Episode Transcription

202. Speaking Tip: Create Memorable Experiences for Audiences and Meeting Planners

Captivate your audience and get rebooked to speak

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:00:00]:

Hello, all my be in demand listeners. How are you enjoying the new format so far? You've hopefully had a chance to experience a couple of the new types of shows that I'm hosting, and this episode is all about experience. I'm creating an experience for you with my podcast, and I've got some other surprises. So let's talk about experiences. Let's get on to the show. Are you a coach, consultant, or service provider who's frustrated with the growth of your business? You're in the right place. I'm your host, Laurie-Ann Murabito, and you're listening to be in demand, where I talk about how to leverage speaking opportunities to grow your business, get positioned as the expert, and monetize your expertise. Let's get onto the show.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:00:45]:

The idea of this episode came to me a couple of weeks ago. I, as some of you may know, if you're following me on Instagram, I am headed to Spain, and I'm going to be walking a portion of the Camino. I'm walking the Camino for about a week. There's some things that I need to go and get. I need to make sure that I have. So off to the outlets, I went shopping. And I chose the outlets because there were 2 items that were on my list, sneakers and sunglasses. And I knew that if I went there, I could like get everything at once.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:01:21]:

So the first thing I did was go into the sneaker store, and I have to say, I've been into the sneaker store numerous times, and I always walk out with at least 2 pairs of sneakers. I just figure, hey. While I'm here, I'll get these, and they're always exceptional. Their staff knows their product. That helps me make sure that I'm in the right sneaker. And this particular time, I explained to him what I was going to be doing in Spain. He knew exactly what I was gonna be doing, so he gave me a couple of sneaker choices and that worked out really well. So it was a wonderful experience to know that I walked in there with something on my list, and I walked out with them, check, and I feel so good about my purchase.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:02:07]:

From there, I went to the sunglass store. Now I don't normally go to the sunglass store, especially in the outlets. I just always feel like, yeah. They've got, like it's not gonna have the kind of stuff that I want. But this was the sunglass hut, and it was actually a big store. Walked in. I was greeted by he must have been the store manager. Again, somebody who knows their product.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:02:32]:

I asked a couple of questions. He asked me what I was looking for and guided me in the right direction. Both stores were wall to wall people, but because of the way that the salespeople made me feel, I felt like I was the only one there. It was an experience to go shopping. It was an experience to spend money in these stores. And this really reminded me of speaking about how we, as speakers, are creating experiences not just for our audience because most people think audiences. What's the experience that I wanna create for the audience? But it's also what's the experience you're going to create for the meeting planner, the conference organizer, or whoever is booking you because you might be coming to speak in somebody's Facebook group or their private mastermind or their membership. Like, what kind of experience are you creating for that person? But this is all part of your reputation.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:03:26]:

Your reputation as a speaker is the experience that you create for the audience and the experience that you create for the meeting planner. Because remember, audiences, they talk among themselves. They talk with their friends. I saw this great speaker. I saw this terrible speaker. Meeting planners do the same thing. So your reputation and how you make people feel be it going back to the experience is what is going to actually help you get booked also. So one of the things that I want you to start thinking about, which is the whole reason for this particular episode, is what kind of experience do you want to create? When people reach out to you, how long does it take for you to respond back to them? Do you send your booking link? Do you send them to a web page? Do you have them fill out a form? Whatever it is, what's the sort of experience? Because the first person that's gonna have an experience with you is the meeting planner, the conference organizer.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:04:20]:

The audience is last. Well, actually, I would say that the audience is second because you'll leave a lasting impression with the meeting planner because you should always have some sort of a post event follow-up with them, and that will actually help with your reputation with the meeting planner, whoever's booking you. But I want you to really start to think about what kind of an experience do you wanna create. Something that I always did is, you know, like, when I booked events and way in the beginning when I started booking events, you know, I was booking myself and trying to build up my name, and I booked myself at a bunch of rotaries. As a matter of fact, my husband and I had gone down to Florida, and we spent the winter down there. And I was like, if we're gonna be down here, I'm gonna build up my name as a leadership speaker. And I literally like, within 3 months, I spoke for 30 rotaries from West Palm Beach all the way down to Fort Lauderdale. And the person who's booking you, they're a volunteer, whoever it is, like, in the rotary at least.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:05:22]:

But I always made sure that once they booked me and usually it was a email or it was a phone call, but it was a nice experience. I also had questions for them. And so I wasn't just like some speaker that was showing up and it didn't matter what the who the audience was. No. It's like I had a conversation with them. And most of the times because of that conversation, I actually got to speak longer than most speakers. And they even told me that we're gonna give you 30 minutes. Fantastic.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:05:51]:

