Companies Can Gain Valuable Exposure Through Executive Speaking Engagements

By Steve Markman

Many organizations have recognized the value of holding seminars at which their executives make presentations. However, more often than not, the attendance is limited to existing customers or clients. Companies who wish to show their expertise and technologies to prospective customers and clients should take steps to have their executives speak at public forums—conferences and seminars held by independent event organizations, associations, professional and industry trade groups, academic institutions and think tanks.

Speaking at public forums brings in new business by bringing increased awareness of the company in general and specific subject areas in particular, to an audience of potential customers or clients. Presentations about industry trends or “how-to” talks can make a large impact on the audience.

Speaking opportunities for executives and managers represent a strong marketing, public relations and business development tool:

1. Attendees learn about a firm’s expertise firsthand. They can interact directly with the speaker immediately, before or after the presentation. An attendee asking for a business card can be the first step to obtaining a customer. Press coverage of the event presents additional opportunities for exposure.

2. A company can gain increased visibility in targeted vertical/industry sectors or broad-based areas. This can be an established line of business where the firm speaks from a position of strength and is known as a “go-to” firm for a particular area. Conversely, presentations can cover an area that is just getting off the ground or at an early stage in its development and needs fast exposure to a potential market

3. The company’s and speaker’s name gain wide exposure by appearing in the event’s agenda, brochures and promotional announcements that are mailed or e-mailed by event organizers.

Here are some steps an organization can take to develop an effective speaker placement program for its executives:

1. Decide which product or service area(s) the firm should target for increased visibility. Make sure that there are executives in those areas committed to the idea of making public presentations. Some will resist the idea of taking time away from other business activities, so make sure that you have their full support.

2. Get the right speaker on board. Proposed speakers should be experienced executives and, preferably, experienced speakers. Small-to-medium-sized organizations should nominate their CEO or other senior executive. Large organizations can also nominate staff at the director or manager level, depending on the criteria of the speaking opportunity.

3. Speak to the right audience. Thoroughly research the events for which representatives of your firm can be proposed as speakers, as solo presenters or as panelists. There are so many events taking place on so many topics, frequently simultaneously, that you’ll need to choose carefully in order to maximize the time and expense associated with speaking. Identify speaking engagements whose audience represents the customers and industries your organization wants to reach.

4. Develop a proactive speaker placement program. It’s fine to evaluate unsolicited speaking opportunities. However, having someone dedicated to the task who will aggressively identify opportunities, develop relationships with event organizers and write and submit speaker proposals, should lead to an increase in the frequency of speaking engagements and thus increased visibility for the executives participating and the firm as a whole.

5. Decide on the geographic area you want to target—locally, regionally, nationally or even internationally. There are hundreds of speaking opportunities worldwide, every year.

6. Create high-impact presentations. Audiences want to acquire actionable information they can take back to their organizations. They don’t want to hear that your firm is the leading firm in this or that subject area. A solid, informative presentation that covers applications or technologies and is not produc-t or company-specific will create instant credibility and obviate the need for a “sales pitch.” A presentation that turns out to be a sales pitch will ensure low evaluations by the audience and a one-way ticket home from the conference organizer. The speaker who gives a sales pitch is duly noted and rarely invited back, oftentimes tainting the entire company in the eyes of the event organizer.

7. Learn the process for submitting a speaker proposal to the event organizer—follow the format established by the organizer for writing a presentation abstract, submitting bios and speaker expertise, previous speaking experience information and, of course, meeting the proposal deadline date. Make sure you tailor the abstract and the bio to each speaking opportunity so that they fit the objectives of the organizer.

8. Follow up continuously and persistently with the event organizer to help your company stay above the noise, since you may be competing with several other companies for the same speaking slot.

Steve Markman is President of Conference Management & Marketing, a Needham, Mass.-based speaker placement and conference development firm. He can be reached at (781) 444-7500 or by e-mail at: smarkman@confspeakers.com