Mic Drop

Behind the Curtain: An Open Convo with a Buyer and a Bureau (ft. Tim Mathy & Lynne McNees)

Episode Summary

In the speaking industry, you need speakers, bureaus and meeting professionals. In this week's episode we've got all three. Find out what makes a speaker stand out to someone who's been hiring speakers for almost three decades, how a speaker travels the path from bureau recommendation to meeting planner booking, and what aspects of the industry have changed —or are about to change —that every speaker should know about now.

Episode Notes

Behind the Curtain: An Open Convo with a Buyer and a Bureau (ft. Tim Mathy & Lynne McNees)

How do you find out what buyers and bureaus want in a speaker? You ask them.

OPENING QUOTE:

“That standing ovation, it's not about the speaker, it's not even about the audience to me. It's about the people planning the event. That's who that standing ovation is for.”

-Tim Mathy

GUEST BIO:

Lynne McNees is president of the International Spa Association, or ISPA — the worldwide professional organization for the entire spa industry active in over 70 countries.

When magazines like the New York Times, USA Today, Travel and Leisure, or the Associated Press need a spa expert, Lynne is the only name they trust.

Before joining ISPA, Lynne was a Washington DC power player with high-profile roles in multiple presidential administrations. It's no wonder she jumped into the industry designed to help people relax.

Links:

Tim Mathy is the current president of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus. He has been in the bureau space since he joined SpeakInc over 20 years ago, and since then he's been active with industry leaders like PCMA, MPI, IMX, and the list of acronyms goes on and on. If you want to know how bureaus work from the inside out, Tim is your guy.

Links:

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[8:49] - From Bureau to Buyer

How speakers go from Tim’s list to Lynne’s event

After working together for over 20 years, Tim and Lynne have a well-established bureau-buyer relationship. Tim says it all starts with knowing the buyer’s community. He’s not just picking the best speakers to present to Lynne, he’s presenting the best speakers for her needs. For speakers, that means you don’t have to generalize your message in order to meet every possible organization or subject. You can feel empowered to specialize, knowing that if your message is strong, you’ll be able to find an audience that’s right for it.

[19:32] - What Gets You on the List?

An inside look at what bureaus and buyers are looking for

When it comes to what attracts Lynne or Tim to a speaker, they offer a clear list. First off, they’re looking for the basics — customization and preparation, plus an easy-to-work-with attitude. They’re also looking for a balance of inspiration and nuts-and-bolts takeaways, a business focus while also offering a humanitarian perspective. Consider these elements when preparing to pitch yourself to bureaus or buyers. Do you know how to strike that balance of uplifting and down-to-earth, business-centered and human? If you can find that sweet spot while remaining true to your character and message, you’ll find opportunity.

[20:28] - Changing Priorities in a Changing Industry

What’s new when it comes to booking speakers

Lynne and Tim both explore the way that a speaker’s primary purpose at a conference or event has evolved. It used to be that big-name speakers were a primary draw for industry conferences — you would go to the conference because so-and-so was going to be there. But today, these conferences have grown to attract attendees on their own. Now the speaker is less about a name and more about delivering actual value. Can you knock your keynote out of the park and leave the audience with relevant, actionable takeaways? If you can do that, it doesn’t necessarily matter if you’ve got a megawatt name or massively impressive credentials.

[27:08] - The Long Game

Advice from Tim and Lynne on looking forward

For two people who have been working together in the speaking for decades, it’s no surprise that Tim and Lynne advise playing the long game. Don’t get bogged down in temporary setbacks or issues. Instead, focus on long-term strategy. What are the efforts that will be worthwhile no matter how the world changes? Focus on them

And finally, all along the way there’s one simple way to supercharge your career — be kind and trustworthy. “Once you have that trust,” Tim says, “you can’t beat that.”

RESOURCES:

[1:54] About ISPA
[2:46] About IASB

Follow Lynne McNees:

Follow Tim Mathy:

Follow Josh Linkner:

ABOUT MIC DROP:

Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter it’s starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.

Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com

ABOUT THE HOST:

Josh Linkner is a Creative Troublemaker. He believes passionately that all human beings have incredible creative capacity, and he’s on a mission to unlock inventive thinking and creative problem solving to help leaders, individuals, and communities soar.

Josh has been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million and is the author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention. He has invested in and/or mentored over 100 startups and is the Founding Partner of Detroit Venture Partners.

Today, Josh serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Platypus Labs, an innovation research, training, and consulting firm. He has twice been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

Josh is also a passionate Detroiter, the father of four, is a professional-level jazz guitarist, and has a slightly odd obsession with greasy pizza.

Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com

Episode Transcription

Tim Mathy:

That standing ovation, it's not about the speaker, it's not even about the audience to me. It's about the people planning the event. That's who that standing ovation is for.

Josh Linkner:

Hey, Mic Drop enthusiast, Josh Linkner here, delighted to be bringing you season two of Mic Drop. I love our conversations with speakers and industry leaders alike, so we can unpack the industry and we can all perform better. Let's get after it and get better together.

Maria Cairo:

Mic Drop is brought to you by ImpactEleven, the most diverse and inclusive community built for training and developing professional speakers to get on bigger stages at higher fees with greater impact, faster.

They're not just elevating an industry that we all know and love, they work with thousands of speakers to launch and scale their speaking businesses, accelerating time success, earning tens of millions in speaking fees, landing bureau representation, securing book deals, and rising to the top of the field. To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impact E-L-E-V-E-N .com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

In the speaking industry, you need speakers, bureaus and meeting professionals. In this week's episode we've got all three. That's right, between me and my two guests, we're single-handedly holding up the entire industry on our shoulders.

Okay, not really, but this is an opportunity to get together with three corners of the speaking industry pyramid. You already know me, the speaker corner of the pyramid. So let's get into this week's guests.

If you work in the spa industry, then our first visitor is a true celeb. Lynne McNees is president of the International Spa Association, or ISPA, amazing acronym by the way. ISPA is the worldwide professional organization for the entire spa industry and is active in over 70 countries.

When magazines like the New York Times, USA Today, Travel and Leisure, or the Associated Press need a spa expert, there's only one name they trust. If they don't call her the spa whisperer, then they really should.

Oh, and by the way, before joining ISPA Lynne was a Washington DC power player with high up roles in multiple presidential administrations. It's no wonder she jumped into the industry designed to help people relax. Chatting with Lynne is like an afternoon at your favorite spa, revitalizing and inspiring.

And if Lynne is the spa whisperer, then our second guest, maybe he's the bureau whisperer, okay, maybe that's not as catchy, but Tim Mathy is the current president of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus. I could probably end the bio right there and you'd know everything there is to know about Tim's industry bonafides. But just to pat his stats a little, how about this? Tim has been in the bureau space since he joined SpeakInc over 20 years ago. Since then, he's been active with industry leaders like PCMA, MPI, IMX, and the list of acronyms goes on and on.

I have personally collaborated with Tim on dozens of engagements over the last 10 years, and he's a pro's pro. If you want to know how bureaus work from the inside out, Tim is your guy. With Tim and Lynne as our guides, this episode covers a broad range of topics. We'll explore what makes a speaker stand out to someone who's been hiring speakers for almost three decades, how a speaker travels the path from bureau recommendation to meeting planner booking, and what aspects of the industry have changed or about to change that every speaker should know about now, plus a whole lot more. So let's get started and welcome our guests.

Lynne and Tim, welcome to Mic Drop.

Lynne McNees:

Thank you for having us.

Tim Mathy:

Yeah, thanks Josh. Looking forward to it.

Josh Linkner:

Me too. And so this is the first time we've done this type of episode. I'm so excited. We have, if you think there's three stools, legs of the stool in the industry, you've got a speaker, a bureau professional and a meeting professional, and now the three of us get to hang out. So this is really fun.

And Lynne, just to give a little backdrop, I wanted to start with you. I was reading about you and I got really excited about your background. You were born in Okinawa and you ended up going from a self-proclaimed military brat to working in the White House. And for the last couple decades you've been an influential leader in the association business. How did that journey unfold?

Lynne McNees:

Gosh, it was a crazy journey. I'm so grateful to have been with the International Spa Association for almost 30 years, but I really brought a lot of the experience working with the White House fellows and group dynamics, and even I was in charge of scheduling their speakers on a weekly basis. So a lot of it did correlate. But once the administrations changed over, I got kicked out of DC, like all political appointees, and I ended up in Lexington working with an association management company, which has been just amazing experience.

Josh Linkner:

It's so great. And then also quick introduction, Tim, and you and I go way back and I can say you're a close friend, but you are one of the most respected leaders in the bureau community. I know you're the current president of the International Association of Speaker Bureaus. I don't think I've ever asked you this, how did you stumble into this strange, exotic and fun industry?

Tim Mathy:

Long story short, I was working in the staffing industry out of college and I was debating if I was going to go to law school or not because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career. And I was dating a girl at the time who worked for the San Diego Union Tribune, the paper. And paper, which you're younger, you may not know what it was, something we read back in the day instead of online, and on the Sunday paper she wrote an article about me being successful out of college.

