Why Being a Professional Speaker is so Amazing for Executives - And the Power of Crowd Promotion

Eric Eden:
0:59

Welcome to today's episode. Our guest today is Bobbi Carlton. She is a marketing agency owner and she's also the founder of an online speakers bureau for women. Bobbi, welcome to the show job and a dream job.

Bobbie Carlton:
1:26

So the agency is obviously the day job. For many years I ran Mass Innovation Nights in the Boston market at a startup events company. The night job and then Innovation Women is the dream job. It's the dream of getting more women on stage at conferences and events.

Eric Eden:
1:37

Very nice, very ambitious. I like it. Before we jump into your story, tell us a little bit about Innovation Women. That's a unique concept and you've been at that for quite a while, so why don't you share a little bit about that?

Bobbie Carlton:
1:51

Yeah, I call it the dream job because it's focused on getting more women on stage and that is a reaction to two-thirds of all conference speakers being men, which leaves women out of a lot of career and business opportunities, and what we're doing is educating women, helping them get connected to event managers and helping them with a database of speaking opportunities. So we have about 2,500 speakers on the platform We've discovered recently in every single state and 49 countries around the world.

Eric Eden:
2:33

That's amazing, that's really great. And how many speaking engagements have you been able to facilitate for that large group Any sense of that over the last nine years or so?

Bobbie Carlton:
2:44

Yeah, it's always challenging getting metrics on something like this when you're directly connecting people, but we have about 5,000 invitations to speak that we've directly tracked are applying through what is basically the currency of conferences and events the call for speakers. Often things are happening directly so we can't track those as easily. We actually created on each individual profile we call it the promote yourself button, and so the speakers will actually push the promote their self button, give us the detail of their upcoming speaking engagement, and that has actually helped to track about 4,000 additional speaking engagements.

Eric Eden:
3:33

That's great. A fun story is. For many years I was the head of marketing for event management software company and we were throwing our annual customer conference, and I remember one year in particular. The event planning team came to me and they said we looked at the feedback for last year and since 80% of the event planners attending the conference are women, they have a request that we have fewer old white guys talking on stage.

Bobbie Carlton:
4:08

I tend to call that the male, pale and stale panels.

Eric Eden:
4:13

I was like, okay, I don't take any offense to that, and actually we hired three great female keynotes that year, including Ariana Huffington and Randy Zuckerberg, and it really made a big difference connecting with your demographic in that way. I think it made a big impact on both the attendance and the experience that people had. So I think what you're doing there is great. I'm sure it has a lot of impact for people. So why don't you share your story with us about some of the marketing that you've done, that you're most proud of, some remarkable marketing?

Bobbie Carlton:
4:48

Absolutely, and it was incredibly hard to pick a single story, so I might weave a few of them together. But I think probably one of the things that I'm proudest of is the creation of Innovation Nights, which was designed to be a marketing machine for Boston area startups the whole goal. And think back to 2008, 2009,. Social media was young and I was really looking at social media as this incredibly exciting new thing. And yet a lot of other people in marketing were like, oh, it's a toy, it's a thing for kids, it's not really serious marketing tool. And I'm like, I think differently. So I invited a whole bunch of people.

Bobbie Carlton:
5:44

At the time I was a board member of the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham. It's the birthplace of American industry. It was also a tiny little museum that could do with a little bit more foot traffic. Could do with a little bit more foot traffic. They used to do these things called innovation days. They would drag out typewriters and printing presses and say, look, innovation of yesteryear. And I would say one iPhone app or medical device, we've got a whole new ball game. Like I can do that.

Bobbie Carlton:
6:21

So I bought innovationnightscom and I invited a whole group of startups to come and demonstrate their new product. And I put out a tweet and don startups showed up and about 200 people showed up who were all ready with their tweeting thumbs and we drove literally thousands of views by using social media. And as everybody went out the door that night, everybody's like see you next month. I'm like, oh, I'm going to be doing this for a while. So I ran Innovation Nights every month for 11 years until really the pandemic kind of put the kibosh on things. We launched 1,500 new products that got more than $4 billion in collective funding and every month we were driving between 2.8 and 3.2 million views just by using social media and a social media amplification process.

