From the desk of Arel Moodie,
Getting booked to speak is the easy part.
I said it. Everyone wants you to think getting booked is hard. It's not. I can show you how to do it, it's actually very straightforward.
Find conferences that your ideal clients are already attending by googling their title + the word association. Demonstrate to the event planning team why your presentation can help their audience & boom!
It’s pretty straightforward.
You know what isn't so straightforward though?
Dialing in your core messaging so that when you present what you do, people want to book it and your audience wants to hear it.
That right there my friends is 90% of the battle.
And you are about to learn how to move beyond turning your mess into your message (that’s Junior Varsity) but turning your message into your masterpiece, that’s the Pro level!.
Think about it, once you know what to say, how to say it, who to get in front of and how to get in front of them, it's not hard to get booked to speak.
And public speaking is the MOST effective way to build your brand, positively impact lives and acquire high quality clients all at the same time!
In fact most organizations are constantly looking and hoping for new speakers.
Do you know how many times event planners think "we just can't book X again, everyone's seen his message and they want something new"
Events/Conferences are constantly looking for that new star, they want to be the first to say they discovered X speaker.
Now consider this truth.
Think about how hard it is to sell a bottle of cold water on a hot day to someone who doesn't have access to water?
That's why amusement parks can charge you up to $5 for a bottle of water. That same $5 can buy you a pack of 35 bottles of water at the supermarket.
Think about that. In one context, $5 can get you 35 of something. In another context, $5 can get you one of the exact same thing. And if we are being honest, in another context (turning on your faucet) that same product is pretty much free!
It is all about the desired outcome, and the CONTEXT that desired outcome is presented.
So again, if you have the right audience that wants and needs your messaged it’s packaged and presented in the right way, it's not hard to sell it to them.
I can tell you, a door-to-door bottled water salesperson selling that same bottle of water isn’t going to do well.
But that bottle of water, offered on a hot summer’s day in an amusement park will sell, and sell often, rather easily.
So understand this truth: Event planners around the country are desperately looking for a good presenter.(Could that be you?)
But you know what 99% of the stuff that comes across their desk is...generic at best...boring at least... and confusing at worst.
When you dial in your core messaging people want to listen to you.
People want to book you, people want to read your books, people want to consume your content.
The odds are dialing in your core messaging is your biggest problem.
Now look, if you are being booked to speak left and right, you got good messaging, bravo.
But if people aren't chasing you (vs. You chasing them) then your messaging is off.
Not necessarily what you talk about or teach, but HOW you present it to people so they “get it”.
It's that simple.
I learned this in a very unique way though.
Back in 2015, I put together something I was and am very very proud of called The True Speaking Success System. It's an online course that I built to be the ONLY online course someone would need to book speaking engagements.
The content is timeless and rock solid and what I have used and trained hundreds of others with.
But here's the weird weird (really weird) thing I discovered through this process.
Some people would go through the content, apply it and get incredible results. Booking 6 figures in speaking fees, speaking in new states, new countries and rocking it.
While there were others who just couldn’t seem to “get it.” They would tell me "I did the marketing things you told me to do and it didn't work!"
And I was confused. Wait a minute, it's worked for so many others, I use it personally so I know it works. What gives?!?!
I then would inquire more to see how I could help them. And when I tried to diagnose their problem, I started to notice a pattern that was clear as a high noon sky with no clouds to me, but completely foggy to them.
At first I didn't know how to break it to them…
Their messaging was off.
Way off.
What they were offering was confusing, vague or unclear or just not packaged in a desirable way.
And I knew that these people loved their message and believed in it so I didn't want to rain on their parade...but the truth was, they had poor core messaging.
So I sat with this idea for a long time. How do I help this person?
And I realized it wasn't necessarily that their messaging wasn't helpful to people (but honestly sometimes that was the case) but they didn't have it dialed in so that people when they presented it, people desired it!
I discovered this weird paradox that exists for so many.
At the same time they have this incredible message that when people do experience it, changes their lives...but at the same time they have no idea how to talk about what they do so that people get it and want it!
Isn't that fascinating?
Imagine what it would be like to be able to explain what you do to people in a way that instantly makes them want to know more.
Imagine being able to not only have your niche figured out, what your core messaging is for that niche, and present that content in a way that niche wants.
Once your message is really dialed in there are incredible benefits. You become the go to person in your industry and people seek you out. You speak once and get tons of clients and referral speaking engagements from that one.
Imagine knowing exactly what to write your next book on that ties wonderfully into your message (a fun bonus).
