As a speaker, who do you serve?

As a speaker at any event, who do you serve? Who is your boss and what are your roles and responsibilities? 

I try to think in terms of systems — of how everything is interdependent and interconnected. And I always try to understand my place within any given system so that I can ensure that I’m delivering outstanding value to all stakeholders. 

And when I first started taking on speaking opportunities, I couldn’t fully see beyond myself. I didn’t quite grasp the entire ecosystem.  I couldn’t fully appreciate how I was just a small part of the big whole. 

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A small part of a much larger picture

When I first started speaking, I would get invites to represent my employer or I’d speak on behalf of the industry at large. I worked for a pioneering headphone company that was innovating within both the live-sound professional touring world and the consumer electronics space. So I had lots to talk about and lots of speaking offers. 

I intuitively understood that my first-level responsibility was to shine the spotlight on the work that my employers’ were doing and to act as a brand ambassador for my company and to promote their products and offerings. 

Thankfully, I also innately knew to not overdo it — that I was up there speaking as a subject-matter expert and that I could not unfairly use my platform to push our agenda over that of the industry-at-large or to fully overshadow my competitors. I never wanted to come off as inherently unfair and biased or worse, as fake and misinformed. More than anything, I wanted to offer the best and most honest experience to the attendees and listeners. 

It's a true balancing act really and I’ve seen plenty of professions err on the side shilling and promoting their own goods and services. And I’ve also seen the more timid approach fail when the speaker never leverages the podium to share the latest advances and technologies for fear of playing favorites. If you work for an industry leader, then talking about your products and your impact will be inevitable. 

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It's bigger than just you

As I progressed on my speaker journey and as I expanded my subject matter expertise, I started to recognize that I was not only there to represent my employer — or to speak as a voice for the industry — but that I was there representing the trade show as well. I was there to speak for the event itself. 

That’s a fundamentally different way to perceive the role and one that profoundly shifted the way that I thought about my responsibilities and altered how I approached the craft. 

Of course, every guest, exhibitor and attendee know and understand that I am not an employee of the event and that my viewpoints are my own and that I do not speak on behalf of the conference. But they also subconsciously recognize that it’s the event’s responsibility to secure the best talent that they can pull. If an event asks me to speak, then there is a tacit agreement that they are vouching for my professionalism, for my level of preparation and for my ability to connect with the crowd.  

And if I fail to deliver on any of these levels, then I don’t just create an issue for myself and for the event. I create a VERY BIG and VERY REAL issue for the event team member who went out on a limb and picked me for the role. My failure becomes their failure. 

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Cause and Effect

See — it’s not faceless. It’s not anonymous. An event is not a monolithic machine. It’s made up of teams and teams of professionals with each team member fulfilling their own individual roles and responsibilities. And somewhere along the line, some human or some team of humans chose me to speak, so I owe it to THEM to go above and beyond. I owe it to them to over-deliver and to outshine — because they could have chosen anybody. And yet they chose me. That makes it my unspoken obligation to be flawless on every level because their name is attached to my performance.

In any speaking situation, I have the chance to make them shine and to let them take home the win. Or I have the chance to leave egg on their face as they’re cleaning up my mess.  

The same is true for you. 

There is always accountability. There is always cause and effect. Even if you don’t know who on the planning team booked you — there is always a human connection. And you both are inherently intertwined. 

That person — that TEAM — that’s who you serve. 

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Putting it all together

So the next time that you get booked, please make it a point to try and think about the event from their vantage point. Try to imagine just how busy they are. Imagine how much is truly on their overflowing plates and then ask yourself: “how can I try to make their jobs just a little bit easier… How can I remove as many friction points as possible? And how can I be a true partner to them and to the entire event team?”

That’s the real win right there! And you’ll know it’s working when you get invited back year after year.