Category Archives: Workshop

A Political Campaign Principle and Your Maketing RBI

Reach out to the three types of constituents

Imagine you are a candidate for elected office. According to a political campaign strategist, there are three types of people among your constituents:

  • Those that are with you
  • Those that are agin’ you
  • Those that are sitting on the fence; they are not paying attention, or they have not yet made up their minds.

Now, let’s apply this principle to marketing activities.

Clearly, it’s vital to remain in close communication with those who are with you and know you well:

  • Current clients
  • Lapsed clients
  • Referral sources
  • Networking contacts

Conversely, it’s an expensive proposition, in terms of money, time and effort, to go after the group that is agin’ you and unlikely to be persuaded. Perhaps they already have a business relationship with a competitor, or they are disinclined to use your services.

As for the people on the sidelines, let’s consider how you might raise your profile and move them into the first camp.

Here is where the five ways of attracting business in your Marketing RBI come into play:

Networking:
Identify the groups where your prospective clients gather. Ask a connection to accompany you at one of their events, in person or online. Following that meeting, participate in the group’s social media conversations.

Ask a contact to introduce you to their colleague and arrange a Networking Squared conversation, a three-way meeting over coffee or via Zoom.

Speaking:
Team up with a client to give a presentation at their networking group, professional membership organization or industry association.

Introduce yourself (and an industry contact) to the podcast hosts whose programs address timely issues facing that sector.

Writing:
Invite a referral source or client to co-author an article for an industry publication. The subject might be a best practices checklist or a case study recounting a successful project. Show how you are addressing their concerns and resolving their problems.

Being active in the trade association of your target market:
You may be one of a few (or the only) professional with your background who is a member of the group. For example, as a writer, I edit a column in a membership organization’s monthly newsletter.

Promoting your activities online:
On your social media accounts, cite the names of others involved in your activities. These include people you met at a networking event, colleagues who collaborated on a workshop, podcast or article and speakers who presented at the trade association’s meeting.

When you fish where the fish are, you are more likely to land the big one.


This Month’s Tip

Introductions and collaborative presentations will build your credibility as a reliable resource, similar to a political candidate’s endorsements by elected officials. Your relationship with someone who the potential client (voter) trusts is a step forward in creating a new business opportunity.

Contact

It’s time you took your marketing campaign on the road and connected with the folks sitting on the fence about using your services. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Together, let’s brainstorm about reaching out to prospective clients, so you will be the candidate they choose.

Image credit: Oriental Trading

Speaking of Speaking

10 tips for a memorable presentation

You know how some people freeze when they anticipate a public speaking gig?

Not me.

I love standing in front of a group and sharing my insights and action steps. Whether I’m addressing colleagues, potential clients or students, I’m excited to guide them in mastering best practices.

Following are ten tips I’ve learned along the way, from speaking coaches and the School of Opportunity, formerly known as the School of Hard Knocks.

Before You Speak

  1. List the ideas and activities you want the audience to take with them when they return to their desks. When you start with the end, you’ll be able to delineate the intermediate steps of your presentation and see how to get there.
  2. Capture the audience’s attention from the get-go. Tell a short anecdote, ask a question or use a little-known statistic. Now they want to hear more and figure out how what you have described relates to their situation, whether business or personal.
  3. Your slides are an outline of key points. KISS. Your actual remarks will amplify, explore, bust a myth or show the consequences of the topic you highlight.



    4. During the Presentation

  4. Pace yourself. Scan the faces of the attendees. Slow down and recapitulate when their eyes wander around the room.
  5. Don’t pace. It’s fine to walk across the stage and connect with people on both sides of the room. When you reach the opposite side, stand and remain in place for a few minutes. Pacing is distracting.
  6. After you’ve summed up your remarks, have a colleague begin the Q&A with the question you gave them. Take the opportunity to go into more depth about a point you skimmed over in the presentation. Plus, you open the door to more questions and avoid the dreaded Q&A silence.



    7. After You Speak

  7. Thank the event organizer(s). Whether or not you want to be invited back, be gracious.
  8. Arrange for a handout, perhaps an excerpt of the slides, to be emailed to attendees. Help people practice on their own and even share your ideas with members of their professional and personal circles.
  9. Spread the word. Consider strengthening your relationship with a client or referral source by inviting them to co-present with you. Arrange to speak to their professional membership organization or industry association. That audience will be receptive to hearing from one of their own colleagues. You will enhance your contact’s stature and their participation will attract potential clients and referrers to you

    10. This Month’s Tip

    You worked hard to create and deliver that presentation. Now make it work for you.

  10. Plan in advance to share it across other platforms:
    • article
    • checklist
    • client alert
    • e-book
    • newsletter or blog
    • pitch to a reporter<
    • podcast appearance
    • social media post
    • summary on your website
    • video or audio clip

Contact

Your speaking engagement is not one and done. When you book your next event, let’s talk about how you can prepare and promote your presentation. Contact me at  Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Together, let’s get ready to step up to the microphone and then take your presentation to greater heights: on the road, online and into print.