And business came out, and it was complete garbage because I was in my boss's office, I wasn't that successful. So then a bunch of companies started calling me, including SpeakInc, and I had no idea what they did, I didn't answer the call. A couple months later, I was at my boss's wedding at the time, I was unhappy with what I was doing, and I was sitting next to Jeff Biglow, who's one of my business partners now. And we started talking, I'm like, "This guy called me." And 20 some years later, here I am. And the funny story is the girl and I broke up two weeks after the article, so there you go.

Josh Linkner:

So you lost the girl, but kept the job? I like it.

Tim Mathy:

Yeah, and I think she won in that... Actually we both won. I think she lost me, which is probably a win for her, and this has been an amazing career.

Lynne McNees:

It was meant to be.

Josh Linkner:

So it is funny. So this is obviously a very casual conversation, but to many people who are speakers, there's a lot of mystery and intrigue around these mythical beasts known as bureau executives and meeting professionals.

Lynne, I'll start with you, I'd love to get a sense of... You've been doing this a long time, you mentioned you're coming up on around 26 years in this association, and over that time you've hired a lot of speakers. What are some that really stood out for you, or at least some elements of speakers that really, you look back with fondness that you were like, you really felt great about hiring?

Lynne McNees:

Gosh, there's been so many, and I have to give Tim a huge shout out because we've been working... this coming year will be our 20th anniversary working together and selecting speakers. And Tim really knows our industry. He attends every conference. He stands in the back of the room, watches the speakers, and he throws us names that we would've never known before. And he says, "Trust me, they're an up and comer." And we've gotten a lot of speakers that we couldn't afford today because we trusted Tim before they became big names.

But for us, what makes them so special is when they take the time to really understand our industry, and it's not a cookie cutter that they could go on YouTube and watch, but it's very personal. We take a lot of time in the prep call once we select them, and selection is an ongoing process, but once they're selected we invest time with them because we want them to understand us. We don't want them to get up and stand in front of 3,000 people and say masseuse, because that's not a word we use in the spa industry. So we want to make sure that they show up and that they are well received, so we have a vested interest.

Josh Linkner:

It's so great that you do that, again, the mark of a professional, where many association leaders don't do that. And they're not out of meanness, they're busy or whatever, but you investing that extra time is ensuring that not only the speaker is going to land, it's going to be better for your members as well. So I think it's really a good investment of time.

And Tim, tossing to you for a second, obviously you and Lynne have been locked at the hip for 20 years, how do you think about what to recommend? You have this almost unlimited catalog, you have old seasoned pros, you have up and comers, new young. How do you decide what to put in front of Lynne?

Tim Mathy:

Well, I think one thing, I think you got to... What we do, we get to know your product well. I try to go to events and get to know what I'm doing, and I think I know their audience well. I've been going for a number of years, so it just kind of hits me. I don't go to an event to watch the speaker. I've seen Josh speak multiple times, not that I don't want to see you speak, but it's more to see what's going on in the back of the room and how the audience is reacting to certain speakers. So it just kind of makes it easy as far as who I think might tie in as far as their message, they book multiple speakers and I kind of tell what they're looking for, be it high content or an inspiration they want take that roller coaster ride.

So it just kind of ties in... And kind of what Lynne says, it's almost like the stock market, I want them to buy low before that speaker gets too popular. And I try to push it that way. Sometimes I don't always hit the stock, but when you get a speaker who's lower before their fee goes up, I think I'm pretty successful in that realm.

One thing I think you kind of mentioned earlier, I think what Lynne and her team does very well is they want the speaker to understand their community. I wish sometimes more planners and people in the event space did that. Her team will ask ahead of time and send care packages to the speaker just so they know what they're doing. They'll also, on the prep call, and this sometimes bothers me, is they'll want to make sure they know everything, and sometimes-

Tim Mathy:

... sometimes bothers me is they'll want to make sure they know everything and sometimes the speaker's not as engaged, which I'd recommend the speaker always be engaged on those calls. Because you have CEOs, presidents, board of directors, all these different people on there, so you have to be prepared and ready to go. I think for Ice Ball, this is a big event for them, 3000 people, their main attendees, their big sponsors are there. Make sure you're ready to go on that, not just on stage, but on that prep call ahead of time. And I know it could be one of six, you're doing that day, but be ready, be prepped.

