189. Building Powerful Relationships in the Speaking Industry: Insights from Live Events and Todd Herman

“I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally, I became that person. Or he became me." - Cary Grant

Being in the audience is as important as on the stage.

Are you attending live events to network and grow your business? In this episode, we’re talking about a firsthand experience to attending a live event and the incredible opportunities that arose from it. From booking speaking events to collaborating with like-minded professionals, Laurie-Ann highlights the benefits of in-person connections.

Building deep relationships is key in any business success. Live events can provide a unique opportunity. Not only can you meet potential clients, but you can also forge alliances with other speakers who may refer you to new events or invite you to collaborate on projects. Laurie-Ann emphasizes the importance of specificity when providing feedback to fellow speakers, as it shows genuine interest and fosters stronger connections.

The highlight of the episode is Laurie-Ann's encounter with renowned speaker Todd Herman. Learn how Todd's speaking strategy of booking 68 events in just 90 days transformed his business and eliminated the need for further marketing. Discover how a simple call out from the stage can impact your credibility and open doors for future collaborations.

Here's what you'll learn:

• The power of attending in-person events for building relationships and expanding your network.

• Todd Herman's success story and his strategic speaking approach that led to 68 speaking events in 90 days.

• The influence of call outs from the stage and how they can elevate your credibility and attract new opportunities.

• The value of engaging with the audience and using real-life stories to connect on a deeper level.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Grab the Directory of Places to Speak resource

• Grab the FREE resource Take the Stage

• Follow me on Instagram: @laurieann.murabito

• For more about me and what I do, check out my website.

• If you’re looking for support to grow your business faster, be positioned as an authority in your industry, and impact the masses, schedule a call to explore if you’d be a good fit for one of my coaching programs.

Transcript:

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:00:04]:

Hey. Hey. Hey. We are gonna be talking about building relationships with other speakers, especially when you start attending live events. Let's get on to the show. Well, hello, everyone. I am back from a live event this past weekend and wanted to really dive into this because live events are so amazing. Now I was an attendee.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:00:29]:

I was not a speaker, but I'm gonna put it on my list of, places that I want to speak at. But it was a very intimate small group. So I'm talking about maybe under 50 people, and lot of fabulous people in the room. And I gotta tell you, like, attending live events in person versus virtually. I mean, what other way can you just, like, turn to the person next to you or at the next table and extend your hand and say, hi. Hi. It's nice to meet you. Tell me about what you do.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:01:03]:

Tell me where you come from, more about your business, who are your clients because maybe I can help you. So literally at this event, I probably I did book to speaking events. Invited 7 people onto my podcast, so stay tuned for that. And lots of collaboration. Like, hey. We have similar audiences. Maybe we could do some sort of an email swap. Maybe we could do a live stream or a workshop training together.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:01:37]:

Those are all sorts of things that really happen when you are attending in person events. Because, yes, it could happen virtually, but there is something about just seeing somebody, having those deep relationships. Well, I should say, having deep conversations and building deeper relationships with people. So I just wanna encourage you that if you haven't, like, stepped back into attending in person events or you're kinda attending 1 every once in a great while. Like, really reconsider it. I am sure that in your local area, there are some sort of networking events, maybe small half day or even, you know, a couple of hour type conferences. Think of your local chamber. I mean, you can always just kind of, you know, get back into the groove or the practice of in person events.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:02:30]:

And It doesn't always have to be your ideal clients because you never know who you're going to meet, who's gonna be able to connect you with somebody. So I really do have this belief that I always meet interesting people. So let me tell you about what happened at this event. As a speaker, I love to go up to the other speakers, you know, either beforehand or afterwards, and just tell them how much I enjoyed their presentation. And I wanna encourage you to do that as well, because that is really building relationships. And I will We'll also tell you that you don't wanna just say, hey. Loved your presentation. Be really specific.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:03:11]:

