Edited a day later: This entry has advice but see also related post wondering how to convert DVD to YouTube.
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People ask me constantly how I get gigs – how I approach conference organizers, which events they should approach, to apply as a speaker. I don’t know, because I don’t approach them – I have never had success doing that. (I’m not saying you shouldn’t – I’m just saying I have no answers, because it never worked for me.)
100% of my marketing has been:
- this website, plus
- word-of-mouth testimonials:
“This guy was good. Hire him.”
I’ll have more to say about the website in the future but here are the fundamentals.
You need a website, or at least a blog, or at least a web page somewhere.
Why?
- Shoppers like convenience: a web page where they can quickly learn the facts.
- That’s how you shop online (right?); same for the people who might hire you. It’s your job to make it easy for people to find that info.
- Not only do you want a single URL to send people, you want others to be able to send it to their friends. Viral marketing.
- My own site is a WordPress blog, tricked out with extra pages. (WordPress can add extra pages.)
- Regina Holliday’s site is a Blogspot blog. Blogspot sites cannot have extra pages, but they can put things in sidebars.
- At the simplest level, you can just make a Facebook page about your business.
However you do it, you need a URL that people can pass around to learn how awesome you are.
If you have a site, you’re welcome to brag about it – or ask for help – in a comment here.
The basics you should put on it:
- A statement of who you are / what you’re about. You don’t have to be a celebrity and it doesn’t have to be awesome – it needs to let shoppers know:
- What you talk about
- How you came to do this
- Here are mine and Danny Sands’.
- A video of yourself speaking. Get one. Get one. Get a video. Put it on your site. Otherwise your buyers can’t tell what they’re buying.
- The very first time someone recorded me for a meeting, I asked for a copy. It’s at the top of this post.
- Today, my standard contract says “You’re welcome to record me, as long as I get a copy for my website.”
- Your speaking schedule. As soon as you have more than a couple of gigs (past and future), list them so buyers can see “Other people have bought this speaker.”
- Don’t worry if it’s a short list at first. You’re not trying to con anyone; if you’re good, it will grow.
- Unpaid appearances count! Don’t tell me “I’ve only spoken for free.” So had I, until May 2010. Experience is experience.
- Testimonials from satisfied clients.
- Select ones that are as specific and meaningful as you can.
- How do you get specific and meaningful feedback? Ask people for it! “I want to build a speaking career. What would you say, specifically, people should know about me as a speaker?”
You can add more things, but those are the basics.
Next in the series: #10: Take off your stupid badge.
One caveat about videos:
When a video of your presentation is posted on your clients’ website, it is usually there as a streaming video. Videos are quite large so thy usually aren’t kept on their sites for more than a year or so. Some clients may be able to send you the actual video, but you would need to host it and set it up for on-demand streaming. But since they are so big you may have trouble finding the sauce to store them on your hosted website.
Thanks, Danny! You’re right about some clients insisting that they host the video files, especially if it’s an internal presentation.
But if you do get the file, you can upload it to YouTube or (my favorite) Vimeo.com. For instance, our joint keynote at the IHI Forum in Orlando, Dec. 2010, is uploaded to Vimeo. (It’s here on my site.)
YouTube used to be limited to short videos, but it’s not anymore. That was true with the first speech where you invited me to co-present, at Connected Health 2008, so those videos are short chunks. But that limit’s gone.
Or did I miss something about your intent?
p.s. I just remembered reading that YouTube now has a built-in video editor that among other things lets us combine two uploaded videos. Instructions are here.
Dave, I love the Speaker Academy! Here’s my schedule page! Great idea to share with everyone! Obviously, to keep myself organized, I’ve already figured out where / when I am speaking – but it’s a good point to share it with the world. Thanks for all of the great insights!!! This can be done! http://drcatherinerose.com/schedule/
I’m impressed with your schedule page!
Can you think of a way to more clearly distinguish (at a glance!) which ones are about healthcare and which ones are for work (LightAide)? Two obvious ways would be to separate the lists (you probably don’t want to) or to add some sort of icon in front of the healthcare ones.
Dave, awesome point! I actually had them in two separate lists but then it became a little too zooy to follow 2 lists / 2 sets of dates – but maybe just two columns of information would be helpful.
What are your thoughts on buying a domain with your name vs. just using a blogspot or wordpress URL (i.e. http://www.emilykramergolinkoff.blogspot.com)?
Emily, thanks for asking – we need more discussion here!
I’m not an expert on the fine points of internet marketing. I’ve done it and I’ve read a fair number of things but I’m very pragmatic. And I used to be good at SEO (search engine optimization) but I’m very out of date.
Since this is an academy for newbies, I’ll just say this: don’t let that question hold you back. For me there was some nuisance at the start, when I first registered epatientdave.com and connected it to this WordPress setup. I don’t remember the details – but in my case I did it quite intentionally, to make clear that I’m in it as a business.
And as I say, when you’re starting out, don’t let that hold you back.
I took your advice — I set up a blog on WordPress and they made it incredibly easy to purchase a domain, so I did it! Here it is: http://www.emilykg.com. Still a work in progress, but it’s up and it’s searchable and I think that’s what counts.
Hmm… this is kinda jumping ahead to consistent branding – doo you want to be known as EmilyKG? Either your domain matches your “known as” name, our it becomes a bit harder to find you.
Names like yours and deBronkart just BEG not to be a domain.:-) in my case I was blogging as epatientdave long before speaking, so it was easy.
EmilyKG may be as good as it gets – let us know how it works out.
What company did you use, who made it easy?
I looked at a bunch of other speakers’ websites and they all seemed to use their name as the domain. Unfortunately, I’m not too confident in people’s ability to spell “Kramer-Golinkoff” (and I don’t blame them at all!), so I decided to shorten it. Also, I figured http://www.EmilyKramerGolinkoff.com would likely remain available if I decided to snatch it at a later date.
I went with EmilyKG as the shortened domain because it’s what I use for email (emilykg1@gmail), twitter (@emilykg1) and how people have shortened my long, hyphenated last name since elementary school. I’m just starting to get experience as a public speaker, so I’m hoping to establish that as my “known as” name.
I used WordPress to build the blog. I have some experience with blogs, so I mostly knew what I was doing, but whenever I ran into questions, I just googled them and got the answers I needed immediately. I definitely recommend WordPress. It’s quick, flexible and pretty user-friendly — even for beginners.
FWIW, I completely agree with your thinking.
Just one more suggestion: some people will see @EmilyKG1 on Twitter and Gmail and wonder if that’s your website. So you might wanna blow a couple of bucks on emilykg1.com and have them redirect it to emilykg.
(If anyone reading is bazzfrazzled by this talk, ignore it – it’s geeky details for later, not a core issue.)
In my case I have a small speaking schedule but should I also document conferences I went to as a panel member?
Or a list of committees I’m actively on as a patient experience advisor?
I might think my “spokesperson” stints are important too? Or is that digging too deep? I’m wondering how best to organize all of this? Or should I just stick to a speakers schedule?