To make yourself more attractive to event organizers, cultivate these five things in your speaking business.
Know your audience
Take the time to get to know the audience you’ll be speaking for. If you are targeting specific associations, get to know their members before approaching them. Once you’ve been booked, take measures to get to know the audience even better. You can do this with a pre-event questionnaire, a pre-event survey or even just having a detail conversation with the person who booked you. Also, once at the event, take some time to mingle if you can.
Be a promotional partner
Event organizers often hire speakers they know have a decent following of potential attendees. Helping to promote the event by letting your following know about it can go a long way to building a good relationship with the organizer … leading to you getting booked for future events.
How can you promote the event? Post about in on your blog. Mention it in your newsletter. Share it on social networks you belong to. Add a line about it to your email signature. Be creative and make yourself a valued promotional partner.
Be prepared
Like Murphy says, if it can go wrong, most likely it will go wrong. Always be prepared to give your presentation without the aid of PowerPoint slides and other visual aids. Be sure to have a backup plan if you can’t access the Internet; if your video doesn’t play, or something else prevents you from using the aids you had planned to use.
Be dependable
If you want to be invited back to future events, be sure that you can be counted on. Counted on to arrive on time. Counted on to have all your materials in order. Counted on to handle technical difficulties and changes in schedule with grace. If you are easy to work with, not only will you get booked again with this organizer, but by others as well as word travels around about your professionalism.
Be present and engaged at the event
No matter how busy you are, make time to participate in the event. Remember, the event is your customer and the attendees are potential clients. Be approachable. Talk with attendees. Be willing to have your picture taken with fellow speakers and attendees.
Pingback: Tweets that mention 5 Things Event Organizers Want from You | Public Speaking Super Powers -- Topsy.com