How to Double The Success of Your Talk

Use this powerful tip to help get the MOST out of every talk you give.

Most people step on stage with one intention and one intention only: to survive the talk.

If you get through the talk, maybe get a laugh or two out of the audience, finish on time, and the audience learns something, then you’ve done your job, right?

Yes, technically, that would be accurate. But the success of a talk is not just about giving the audience what they want, it can also be about getting what you want out of it!

There are ways to double the success of your talk so you can ensure you’re getting more out of it than just the feeling of getting the job done. We call them strategic objectives, and if you’re not conscious of them, you’re definitely missing out on some of the amazing opportunities that can come out of giving a talk.

Strategic objectives are simply a way of asking yourself, “What do I want the ultimate outcome of this talk to be?” Knowing your strategic objectives before you start creating your talk vastly improves your chances of successfully achieving your desired outcomes.

Knowing your strategic objectives before you start creating your talk vastly improves your chances of successfully achieving your desired outcomes.

Think of it like a shopping list. Have you ever gone to the grocery store without a list of what you wanted to get? It’s interesting, because most people end up coming home with some of the stuff they wanted, a whole bunch of stuff they really didn’t need or want, and then they realize they forgot a few things they definitely needed and now they have to go back or do without those items.

The same happens when you create a talk without having a list of clearly defined strategic objectives. Most, if not all, speakers have created or will at some point create a talk without first considering their end goal. They will deliver that talk, and chances are, if they have decent speaking skills, the talk will go pretty well. The audience will come away having enjoyed it and learned something and the job will get done. But, much like at the grocery store, the speaker will probably have missed a few of the things they were trying to achieve by giving the talk, and perhaps they might have even accomplished some things they didn’t want to achieve (although this is less common with talks than groceries). The real problem is, if you miss an objective when you’re giving a talk, you can’t just run back on the stage and pick it up like you could with groceries.

When you are considering your strategic objectives, it helps if you break them down into two separate lists: your primary objectives and your secondary objectives.

Your primary objectives are the outcomes you MUST achieve by giving the talk. These would be things like:

• Teaching your audience about an important new concept
• Selling your product or service
• Entertaining the audience
• Having fun
• Impressing the event organizers enough to get re-booked
• Surviving the talk…

Your secondary objectives are the outcomes that would be nice to have happen from doing the talk, but are not necessarily critical. For example:

• Getting on more podcasts
• Getting more social media followers
• Finding an agent for your book
• Connecting with a particular person in the audience
• Getting people to come to your next talk
• Getting invited to other events
• Getting a free helicopter tour of the city you’re in… (Sounds far-fetched, but it has happened!)

Your secondary objectives list is where you can get really specific and creative with what you want out of the talk, because if these objectives don’t happen, it’s no big deal; the talk is still successful. But if they do, you get even more return for the effort of giving the talk in the first place.

Now that you know what you need to achieve by doing the talk and also what would be nice to achieve by doing the talk, you have given yourself a massive advantage. By being clear on these objectives, you can now tailor your talk to help achieve those objectives.

By being clear on these objectives, you can now tailor your talk to help achieve those objectives.

How exactly does one do that? Well, let’s take the example of getting on more podcasts. There was a time when Eric Edmeades (the founder of Speaker Nation) was wanting to get on more podcasts, but he noticed that people just weren’t asking as often as he wanted. It seemed people assumed he would be too busy and simply stopped asking.

That was until one day during a talk Eric told a story about a time when someone had approached him after a talk to ask about a podcast interview, and he accepted and had a whole lot of fun doing it. After the talk when he told that story a whole bunch of people approached him and asked him to come on their podcast. It was remarkable; simply telling the story subtly let the audience know he enjoyed being on podcasts and that he was approachable and willing to do them if time allowed.

Now, let’s look at a bit more of an unconventional example: A free helicopter tour. We heard a story from a client on one of our mastermind calls once about this happening. The speaker had been giving a talk and one of the stories he told was about having gone for a helicopter tour of the grand canyon, and during that tour he had a great conversation with a stranger who was in the chopper with him at the time. The conversation led to a lucrative business opportunity, and the speaker had been telling the story to make the point that you never know who holds the key to your next big opportunity. After that talk, someone approached the speaker about a potential business opportunity, and asked if they could chat about it during a free helicopter tour of the city!

You can intentionally work in stories like this to subtly let the audience know what you are looking for. Just make sure the stories fit in with your content, otherwise you could risk confusing your audience.

The other time having your strategic objectives comes in handy is during Q&A sessions. During Q&A sessions, people may ask questions that you could answer with a story rather than just directly answering the question. This is more entertaining and memorable for the audience, and it also gives you an opportunity to tell stories that could help fulfill your secondary objectives.

What it really comes down to is knowing where you want to go before you begin the journey of your talk. Think of your primary objectives as the destination you want to reach and your secondary objectives as the shopping list of things you would like to get along the way. Let your objectives help you determine which stories would be most effective in your talk.

Think of your primary objectives as the destination you want to reach and your secondary objectives as the shopping list of things you would like to get along the way.

Once you get really good at using your strategic objectives to guide the creation of your talk, you can often create talks purely from a list of objectives. We know many speakers who can be handed a list of objectives and create a fresh talk in minutes. This is a pretty advanced skill, but it is a great goal to work towards.

Listing out your strategic objectives is perhaps the most important step in our 5-step framework for creating a signature talk. Having a great framework for creating your talks takes talk creation from being a tedious and challenging process to being fast and easy. We encourage you to find a method you can use to consistently and easily create your talks. And to get you started, we want to offer you our free 5-step guide for creating your signature talks.

Click here to discover the 5 Simple Steps to Create a Great Presentation.