Written by: Vickie Sullivan | January 05, 2017
Big data will affect how planners select speakers—and how you sell your services
I figured analytics would hit the speaking industry at some point but not like this.
A recent Washington Post article—Business Rx: Their secret weapon is a ‘Wizard of Oz’ strategy—highlights a company started by two meetings industry veterans who help planners select speakers. Their challenge: figuring out how to implement an algorithm. Yep, big data is in the house.
If this works, this method of using big data to select speakers will be a big game-changer. Two predictions:
1. As speakers now state their fee up front, fee negotiations will start in the buyer’s favor. If your fee is too high, you won’t get into the initial round of consideration.
2. More power goes to the gatekeepers who will use these systems to narrow the field. You can’t rely on those initial phone “pitches” to get you on first base.
Listen: How to compete on these new speaker platforms
With more than 2,000 speakers already on the platform, this trend will not go away. Regardless of how this development unfolds, be prepared to change how you sell your speaking.
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