Bobbie Carlton:
7:40

So I put a name on all of this. I said, okay, there's crowdfunding. Now there's crowd promoting, because if you get a group of people in a room and you point them in the right direction and you tell them if you see something cool, blog about it, tweet about it, take a picture, share a video or just tell somebody, if you give them marching orders, you give them a purpose, they will help you. And really it was a community effort, but I'm just so proud of the Boston community and the people that we gathered together to help local startups, because I look back at those 1,500 new products over 11 years but I look back on that and we had such an impact on the market on those companies' ability to connect with their first customers, maybe get funding, find mentors. There was just so much direct impact in the market with that.

Eric Eden:
8:50

Sounds like so much goodness and the combination of a couple very powerful things the power of in-person events, the power of social media amplification and the power of networking right, it sounds like those three things coming together is the perfect trifecta, right.

Bobbie Carlton:
9:13

Absolutely, and we always had a sponsor. One of the big area companies would host the events and they would have people tromping through their offices going oh, I could imagine myself working here. So that was how we brought people and we moved around. Every month we would bring people to Google, microsoft, ibm, tripadvisor, and a lot of times people would look around and say I can envision myself working here. So the big companies were very interested in sponsoring and hosting us. So everybody got something out of it. Everybody won.

Eric Eden:
9:53

Everybody got a prize. That's great. What do you advise the women who join Innovation Women about speaking? How do you inspire them to put in the effort to create a profile and create a talk and do all the things they need to do to become a successful speaker?

Bobbie Carlton:
10:11

Yeah, and there's a couple different parts to that question. One of the things you asked was about getting them to fill in a profile, and I will fully admit that I learned very valuable lessons from running Innovation Nights like I did. I never sold a ticket to Innovation Nights. I never charged the entrepreneurs for innovation nights. We were sponsor supported, so nobody had skin in the game. And when I started Innovation Women, I said I need to charge people. So when I founded Innovation Women, I actually did crowdfunding to start it and kick it off and get enough money to hire a developer for the platform. At the time a profile was $100. It's now $120. And if you compare that to anything in the speaking world, a lot of these programs are are $5,000, $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 for the same type of support that we offer for basically $10 a month. And skin in the game is key. If somebody is paying me money, they are more inclined to fill in their profile. They are more inclined to use the tools that we give them. They are more inclined to go and apply for.

Bobbie Carlton:
11:40

I think right now we've got about 800 different conferences and events that have calls for speakers that are currently open on the platform, and so skin in the game is key. Now, that said, we have a session every Friday morning I actually just came from it, as we're recording on a Friday. Every Friday morning I host Speaker Friend Friday, and Speaker Friend Friday is a free-to-all, open-to-everyone group Zoom call where people come and ask questions, they present their challenges, they come up with topics that they are interested in getting feedback on. Feedback on the group support, the community support, is so key to inspiring people to act. When somebody comes in and says, oh, I want to do this thing next week, somebody's going to go to them did you do that thing? There's a little bit of accountability to it, so that's part of it, but I think it's also talking about what's possible.

Bobbie Carlton:
12:58

I personally am an introvert. When I started Innovation Nights, it literally never occurred to me that I was going to have to be the host and emcee and I was terrible, but I got better. Terrible, but I got better. 130 events you either get better or you die, and I got better, and practice helps. So being able to say I feel you, I've been there, I'm an introvert and if I can do it, I think for a lot of people is comforting. So I usually tell people. I love seeing introverts take up public speaking because they're usually good at it, they prepare, whereas extroverts have been told their whole lives oh, you're an extrovert, you love public speaking, you're great at public speaking and they tend to wing it, which?

Eric Eden:
13:54

one would.

