Shontavia Johnson (00:00):

What’s up, y’all. Welcome to The Shontavia Show, where my goal is to help you start a business based on your life’s vision. This ain’t gonna be your daddy’s business advice. I’m laser focused on entrepreneurship in the 21st century, vision and breaking the traditional mold. If you can get with that, you can get with me, be sure to visit shontavia.com for more episodes, blog posts, and other content. Thank you for listening. The show starts now.

Shontavia Johnson (00:28):

What’s up everybody? This is The Shontavia Show and I am Shontavia. I want to inspire you to start a business based on your life’s vision. Today’s episode is all about conferences, y’all and using conferences to grow your business and your brand, and I have to start by saying I actually am not that comfortable with conferences all the time. I am mostly an introvert though I can be kind of an extroverted introvert at times and basically what that means is that even though I can go out and like talk to people and have a good time, I need a lot of breaks.

Shontavia Johnson (01:04):

I get pretty exhausted if I’m at a conference talking about myself and listening to other people for a long time. And so I am saying you need to go to conferences as a person who really is not always that excited about spending two or three days at a conference. But I’ve found a way to make it work for my business and my brand. And I hope you do too because they can be some of the most useful tools for you to grow the thing that you’re trying to build and the brand that you are cultivating in your company and for your work.

Shontavia Johnson (01:37):

So let me start with a little story about how conferences have impacted me and been really, really dynamic opportunities for my business. So I, many years ago was working as a law professor in the Midwest and I went to a conference in Wisconsin, in Madison, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin.

Shontavia Johnson (01:58):

And as part of my work as a law professor, one of the things we have to do or maybe not have to do, but it was good for your work, is to go to conferences and talk about ideas you have for research and written work, like articles and that kind of thing. So I went to a conference with an idea of actually somewhat of a, an unusual idea about the connections between science and law and human behavior and how a combination of all these things could explain why things go viral online and the crazy things people do when stuff goes viral online and why some people try to get a monopoly on memes after they go viral. So this wasn’t a fully developed idea by any stretch. It was something I had been thinking about. And when I went and gave this presentation about what I was thinking about, it did not go over well.

Shontavia Johnson (02:54):

In fact, someone afterward told me, this is really kind of a silly idea. It’s not worth writing about. I don’t get it. And that means you shouldn’t write about it. And I was a little disappointed, a little dejected about it, but I kept going. I not just kind of thought about it and researched it. I started writing it and I started writing this article. So I went out and presented again at another conference this time. And I think I was in Vermont or New Hampshire. It was somewhere in that general universe in New England. And I talked about the, at that time it was a paper and I said to the audience there, you know, I gave this presentation before. It didn’t get great feedback but I still feel pretty strongly about it. And at that conference there was a woman there who suggested that if I was looking for ways to leverage my idea and figure out how to gain some traction for this particular topic, that was a little unusual that I should submit it to this award competition.

Shontavia Johnson (03:58):

And that award competition identified the best articles in the world on trademark law and things related to like trademarks and competition. I was a little skeptical cause this is keep in mind an article that multiple people had told me was silly and I shouldn’t write it. I had never heard of the competition before either, but I entered that article and another into this competition that gets submissions from all around the world, again to identify the best topics, best articles in the world on a trademark law topic. And that year, first year I’d ever heard of it, submitted two articles on two completely different topics. I both won the competition and with for the other article and the thing that I had started writing that everybody told me I shouldn’t write was named the third best article in the world on a trademark topic. And I was talking about memes and talking about the way people act when it comes to memes and trademark law.

Shontavia Johnson (04:57):

And that article that I started out as an idea, as a conference, I actually became several other things. So writing that piece and submitting it and winning that award, some people said, “Hey, you ought to write, you know, kind of like a public piece, a public article on this same topic.” So I wrote that article too, which went up on theconversation.com which is kind of like a CNN or time.com where they have articles from experts and professors on different topics. And that led to a TEDx group reaching out to me and saying, “Hey, we have a TEDx event coming up. We’re thinking about inviting someone to talk about memes, and right now it’s between you and the person who invented the word meme and we wanted to talk to you.” So I’m thinking, okay, I’ll talk to these folks. There’s no way they’re going to invite me to give a TEDx talk on memes when they could invite and have the person who invented the word.

