7 Ways I Increase My Keynote Speaker Value For Event Organizers and Attendees
I didn’t go to college thinking I would be a full-time professional speaker although my Mom would tell you that I came out of the womb talking and I’ve never been shy about getting on stage. For me the journey to becoming a full time professional speaking has been a unique one as I’m guessing it is for everyone doing this full time. There’s no guide, no one path to success and thanks to social media there’s nothing stopping someone from putting #KeynoteSpeaker in their bio and calling themselves a speaker.
I’ve made lots of mistakes and made lots of changes as I’ve pivoted my entrepreneurial focus from speaking being 10% of my revenue in 2015 to speaking being 80% of my revenue in 2017.
“Think Like A Fan” is the philosophy and mindset for the digital marketing strategy work I do with my clients as well as the foundation for my main keynotes in 2017 and 2018.
As I was building out a strategy to standout as a speaker, leverage the digital footprint and personal brand I’ve built and get noticed by event professionals and speaker agencies I wanted to “drink my own champagne” and #ThinkLikeaFan
What that means is I wanted my speaker business to be built on my principles and I wanted to leverage what I learned over the years attending events, study the current trends of the speaker industry and collaborate with great speakers I admire. Now I’ve never been one to shy away from disruption and I proudly call myself a Change Evangelist so it should come as no surprise that I’ve written some blog posts about how I’d love to see the speaking industry change “Why the Speaking Industry Needs a WakeUp Call!” as well as highlighting major gaps in the industry “8 Female Millennial Speakers You Must See On Stage.”
Every industry is going through a digital transformation and the speaker industry is no different which is why I’ve included unique value add components to my contracts for all my full fee paid speaking gigs to not only standout from the crowd but also #ThinkLikeAFan and do things I wished speakers did that I was a fan of early in my career.
Below are each of the components that I’ve included for all full paid speaking gigs. I include live embed examples of each as originally this post was going to be a pdf for me to share with event organizers but I thought it might give others in this industry inspiration. (Also medium is the best platform for including social links easily)
Attend the Conference for Minimum of 6 Hours
When I say I want to partner with an event, I 100% want to help the event organizer and sponsors look good but I also want to be part of the community, engaging with the audience and supporting fellow speakers.
Guaranteeing that I’ll be at the conference for a minimum of 6 hours eliminates the opportunities for me to speak at 2 events in one day and often times makes booking gigs on back to back days difficult but I made a promise to myself that I would never give into the trend of speakers flying in, speaking and leaving out the backdoor. Losing out on same day gigs is well worth it IMO as I’m able to build relationships with attendee’s and be welcomed into the community which I believe has helped me book gigs at the same event back to back years which I heard seldom happens with most speakers.
Example 1: Dell Unconference #Social360 I’ve been able to speak at 3 of their events over 18 months as I now call many Dell employees and fellow Dell speakers friends
.Example 2: Being part of the event allows me to celebrate others but also engage and share what I learn at the event with my 120k engaged Twitter Followers. Social Media Marketing World put on by Social Media Examiner is the largest social media marketing event in the world and I’m proud to say that Twitter data shared by Traackr shows that not only do I tweet a lot but I also drive the most engagement on the event hashtag #SMMW17
I’ll be speaking at Social Media Marketing World #SMMW18 for my 4th year in a row! You can get a ticket here or just engage with me on the hashtag while I’m there at the event! http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/cmd.php?Clk=5598824
Promotional Video Announcement/Ad:
This trend seems to be growing as announcing new speakers being added to a lineup not only should help sell tickets to the event but if partnering with the right speaker it can attract new sponsors, other speakers and an active community new potential attendees.
I always offer to post the video to my personal Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook Page as well as give the brand the raw file to leverage in anyway they see fit.
If the brand wants to use this as a Facebook/Instagram ad then it must be under 1 minute long, otherwise I try to keep the videos under 3 minutes.
Example 1: (US Sailing Leadership Forum for Facebook Ad)
Example 2: Used Facebook Live from the brand account Social Fresh to interview other speakers & discuss what we were looking forward to at the event!
Example 3: Dell EMC World I was hosting the event & an influencer breakfast that I live streamed from my personal Periscope account!
Website & Social Promotion
I’ve worked hard for the last 5 years to build a dynamic, engaged community through social media as my focus has been sharing my knowledge and bringing people along with me on my entrepreneur journey.
Because I’m always giving and engaging with my community they’re always excited to celebrate my wins and promote brands I’m working with.
When sharing my wins I try to focus on why I’m excited, what this partnership/event/keynote will be about and how they can get involved. (Especially if an event has a digital ticket for live streaming of the event for sale)
My speaking ride has been an interesting one and my community was asking for more and more speaker content and behind the scenes that in 2017 I event launched a speaker only instagram which allows me to promote and share even more of this content.
Day of Keynote Social Video
This was something I started with live video at SXSW on Meerkat where I had over 26k people watching me give them a walking tour on-site and previewing the event and what I was looking forward too. I’ve adjust this a bit as live video for an event that is already going on will sometimes take away from other speakers so I create a native twitter video (140 seconds) on my iPhone then pin that tweet to my profile and leverage the event hashtag. For massive events like #Inbound16 it’s often hard to stand out in the twitter feed and let people know where they can watch me on stage so this video I use as a networking tool, promotion of the event and something personalized I create for each brand I partner with. (I offer the raw video file for the events to post on their social as well)
Example: HubSpot Inbound 2016 Event In Boston
Example 2: Walking the streets of Copenhagen provided a preview of my upcoming keynote at the #KOMFOsummit
45–90 Minute Personalized Keynote / Workshop
I could never be Vanilla Ice or in a band that played the same hit songs year after year as I love testing and tweaking every keynote I give as well as personalizing the stories and in many cases the examples on my slides for each unique audience.