Bobbie Carlton:
13:54

I prefer seeing. I want to see somebody who's prepared.

Eric Eden:
14:00

Fortune favors the prepared, of course, yeah, but that community angle is really great. I think that is key for people to get that type of support. Every executive that I've worked with, every CEO, has wanted to get more speaking spots, and so there's something magical about speaking at events. What is that in your experience, that people are drawn to it?

Bobbie Carlton:
14:29

I always say to people you will never be seen as a leader if you're just sitting in the audience. If you think about it, when you are on stage, you are physically elevated. Often you're on a stage above the audience. It's a psychological elevation as well. We think about speakers as being experts, as being thought leaders. They get additional credibility. But it's even more than that.

Bobbie Carlton:
15:02

Think about all the connections you make through public speaking. Yes, you're talking to people who are in the room while you're presenting, but if you happen to say something particularly brilliant, they tell somebody who tells somebody else, and so you're making connections even to people who aren't in the room while you're speaking itself. What is the first thing they do? They announce the keynote speakers, they announce the featured speakers. The content that a speaker is driving is the reason that we go to conferences and events. So if you are a speaker at a conference, you are the subject of advertising campaigns, email campaigns, social media. You're on a website. You are so visible as a speaker. So there's so many different benefits to public speaking. It's hard to pick one.

Eric Eden:
16:10

Lots of goodness there to choose from. So let me ask you a follow up to that, which is that if that's the case, why is the process of People who run events hiring speakers such a hot mess? That's been my experience in the event industry for the last 10 years. There's no standard way to do it. It's a bunch of manual, tedious Googling and plug and chug. Why is that the case?

Bobbie Carlton:
16:40

Of course, my answer to that is come to Innovation Women. We make it easy. You can search our database by topic, by industry, by location. You can even, if you're a college or university, search for your own alumni. You can search by title. You want to put together a panel of female founders in the Boston area? I got you covered. Female founders in the Boston area. I got you covered.

Bobbie Carlton:
17:10

Now, that said, public speaking is so fraught from the point of view of the event manager, I think for a couple of different reasons. Number one it's all very highly negotiated and secretive. I don't know what it is about public speaking or speaking as an industry that makes it this way, but I think part of it is. It's very hard to put a price tag or a label on a lot of speakers because, frankly, the value of a speaker is often what they can say, as high a number as they can say with a straight face.

Bobbie Carlton:
17:54

If you think about speaking and value, I have seen speakers who are on stage speaking primarily for visibility for themselves and their companies, where everybody in the audience is frantically grabbing a notepaper and pen to take notes because they're dropping so much value.

Bobbie Carlton:
18:16

I have also seen keynotes where everybody's busy on the phone, so it's sometimes incredibly hard to know who's going to be on, who's not going to be on, who is going to deliver a sales pinch which nobody wants that or who is going to be delivering real, valuable, actionable takeaways. These are some of the things that we are trying to codify within Innovation Women. The speaker profiles are structured to help an event manager as they are searching for speakers, but we also structured it so that the speakers themselves understand how they better communicate their value, how they create a profile or a speaker one sheet that best promotes them and best reflects what it is they do. I agree with you, it is a bit of a hot mess and I think some of it is the secretive nature of a lot of it mess and I think some of it is the secretive nature of a lot of it.

Eric Eden:
19:27

Yeah, that makes sense. I think that I've hired speakers who have ranged from they didn't charge to speak all the way to more than $100,000. So it's quite a range you can get and there's different dimensions to it. There's certain speakers that are a good draw to get people to come to the event and the promotion, like you were saying, and then there are certain speakers who they may not be a draw because they may not be famous or a celebrity, but they may be like an amazing speaker. So when people actually attend the keynote that they give, people walk out of it and they're like wow, that was really something. You really want, both things. But it's hard to get both things often in the same package. I've hired some really well-known speakers. Some of them were like I can't even give this a presentation, You'll have to interview me. That was really interesting. So I've seen the whole range.

