I have tended to shy away from certain types of media coverage on television, radio and print. Each time I am approached, I carefully look into the offer before deciding if it is worthwhile ‘What is the main purpose of the interview?’ is the question that I want answered. If the bottom line is to publicize me or provide home entertainment then I do no want to have anything to do with it.

Ben Carson- Gifted Hands

Is any publicity good Publicity?

The answer is NO.

I know that people may have a different opinion on this and even argue that each interview is worth considering for the sake of exposure , but for you it is not and this is for many reasons the most important one being, you just do not have the time.

You already have a fulltime job , family commitments, pending books to read, unfinished courses and a social life that is suffering, you do simply do not have the capacity to pile on speaking engagements for the sake of ‘exposure’. I learnt this the hard way, but you do not have to.

As someone who LOVES to talk, I usually have a decent number of invitations to speak, and that year I would consider them ALL. I had a ton of them! So you would find me hopping from one zoom session to the other with very little breaks in between. When I now post the flyer on WhatsApp and the well wishes start coming in, my ego would assure me that I made the right decision and I was truly making a difference.

But did these talks really make a difference? I am not sure they did and I will tell you why:

1. The recipients of the message: I usually would forget to ask, who is the target audience for this event? A great omission because I often found myself delivering a talk to people who had no use for it. I will now be trying to make it , make sense. The struggle was REAL,I tell you.
2. The quality of the message : When I used to take on a ton of speaking engagements, I just did not have the capacity to create quality content for every single one of them and would often find myself ‘freestyling’ or turning the entire thing into an entertainment show to cover up of my lack of preparation.
3. The Platform: I have learnt that not every platform is comfortable for me and I do better at some than others. The introvert in me really makes a scene when you put me on a big stage and it will require some huge deep breaths to help me stabilize. But when you out me in a small intimate gathering or online, I am firecracker!
4. Can somebody please ask me, why I took on engagements then without even knowing the platforms till I after had agreed?

Anyway, this changed after receiving a couple of rejections from people I admired, when I invited them to events. I realized that they chose their speaking engagements carefully before committing to them. They would ask questions about every single detail and then make a decision. I also noticed that they barely took on speaking engagements but when they did, they were beneficial to their audience and everyone wanted to attend!

That is when I thought to myself, AH HAH! We need to rethink this!

When building a personal brand for impact, speaking engagements can be used to deliver your message but are only valuable when selected carefully.

Choosing quality over quantity is extremely important.

To help with this, I have created a free checklist that you can use to vet all the invitations you get going forward. If you are interested in this free checklist, please fill out the form below and it will be delivered to your inbox.

Sign Up Here

Super pleased to remind you that the second cohort for Beyond Your Title , my personal branding course for impact starts next week Sunday, February 25th,2024.

I cannot wait to show you what I have prepared for this course, I am committed to ensuring that you leave the course with a clear direction and all the tools you need to develop a personal brand that makes a difference in your industry and the lives of others. The course contains NOTHING that will make you cringe or feel uncomfortable and supports you all the way.

The entire package contains:

• Weekly Classes: Access to weekly (4) live classes.
• A Personal brand manual that guides all your activity and keeps you on track.
• Access to a group with professionals and entrepreneurs.
• Group/coaching /Accountability sessions
• Access to future cohorts (Based on availability)
• Life-time Access to course content

What are you waiting for?

You can start your journey here.

Join a curious, determined and supportive community on Telegram

Binge on our free videos that change the way you think about personal branding on Youtube

Rooting For You!

Omodara Adediran

Beyond Your Title