Shontavia Johnson (05:55):

But as it turned out, they really liked the academic topic, and then they liked the way I wrote about it publicly. We had really good engagement over the phone and that kind of thing. And I was selected to give a TEDx talk in Atlanta, Georgia in 2019 on the topic of the same thing people were telling me a couple of years ago at a conference that I shouldn’t write.

Shontavia Johnson (06:21):

So my point is with conferences that taking that first step of talking about your ideas, your work, your business, your projects, even if it’s something that isn’t resonating that much with an audience or you never know what could happen from those things. And since giving that TEDx talk, there’s been, I can’t tell you how many different opportunities I’ve gotten just from that one thing. And it would not have happened without frankly, both of those conference experiences, the first where people told me, “Hey, you really shouldn’t do that.”

Shontavia Johnson (06:56):

The second where I said, “Hey, I went to a conference, people told me I shouldn’t do it. I’m doing it anyway. Do you have any suggestions?” And someone said, “Hey, enter it into this competition.” So I want to spend some time in this episode talking to you about how you can leverage your expertise and your experiences and conferences to build your business and build your brand. In my business, because of the work I’m in, helping other people leverage their expertise to build businesses. I do speaking, I do consulting. I work with people one on one and coaching. I’m writing a book. I’m creating a class. I’m doing a lot of things that requires me to engage with other people. So what better way for me to sell myself than to say, Hey, I’ve given a TEDx talk on this topic. I’ve written publicly about this topic. I’ve been invited by fortune 100 companies and lawyers to come speak about this topic. And the same thing can be true for you.

Shontavia Johnson (07:55):

Does not matter what your expertise is. So this may not come from the work you’re doing every day, how you’re getting paid. Maybe you’re really good at parenting, juggling your kids’ schedules. Maybe you’re good at diversity and inclusion in the corporate environment. Maybe you bake cookies and cakes. It really doesn’t matter. If there’s something that you do well. I would bet my, I hate to bet my eyeteeth, but I’ll bet my eyeteeth that there’s a conference out there that revolves around your expertise. And what you can do by going to those conferences, especially as a presenter, is get people interested in and excited about your company and in my opinion, going to a conference as a speaker is a really, really great way to do that.

Shontavia Johnson (08:45):

So as you continue on your entrepreneurship path, speaking at conferences and workshops and other events can not only help you get your name out there, but also your expertise, what you’re really good at and your business with people in your field or with people who are really interested in the type of work you’re doing. Because as an entrepreneur, you really need to be out there talking to folks about your work, how you can solve their problems, the things that people are facing at their day-to-day and who better to talk to than a room of 100 or 1000 or 10,000 people with interests that are similar to yours. I have a colleague who says to me many times that the real benefit for her at the conference, in addition to know being there as a speaker, is what happens off the stage where you can talk to people one-on-one, where you really begin to build relationships with like minded folks.

Shontavia Johnson (09:47):

So there are any number of reasons why you should be considering going to conferences as a speaker and pitching yourself as a speaker. So when you go as a conference speaker in particular, your colleagues and the people in the audience are going to see you as the authority and the expert before you hit the stage. If the conference organizers thought enough of you to invite you there as a speaker, there must be something good about what you’re doing, right? So your job is to prove the audience right once you get on the stage so that you can connect with them once you get off the stage.

Shontavia Johnson (10:26):

So really, there’s three pieces to this. There’s getting invited as a conference speaker. So you’re viewed as an expert and authority in the space. It’s proving the conference organizers and the people in the audience right once you’re on the stage so that you can connect with people once you are off the stage and not just at that conference when you’re off the stage, but later through the content that you’re creating.