Bobbie Carlton:
20:28

Yeah, and I do think there are many options for public speaking. What we tend to think of as public speaking is one person on stage by themselves, all alone, which is terrifying to some people who are amazing experts, who have wonderful things to share and say. But you could be doing a panel, you could be doing a fireside chat, you could be interviewing them. One of the things I often tell people who are interested in dipping their toe in is think about asking a question from the audience when another speaker is completing their conversation, because you are actually talking to the exact same audience that they spoke to, but it's short and you're adding value. You're bringing up a topic of conversation that may not have been addressed by the speakers on stage, and yet you are basically engaging in the act of public speaking.

Eric Eden:
21:30

I saw that one of the things on the Animation Women website was avoiding panels of all men.

Bobbie Carlton:
21:39

Oh you mean the mannel, the mannel.

Eric Eden:
21:43

I'm generally not a big fan of panels and I'm probably less a fan of mannels.

Bobbie Carlton:
21:49

Yes, but there's also the aspect of this which is sometimes just as bad, which is the all-female panel, where it's just talking about the act of being a woman in a particular industry. About the act of being a woman in a particular industry, and sometimes, as a female speaker, you get invited to an industry conference because they are trying to increase the ratio of women speaking at the conference, but you're not being engaged in a conversation about the thing that you actually do. You're only being engaged for your gender. So there's some different podcasts have helped women get their voice out more have more speaking opportunities.

Bobbie Carlton:
22:53

I do, I do, and I also think the pandemic, while incredibly disruptive to everyone's lives, may have also helped out. I think initially there was definitely a dive in diverse and gender equitable panels and conferences because a lot of event managers weren't being exposed to new speakers so they were falling back into the. I've seen this speaker in action. I'm going to invite him, and it was often a him. I think that podcasts. I'm sitting here in my home in Lexington, massachusetts, and I don't have to go anywhere. That helps.

Bobbie Carlton:
23:39

Being able to speak virtually is a boon for women. If you think about it, women and this is Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers women are more likely to work part-time. Women are more likely to work for smaller companies and women are still more likely to be responsible for kids at home. It is super hard to be the morning keynote speaker if you've got to put little Johnny on the bus at 8 am. It's also incredibly difficult to go to a conference, a day of travel. A conference, a day of travel back, that's three days out of your week. If you only are working three days, only are working three days and smaller company, there might not be anybody for backfill. There's nobody to cover for you. You may also be less likely to get sponsored by your larger company to travel if you are working part-time. So many different kind of systemic issues in terms of public speaking and women have kept women from these stages.

Eric Eden:
24:53

Yeah, I'm glad that podcasting is there and it makes it easier for people, but I think that the in-person keynotes can be difficult logistically for a lot of people. Keynotes can be difficult logistically for a lot of people. Last question on my side is just do you think that events make a comeback post-COVID? Do you think they're coming back?

Bobbie Carlton:
25:13

Absolutely, do you think?

Eric Eden:
25:14

they become stronger than they were pre-COVID at some point.

Bobbie Carlton:
25:18

I hope they become as strong, but I also think that the flexibility of the hybrid event. I don't want to lose that. I think it has been important for women in particular to be able to speak at a conference without the travel. I also think that virtual events and online events were terrific for organizations that, prior to COVID, may have been attracting a few hundred people locally but suddenly opened them up to a global audience. So I think there's lots of opportunity in virtual and online, but I also think there's no going back from seeing people in person. The relationships that you create when you're in person, being able to reach out and hug somebody that's irreplaceable.

Eric Eden:
26:16

Indeed. Thank you for these insights today. Appreciate it. I encourage everyone to check out the Innovation Women website. I will link to it in the show notes so people can easily get there. Thank you for sharing these insights with us today. I encourage everyone to share this episode with your friends, and thank you for being with us today, bobbi. We appreciate it.

Bobbie Carlton:
26:37

Thank you for having me.