If you want to book speaking engagements that can grow your business, pay you a nice speaker fee and be able to turn it on whenever you want like water from your faucet, this is what you've been looking for.:
It's about figuring out how to dial in your message and then get it in front of the right people.
That’s it...
I discovered this process by accident and honestly out of necessity.
When I had just started my desire to become a professional speaker, I was young and thought I couldn’t succeed right away because I had to wait until I was an old grey haired man to do it (because that's all who I saw was doing it at the time).
I knew I wanted to speak but wasn't sure to who and how to do it yet... and it was driving me nuts.
I decided to attend an event by a professional speaker and asked him for advice at the end of his presentation on how I could get started speaking one day. What he said to me was this:
"Well, tell me about what you've accomplished."
I went on to tell him how I grew up in the projects on welfare in Brooklyn, NY made it to college and excelled there, I was president of 4 student organizations, Dean's list student and started a business.
He said "Well why don't you speak to students about how they can overcome challenges and succeed in school and life like you did. He said, ``When I speak to students I'm a father figure, when you speak to them, you will be a big brother figure."
I discovered who I could speak to and had a general idea about what...this was a great starting point.
All my problems are solved now, right?
Nope!
But here was the BIG problem...what exactly should I talk about from my experience? How do I pull out the most important lessons and stories? How do I make them work together so they are coherent? How do I stand out so people would book me?
This is what I call a "one level deeper need". Most people solve a surface level problem but need to go one level deeper to solve the real problem.
And that my friends is where almost everyone who is currently stuck... gets stuck.
They know on the surface, for example, "I teach emotional intelligence or I teach customer service or I teach weight loss" but they don't go one level deeper to realize how to articulate what is their unique way to address this topic and what specific problem they solve!
I became manic about trying to solve this. It took me years but then while listening to a Tony Robbins audio about how the quality of our lives comes down to the quality of questions we ask...I discovered that I was simply asking the wrong questions.
I was asking questions like "why can't I figure this out already? How come I can't just choose something and roll with it? "
Therefore I started figuring out how to ask better and different questions and I discovered a unique pattern.
A pattern that once understood would allow someone to clarify their message and succeed in niches that followed their interests.
Can I be honest with you for a moment... I am someone who has lots of different interests. Bless those people who can do one thing for 40 years in a row. I like to follow my current interests and figure out how to get paid to do so.
By applying the strategy discovered I was able to do extremely well in the Entrepreneurship education space, the student success space, the government funded space, the business space applying what I discovered on how to transform my message into a masterpiece for those niches.
I was able to speak to over 750,000 people in 48 states and 5 countries. I was invited to speak at the White House, to be on TV and generate millions of dollars doing it.
Now I would love for you to experience this process because I know first hand how frustrating it is not knowing what your thing is.
If you have not been able to book speaking engagements or have been too afraid to put yourself out there the way you should it's not your fault.
While other “gurus” are telling you to dump tons of money into ads, content marketing, social media marketing, and Heaven forbid cold-calling (I shutter thinking about spending any of my time doing cold-calling) they have not been focusing on the one thing that actually matters the most.
Dialing in your message so that:
1) The event planner wants to book it
2) The audience is excited about hearing about it
3) It's authentic to you and your story
4) You deliver it in a way that impacts lives
5) Your audience will decide for themselves they want to work with you
Most people never figure out how to make all these steps work so their marketing is actually effective.
Oh and by the way, many of those other "gurus" won't tell you is that most of their best clients' success stories were people who were already really successful and that the so-called guru is taking all the credit for something they didn't really do.
But they won't admit that. I mean how hard is it to help someone by 1% who is already successful at what they are doing?
(Not very is the answer)
The paradox is, everyone else is hoping that you already figured out the hardest part on your own so they can help you with the easy part and take all the credit for your success.
When you dial in your message so that it solves a major problem, so that you present amazing ideas that stick with people in a powerful way and all you have to do is present it the right people and presto... you are in!
And for anyone who thinks your message is already dialed in and rock solid and you know how to present it at a high level...here are the three ways to know if that's REALLY the case
1) You get rebooked by the event host
2) You get referred by the event host to speak at other events
3) People in the audience come up to you and ask you to speak at their event.
If after you speak, people come up to you and tell you that "you did a great job". Here's something to consider.
They are saying that just to be nice to you.
The proof in how well it's going is if you can keep spinning off more and more business from each event you speak at.
And others have made you believe you need some fancy funnel, some expensive software, a huge marketing budget, or a bunch of other things that don't nearly matter as much as a low-tech dialed in message that's presented in the right way as what we call your message masterpiece.