Lynne McNees:

And I would echo that too, Josh, because we've had prep calls where they may send an assistant or somebody on and it really gets lost in translation and they show up that morning for a mic check-in. They don't really know our audience because their person didn't tell them what they needed to know that we spent the time to really try to teach them. We also try to get them in the spa the night before. If they can come in the night before and have a spa treatment, get in the spa, experience it. We want them to stand on stage and say, I just had an amazing massage last night.

And we want them to be part of our community. And one of the things we really look at when we're selecting speakers is social media presence. Because somebody can be a great speaker, but if they've gone really political on social media or gone one way or another, we can't book them because we're not going to alienate half our audience. Another thing is that they have no social media presence because we rely on them to help promote our event. We tag them. We want them to do maybe a quick video before if they can. Social media presence, but being very, I don't want to know your politics, I just want to know that you're passionate about speaking. And so I think that's another big tip for us.

Josh Linkner:

I'm really glad you shared that, certainly social media stuff as well. And I love this notion of really getting close to you and your audience because you're just going to be more relevant and impactful. I've been trying to do this now as a best practice, and for those listening, I would consider this a pro-tip. Anytime you can do a site visit of any kind before a keynote is just going to pay off in dividends. A spa is obviously a very pleasurable site visit. No one would oppose that. But I actually went to... I spoke recently at a large pizza company, international pizza company, and so I went there and I interviewed one of their managers. This was with my iPhone. I didn't bring a whole video crew and tasted the pizza and talked to some customers. And when I revealed that, I shared the film of that at the keynote, everyone lit up and there was all this smiling, and I think it really... It made the connection.

And so it's such an easy thing to do. It doesn't work in every industry. If it's a chemical manufacturer, maybe not, but generally speaking, if it's a car company, go to the dealership and check out a car and you're going to have a much better time and you're going to make a bigger impact. Tim, I want to get back though to what you were doing. You were saying, I just feel, it's almost like there's this magic vibe like, oh, I just know this person's going to be right. Can you give us a little view inside of that? Do you go through a list online? Do you start thinking about, oh, the theme this year is customer service, so who speaks on that topic? Do you start digging through files of people that you've never worked with before? Maybe just help us understand how eventually someone gets on that list that's presented to Lynne.

Tim Mathy:

That's a good question. I don't even know if it's a list. I had an idea, especially with Ice Ball, working with them for a while, what they're looking for. It's almost like a gut feeling. And I hate to say that I wish I had more data behind that, because I like to be more data-driven, but I just have an idea what they want and who's going to really hit home for them. And it's multi-way parts. It's not just on stage. It's, they'll have a book signing after and who may stick around their trade show, which this trade show doesn't suck. It's the most beautiful trade show I've ever been to. But it's just more hanging around doing those little things. And a lot of it is a feel. We just booked someone today for them, and I pushed on it too, like new book out. This is going to be different elements as far as them.

Again, I think it's just goes back to... I'm blabbing here, but them being on the rise, I want somebody who I'm going to find who is on the upswing or somebody who's been doing it for a while and just recreate it themselves a bit. Because I think one of the hardest things in this business is not just getting into it, but maintaining it. And Josh, you could probably speak about that more than I can. I think it's hard to stay in this business. And when you recreate yourself and do some really good things in a different manner, and you're already an incredible speaker, I'll push that in front of Ice Ball or any other, my other customers,

Lynne McNees:

Josh, I don't know if I'm allowed to name-drop, so you can cut this out if I'm not. But it's not just the up and comers because we booked Jim Collins twice. We booked Maya Angelou, Sidney Poitier, Brene Brown, but then Doc Hendley and people that no one had heard of before. And it's really interesting that it's the ones that really are the up and comers that no one's heard of that are the biggest wow. Because I don't know if they're most invested and they don't have that celebrity behind them, so they really are all in. I don't know what the sweet spot is there, but that's my experience. Not that Sidney Poitier and all them weren't great. They were, but it was really those unknown names that stuck out to us.

Tim Mathy:

You know what, I have a strong feeling on that. I think when you have a celebrity speaker, someone with a name, let's just say you have a ratio from one to 10, I think expectations going in that room are like a seven or eight and they can be a 10. And Sidney Poitier was amazing. He was amazing, but he was probably a seven going in and he ended up being a 10. He was fantastic, gentleman, great man, and he was unbelievable. But when you have somebody you don't know expectations, walking in that room are a one.

And if they knock it out of the park, there's just a huge ratio and difference there when you're in the back of the room and you're just watching people on their phone and then all of a sudden you see the phone go down and they're locked in and there's a magic there, because I think there's an expectation that is exceeded and met with somebody who you may not know. I think there is some data behind that as far as someone without a name, how they can just really crush it.

