7 Survival Tips for Professional Speakers in the Age of COVID-19
When COVID-19 became a harsh reality in March 2020, within 48 hours, I had five speaking engagements rescheduled or delayed indefinitely. I had to cancel flights and hotel reservations. Presentations that were already in development had to be put on ice, and of course, the revenue expected from those engagements was no longer in the pipeline.
For professional speakers, particularly those of us who have yet to publish a book, consistently securing speaking engagements is critical for visibility, relevance in the marketplace, and a steady flow of speaking opportunities. With that in mind, I spent weeks thinking about how I would jump start my speaking career, post-COVID, envisioning that large conference gatherings would not be feasible until Fall — 2021.
As I strategized about what articles I could write, videos I could release, and social media I could post, something unexpected happened. Companies that had rescheduled or delayed my speaking engagements started to ask if I would be willing to present virtually — from my home. It seems they all discovered Zoom and decided to find other ways to meet their audience’s needs. In addition to those commitments, I experienced an avalanche of new requests from entities interested in having me speak based on my expertise in leadership; public health; equity, diversity, and inclusion; organizational change; and racism. Given recent and current events, you can imagine why booking requests have gone through the roof.
In every instance, the requests were focused on having me to present virtually but there was an interesting twist that emerged. Organizers decided they needed a deeper dive than a traditional keynote. As a result, I have seen exciting opportunities to expand my audience, reach, and impact. I have found myself speaking to 30-person, all-staff meetings and delivering keynotes to thousands of people online while also designing breakout sessions that give participants the opportunity to engage with one another and with me. People are desperate to connect and I love getting creative on how to do that.
Although I am someone who places a high value on in-person interactions, I have been able to establish connections with online audiences and to have better than expected impact (based on evaluation data) at a time when leaders and organizations are struggling to find their footing amidst social, economic, and cultural turbulence.
As someone who just recently hit my professional speaker stride in terms of routinized processes and management of my speaker career, these changes from in-person delivery to virtual, from home talks have been disruptive but I’ve decided that disruption can be a good thing — if I’m open to it, thoughtful, and flexible.
I have honed new skills, expanded my visibility, and had an impact at a time when I wasn’t sure how any of that would be possible. At the same time, I’ve been trying to figure out how to navigate the virtual speaking landscape. Here are the seven most important things I have learned about being a professional speaker in a virtual space — all in the midst of COVID:
1. TECHNOLOGY
· Be online early and test everything twice!
· Be sure you have back-up wi-fi available. One connection is not enough. Upgrade your connection if necessary so you have enough speed.
· Join the meeting from at least two different, fully charged devices. If you have the unimaginable “blue screen” on one, it will be easy and quick to shift to the other. Make sure the organizers know this is your “fail safe.”
· Be clear about how you will manage the chat function if it is enabled and who will do that with/for you. You may want to consider asking the organizers to save the chat log — in case there is important information you want to save for later.
· Upsell Opportunity: Consider offering to respond in writing to the top three themes/questions that emerge from that chat but that you didn’t have time to discuss in-depth. This is an easy way to build a relationship with conference organizers, leave an impression on your audience, give more meaningful responses than those you provide in real time, and preserve more time for speaking, and less time for what can be awkward, online Q&A.
· If you are showing slides, consider showing them from a different computer than the one that is hosting your video and sound. This takes practice but it may help you to manage bandwidth more effectively, particularly if you are on at-home Wi-Fi which can be overloaded given the expansion of online learning by local schools.
· Make sure organizers have your FINAL slide deck so if necessary, they can take over showing slides in the middle of your talk. Be sure to discuss how that will happen if necessary.
· Plan for the online technology to fail completely and to deliver your talk via phone. If you go to “audio only,” it will be important that you modify your delivery to be more engaging and descriptive than when you were able to show visuals. Also, don’t fumble for more than 60 seconds to fix technology that has gone awry. It breaks the flow. Explain to the audience that there is a glitch and how you plan to continue your presentation.
2. YOUR ENVIRONMENT
· Be comfortable. If you prefer to present sitting, standing, or moving, just plan for it. There are cameras that will track your movements if you like to roam.
· Manage the noise in your environment. If you have concerns about the Amazon delivery person showing up and ringing the doorbell or knocking, post a sign on the door that says, “RECORDING PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK OR RING BELL.” If you have a gardener that comes at the same time every week, keep that in mind when you are scheduling.
· If you are using wireless earbuds, headphones, or external microphones, test how much they pick up and amplify background noise that might be distracting to you and others. I am not a fan of speaking into my computer’s built in mic or using speaker phone on my cell.
· Lighting. Lighting. Lighting. Go ahead. Break down and get the light ring. It’s worth it! My current set-up is showing above.
· While the computer-generated backgrounds may seem useful, if they aren’t REALLY good, then they look REALLY bad. Consider designing a suitable background space in your home or office with wall art.
3. REMEMBER THEY CAN SEE YOU!
If you cannot see the audience, hear them laugh, or see them respond physically to what you are saying, it can be easy to forget they can see every move you make. Keep that in mind as you fidget, adjust positions, reach for things, and change facial expressions. Expect that people will take screen shots and post them on social media. Personally, I prefer to be able to see at least one or two people in my on-screen set-up. It helps keep me grounded.
4. SLIDES
Normally, speakers are living, breathing, three-dimensional visual stimulation. Given that people will be looking at a screen, often for a long period of time, it is important that you invest in using powerful images and avoid using a lot of text on the screen. You want something to capture their attention without overwhelming them. Also, brand your slides in ways that they cannot be reused. Lastly, if you plan to share your deck, I encourage you to convert selected slides into a video of the deck, post it on YouTube, and provide the link to organizers. In PowerPoint, go to File, Export, Create a Video. This way, participants can access the information but reusing it without permission becomes more difficult.
5. COMPENSATION
Can you charge the same amount when you no longer expend the time and effort to travel? I think the answer is yes. You will need to re-work your presentation and style for a virtual format (there is a difference) and that takes time and effort. Organizers will no longer need to pay your travel costs, the value of your talk should be the same (based on your topic), and there is the potential for them to reuse the recording if you negotiate accordingly. Strategically, you might want to discount your fees by 15%. This is a great way to build lasting relationships and repeat business; you should be able to do more talks virtually than you could do in person so you can maintain and increase revenue; and this is a great time to contribute to organizations that do important work but that may be struggling financially. Many conferences that have gone virtual have reduced their conference fees, so they are also tighter on cash. Reduced rates and stellar delivery may yield inquiries for in-person talks, later in 2021.
6. CONTRACT
Be sure to modify your speaker contract to protect your intellectual property in a virtual space. This includes adding clauses that specify ownership of slides and recordings, as well as clear guidelines for their future use by you and by conference organizers.
7. MARKETING YOUR BRAND
Be sure to have a plan to market yourself as a speaker every time you speak virtually. For me that has meant using a closing slide with my current online challenge (shop.spreadshirt.com/speaker-life). While you may have done this in other ways when you were speaking in person, now you need to be creative. Just don’t miss the opportunity to leave a lasting impression! You want to be front-of-mind when the world is ready to have you on stage in that ballroom, convention center, or auditorium — hopefully in 2021!
Remember, COVID or preferably no COVID, the world still needs to hear from you because when last I checked, it continues to spin on its axis.
