Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

As you may know, a wonderful team of small business experts and I are organizing the inaugural America Talks Business Conference coming up on July 25. (Conference info is here and you can still register with early bird savings here.)

One of our media partners is Entrepreneur Magazine. When I shared this news with my friend Dan Janal of PRLeads and PressReleaseSender.com, his first comment was, "Looks good. Congrats on getting Entrepreneur magazine. You are one well-connected guy!" 

I sent Dan back a note that said, "Not well-connected. Just fearless in asking."

And he closed out our email conversation with this brilliant observation: "Same thing, I guess!"

YES!!!

It is the same thing indeed.

So here are some questions for YOU: 

1. Who do YOU need to be well-connected to?

2. Who do you need to fearlessly ask for help?

3. What's stopping you from asking? 

4. What's the worst that could happen? 

5. What's the best that could happen? 

6. How much do you care about #4? 

7. How much do you want #5?

8. Is it time for YOU to do some fearless asking? 

p.s. The June 17 deadline is coming up for Entrepreneur Magazine's Entrepreneur of 2013 competition. You can't win if you don't enter. They are accepting applications for Entrepreneur of 2013, Emerging Entrepreneur of 2013 and College Entrepreneur of 2013. See if you qualify to join the ranks of other inspiring entrepreneurs: http://www.entrepreneur.com/e2013 

1. Prepare, don't memorize.
2. Practice out loud. Yes, out loud. 
3. Audio record yourself. Relisten. Repeat.
4. Stop apologizing for everything.
5. Unless you're late. 
6. Never start late. And never EVER end late.
7. If you feel you MUST use slides, you're not ready.
8. If you PREFER to use slides, put photos - not words - on them.
9. If you ignore #8, then never EVER read your slides.
10. Talk with the audience, not at them.
11. Never forget that an audience of 500 is just 500 1-to-1 conversations.
12. It's OK to use notes. Really. Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.
13. Especially if your notes make you more concise, focused, and impactful.
14. Get off the stage and out INTO the audience. 
15. Get up in their grill and make speaking a contact sport.
16. Have an opinion. Take a stand. Piss some people off.
17. Part of the speaker's job is to serve as a productive irritant.
18. If you don't risk turning some people off, you'll never turn anybody on.
19. The 1-way speech is dead. Interact, interview, connect and confer. 
20. Script your opening and closing 30 seconds. 
21. Everything in between is just good conversation.
22. You don't "forget what to say" at your job or on a date. Same thing here.
23. Every great speaker has 2 traits: Expertise and Authenticity. That's it. 
24. Say half as much and repeat it. Say half as much and repeat it. 
25. Read Seth Godin's free PDF titled Really Bad Powerpoint
26. Check out books and blogs by Nancy Duarte
27. Move first - THEN talk = Emphasis is on your words.
28. Talk first - THEN move = Emphasis is on your movement.
29. Humor is a must but don't tell jokes. 
30. Let humor emerge then polish it (situational or self-deprecating - or both!)
31. If they could've simply found your content in a book, you lose. 
32. If they could've simply found your content via Google, you lose.
33. Take them on a ride. Highs, lows, suspense, drama and a happy ending.
34. Show both your character and your characters.
35. Don't retell your stories - relive your stories.
36. Vary your pace, rhythym, tone, and volume.
37. Dazzle them with their own potential - not your ego or resume.
38. Make the complex simple. Boil it down. Make it easy.
39. Turn every "me" story or example into a "you" takeaway or lesson.
40. Preaching is about you. Evangelizing is about them. Make it about them.
41. Sharing your missteps and mistakes shows strength, not weakness.
42. Every time you say "I," you lose just a little more influence and impact.
43. Slide timing: Assume 1 slide for every 2 min. 60 min. = 30 slides.
44. Using significantly more - or fewer - is for pros. Do not try this at home.
45. Watch this 2-min. video and NEVER do those things!
46. If your handout reminds them of being back in school, you lose. 
47. If your handout isn't TOO GOOD to throw away, they will.
48. Make sure you conclude with a call to action and a clear next step.
49. Watch this video to learn how to capture leads from every speech. 
50. Be brilliant. Be brief. Be gone. 

p.s. Wish more speakers followed these 50 rules? Join me for the America Talks Business Conference in Philadelphia on July 25th. It's a living laboratory for the principles above. And a chance for YOU to take part in something very special indeed. Early bird tickets are active so you can register for ridiculously affordable rates right now.

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on this topic and join the conversation... 

I go to a fair number of conferences, both as a speaker and as a plain old participant. 

Some conferences are great - and some... well, not so much. 

In my experience, a great conference combines three secret ingredients for success. 

What are they? 

Glad you asked. 

Here they are... 

1. Speaker management - Give me high-energy, high-content speakers who deliver the goods. Strong content delivered with authenticity, enthusiasm, and with a clear point-of-view. I don't want to hear speakers who deliver same-o, lame-o information (i.e. crap that I could just as easily read in a book or find in a Google search). I want to be shaken, stirred, riled up, smacked down, and taken for a ride. No vanilla speakers. I want you to bring the mango gelato, the sriracha sorbet, the oddballs, the freaks, the wild ones. 

2. Engagement management - Don't (please don't) make me sit in a theater, an auditorium, or a meeting room and watch from my seat. I want to interact. I want to engage. I want to collaborate, communicate, and cross-pollinate with the speakers, the audience, the organizers. I want you to put the CONFER back into the word CONFERENCE. I want to strategize, conspire, and confab with all the amazing people in the room. Not just the gal to my left and the guy on my right. Not just during deeply misguided Q&A sessions that ruin even the best talks. All. The. Time. Mix it up - mini-seminars, peer-to-peer jam sessions, strategic mastermind roundtables. Put the intellectual talent of the room on stage and let's REALLY dig in.

3. Time and experience management - Never start late. Let me repeat that - never, EVER start late. No session or panel longer than 20 minutes. Less and faster is the name of the game. Take the sage off the stage and put the guide on the side. Move me around the theater - into the lobby, up on the platform, out in the hall. Mix, mingle, shake up the stale conference format. No more 1-to-many. Make it many-to-many. Or 1-to-1. Manage my time. Manage my experience. Connect me. Inspire me. Fire me up. Let me feel important. Let me plug in to the event and the people you've brought together. Stir my pot. Season my soup. I want to leave your event feeling like I'm a rock star who just played a set with the best musicians on the planet. I want to feel LUCKY to have been part of your event. I don't want to leave with information. I want to leave with insights specifically designed to help me kick some serious ass. I want to leave with my action plan for global domination AND a whole army of new friends whom I can call on to make it happen. 

Can your event do that for me? 

'Cuz if it can't... I won't be there. I'll just stay home. And read a book. Or jump on Google. Or watch videos on TED.com.

I don't need to travel and use up my time, money, effort, and energy going to your old school conference with a string of speakers who talk at me while I sit with a random bunch of strangers who'll never even get to know my name.

The bar has been raised. Those events are so past their expiration date that they're starting to stink like an old bucket of yogurt.   

Want to experience something new and better? 

Join me for the America Talks Business conference in Philadelphia on July 25, 2013. 

The future is here. Now. 

Join us?

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on this topic and join the conversation... 

For more details on what Pops is... errr... recommending - please visit the America Talks Business conference website.

It's just the smart thing to do.