Like, the more time I have in front of an audience, the better. And typically with rotaries, it's anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. So getting 30 minutes was a bonus. But a week beforehand, I always sent them an email, letting them know that they were on my calendar. I was still planning on showing up because a lot of times speakers don't show up, especially for these events where they're not getting paid. And I always want it to be an experience. So a week beforehand, I always sent them an email, had a notification of my calendar that would go off that say, letting me know, reminding me that I was speaking at this particular event in a week. So I would send out the email so that when I got there, like, they already feel warm and fuzzy, and that's what I wanted.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:06:35]:

And then after I was done speaking, you know, I would always send, like, some sort of a post follow-up email. Then that's where I would ask, like, for testimonials or any referrals to some other groups that they might be able to share with me, and that was how I easily spoke for 30 different places within 3 months. But it's an experience, like, you come up with your own protocol. You have to decide how am I going to make my audience feel? How am I going to make the meeting planner feel? So it's all about creating that experience, and it's not the same for everybody, meaning from one speaker to another. So here's what I want you to do. But before I share that with you, I wanna let you know, if you listen to episode 200, then you heard me talk about the community calls. This is my way as a podcast host to create an experience that you can join. Are you ready to meet other entrepreneurs? Your fellow Be IN Demand listeners, as a matter of fact? I'm gonna be hosting a mini training followed by a q and a and networking.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:07:39]:

You're gonna get to learn something new and also get answers to any questions that you might have along with meeting fellow entrepreneurs. So come join me for the kickoff call, which is going to be May 20th, and you can sign up for you can sign up at speakandstandout.com/community. And I'll make sure that link is also down in the show notes. I encourage you to sign up because this call is limited to only 10 people. If you find that the May date is already filled, the June date is already available for you to actually sign up. So let's get back to the homework that I want you to actually do because I want you to create this experience for people. The first step is I want you to decide decide what kind of an experience you want. I literally want you to write this down.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:08:31]:

Here is the experience I want my audience to have. Write it down in as much detail. There's something so wonderful about being very intentional about what we do. And then I want you to write down what is the experience you want your meeting planner to have with working with you when they book you? From everything from the beginning, they're interested to they book you to all the different meetings, to the post meetings? I mean, like what is this beautiful experience that you wanna have with people? Think of it as this is the only time I will ever be in front of these people. What do I want them to remember to feel about when they saw me speak, when they worked with me. I want you to write as much of that down. So that is number 1 is you're gonna decide and you're going to write this down. The second step I want you to take is to make a checklist of all the different ways that you're going to work with them.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:09:28]:

For example, that email that I would send out a week beforehand. So what are the different emails that you're sending out to people? What's the different information that you're sending people? Are you sending the information when you say you're going to send the information? Make it super easy on yourself. Create a folder. Put it on your desktop. Someplace that's easy to just grab the information, your headshots. I know it's so easy to say, oh, just go to my website, go snag a photo here. And that's wonderful. But if you've got an experienced person who is hiring you because they're a volunteer, they're gonna ask you for this information.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:10:05]:

So send them the headshots, send them your bio, let them know that you'll be sending an introduction 2 weeks before you're actually going to speak or a week before you're gonna speak. Have that introduction ready to go, have everything in a folder. And then what sort of checklist are you gonna make about the experience that you'll be creating for your audience? Maybe you want to make them laugh. So humor is gonna be very important to you. Maybe you speak to a very scientific audience, so you wanna make sure they don't overwhelm them with your slides, but you give them really good data. I just want you to decide on what that is, what that experience is gonna be. And then number 3 is every time you do speak, I want you just to review your checklist. Did you use it? What needs to change? What needs to be tweaked? What can you edit? What can you add? What can you take away? Because as you get speaking and you're speaking more and more and you're getting more and more experience, that list is gonna change.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:11:07]:

It may get longer or it may get shorter. So that's what I want you to do. I want you to really create an experience for your audience, one that they will remember forever. Be that speaker that the audience is remembering, raving about, and referring. And then the same thing with your meeting planners, your conference org. Whoever books you, make it an experience that they remember you, that they rave about you, and that they refer you to their other fellow meeting planners or somebody at another association because people talk. And I want you to have that stellar reputation. So until next time, I hope that you will be in demand.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:11:47]:

And don't forget to go sign up for that community call that is speak and stand out dot com forward slash community. And depending on when you're listening to this, there will be dates that will be added each month. So feel free if something is filled. Know that, again, there's only 10 people allowed, but look at the following month. At least 2 months is gonna be available too. So until next time, be in demand.

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