108: Holly Buchanan | Researcher, Author and Consultant

Holly Buchanan is a speaker, researcher, author and consultant who focuses on two areas: the first is in the financial industry on the differences in how men and women buy differently and the second is on how professionals win and lose credibility.

Learning from Mistakes

One profound and painful lesson learned involved a conference running overtime and a sponsor. Holly explains the incident so well in the podcast.

Holly says,

"When conferences are running behind - and they will - be very clear about the expectations of your time and end on time."

Precision Preparation

She finds everything about her audience: what do they want to hear, and what do they not want to hear, and more. Holly has a checklist of things she does. Her speaker reviews/ratings demonstrate the value of arriving early and speaking with audience members to address specific questions from the people within her presentations. She also prepares for all the challenges and expectations

Her speaker reviews/ratings demonstrate the value of arriving early and speaking with audience members to address specific questions from the people within her presentations. She also prepares for all the challenges and expectations and then begins strong and ends strong.

Books make a difference for speakers.

Having a book provides credibility for a speaker, and she offers a discount if the organization wishes to purchase a book for each person in the audience.

A book might be an expensive business card - but it's very effective for a speaker.

In addition, Holly says that having a professionally edited video has made a big difference for her speaking business. It's been difficult to get permission to videotape herself, so the KEY5 Speakers Conference was a wonderful opportunity.

Who does Holly Buchanan watch?

Brene Brown is someone Holly Buchanan watches and models her own style after.  Why? Brene Brown is transparent, authentic, has a great sense of humor and does a great job relating to the audience.

Holly's Tip

Assume your audience is hard of hearing. From Holly's research, she's found that many people have hearing loss, so, as a speaker, always ask for a microphone and use it.  Also, too many speakers talk very quickly, and perhaps swallow their words - she recommends speakers take up "conversational real estate" - make sure you speak slowly and clearly on the important points.

Connect

Connect with Holly Buchanan on her website , on Twitter, and LinkedIn.  Take a look at Holly Buchanan's KEY5 presentation.

Find out why Alan recommends you never publish and/or schedule breaks if you're speaking longer than an hour.