214. How to get invited back as a speaker

Want to be a professional speaker?

THIS is the episode for you.

International MC Dan Ram drops gold after gold after gold on -

🎤 How to get booked as a speaker.

🎤 The surprising thing he does every day to improve his craft.

🎤  The one action you can take immediately to be a better speaker.

🎤  The importance of free events.

🎤  Practical strategies to get invited back to speak at events.

🎤  Why a voice warm-up is a non-negotiable.

Transcript

Welcome back. Welcome. If you're joining us here for the first time, I have a very special guest today. He's a six times TEDx speaker. You heard that right? Six times. An international MC. He grew up in 10 different countries across four continents. How are those for stats? And he's a really nice guy. I'm talking about Dan Ram. Get your pen and paper for this one. Dan delivers so many good one-liners that don't just sound great. It's really practical advice and not what you may have heard before. I know I learned so much. In this episode. You're going to learn how to get booked as a speaker, how to hone your craft. Dan does something every day, which I think will surprise you. And of course the title of this episode: How to get invited back as a speaker.

Dan also really eloquently describes why it's such a no-brainer to work with a coach. It really is the fast track to get results in the show notes. You're gonna find all the info about Dan and also the ways you can work with me. Your voice is the soundtrack of who you are and learning how to be an excellent communicator is going to move the needle in your business. It is going to advance your career. It is going to improve your relationships. I do this podcast to share free information to ignite inspiration, but if you want transformation, an actual result, then you need to take action. Join Soul Speakers, come to an event, hit the sign up button and say yes to yourself as Dan says, it's his amazing tagline, Start now. Start simple. So now let's start this value-packed conversation.

Sally:

Dan Ram, welcome to that voice podcast. So great to have you on the show.

Dan:

Sally, thank you for having me and congrats on having over 200 episodes online. That's amazing!

Sally:

I know, right? Where has the time gone? It has been fantastic. And to get somebody of your caliber on my show, I'm feeling very, very proud. A little bit starstruck.

Dan:

I'll stop and to be interviewed with someone with a voice like yours. I'm starstruck.

Sally:

Oh, thank, thank you very much. I did have a cold for the entire July. So now that my dolls at tones are back, I'm feeling very good about that. As you would understand with your voice, you dunno what you've got till it's gone. Right.

Dan:

Actually ironic that you mentioned that because for the last six weeks my voice has been gone. I really thought it was vocal nodes, which is rather serious, but thankfully it seems to be some kind of vocal strain. I had performed on stage at a street festival. I was singing with a band while battling a allergy slash flu. And that destroyed my voice. I actually was not able to speak full sentences without my voice cracking and I could not project my voice for six weeks. And this podcast is the first coming out with my new voice post. I mean you can still hear it. Bits and pieces there, here and there. I've still got three weeks before I hit the stage again. But yeah, I did not know how much I took for granted the fact that I can speak and how much of a difference a voice makes. Even at a dining table, it is very hard to keep people's attention. If your voice is frail or in a tone that is not pleasing. It's very hard to project your personality, whether it's humor, whether it is joy, whether it's thankfulness, whatever you're feeling. If you cannot use your voice to communicate it effectively, well it's just not good enough. So I also only learned the hard way when I started losing my voice. How important our voice is.

Sally:

Yeah, and especially with what you do. You mentioned you're back on stage in three weeks. So take us through a little bit of what you do.

Dan:

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, beautiful people that are listening to this podcast. My name is Dan Ram and I have a great, great job. I feel super blessed by accident. I have become an international MC, a global event moderator. By accident is a true statement. Some people work for this. Some people know this is a job. I fell into it as a child. I would've been very shy, introverted, curious, polite, but not an outgoing big personality as such. And it was only through my struggle of having to overcome my own insecurities and social awkwardness that I discovered an ability to communicate and also a need to communicate. That's what I mean by accidental. So if you think I was born for this by watching pieces on social media, nah-ah. I worked for this. And second, like a lot of people, it took me a while to discover what my calling was.

