I’ve also seen some horrible pitches. My favorite bad pitch was from someone who didn’t clarify the company of the speaker, and then I went to the PR agency’s website and it was touting how it won some award for Agency of the Year. While I didn’t use that exact pitch, the speaker will likely be added to a related panel as her perspective and company are a perfect fit. That takes us right into the tips:

1. Market a good product or brand. I’ll at least try to find a way to work in a speaker I’ve heard of (in a positive context) or have seen and enjoyed. Even if I don’t know the speaker by name and he or she is from a great company, that’ll often do the trick. It’s not foolproof, but it can help.

2. Make yourself a strong brand when pitching. There’s one speaker who will make it in on the coattails of his PR agency. I’ve heard the speaker before, but they could have put anyone in his place with a similar proposal and I’d have likely found some way to get him in.

3. Be original. I love the pitches that take a very stale topic, like search engine optimization, and give a completely fresh angle on it. One of those pitches in particular made it in easily. In fact, when I asked someone for their take on any sessions I should include, that was the only one she mentioned.

4. Be unoriginal. Don’t you love points that totally contradict each other? If you can’t be totally original, then do a solid job pitching something that a lot of others are pitching. There were three themes that kept emerging in a number of pitches, so I grouped those proposals together. All three of those themes made it to my ‘must include’ list, generally just taking one session title and description from the best proposal, but sometimes mashing them up and creating this hybrid that I hope makes sense. When I took elements from multiple sessions, I’d include all of the proposed speakers for those sessions, and then I’d sometimes include speakers from sessions that were related. I knew these other speakers could fill out the panel, even though the pitches themselves didn’t make the cut. It’s still a win for the speaker (and, if applicable, the marketer or firm doing the pitch).

5. Be timely. With all the buzz about video these days, how come not a single pitch was focused on video search? I had to create one from scratch since it’s too big a topic to ignore. I’ll also find my own speakers for it, since hardly anyone seemed to be a great fit for that topic. Another topic was especially timely and also original, and it will likely make the cut (if it doesn’t, it’s a lock for the Search Insider Summit).

6. Follow directions. Make it clear who the speaker is and who the PR firm or in-house marketer is. Check the right boxes. It goes a long way in preventing the event organizer from thinking you’re an idiot.

7. Fill in the optional fields. For this event’s forms, you didn’t have to fill in the speaker’s bio, but it helped for some speakers who had it. I especially liked knowing if some marketers were seasoned speakers. Granted, I’ve heard enough CEOs speak who should never be on a stage but wind up with lengthy resumes. Still, credibility helps. I don’t think a single proposal mentioned whether that speaker or company had been part of the conference before, and that information might have made me take a second look at some proposals. 

8. Recommend others. When two proposals are similar, I’ll give priority to the one who names some great panelists. One in particular listed all the company’s competitors to be helpful. There’s a big difference between a proposal that mentions the speaker will provide case studies and a proposal that lists other speakers who may be available to speak.

9. Avoid cliches, especially in the titles. It just saves the event organizer time from rewriting the pitch later.

10. Don’t pass off corporate collateral as a speaker proposal. Some proposals reflected the same copy that’s used on their companies’ websites. One speaker probably would have been in the running for a related session, but I’m not sure if he could talk to anything besides his own company. Write about a topic, an idea, a trend – anything besides the company itself.

11. Know the event. This is another given, but come on. A number of proposals were acting like they were pitching keynote speakers for an event that even turns most of its keynotes into panels. There was no chance that any of these sessions would have fewer than three speakers and a moderator.

12. Show excitement. While most proposals felt like this was the same pitch over and over again, a few showed genuine excitement for the subject. It’s contagious.

When I help with these events, I ultimately want to be enthusiastic about it. I want to be able to tell others, "You can come to any of these sessions and will be grateful you were there. You’ll learn something, you’ll hear a great speaker, you’ll meet interesting people." The agenda for the last Search Insider Summit was like that, and the tracks I helped with for OMMA Hollywood earlier this year were close (it was my first time helping select proposals for that event, so I had to learn a few lessons as to what panels worked best for it). I’d love to know that I don’t have room for some amazing sessions and proposals because there are too many great ones to choose from.

It’s still early, but I have that great feeling about the event. That’s entirely thanks to the proposals that followed these guidelines and inspired them.

Comments

The obvious first step is for bloggers to add voiced audio posts to their blogs. Podcasting provides an important second step for bloggers’ voices to be heard around the world. Once the podcast is created, it can be downloaded by listeners for later enjoyment. A major aspect of modern technology is time shifting of events to times more convenient for the audience. Tivo has forever changed the way the public views television, and podcasting can change the time frame of blog reading as well.

Podcasting is only one example of talking your way to business success. Once the voice medium has been established, interviews on radio, television, and other blogging media will follow. It’s becoming almost difficult for a blogger to actually remain silent! Just ask Tris Hussey of Blog Business Summit. He is proof that bloggers are in demand as interview experts on radio, television, and in the print media.

