Not being affiliated with a speaking bureau (at least not yet) has its pros and cons.
The pros: I can speak wherever I want, whenever I want for whatever price I want and not be concerned about previous arrangements/contracts and not feeling pressured into taking gigs I might not otherwise want.
The cons: I have to process through the administration of getting booked and paid and unfortunately, missing out on some good opportunities, particularly internationally, that can cross my way but don't since speaking is not my day job.
So for those interested in hosting conferences/seminars in exotic destinations, over-the-top hotel rooms and can furnish suitcases filled with unmarked 20s (and of course, other gigs too) here's my deal:
Who Am I: Sean Moffitt, President, Agent Wildfire - former senior marketing executive having worked on some of Canada's most loved brands and best, innovative companies, now founder and chief evangelist of a unique marketing, media and research services firms , positioned as Canada's Word of Mouth expert
Why Me: there's no way to make this not appear like a shameless self-promotion, so here goes
- a new marketing/media practitioner, strategist and speaker - a rare combination - I have no book to push, just a lot of white paper and an unrequited passion for the subject
- a senior executive level marketer with a pedigree of business success and given our company orientation - a full breadth and understanding on most subjects relating to new media, marketing, innovation and research
- working affiliations with the Canadian Marketing Association, IAB, IABC and nGenera (the people behind Wikinomics)
- the leader of The League of Kickass Business Folk (a boutique senior-level networking group) and Canada's 1% Army (Canada's top media/marketing/digital bloggers)
- a top-rated speaker at conferences and corporate team sessions attended - enthusiastic delivery and interesting, fresh content served up in nice interesting packages, backed by being able to put insights/new concepts into context
- author of this popular blog - Buzz Canuck - you have 500 posts here to decide whether you think I know what I'm talking about
- I don't just talk about this stuff - professionally, we practice what we preach by running one of Canada's leading independent marketing/media research firms and personally, I am addicted to my: blog, Twitter, Facebook, flickr, LinkedIn and FriendFeed amongst other social and collaborative activity
- connected to other giants - frequently I help conference and seminar organizers find other well-regarded speakers that I know through my web of contacts
- tailored content - avoid like the plague the one-stop shop presentation and ensure the content and delivery of my stuff fits the audience
My Rider Policy :) :
- Green M&Ms in a fish bowl (only green though)
- A hotel with a nice Gym, high threadcount sheets and good morning coffee
Why I Really Like Speaking:
- making new relationships with interesting, intelligent people from diverse universes
- genuinely helping people perform better in their marketing, media and research activities
- exchanging ideas and dialogue with people doing interesting work
- I like to stay current and practice what I'm good at- this is one of them
What I'm Currently Speaking About:
- Wiki Brands - Reinventing Your Brand in a Customer Controlled Marketplace
- THE ABCs of What's Next in Marketing and Media
- It Takes a Campaign not a Community to Build a Brand - The Whos, Whats, Whys, Hows of Hosting Your Very Own Brand Network
- Community Chest - The 50 Elements of a Well-Lit Brand Community
- What's the Buzz - The 30 Things to Get Right in a Word of Mouth Program
- Igniting the Grapevine - The 36 Reasons why People Talk about You
- The Influencers are Coming - How To Find, Target and Keep Your Top 1% Happy
- Social Media Measurement - The 10 Somewhat Immutable Laws of Measuring Your Socialness
- Building the Buzz - Putting a Word of Mouth Marketing Plan together
- Customer Experience Gold - Marketing is What You Do, Not What You Say You Do
- The Great, the Good, The Bad, The Ugly - Deep Thougghts on What to Get Right in Social Media and Word of Mouth
- The Crazy Canucks - Celebrating the most Progressive Marketers in Canada
- Marketing 2010 - How will Building and Marketing Brands Change
- Corporate Workshops - Making the First Steps to 2.0
- Executive Seminars - The Guide to Becoming a Peer-to-Peer Driven Organization
- Innovation Edgecraft - Building Ideas and Products that People Talk About and Buy
- WOM 101 - Profiling the 9 Key Types of Word of Mouth - Opportunities and Watchouts
- WOM 201 - Digging through the Word of Mouth Playbook
- The Buzz Report - the latest research on new marketing, media, innovation and research
Upcoming: Watch out for-
Executive Fall WOM Bootcamp - in three cities across Canada
TrendCity and the 2009 Trends Report - An exchange of Style, Ideas and What's Next
Social Media Zealots
Problogger
Conversational Media Marketing
Greg Verdino
Altitude Branding
The Buzz Bin
Being Peter Kim
The Altimeter
CoBrandit
Web-Strategist
Groundswell