78 How to Sell Yourself
- Who’s my audience?
- How do I fit in into the rest of the program? Is there an
overall theme to the meeting? - Where and when will I speak?
- Who is my contact when I have questions about time,
room set-up, arrival, transportation, and ground rules? - How much time have you set aside for me? Will you
consider less time?
Finalize these arrangements before accepting the assignment
and before sitting down to write word one.
Why me?
What do I know—or what do they think I know—that will
enlighten the audience? You may not have an international repu-
tation, but you were invited to speak. Find out why they invited
you. It may suggest an innovative introduction or even suggest a
topic if they don’t care about your topic.
What do they want me to talk about?
The importance of the topic should be obvious from the start.
If they want you to talk about international terrorism and you
know nothing about it, obviously you’re not the right speaker for
them. Don’t agree to speak. That should be a no-brainer, but some
very bright people have made the mistake of agreeing to speak
before finding out if there was a specific assignment in mind.
A friend of mine (one of the best speakers I’ve ever worked
with) was asked by her local chamber of commerce to appear on a
program. She’s a successful entrepreneur and was prepared to
speak on many subjects involved in starting and building a business.
It was too late when she found out that they were doing a
series on employee benefits. That wasn’t her area of expertise. In
fact, it wasn’t a subject that even interested her. Someone else, an
extremely capable person, handled that area for her company.
She should have sent that other person, but she went and ad-
mitted later that it was a mistake.