Speakers are always in demand for many local and national media events. Bloggers are natural choices to give live presentations on their topics of expertise. Who better to talk about your specialty than you, the blogger. After all, you write about all aspects of your subject matter on an almost daily basis. You know your topics as well as anyone.

As for speaking to business and non-profit organizations about blogging, you are already among the few real authorities in your own community. Think about it. In your own metropolitan area, you are likely one of only a literal handful of full time practicing bloggers. Who better to speak on the subject than you?

As a speaker, you will enhance your professional and business reputation in the community. You will interact with new and interesting people, who you otherwise would not be able to meet. The blogging, or any other topic you choose, would be your ticket into the door.

Contact local business and non-profit groups in your own community. You might become a noted speaker in your area of expertise. Offer to give a free presentation to the membership on your blogging topic; or even on blogging itself. Whatever you do, don’t use the platform to give a blatant sales presentation. Provide information freely and generously to everyone in attendance.

This is no place for hucksterism, if you want to develop a solid reputation as a knowledgeable professional. A blatant sales pitch will only hurt your reputation as a guest expert. Providing lively and interesting discussions about your area of interest will enhance your image as a professional speaker.

Let the business arrive later, as a result of your newfound reputation, as an expert in your field and industry. Clients will arrive too. You can be certain of that happening as result of your interviews.

I am always available to speak to groups on various business and blogging topics. At the same time, I also interview business people, including some very knowledgeable and generous bloggers on Blog Business Success Radio. Many other noted bloggers are always available as speakers and interviewees. In fact, bloggers are a group of experts who can always be counted upon to provide informative interviews. You should be available to speak on your favourite subjects as well.

Make yourself available as a speaker.

Start talking success today.

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Wayne Hurlbert provides insigtful information about marketing, promotions, search engine optimization and public relations for websites and business blogs on the popular Blog Business World.

Check out Blog Business World for yourself.

WebProNews publisher Rich Ord sat in on the User Created Content session at VON. Speakers included Julius Genachowski of Rock Creek Ventures and General Atlantic; Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.tv; Chris O’Brien, CEO of Motionbox; Dmitry Shapiro, CEO of Veoh; Rex Wong, CEO of Dave.tv; and Mary Hodder, CEO of Dabble.

Dmitry Shapiro has a dream. He wants to watch a reality show starring a sound engineer and all “his gear,” in which the sound engineer shows him all kinds of new “gear.” He would like to see this show on his TV tonight for ten hours.

“Did I mention I am a strange guy?” he asked. And that was the point. People have strange tastes and not everything packaged up nicely on cable TV is to the taste of everyone. For guys like Dmitry, there needs to be the Sound Guy Channel. For guys like me, there needs to be the Pens, Ghosts, and Stuff-I-Can’t-Afford Channel.

“You can’t program to strange people,” said Shapiro.

But when the audience becomes a network of producers, and strange people make up a part of that network, the cheap, easy-to-produce videos appear. All we need now, is a way to organize it all and pipe it through to the TV, viewable in a way that TV is viewed already.

Enter something like Veoh, which Shapiro calls “a new type of television broadcasting” using a peer-to-peer delivery method. The p2p platform allows broadcasters to use newly defined “spectrums” to deliver content. This is what happens “after YouTube,” says Shapiro. You want Sound Guy in the living room? You got him.

Blip.tv’s Mike Hudack mentioned “Brian,” who uploads video from downtown Baghdad to Blip.tv. “He has now developed a show via Blip.tv that is amazing. Brian shouldn’t have to worry about hosting, advertising and distribution.” That’s Hudack’s job.

Hudack plugged a deal with Akimbo that will allow content on the site to be available on regular TVs. “We are also encouraging people like Brian to make their content – especially his B-roll footage – available with an open license so that others can utilize this footage as well.”

Of course all this means that Web-to-TV broadcasts, which lay about on the Web all disorganized like, will need to be aggregated and pulled together. Mary Hodder adds Dabble to the mix for exactly that reason. “Media is really hard to search,” she said, “especially user-generated video.”

Soon, people will be complaining about TV choice overload rather than “there’s nothing on TV.” And your favorite TV celebrity could be the low-pantsed plumber next door.

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Nathan R. Jessep:, You want answers?!
Lt. Daniel Kaffee:, I want the truth!
Jessep:, You can't handle the truth!
-- Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise dialog in A Few Good Men.

WebProNews publisher Rich Ord covered the opening remarks from well-known technologist Doc Searls and keynote speaker Scott Anderson.

In Searls’ remarks, he noted how Dave Winer incorporated an “Edit this page” feature onto his site. “There began at that point a kind of split in the web. Blogging was born.”

Searls emphasized how the web is not a passive repository of documents, but a living thing thanks to syndication. Those living elements, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, can be created and syndicated by anyone.