Lynne McNees:

Great point.

Tim Mathy:

... even more than the celebrity.

Maria Cairo:

Becoming a keynote speaker is an amazing profession. The top performers earn millions while driving massive impact for audiences around the world. But the quest to speaking glory can be a slow rot with many obstacles that can knock even the best speakers out of the game. If you're serious about growing your speaking business, the season pros at ImpactEleven can help. From crafting your ideal positioning to optimizing your marketing effectiveness, to perfecting your expertise and stage skills. As the only speaker training and development community run by current high level speakers at the top of the field, they'll boost your probability of success and help you get there faster. That's why nearly every major speaker bureau endorses and actively participates in ImpactEleven. The ImpactEleven community provides you unparalleled access to the people, relationships, coaching and accountability that compresses your time to success. To learn more about the ImpactEleven community, schedule a free strategy session today by visiting impacteleven.com/connect. That's impact E-L-E-V-E-N.com/connect.

Josh Linkner:

I love it. I wanted to continue on, Lynne, as we're revealing these mysteries on removing the cloak, can you walk us through your decision process? Tim presents you a few different ideas, maybe some don't hit the mark out of the gate, but you maybe narrow it down to a short list. You're like, okay, there's three or four that look interesting. Where does it go from there? How do you go through the process? I assume you watch video, you might talk to the speaker, you have a team that you run it by. Can you just give us a walkthrough of how it goes from a Tim recommendation to a booking?

Lynne McNees:

The conversation's really ongoing. As Tim said, we've got our conference in April. We have two of our three keynotes booked already. We had been talking about it for quite some time. The board trusts our leadership enough where we get in a board meeting, and Tim probably hates it because texting him, "How much is this person? How much is this person?" Because the board members throw out every name in the book and Tim will say, "Not a good speaker." He narrows it down for us and puts up with a lot from us. And then we narrow down. We've never spoken to a speaker in advance of contract.

And I think it goes back to the trust and the relationship with Tim that we definitely watch the videos. We do a lot of research on social media because we've been bit by that before. And so we're very, very careful. And then like what happened yesterday, Tim said, "He just got booked for one day, you better hurry." We did an email to the executive committee, said, "Here's how much he is." And executive committee said, "Sold." And this morning it was contracted. If I had just started in this role, the board might be more involved. But because we have this great relationship with Tim and I started when I was 10, a hundred years ago, it seems a lot easier now.

Tim Mathy:

One thing though, I think they do, Josh, well. And I think is they really value the thing of partnership. And I think with the speaker, with their... They've worked with me for a long time, but their AV team, they've been with them longer than I have. When you walk in there, the whole thing is pretty fluid and a lot easier for the planners, me, the speaker, everybody. Because everyone knows their roles and what they're doing. Props to Lynne and their team because there's just a lot of trust in there. And I think that simplifies your efforts from trusting me or some other customers. Or they may be looking through a 100 speaker tapes, which is no fun for anybody.

Lynne McNees:

And we really want that balance. We want an inspiration. We want a real nuts and bolts takeaway, business focused, and we always look for a humanitarian. And that's getting harder and harder. Tim knows our cadence day one, day two, day three. And so we've got day one and day two and we were just talking before you hopped on, what are we going to do for day three? But we always figure it out. We really do. And it's just always like magic. It just comes together.

Josh Linkner:

I have a question, Lynne, that maybe you could start with and Tim, anything you want to build on. You've both been at this a while, you've been working together for 20 years.

Josh Linkner:

... you want to build on. You've both been at this a while. You've been working together for 20 years. And so, Tim, the speakers that you booked for Lynne 20 years ago maybe wouldn't be the right fit today. It's not so much that the topics changed because we know that topics change, but I'm curious more about the mannerism, the delivery. Maybe in the past, it was all nuts-and-bolts business. And now it's, you mentioned, a little bit more human-centered. What are some of the themes that are shifting or have shifted since the time you started working together to the themes that you're seeing that are most prevalent today?

Lynne McNees:

I think early on, we really were using our keynotes to drive attendance. It was the big names we've mentioned. It was kind of the wow. We've really almost graduated past that, as an industry. Because we just started in '91, so we're three decades, so we're not really an old association. And so, I think our attendees, our members, which are all the owners and operators, resort, hotels, destinations, they see a lot of speakers in their own hotels that come in to do events. They're really looking for a topic that resonates.

