On giving talks and seminars

I’ve been giving talks and seminars a lot for the past few months mostly on internet marketing in the Philippines as well as some inspirational/motivational pieces every now and then. I get to attend a lot of events and I’ve heard a lot of speakers already who talk about different topics. One thing I’ve noticed though is that some speakers tend to deviate from the topic assigned to them and they focus more on selling themselves and their services as opposed to putting the spotlight on what they were supposed to talk about in the first place. This is a dilemma that I faced when I started out. I felt that I was getting enough “sales” from speaking in conventions and conferences because I didn’t hard sell during the talk.

Long term not short term
The answer to this problem came to me while I was having coffee with my auntie, Susan “Toots” Ople (who’s running for Senate, vote for her!!!). She told me something that my late grandfather would always share with her. It takes a lot of principled credible actions to build a name and reputation. Don’t get blinded by short term, always think long term. Everything has a trade-off. That’s how I’ll continue to do things. Unless the organizer tells me that I can sell or that the talk should focus on how to sell via talks/online, then I’ll just stick to the topic given.

A good idea of one of my staff that seems so obvious is that we should just get a booth during speaking conventions so that we can use that area to sell services. That makes so much sense and I feel really stupid for not doing that, hahaha! Oh well, next time!

On a more spiritual level, God is the one who gives us our opportunities and blessings in life. If we focus on doing what’s right then I’m sure God will take care of the rest.

On the topic and time assigned to you
Organizers invite speakers for a topic and they give us an alloted time to work with. It’s the responsibility of the speaker to tailor fit the content of his talk to the assigned topic as well as the time. If it’s too short, then he/she should manage expectations of the organizer. When I attended talks (before I became a speaker), I’d always hate it when I hear someone saying that he/she can’t explain everything in 45 minutes. We’re not asking you to explain everything in 45 minutes. We’re asking you to explain things to us that you can explain in 45 minutes (there’s a difference). One of my favorite speakers is the wife of Josiah Go, Chiqui Escareal-Go. She’s very professional when it comes to public speaking. I watched her give a talk on personal branding to PUP students and she was just poetry in motion. It was a very good mix of content, humor, and entertainment. Never a dull moment but she always brings it back to the topic. I learned a lot from her that afternoon. This is something that another good friend of mine, Randell Tiongson, also keeps on saying. Speakers should always find a balance between “performing” and “teaching”.

Anyway, that’s it for this entry. I have 6 booked engagements in April already including an in-house seminar for a TV station (exciting!). Thank you Lord for all the blessings!