Shontavia Johnson (10:55):

So some people in the audience, when you go to a conference and give a talk will really, really like you. They will connect with you. They’ll share your name, they’ll share your message with other people. They’ll follow you off the stage and into the hallway for more discussions. If there are lunches or dinners, they’ll want to come sit next to you. They’ll follow you on social media and hopefully they’ll want to work with you either by hiring you to come speak at their event by buying from you or whatever. So you can begin to grow your business this way. A couple of weeks ago, I actually was at the Fulbright Association Conference. I gave a talk there. The Fulbright Association is the largest, most prestigious international education organizations on the planet. I gave a talk, actually I was invited to give a talk there about memes.

Shontavia Johnson (11:48):

I had forgotten that and afterward two people came up to me and said, “Hey, we want you to come speak to our folks in, you know, wherever.” I can’t even remember where now, but I think I’ll probably get a couple of new speaking opportunities and new opportunities to share my work and my business that way.

Shontavia Johnson (12:09):

So again, I’m the first to say this is not something that I necessarily, in a perfect world, want to do day in and day out. But in a perfect world, it is definitely awesome for me to connect with like minded people and that’s something that I want to do. Now, again, I take breaks and that kind of thing, but I continue to feel like conferences are an amazing way to leverage my expertise to build my brand and build my business. So what I’ve decided to do, because it is a little bit uncomfortable for me, is be really, really intentional about where I spend my time in conferences and where I’m going and who I’m speaking to.

Shontavia Johnson (12:51):

I want to give you some strategies for how you can do the same thing. How you can find people, places, conferences that can help you build your brand and build your business. So all you have to do is get the invitation from the conference organizers. So how do you do that? And this for me was such a mystery. I would go to conferences, I would hear speakers, sometimes I’d be really impressed, sometimes not so much and I would think, you know, well hell I can do what they’re doing or if I didn’t feel like necessarily I was there yet. I was taking notes, not just on what they were saying, but style and trying to figure out how I could get some of these opportunities to. So one avenue always of course is to work with the speaker’s bureau or having an agent like a speaking agent.

Shontavia Johnson (13:45):

I have a speaking agent now, so shout out to Gravity Speakers. They are awesome and amazing and just, you know, really been helpful for me and crafting a clear message and finding the right opportunities. So working with the speaking agent is one avenue. That’s kind of hard though because agents a lot of times want to see a history of speaking. They want to see a clear message, they want to see third party interest in you among all kinds of other things. I don’t know the secret sauce, you know, maybe I should probably get maybe my agent or some other agents to come on the show and talk a little bit about how you get signed to a speaker’s bureau. But at any rate, there are other things you can do in the interim. So the first 10 years of my business, I didn’t have a speaking agent or anything.

Shontavia Johnson (14:32):

It was just me out there looking for opportunities. So if you don’t have a speaking agent yet, there are still a ton of things you can do to get started, even if you don’t necessarily have the street cred you need to like go out immediately and get a speaking agent. So the first thing you can do is create a vision. And y’all know, I love vision, I talk about vision, vision. The whole purpose of this show is for me to help you create a business based on your life’s vision. So I believe strongly, strongly about vision. And while you don’t have to create a vision, it is so much easier to know your vision before you try to go out and speak at all these different conferences. And I say that for a couple of reasons. So you don’t want to just go out everywhere. You want to have a strategy for going to a conference and speaking to people.

Shontavia Johnson (15:27):

If the folks at this conference are not your target audience, they’re not going to engage with you. They’re not going to work with you or buy from you. It may be that is not the right place to spend your time and efforts. So the first thing with creating this vision is why are you going to go out and do this? What is the point? How does speaking ultimately fit into the vision you have for your business? So for me, one of the things is I go out and speak so that people can engage with me one-on-one. So I’m not out all the time. I am not hitting the streets 300 days a year, whatever. I have a spouse, I have three children, I have a lot of other things that I want to do in life. So I’m not out all the time.

