Speaking at a Conference? Hold the Pitch

I’ve had the good fortune of attending some pretty decent conferences over the last couple of years (SxSW, mesh, etc.).  Earlier this month I was excited to be attending a session on influencers in the digital channel.

Not long into the presentation it became painfully obvious that I, and those around me, were receiving a sales pitch as opposed to any real, usable value.   I felt it early on — the loud whispers of ‘dude, this is a pitch’ from the rows behind me only confirmed my suspicion.

Here’s why the pitch doesn’t work:

1. People pay to attend these conferences; your job as a speaker is to provide value in exchange for the conference fee.  Simple. At best you’ll receive a speaking fee, at worst the opportunity to project yourself as an expert and meet new people.
2. Blatant advertising is unexpected in this forum and quickly turns people off.  I could live with information that may not be immediately helpful, or confusion on exactly what the session is about, but surprising me with an ad immediately raises a red flag.
3. A pitch is rarely based on a story.  Anecdotal storytelling is a fantastic way to convey information and hold the attention of an audience.

There’s nothing wrong with leveraging experiences and accomplishments to help deliver valuable information, just remember to channel them to providing something useful (‘free’) to those in the audience.