Where is the link between digital marketing implementation and speaking at industry events? Speaking at conferences and events can be a powerful way to raise awareness and generate more business for your company. That is, once you are on a stage.
Event organizers — those teams who are organizing trade shows, business association meetings and industry symposiums — are always looking for guest and keynote speakers. There is plenty of opportunity out there, but there can also be stiff competition among speakers vying for a slot at an important event.
Your company’s digital marketing efforts, when implemented effectively, can help you win those key appearances. By making a great, all-important first impression on those responsible for selecting event speakers, you can more easily be short listed to speak. Here are some tips on how that can happen:
The application
This is usually the first time the events team is aware of you, so be sure to get your application in on time. Really. Right from the moment the events team is aware of you – virtually every action will be scrutinized. If you’re late at this step, they’re thinking “If this person can’t get their application in on time, how can we be sure they’ll show up to speak on time?”
The topic
Explain your topic in a succinct and simple way. Explain it like you are talking to a five-year old. You may chuckle at this or roll your eyes, but often the speaker-selection team is not deeply experienced in your field, they are experts in event management. Make it easy for them to understand the topic you will speak about and why it will be useful to their audience to have you at the event.
Your expertise
Once your application is reviewed and put in the pile for consideration, the team will look you up online. They will search you on Google, and check out your website, your blog, your SlideShare, as well as your LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social-media accounts to find out more about you. They may sign up for your company newsletter.
They are doing this to get to know you. They are also looking for convincing proof that you are knowledgeable on the topic you want to speak about. And they want to be able to see samples of what that knowledge looks/sounds like.
If you feel your current digital marketing efforts would not pass an event team’s evaluation process, here are four ways to get started:
- Blog regularly. If your company site does not have a blog, start one and maintain a consistent schedule. This helps the speaker selection team get a feel for thinking.
- Fill out your LinkedIn profile completely, including the publications section where you can post articles that you have written for industry publications. This helps the speaker team understand your career history and expertise.
- Share your expertise on a regular basis in order to help others. You can do this via Tweets, LinkedIn posts and your own company newsletter.
- Post your company presentation slide decks to SlideShare. This way the speaker team can get an idea of what your visual presentations look like. Often speakers are required to create their own decks to accompany their talks.
- Let your network know you’re interested in speaking opportunities – you never know where your next speaking opportunity may come from.
Good luck with your speaking this year!
[A version of these thoughts were posted over on the Smartt blog, a digital marketing agency based in Vancouver, BC.]