Dan:

I worked for the UN, worked for KPMG. I did internships in different places. I had a little stint as a radio presenter. Sally, maybe something that's you're familiar with as well.

Sally:

Very nice, very nice.

Dan:

I sang in a choir. I did some consulting. I built some startups and a whole bunch of stuff. And it was only in my early thirties when I found myself at a tech conference hosting a side stage. And I saw people's eyes glued to the stage and I saw person after person coming up not complimenting the content, but not the content was bad. But just say repeatedly, saying, Whoa, your energy on stage. It's just great. Wow. Your ability to connect with people's just so natural. Wow. You're so authentic. And as you often do with compliments, you hear it, you accept it and you're a little bit embarrassed by it and, and you just kinda let it go.

Dan:

But because it just kept happening over and over again, thought there's something to this. And then a lady came to me with a business card and said, I'm gonna call you this evening. And that very evening he should call me. Three months later I got booked for my first professional MC in gig, totally by accident. But when I landed on that stage, and I saw the passion that I put into the preparation and then the presence that I brought on stage. I was like, this is it. This is the magic. And so this is what I do and I'll just be honest about it. 'cause One of my mottoes is starting all start simple. It was by accident. I put in hard work. I'm so glad I'm here. But if you are listening to this thinking I'm an introvert, I can't do it, or hey, I was not born with it or I didn't even know this was a job, you're, you're in a safe company. You and me both together.

Sally:

Oh, fantastic. Even though it might feel like it was by accident initially, you definitely need to, to work hard to keep going. So if somebody's listening to this going, Oh, far out, I just wanna be at an event and have someone hand me a business card and call me that night and next thing I'm booked. What can somebody do proactively if they're not as fortunate as you to be, you know, headhunted from the side stage?

Dan:

Great question. Let's split the art and the business. The art ofe or speaking comes down to things that are very, very learnable. Thankfully. Watch TEDx talks, watch Ted Talks, watch great characters in movies, listen to podcasts, watch Netflix shows and just see what do they do with their body? What do they do with their voice? What about the expression on their face? How do they structure their content? How do they tell good stories? I frequently, I'd say almost daily watch late night comedians. I watch magicians, I watch TV show hosts and I watch preachers. I watch these four categories almost daily. Why? Because they're expert storytellers. They're very good at keeping people's attention. They're very good at communicating ideas. So that's the art of it. And I work on that daily. It doesn't matter that I'm professional, that I've got a team, that I've sort of arrived.

Dan:

I'm still working at it. This is something that you don't just learn once is something that you learn constantly. And the second part is the business of it. How do you get booked as a speaker or as an event MC? And that thankfully also is learnable. And this comes down to marketing, comes down to knowing your target market. It comes down to personal brand, it comes down to sales and reaching out and networking. It comes down to negotiations. Understanding your value, understanding what the client perceives as your value. The reason I mentioned that both learnable is because one, you can do it on your own. This is what I did and that's why I say it was accidental because I did not have a strategy and I did not have a coach. But second, if you know in your heart this is what you'd like to do, get a coach. Because what I learned through trial and error, what I learned by experimentation and discovery, you can learn by someone who's been there and done it. And this is something that I do, Sally, I know you also coach and help people. But this process of getting a coach, it's the same thing. You still have to do the work. You still have to learn, but you've got someone who can help you skip a couple of the steps, accelerate you through it, open some doors, resource you and point you in the right direction.

Sally:

Yeah, Dan, what I love is, you know, sharing all of those things at once: sales, marketing, personal brand, it can sound quite overwhelming when you're just starting out, which is why I particularly like your philosophy, your motto. Start simple, start now. So if you were to choose one action that a speaker could take to get booked, let's say what's something small that they could do today?

Dan:

So the beauty of Start now, start simple is that it's actionable. So I like that you say what is something that someone can do today. I would reach out to the closest, sometimes called the lowest hanging fruit collective that you can speak at. It could be the birthday that is happening this weekend and you can offer to organize games because yes, that is a speaking role. If you have to get everyone's attention, instruct people on what to do, and then manage the energy, the environment, the experience. That is what a keynote speaker does. So yes, be the game master at this weekend birthday party. It could be a wedding that's coming up. And sure you might not be the person who's officially asked to give a speech, let them do their part. But there will be a section where they probably will say, Anyone else wants to say a couple words? Prepare.

