If somebody approached you about speaking at your next networking event – would you be ready?
Would you be able to send them all the information they needed to get your speech scheduled?
If you are like most entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of your business, the answer is probably a sheepish “no”.
Speaking is one of the best ways to build your community fast. Click here for my blog post on the 6 best ways to build community in any phase of your business. Unfortunately, I've found that businesses in the start-up phase are hesitant to put much time into getting ready to speak because they feel that they aren't expert enough. If you weren't at least a little bit of an expert in your field, you wouldn't be in business. You can give great value to an audience by giving them one solid idea for a next step.
The other objection I get from start-up business owners is that they don't get asked to speak. What I've found is that the issue is not so much not being asked, but rather being unprepared for opportunities that pop up.
I make sure that my private clients are prepared to speak on demand. I recently had a client at a conference who got a last minute opportunity to talk in front of an audience of 150 people – just because she carried her presentation with her on a flash drive.
The biggest thing that stops people from going after more speaking gigs, other than fear of speaking or being thought of as an impostor, is fear of creating a speaker sheet.
Most speaker sheets out there are gorgeous things – highly designed. They make the speaker look like a true expert. And, I suggest that you invest in getting that done as soon as you can.
I also have a confession to make, I don't have that kind of a speaker sheet. Instead, I have a very simple word document that gives event organizers exactly what they need. My team sends it out whenever I am booked for a live or virtual speaking gig.
Would you like a copy of my very simple speaker packet?
The packet is a word document that contains the following information:
- A link to my high resolution head-shot
- Bio information (long and short)
- Client Testimonials
- 3 talk outlines – Note you don't need to have 3 different talks when you are first starting out. In fact, I recommend that you start with just one.
In addition to having the speaker sheet available to my team, I also post it on my website. I have gotten speaking gigs just because someone saw the packet on my site so they knew that I would be available to give a presentation.
