Grant Baldwin’s Blog

(If you haven’t had the chance to read How I Become A Speaker Part 1 & Part 2, check it out.  It will give you some background on how I got into this business.)

While I am certainly no expert on speaking, I have learned a lot about this business and am happy to share any knowledge I’ve got.  Here are a few things I’ve learned…

1. What’s Your Motivation? – Too many people are in this for the wrong reasons and will just end up burning out.
2. Pick Your Audience – You can’t speak to any audience, anywhere and be good.  Be focused.
3. Be An Expert – Don’t be a jack of all trades and a master of none.  Pick one or two subjects you really know and are passionate about.
4. Why Are You Different? – If someone was at a conference and heard 10 different speakers, why would they remember you?
5. Make Your Marketing Materials Sexy – You only have one shot to make a first impression.  Don’t blow it.
6. Be You – Learn from other speakers but don’t try to copy what they do.  Be you.
7. Tell Stories (Your Stories) - Don’t tell 3rd person stories.  Tell your stories that connect you to your audience.
8. Use Humor – If you’re not a comedian, then don’t try to be one.  But a few funny stories or funny one-liners will help the audience let their guard down.
9. Outwork Others – Be disciplined to stay at it and work hard.  People won’t line up to book you.  You have to work hard to find them.
10. Have A Long-Term Mentality – Go after long term relationships and not one-time “gigs”.
11. Avoid Powerpoint – Too dated and not every place you will speak at has the capability to use Powerpoint.
12. Meet Other Speakers – Contact the speakers who are in a similar industry and build a relationship with them.  You’ll be surprised how friendly and helpful most speakers are.
13. This Is A Business – It’s not a hobby.  Run it like a business.
14. Keep A Paper Trail – Peoples’ memories get fuzzy when it comes to details such as money.  If you didn’t get it in writing, it didn’t happen.
15. Manage The Money – Avoid debt.  Pay cash.  Build it slow.  Keep your business finances separate from your personal finances.
16. Hire Smart People - I’m not a good graphic designer or web guy, but I’ve got people who can do that stuff.
17. Have A Video – It doesn’t have to be perfect, but people want to see if you can at least speak. The audio and lighting for my first demo video were horrible, but it at least gave people a feel for how I communicate.
18. Ask For Referrals – If the host liked you, they probably know someone else who would like what you do.
19. Get Recommendations – Gives you credibility and gives others confidence in scheduling you.
20. Understand Why Someone Booked You – Usually hosts will book you because (A) they’ve heard you OR (B) someone recommended you.
21. Have A Consistent Brand – Have the same look and feel to all your stuff.  Don’t use 47 different colors and fonts.
22. Be Better Off Stage Than On – If you’re an incredible speaker but a jerk to be around, people will stop booking you.
23. Give Away Stuff – People like free stuff.  I give away postcards at events.  Costs me next to nothing.
24. Write A Book – When you write a book, you’re the expert.  And it’s also a good source of revenue.
25. Have An Incredible Website – It doesn’t need to be flashy, but people will make assumptions about you as a speaker based on your website.
26. Get The Word Out – If you have the best looking website on the block, but no one knows about it, who cares?
27. Say Things People Will Remember – Have a couple of lines you repeat throughout your talk that people can grab onto and will stick in their minds when they leave.
28. Practice and Rehearse – Before every presentation, I still practice in my room just like I’d do it on stage.
29. Invite Others – If people will book you because they’ve seen you, who can you invite to your next event?
30. Write Thank You Cards – I always give the host a hand-written thank you card at the event.  They didn’t have to book you, you know.
31. Wait On Bureaus – A speaker’s bureau won’t get you business if you’re not already booking stuff on your own.

That’s all I can think of at this moment, but I know there are plenty of other tips out there.

If you’re a speaker, what tips can you offer?  If you want to become a speaker, what questions do you have?

If I had a dime for every time I was asked this question, I would be loaded!

The fact is I have a really sweet gig being able to travel and speak to students.  So many people I talk with tell me they’d love to do what I get to do.

But people always want to know how I got into this.  So in case you’re wondering, here’s the back story…

When I was in high school, I was really involved in my church youth group.  I had a great relationship with my youth pastor, who really had a significant impact on my life.  Partly because of his influence, I decided I wanted to be a youth pastor.  I felt like I was good at connecting with other students, and it seemed like a cool way to make a living…hang out with teenagers!

I went to college and after graduating, I took a youth pastor position at a local church.  I did that for about 18 months, but it was somewhat of a challenge for me.  There were a lot of things I enjoyed about what I did, but there were also a lot of parts to my job I didn’t enjoy.  I began trying to figure out if this was the right role for me and if I didn’t do this, what could I do?  One part of my job that I really enjoyed was speaking.  I spoke each week to the students but also spoke several times a year in the main weekend services.  The more I spoke, the more I enjoyed it, and surprisingly enough, the audience seemed to like it as well.

The idea of becoming a speaker never really crossed my mind though.  It seemed like a cool idea, but I wasn’t sure you could make a living at it.  I thought if you could make it work, you’d have to be gone all the time, which with a young family, that much travel didn’t appeal to me.

After I left my youth pastor position, I spent a solid year trying to figure out what to do next.  I went to school for 4 years to become a youth pastor and then when I was one, it wasn’t what I thought it would be.  So now what?

Part 2 Tomorrow…