3 Step Checklist to Become a Systematic Public Speaker 🎤🎉
You've been booked to speak - now what?
I was standing in Target when my jaw hit the floor.
I got an email saying my workshop was accepted at the week-long northern Colorado entrepreneurship conference, Founded in FoCo.
This was a HUGE speaking opportunity in the Fort Collins business community. I couldn't mess this up.
Since my workshop was one of the last of the conference, I used the other sessions to see what did and didn't work for the speakers.
I found what I could and distilled them into a checklist for you:
--- BEFORE ---
🔍 Research your attendees who are publicly going to your session
🧛 Hire a "Henchman with a Camera" (a day-of assistant / pack mule / photographer / videographer mix - I got a guy if you want to hire him!)
🚨 Tell people at the conference you are running a session. Take note of who says they'll be there
💼 Pack everything you may possibly need (chargers, batteries, cables, adapters, snacks)
--- DURING ---
🌅 Get there as early as you can to set up
👋 Greet as many people as feasible (this gets difficult when sessions are enormous)
🙏 Thank your moderators, organizers, and attendees
🎬 Film yourself on your phone from a distance for review later
--- AFTER ---
📬 Send a recap of your session (slides, worksheets, video) to your attendees
👻 If someone said they would attend and didn't, don't assume malicious intent. Send your recap to them too.
☎️ Make it easy to get in contact with you.
📈 Review the video you took and find what you can improve
🧑🏫 Apply to more speaking engagements!
Bonus Tip
Think a conference is missing something? Create it! 🍻
Everyone says the last session of a conference is a terrible slot.
People are exhausted. People skip the session. If it's Friday (which mine was), they take an early weekend.
But I noticed something. There was no "Formal Close-Out Celebration" of the conference.
Which means I could make one.
I invited all of my attendees to join me at a local brewery after the session. We ended up staying there for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.
We reflected on lessons from the session, exchanged business cards, and belly-laughed while the beers poured.
As a speaker, it doesn't get much better than that.
Attendee Tip (My favorite conference networking hack 🥳)
There is too much "speaker fame" at conferences.
Just because they're speaking doesn't mean they're the only people you should meet.
When you go to sessions, look around. See who you keep noticing. They probably have similar interests to you if they're going to the same sessions!
Next session you see them in, say:
"Hey, we've been in a few sessions together. We probably have similar businesses and ideas of how to run them. What's your name?"
People are there to connect. Make it easy for them.
👋 Hey, I'm Gus, developer, improviser, and game maker.
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