371-SYB-Diane-Speaker-Reel.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Carol Cox:
Learn what to include in your speaker video reel and on your speaker page with our lead speaking coach, Diane Diaz. On this episode of the Speaking Your Brand podcast. More and more women are making an impact by starting businesses, running for office and speaking up for what matters. With my background as a TV political analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I interview and coach purpose driven women to shape their brands, grow their companies, and become recognized as influencers in their field. This is speaking your brand, your place to learn how to persuasively communicate your message to your audience.
Diane Diaz:
Welcome to the Speaking of Brand podcast. I’m Diana Diaz and I am lead speaking coach at Speaking Your Brand. Now, if you are working on building your speaker brand and you should be and you’re starting to apply to speaking engagements, conferences, you’re pitching yourself to speak at different events and meetings, there are two things that are going to be really helpful for you to have. One of those is a speaker video reel, and the other one is a speaker page on your website. We recommend that you have both of those things as you’re building your speaking business. Now, why does having a video reel of you speaking and a speaker page matter for building your speaking business? Well, you want to get more and better speaking engagements. So those two things are going to help you do that. And you want to get paid to speak or you want to raise your fees if you’re already getting paid and you want to be seen as the go to speaker on whatever specific topic or area that you speak about, you want to walk the walk and talk the talk so that you can be seen as a professional speaker so that you can achieve your speaking goals, get paid to speak, and get more and better speaking engagements. Now, what I’m going to chat with you about today is why you need a speaking video reel and how you can use it, and then tips for creating an effective speaker reel.
Diane Diaz:
There are some things to include and even some things not to include. And then why you need a speaking page on your website and the key ingredients. Now I will tell you there is one important thing about your speaking page that’s a bit controversial as to whether or not it should be included. So we’re going to talk about that. And at the end you might be surprised by this. And if you’re new here, welcome at Speaking Your Brand. We work with women entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders to help them define their thought leadership and create their signature talks. And if you need video footage for your speaker reel that you’re going to want to create after you listen to this podcast, make sure to come to our three day in-person client retreat. This three day retreat, you’ll go through exercises and trainings. They’re going to help you be a stronger and more impactful speaker, and you’ll get hands on feedback on your delivery, your stage presence, your storytelling, and more. And on day three, the bonus is you’re going to get professional filming and an edited video of your speaking for your speaker reel so you can apply to come to the retreat. You can go to speaking your brand.com/retreat again, that’s speaking your brand.com/retreat. Now let’s get into why you need a speaker reel and what you’re going to include in it. I’m going to go over the top three things with you.
Diane Diaz:
And if you want more, if you want to know more things to include in your speaker reel, come to our in-person retreat, because we’ll talk about that there. And also in the show notes for this podcast, you can find examples of speaker reels from some of our clients and from myself. So you can get an idea of what what a speaker reel looks like and what to include. But let’s talk about some of the top three things that should go into the speaker reel so that you can get the best, most effective speaker reel to help position you as a professional speaker. First of all, make sure to include footage of audience reactions. Yes, the speaker reel focuses on you as a speaker, you on stage, and showcases you, but you also want to showcase how the audience is responding to what you’re saying. So make sure that when you hire a videographer and you give them instruction on what you’re trying to do, make sure they’re getting footage of the audience. This might be the audience raising their hands when you ask a question, or maybe they’re applauding, or maybe they’re writing down or they’re just listening, or they’re doing some activity that you’ve asked them to do, but you want to make sure to incorporate that so that the event organizers can see that you can really command the audience there. Second, make sure that your speaker reel incorporates the key messages that you speak about often, because that’s what you’re trying to position yourself as a speaker that speaks on these topics.
Diane Diaz:
So make sure that what is incorporated into your speaker reel backs up that brand promise that you’ve talked about on your speaker page, which we will talk about in just a moment. And then finally, you want to make sure to incorporate testimonials from event organizers and audience members into your speaker reel. This could be overlaid as words, or it might even be video testimonials of people talking about the experience that they had at one of your talks. This will showcase the impact of your message and your content on the audience directly from them, in their words, from either the audience or the event organizer. So make sure to include that in your speaker reel as well. Okay, now you’ve worked on your speaker reel. Now you’re going to create that speaker page on your website. What should you include on your speaker page? Well, again, we’re going to have some examples in the show notes. But let’s talk about some top, maybe the top three things that you can include in your speaker page to position yourself as that sought after speaker, make sure that you include number one that you. Topics that you speak about. You can list out maybe three topics and then give a little blurb on each one. And this is going to help. Event organizers and meeting planners know what you can offer to their audience, so they don’t have to guess on what you’re going to speak on.
