The Craft of Conferencing Newsletter
Insights and musings on public speaking and the business of conferencing from journalist, podcaster, and B2B conference producer Charles Laughlin.
Welcome to our newsletter. We will post a few times per week sharing news, insights, opinions, and best practices on what we call The Craft of Conferencing.
Being good at conferencing (as a producer, organizer, speaker, revenue leader, marketer, or just someone who attends to learn) is a game changer for building careers and brands.
The beauty of conferencing is that every skill that falls under its umbrella can be cultivated. Organizing, curating, ideating, writing, speaking, networking, interviewing, selling. Anyone can learn to do any of these things. Yet few of us are great at any of these on day one.
Our philosophy is simple. You get out of conferencing what you put into it.
Please enjoy this newsletter.
The Art of the Interview
Is There Such Thing as a Stupid Question?
Is there anything dumber than saying “There are no stupid questions”? This moment from one of my all-time favorite comedies demonstrates that there are.
As someone who interviews people all the time — including on stage at events — this notion of smart vs. dumb questions comes up a lot. I have asked more than my share of objectively stupid questions in my career. I often felt embarrassed in the moment but I have no regrets.
The important thing to keep in mind is that if you worry about asking dumb questions you are far less likely to ask any smart ones.
I use a very different framework when I assess the quality of questions.
If you find yourself hosting a podcast, or moderating a fireside chat at a conference, the most important thing isn’t whether your question is smart or dumb. What matters is whether the question serves your audience. Not your ego. Not your brand. Your audience.
If you ask the subject to explain a concept you already understand, clearly it is not for your benefit. It’s for the benefit of the audience. Someone in the audience who doesn’t know the concept but is afraid to ask will be grateful to you for asking the question on their behalf. Even if it’s dumb.
I wrote about this on our blog. Read More
The Art of Public Speaking
To Sell or Not to Sell, Is That the Question?
Getting invited to speak at a conference isn’t an honor. It’s an opportunity. But not everyone understands how to seize it.
Anyone invited to speak at an event wants to have more success than poor Greg Kinnear has here in Little Miss Sunshine. OK, that’s a low bar. But I have some ideas on how you can clear it. Easily and every time.
It all comes down to acknowledging that every speaking opportunity is a sales opportunity. But the best way to seize this opportunity is by not selling at all. or at least not appearing to be selling. The best way to sell is to use these speaking opportunities to teach.
No one sits in a conference hall to be sold to. They are there to learn. So please, teach them something.
If you use your speaking slot to teach rather than sell, and you do this well, the sales opportunities will flow to you once you walk off the stage. If you do this well there may even be a line of people waiting to talk to you. I haven’t seen this in a while, but it can happen.
There are essentially two reasons why speakers do not approach speaking opportunities this way and instead arrive with their sales guns blazing.
The first is that many speakers in revenue roles have only one gear. The sales gear. Even if they are instructed not to be overtly commercial, these admonitions go in one ear and out the other.
The other reason is just pure laziness.
Lazy speakers are not looking to build their brand. They are more about checking the box that is their speaking slot and moving on to the rooftop cocktail party. (I also love rooftop cocktail parties BTW.)
Preparing a thought-leading talk that gives the audience new and compelling information is way too much work for this latter group. It is so much easier to run through the standard pitch deck. Even if they know the audience will hate it. And they will.
If you are a speaker, don’t fall into either group, especially the latter.
If you are an organizer, it’s your job to keep these people off your stage.
I have more to say on this topic on our blog. Read More
The Craft of Conferencing Podcast E1: Daphne Earp Hoppenot, The Vendry
In case you missed it, the inaugural episode of The Craft of Conferencing Podcast came out this week featuring an interview with event-tech founder Daphne Earp Hoppenot, who recently sold The Vendry to Groupize. The conversation covers the state of B2B events, The Vendry’s eventful ride from launch to exit, and much more.
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To discuss newsletter and podcast sponsorships and collaborations, write to us at Charles@craftofconferencing.com.