Image credit: Sergio Santos

Shira Lotzar

I recently had the pleasure of hosting Janet for a speaking engagement with my community  service program, BoomerWorks.org. Janet delivered a highly informative and immensely practical presentation on networking best practices for virtual and in-person events. Her thoughtful, methodical approach was clear and on point. Most importantly, participants walked away with an actionable roadmap that can immediately level up their business development efforts. Sincere thanks to Janet for sharing her pearls with our 50+ small business community!

Bari Chase

Janet has given engaging and extremely practical programs at NYCLA’s CLE Institute. Attendees learned techniques that they could implement to build their networks, as well as hands on training on how to get noticed and quoted by the media. She is a pleasure to work with and a true professional, who I highly recommend.

Jason Castillo

I had the great opportunity to create a CLE course with Janet focusing on the best ethical practices when communicating with the media and public. Our attorney clients raved about the highly practical and incredibly informative points Janet provided that can easily be deployed in their practices. As one attorney stated, “It was the best CLE presentation I heard in 50 years of practice.”

Laura T. Schnaidt

We worked with Janet on a presentation that she gave to Women in Funds. Following the event, there was immediate feedback from at least half the people who attended – all of whom had glowing reviews. It was unanimously positive and people found it very helpful. We would love to do this event again with Janet and will refer members looking for advice to her as well. We met Janet thanks to Women in Funds Board member Jane Abitanta, who suggested that Janet speak to the group. Janet worked together with our organization to specifically tailor the presentation to the members of Women in Funds. Janet is Fabulous!

Adrienne B. Koch

Janet gave a terrific workshop at my firm, to a group of women attorneys from various walks of the profession, on how best to position oneself as a resource for the press. At my request, she tailored her presentation to that audience, so that her comments and suggestions were specific and relevant; she was also responsive to the group, and made a point of making sure she answered everybody’s questions. As a result, the audience was highly engaged and the presentation was very well-received.

But of equal importance, Janet spent time informally with the group before and after the presentation, sharing her insightful thoughts and ideas in smaller, more individual conversations. This made the evening doubly enriching. I highly recommend both Janet’s workshops and Janet as a workshop leader.

Make It a Double

If one is good, two is better.

Congratulations on your recent speaking engagement!

It was terrific.

    • You were on a podcast.
    • You gave a webinar, perhaps with other speakers.
    • You conducted a workshop.
    • You presented at a conference or were a panelist.

Don’t stop there. Make it a double.

Here’s how the time you spent on research, writing and rehearsal will truly pay off: Find a new venue where you can repeat your performance.

After your podcast appearance, look for other programs where you can talk about the same theme. Search the directories of the major podcast distributors: Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher and YouTube. Select general categories or specific areas of interest.

You can also review these directories of podcasts:

Conduct an online search for the Top 10 Podcasts in your industry.

Finally, you can perform reverse engineering. Look on the website Owltail.com for topics and speakers aligned with your subject.

When you have compiled a list of podcasts of interest, contact the hosts and introduce yourself as someone with valuable insights for their listeners. Your recent podcast appearance is a plus. Use the sample letter of How YOU Can Be a Podcast Guest in your outreach to podcast hosts.

Webinars are easily duplicated. When there are multiple webinar providers serving your audience, reach out to each of them with your idea for a timely presentation. For example, providers in the accounting sector include CPA Academy and My CPE.

Connect with the other panelists and propose a reprise of the topic with a different webinar host. Perhaps a webinar producer who previously presented one speaker will find your topic relevant and will schedule a program with the group.

Take that workshop to a group where you are a member or might be a guest speaker:

    • a professional membership organization
    • an industry association
    • a local chamber of commerce
    • an incubator for start-up businesses.

Conferences may be local, regional or national. If you spoke at a state conference, look to a national event. And vice versa.

Host your own event for clients and referral sources, and perhaps even vendors. You will bring everyone up to date on trends and issues, plus they will appreciate networking with your contacts.

Consider giving your repeat performance on a different platform. The webinar I presented on 25 Tips to Prepare for Your Next Conference has been the focus of four podcasts, plus a few more are on my calendar.

Remember, it’s not one and done.

This Month’s Tip

Broaden your audience; two can speak together. Consider teaming up with a client, or referral source, to tap into the market of their peers. Podcast hosts, webinar producers and conference organizers will view your co-presenter as someone who has their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in their industry or their profession, giving you additional credibility as a speaker.

Contact

It’s time to double up on your speaking engagements. Let’s review your recent podcast appearances and presentations to see where you might book another. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com, set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Let’s make your latest speaking engagement a two-fer or even a three-fer.

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In memory of my mother, Sue Falk, who passed away July 30, 2023. She often bought two colors of the same blouse, because, If one is good, two is better.
Image credit: Nearme Cafe

Sandra Holtzman

Janet graciously guest speaks in my NYU graduate class in Marketing. Her presentations are thoughtfully put together and demonstrate numerous points with clearly articulated case histories from different sectors. She presents a wealth of expertise and is very generous with her time and patient with student questions. Janet also speaks at my FastTrac New Venture classes and her presentations there are equally excellent.