What Story did you hear that reminded you of something? You know, does the speaker have a book? Have you read that book? You know, was there a Key point that, oh my god. That was such a great reminder that I need to implement that. Be very specific with your feedback to the speaker. So Todd Herman was speaking at this conference. Again, small, intimate group, but I would say just about everybody had the opportunity to speak with him. And I went up to him before he was speaking. It wasn't during one of the breaks. I can't remember exactly what was going on at the time, but I wanted to share with him because I have his book.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:03:54]:

And if you ever are attending a live event and you have a physical copy of someone's book, you know, bring that copy with you. You can always have them sign it. I wish that I had done that, but I can't I totally spaced it on that one. So I shared with him that I had his book, and there was an event earlier this year, you know, when, me and my sisters were together when my mom passed away. And I was telling him, like, something happened with me and my sisters that really locked in exactly what he talks about. Todd Herman is all about the alter ego. If you haven't read his book, I highly recommend that you read his book, but it I will make sure that that link to his book is down in the show notes. So alter ego about stepping into that other person.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:04:42]:

Who do you need to be? So One of the things that I work on with my clients is that speaker alter ego. You could have that speaker confidence. I want my clients to, This is always my goal, is to show up as that professional speaker even if they've never spoken before. Their very first event. They always feel like this is what they tell me. They always feel like they have, like, 5 years of experience. So we shared with him the cliff notes version of that story. And then he shared something very touching with me.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:05:16]:

And, basically, he did ask me What I did and I shared with him, I help coaches and consultants write and deliver presentations that track the perfect clients to them. So we ended up talking briefly about he's like, I'm gonna be talking more about this, but he shared with me that he booked 68 speaking events within 90 days. That's a lot of events, by the way. And I have so much admiration for that because I remember once when I actually went down to Florida, my husband and I were gonna spend the winter down there, and that's all he had to say to me was, let's spend the winter down there, so 1st 3 months. And I probably spoke at least once a week, if not more, definitely more, during that time that I was down there because what I was trying to do was I was trying to build a name for myself down in the West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale area. So I did a lot of speaking. So I have a lot not exactly 68. I probably did about a third of that, you know, within that 90 day period, but that's a lot of speaking.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:06:31]:

But he'll tell you, I never had to market my business again. So what a testament to what's the power of speaking and what it can do for your business. You know, 60 d eight events in 90 days, and never having to market his business again. He did it very strategically, and we'll talk more about that. I've actually invited him onto the podcast. I am Hoping to hear back from him really soon, and we'll see what he has to say. So the other thing that I wanna share with you is that from the stage. And I've shared this with you before about using real life story with people that are in the audience, using those impromptu stories, you know, from the stage, because that will really lock in, like, either the message that you're talking about.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:07:19]:

It helps you connect with the audience because you're pointing out or picking people out or their stories out or such and such said this. He's talking about how he built his business. That was the whole point of his presentation. And he gets to the point where he's talking about the 68 speaking events in 90 days, and he's talking more about his strategy, and what he did, and how he was able to negotiate these all of these events and getting the right people in the room. That's key. That is very key. That was part of what he did, and I will save that information for when he comes on to the podcast. But then what he did, totally unexpected, but, really made me smile because I was like, I talk about doing this all the time.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:08:09]:

Except this time, I was the one that was picked out in the audience. He said from the stage, and if you are looking to write and deliver a presentation with confidence, then go and see that woman right there, and he pointed right to me. And, of course, the whole audience is looking at me. And most of the most of the people, I would say, maybe a third of the people I had actually already met, and they probably already knew what I did. But It was also a great, it was a great way just to reinforce what I did and maybe remind some people. But, again, It's about engaging with the audience. That was something that he did right then and there. And the other thing is that then we got to have dinner with him.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:08:54]:

