I love working with all kinds of speakers at Moz, whether for big shows like MozCon or our biweekly webinars, Mozinars. I also get out there and speak myself. Many people ask me how to become a speaker in our industry or if they can speak at one of Moz's events. The truth is, speaking is hard. And putting yourself out there is awesome.
So, you're ready to take a step toward being onstage. What should you be doing?
Have a speaking goal
A speaking goal will keep you focused on what you want to get out of speaking. Goals may vary event to event, or encompass both short-term and long-term dreams. And yes, they may change over time.
Here are some goals either I or speakers I've worked with have had:
- Conquer my fear of public speaking.
- Share my incredible new idea with a crowd of like-minded people.
- Share my field with an adjacent audience.
- Show my expertise in a field.
- Get new clients or a new job.
- Get other speaking gigs based on how well I do.
- Speak on the MozCon stage.
- Learn how to deliver a dynamic presentation the way speakers like Rand Fishkin and Wil Reynolds do.
- Speak in front of a crowd of more than 1,000 people.
What's your goal?
Come up with pitches!
Keep a document of ideas that you'd like to speak (or write) about. Don't wait until you see the announcement that a conference is now accepting pitches or until you receive outreach about speaking, as you'll probably suffer from idea block.
Research the conference you want to speak at. Figure out who its audience is. Look at past topics. If possible, attend the conference before you toss your hat in to fully understand what it's like. Make sure you're the right speaker. Some conferences have requirements, such as being a sponsor, having a certain title (VP, Director, CEO), making sure speakers fit a code of conduct, preferring actionable talks to inspirational ones, etc.
Great pitches clearly communicate your topic to the people throwing the conference. Sadly, many pitches come in as a teaser written for an audience to get them to attend your session. A conference runner and selection committee need to know the actual meat of your presentation. They want to make sure the topic's details are ethical, match their audience needs, meet knowledge level requirements, and more. Think of how different a link building session at Blackhat World would be compared to SMX.
Stay informed on when pitches go live for the conference. This means you can be prepared to submit your idea immediately—not worrying about the deadline—and will ensure you don't miss it. For example, the pitches for MozCon community speakers always go live three months prior to the conference date. For the upcoming MozCon in 2016, they'll be on our blog in June.
Build your speaking portfolio
I can't stress the importance of having a speaking portfolio enough, especially if you're interested in talking at conferences with closed selection committees, such as MozCon. Speaking portfolios show off your hard work and put actual, concrete examples in the hands of event organizers. It will also set you apart from others.
A search for "marketing speaker" on LinkedIn gives 43,000 results:
For "SEO speaker" on Google, 8.9 million results are returned, and Scott Wilson dominates the knowledge box:
What should you put into your portfolio?
1. A decent, professional headshot
For any conference you're speaking at, you'll need to send in a headshot. You'll want to make sure yours looks good both on your portfolio and in comparison to your fellow speakers. Be prepared when you're selected as a speaker. Don't be the one who sends in a headshot taken at a party with someone else obviously cut out of it or from when you last renewed your passport.
There are plenty of professional photographers who will take headshots for you. Make sure you get both the rights to use them and the high-resolution version. If you can't afford one, check out Kick Point's guide to taking a professional headshot with your phone. While you want to present your best face, make sure the photos actually look like you. It's okay to photoshop a pimple, but own and love your wrinkles, big ears, or whatever else you're worried about.
Some speakers also might add a memorable touch to their photos, which they then bring to the stage. For instance, Ruth Burr Reedy's headshot features a green blazer that she often wears onstage when speaking.
You will probably want to get a new headshot at least every other year. The reality is that we age, changing both our personal styles and our looks. The worst comment I've ever received was someone asking me the age of my headshot because I "looked so much younger" in it. It was only two years old, but I'd changed my hairstyle, which made me look older. (Also, when remarking on someone's headshot, don't make sexist comments like these.)
2. Have a speaking bio ready
Another general request from conferences will be to send in a bio about yourself. You want to keep it short and relevant for the audience you're speaking in front of. No one wants to read a bio that's longer than your topic pitch.
Here are some examples of my own bios:
Longer with a broader audience: Erica McGillivray is a die-hard geek who spends a ridiculous amount of time being nerdy, both professionally and personally. At Moz, she's the senior community manager and wrangles a community of over 500,000 members, co-runs the annual MozCon, and works on whatever else is thrown her way. She's also a founder of GeekGirlCon, a nonprofit run by volunteers that celebrates and supports geeky women with events and conventions. In her spare time, Erica's a published author and has a comic book collection that's an earthquake hazard.
