All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hi, I’m David. I’m a digital marketer with over 15 years of experience working in Canada, the United States, and now Melbourne, Australia.
As a shy 20 something entering the corporate workforce, I quickly found myself in front of dozens to hundreds of people, having to share an idea, message, or pitch. If memory serves me right, my first few presentations were a bit like this:
Why Speak with Purpose?
No matter what digital marketing agency, or web design agency you work for, you are there to influence. Influence your colleagues, influence your boss, and most importantly, influence potential customers to buy your products or services.
The modern culture of news feed, swipe left, ad blocking, and low barriers to entry, means that your marketing message becomes harder and harder to get in front of the right people. We are in the attention age now. When you become a speaker at a marketing conference, you are given a special power. You have the physical presence of hundreds of attendees and fellow internet marketing experts. Mind you they may be on their phones swiping away, but if you speak with purpose and get your points across clearly, you have the chance to influence, the influencers.
Speaking as a Marketer to Marketers!
There’s a lot of general speaking tips that I’ll leave for another day. For now, speaking to people who already work at a internet marketing agency can be hard as they might think they know it all, and believe me because I used to be one of them!
Be prepared for a conflict of ideas
The internet levels the playing field and makes everyone an expert, they read an article and suddenly they magically absorb 20 years worth of experience. Marketers are people too and they might have a strategy that’s worked for them and their clients, but might not work for you and your clients. Hey, that’s okay for people to have their own opinion.
If it’s an open forum or in a closed meeting, you can open the dialogue and suggest that some testing can be done to see what works for this particular situation. Acknowledge that this is what has worked for you, and acknowledge that it’s great that an alternative works for them and perhaps you both can learn more about each others perspective without bruising anyone’s ego.
Anticipate any questions
Once you’ve done a few talks or presentations, you’ll find that a pattern of questioning will emerge. You can then have rehearsed answers or you can even integrate those questions into your presentation. For example, you might present an idea or topic that might be slightly different to the norm, then say, “I know, why would I even suggest such an absurd idea?!”, then you can follow it up with some key points and perhaps even an anecdotal story.
But what if I get a question I’ve never been asked!?
This comes up from time to time, and you need not fret. You have a few options, if you are in the presence of others, you could open the floor up to conversation or suggest a particular person who might be a better subject matter expert.
Alternatively, you could say, “It’s an interesting question and I’m not sure what the correct answer to that question is, I’ll have to go away and read more about the topic and get back to you”, then exchange contact information if possible so you can establish an open dialogue.
Don’t assume everyone knows everything
The online marketing industry is broad, don’t assume that just because someone works at a digital marketing company that they know everything involved. People tend to specialise in a discipline such as internet marketing, SEO services, google ads management, social media marketing, etc… And even then, they can forget the basics in their day to day work.
If your audience is also broad, you will want to dumb it down to the lowest denominator. Make sure your presentation or talk is easy enough to follow and understand so that those who are not experienced in your field can grasp the gist of your ideas, whilst those who are knowledgeable can still get a memory refresh.
Wrapping it up
I’ve found that closing a talk effectively will mean that people will absorb and remember your ideas a lot better. The most effective way I’ve found is a quick, single summary slide with 3 to 5 key points so that people remember the ideas from each bullet point.
Finally, remember that everyone who speaks publicly will have gone through the same mental games as you. Be confident, rehearse, breathe, relax, and remember to speak with purpose – David 🙂
Give me an email!
For bookings, enquiries or general information, please feel free to send me a message and I’ll get my people to talk to your people.
For all other enquiries, please contact me below:
Call me on (02) 8091 6220 or email at david@speakingwithpurpose.com.au
Tank Stream Labs, Sydney
Level 4, 17-19 Bridge St
Sydney, NSW 2000