Love them or hate them I won’t be bitching in the lobby in the break.
If I love the content, the pitch is worth it. If the speaker wants the audience onside the content will be valuable and the pitch seamless. But if the speaker sucks, I tune out or walk out – life is too precious.
I’ve spoken at around 120 events, helped put together about another 130 live and online and written a number of high converting sales scripts and there is no doubt that a fantastic amount of effort and courage goes into running events, speaking on stage and asking for the sale.
It takes balls!
Hats off then to Dan Bradbury and Nick James for their Biz Fest events. Not only are they managing rooms of 700+, putting on multiple speakers (some with pitches, some without), but they are bringing over some big names from the States.
I was at their last event… with all my new tech (see last week’s article – Why Steve Jobs Wouldn’t Let His Kids Use A Tablet And Why I Had To Buy One ). I view these kind of events as a time -out for me: a time to have ideas stimulated by someone outside of the business… a time to wander around… a time to meet new people… A time to enjoy the City. A time to admire people doing something big and ballsey.