And we are very data-driven. Jim Collins spoke at ISPA twice, and he said, "Get data-driven." And we truly are. We know what our members' pain points are, so we try to match up a speaker and a feel, knowing what they're looking for. We also have a lot of knowledge-builder sessions outside of the power session room, and we use Tim for those. Some of those are also professional speakers. We tend to do more nuts-and-bolts in the knowledge-builder breakouts then we do on main stage now, but we certainly do love those takeaways. I mean, Simon Sinek was great in that. Yeah, we've had a bunch of those. So, Tim, I don't know if that answered it. I'll let you hop in.

Tim Mathy:

No, no. I mean, I think it makes sense. I think as ISPA has evolved, I think, they always have somebody come in and talk about the data and what they're doing as far as each year. I think 10 years ago, they were, "What's our positioning here? How do we find this? How do we continue to grow?" Where this last year, it's record numbers of people going to spas. I think as they change, it kind of changes the way that speaker dynamic is and who you're bringing in.

Also, I think Lynne probably made the best point. They're not looking, as the speaker, to be the draw anymore. The draw is already there from... People go to conferences for two reasons: connection, networking, and education. I think the networking side, their trade show is full, they're ready to go, and they have a group that's really already at the edge of their seat. They're ready to learn and engage, which is great for the speaker. So now, it's just bringing somebody who's just going to be dynamic and crush it. It's actually, I think, a lot easier now because you can just find somebody who's on top of their game, and they're going to eat out the palm of their hand because the audience is just ready to go.

Lynne McNees:

That's true. And Josh, I would add to that, too, that we're no longer trying to explain to people that we're not hot tubs. People get what the spa industry is now. So, we certainly have come a long way. That was one of the things we had to do in the beginning, was really define what is a spa. So we've done that, and now we're really focused on the business side of it.

Josh Linkner:

We talked about some of the things that you love from a speaker, the preparation, the customization, sort of easy to work with. And we also, I heard you say a couple kind of pet peeves, somebody who doesn't use the right lingo, someone who says masseuse when they shouldn't say that word, or somebody who pulls politically or whatever. I would love for each of you to comment on some of your speaker pet peeves, not so much as a rant session, but for those who are, our heart's in the right place, who want to do the right thing. These are the potholes that we should avoid. What are some of those pet peeves that really get under your skin, so that the well-intentioned speaker can steer clear of them?

Tim, why don't we start with you on this one?

Tim Mathy:

Well, one, sure, I mentioned the prep call, and that's one. But one thing right now, I think, is just the AV check. I think being in the room on time. This sounds easy, but be there. Because when there's a morning keynote and people are like, "Why do I have to be there so early?" Well, their Chairman of the Board is out at a party last night, where you should probably be in your room prepping for your speech. Just be there on time. Maybe walk, especially in Vegas, walk the floor ahead of time, the night before. Find out where you're going because when you're late, it's a domino effect for everybody else being late, and the door is not opening on time, and it's just becoming more and more of an issue.

I think the other one, too, is just if you could send your presentation ahead of time, that'd be huge. I think there's a lot of turnover in the AV space, and it's just hard to get that stuff to going. I know a lot of speakers are customized the night before, but it's not a full customization. So get that stuff ahead of time, just to make sure everyone is on time and the same space. You're supposed to be there at 8:00 in the morning, show up at 7:50. Josh had a gig for me in May, and I left. I had a couple speakers there, and I came back. I don't know, AV was checked, it was like at 11:00 in the morning. I came back at 10:45. Josh was there with his musicians ready to go, and that's it. It's not that difficult. This is not a hard thing. Just be there on time, ready to go.

Josh Linkner:

Well, Tim, I think it's so straight. And I just want to build on that real quickly, that also, a speaker's role, and I think they get it confused sometimes, speaking is an act of service. It's not an act of self-adulation. And so, if you're there with a service heart. A great speech about the audience, not about the speaker. You're like, "I'm there to help. I'm there to lift people up." Then you show up early with a fresh coffee for your host, as opposed to, "Well, they can wait on me." That's such an arrogant approach. And to me, that's like fingernails on the blackboard. That's probably my biggest pet peeve. So, I'm glad you identified that.

Lynn, I'm sorry, over to you.

Lynne McNees:

No, I was just going to say almost the same thing. We have a mantra: If you're on time, you're late. So, show up early. And mistakes happen, things happen. Over-communicate. Do what you say you're going to do. We're not jerks about contracts, do this and this, but if you say you're going to do something, if you say you're going to have a book signing, don't decide not to at the last minute when we've got all these books.