You know, as a speaker and one of my friends, she does a lot of speaking, and we were kind of hanging out together. She you know, like, we know what it's like when you go to events. You end up eating dinner alone because nobody's, nobody wants to ask the speaker like, hey. What are you doing? So she actually asked I'm like, hey. You know, like, a few of us are getting together for dinner at this state local steakhouse if you'd like to join us. And he just had to check with, some plans that he had and some meetings, but he ended up joining us. So there we were. It was, like, table of 6.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:09:27]:

Here's with 5 other women having a lovely dinner, and we had lots of great conversation. But what are also a great way to really, really get to know the speaker, build those relationships, and he just got to know us all. And so, again, this is why I'm actually reaching out to him, to ask him to be on the podcast because he his experience and how he grew his business is So in alignment with what I constantly am talking about. But also because we build that relationship from dinner, from our conversation. And I'll share more later on another time. What how I'm just like another way that I touch another touch sorry, Christine. Just let's fix that. Another touch point on how I'm asking him to be on my podcast, but I'll share more about that at another time.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:10:17]:

But the big thing that I want you to take away with today is 1, start looking back into getting back into in person events. Talk about building relationships quickly with people. Again, I walked away from a 3 day event with 2 speaking events, 7 podcast invites, you know, to be on my podcast, and also, at least 5 different collaborations with other people. Building relationships, Todd Todd Herman speaking about me from the stage pointing me out. I mean, that was priceless. And, again, as the speaker, you want to go to events early and actually just get to know the crowd, get to know what their pain problems are, what brought them to that event so that you can mention some of those things and tie them into your presentation from the stage. And it's also just such a great way as a speaker, but even as an attendee, to get market research, to talk to people like, hey. Are you speaking? Are you using speaking? How How are you? You like, how often are you speaking? I did have a conversation with another gentleman who was attending, and he just kinda like shared with me.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:11:35]:

He's like, Yeah. I've done a lot of speaking, but I've never gotten any clients from it. And I started asking him some questions, you know, because this is my secret sauce. I teach people how really to tap into the identity of the people that are in the audience, the identity of what they want, the transformation, the what that goal that they want. And also at the same time, tapping into the objections that they might be thinking, feeling, or believing. And so I ended up giving him a couple of tips, and he realized It was through stories, but you've gotta tell stories. You gotta tell the right stories, about clients, again, picking up the right clients so that the people that are in the audience can like, oh, she's she's talking about somebody like me. So I told him I just said my biggest piece of advice to him was, you wanna teach people what to do, not how to do it.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:12:37]:

And once he realized that and then started watching other presenters at this conference, He said to me, he goes, you're right. He goes, I've been teaching people the how. Since we had spoken, he said, I watched to all the other speakers, and I get what you're talking about. I saw them and could pick out that they were teaching the audience what to do, not diving into the how to do it. So lots of information today, but I just Wanted to share with you that in person events are a fabulous way to build relationships, get out there, and meet new people, and really start building those relationships. And this is a great way to get speaking events as well. So you know that I'm a big big fan of, like, building those relationships with other speakers because other speakers can refer you to other meeting planners or after they're done an event, they could say, hey. If you're looking for more speakers, reach out to me, or I know somebody who can help you at your next event.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:13:45]:

Till next time. I hope that you will be in demand because that's what we want for you. And if you are having some, like, inner dialogue with yourself about, like, wow, I really need to tap into the speaking because You've heard me say before that there are, like, 20,000 events every single day that are looking for speakers. You could be getting on podcasts, speaking in Facebook groups, private communities, masterminds. There are so many places for you to be speaking to your ideal clients. Audiences filled with the people that you can help. Audiences where you can add value. And this is such a great way to be marketing yourself, building your personal brand.

Laurie-Ann Murabito [00:14:33]:

So if this is something that you're interested in and you don't know how to go about doing this, I wanna encourage you to book a call with me. The call cost nothing, and you will walk away with at least something that you know you should be doing, something maybe an easy next step. And I will Also share with you the different ways that we can work together. I have things from working with me privately to done with you to done for you to completely DIY. So book that call. That is chatwithla.com. The link will be down below, and Be in demand. Talk to you next week.