This is super important, there are tons of slimy, disgusting people out there trying to con people. These are those stereotypical untrustworthy used cars salesmen types who care more about manipulating people than helping people.
There are few other mediums where you can get a room full of your ideal audience’s undivided attention, build their trust, demonstrate your expertise and move them to want to work with you in under 1 hour like public speaking allows!
These are the people who just care about sales and don't care about people.
I remember one time I was speaking at an event and one of the fellow speakers started a conversation with me. We started having a very light conversation when a woman from the audience came up to me to tell me how much she appreciated my presentation and gave me her card so that we can look into opportunities to work together later.
I expressed my gratitude for her kind words and let her know how excited I was about the potential opportunity to work with her organization and she left. The speaker turned to me and said "when people come up to me like that, I don't see people, I see dollar signs".
Yuck!
I got immediately disgusted and excused myself because here's the thing that I stand by.
I think you should be an "AND Person" someone who does good AND does well.
Not someone who either does good or does well.
The kind of person who is about making money AND knows there is more to this world than just seeing people as dollar signs. They are humans with dreams, goals, families, feelings and deserve respect.
There is also the other type of person who "claims" they don't care about making money they just want to help people. I don't believe this person, I think they say that just because they think it sounds marketable.
Because in reality, the more money you make and better you do, the more you can help others and the less stressed you are in the process.
And if you see the business side of things as dirty, you won’t take the necessary steps to do the important work to impact people.
I think these "Either/Or" people are the enemy to our industry. They either are all about the money or they are all high and mighty false prophets.
The world needs more "And People" and not "Either/Or" scammers or false prophets.
And either YOU step up and get in front of more audiences or you leave the event planners the tough reality of choosing between shysters who care more about the sound of their own voice instead of helping people, or fluffy speakers.
It has never been more urgent to act than now. As the world starts opening up and settling into the new normal of life post COVID, there is going to be an explosion in demand for speakers in all industries: education, corporate, nonprofit.
More people are going to flood to attend events, driving up the need for and the budget to hire speakers.
More people will be wanting to do more business once they have confidence the world has opened up again so your ability to grow your business will be like no other time in recent history.
The question is whether you will act now to avoid the pending mad rush or find yourself getting started while everyone else has had a massive head start on you.
If you build your message, presentation skillset and who you will contact and how NOW. Then you can just press go and be ahead of the crowd instead of competing with everyone who jumps on the bandwagon once the world opens up seeing people not as humans but as dollar signs.
There is going to be like a mad dash for speakers like people wanting a TV on Black Friday at Walmart.
Only those preparing the right way NOW will be ready to benefit THEN. Most people unfortunately will miss out on this unique timing unless they take action today.
This is truly a unique time!
So you have to start dialing in your message and getting clear on your outreach plan.
But you know what’s funny about this whole “dialing in your message” thing.
The funny thing is, most really really good speakers know they have a message that can help people but just not know how to explain it in a way that doesn't sound generic.
Do you know that feeling?
Have you ever had someone ask you what you speak about and then you try to answer you just get a blank stare by the person because they are confused by what you said and you honestly confused yourself based on how you tried to explain it?!!?!?
But you know your experience isn't super generic. Your ideas can help people so deeply if given the chance to share them, right? Your message is gold but it’s hard nailing down how to talk about it in a powerful way that people get and therefore will book you.
Then figure out how to deliver the YEARS of experience you have to a one hour presentation so people are engaged, life changed and impacted. That's the tricky part.
I remember when I was in this place myself and I figured out how to solve it by pure luck.
I built a relationship with an author (long story short, I read his booked, emailed him and asked if I could interview him, he said yes, we then stayed in touch).
He knew what I did and took a gamble on inviting me to emcee because they needed someone. It went well. I was asked to travel with the company to emcee a few more events.
That's where the magic began to happen, I started traveling the country with people who figured out how to build 7-Figure companies before they turned 30 years old.
During the travel in between events, I would ask them tons of questions to figure out how they thought and I learned tons of what I felt were secrets to shortening the learning curve to achieve a goal.
Then I started applying what I learned from these rockstars who were in all sorts of industries like Real Estate, Education, Recycling, Moving Companies, Advertising, Tech and so much more. And by applying what I learned from them I was able to help take my business to 7-Figures in sales.
I went from being a clueless kid from the Projects of Brooklyn who grew up on welfare to running a successful company. I learned things in those closed door conversations that never get talked about.
I left that experience with what I feel like are secrets most people just don't know.
Secrets I've used to be named by Inc. Magazine one of the top young entrepreneurs in the country, that has got me featured in media outlets like The New York Times, USA Today, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, PBS, and countless other news outlets.
