My phone rang yesterday, and by the 3rd sentence, I knew 3 things: This guy is excited to have been invited to give a conference talk, he’s got a ton of stories to share, and he needs help organizing it – or his audience is likely to enter overwhelm.
I put on my cape and sped to rescue both him AND his future audience.
5 Questions He Had…or I Had For Him
⏹ “How Do I Start? I think I found a great opening story…listen to this…” By the end of our call, we had it on the chopping block. (See below for why)
⏹ “Tom, By the time you finish your talk, how do you want the audience to feel about YOU? What do you want them to leave the room thinking and feeling about your CONTENT?” We re-thought the story.
⏹ “ How long should I talk for … and how long should I leave for discussion?” We talked about the need for engagement from the audience and not making this a lecture.
⏹ “ Here’s what I’m thinking for my structure and my key points. What do you think?” Again, after looking at the audience more closely, we rearrange these by the end.
⏹ “This is a breakout session at a large annual conference. How can we get people to come to your session? What can we do to promote this ahead of time?”
Which One Resonates With the Message You’re Crafting Now?
And here’s the thing, this is just the beginning. We have numerous additional calls on which we will focus on the content first … and then perfect the delivery so he nails it.
So he’s asked for more conferences and bigger stages. So he builds relationships, grows his network, and generated leads.
I love calls like this. The excitement and enthusiasm are palpable. It’s such a fun and creative project when you get to create a talk or pitch for an audience that nails it.