Shorter with marketing-focus—Erica McGillivray spends a ridiculous amount of time being geeky, both professionally and personally. At Moz, she's the senior community manager, wrangling 500,000+ people and co-running their annual conference MozCon. Erica also is a founder of GeekGirlCon, is a published author, and has a comic book collection that's an earthquake hazard. Follow her at @emcgillivray.
Shorter with pop culture-focus—Erica McGillivray spends a ridiculous amount of time being nerdy, both professionally and personally. She's a senior community manager and wrangles over 500,000 community members for a local startup. Erica's also a founder of GeekGirlCon, a published author, and has a comic book collection that's an earthquake hazard.
3. Share your slide decks
SlideShare makes sharing your decks 100% super easy. While some conferences will share your decks, you don't want to make your decks hard to track down. You want results like Rand's when your name is Googled with the words "slide deck":
If you don't want to use SlideShare, there are other services out there. Or you can just upload it to your own site. Make sure you use a PDF version of your slide deck for the upload on whatever service you use; otherwise, your typography will look terrible on other people's computers who don't have those fonts installed.
Example slide decks show off how well you can build knowledge into a deck. It shows your style, and it can also show how you've grown as a speaker. You can say that you always present "actionable tips," but a deck speaks to what you really do.
What if all your decks are proprietary or unshareable to the public? It's time for you to create a deck for your portfolio. Maybe later you'll present it at a conference. Or maybe it's just a piece telling the world that you can indeed create a great deck.
What if all your decks are more interesting when presented? I definitely subscribe to having less words on the screen, which can mean that presentations become almost meaningless without the audio.
Ian Lurie does a great job at adding text—in an obvious way—to slides that make no sense without his voice:
This is extra work, but can really boost you as an expert. Not to mention that your audience will love you for giving them access to your deck later.
4. Get a recording of you presenting
Nothing says more about your qualification as a speaker than a recording of you presenting. It shows off your style, your confidence, and your radness. However, there can be lots of challenges around getting a recording. Many conferences in our space which have great speakers, like Pubcon, SMX, and State of Search, don't record sessions or most sessions. And other conferences, like MozCon and SearchLove, do record conferences, but sell the videos so they're private.
How do you get a recording?
A. Do it yourself. Record one of the presentations you've already planned on giving (or maybe that sample slide deck you built). Even if it's just you and the camera, it's better than nothing. One of my own speaking recordings is me practicing a talk in front of a handful of coworkers.
B. Ask if your recording can be shared privately. In the case of MozCon, speakers have asked and then used their videos to privately show conference runners their work. This is a great option when you're pitching, but isn't ideal when you're setting up a page to show off your good work.
5. Put it all together on a webpage
Since most of us haven't done so much speaking that we're easily Googled to find decks and videos, like Rand Fishkin, putting all your information on one page is paramount. Plus, it makes all your assets easy to link.
Chris Brogan uses his LinkedIn page (plus how to contact him):
Erika Napoletano's site makes it easy for you to understand her style and requirements for a speaking gig:
Kerry Bodine's site displays her videos and tells you which events she's spoken at and will speak at:
Ask the conference organizer questions
Once you're in, you want to be prepared for show day. Unfortunately, a lot of conferences don't give you all the information. Here are five standard questions I ask conference runners when I'm speaking in order to be fully prepared, although you may have other needs:
1. What are the show's hours? What time is my speaking slot? Are there any special events for speakers to attend (parties/networking, speaker-only gatherings, etc)?
You'll want to know this information as you book your travel. You'll want to make sure you're on time for your talk, not completely jetlagged (if crossing time zones), and build in opportunities to meet your speaking goals.
2. How many people are attending this conference? Can you share some demographics about who your audience is?
You want to be prepared for both the audience size and their specialty. If you're in front of a group of 20, you can easily do interactive elements in a way you cannot in a room of 1,000+ people. Likewise, you want to tailor your talk to the audience with examples and knowledge levels that they'll relate to.
