Level Up Your Public Speaking Career w/ Diane Bogino, Full Time Keynote Speaker & Prior President of the National Speakers Association.
Diane is a highly respected executive coach, helping organizations reach goals through coaching and training. Diane focuses on putting the right talent with the right leadership principles to partner performance and development. Renowned as a keynote speaker, Diane is a great resource on improving communication and productivity by helping build successful teams from top-performing individuals.
AIT welcomed Influencer and Thought Leader Diane Bogino in February of 2021. Diane is an industry leader in podcasting and YouTube. She knows all about making your voice heard and being relevant in the public speaking arena. Back in 2019, not many would consider having a Podcast or a presence on YouTube would count as a true business, but in 2022? No longer the case!
Diane continues to explain how Podcasting in addition to other forms of income can create a network of multiple income streams. That is a key hallmark of a successful business.
“Now, there are a couple of things that a real business needs. And one of those are multiple streams of income. A rule of thumb is that wealthy people have about seven multiple streams of income.” – Diane Bogino
The key here to considering adding public speaking to your repertoire, as Diane points out, is to consider it in addition to other areas maybe you’re already dabbling in, such as photography, graphic design, writing. Some of these side ideas may lead to paid income, some may not. While maybe the early days of the side gig may not have initial money-making potential, that could change as your sphere of influence grows.
While brainstorming on the additional sources of income potential, Diane also makes a great point to discuss how marketing plays a huge role in building a brand, building your influence. Diane has found that if you are willing to negotiate your appearances, you may get more benefit.
Take for example the following scenario, direct from Diane:
“So, every speech that you give will not be a paid speech. In other words, do not turn down a speech simply because it’s not paid. Because then it becomes a marketing speech…when that happens, you say, okay, I’m giving up my fee, but I want to negotiate for some other things. And here are some things that you can negotiate for. You can negotiate for, like the attendees list…And remember, everything that you do has to have your contact information – that’s a non-negotiable. That has that has to be on there. Your information that is non-negotiable. You can do videos…It helps them market their program, and they could put it on their website…It’s just something you include in your package. Remember, you’re selling your expertise and your intellectual property.” – Diane Bogino
Another great example Diane shares is having takeaway materials available to assist with marketing efforts. Handouts, packages with your contact information, even business cards can really go a long way. Forms showing service options or pricing, depending on your industry. These physical takeaways partnered with your speaking engagements give your attendees something to reflect on days, weeks, months after the speaking engagement has wrapped. That can be so valuable to gain additional interest in future projects.
“When you have a handout, it gives him something to take away with your information on it. And the reason you have the right on it is now it’s personal, they want to give it up, they want to keep it because now it belongs to them. It has their ideas on it. And they want to keep it and remember it has all of your contact information on it.” – Diane Bogino
During the Q&A portion of the evening, Diane was gracious to answer some awesome questions from the audience. A few highlights are below!
Q: How do you approach people to get speaking gigs? Is there a way or a manner? Where should we look in order to look for speaking engagements?
A: There are actually websites that have conferences from all over the world. If you Google conferences, they will come up. every Association has to have a program. They have program managers. So they need speakers, organizations to do. And I mean companies associations do. And I’ll give you a trick that somebody coached me on. If you see a company that’s going to put on a program, you call the meeting planner, and you usually get their voicemail and say, Hey, this is so and so you probably have all your speakers for your event. But I’m going to take the liberty of sending you an email with some of the topics I speak on, click, you send the email, and you tell them about some of the other topics you speak on. You keep it short and sweet. And typically, I would get a call back and I did get a gig one time a paid gig doing that.
Q: Do you know of any other websites that almost serve as a matchmaking kind of situation where event planners and and these program managers who are specifically looking for speakers for us that want to speak if we could set up a profile and somehow be matched or connected?
A: So absolutely, there are all kinds of places like that. And you know, there is a group on LinkedIn, too, that has speakers. So, look for those kinds of groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, look for some of those. Yeah. And of course, don’t forget the National Speakers Association.
Q: So as someone who’s spoken often and has done a number of public speaking events and a virtual as well, what are some strategies that you may have for developing new content and having multiple different variations of what you want to accomplish? Depending on the event, I know everyone has a specialty and, and really has a lane, maybe they’re in it’s Podcasting, or it’s gardening? Or whatever it is. So, what would be some strategies for someone that wants to go down this road and try to keep some variation in what you’re discussing and talking about?
A: And it goes right in with being a thought leader, because you have to keep up with trends. And you have to do research. For example, when I do a blog, I research everything. And I’m one of those people that likes to learn. So, I have to force myself, okay, you can hit three, you know, commercial articles and three academic articles, but then you have to write the article. But that is the way, you know, look at other thought leaders that post on their websites. You could probably Google thought leaders, and a lot of times I will Google what do CEOs want to hear about now? What’s keeping them away or things of that nature? So is simply keeping up with trends and staying on the cutting edge of what people want to know.
Q: It has happened a few times in the past, when people call up and say, so how much do you charge? And I just say, Oh, I love speaking, is it okay, whatever it is, or nothing? How best do you do it? Or what is the right price?
A: First of all, you have to have an exploratory call and find out what they need. Because if they want you to do a keynote and a breakout, that’s a different price from just doing a keynote or just doing a breakout. If you have to travel, you know, that’s another cost. So, when you find out what they need, then you determine your price and you have to have some determination of what you think your intellectual property is worth and what you’re going to be doing for these folks.
AIT and the Competency Model™
AIT is a community created to build and support Thought Leaders and Influencers. As Diane mentioned, networking is a valuable piece of building credibility as you’re building your brand and your revenue streams. Becoming your own special brand of Thought Leader is what ensures that your passion and your purpose find a unique voice. AIT is here to help you craft and market that voice in a community of leaders!
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