Expert Advice about Presentation Skills
from Patricia Fripp

On February 15, 2001, I woke up for the first time in 26 years without a full-time personal assistant. How did I feel about it? It was exhilarating! Of course, now and then I miss having someone to do what I am not crazy about doing, but it was time for me to take charge of my business in a whole new way. Over the years, one assistant has trained the next and although they had had wonderful strengths, also weaknesses. Fortunately, the wealth of new technology lets me reinvent how I now want to run my business and marketing for the 21st Century.

Any speaker trying to maintain an efficient office headquarters while on the road will appreciate how quickly the new technologies have been coming to their aid. I’ve been self-employed since 1975 and had my own full-time speaking business since 1984. When I reached the age of 55, I asked myself two questions:

• How do I want to live the second half of my life?
• How do I want to run my business for the second half of my life?

Technology is making big changes in nearly every speaker’s business. All of us already have technological capabilities that we aren’t taking full advantage of. I am constantly learning how to automate many of the processes available to us.

“Why don’t I get booked more often?”

“How can I get booked more often?”

Both are burning questions in today’s difficult economy. I talked to Mark French, President of Leading Authorities, Inc. about his solutions.

Mark French was pragmatic. “In difficult economic times, there is always an excess supply of speakers. At the same time, customers’ expectations are higher than ever. They want every speaker dollar to count double. Speakers must understand this new terrain and develop a successful strategy for getting booked.

When you’re a professional speaker your video is your most important selling tool. It’s hard to imagine any speaker who wouldn’t be even more successful with a “best-selling” video. I talked to Mark French, President of Leading Authorities, Inc., for his inside insights into what makes a great video. Here’s what he told me.

What You Want to Do

1. Grab attention quickly. Meeting planners have very little time. They view tapes so they can quickly qualify or disqualify a potential speaker. If your tape doesn’t engage viewers in the first minute, their fingers will hit the eject button.

2. Make yourself the obvious choice over the competition. Your tape must answer the question, “Why should I book this speaker instead of someone else?” The tape must establish your credentials and provide a compelling case for why you are the best-qualified person to speak on your topic.

As a keynote speaker, sometimes people ask me, “Do you ever bomb?”

Yes, once in a while. But even the worst experience, with a little time lapse, can become funny, and always a learning experience. Once I spoke for a group of men who worked in a gravel quarry. I told the organizers, “No, I don’t think this is my kind of audience,” but they were insistent. Finally, I gave in and said “yes.” (I admit to this defect in my character: when clients keep begging me to take their money I can only refuse for so long!)

How bad could it be? I rationalized. I went early, set up the environment, changed the lighting, schmoozed with everyone. I’m not saying they weren’t nice, hard working, tax paying Americans, but it looked as if their friends had given them subscriptions to the Tattoo of the Month Club. Fortunately, there were a few wives. One woman, very thin, sat in the front row. “Ah, she must have heard of me,” I thought. So I asked her if she liked speakers. “Oh, no,” she said, “My husband is a bit deaf, so we have to sit close up.