You've placed one of your top executives at a West Coast event. Once notified, she rearranges her schedule and spends hours working on the presentation. The week of the event, she flies cross country. When she arrives at the show, the room is set up to accommodate 50 people but only five show up. Your executive is not pleased.
With today's tight budgets and executives' busy schedules, you need to carefully orchestrate speaking opportunities. Follow these steps to avoid speaking-related nightmares.
Step 1. Set a goal. What are the most important shows for your executive? Why is she interested in speaking? Does she want to network with peers, create new sales leads for the company, or be positioned as a technology visionary?
Step 2. Determine level of commitment. Speaking engagements are time-consuming, especially if the event requires air travel or an overnight stay. How much time does your executive want to spend away from the office? How many events does she want to speak at during the year?
Step 3. Decide on session type. What type of session is she interested in? Will she participate in panel opportunities or only consider keynote or standalone sessions?
Step 4. Pre-qualify the engagement. Determine if the opportunity is worth your executive's time before you submit a proposal. Read articles about past shows to gauge attendee levels and quality. Research past speakers, including competitors. Get the conference manager's take on likely attendance. Talk to people who spoke at the same show to gauge their perceptions. Review the agenda to determine speaker titles and positions. You don't want to send your CEO if a vice president or director is acceptable.
Step 5: Close the loop with your spokesperson. Tell him/her what you learned about the show. Get on the same page. Reach consensus on whether this is an opportunity he/she definitely wants to pursue. Manage expectations carefully. Make sure your spokesperson understands the scope of the commitment.
Step 6. Be proactive. Call the conference manager to discuss potential topics and speaker preferences. This not only helps you submit a quality proposal but it's a good way to develop a dialogue with the conference manager. Most are willing to give you tips and some will even review your proposal before you submit the final version.
Step 7. Do the math. If your executive has received an invitation, determine the session's date and time as soon as possible. Is she presenting on the first or last day of the show? Typically, last day sessions are poorly attended. How many other sessions are taking place at the same time? If there are only 200 registered attendees and there are 10 concurrent sessions, you won't have more than 20 people in the session.
Step 8. Know your neighbors. If your executive is on a panel, research the other accepted panelists. If you pitched the CTO and the other participants are directors of marketing, you need to determine whether you should offer a comparable replacement.
Step 9. Scope it out. If possible, attend the speaking session or have a colleague cover for you. Bring a checklist and capture various measurement criteria including spokesperson effectiveness, attendance, room conditions, show busyness, speaking improvement tips and effectiveness of other speakers.
Step 10. Follow up. After the engagement has taken place, follow up with your executive to get direct feedback. Was it worthwhile? What could be improved? Should you pursue the event next year?