I think kind of I thought where Tim was going to go with his whole poker game thing that he shared with me, but don't be a jerk. Show up and be nice to our members. Be nice to our board. We're grateful that you're there. You're there to make the experience better. I would love for them to not think of it as work, but think of it as an experience, like that service-minded, like you said.

Tim Mathy:

You know, Josh, and I think what you said, that when a speaker, the service mindset, I think that's so important. That's standing ovation, it's not about the speaker. It's not even about the audience to me. It's about the people planning the event. That's who that standing ovation is for. And if you're able to get that, that's that service mindset. I mean, it's gold. But again, I think a speaker perspective shouldn't be, "Well, I crushed it for me." It's, "I crushed it for the people who are paying me and who are putting this event together." I think that's so important.

Josh Linkner:

Absolutely. And just building on that service mindset for a second, Tim, just because I admire the connection that you two have had for a 20-year productive working relationship, I have to believe that Lynne gets 15 calls a day from some new speaker and some new Bureau agent. The fact that your relationship has endured really speaks volumes of your service focus and professionalism. What do you think it is? What could speakers listening, Tim, borrow from your approach working, and serving Lynn's needs, and being a great partner to her that we speakers could learn and apply it to our Bureau friends, as well as meeting planners at large?

Tim Mathy:

Well, I think one, it's a long-term play, right? I mean, when issues come up, you get up, play the long-term game. Different things happened during the pandemic with speakers, or other things where a speaker, there was an issue. I think you got to play the long-term game. And secondly, it's just get to know each other. I think you could be likable, but if you can build that trust. We mentioned that multiple times.

A bunch of Bureaus can call Lynn, and I think there's been a few who have called her and even said some bad things about me, and she may share that with me. But it's kind of like I'm not worried about that relationship going in a different way because the likability is one thing, but once you have that trust, you can't beat that. Sometimes, there's going to be a swing and a miss. But at the end of the day, you just keep working through it. There's a friendship we have there, but at the end of the day, I got to deliver. And it comes down to the trust for me to deliver for Lynne and her people.

Lynne McNees:

Josh, I would add to that, too. I mean, Tim is an extension of our team. I mean, he's part of our team. He knows all our board members. He comes to the conference. He shows up at the auction. He comes to the party. He'd probably know as many members now, Tim, as I do. He's just part of our core, and we've built that over time together. And it's invaluable, because we couldn't have found the speakers that have made our conference so exceptional without his input. So, you just have to build that trust.

As he said, we're not always going to hit a home run, but we're going to get our heads together and figure out, what could we have done better? What could we have done differently? He mentions the pandemic. If it hadn't been for Tim, we probably couldn't have gotten out of a lot of those contracts when we had to cancel two years of a conference, but we did. And some of them gave us full refunds, some went virtual. I mean, he worked that for us, and we couldn't have done that without him.

Tim Mathy:

And Josh, too, I think it's the same relationship, I think, a lot for the Bureau and the speaker. I think since the pandemic, I think Bureau and speaker relationships have never been better because we all felt pain. Same with the muni professional. We all felt pain. We hugged it out and figured it out. But I just think with that Bureau and speaker relationship, sometimes you're going to get into it, but at the end of the day, there's likability. But if you trust each other, you can't beat that. And then, you're just going to keep booking and making it profitable for everybody. I think that trust is so huge.

Josh Linkner:

I love it. I thought we would kind of get our conversation as we wrap toward the end here. I had a fun game I wanted to play. So, here's the question. Imagine you discover an old lamp, you polish it off, and out pops a genie. But this is like a weird, strange, special genie, because this genie will grant three wishes, but only a certain type of wishes. The genie will give you three wishes for your next ideal keynote speaker only. So no fancy cars, no unlimited money, no time to portal, no live to 100 or to 200, but they will give you three wishes for your next keynote speaker. How would you use those wishes?

Tim Mathy:

That's a good one. Dang it, Josh, you got me thinking.

Lynne McNees:

Josh.

Tim Mathy:

Hold on, let me think about this.

Lynne McNees:

Three wishes.

Lynne McNees:

... gosh.

Tim Mathy:

Hold on. Let me think about this.

Lynne McNees:

Three wishes. So for us, it would be a surprise, like someone we've never heard of, like an unknown that is way under budget, will stay all three days and even consider doing something in the future with us or writing an article in our magazine, but embracing us as this is going to be a long-term investment.

