To speak or not to speak?

published May 2002

There's a raft of companies running conferences and seminars which provide speaking opportunities. Are they useful or should they be avoided like the plague?

Here's a quick overview:

• For B2B and industrial marketers a speaking program should be considered an essential part of the PR program; for others it's more discretionary.
• A speaking engagement should be viewed as more than the opportunity to speak to those in the room at the time. It has to reinforce strategy and reach important and often diverse target audiences.
• The key consideration is how much - and how widely - a speaking engagement can be leveraged.
• The opportunities for gaining exposure include: Getting your name on the pre-mailings which publicise the event (typically less than five percent of those mailed a commercial invitation attend).
• Providing a full handout to attendees.
• Editing and representing the speech into a format that can be mailed to customers, suppliers etc.
• Putting the presentation (or an edited version) on your website.
• Gaining publicity for the presentation either in trade (or in some circumstances daily) media.
• Often a conference or seminar speaking opportunity can be used as the occasion to officially announce a new product or service. You have a ready-made audience and an occasion which gives it more prestige. Skilful PR can then exploit this in publicity.
• Put the preparation into your presentation. Craft the messages, produce a superior PowerPoint presentation which shows you and your company in a good light.

The key to a speaking program is in choosing the right conferences and seminars.

The first priority is to proactively choose only those seminars that fit your needs rather than waiting to be invited. Your PR agency should be working with conference organisers to ensure that you do a few quality presentations rather than attend many with doubtful outcomes.

Secondly - careful analysis has to go into the occasion, researching the fellow speakers and experiences at past conferences. You will be surprised as to how much information can be gained if only you ask and are persistent.

Finally don't always take the speaking option. Sometimes sponsorship of a luncheon at a conference with the opportunity for just 10 minutes to speak can be even more valuable.