It's what helped lead me to figure out how to dial in my message by uncovering the holy grail of all businesses in my opinion “Product/Market Fit” and now I want to share the years of experience in a way that's easy to understand in the world of public speaking that will only take you a couple of weeks (not years) to learn.
Here's what I started discovering as I started coaching people from around the world.
They already know what to say, it's just that they are too close to the forest to see the trees.
The point is, they are too close to their story. Imagine trying to ask a fish to explain how it breathes underwater and how it swims so efficiently.
If a fish could talk, I'm sure it would not be able to explain it well.
But scientists can study that same fish and break it all down.
When I would talk to my clients, they would feel stuck, I would ask them some questions and they would answer with the most magnificent answers!
I would practically jump up and down and say "That's it, what you just said is THE answer!"
And you know what they would all say to me...
It was the weirdest thing, they would reply with "What did I just say?"
It is because they were speaking from their hearts not their heads.
I needed to figure out how to get people out of overthinking (hello!) And get them to a place they can get the best answers out.
And I came up with this admittedly strange process that works every time. It helps people pull out exactly what matters most to them, exactly what they care about talking about and how to position it in a way that works.
And what makes this process so different, is all you have to do is simply answer some specific questions, that are in a specific order and then when it's all put together it's just like Mr. Miyagi teaching Daniel-san to wax off and wax off.
Daniel-san had no idea he was learning Karate by painting a fence or waxing a car but when he put it all together he had learned it!
That's what this process is like. By taking you through our proprietary system, you discover what's already inside of you.
It’s how you create your masterpiece like Michelangelo sculpting the statue David.
When Michelangelo was asked by the pope about the secret of his genius, particularly in regards to the statue of David, largely considered to be the greatest sculpting masterpiece of all time.
Michelangelo responded by saying, “It's simple. I just remove everything that is not David.”
He crafted a masterpiece.
It’s time to turn YOUR message into a masterpiece.
You should be realizing now that it’s time for you to develop your Message Masterpiece, right?
Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to explain what you do and people immediately get it and want to hire you to speak..
Imagine going on stage, virtual or in-person, and rocking the stage. Knowing exactly what to say, in a unique way that's totally and authentically owned by you.
That impacts the lives of everyone in the audience very deeply AND causes them to want to work with you more deeply adding up to 6-figures or more in additional revenue to your bottom line!
Imagine having the utmost confidence when you speak because before you even get on stage you know you will hit a home run that will impact your audience and lead to more business.
That's what this Message to Masterpiece process does for you, it chips away everything that is not your magnum opus in message form so you can share your message masterpiece to the world!
You have seen why dialing in your message is the most important step to succeeding in public speaking and public speaking is an amazingly rewarding way to grow your business while spreading a message you care about and you have seen why getting in front of the right audience is crucial and how to get in front of them.
As I see it you now have 3 options.
Option #1: Do absolutely nothing and stay exactly where you are right now.
There is a reason that in a conference with hundreds or thousands of attendees only a handful of people speak on stage. Because most people are attendees and not presenters in life. There are more people who prefer to sit in the seat than stand on stage. Lots of people may say they want to, but very few people will ever be able to do it.
If you are someone who prefers to always be the person sitting in the audience at the event instead of standing on stage, I get it.
There's nothing wrong with that. Stay where you are.
Option #2: Do it yourself.
You can spend years trying to figure it out, and put out messaging that doesn't get you booked and doesn't give you the chance to impact lives just so you can feel the pride of being "self-made."
That kind of ego is the downfall of many well intentioned people, because everyone who succeeds stands on the shoulders of giants.
If you are willing to put yourself out there for rejection after rejection, then maybe you just might accidentally figure it all out. Good Luck.
Option #3: Let me do the heavy lifting for you.
I can walk you through a process that took me years to perfect and will take you weeks to benefit from.
By the time most people are still thinking about it you can be booking events, positively impacting lives, growing your business’ revenue, building your brand, and attracting your dream clients.
BTW...
If you want me to tell you what you should speak about and want me to give the content for you just to regurgitate on a stage, I can't help you. You have to be able to have a track record of achieving what you want to teach people on stage or else I can't do anything for you.
Think about all the people who can benefit from you stepping into this new role and taking your public speaking to the next level…
Do it for them and do it for yourself, because you deserve it. Schedule your strategy call and I promise you it will give you incredible clarity on your next steps as a professional speaker.
Click on this link now to watch our free training to discover how to dial in your message, get it in front of your ideal clients and create a presentation that impacts lives while attracting high quality clients.
Your friend and coach,
Arel Moodie