Audrey Winkler

Janet gave a wonderful interactive presentation on Best Practices in Board Communication and Media Relations to nonprofit professionals at the Board Leadership Workshop for the Nonprofit Sector Resource Institute. It was outstanding and participants commented afterwards that they had learned a great deal from her. The fact that Janet prepared it on an extremely tight deadline made the presentation all the more impressive.

Paul Konigstein

Janet gave an excellent presentation to the Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG) not for profit special interest group on networking. Her approach focused on making connections with the leaders of organizations hosting networking events and was a refreshing change from the usual networking strategies. Janet is a very engaging speaker. I would recommend her to present to any group.

Sharyn O’ Mara

Janet Falk was a wonderful guest lecturer at our Farmingdale State College Public Relations class. Janet shared a wealth of knowledge about a variety of public relations topics. Prior to the class, we discussed what had been taught already and she tailored her presentation to expand on their PR knowledge base. Janet covered a vast landscape while keeping things interesting and organized. Janet contributed an educational presentation to our class!

Geri Stengel

Getting in the media is a great way for a small business to establish and grow its credibility, and generate interest in its products and services. Janet provided practical and easy to implement tips that any small business can follow. My NYC Small Business FastTrac students found these tips invaluable.

Why You Should Co-Lead a Workshop with a Colleague

Collaboration yields up-to-the-minute content and conversation.

Speaking is one of the five best ways to attract new business. In a workshop setting, for example, you and your colleague demonstrate mastery of the subject matter and analyze successful projects. Your presentation also entices attendees to hire you, so they might achieve similar results for their organization.

Plus, it’s beneficial when your co-leader is a client, who will attest to the value and impact of your services.

Consider teaming up with a colleague in an allied field, or someone whose business aligns with that of the session’s participants.

Co-presenting offers several advantages to a solo session:

  1. Speakers of different professions attract a wider audience; attendees may connect better with the person who shares their background.
  2. Collaborating lightens the burden of developing and giving the entire presentation.
  3. You will gain access to timely knowledge and insights of another profession, while preparing the material.
  4. You will capitalize on the co-presenter’s existing relationship with the event host, or further ingratiate yourself if you are the connector.

Recently, I collaborated on two different workshops to groups of attorneys; my partners were networking contacts.

One session was a reprise of a webinar on media relations that patent attorney Patricia Werschulz and I had developed. After I proposed the topic to the webinar producer, I invited Werschulz, whom I had met at a networking event, to co-lead the presentation. In my segments, I explained the nuts and bolts of professionally introducing oneself to reporters and the how-tos of press releases. in her sections, Werschulz discussed ethics and the Rules of Professional Conduct that applied to interaction with the media. Her remarks qualified the presentation for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits, a magnet for attorneys who must log CLE credits every two years. Following that webinar, Werschulz and I have given the presentation as an in-person workshop three more times.

The second workshop, which I had previously led four times for professionals at financial, public relations and start-up companies, focused on networking. When customizing this speaking engagement for attorneys, I recruited Kimberly Rice, editor of the monthly publication Marketing the Law Firm, to which I have contributed articles for five years. I presented a unique pre-event marketing strategy for attendees at networking events. Rice covered ethics and the Rules of Professional Conduct relevant to networking, again for CLE. In addition, she shared best practices in marketing of particular interest to attorneys from a small law firm or with a solo practice.

Here’s why Werschulz and Rice agreed to co-present:

Werschulz: “I wanted to learn more about the subject matter of ethics and media relations, so I had to research my part of the presentation. I also had the opportunity to learn from my co-presenter. Every time I present or teach, my network expands with new potential sources of referrals.”

Rice: “I enjoy presenting to different audiences of qualified, targeted prospects whose interests align with my expertise. I was curious about New York City lawyers and found they were a bit more engaged than audiences in other parts of the country. Working with the New York County Lawyers Association will perhaps open the door for future speaking opportunities.“

Collaborating on a speaking engagement is a win-win all the way around. You and your colleague gain mastery of new material as you promote your respective expertise and services. Both of you also access new markets of potential clients and referral sources, as well as an organization to host subsequent programs. Your audience receives proven tips, best practices and up-to-date insights on industry trends.

This Month’s Tip

Your partner for a speaking engagement may be a client, a referral source or a networking contact:

  • Propose a workshop collaboration to someone whose experience aligns with the attendees and offers a counterpoint to your own business.
  • The paired perspectives will provide a more comprehensive view and may include technical aspects of a different field that are less familiar to you, yet vital to the audience.
  • The interplay between two speakers –- when one asks the other a question, for example –- enlivens the session and keeps the participants engaged.

Contact

Ready to create your own workshop with a colleague? Let’s brainstorm some hot topics and consider who might best share the podium with you. Contact me at Janet@JanetLFalk.com , set an appointment here or call me at 347.256.9141. Let’s discuss who you might tap to join your presentation team.

See also Do You Lead Workshops for Free?, Back to School — As a Teacher and Create Your Own Traveling Classroom.

Click here to read prior issues of this newsletter.

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