Though not really a social media strategy, taking the time to meet with people humanizes being an influencer and gives you a distinct advantage of being personal.
In March 2019, I went to a different state every week. Two were for company reasons, two were for podcasting reasons but regardless, being in-person matters.
Though Expo West and the Research Chef’s Association were important for My Food Job Rock’s brand, the more important thing is when the food science clubs at The Ohio State and the University of Northern Carolina asked me to speak at their clubs. They would reimburse me for everything, and though it was tough traveling across the country back and forth (both airport experiences somehow ended up with my flight canceled) it was 100% worth it.
Though you might not get speaking gigs now, they are important as you scale up. Especially when you first start getting them, it’s important to go. I don’t think you should pay out of pocket anything over $300 dollars but try at least to get reimbursed for your travels.
When you become a more experienced speaker to the point of getting $1000’s a speaking gig, then you can say “no”. By that time, perhaps your time is more valuable not speaking.
However, when you first start getting them, it’s important to go because it gives you a much better chance of impacting the people you meet. It’s the period where you can tell people “I’m just like you, you can do this too.”
This Time, it’s Personal
When you post online in text, you only give a little bit of your personality. It’s easy for people to read, but they only convey it as information. When you do a podcast, it becomes more personal. You hear a voice and as you keep on hearing that voice, you trust the person more.
The most powerful type of engagement online is video. Not only do you hear the voice, but you also see the face. The apex of this is live streaming because now you’re in the exclusive club of their life. I hate video, but it’s useful for a reason.
So when you book yourself for an exclusive, live event, it’s a common practice to do a lot for a low price when you first start getting invitations. Over time, you might have the luxury to say “no”, but when you first start, you need to say “yes” because live events help create fans who trust you.
We talk about the concept of 1000 true fans on the show all the time. The fans who will do anything for you and that for artists to survive, it might be better to have 1000 true fans than 1 million so-so fans. The best hit rate for getting these true fans is through live gigs and speaking with them afterward. This is super important because now you have a chance to really make an impact on someone’s life and if you help them, they will remember that.
A Good Impression
In your allotted time, what’s the best way to make a good impression? Well, you have to be on-brand.
If you’ve noticed recently, I have a very specific and boring type of attire when I present. I always wear a gray sweater (if it’s cold) and a black shirt (usually a polo, but we’re experimenting with some things). Pants are now jeans. This has slightly changed from a year ago where I’d switch to a blue polo and black slacks or black polo with khakis. Anyways, I want to feel comfortable yet recognizable. Wearing the same stuff is ok as long as you’re on brand. I wear My Food Job Rocks colors (gray and black, how lame!) and I have my slides pop with a basic black background and white (a common silicon valley strategy actually).
If your branding is not “sleek and sexy”, I suggest skipping the suits. It also depends on the audience and venue. Wear your suit when presenting at SXSW, but you can skip it when you talk to students. But most importantly, dress how you want the company to be conveyed. As long as you know your audience this isn’t hard. For My Food Job Rocks, we want to be relatable and approachable and we strive to do that every opportunity. That’s why our website looks terrible.
Then the talking begins. It’s very hard to be reflective on how much you suck at public speaking so you have to gauge it by audience reaction. Sometimes, I try to put in a few jokes. Most people don’t laugh at these jokes, but when they do, it’s a sign that you’ve broken in.
Another way to gauge that you’ve done a good job is asking questions. It’s very very hard for an audience, especially in a room of students, to actually raise their hand and be the first to “call themselves Spartacus”. But when the first student asks a question, it is much easier for people to ask questions.
The final epiphany of knowing if your presentation resonated with people is if people come up to you and talk to you. I’ve met many awesome people this way in every speaking opportunity I’ve taken. I will bend over backward for these people because these are the people who want to do amazing things. I usually answer their emails with long paragraphs or have coffee with them. It’s really fun.
You (Don’t) Have One Shot
My first popular speaking gig that people actually cared about was at IGNITE. I was chosen to do my speech twice. One at the Central booth at IFT and one at the New Professionals meeting. I was really stressed and practiced for hours for a 5-10 minute speech. I would record myself and listen to the audio. I would go fast, I would go slow and panicked when I was practicing in a hot Airbnb in Chinatown. I’ve always had anxiety public speaking, and this was my first time doing it in a while.
As I started doing more live events in San Francisco, it got easier and easier.
The past two weeks, I had no time to rehearse and just went with what I know. Luckily, the topics were things I’ve written about in years and it was easy to speak. The most important thing about these public speaking events is that your one shot of conveying the message must overcome your anxiety of looking like an idiot.
For me, the message of inspiring people to speak up and utilize technology to communicate food science is much more important than thinking I sound terrible. If you’re adamant that your mission is important, then it should shine through.
But maybe that doesn’t convince you. I’ve been talking about stuff like this, practicing it for over 3 years weekly. This is a lot of time spent on crafting the message, testing the message, publishing the message. I’ve written, spoken, and published for a long time, and though it might not be the same as getting on stage and speaking, those little things help because I have solidified the message I want to talk about.
Though we always think with events like this, that we have only one shot and we fail, and we quit public speaking events forever, the audience just might not be for you. This was one of the challenges I had with the free speaking event in San Francisco. It wasn’t the right audience, yet there were still people who came up afterward and loved what I was doing. I had a tough crowd, but the few who find value in it, matters.
You take the feedback from every experience and refine the message more. When you do it long enough, it becomes ingrained into your being, and eventually, it resonates when you enter a room.
