Grant Baldwin and Scott Stratten hosted a Facebook Live to talk about the future of the speaking industry after a pandemic.

During the live stream, Grant and Scott discuss:

• The long-term impacts the coronavirus will have on the speaking industry
• Experimenting with style and facial hair while social distancing
• Why “speaking” isn’t really your true profession
• Understanding the gig is the payoff for building your platform and being an expert
• Dealing with feeling like you’ve lost part of your identity
• Grieving the loss of things that used to annoy you (like the too early soundcheck)
• Predicting the recovery timeline for massive events and the impact on keynotes
• Distributing a sub-standard virtual product will hurt your live speaking down the road by degrading your value
• Accepting that the “new normal” is largely unknown
• The pending lawsuits as a result of the virus spreading at large events
• Treating the speaking gig as one component of your business and how you deliver value
• Do what it takes to help you feel productive
• Being okay with where you are at in responding to these unprecedented times
• "Whatever your normal is right now, that’s fine."
• Determining the right timing for when to pivot to virtual options for your audience
• Avoiding guilt for not doing some things
• A virtual answer isn’t the same as an in-person answer
• Why you can’t shift the same equity you have on stage to a virtual gig at first
• How webinars are a transfer of skills and what makes them different than a keynote
• The drastic difference between our current circumstances and any emergency we’ve experienced in the past
• Is everyone going to work from home in the future?
• There will be a “new normal”, but it won’t be completely different from everything we know
• How to avoid long-term risk by making short-term budget decisions that you sustain
• Learning business lessons now that will carry you through the crisis and beyond
• Ignoring hindsight regret
• Getting creative with discovering new revenue sources and sponsored opportunities
• How to approach outreach without appearing tone-deaf
• Making sure you check on your contacts, colleagues, and clients to see how they’re doing
• Reaching out to recent clients to offer a “thank you” video to their team
• Losing your pride
• Treat your email list as your most important asset and continue to build it beyond this crisis
• Don’t feed the noise
• Controlling who you follow
• Healthy outlets for coping with stress and staying connected
• Using the mute button on social media to create boundaries
• Tips on growing a man bun
• And more

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Scott on Twitter
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• Scott's books
• The UnPodcast
• The Successful Speaker, by Grant Baldwin
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