Diane Diaz:
And it sort of helps you control what it is you speak about, so that you don’t have to create ten different types of talks or reinvent the wheel. Every time you get asked to speak, you’ll be able to position yourself to speak on the topics that you know you want to speak on, that you know you can deliver value to your audience. Second, you want a clear call to action to help your audience know what to do. So when they come to the website, how can they book you? How can they contact you for their event to speak at their event, make sure to put either a book Now button or a contact button. Make it very clear. Give them that call to action to let them know how they can get to you and what you want them to do to take that next step to work with you. The third thing that you should include on your speaker page, on your website or video clip. You is speaking. These are going to help the event organizers see that you have the experience and the know how to really deliver a message to the audience. This is you in action. These could be video clips on you, of you on smaller stages, bigger stages, uh, in workshops, however you deliver your speaking content.
Diane Diaz:
Include those video clips of you speaking. And again, if you come to our retreat, you’ll get these video clips that you can use on your speaker reel. But this is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, of you actually delivering so that the event organizers know that when they hire you to speak, they are going to get someone who can really bring impact to the audience. Also, on your speaker page, on your website, make sure that you include keywords for how you want to be known. Because remember, search. When people search for you, want to get found, use you language. So focus on the audience, the talk that you give and getting them to hire you. It’s not about you, it’s not about you. It’s about what you bring to their audience and to the event. So make sure you use you language, use clear marketing language. Make it very clear what your how you’re positioning yourself, what you want them to do. So very clear marketing language and then use language from any feedback forms that you’ve collected at your talk. So when you use those feedback forms and you get someone says, oh, Carol was an excellent speaker, she really delivered on the topic of AI in marketing. You can use that as sort of a testimonial and language in your speaker reel. So you can pull that directly from from talks that you’ve given and from those feedback forms.
Diane Diaz:
Now, I mentioned there is one thing that’s a little bit controversial that some people are unsure. I don’t know if I should include this on my speaker page and you might be surprised by this. So what is that thing? Well, include your speaker fee. Now if you’re thinking to yourself, ooh, I don’t want to do that because then some people might not hire me if it’s too high or I might under sell myself, I might underprice myself. Well, we say include a speaker fee or a range, or even say speaker fees. Start at and then give a starting price point. Now, why do you want to do this and why is it controversial? Well, again, you might feel like, well, I don’t really need to include the fee because every time I talk to somebody who wants to hire me, then we’ll talk about it and I’ll figure out what to charge. So why is including your speaker fee controversial, and why do you want to include it on your speaker page? Well, including your speaker fee can feel a little controversial, because sometimes there’s this feeling that it might make an event organizer or someone looking for a speaker have an immediate no so that your price, your fee, is too high. So they’ll see it and think, oh, I can’t, I can’t afford to hire them. So I’m just not even going to contact them. And what if your fee is too high? What happens then? Here is the thing.
Diane Diaz:
When you don’t include a speaker fee on your speaker page, it sends the message that you’re not really a professional speaker, or that maybe it’s not worth it to pay you to speak. Maybe you don’t charge anything to speak, and then event organizers don’t want to pay. And it attracts events that don’t have a budget, frankly, to pay you. It attracts event organizers that maybe they have no budget. They want you to speak for free, and they’re going to go ahead and reach out because you don’t show a speaker fee there. So you must speak for free. Well, including your fee or arrange doesn’t mean that you can’t ever speak for free. You can still do free speaking engagements if you want to. You can always, you know, have a conversation with someone and then make an arrangement that you’re going to speak for free in exchange for maybe some other type of recognition or something like that. But including the fee sets a tone for how you’re going to be perceived as a speaker. It positions you as a professional speaker who knows their value, knows their worth and commands. Getting paid to speak because we do need more women out there speaking, but we need to get paid what we’re worth. So when you start putting your speaker fee on your speaker page on your website, I think what you’re going to find is that as more people contact you, those with a budget will start to reach out to you, and over time, you’re going to be able to raise your speaker fee.
Diane Diaz:
So make sure to include that on your speaker page on your website. So if you want to get video of yourself speaking, to have those video clips to include in your speaker reel and on your speaker page, and I know you’re going to want to do that, come to our three day in-person client retreat, where you’ll get to go through exercises and trainings to help you be a stronger and more impactful speaker, to really command that audience and to command that fee. You’ll also get hands on feedback on your delivery, your stage presence, your storytelling. And on the third day, we’re going to do professional filming. So you will get professionally edited video of you speaking that you can use in this speaker reel that you’re going to create. Now, if you want to attend our our in-person client retreat, you can apply today at speakingyourbrand.com/retreat. That’s speakingyourbrand.com/retreat. So we’re continuing our series Level Up your Speaking and on our next episode we’re going to talk about how to handle tech glitches, Q&A conference sessions and panels with confidence so you can know what to do when things don’t always necessarily go as planned, so that you can manage those things and be a professional speaker. All right, well, until next time. Thanks for listening.
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