Dan:

That's what good speakers do. They prepare. They don't wait for the mic to come to them, they've already, I've got five speeches in my back pocket ready to go. So speaking of which, maybe you don't have that option, but you did say getting booked. Just to let you know, I probably did 400 hours of voluntary sort of social engagements before I started getting booked. It's not like I showed up at a tech conference by accident and I got a business card right away. There were all the church events, all the youth events, all the family events that I was voluntarily.

Sally:

And thanks for sharing that because I think a lot of people expect they can go from nothing to getting a paid gig straight away.

Dan:

Yeah. And even if you do, I promise you it won't last, right? There are things you gotta learn by doing it repeatedly over and over and over again to sustain it. So to get booked, I would say that's the best thing to do is find the next voluntary opportunity. It could also be an official group like Toastmasters or a local TEDx or something of that sort. But I would say the most important thing is to start doing it. Do not undermine any opportunity. A birthday party is not below you. A social gathering is not below you. Your friends hanging out on a Friday night is not below you. It's where you work your craft. Most of the growth happens in darkness, backstage in your home, not on stage. If you're learning on stage, I promise you it's more embarrassing. So take those opportunities, whatever they are, free especially, do not undermine free voluntary, free social engagements. Get booked there first.

Sally:

Yeah, that's such fantastic advice. Okay, so you've done the gig. It might be a free to the community, it might be a paid event that you've been asked to speak at. What are some of the things that people can do to, to get invited back?

Dan:

Great question. I love to prompt people. And what this means is that very subtly, without being too salesy about it, at the end of a speech you would say something like, so if I was pitching a startup, so say I'm telling a story about the latest company I've built, I would just "Softball prompt" the audience by saying if anything I've shared is of interest to you, I'm gonna be a booth 22 for the rest of the day. Come and say hi to me. Or I would, if I was presenting an idea, I'd say, I hope that this excited some of you maybe even triggered some of you either case, I want to hear your views. The only reason I came to this event is to have a conversation. I did not come for a monologue. Unfortunately we don't have Q and A after this keynote, but I'm going to go get coffee on floor two and I'm promising to be there for the next hour. If you would come and say hi to me, I'd be delighted. So it's just Softball prompts, right? And again, I never undermine how a casual participant could turn into someone booking me later. The number of times that an intern that I have mentored has found themselves eventually working for Microsoft and then booking me as a speaker at Microsoft or someone that I, you know, helped or gave some sort of favor, you know, maybe, I dunno, they were in high school and I had given one of those voluntary social talks and they had felt inspired and they remembered me. And then later on when they become manager of Tech starts, they say, Hey Dan, come back in. You know, you inspire me when I was 16. I know you inspire me and my team now. So always give options for people to connect with you. They do not, do not focus on just finding agents.

Dan:

In fact, most of 'em won't even pay attention to you right in the beginning. Do not focus on trying to find the one that has the biggest wallet in the event. Talk to anybody. Build those connections, build those networks and be smart about it. Get a business card and follow up. Most people don't follow up. Lot of ambition in the beginning and very poor follow up. So collect all those business cards and that evening, not next day, morning that very evening, open your computer, open your phone and send them emails. Even if it's just a one line. Nice to meet you today. We'd love to grab that coffee with you next week if you're still around. That's it. Just follow up. And, and then at that point I think is when bookings and re bookings happen. So leverage the platform you're on to create conversation, leverage conversations to create opportunities and then leverage opportunities to create conversion.

