Have you ever attended a seminar expecting that it will either eliminate or reduce doubt, confusion, ignorance or fear? Most everything taught in seminars is designed to do one or more of those things. If you're like most of us, you've returned more than once from an event without the solutions you sought.
How does it feel when the speaker's material has no relevance to your concerns? How does it feel when the speaker is unable to make the material relevant to current events that have derailed you? For me, if the lecture, sermon or presentation has no relevance to the challenges (personal or professional) I experience, the speaker hasn't done his/her job.
I count on the meeting planner and event organizers to attract speakers who can solve problems relevant to the organization. It's your job as the speaker to match your expertise with organizations that can benefit from your expertise.
In selecting your target market, determine exactly how your talent, skill and expertise is relevant to the specific needs of each audience to whom you would have the privilege of speaking. As an expert who speaks, you're in the privileged position of influencing the lives, practices and attitudes of others.
Most of us read the newspaper and are a little more informed of conflict, corruption and crime, less secure and a little more disturbed by man's inhumanity to man. We don't actually do much with that information, except possibly become a little more suspicious of the behavior of others.
Convert the time you spend reading newspapers and magazines into a more productive practice. When you read current events in newspapers and magazines or on the Internet, begin to analyze whether or not the subject of the article - a trend, an industry in crisis, the restructuring of an organization, a merger or acquisition, a cultural concern - is one from which your expertise can benefit.
For instance, when organizations downsize or merge, imagine what issues the leaders are facing with employees and managers. There could be anger, fear, insecurity or a rise in stress-related illnesses. All of these reactions cost the organization money in the long and short run.
Put yourself in the position of the people in the story. How could your expertise help them? Can you create order where there is little to none? Can you inform them of some historical significance that can put things in perspective to redirect negative behavior to a more proactive and productive pattern? Can you teach coping mechanisms such as anger management or communication skills or techniques which improve performance and lower health costs for companies?
Will telling your personal experience, your rags to riches story or your philosophy move them past limited thinking?
How can your expertise improve production and decrease turnover?
It's a fun exercise to pick up a copy of the corporate meeting planners directory or a national association directory and scroll down the list. Ask yourself if and how each organization can benefit from your presentation.
You may decide that your target market is made up of independent contractors, entrepreneurs and commissioned sales people. You may find your target market is direct selling companies, multi level marketing companies, insurance and real estate companies.
You may be fortunate enough that your expertise satisfies management, sales and administrative audiences. Where can you find organizations which represent the interests of each of those groups?
Identifying your target markets will direct how you write your sales copy and what you put in your promotional package. The more precise you are in targeting your market and defining your niche, the easier it will be for you to secure engagements and properly direct those who represent you.