Archive for the ‘Public Speaking’ tag
Let me take a moment to appreciate praise!
Being a self-employed person, one who works mostly alone, can be challenging. Especially when it comes to getting praise. It’s not going to come from your boss because you don’t have one! It’s not going to come from co-workers for the same reason! So, when a client praises you and your work…you can really take it to the bank.
Recently, I had the privilege of working with Jeff Blackman, a ‘Platinum” speaker from Chicago. He had several keynotes to deliver in the Houston area over the course of a month, and he hired me to tape them. I jumped at the chance! Jeff is the kind of speaker that us videographers are dying to work with: he’s nationally known, he works with top companies and organizations, and he’s charming and dynamic.
About a month after our work together, Jeff sent me this email:
“Mike came highly recommended. I now know why!Over the span of three weeks, he was my “videographer of choice”
three times. He’s creative. Flexible. And easy to work with.
Most important, he captures and delivers video that’s meaningful and
memorable. If you want a no-worries and results-producing
experience, make sure Mike is a key member of your production team.
Jeff Blackman, Hall of Fame Speaker and bestselling author – “Peak
Your Profits” and “Stop Whining! Start Selling!”
Creatively yours,
Jeff”
Life is good when you pay it forward. Thank you, Jeff!
Get Published!
I’ve recently had the opportunity to help Karen McCullough with her book endeavor. She and her daughter Meredith have honored me with the privilege of creating the design and layout of “The Seven Women Project”. You may recall from one of my previous posts that I have been hard at work on the cover design. (Unfortunately, my blog posts pre-August 2009 have all disappeared due to a clerical error by my web hosting company so they aren’t available to see at this time). Both efforts, the cover and the layout/typesetting, have been an incredible learning experience for me. My hours at Rice University Glasscock School of Continuing Studies have paid off!
Most experiences, positive or negative, allow us the chance to learn and grow. What I’ve realized through this is another outlet for my creative energy, and also that I have the capacity to offer a new area of expertise to speakers and authors.
As a speaker, to have a book under you belt can be one of the most effective marketing tools in your arsenal. Just ask some of my colleagues (Donna Fisher, Jim Bob Solsbery) and they’ll tell you to “get published”. First of all, your credibility goes up about 1000 percent. Secondly, it can be a great source of income or another way to leverage your fee.
My advice would be to start. Develop your area of expertise. Nothing will make you an expert faster than writing a book. Take some tips from one of my favorite folks, Seth Godin. He has a blog post that might help you. This one is just about me bragging.
Who’s Your Target Audience? Find Your Sweet Spot.
Sometimes it’s good to talk about success: what works and what doesn’t. Because I work mostly with speakers, I have a certain affinity for them, for their struggle to forge their own path in a strange landscape that has no real road map. One of the most daunting challenges for a public speaker is to find their target sweet spot. What audience will respond the most? Who will continue to hire them? Where will they find the most gold? Only then can they truly begin to market themselves. Until a speaker has this puzzle figured out, the road is dark and uphill.
I work with a talented man by the name of Chris Loomis, and for a few years now, I have watched as he has struggled to find his target sweet spot. He is a large, imposing man with a booming voice and a likable and aggressive demeanor. I have worked with him over the years, capturing his talks on video, sitting with him in seminars on branding and watching him get in front of audiences to speak on Leadership, Success and Sales. As time goes on, and as the challenges become greater, a speaker can get discouraged. But not Chris. His determination was attractive. Chris was always willing to try another way.
There came a moment when Chris decided to reach back to his corporate past and focus his expertise on what he gained as the Marketing Manager for DuPont’s environmental and safety services division. Little did he know that this shift would be the key to his finding his target. The amazing part of this story is that it unfolded so quickly. Chris changed his speaking topic to Safety Education, put up a video on YouTube and on his website, and before he could take a breath, had Exxon Mobil knocking on his door. The Oil and Gas giant has hired Chris to speak to it’s teams all over the globe on Safety. Not only once or twice, but as an ongoing project to last three years.
My own part in this success story was on encouraging Chris to keep recording his presentations on video and getting them up on the web. The right key words and tags got the search engines to find Chris and bring him back to the audiences that really needed to hear his talk. Check out the video.
