Seven Proven Ways to Book More Speeches From One Presentation to the Next
by Burt Dubin http://www.speakingbizsuccess.com
Here’s how to make every presentation lead to requests for you to speak again at other events. Make building your reputation and enhancing your perceived value the primary function of every presentation.
Here are seven tested, proven methods I’ve discovered from my study of the skills of the masters of the professional speaking business. Use this concentrated wisdom to improve your speaking business skills from booking to booking!
1. Satisfy the decision maker and the meeting planner
- With your skills, credentials, experience, books, articles, and media coverage.
- Make your program description show exactly what your presentation delivers.
- State your recommendations, guarantees, and endorsements.
2. Exploit your window of opportunity
With associations that have annual meetings, make your initial contact about one month after their last annual meeting. Ask when their planning starts for the next meeting. Ask when the theme is selected. The time window for booking your presentation opens at that point. This window to book more speeches lasts as little as one month.
Decisions on keynote speaker and other general session presentations are made first. This may be 3 months before Breakout Session presentations are selected.
Study your market and know that market intimately. Think like your market’s decision makers think. Get the right promotional materials before the right person at the right time. It is a critical to demonstrate your professional skills at this time.
3. Give decision makers and meeting planners the value they want
- Provide in-depth knowledge, wisdom, and strategies on a topic or issue that is hot at the time.
- Offer two, sometimes three programs. For example, offer a keynote speech for the major program followed by a breakout session addressing the “how-tos”.
- Offer also to speak on a panel or lead a presentation to senior executives. Use your skills and ingenuity. Deliver extra value. Offer pre-event presentations or training, too. Add value every way you can.
4. Generate areas of expertise
Topic expertise. Get known as the skilled specialist – the expert who speaks.
- Platform artistry. Showmanship skills are everything.
- Promotional expertise. Market yourself professionally.
- Negotiating skills. Make their booking you win-win.
- Credibility as an expert presenter in your topic. (See 5, below.)
5. Develop your credibility
- Become a celebrity.
- Publish articles and books.
- Document your skills and accomplishments; be recognized; earn academic degrees and industry certifications.
- Create a proven track record.
- Develop a client list. Big names are best.
- Earn magnificent evaluations.
- Keep your fees appropriate, even a bit less than you’re worth.
- Seek prestige engagements. Target well-known prospects.
- Answer your office phone professionally.
- Upgrade your promo kit and your brochure.
- Upgrade your demo tapes, both audio and video.
6. Make yourself worthy of higher fees
- Improve your topic expertise, presentation skills, negotiating skills.
- Ask for what you want. Be prepared to reject inappropriate offers.
- Relate any difference in fees to the total meeting budget, total head count at your session, cost of the luncheon or banquet per person.
7. Fit the Budget without altering your fee structure
- Offer multiple programs at the same engagement.
- Offer multiple engagements of the same presentation.
- Offer to split travel expenses between meetings of other organizations at the same time in the same city.
- Offer a flat fee; combine speaking fees and expenses into one quote.
- Offer a product sale arrangement. Sell product and reduce your speaking fee.
- Offer a separate presentation the next day at no extra charge.
- Find a sponsor. Have a profit-making organization or member sponsor or co-sponsor your presentation, paying all or part of your fee.
- Offer to barter for something they have that you want, for example a free booth at their trade show or a master videotape of your presentation.
- Offer to permit the association to market videos and recordings of your presentations as well as your products and you share the revenue with them.
