One sheets must answer 6 important questions if want them to build your personal brand and successfully sell your speaking services to event planners and conference organizers.
One sheets, as I described in an earlier post, are single-page author marketing materials that authors use to build their brand, promote their books, and increase consulting, coaching, and speaking profits.
Because one-sheets can be printed as needed on desktop printers, distributed as e-mail attachments, and downloaded from their websites, one sheets combine low (or non-existent) cost distribution with enough space to communicate your story to event organizers and conference planners.
6 questions event planners want answered
To succeed in engaging your prospective host’s interest and selling your speaking services, your one sheets must answer 6 important questions. These are:
- Who are you? When an event planner or conference organizer asks who you are, they’re not asking about your name. What they’re really asking is, What’s your brand? What are you known for? How well known are you? They want to know that your name on their event marketing materials and program is going to add attraction-power to their event.
- What’s your background? One sheets are not resumes, they’re not about your major or your grade point average. One sheets only require as much background information as needed to convince the event planner that you know what you’re talking about. Photographs of your book, or books, go a long way in terms of creating instant credibility, especially if your book covers are accompanied by testimonials from well know experts in your field.
- What topics do you speak about? Even though your personal brand establishes your expertise, event planners and conference organizers need to learn some of the specific topics , or titles, that you can adapt to their event. Ideally, each of your speaking or presentation titles should be accompanied by a short description of the benefits that audiences will gain from your speech or presentation.
- What kind of events have you spoken at? Just as no airline passenger wants to be on a pilot’s first flight, event planners and conference organizers are looking for evidence that you are an experienced professional speaker. List some of the key events where you’ve been a key speaker or presenter, and list some of the clients you’ve worked for. Your client list will play a key role in positioning you as a desirable speaker. When appropriate, you can also list the sizes of the audiences that you’ve spoken to.
- What have audiences said? Whenever possible, provide attendee comments, quotes, or evaluations to reinforce your expertise as a speaker. If possible, try to provide evidence of changed attitudes or behaviors resulting from your speech or presentation. Look for opportunities where you can document that, for example, 93% of the attendees at your workshop rated your presentation Very Helpful or Helpful.
- What have clients or event organizers said? More important than what attendees have said is what your event planner or conference organizer’s peers have said about your presence at previous events. It’s one thing for you to say, I galvanize audiences to action! and quite another when an event organizer from a Fortune 500 corporation says the same thing!
What the appearance of your one sheet says about you
Carefully proofread your one sheet, and–if possible–hire an editor to proof it from an outsider’s point of view. A single spelling error or misused word can be enough to torpedo your chances of being asked to speak or present.
Pay particular attention to the design and layout of your one sheet. Use color, type, and layout to guide the reader’s eyes through your one sheet. Use lists and subheads to organize information. Design your one sheet for easy reading on screen or when printed by choosing the right combination of typeface, type size, and line spacing.
Include “hooks” back to your website
Be sure you include links to your website, where your event planners and conference organizers’ coworkers and supervisors can view streaming videos of you in action speaking at an event.
Even though your website or an e-mail may have delivered the one sheet to your prospect’s desktop, it’s likely to be printed and shared with others, sent as an e-mail attachment or discussed during meetings. Those who read your one sheet as a “pass-along” may want to view a video of you in action before making a final decision.
Collect and study author one sheets
One of the best ways you can learn how to prepare your own one sheets is by collecting and studying one sheets created by other authors in your field. Study their examples, and analyze how their one sheets answer the 6 important questions one sheet must answer.
