Making your mark after you step off stage

This month’s peer-to-peer call was a chance for our speakers to get together and talk about how to engage with an audience after you step off the stage; this means keeping organisers and audiences interested in you beyond the event, collecting and maximising feedback, what to do when the promised photos or videos don’t arrive, driving repeat bookings and new ones from the room and using your keynote or panel to create content.

We began the call by talking about the different strands of follow-up that you can engage in, and specifically discussed ensuring that your follow up work is not just another way to be busy, but instead to follow up with a specific aim / ambition in mind.

This gives you some prep work before you get to the event; spend some time thinking about what you want to achieve after the event, so that you can plan your activity in advance. This might shift a little depending on what happens on the day, but you’ll have a focused to do list to guide you.

For example:

1. Build the testimonials and recommendations you have
2. Collecting photos or videos in general
3. Collecting photos / videos of something specific – such as you engaging with an audience rather than simply standing on the stage
4. Access to the delegate email list so you can drive new business offers and opportunities
5. Grow your newsletter database

Knowing what’s important to you beforehand means that you can tailor your messaging and approach beforehand, during and after the event. Pairing up your need with actions could look like this: If you know you’d like the audience to send you feedback, make sure to include our feedback engine QR code in your slides. If you’d like the official event videographer to capture the audience clapping after your keynote, make sure to speak to them beforehand. If you’re speaking for free in return for professional photographs, include a clause in your contract to say that £x fee will become due if photos are not delivered within 30 days. If you’d like an increase in newsletter sign ups, make sure you include a link to do so and mention what they get in return (a white paper on a relevant topic, a 10% discount code to a follow up booking etc).

Some of the things we discussed on the call were:

1. Do we expect audiences to do too much work to understand how we can work with them following the event (eg: offering consultancy / speaking at different events / addressing different topics)? How can we make it easier for them, in order to lead to better momentum and more follow up for us?
2. Can we create systems or processes around the follow up to ensure a level of control around what happens next? How do we make the magic happen instead of feeling everything that happens next is random?
3. Consider the difference in building your own personal brand as a speaker v the brand of the business or consultancy you’ve set up. Event organisers often expect people representing businesses to speak for small fees or even no fees, because you’re seen to be promoting a company, rather than being an expert worthy of payment in your own right.
4. How to use slides to build lead generation / add value to audiences after the event
5. Can we build the relationship with the booker before we arrive, so that engagement afterwards becomes a given rather than a slog?

Being honest about the areas you’re struggling with, using that knowledge to become intentional about what you want to achieve and connecting that to an action plan can shift the time after your keynote from unpredictable and vague, to creating actual value.

The next peer-to-peer online meeting will take place in January 2026 (December’s will look slightly different as a face to face event at the Mingle Bells talent conference), and will focus on how to build your prospecting list and making connections with the decision-makers out there.

We hope you’ll be able to join us.