I have a list of 5–6 keynote topics that I give each year but I’m also open to tweaking one to fit an event organizers agenda or crafting a brand new one if they have something exciting in mind that I think I can pull off.
Below is 1 of 4 presentations I gave at Dex Media that was built off of my “Millennial Mindset” keynote but all 4 were customized as they segmented the audience to executives, leadership, employees and the marketing team. This type of customization takes time and I charge a day rate price above my keynote price but doing things like this are what I love about speaking and I’m thankful to have had a very diverse unique career allowing me to relate to audiences of all shapes and sizes:
Example 1: Dex Media: 1 of 4 customized keynotes I gave. Extra proud of this engagement as it was a massive success as you can see from the feedback below the video from the event organizer.
“It was like meeting an old friend. Brian was genuine, willing to answer questions, and has an incredible charisma about how he presents himself. While we networked and chatted in San Diego, Brian let me know he would be traveling to DFW where I live and work for Dex Media.
We were able to squeeze in an all day session at Dex Media in May of 2017. Brian did an absolutely phenomenal job coaching and strategizing with our Leadership Teams. He was able to help them learn techniques and skills needed to bridge the gap between Millennials and Baby Boomers.”
via Nicole Wight Sr. Project Manager Dex Media
Event Sponsor and Press Interviews
I’ve never been shy on sharing my opinion and if I’m already at the event engaging with attendee’s it only makes sense be open to doing press interviews and sponsor Q & A’s as not only does it help the event organizer look good but few speakers will turn down the opportunity for additional PR.
Example 1: Post keynote chat with Kate Volman at the @SocialFresh conference!
Example 2: Rachel event organizer for #SMWiFairfax asked me to do an interview with a local news station after my keynote highlighting the event but also great for use promoting future events and gaining the next years sponsors.
10 Tweets + 1 Instagram Post on Day of Keynote
Being social is what I’d do everyday even if I wasn’t working in social media marketing so sending me to an event where I can tweet, snap, instagram and live video the experience creates a crap ton of social content. I put in my contract that I’ll post at least 10 tweets and 1 Instagram post while at the event but let’s face it if the event is good I’ll post that much before I take the stage.
Check Out my interview on Grant Baldwins Podcast The Speaker Lab as I go into more detail about how I use social media to land speaking gigs not just amplify the event that already hired me!
Beyond just tweeting that I’m at the event I also like to leverage the social media strategies I use with my clients to add a custom filter, create a few mobile social share graphics or leverage the live video audience I built up by doing 2k+ live streams in the last 3 years. If the event is really inspiring or I gain insights that will be valuable for my community often times I’ll include the event in my podcast #FOMOFanz or even blog about the event on my site isocialfanz.com.
Below are some examples of unique ways I leverage social media for events that hire me to speak.
Leveraging my personal brand but also including personalization for the event using Snapchat Filters:
Love connecting with attendee’s prior to taking the stage as often times what I learn from them will shape or allow me to tweak my presentation just before I go on stage!
I co-host a 2nd podcast called SMACtalk with fellow speaker Daniel Newman and often times we will partner with the event to broadcast live on their Facebook Live from the event floor when we aren’t on stage. This allows us to events to create unique content, be amplified to our podcast community as well as spotlight special sponsors or guests.
We’ve done this at IBM Patnerworld, Superbowl 50, Mobile World Congress Barcelona, SAP Sapphire, CES, SXSW and many other events.
Example: 2nd year in a row hosting & speaking at #HPreinvent conference
I know, I know I’m getting paid for what I deliver on stage!
Many will argue that I’m giving away too much or that by offering this added value it will come across as what I do on stage isn’t as good as others charging the same price….
I say to those doing it differently, good for you but for me offering these things within my contract not only validates and backups my #ThinkLikeAFan philosophy but it also sets me on a path to leverage emerging technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality as they start to disrupt the offline event space over the next 5 years. I’m speaking at the National Speakers Association Winter Conference on the topic of “The Future Of Speaking!” so stay tuned for more on this!
Bottom line is I LOVE WHAT I DO and partnering with brands to create amazing experience both on stage and as part of the community is why I love what I do…..
Getting amazing feedback and tweets comparing me to the likes of Tony Robbins inspires me to reach for new heights as a speaker as I know one day I’ll be able to launch my own full-day events where I take the stage for 12 hours inspiring, motivating and educating a stadium full of fans!
My trust passion is:
Connecting Great People with Great People To Do Great Things!
If you’d like to partner and do great things together for your industry event or company function please send me an email at Fanzo@iSocialFanz.com and you can find additional speaker details, testimonials and my full 2018 calendar on my website www.isocialfanz.com/Speaker.
**Love to hear what other speakers do to standout from the noise and add additional value for their clients…. Also please let me know if you found this valuable as it originally was just going to be a pdf on my site but I felt like it was worth it to share here!