When Dr. Pete Meyers spoke at SMX Sydney, he Australiafied his slide deck:
3. Do you use fullscreen 4:3 format or widescreen 16:9 for presentations?
No one wants to create an entire slide deck and then find out it's in the other format. Let me tell you from experience, changing the formatting in PowerPoint or Google Docs stretches or squashes your images in horrifying ways. Also, as a speaker, you should know what the differences between these formats are and how to properly set up your slide deck software for each format.
4. What sort of setup is the stage? Podium or no podium? Wireless mic with a battery pack, handheld wireless mic, or wired standing mic? Will the projection happen from my own computer or your A/V system?
All these questions ensure that you're prepared with the right equipment and that you dress appropriately. You don't want to run to the Apple Store at the last second when there are no proper cables for your Mac laptop. And if you're wearing a wireless microphone, you want to make sure there's a place to put the powerpack—like a pocket or belt—which, if you're wearing a dress, may not be part of your outfit.
5. Is there a due date for slide decks?
Getting your deck and anything else you've agreed to provide a conference with on time is paramount for your own time management and making the conference runners happy. Conference organizers prefer smooth working processes, as there's already enough that can go wrong with live events. The last conference I spoke at, the deck was due during my summer vacation. I made sure my deck was done ahead of my time off because I didn't want to spend my holiday creating it.
Practice, practice, practice
Nothing makes your presentation better than practicing the talk. Try to practice in front of people so you know if your jokes land or when you need to pause to resonate points. (My cat never laughs at my jokes!)
By the time you've gone through your talk five to ten times, you'll have it down much better. It will be more natural, hopefully without the stumbles and other pitfalls that occur with not having your points down. We all have parts we're great at and others we're not. That's okay, but let's work on them.
Have fun!
Never forget to have fun when you're preparing to speak. Whether you're deciding to pitch your first event or you're a seasoned speaker, you can rock it!
And one more thing.
Don't forget on that conferences to socialize with people offline and online. You can tweet, live blogging, sharing photos to Instagram, Facebook and (very rare) to Google+, you can sent videos (with permissions) to Periscope or Vine. You can also ping for reaching other interesting peoples there. Or acting like beacon "I'm XYZ venue if you want to say me Hi". Because some people are shy and afraid to make first step to connect you.
And this will amplify your success of your speak.
Fun story - last Mozcon i was almost watch it online via Twitter and reading Lauren Hall-Stigerts live blogging. But i'm RTing so i get two invitations for meetings there. Now fun part - i was few thousands miles away from Seattle.
Those are great additions, Peter! Promoting the conference and being open to people connecting with you, especially if they see you on stage and might be intimidated to approach you later. Networking FTW even though you were many miles away. :)
Thanks for the great post, Erica. After getting a couple local presentations under my belt I'm definitely addicted and eyeing the bigger stage.
I have a somewhat related question - are there any sort of industry standards on whether speaker's travel and expenses are paid?
That's a great question! In our industry, there's no "standard" around what conferences may pay speakers. My theory is that because our industry is a lucrative one, we often speak for non-monetary reasons, and many many conferences in our space do not cover travel/expenses or pay speakers. But this doesn't mean speakers shouldn't get paid or you shouldn't treat them extremely well. At Moz to put the Generous in TAGFEE, we cover travel (flight/hotel/transit), do a swanky speaker's dinner, give speaker's nice gifts, give them free tickets/discounts to give to people, and work with them to be as prepared as possible. A few speakers do ask for honorariums (speaking fees), which depending on the speaker can range anywhere from $500 to $35,000, and the organizer will then decide if that's worth it.
Thanks for the info. A secondary motivation was getting travel covered to conferences I couldn't afford, good to know that's not a given. I assume they at least give you a ticket, which for some of the premier conferences is nothing to sneeze at.
Another aspiring speaker question - I know speakers who are "on the circuit" often give the same core presentation at multiple events. Does it look bad for new speakers to pitch something similar to or that builds upon a talk in their portfolio?
Or, put a other way, how much do I need to sweat my pitches being completely unique and epic?
I have this same question. I just did my first industry presentation last week, and I'm itching for more. Feeling like last week's audience of 70 allows me to give the same talk again, but I don't want to look like I'm trying to hand in a "rerun" when I pitch it.
