I’m still rebelling over “getting started” with the New Year. I keep procrastinating thinking, “It’s stillll kind of-sort of- a holiday weekend. I mean it’s only the 4th…”
If you’ll be hitting it hard on Monday, here’s a few things for January in regards to speaking:
January is HIGH HIRING Season:
This is the month a loooot of people book speakers for their conferences. Depending on the size of the conference- they’re booking anywhere from March to the end of 2025.
(If you are doing your own outreach – you might get lucky for April, but I’d focus heavily on Summer and Fall events.)
Because it “high hiring season”, make sure your website and assets are up to date. If your website header is a pic from 30 lbs ago…you probably need to change that.
Make sure your website has clear messaging in regards to what problem you are solving and why you are the one to deliver the solution. It can be your speaking style, expertise, or personal story – preferably all three.
Videos
Some trends on video I experienced last year, that I am guessing are still a thing, are:
-They still want demo reels 3-4 minutes long, but make sure the tempo (size of each clip) is shorter. I personally timed some of the top speakers clip lengths in their newer demo reels and many of the them are 3-7 second clips. Those old long interview style videos with you talking for 90 seconds are outdated.
-I was asked for a LOT of video shorts this past year from both meeting planners and bureaus. I personally use OpusClip for captioning my shorts. It does ok coming up with it’s own shorts based on a longer video.
However, since I am comedy- where my clip starts and stops is very important. I usually upload the exact video I want and then have it do it’s magic. Saves sooooo much time editing!!
Here is a coupon for 30% off your first month if you decide it’s something you can use. http://opus.pro/stacyp30
-I was also asked by certain selection committees for larger conferences for 10 minutes of raw, unedited video of my talk. I am guessing they have gotten burned by flashy edited demo videos and want to see the real thing.
Which leads me to Demo Reels.
-Because I’ve been asked now more than once for 10 minutes of uncut footage, if you are going to spend the money to get a demo reel done, I recommend you NOT recording certain parts of your talk in small bits. I’d do a solid 10-12 (Tedx Length) with your story in it.
-Also, with demo reels have 2 versions. One with your contact info, the other without so that it is “speaker bureau friendly”. If you decide to do a bureau outreach you’ll be sharing the no contact info video with them in your campaign. All contact from anyone looking to hire you from their website should go directly to the bureau. Not you.
-(BTW January is NOT a good month to reach out to bureaus because they are slammed, but I did it anyway last year and had a really high success rate. But that’s a whole other thing that needs an article of it’s own.)
Things to Remember for 2025 with Content:
-Gen Z is now very much a part of the workforce. They speak a VERY different language, hold different values, and are used to quick paced content. I’ve been hired by my first Gen Z’er for an event as a planner. They also like real authentic speaking styles – not overly polished, overly presented talks. They grew up with raw social media. Not high production VHS tapes. I LOVE Gen Z. I think they are fabulous but they have very different skill sets and communication styles.
-This has always been true, but now more than ever- you need to be interesting. There’s so much noise in the world. You giving stats on stage or talking about how successful you are and expecting people to be engaged is really old school. Be relevant. Be real.
-Finally with content, I travel a lot and people are really hurting everywhere right now. In every one of your audiences someone just found out they had cancer, got cheated on, have a “problem child” at home, struggling financially, dealing with burnout, are lonely, struggling with mental health, etc. BE KIND. Speaking is never about you and your comfort level. It is always for your audience. Be kind to staff. Be kind to the audience. Be kind to people on the airplane. I can be a real jerk sometimes, but I really watch myself and try and be a light when I’m out. How good you are as a speaker is never just about your talk. It’s the experience of you.
And now to make things about me:
–I’ve thought about putting together a demo reel shoot for a while now. It is where a small group of speakers would meet with me as a group and we would work and polish each of your 10 minutes of demo reel material so it’s performance ready, then shoot the next day. Is this of interest to anyone? If so, I’d love to know because I’ll give it a try. (Renting space and filming can be expensive so I’d do my best to keep it cheap but it’d probably still be a few grand as an FYI.)
And for the sales pitch portion of this monologue:
-I do have a coaching special that will be available until January 12th. It is 1 year (all of 2025) of unlimited one-on-once coaching/consulting with me for your speaking business for $8,500. You can learn about it here: https://www.boringtosoaringspeeches.com/store
Alright, I’m going to enjoy (by enjoy I mean be lazy eating, sleeping and watching, “Yellowstone”) the last day and half of this “holiday season”.
Kindly, Stacy P.
