It's a business

by Sheryl Roush

Published Article appearing in
PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER, January/February 2006
The Official Magazine of the National Speakers Association

PIP: Program Inspired Products - How to generate program-related products as a way of building passive income

Have you ever considered creating a product FOR an event that has
residual selling? There’s nothing like an upcoming speaking engagement to inspire creating product to have available for purchase at that program!

We hear it so often said in the NSA family to use the skills we have, utilize our expertise. Some of the best advice I’ve heard in our industry is to: Have products that support your topic; speak ONLY on topics on which you have product; and Leverage presentations. How do we put those sage tips into practice?

Jim Cathcart, CSP, CPAE, Cavett Award recipient coined a phrase, “MLOT” Money Left On Table. Meaning to maximize every presentation, whether is be with follow-up coaching, products, subscriptions…His advice is well founded, in that each of us CAN add more value to “the talk” – whether a coach, trainer, or keynoter. After all, this IS a business! Dottie Walters, CSP, refers to add-on’s as “accessorizing.”

What if your “accessories” became customized to that audience?
When I think about my upcoming presentations, I look at the event not through my eyes as the speaker, but from the ATTENDEE’s eyes.
What are their needs? Their challenges? Their issues? How can who I am,
and what I bring, truly serve them? This comes through in the message,
as well as the support-after-the-program.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What item(s) or resource(s) will best serve the attendee during/after/well-after the program?
• What do they really need?
• Address the challenge/issue.
• How do they need to receive it?
  What form of media (visual/auditory/kinesthetic)?
• What will it require of me to create it for them?
• How can I add value and take-away benefit?
  

New Year’s Eve 2004, I started working my next book in the Sparkle-Tudes™ Series (Creating Sparkling Attitudes), researching quotations about love. One of my bureaus booked me to keynote close an upcoming womens’ health symposium for 2,500 attendees – yes, specifically women, my favorite audience, and closing to a well-known celebrity actress (Geena Davis, of Thelma and Louise and the hit new TV series Commander in Chief). The symposium’s senior event planner, along with the convention center’s senior event manager, both recent CMP designation recipients as awarded through our meeting partner alliance, Meeting Professional International, brainstormed the theme for the February 12 date, and created Heart of A Woman. My closing presentation entitled “Worthiness of Woman” addressed self-esteem, who we are today as women and brought the day to a finish.

Why not have the book ready and released for this event, only one month away! Is it possible? (I remember Pam Lontos, CSP, saying it is!) I set the target goal (book delivery date), and back-tracked it on the calendar (printing dates, artwork deadlines). I emailed to fellow NSAers, authors and friends with the invitation to submit their original, or favorite, quotations. Poems starting coming in, then a few short stories.

Tapping into the symposium theme, and with full permission (and excitement) of the event creators, I adopted "Heart of A Woman" for the title of my book. In just 21 days from original conception, the book was compiled, designed, and put to press to ensure the event release date. How can you do this?

1. Have a vision, do the homework, use your skills, and tap into the brilliance of others (NSA mentors).
    
2. I happen to be a 28-year veteran in graphic design and self-published this book, using one of our NSA vendors. And... it was on time! Two of the first books out of the shipment were presented to the meeting planners – they loved it!

Although my contract for the engagement stated no product sales from the platform, which I respect, I did have permission to read from the book. I shared the opening poem, a very touching and uplifting poem, written for this book, said “from Heart of a Woman” and gently showed the book cover when setting it down. At the completion of my program, not only did it earn a standing ovation, ladies were lined up waiting for multiple autographs, with books flying off the table.

This create-a-product-for-the-engagement idea can also stimulate other book opportunities you might consider For instance, you could custom design the cover for clients, using their logo, themes, and colors through one of the print-on-demand (POD) NSA vendors.

Expand the ways you deliver your services. Consider creating a booklet, workbook, manual, 3-ring binder with subscription inserts, CDs, CD-Rom, DVDs..Generate a product which will support your topic. Make a logical connection between your topic and the audience need.

Sometimes, we get so caught up in the passion we have for speaking, that we forget it’s a business…. Leverage your engagements with products to maximize the income and experience… without leaving money on the table.