Expert Advice about Presentation Skills
from Patricia Fripp

“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.

An Article for Professional Speakers and Consultants on the Origins of The Odd Couple® Seminar and the Value of Collaboration

Would you go into partnership on the spur of the moment with someone you barely knew? I did. And it was one of the best business decisions I ever made.

Of course, we’d met and knew each other by reputation. Alan Weiss (PhD, CSP, CMC, CPAE) is a high-priced corporate consultant, trainer, and speaker who had been president of his local NSA chapter. At the time, I was primarily a keynote speaker, one of the original founders of the NSA Northern California chapter and National President in 1984. Alan and I are opposites in many ways. He is a self-proclaimed introvert, happily married to his high school sweetheart, Maria. His life is well balanced, and he charges top dollar so he doesn’t have to travel more than necessary. I, on the other hand, am an acknowledged extrovert with a very different business policy. I always charge slightly less than I could so I am booked solid. Being single, I can stay on the road much of the year and not feel guilty

It all started with some emails in 1996. I wrote Alan, regretting that I couldn’t attend a seminar he was doing in my hometown of San Francisco because I would be speaking for the Denver NSA chapter that day. “Hey, Fripp,” he shot back, “You certainly seem to speak to a lot of NSA chapters.” I acknowledged that I loved speaking about speaking. “We should do a seminar together,” he replied. On the spot, we arranged to meet and discuss it.