Shontavia Johnson (16:14):

But when I do go, when I do conferences and when I do speak, I want to get a lot of bang for my buck. So I go to conferences where I know that will happen. Also, it gives me really good bases for content. So a lot of the things I’m talking about on this show and on my website, I am packaging and repurposing that content in my speaking engagements. Also, I really, really want to help people and one of the best ways I can help people is by going out and talking to them about all of the different things that go into becoming an entrepreneur and creating a business based on the vision you have for your life. So if you do have a vision, awesome. If you need a little bit of help creating a vision, you can walk through a program that I have on my website for free at shontavia.com and I’m not just saying this because I created it, but creating a vision is, is critically important and the program that I’ve developed is really, really simple.

Shontavia Johnson (17:18):

There are four videos. They’re each less than seven minutes, and I do these videos myself once every couple of years because I believe so strongly in creating a vision for my life and I just need that guidance myself. I need to look internally, I need to do a lot of the things I walked through in these videos. So you may find as you work through your vision is speaking just ain’t going to be your thing, and so if speaking ain’t going to be your thing then it’s great to know before you go out and waste time at conferences when you really don’t need to do that. If it’s not necessary for your business. Awesome, great. Let’s move on to something else.

Shontavia Johnson (18:01):

If speaking could be valuable for your business. Then the next thing I think you should do after creating a vision is choosing a topic of expertise. And I don’t mean a dissertation of things. I mean a topic that you can describe in probably two, three or four words, easy words, not like the big words you use when you look things up on thesaurus.com or whatever. We just need to know what your expertise is, conference organizers need to know what your expertise is. And actually this is something that I have struggled with a long time figuring out now how to succinctly describe my expertise because I do a lot of different things. I’m interested in a lot of different things, but I’ve had to really focus, like I could talk about memes all day long. I mentioned memes earlier. That was the foundation of my TEDx talk. I could talk about entrepreneurship, I can talk about scholarships to college. I could talk about so many different things, but figuring out your topic of extra expertise in three or four words will be important because you want to be able to communicate really broadly hey, this is what I’m good at.

Shontavia Johnson (19:17):

And I am still learning and growing in this space myself, but it’s really, really cool for you and it’s really easy for organizers if you can just in a couple of words, describe your expertise. So that’s the second thing. After creating a vision, choosing a topic of expertise.

Shontavia Johnson (19:37):

Then the third thing I am begging you to do is create content about this topic. You just chose the three or four words you just chose and share it on your own platform. If you have a website, awesome. If you don’t, get a website, if you don’t want a website, use an app or an email newsletter or something that is feasible and workable for your business. The method doesn’t matter as much as the action that you take, but you should have a platform you control, as much as we can control anything in this digital world, but you should control whatever that domain is.

Shontavia Johnson (20:21):

So like for me, I’ve got my website, I also have an email newsletter. I’m doing this show via podcast and video and then I have a private community that I’ve created. But those are all things that I have created that I manage well. I, you know, in my business and the rest of my team in my business.

Shontavia Johnson (20:41):

So what can you put on this platform once you create it? Here’s some ideas. I’m not saying you have to do all of them, but some ideas about things you can share on your own platform. So blog posts, podcasts, I just mentioned newsletters, I mentioned those things that I do. Artwork, photography, if that is your jam, videos, if that’s what you do. Audio programs, eBooks, other books, instructional guides, pamphlets, webinars, reviews of other people’s content. One of my favorite YouTube channels is a person who reviews conferences that he goes to.

Shontavia Johnson (21:25):

So even if I can’t go to Nashville next week, there’s a person who’s either been already or going who will do a review and then I can figure out if it’s something I should drop a few thousand dollars on in the next couple of years. So those are, I think I mentioned 10 or 12 different things you can share on your own platform. And so let me just say about this. I prefer sharing things on my own platform first and then moving to other people’s platforms. So like on my own platform, my website is up 24 hours a day, like every website, I presume. I’m not going to be in Alaska and California and Vermont all at the same time, Georgia, wherever. But my website can be my email newsletter, the app, all that stuff. So, so that is why I think it’s important to create your own platform. And again, I suggest posting on your own platform first before anybody else’s.