And the search engines, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, will pick them up. Searls noted the difficulties a couple of professions face. “If you are a PR or marketing professional the rules are very different. We don’t even know where we are yet. Think about what we are doing here as an entirely new environment.”

Hewlett Packard’s Anderson followed Searls’ introduction, undoubtedly buoyant from the HP’s turnaround under new CEO Mark Hurd has seen HP’s market cap increase by $28 billion. Anderson spoke on the need to recognize dialogs, and called today the Dawn of the Dialog Age.

“We have an opportunity to influence where all of this goes. There is a sea change in business communication,” Anderson said. “We needed to rethink how we are communicating with our market. We still do mass marketing … but we are now shifting marketing expenditures to the Live Web.”

Anderson cited the explosion of both content and the availability of user tools to control that content as trends companies simply must watch. It can’t be as a passive observer; “We need to participate in dialog to be relevant to our customers,” he said. Those participants need to be relevant and credible in the ways they participate.

Importantly, dialog isn’t between a company and people, it’s between people and people, Anderson said as he noted some principles of dialog. “HP’s people are its brand. We believe if we are doing this correctly, we are building our brand.”

HP has accepted the blogosphere. They track what people are saying. “We actually listen to the blogosphere in order to understands what customers are thinking about HP and what problems they are having,” said Anderson.

HP employees do blog, too, of course, and Anderson cited an internal blog he uses to communicate with 50 team members located around the globe.

“Customers are very interested in HP’s insights. So we built a platform to enable key people to blog.”

Anderson then noted how blogging began raising concerns with different departments within HP. “The legal people started getting real scared. They felt we were at risk with blogging. The marketing people also were concerned that the bloggers were on message. But if we blog you must be authentic.”

Being authentic means being honest, and taking honesty in return. “We learned very quickly that we had to accept negative comments too,” said Anderson. He provided some guidelines that HP uses to enable its bloggers:

1. Speak for yourself
2. Target timely topics
3. Keep the communication lines open
4. Always show respect
5. Preserve privacy and confidentiality

The experiment, which HP launched on November 8th, has paid off for the company. Customers have read the blogs in increasing numbers and responded favorably to them. Business dialogs prompted by the blogs have been productive. And, they’ve proven themselves as another way to get the company message to the media that monitor their blogs.

“The ways of the mass marketing age are old school,” Anderson said.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The obvious first step is for bloggers to add voiced audio posts to their blogs. Podcasting provides an important second step for bloggers’ voices to be heard around the world.

Once the voice medium has been established, interviews on radio, television, and other blogging media will follow. It’s becoming almost difficult for a blogger to actually remain silent!

Speakers are always in demand for many events. Bloggers are natural choices to give live presentations on their topics of experise. Who better to talk about your specialty than you, the blogger. After all, you write about all aspects of your subject matter on an almost daily basis. You know your topics as well as anyone.

As for speaking to business and non-profit organizations about blogging, you are already among the few real authorities in your own community. Think about it. In your own metropolitan area, you are likely one of only a literal handful of full time practicing bloggers. Who better to speak on the subject than you?

As a speaker, you will enhance your professional and business reputation in the community. You will interact with new and interesting people, who you otherwise would not be able to meet. The blogging, or any other topic you choose, would be your ticket into the door.

Contact local business and non-profit groups in your own community. You might become a noted speaker in your area of expertise. Offer to give a free presentation to the membership on your blogging topic; or even on blogging itself. Whatever you do, don’t use the platform to give a blatant sales presentation. Provide information freely and generously to everyone in attendance.

This is no place for hucksterism, if you want to develop a solid reputation as a knowledgeable professional.

Let the business arrive later, as a result of your newfound reputation, as an expert in your field and industry.

I am always available to speak to groups on various business and blogging topics. So are many other noted bloggers. You should be available to speak on your favourite subjects as well.

Make yourself available as a speaker.

Start talking today.

.

Reader Comments…

Wayne Hurlbert provides insigtful information about marketing, promotions, search engine optimization and public relations for websites and business blogs on the popular Blog Business World.

Check out Blog Business World for yourself.

It is logical, then, that we as bloggers can learn from other tools of communication, for example public speaking. I am actually surprised that we haven’t seen more discussions about blogging and rhetoric, and how we can write better posts with the help of that ancient knowledge.

Well, beyond bullets gives it a try. From good speakers we can learn this, Cliff thinks:

1. Find your focus.
2. Look for the story.
3. Make the personal universal.
4. Develop your craft.

Found via digme.

Fredrik Wacka is the author and founder of the popular CorporateBlogging.Info blog which is a guide to business and corporate blogging.

Visit Fredrik Wacka’s blog: CorporateBlogging.Info.

The conference, entitled “Votes, Bits, and Bytes,” takes place December 9-11 and has a terrific line-up of sessions lead by speakers like Jay Rosen, Dave Winer, Rebecca MacKinnon, Dan Gillmor and more. A webcast is planned. Briefing materials can be found here (PDF).

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.

He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.

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