Propose, Prepare, Present

Chapter 4. Some Thoughts on Superb Presentations

What It Takes to Stand Out

I began by saying this isn’t a book on how to present; it’s a book on how to be invited to present. But once you’ve been invited, there’s still plenty that can go wrong. With that in mind, here are some things to think about if you want to wow audiences and get invited back by organizers.

What Speaking Consultants Do

Some companies employ third-party speaking consultants to help them find speaking slots. The worst of these consultants simply spam the speaking circuit with boilerplate text, hoping for a bite. Chances are good that if you’re using one of these agencies, you’ll get to speak at only low-quality events at which attendees aren’t good prospects or partners anyway.

On the other hand, the best consultants help you to become a better, more interesting, more connected participant in the conference ecosystem. One consultant I spoke with spends a lot of time with clients before submitting them, trying to find what’s interesting about the firm and then mapping this to the events for which it’s the best fit.^[9]

Here’s what these kinds of consultants do:

• Interview the company. Before creating any proposals, they spend time interviewing company employees. They often avoid sales and marketing types, working instead with engineers, product managers, and even customers to understand what the organization does and what makes it unique. This process also helps them to find the diamonds in the rough within an organization, ...