Shontavia Johnson (22:25):

So like a Twitter or Facebook or LinkedInMedium, Instagram, whatever. I think you should post on your own platforms first because when you post on social media, which you’re giving those other platforms, the right to do, usually in the terms of use, is use your content however they want. And you know, maybe somebody complains about your content and it gets removed and that happens without your control. But if you have things already on your own platform, then at least you have some digital record. You have the ability to push stuff out the way you want. So post on your own platform first. I mean move to those other things, the Facebooks, the LinkedIns, the Twitter, Instagram, Medium, whatever, but start with your own. After you do that. So we’ve done three things. Now you have a vision. You are creating content. You are choosing your topic of expertise, you’re posting on platforms.

Shontavia Johnson (23:29):

One thing you absolutely have to do if you’re going to be a conference speaker is record yourself speaking about a topic, even if it is in your kitchen or your living room or hell, even your your car or whatever. This really good lighting in your car, frankly, if you do it in your car. Practice as many times as you need to, but have a one to three minute video that you are comfortable posting on your website and sharing with conference organizers because as many times as you say, “Hey, I’m a great speaker. Hey, I’m a great speaker. Hey, I’m a great speaker.” What really proves that is actually speaking and having content that shows that you are a great speaker. So show rather than tell organizers that you’re a good speaker, that you’d be good for their event and after you’ve done all those things.

Shontavia Johnson (24:16):

The final piece of advice I will give you is find a conference and pitch yourself. Conference websites often have a speakers tab or a call for speakers tab or page on their websites where you can submit your name, submit your materials so that you can present at conferences. So I’m going to give you a little bit of homework. Go look for some conferences in your space or field. I actually keep a list of conferences that I’m thinking about is probably more than a hundred conferences on that list. If you go to listofconferences.com I’ve listed them all, there listofconferences.com, look for some conferences that you can pitch yourself at and actually do it, make that pitch, have the video. Like I mentioned, a one to three minute video of yourself. If you haven’t been anywhere speaking and recording yourself, record yourself in your living room or at your kitchen table talking about your specific topic and expertise.

Shontavia Johnson (25:24):

So please, please, please do those things. And if they’re not ready yet, so the conferences, you know, if it’s November and the conference in August of next year, maybe not, they’re not accepting a call for speakers right now, but put the deadline or when you think the deadline might be, which is, you know, it might be three, four, or five months in advance. Put it on your calendar, set a reminder, so six months from now or whatever, it’ll remind you to go back and look at that call for speakers on that website.

Shontavia Johnson (25:56):

Once you do these things, you will be well on your way to establishing yourself and your expertise at the next amazing conference in your field. And I hope you do this, and I guess I should say too, so once you pitch yourself, if when you get to the point of pitching yourself, follow up with people, don’t let that just be the last thing.

Shontavia Johnson (26:19):

Sometimes you get more of a look if you reach out and get a real person than if you send through the automated, you know, call for speakers pitch site where you know maybe there are 2000 other people who are doing the same thing. But please do these things because you will be shocked perhaps at how many opportunities you can get just by putting yourself out there and pitching yourself as a speaker.

Shontavia Johnson (26:42):

So if you have other about this other questions about conferences, about whether they would be helpful for your specific business, how you go about creating content that leverages your expertise to show, you’ll be a good speaker, let me know. If you’d like to have more discussion with me and more discussion with other entrepreneurs. Head over to shontavia.com and leave a comment about this episode. You can also read more. You can find more resources there. Thanks.

Shontavia Johnson (27:15):

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Shontavia Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to like, subscribe and leave a comment wherever you’re listening. You can find me on social media everywhere, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and wherever else @ShontaviaJEsq. You can also visit me at shontavia.com to find a transcript of this episode along with other show notes. While you’re there, please be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter. The information shared in this podcast and through my other platforms is designed to educate you about business and entrepreneurship and I love to do this work. While I am a lawyer, though, the information I provide is not legal advice and does not create or constitute an attorney client relationship. The Shontavia Show is a LVRG Incorporated original. The show is recorded on site in South Carolina and produced at Sit N Spin Studio in Greenville, South Carolina. Original music and sound design is by Matt Morgan and Daniel Gregory. Mixing and mastering is by Daniel Gregory and the video is by GVL Media.