The Reason You Should Use A Celebrity Booking Agency

Many organisers of events are often concerned that hiring a celebrity guest is a waste of time and money, regardless of whether it’s done through a celebrity booking agency or not. But if you get it right, you could make your event with your celebrity guest.

Of course, it’s important to get the right celebrity. Your event’s tone and purpose should dictate who you choose. An event could be for business, light hearted fun or humorous. And your audience could be any mixture of old and young, male and female. Make sure that the celebrity you’re interested in reflects the tone of your event. You must always make sure the celebrity is appropriate.

Many people have made the mistake of setting their mind on one particular celebrity and try to contact their agent or management directly: this rarely works. Really, the best course of action is to approach a celebrity booking agency. A celebrity booking agency can make hiring the right celebrity possible without you having to do the leg work. This is because the agency already has an established relationship with the celebrities that they represent. The staff at the booking agency can organise the formalities such as fees and availability. They will also put together contracts on your behalf. With an agency, booking a celebrity is much easier than without.

If you use a celebrity booking agency to hire your guest, you will be more protected in the event of something going wrong. They draw up contracts that are fair for both parties and which will probably afford you some protection in the event of the celebrity cancelling their appearance.

Even after your celebrity’s attendance has been confirmed, you don’t have to tell everyone. A little bit of secrecy and speculation surrounding your guest will increase interest and set tongues wagging.

Free Isn’t Valued

The last time I needed a electrician, he shyed away when I explained “I don’t have any money, but this job would give you wonderful exposure”. If my accountant won’t work without cost, why is it that many people rely on motivational speakers to give away what they do?

When you are a new speaker, it’s wise to do all of the no charge opportunities that come your way. At the beginning of your career you will find yourself presenting at each and every Lions Club, PTA, and Elks Lodge that will let you. The reality is, inexperienced speakers need experience in front of live audiences. When you’re getting started in the business, you will excitedly seize these opportunities. You might not get cash money for the no fee assignments you take in the beginning, but you will accrue worthwhile skills that people will pay handsomely for eventually. Handle these opportunities as real jobs. See each free event as a $50,000 show. By applying the effort for these speeches you are building your skill and worth.

The problem of no cost speaking assignments comes when you have paid your dues, you’re actually sought after, and an event coordinator wants to get your hard earned experience at no charge. Oh boy, the phone can practically ring off the hook with these free job opportunitites.

I’m getting pretty good at recognizing free opportunities inside the initial 30 seconds of answering the phone. A handful of the sure tip offs are the meeting planner’s long-winded and ecstatic description of the event, the heart tugging details for the cause, and the anticipated pitch for  how valuable the audience will be for possible spin off. The conversation gets oddly hushed when visiting the issue of money.

When I think back over my experience as a motivational speaker, and go over the nightmare situations – nearly all of them occurred during a no fee opportunity that was supposed to give me “great exposure”. Stuff that people get without working for are hardly ever regarded with the same regard.

Before you assume that I am on a unhealthy rant, let me state that there are free events that you will want to take. By all means take assignments for causes for which you have an interest. Also, speaking from self-interest, there are some groups you should want to get in front of – even if it means speaking free of charge. And I have had free gigs where the audience, venue, and opportunity were awesome. I recently did a no charge presentation for a large audience that placed me in front of an audience of people who are likely purchasers in a city where I’d like to get more jobs, gave me the chance to show off my ability for some CEO’s of huge companies that typically use speakers, and the meeting organizers  bent over backwards to make the engagement a success for me. Nevertheless, before you accept a free of charge speaking engagement there are a number of ways to structure the project to make it work for you as well:

* Look beyond the event planner’s boasting and actually analyze whether or not the audience you will speak for will be an advantage to you. Would you consider this audience your target market, and are you certain to get full fee jobs as a result of giving this address? Avoid getting caught up in the scenario the meeting coordinator will spin. As well, don’t let them  wear you down. You’ll find some meeting planners who will basically stalk you to take their free job. Think about keeping a lawyer on retainer to get restraining orders for this kind of meeting organizer.

*Thoroughly question the meeting planner that this will be a great opportunity for you to showcase yourself and that the location and setting are appropriate. Are they going to stick you in a chaotic convention hall? Will the audience be imbibing before you speak? Are you being expected to speak in a poorly setup auditorium with no speaker system?

*Get on paper how the event planner will help you use the event to market your business. Work out how they will advertise the event in the media and how they will play up your involvement. Obtain a promise for a letter of recommendation and maybe even have the event planner help you market to other chapters of their association. Don’t neglect (and follow up) to get duplicates of any videos or pictures taken at the event.

