Help Your Speaker Help You: Do You Share the Big-Picture View?

11/23/2011

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by Justin Locke
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One of the reasons you spend the money on a professional speaker is so you won’t have to worry about that part of your event. After all, you have enough to worry about with the hotel, the audiovisual, the food service, the florist, and the volcanoes in Iceland messing up your attendees’ travel plans.

Professional speakers understand that our purpose in life is to make your life as simple and easy as possible, and our highest priority is to make you look good. But you can significantly improve your event by helping your speakers help you, and it’s not terribly difficult or time-consuming to do.

One very important step: inform your speaker about where he or she lands in the overall flow of the program.
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To Record or Not to Record? That is the question… for your speaker!

11/21/2011

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by Justin Locke

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An issue that comes up more and more these days when hiring a speaker is that of “electronic transcription,” or simply put, making a recording of a presentation. Meeting planners and speakers both complain about this issue, and a big part of the problem is a lack of communication. Now, I am not an intellectual property lawyer; I am, however, a speaker, publisher, and former union musician. So here goes.

1. When asking for permission to record, be specific as to the scope of your use.
Back when I played in union orchestras, recordings were prohibited by default, but folks who hired us could always get permission to record a concert for no extra payment as long as it was only for “archival and study purposes” - or, in other words, for in-house use, and not to be broadcast or sold.
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Smart vs. Brave | Where's the balance?

09/30/2011

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by Justin Locke
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It’s a good thing to be smart. Sure beats being dumb. But sometimes, being “smart” gets too much emphasis. Sometimes, we start to think smart will do everything. It doesn’t. While smart is essential, and it'll take you far, to really go the farthest distance, you must balance smart with brave.

For example, no doubt you're fabulous at the work you do, but if you're afraid to pitch your services to a stranger, or maybe ask for a raise, you may not achieve a level of success commensurate with how smart you are. If this happens, it’s not because you lack smartness, but because you lack bravery.

If you wish to make changes in your life, it may not be enough to simply follow the instructions in a self-help book with great care and precision. Making real changes requires abandoning the safety and familiarity of the old for the uncertainty of the new.
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Why Are You Trying to Ruin My Suit? | A look at your event from the other side

09/08/2011

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by Justin Locke
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When I decided to become a professional speaker, I had to address an issue: what to wear. Some people can get away with the “rumpled professor” look, but that was not for me. I’d spent too many years as a musician, wearing a tux or tails every night, to feel comfortable performing in casual attire. Besides, professional speaking is a little like bullfighting. One should feel confident. Feeling good about how one looks is a big part of that.

My preexisting collection of ragtag suits was not up to the task, so I popped over to the men’s department at Bloomingdale’s and said, “Okay… I want something sharp.”
They had just the thing: beautiful suits, shirts, and ties, all Italian. I figured out how some got the brand name. At the end of the transaction, the salesperson said, “Well, it was your money, but now it’s all Armani.”
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