Sally:

Oh, such great tips. Some of the best advice I was given when I was starting my business is you wanna get more business cards than you give. Because when you get the card, then the follow ups are in your control. Whereas when you give the card, you don't know. So although in my case I often forget to bring them and I'm screenshotting LinkedIn profiles, which still works,

New Speaker:

Still works, still works. Makes time. And QR codes are very powerful. And at times, you know, I always like to experiment with things. So I've done like NFC bracelets where people can just tap my wrist where my bracelet is and it immediately pop something up on their phone. And same with QR codes. Again, the problem is if you're scanning my QR code, I'm depending on them to follow up.

Sally:

This is the perfect time to remind you to download my free ebook. What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say. If you struggle speaking off the calf, tend to ramble or book yourself a one-way ticket on the tangent train to Monotone Town. Then this will really help. You'll learn how to introduce yourself, tell people what you do, make a point, sell your product or service. And there's a framework for telling a story that people rave about. Link is in the show notes. Hit pause and grab it. Now let's get back to the episode.

Sally:

What is your favorite type of event to speak at?

Dan:

I don't know if I have a favorite Sally, 'cause I think I just like people because there are events that have 25 people in-house Corporate. You'd say rather uninspiring. But that's the opportunity to do something really powerful, transformative, intimate. I will know everybody's name within the first 15 or 20 minutes and I will be able to visibly see people evolve, loosen up, interact, exchange ideas a way that even they didn't believe was possible. But I also do events with 15,000, 20,000 people in a football stadium where they don't even see me in real life. They watch me on the big jumbo screens 'cause I'm just that far away from them. And even them, I have to get the camera guys to be on my side to say, let's take a look at the east wing over there and then the camera show me who's over there. And so, and those are fun too, because the roar of an audience, the energy of a stadium is incredible.

Sally:

Yeah, Dan, that's so cool. Like I've, I've never done anything that big. What is it like to speak in a stadium with 20,000 people?

Dan:

It's different, right? Everything is different. And I think something that people think wrongly is that in order to be better established and to be perceived as a better speaker, your audiences have to get bigger. No, it's just different. There's no hierarchy, it's just different. So with a big stadium, the energy is incredible. The roar is incredible, the applause is incredible. And also when you have such a massive stage, it is hard not to feel like a rockstar. And usually the production for a big event is also top-notch. So the sound that is playing as I come on stage is completely different quality than the sound at a university off of the speakers in that lecture hall. And so even if it's the same track, it just hits different. That said, it is impossible to keep 15,000 people's attention. So there's always a sound and just even people shuffling, you know cups up and down, people moving to the bathroom, all that creates sounds.

Dan:

So it's actually quite a distracting atmosphere as well. Plus you have to hear your echo. So you say something and then three seconds later you hear your echo and you gotta keep talking anyway. And also crowded engagement and interaction is very difficult. On the other hand, with smaller gigs, I love either stepping off the stage physically or even just interacting with someone in the audience. It's just saying actually for this example, can one of you stand up and making it so practical? So for them in that moment and the entire dynamic changes, no more about Dan doing a monologue on stage now it's a dialogue that represents everybody in the room. And that's really beautiful because that that kind of option you cannot have in a stadium. There's no way it could have a one-on-one conversation with someone in the stadium. But I can, if it's up to 200 people in a room.

Sally:

And also I'd imagine you'd need to do a more intense physical and voice warmup.

Dan:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, warmups are important anyway. I'd say almost every morning when I'm in the shower, I'm doing breathing exercises, I'm doing vocal warmups. I used to sing in a choir. And so I take some of those habits and I just practice 'em. Anytime I get some time backstage, even just as a calming exercise, I will do those warmup because they're familiar. You know, it's kind of my safe space and it also helps my voice a lot.

Sally:

Oh, Dan, I'm smiling from ear to ear because I'm always on this podcast talking about the importance of your voice, warm up and the importance of your breathing exercises. So, you know, I love it when professionals back me up on the importance of this type of work.

Dan:

Absolutely. Warmups are super important. If anyone plays sports, you know, the same thing. Of course you get on 10 score smack ball and spine, but you might feel it later. And of course you can go run a marathon without any training, but you'll feel it later. And worst case, you'll come up with injuries that can take much, much longer to fix. On the other hand, you can help yourself and your vocal cords by just stretching, doing warmups.

