Thought Leadership is an increasingly important part of the marketing mix. As the credibility and influence of traditional advertising, direct and telemarketing continues to wane, marketers are increasingly turning to methods that highlight capabilities in advance of a direct sales engagement. Public relations, social media and public speaking are among the ways companies can establish their expertise and generate positive impressions with prospects before the first sales call. Speaking programs are an excellent way to build credibility and demonstrate thought leadership in an increasingly competitive market. Developing an effective speaking program takes time and effort, but there are ways to jumpstart the effort.

1. Developing an Effective
Speaker Program
Steve Susina, Director of Marketing
ssusina@laurustech.com
630.521.8932
March 4, 2008
©2008 Laurus Technologies, Inc.

2. How did I get involved?
Speeches on the Event Calendar: Circa 2002
5
4
3
2
1
0
Steve Susina Rest of Tellabs
I only did it so I could go to conferences!
2 Laurus Technologies Confidential

3. Benefits of Speaking Programs:
Thought Leadership
> Prospects want to buy—not to be sold.
> Information empowers prospects to enter into
relationships with their vendors as informed and
knowledgeable consumers
> Trust is built
before the
initial meeting
PhotoCredit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boeke
3 Laurus Technologies Confidential

4. Becoming Known
> Increasingly, customers
won’t start building the
relationship with you until
they know more about you
> Customers want to learn
from trusted experts
> Presenting at conferences,
trade shows and other
venues serve as a proxy
for vetting the expertise
Irony—customers want to know you before they’ll even
accept a meeting to get to know you!
4 Laurus Technologies Confidential

5. How to establish a speaking
program:
> Have something interesting or
worthwhile to say.
> Find speakers who are authentic,
enthusiastic, reasonably well
spoken. Write a strong bio,
including all prior speeches.
> Have something interesting or
worthwhile to say.
> Encourage speakers to start at the
bottom tier events—even if they’re
the VP.
5 Laurus Technologies Confidential

6. How to establish a speaking
program (Con’t)
> Have something interesting or
worthwhile to say.
> Develop a list of target events,
then widen your net and look
further
> Have something interesting or
worthwhile to say.
> Document each and every
speaking opportunity in which
your staff participates.
> Have something interesting or
worthwhile to say.
6 Laurus Technologies Confidential

7. Things to keep in mind
> Build one area of expertise per speaker
> Focus on positioning them as an expert
> If no experience, start with “pay for play”
> Spend time up front to develop 3 or 4 different abstracts
> Examples
> Business benefits
> Technology primer
> Evolution of the Technology/Market/Customer
> Implementation best practices/case studies
> Work with the expert to understand where s/he wants to present
> Type of events
> Geography
> Audience demographics
7 Laurus Technologies Confidential

8. The Three Page Abstract:
> Page 1:
> FULL contact information, Speaker and Administrative
contact (you)
> Two or three paragraph description of the speech
> The Key Phrase:
> “In this presentation, the audience will learn:”
> Followed by 3-5 bullet-points of specific audience benefits
> Page 2:
> A full page justification for the speech
> More detail, background.
> Page 3:
> A detailed bio, including education and personal background
> A listing of recent public speaking opportunities
8 Laurus Technologies Confidential

9. Locating Events to pitch
> Trade Publication calendars
> Your competition’s “News & Events” page
> Catchpole’s weekly newsletter
> Google
> Subject topic + “call for papers” or “call for presentations”
> Event producers
> Marcus Evans
> IIR
> Your PR firm
> Local chapter contacts of professional organizations
> Schools
> Conferences & Trade show organizers
The wall between the conference producer and the
exhibit sales staff is often thin (if it exists at all)!
9 Laurus Technologies Confidential

10. Post-event marketing
opportunities
> Post the slide deck on your web site as a resource
> Record the speech for a podcast/online video
> Develop a white paper around the speech
> Send a letter to customers offering to deliver a
“command performance” if they missed the conference
or trade show
> Incorporate the content into your Newsletter
> Call attention to your speeches as evidence of your
thought leadership
10 Laurus Technologies Confidential

11. Social media opportunities:
> Slideshare.com
> Post slidedecks online, integrate with LinkedIn
> LinkedIn
> What are you working on?
> “Finalizing presentation on Developing An Effective
Speaker Program to present at Illinois Tech. Assn.
Chicago tomorrow.”
> Twitter
> “Presenting at the Illinois Technology Association
tomorrow on Developing an Effective Speaker
Program. http://tinyurl.com/b62cx3”
> SpeakerRate.com
> Speaker rating service for audience members.
11 Laurus Technologies Confidential

12. Results?
Speeches on the Tellabs Event Calendar
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2002 2004
Same approach at UTStarcom led to 11 speeches in
2006-07 on FMC product line—8 for me, 3 for others
12 Laurus Technologies Confidential

13. 13 Laurus Technologies Confidential