Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine Vol 5 No 1

9. A Checklist. How many times have you arrived for an event and realized you were short of business cards, or forgot the remote clicker for your slide presentation, or thought the venue was providing something it didn’t? The best way to avoid this is to create a standardized checklist you can use for every speaking engagement to provide everything you would need to take and all of the elements that need to be done before you walk on the stage, to ensure that you and the venue are on the same page. You might even have a prepared event bag with all the literature, cards, microphones, clickers, or anything else that goes with you to every event, along with a copy of the checklist. 10. Confidence. Even if you don’t feel fully confident, act like it. Confidence makes people feel they are in good hands. The way to get confident is to practice! Know your stuff. You shouldn’t be presenting from rote, but you should know where you are headed. Work from a general outline in your mind. Do it enough times, and it becomes easier and easier. By the time I did 50 radio interviews for my last book, I honed my presentation so effectively that my next speaking engagement was a breeze. I was able to focus on connecting to my audience because the content just flowed. 11. Honest Self-Evaluation to Determine if More Training is Needed. Be honest with yourself.Could your delivery or your presentation use some improvement? If so, then there are wonderful speaker trainers available to you. You can find speaker trainers who cover the full spectrum of speaking, from presentation skills to the business side, and those who specialize in specific areas (storytelling, humor, enrolling people from the stage without being sales-like), etc. 12. The Time to Find the Right Opportunities. If you don’t have a speaker’s bureau or an assistant to book you, it’s all on you. You must spend time to find the right venues, connect with bookers, provide your materials, and lock down the details. Jackie Lapin is the founder of SpeakerTunity™, The Transformational Speaker Leads Tip Sheet, which delivers more than 120 direct contacts monthly for speaking engagements across North America to its subscribers, saving time, money, energy and research. Jackie is known as the Transformational Connector for the array of resources she provides to authors, speakers, leaders and messengers.

audience members have responded. Gather and present testimonials! 6. A Way for People to Engage with You after the Presentation. Give the audience a way to stay further engaged with you by giving away something or conducting an on-site raffle, selling a book, or offering a newsletter, a free opt- in gift, enrollment in your program, or a chance to donate to your cause, offer their expertise, volunteer, etc. You have a captive audience. Find a way to keep them in your community. Before you get on stage, have a plan for engagement. 7. A Convenient Location for Sales, Enrollment, or Recruitment. When you complete your presentation, it is likely that many people will rush you with questions, conversations, and demands for your attention. How will you manage to sell, get signups, or do transactions while you’re distracted? Fortunately, new technology has given a simple answer. Your smartphone or digital device has become the modern- day cash register. Square, PayPal, and others have developed easy ways to take credit card purchases with a swipe and a signature. So preload the prices (including tax) of your membership, merchandise, or bundles (multiple products sold together), and then show an assistant or someone predesignated by the venue to use this simple system while you are otherwise occupied. Preloading the pricing removes the guesswork and mistakes. But don’t forget to bring a cash box with change and smaller bills, too. If you are selling a more advanced program at someone else’s event, it is best to use a triplicate form. If the event promoter is entitled to part of your sales, you can provide one copy to the promoter and one to the enrollee. 8. PowerPoint Presentation Upgrade. Rework the piles of words and bullet points in your old PowerPoint presentation with lots more images and creativity. Today’s presentations are image-driven, with pictures taken right to the edge of the screen and a limited number of words superimposed over portions of the image. Use images to invoke an emotional or eye-opening response, and then verbally augment the on-screen content. Draw from many of the free or low-cost online stock photo houses to find images that fit the information you are conveying.

Orchestrating Success Passion to Profit

Hugh Ballou’s podcast sessions redefine leadership as the pathway to income. If your organization isn’t generating the income to fully support the work to achieve its mission, then it’s time to work on your ability to attract results.

Subscribe for free at HughBallouPodcast.com

SynerVision Leadership .org I 27