I think we all have them. The business crushes. Those individuals whose work we respect as much as we appreciate the ‘who they are’ aspect as well. Two of my big crushes are Speaker Launcher, Jane Atkinson and Customer Experience Expert, David Avrin. I tend to admire them from afar because I don’t want the be ‘that girl’ who runs up and asks for their autograph. Yeah, they are kind of a big deal to me.
I have several business crushes and many of them attended the Canadian Association of Professional Speaker’s (CAPS) annual conference this past December. I was in heaven, getting to speak to them in person, learn from them, enjoy their company – but it was a whole different ballgame when a few of them showed up to hear me present. I was just fine learning from them, but the idea of teaching them totally freaked me out.
So, what DO you do when your business idols are in the audience?
You smile. You take a deep breath and banish the demons that whisper in your ear. And you deliver.
I was leading a “Meet the Experts” session on using quizzes as your email list and website opt-in, and how to make it more likely to go viral. You have all seen those personality type quizzes on Facebook. People LOVE to take them and to share their results. My talk was on how to take those principles and apply them to your speaking business to create a larger, more engaged list, AND how to make them eminently more sharable in the hopes that they go viral.
My 3 sessions were sold out, meaning there was limited seating, and people still dragged their chairs over to hear me. It didn’t quell the nervousness though when David Avrin (visibilityinternational.com) sat down and looked at me expectantly. My idol was in my audience!
I smiled. I took a deep breath, and I delivered. Apparently. I have almost no memory of what I said. Thank goodness I know my subject matter like the back of my hand.
When the sessions were over, the moderator asked a few people to share their top takeaways, and I was completely flabbergasted when David stood up and told the entire room that of all the learning so far at the convention, MY session had provided the most valuable content for his business. I was even more tickled when he came to my booth to provide a video testimonial.
This post is number one in a series on the actual subject matter of using quizzes as your opt-in but thought I’d share with you what David Avrin said, just to whet your appetite.