Sally:

So important. And I can't think of the episode number off the top of my head, but I do have an episode called the Ultimate Voice warmup. So if you are listening to this and wondering what to do, then go and check that one out.

Dan:

I'll check it out.

Sally:

You have a beautiful commanding voice, even though you're coming off the back of a cold, I can still hear that. Beautiful resonance. I've heard you on social media and how important do you think your voice is to the work that you do?

Dan:

It's more important than even I recognized, but actually we all know it. We just don't pay attention to it. For example, there are some voices, it's just the tone that we just find annoying. We all have that. We may know that subconsciously, maybe we are not consciously intentionally thinking about it, but there are some voices. Maybe the more shrill, maybe the higher tone shrill voices or certain fluctuations that people do, their voice and we just find annoying. The others have found that we find very comforting, very safe. I know we have all heard a stranger and just thought, Wow, I feel calm. We don't even know who they are. They haven't even done anything for you. But it's just something about the way they speak, maybe about the pacing of their words. That's just very calming. If we were to pick some famous people like David Attenborough, we all know as a voice, it's such a distinct special voice.

Dan:

And we immediately associate any accent. Anyone who speaks with that kind of tone, with educational wise, nature loving. And maybe since most of us know him from an older age, we also think of more grandpa. You know, like an older figure. And so anyone who speaks with that resonance, with that tone without pacing, we will associate with that. So actually voice is super important. And it's so multifaceted, right? It's about the speed at which you talk. So if I wanna sound excited about something, I just gotta talk faster. That's it. And now I just sound automatically excited. It's very hard to show that excitement. If I talk slower, I have to do something else then. So even when I'm coaching, for example, founders and they say something like, I'm really passionate about the solution, and they say, I am really passionate about the solution. Like, your voice betrays you. You have to be able to use your voice.

Sally:

Your voice betrays you. Yes, I love that quote.

Dan:

You have to use your voice dynamically. I'm a firm believer. The voice is more important than we think it is. You'll be surprised by how much your subconscious works to like or dislike someone based on their voice. And much of my coaching with people is about that. I work with a lot of female speakers that do not feel respected in the boardroom, that do not feel noticed or seen. And much of what we work on, of course, is their body language 'cause I'm a firm believer that nonverbal is communicating more than verbal, but your tone has to match everything else. So you can wear the suit, you can walk in strong, but if your voice does not command attention, then it's going to, it's not gonna work out. So it's just about having that alignment. So yeah, voice is super important and grateful. People like you, Sally, that help people with their voice.

Sally:

Yeah, I often say, you know, if you're walking up on stage, what would be your walk-up song? Right? What's that song that really gets the energy of you? Every time we speak, it's like we've got that own personal soundtrack.

Dan:

Yeah. I love people who are listening to this podcast because they've already determined, they realize how important their voice is, and they also probably realize that they could use it at their workplace, in their social gatherings to get a promotion or to build a career. I would say please reach out. I think the reason you do the podcast and the reason I come as a guest is to create these conversations. Unlike some people, I actually like helping others be successful. I believe in a world of abundance. So whatever I know, I'm happy to share. And so with that, I just want to kind of end by saying if anyone who's listening to podcast would like to reach out, would like to learn, would like to grow, I will give you everything. And I think Sally, same as for you. The reason you do the podcast is to share freely, willingly the incredible wealth of experience that you have. And so please reach out if you're listening to this passively, congratulations, you're learning something. But be active, connect. All of my content is free online.

Sally:

Oh, 100%. You mentioned earlier about the calling and the work that I do is definitely my calling. So it's, it's very important work that I feel privileged to do. How can people contact you if they'd like to reach out? Where can they find you?

Dan:

Yeah, just Google, Dan Ram and D-A-N-R-A-M. I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn predominantly, although you also find me on YouTube and TikTok and Twitter.

Sally:

And I'll share all those links in the show notes. Dan Ram, thank you so much for coming on That Voice Podcast.

Dan:

Sally, thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.