to create another video, you can create online quizzes, a review sheet or even an audio clip.

 

6 Ideas To Connect With The Audience @XLConsultingGro

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by Elaine Slatter | Featured Contributor

Last week I was pacing up and down my kitchen rehearsing for an hour presentation on “standing out from the crowd”.  A branding talk.  My dilemma was how to connect with the audience.

I had all the facts, but since I wrote a script and was trying to follow it, the delivery was quite frankly, boring!

Then the lightbulb hit me.  It was boring because there is no passion when you read from a script. And I definitely didn’t want to use Powerpoint only to see the audience on their phones or yawning because it was yet another slideshow.  So here are some ideas I incorporated to connect with the audience.

Ditch the script and speak from the heart

When you do this, you are more natural and your passion for the subject matter shines through. It is a bit scary to abandon the script, but you have to trust you have the power of knowledge and belief in yourself.

My favorite speaker of all time is Professor Maja, a sociologist and women’s empowerment speaker. What makes her stand out is the power of what she says and how she says it.  Then, it’s how she dresses!  Yes, definitely NOT like a professor.  Hop over to watch a clip from Prof. Maja’s TV spot on The Social talking about the “Imposter Syndrome” and you will see what I mean.

She shared with me that people tell her often that she doesn’t look professional…..but she has a unique style that makes her stand out and she stands her ground and doesn’t back off.  And I love that about her, too.  She is unapologetically herself and connects totally with her audience and you can too.

Hook and Hinge or Angle and Peg

Whaaat?   These are techniques to pull the audience in right at the beginning and the best way to do this is to tell a story.  In my audience, there were a few people I know well, so I used their stories to connect both to them, their friends and the whole audience.  They weren’t scary, silly or embarrassing stories, they were branding stories related specifically to their companies.

Breakdown the Topic into Small Bites with Actionable Tips

Use the KISS formula (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)  Your audience can’t possibly know what you know and they don’t want to know it all.  So break it down into smaller bite-size pieces that are easy to swallow. You can always elaborate further by sending them a link to a free tip sheet or checklist after the presentation.  In fact, that is an excellent way to follow up.

Use Examples

Again, you can use stories here, good stories and bad stories, but a story the audience will remember.  My favorite branding story is Nike.  Because quite honestly their logo is just a simple, curvy tick.  Absolutely nothing remarkable about it at all.  It only cost Nike under $20.00 to have the logo designed. It’s how they connected the logo and tagline “Just Do It” with a series of athletes who were “doing it”! And the comparison is if they can “Do It”, so can you!

Everyone can connect with that story because Nike is a household name and recognizable to everyone who has ever gone to a sports apparel store.  And if you have kids, you definitely have been to that kind of store!

Give Local Examples

This is effective because your audience will instantly relate to a business in their local area.  After the talk, members of the audience mentioned that was the part they loved the most.

That was very easy to do because I interviewed the owners of these businesses right there on the spot. We were sitting side by side on stools.  I sent them the questions ahead of time so they had some idea of what I was going to ask, but the conversation flowed naturally and I noticed not one person was glancing out of the window or on their cell phone.

Have a Close

Wrap it up with a memorable summary and a call to action and you simply have done your job! Leave them with a few nuggets that they will remember for a total of 30 to 45 minutes max with a few minutes for questions and you are on your way to connecting.

5 things you need PRIOR to applying for speaking engagements by @KerryHeaps

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by Kerry Heaps  | Featured Contributor

Almost every event that you apply to will require the five following items. Any topic that you are an expert on, you should have the following items in place.

A Topic(s) that is eye catching.  The topic of your speech is very important. It’s the first thing most Meeting Planners see in your submission.   Your topic should be catchy, drive home a point and should be applicable in today’s market. If you’re struggling creating a title, start jotting down a few samples on paper. And try replacing some of the words with buzz words or action words. This will get you started on creating a topic that stands out.

A Summary. Your summary is just that, a few sentences or short paragraph describing what you are going to talk about. It’s important to note that your description, should you be chosen to speak, is typically copied verbatim into the marketing materials of the event. Meeting Planners typically will not change anything that you have put in, as you are the expert on this topic. Your description and 3-5 takeaways should match what you teach at the event. Attendees typically will complain if they sign up for a workshop and the instructor teaches everything but what was in the workshop outline. Make sure whatever you put in your description is what you plan on teaching.

3-5 takeaways. Finally, for each topic and description you will need to provide three to five takeaways or learning objectives. What will the Attendees learn by attending your keynote or Workshop? Meeting Planners like to see a specific format, such as:  attendees will learn how to, attendees will walk away knowing how to implement, or attendees will learn the difference between, etc. Have a minimum of three and no more than five takeaways, it’s very rare for a meeting planner to ask for more than five. Make sure the learning objectives that you built into your description match the takeaways.

An updated Bio.  Your bio or Entrepreneurs resume should be kept up-to-date, highlighting your great achievements, you should consistently be adding to it throughout the year. If you haven’t added anything to your bio this year, start looking at potential achievements. For example, if there is an award or contest within your industry that you can apply for and win, compete. If you can get a writing column, or the potential to get featured on a major media outlet, go after it. These are the things that you should be adding to your bio on a consistent basis. Try to review your bio every 6 months, adding new accomplishments and deleting items that are over five years old.

A current head shot.  Finally, your head shot. Meeting Planners want to see an updated head shot, when you walk through the door you should match your photo. Meeting Planners do not like to receive photos that are not recent, as this can cause confusion when you’re being introduced, and you look nothing like the photo in the brochure. I recommend having head shots taken once every 6 to 12 months, it’s an investment in your speaking business.