How This Author Turned a Single Invitation Into 10 Speaking Gigs
/How can you transform a single invitation into a much bigger opportunity to grow your audience, attract clients and expand your impact as a thought leader?
A few months before her book launch, my client, Barbara Trautlein, was invited to deliver a webinar for Project Management Institute (PMI), a large, global industry organization. Given the size and relevance of their audience, the webinar presented a great opportunity for Barbara to share her message and to help launch her book, Change Intelligence.
The virtual event was a huge success. Even though the live webinar could only accommodate 1000 attendees, over 4000 PMI members registered for and downloaded the recording of her session.
It’s All About the Follow-Through
After the webinar, she followed up with attendees and the PMI leaders who had originally contacted her to continue the conversation and to explore additional ways to add value to the organization.
These follow-up actions not only resulted in new subscribers, additional book sales and an immediate invitation to deliver another webinar, but also led to further introductions to other PMI practice leaders and key players within the organization.
Since the initial webinar, Barbara has secured over 10 additional opportunities to partner with the organization, including two invitations to speak for the annual Global Congress, a paid keynote for the Chicago Leadership Forum, and speaking invitations for three regional events. Over the past 18 months, she’s grown her brand and visibility within the international PMI community and directly reached over 15,000 potential readers, fans and clients - all from one single invitation.
For 2015, she’s been invited to partner with them on some larger projects, giving her further opportunities to spread her message, grow her platform and expand her work with the companies and leaders who belong to PMI.
Make the Most of Each Opportunity
After the success of the May 2013 webinar, Barbara could have easily “moved on” to the next audience or have been distracted by the next launch event on her very full calendar. Instead, she chose to make the most of the opportunity in front of her - to build a deeper relationship with PMI and their membership of over 700,000 - and is reaping the benefits of that decision.
Take two minutes to reflect on the invitations and opportunities you have in front of you right now. Ask yourself:
What steps can you take to deliver more value for an upcoming event to help open the door for future opportunities?
Do you need to send a follow-up email after a recent keynote, guest post or interview to thank the host and request a chat to explore additional ways to partner together?
How can you effectively keep in touch with the relationships you’ve made within key organizations and groups to build trust and deepen the relationship?
By staying focused and choosing to make the most of each opportunity, your results will multiply and you’ll grow your impact and income more quickly and with less effort.
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