What fun! I had the great opportunity to be one of the four guest speakers for the New Jersey leg of the Transformation 2010 tour sponsored by Powerful You last Wednesday. And I have to say, Sue Urda and Kathy Fyler, the co-creators of Powerful You, really know how to put on a great event. Inexpesive price, very swanky setting, and even more unusual– delicious food! The other three speakers were excellent and showed a variety in speaking styles as well: Ina Nozek of Lifeline Nutrition, LLC, marketing consultant Lisa McComsey, and Sue Urda herself as the anchor speaker.
Last week’s experience really brought home once again the ultimate key to successful live networking: be the guest speaker. This is a fantastic way to leverage your time at a networking event. Instead of a limited number of 5-minute conversations, as the speaker, you can connect with a roomful of 80, like I did last week. After you speak, assuming you do a good job (that’s a prerequisite!), many of the audience members will seek you out for a one-on-one conversation. That, combined with some sort of free giveaway in exchange for names and contact information, has gained me 10x the number of contacts as attending networking events when I’m not the speaker. Anyone could do the same.
As the speaker you achieve instant credibility with your audience. Again, you do need to have public speaking skills, and if you need some public speaking training, invest in yourself and get some- from me or someone else. Remember, it’s very beneficial to be one of the stars of the show. Do your best to get yourself in that position when you can.
Here’s a great way to get started. Join a group with a network of member branches like Powerful You. Then, call each chapter facilitator, and ask to be a guest speaker for one of their monthly meetings. This will give you a great opportunity to develop and fine tune your 20-minute talk, build your list, and get referrals for other speaking engagements and business opportunities.
Don’t just leverage your time online. Do the same in person as often as possible!
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