How do you combine your conference speech with other projects?

- 🗓 I suggest planning ahead—start early on your speech to allow ample time for other projects. - 🛠 Breaking down your speech into smaller tasks like research, outlining, and rehearsals. - ⏳ Allocating specific time slots for each task to ensure consistent progress. - 📋Setting realistic deadlines and milestones to track your progress. - 🔄 Integrating speech preparation into your daily routine to maintain balance. - ❌ Avoiding new urgent tasks that could distract from your speech preparation. - 🤝 Collaborating with colleagues to share workload and gain feedback efficiently.

I rarely speak in a "stand alone" manner these days. Speaking very much is a "gateway drug" to my books and my executive coaching practice, so the message will no doubt be core to my world view on coaching as well as to the content of my books. I also take the opportunity to poll or survey the audience with an ask to participate in my research as a call to action near the end of my message, then provide a QR code. That data and insights from it always make it into my next book/project.

When drafting your outline, begin to think about points that can be included. Do this during your every waking moment. Each time you think about a point, grab your mobile device, and jot it down. Gradually, it will fill up with points, and then, you might have to do some weeding of the nonessential ones. You're gaining confidence

Planning ahead of time helps you multitask with conference speaking or conference speaking at different regions as well. Conduct your research on your speech at earliest stage, remove procrastination from your workflow. Encourage self-rehearsal to re-evaluate your speech before the due date. Prioritize your other activities as well but not in contest with your conference speech.

In addition to planning ahead, it is important to establish relevancy of the other projects to the theme of the speech. Once the right projects are picked, it then becomes part of the planning to ensure that there is are seamless transitions between the main theme and the selected other projects throughout the delivery of presentation/speech so that the audience can follow along. This gives value to the content delivered as well as builds the speaker’s credibility!

Have a storehouse of knowledge. It could be a folder where all of your past presentations, articles, are kept. They can be reused. Be mindful of the fact that many in your audience too are well informed. Avoiding plagiarism gives you credibility

Collect stories and information you can use in presentations as you go along. Keep a file or notes on your phone. And think about some core messages that you can specialise in for your talks. You don't want to give the same presentation to different audiences, but having some core messages and ideas that you can use in other talks builds your credibility, knowledge and brand as a speaker.

If you are lucky enough to have your conference talks align closely with your other work, they can each benefit from the other. Research I undertake for my primary job often results in a graphic that finds its way into a presentation. But equally often, something I want to talk about results in an insight that finds its way into my everyday work.

Yes, this is really helpful to use existing materials prepared for another events or conferences. We can combine the slides from different presentation. It will save time. If the topic is same we can use the materials but don't forget to update the knowledge or recent content, or discoveries or news about the topic. Please put the sources and references to get more credibility and acceptance.

To make the most of conference speaking with existing materials, keep your core themes consistent across platforms like articles and social media to tell a cohesive story. Repurpose your content into engaging slides and multimedia for presentations, saving time and showing off your expertise. Get your audience involved with interactive elements inspired by your existing materials, like polls or case studies, to make them feel more engaged. For virtual events, adapt your materials into videos or interactive slides to make an impact online. Invite attendees to explore more of your work and stay updated, and use their feedback to keep improving your materials over time.

"If you want to get something done right do it yourself." Well, not in all cases. Delegating some tasks to others actually puts you in charge. It also demonstrates that you trust your team members. And, who says they wouldn't do it better than you?

To seamlessly integrate conference speaking with other projects, leverage AI tools to repurpose content into blogs and social media posts. Use scheduling platforms and email campaigns for automated cross-promotion across platforms. Implement feedback systems to gather audience insights and improve project strategies effortlessly. Use CRM tools to automate follow-ups and nurture collaborations with attendees. Share speech insights with teams using learning management systems. Monitor performance with analytics tools for real-time insights. These tactics streamline operations and enhance synergy across your professional endeavors.

You can use tools like project management software (e.g., Trello, Asana) to track tasks and deadlines across all initiatives. Leverage scheduling tools (Calendly,Clockify which I personally use) to organize meetings around the conference. Automate social media sharing of speech highlights with platforms like Buffer or Hootsuite. Use cloud storage (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox) to store and easily access all relevant materials for your speech and other projects. Utilize AI transcription tools (e.g., Otter.ai I use for coaching recordings) to convert speech recordings into scripts for blogs or newsletters. Finally, integrate email marketing software (e.g., Mailchimp) to automate follow-ups with potential clients or attendees post-conference

Taking care of one's health, getting sufficient rest, eating well and right—all of these and more (or lack of these and more) show up when we stand before an audience to speak.

Search for conferences that align with the project. You can use ChatGPT or another generative AI tool to develop a list of organizations that may host conferences.

When combining a conference speech with projects, embody "walk the talk, be realistic." Include actual outcomes from ongoing projects to lend credibility and provide proof for advocated strategies. Select projects relevant to the conference theme, showcasing realistic challenges and solutions. This approach not only ensures practical application but also maximizes productivity and impact by leveraging existing work, enhancing the speech’s relevance and effectiveness.

An approach, I've been using a lot is to focus on events and conferences that to mainly circle around my area of expertise. With this in mind, you'll always have (potentially anonymized) examples to cover in your talks and you also could gather further feedback from fellow speakers on specifics that you're unsure about in your recent project. The hallway track is an amazing opportunity to not only show up and network but also solve problems. Either directly with others or indirectly by "not focusing" on them for a while.

Depending on the conference, firstly it would be a requirement to analyze the gains from mentioning other projects into the conference speech. Once that is done, it is important to tailor the content overall and rehearse the delivery for that audience. I cannot stress that enough! If the conference is about water sports, the speech is about diving, and the side project is about tech that helps in diving, it is better to focus on how the tech helps in diving rather than speaking about individual components and their suppliers that help put the tech together!