How are the same group of visible experts securing those coveted speaking engagements? One trick they are doing is building what we call a “press kit” on their website. Think of a press kit as your bio-page elevated to a higher level. In this video, Liz Harr talks about what it takes to create a press kit – which will give your audience a more interactive experience of your expertise and speaking style compared to a traditional bio-page.
Transcription:
The very visible expert, you know them. They’re everywhere. They get the coveted keynote speaking slots. They’re published everywhere where your audience is reading. How do they secure those spots? Well, one trick that even the smallest of firms who are trying to build expertise around their own experts can do is to build what we call a “Press kit.” Think of it as your bio-page on turbocharge. All I’m talking about is creating a more interactive experience relative to what is considered a traditional bio-page for people to experience you as an expert. So, here are the components of what I would consider to be a good press kit.
And again, this would be a page that appears on your website so that when committees vetting you as a potential keynote addresser or a panelist, or editors vetting you as a potential guest author, go to your website, they can find immediately what they need. Here’s what they’re looking for. First and foremost, when they go to your bio-page, they want to easily see the things that you’re an expert on. Don’t make them read through three paragraphs of text. Have bulleted sections about your areas of expertise.
Next, they’re looking for presentation topics. Have a section on your page that talks about the things that you’ve spoken about, presented about in the past. It makes it very easy for people to understand if you’re going to be relevant to their audience. Third is a list of past speaking engagements. This is just a common way that people can immediately see, is this person a good speaker or not?
Next is, have links to other content that you’ve authored. These can be executive guides, E-books, even links to other blog posts. But if someone goes to this press kit page and sees proof that you are the writer or the speaker they’re looking for and they see this evidence, that you’ve written and spoken in the past beyond just a list of past events, it really helps them get a sense of you as the expert.
Another thing that people don’t necessarily think about is secure some B-roll footage of you having spoken at a past event. And I recommend, if you do that, interview some of the audience. It is so powerful for people who are considering you as a speaker to see a video of not only you speaking so they get a sample of that, but they hear testimonials from the audience about the amazing benefit of having heard you speak.
And the last two items that they’re going to look for are simply tools that make it easy for them to put together, a little blurb of you being the speaker. And that is downloadable headshots or photos of you having spoken and downloadable bios of different links. The idea here with the press kit is you’re making it easy for the person to select you. Now, if you’d like to learn more about how to build your own press kit, just go to http://hingeuniversity.com/visibleexpert. Thanks very much.