Of course, most conferences want unique pitches and information. Different conferences will have different thresholds on if they're okay with the same presentation at their conference that others have had. (Conferences that do re-run the same content over-and-over do get reputations for doing so, and typically see less of a return audience, which can be detrimental to their future.) Pitching something similar does give you niche and reputation for speaking about that, which is powerful as long as you don't pigeonhole yourself too much. When programming, it's always a mix of "that pitch sounds awesome," "that person is awesome," and "we need someone talking about X topic."
With MozCon, we always ask for new content and presentations from speakers as that probably a third or more of our speakers are "circuit" regulars who speak at conferences our attendees likely also attended. That said, one year we had a speaker give a slightly refreshed version of a presentation she'd done before because the first time she gave it was at a big brand in-house training in Germany. We knew there was absolutely no risk of overlap.
As a speaker, if I ever give the same presentation twice, I always make sure the audience has close to 0 overlap and that I refresh/revamp the presentation for that audience. You also may develop certain slides that you may use in different presentations in different contexts with the rest of your deck new. For instance, I did a presentation on social media metrics and showed a slide of our team's growth (marketing conference), which we then used in internal Moz training presentations and my manager used it in presentation on how to grow a team (community manager conference).
Yes, you should definitely get your own ticket for you to the conference. :) (I also speak at pop culture conferences where sometimes I've only gotten a slight discount on my ticket; though tickets are typically substaintally cheaper in general.)
Excellent post Erica,
I feel like the most important piece of advice is to "practice, practice, practice". Too many people (including myself at one point) hear great speakers in our industry, hear their passion and believe they are just speaking from the heart and with very little preparation. Little do they know the speaker has been practicing their presentation for weeks in the lead up to being on stage.
Completely! Because of my role, I've often heard practice talks from speakers and then got to see the final talk, and wow, the changes that practice makes are incredible. I also know that speakers people look up to, they practice practice practice too.
Hi Erica,
I'm thinking what you mean in the last part, "Have Fun," doesn't necessarily apply to your self only, but to your audience as well. Is this right? I hope you don't mind because I'd like to elaborate this part. Engaging with audience adds impact to your speech and makes it memorable.
Having this in mind, you can always add humor to your speech occasionally, to effectively engage with your audience.
Effective writing plan to add humor:
1. Write all you want to add in your speech.
2. Insert as much humor as you can.
3. Perform the speech in front of your colleagues or group of friends that can relate with your speech
4. Take note of the things that doesn't seem funny for them
5. Remove it.
Good humor always stands out and is memorable. To make this easier, you too, should feel funny while writing your speech.
Yes, your audience should definitely be having fun too. :) Humor can definitely be a powerful tool on stage. However, you want to make sure that your humor matches the audience you're speaking to and is inclusive of everyone, especially in a professional environment. (Standup night at your local comedy club is vastly different from say an SMX presentation.) You also want to make sure you adjust to cultural standards if you're speaking in a different part of your country or out of your country.
As someone whose been working on breaking into the "next level" of speaking, these are some helpful ideas and tips. I find the two biggest hurdles I see are getting organizations to listen to the pitch and think outside the box with speakers and topics.
I agree with Mark's ideas on humor and having fun, but I also think it needs to not replace actionable items people can walk away from your talk with. I think we've gotten away from that, especially in the digital marketing conference world. I love a good movie quote, but it feels now talks become about who can add the most pop culture, not content.
I agree that many organizers stick to their own rolodexes and what's very safe. Or as I sometimes see it "one person's celebrity is someone else's nobody." Part of the work I do with other conference runners is focused on gender balance and getting more women speakers on the circuit. I get very sad when I hear things like "I don't know any women to invite" and I'm like "here's 80+ of them."
In our industry in particular, people crave the actionable advice. Anytime I work with speakers this is what I always emphasize because it's what the audience asks for over-and-over. That said, there is some cognitive dissonance of what "actionable tips" means to whom. Some people want a speaker to literally be like "tip 1: do X" that are applicable to everyone, which gets very hard in non-101 talks. Critical thinking can be important when you start talking about more intermediate/advanced talks, which may have actionable tips that need some more thought on how to take the idea and mold it to your own work.
Hello, Erica
Beautiful ideas, I think visualization presentation works more better, it gives listeners more clearer idea. Thank You.
Jeez, Scott Williams hit it big with that "seo speaker" keyword.
Especially since that keyword in particular doesn't necessarily matter as much when it comes to CTR. Simply having that knowledge graphic position builds with a photo builds his own authority.
