** Announcement: Read the end of this post for a special announcement about mentoring! **

“Call for approach” means that you – during the speech, and preferably close to the end – give the audience a reason to come up to you after the speech.

You could say things like: “I am writing a book on xxx and would love to hear your examples, please approach me after my speech if you have a good story”, or “If you want more examples do not be afraid to approach me after the speech.”

The reason for the “call for approach” is that many audience members are afraid to approach a speaker. They might be shy, introverted, intimidated or even star struck. By giving them permission to approach you you encourage them to come up – giving you valuable opportunities to connect, network and research.

I promise you you will get more people coming up to you after your speech, and by people approaching you you will get more stories you can use, more connections you can nurture and more leads you can use.

** Special announcement: After 5 years of giving free advise on Professional Speaking but saying “no” to all requests for mentoring I have decided to take on a FEW mentees to help them build a global speaking career. If you are interested in knowing more send me an email [email protected] **

There are 3 kind of conferences a speaker can speak at:

Industry conferences
Internal events
Client events
Today let’s talk about Client events.

Remember:

a) You are talking to strangers

When you speak to an audience where not everyone knows everyone you have to pay more attention to build rapport with the group and within the group.

b) They are there as guests – treat them like guests

A client event is a gift. Clients are there to feel special. That means you need to have a more positive message, have to be more entertaining and have a less “teaching approach” than when you speak at an internal conference.

c) They are there for a purpose and that purpose is not you.

Remember companies invite clients to sell something. That means that clients will very much appreciate if you incorporate some of the sales pitch into your speech. It looks so credible if the external speaker – in a believable way – pushes the clients products to the audience. And they love that. Or, if you can not do that, help by expressing what an amazing company the company is. Anything to help sell the client to his client.

Remember: Your speech is there to sell the client.