*Are you supposed to pony up for your own travel expenses and accommodations?

Prepare yourself – you will receive calls asking that you work for free. You may want to take some of the jobs. Just do your due dilegance and make certain that you will benefit from taking the gig?

The Absolute Best Technique For Overcoming Your Public Speaking Fears

Here’s a silly statement.

It can lead to alot of unneeded stress and anxiety.

And overcoming speaking anxiety for most people doesn’t appear to be an easy feat. 

In fact, I’ve known people who get so nervous at the thought of speaking in public, they literally have an anxiety attack.

This leads us to the following question…

Can’t it be another way?

I think you know the answer to that question.

You’ve definitely noticed certain people even enjoy speaking in front of a group of people. Does this sound like you. If not, that’s ok. Public speaking need not be as stressful as we make it.

There are certain key principles you can use to not only reduce your speaking fear, but even learn to “like” speaking in public. If you read the rest of this article, I’ll let you in on one of the best kept secrets on how to do this.

I just finished reading one of the most “life-changing” books I’ve ever laid hands on.

It’s called “What to Say When you Talk to Yourself” by Shad Helmstetter.

This book teaches you a unique approach to replacing all negative thoughts that “pop” into your head into more “positive” thoughts.  The process is brilliant yet so simple at the same time.

What does this have to do with public speaking?

Here’s what I mean.

Each of us has an image of ourselves when it comes to speaking.

This “image” is made up of our past experiences in speaking along with what others have told us about ourselves. If we’ve had “positive” speaking experiences in the past, we’re likely to repeat the behaviors that produced those experiences.

On the flip-side, many of us have had “negative” experiences when presenting. Perhaps someone criticized our speech at one time. This image stays in our brains until we change it.  The brain will work hard to produce the same result for us again and again unless we change it.

The brain does not care if something we experience is “positive” or “negative.” It only acts on what you tell it. It it’s given positive commands, it acts upon those commands. It also works the other way around.

How do we solve this problem?….

Control the messages you’re feeding your subconscious on a regular basis.

For example, many of us are feeding our brains the message “I get so nervous when speaking in front of a group.”

With that type of message what do you think is going to happen?

You guessed it. Your subconscious will become your new best friend – leading you towards the outcome you desire. It only receives and acts on commands.  It does not judge good or bad, right or wrong.

However….

What if instead you started telling yourself “I feel so relaxed and calm in front of a group.”

At first, the brain might reject the thought. With a bit of persistence it will accept your new programming and work to make it a reality. Your behaviors start to become congruent with the beliefs you form about yourself.

Isn’t that amazing?

It’s amazingly easy to do.  You can begin right now. If disempowering thoughts “pop” into your head throughout the day, simply catch them in your mind and turn them into a more positive statement.

If this seems like a strange way to overcome public speaking fear, that’s ok. Creative ideas such as this often separate the successful from the mediocre.

The above is one of the best public speaking help methods I’ve ever come across.  Now that you’ve learned this method, I’m sure you can see yourself now overcoming public speaking anxiety once and for all.

Improving A Company With Business Speakers

If a manager needs to implement new working practices, or otherwise improve the performance of the whole team, they’ll find that business speakers can be a very handy tool. Generally, business speakers have years of experience in their field and are able to specialise in that field, so it goes without saying that it’s worth spending the time to find one that is perfectly suited to your niche.

If a company is struggling in its particular industry the hiring business speakers with experience in their field will help to improve productivity and performance. Equally though, there are some times when a problem can be tackled by more general business speakers for example if low morale needs to be addressed. Any speaker with experience of motivating will know how to go about tailoring their presentation to make it relevant to the industry of the people they’re addressing.

Business speakers can help companies to optimise the return they get on the time, money and resources that they invest in the business or product by speaking at a variety of work events, most commonly dinners, annual general meeting or training days. Still, it is important to remember that if you don’t choose the speaker carefully they can actually cause more harm than good.

If you inadvertently select a speaker with terrible public speaking abilities then the message will not get through, even if he or she is an expert in whatever they’re talking about. In the same way, there is no use at all in wonderful communication skills if there is no content to the presentation. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that business speakers have the balance of knowledge and presentation skills because otherwise you risk confusing your audience, over-complicating the issue or damaging their confidence by having them walk away wondering why they didn’t understand the message.

The best way to get the best business speakers is through a speakers’ agency. They will be able to show you video or audio clips of the speaker in action, from which you’ll be able to determine whether or not they’re suitable for your event. Also, you could ask other businesses who have hired the speaker for their feedback.