Though when I screenshot that image for this post, I couldn't help but think, I bet that knowledge box may become a little more competative. :)
Great post Erica and one that everyone should read.... and then read again. Getting to speak at a conference isn't easy but anyone can do it if they follow the tips above and has an interesting idea for a topic.
Thanks, Duane!
Erica,
Really liked this post, you really changed my mind.
Going to change my slides strategy now :)
Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Nice post! For me, the preparation involves great effort, but is amazing when you can see your happy spectators. For make a good conference you need have fun!Thank for these useful tips!
Indeed. Preparing a great talk takes a ton of effort! But a happy audience is well worth it.
Hey Erica, first of all a huge thanks for the awesome tips.
Well, I do have a great experience of presentations, seminars and all. Actually, we people always try to take a seminars, presentations, coaching for our team and clients. And to give a best presentation or seminar, the one thing matters a lot is "Demo (Live Practical Performance)" with easiest explanations. You'll definitely get a bunch of positive response.
Sometimes, it becomes very hard to explain the written things, so try to avoid the materials, speak whatever in your mind because that would make you you a fearless person.. Even you would be quite confidante too...(I am experience with this)
Thanks for all these tips Erica, as usual I love to read your thoughts, keep sharing :)
Yes, you definitely don't want to read your slides when you're on stage. People will always read slides before they listen to you.
Great idea on including more context on the slides shared on SlideShare. I love reading the presentations of conferences I don't go to, but you kind of have to invent what the speaker was actually saying when there's only a few words on the slide. I'm thinking SlideShare should have a feature that imports PowerPoint notes.
I would love to see SlideShare more natively adopt notes like PowerPoint notes. However, on the event runner side, I've always had speakers who didn't fully realize we were sharing their decks and panicked that people could see their notes (probably because they were a bit gibberish).
Great tips! The examples and links are helpful, too.
That’s a good tip about keeping a document of speaking ideas. I also tend to write down relevant statistics and quotes I come across, so there’s a library of material ready to make some of my slides from.
Thanks for bringing up the 4:3 / 16:9 widescreen issue. That’s an important one that not many people mention. (In an Ignite talk a couple of years ago, I was caught out a bit by that – though thankfully with enough notice to fix the slides.)
One great tip I heard is to use the event’s brand colours in your visuals. Mind you, as @AwesomeEves touched on, any errors in the slides you customise for a specific event can really backfire. So if possible it’s good to have someone from your target group check your slides.
You might also like these tips for customising your talk for a specific event or audience. (Several of them come from pro speakers.)
One more thing - make sure to spell check your slides. The Australian cities are actually called "Cairns" and "Adelaide" :)
Whoops. :( Yes, spellcheck is your friend.
I felt sad. How can I be happy again?-
Speaking at seminars and conferences can be a lot of fun. In a digital world I often do not get face time with most of my clients and speaking allows me to interact with people on a far more personal level. I love marketing and could talk about that topic for hours with anyone who is willing to listen and share ideas... getting paid to do it was a nice bonus. At one point in my business, speaking was the easiest way for me to acquire new clients. My goal is speaking was never to gain clients... rather to offer value and insight. Putting together a stellar presentation took days or weeks to accomplish but offering a lot of value to listeners was highly rewarding. My passion for the subject matter and love for marketing is what ultimately generated more business.
I too love teaching, and find speaking very valuable and fun for the same reasons. Even if it is a lot of work! :)
That's great though to also hear that you've gotten clients and paid for your speaking at some events.
What about our conference or webinar? It is fun as well
Any advice for those looking to speak at your conference or on your webinars? What do you look for in speakers?
Maybe I should get on stage and apologize for all the pop-ups and pop-unders that are found on the web today. Not that created the first one but I certainly used them. I was definitely one of the first people to crash someones computer from a pop-up ad or the dreaded reboot.
When I started doing all of that it was because it was adult stuff and at the time (1995-1999) bandwidth was SUPER expensive compared to today's prices, so we really took advantage of the visitors to squeeze out every last cent. We knew that these methods actually improved revenue and we had statistics to back it all up.
When I see a pop-up, under or nag form on a non adult site all I can think about is man this website owner hates you!
- The end
Sure you'll do great . Thank you for the post!
You are a brave girl! Goog look in your future conferences, I'm sure that you will do it great!
Please do not refer to me as 'girl.'