Tim Mathy:

The three for me, easy to work with for the planner and my team, I think that's both sides, be it for, let's say, ice ball in this case. And for my team who handles the logistics. So the ease to work with. Say yes to all the requests, whatever those might be, be it shoot a short promo video, article for their newsletter, whatever it might be. Say yes. Donate something to the auction. That would be the second one. And in this case, let's say... I think Lynne and I, we booked over [inaudible 00:31:04] the other day, over 100 speakers we've done work together. So be that number one speaker since I can ask the genie any wish. Be the top speaker for this, for their event.

Josh Linkner:

I mean, so good in our fun little game there. You talked about over-delivery. You talked about value. You talked about high qualities of performance. You talked about customization. You talked about really being an engaged long-term partner and those. So I'm not surprised by those wishes. And when people are asking, "How do I become an effective speaker?" I think you've really given us a roadmap to do just that. So I wanted to bring our conversation home with one last question. I guess one last wish. The professional speaking industry has been great for us all. And obviously Lynne, you do way more than just the speaking industry. But if you could change one thing about our industry, whether it's the way that the interactions work together, the way that speakers charge, or anything you want, again, one kind of last wish here, what would you change about the industry we find ourselves in?

Tim Mathy:

I'll go here. I got two though, Josh. For one, I wish speakers and the industry really... There's an abundance of business out there. Abundance, abundance, abundance. So working together, partnering, trust, I mean, there's so much out there. And I think Josh and his team, [inaudible 00:32:11] doing a great job with that, with Impact 11. There's so much business out there that if we just kind work better together, we're all going to rise. And I think that is super important. And secondly, I just think within the meeting industry itself, I think the speaking side is so, so important. And I think we discount that a lot, from bureaus to speakers and even on the planner side. When you come home from a conference, no one's ever going to come home and go, "Wow. That chicken and the mystery sauce was epic," or, "That was the best signage I've ever seen." No one ever says that.

There's two things again, networking, education. They come back and go, "Wow. I really connected with this person or two," which I think we all want. "Wow. That speaker was incredible. They changed my life." And that could be from a day, a week, a month, or maybe it is their life. I don't know. But just having someone say that, there is so much power in that that I think we got to up our game to show how powerful we are.

Josh Linkner:

Beautifully said.

Lynne McNees:

And I would say speakers are worth every single dime you pay them. If they deliver and they show up and they're committed, then it's worth it. I think there's a lot of speaker fees that are very inflated and all respond to Tim and say, "Wow," or, "Good grief." Yesterday, I think I said, "Good grief," because there's just some that are just so... And they're not attainable for an association like ours. So really making sure... And female. Female speakers are really hard... They're really hard to find. And we look at a diverse lineup when we're showing all of our keynotes. We want to make sure that we're showing a diverse population. So I think really being honest about your pricing and encouraging others to step up and get in the speakers game too, particularly female.

Josh Linkner:

What a wonderful place to leave our conversation. Lynne, thank you so much for joining today, for your leadership in your association and really helping us see an area that's kind of cloudy from the outside and provide crystal clarity. So thank you. And Tim, my friend, thank you for your leadership in our industry. I'm always not only inspired but also entertained by your giant smile and your huge heart. Thanks for the contribution today and thanks for illuminating the path forward for us all. I really appreciate it, Lynne and Tim, and wishing you both continued success.

Lynne McNees:

Thank you so much, Josh.

Tim Mathy:

Thanks, Josh. Thanks for all you do.

Josh Linkner:

Well, you've just heard over half a century of combined industry experience condensed down into about 30 minutes. So what have we learned aside from the fact that you'd better not say masseuse to an audience full of spa industry pros? Here's my main takeaway. Tim and Lynne have been working together to book speakers for over 20 years. That means that together they've seen about a gazillion speaker reels and pitches. And after all this time, what sets a speaker apart is those extra mile things that we're always talking about on MicDrop. Have you taken the time to learn the client's industry and jargon? Do you understand both the aspirations and concerns of the audience? Are you engaged on prep calls and actively looking to get your head around the ins and outs of the people who are booking you? Go above and beyond. Prepare like crazy. Show industry pros that you care deeply about their work, not just your own. Those that are committed to professionalism, service and contribution rise to the top, even in our competitive field.

Special thanks to Lynne and Tim for showing us the way. And thanks to you for joining me on another episode of MicDrop. Thanks so much for joining me on another episode of MicDrop. Don't forget to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your favorite shows. If you love the show, please share it with your friends and don't forget to give us a five star review. For show transcripts and show notes, visit micdroppodcast.com. I'm your host, Josh Linkner. Thanks so much for listening. And here's to your next MicDrop moment.