The Applause Is Over. Your Work With the Planner Shouldn’t Be.
You gave the keynote. Everybody clapped. You got the pictures. But before you mentally check that engagement off your list, there’s one more part of the business we need to talk about.
The keynote is over.
You did your thing.
The audience applauded. People came up afterward to tell you how much they enjoyed your presentation. Somebody wanted a picture. Somebody else wanted to tell you their entire life story based on something you said in minute 17.
You finally make it back to your hotel room, the airport or the backseat of an Uber.
And in your mind?
That engagement is DONE.
Not so fast.
Because while you may be finished with the stage, I don’t want you to be finished with the relationship.
Especially the relationship with the event planner.
Before You Move On to the Next Booking
Here’s what happens with busy speakers.
You finish one event and your brain has already moved on to the next one.
What’s the next city?
What time is the flight?
Did you update the slides?
Where’s the hotel confirmation?
What does the next planner need?
And just like that, the person who spent weeks, sometimes months, working with you gets pushed to the bottom of the mental to-do list.
Not because you don’t care.
Because you’re busy.
There’s a difference.
But the planner doesn’t know what’s happening inside your calendar.
All they know is what happens after the event.
Or what doesn’t.
Please Don’t Make Your First Follow-Up a Sales Pitch
Now, when I say follow up with the planner, I do not mean:
“Thank you so much for having me. When can you book me again?”
No.
Please put the sales pitch down.
The planner is probably still recovering from the event.
They may still be answering questions, dealing with vendors, reviewing surveys, closing invoices and trying to remember where they left their sanity.
Give that person a minute.
Good follow-up doesn’t start with “What else can you do for me?”
It starts with:
“Thank you.”
A real thank you.
Not one with a hidden sales pitch wearing a trench coat.
Finish What You Started
Did you promise the planner something?
Send it.
Did you tell attendees you’d provide a resource?
Make sure it gets delivered.
Did the planner ask for something after the event?
Handle it.
This sounds simple, but simple things have a funny way of disappearing when another event lands on the calendar.
That’s why I don’t like relying on memory.
Memory is wonderful until you’re juggling three planners, two flights, a changed hotel reservation and somebody needs your updated bio by 3:00.
Then memory suddenly decides to take PTO.
Follow-Up Needs a System
This is where Speaker Operations comes in.
I don’t believe post-event follow-up should be something you do if you remember.
It should already be part of how the engagement is managed.
The event ends.
Thank the planner.
Capture notes while everything is still fresh.
Complete anything you promised.
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Ask for feedback or a testimonial when the timing is right.
Then put a reminder on the calendar to reconnect later.
Nothing complicated.
Nothing creepy.
Nothing that has you popping up in the planner’s inbox every other week like:
“Heyyyy…remember me?”
We are not doing that.
We’re building relationships, not stalking people professionally.
The Planner Remembers More Than Your Keynote
Here’s something speakers sometimes forget.
Your audience mostly experiences what happens onstage.
Your planner experiences everything.
The emails.
The deadlines.
The materials.
The questions.
The changes.
The preparation.
The event.
And yes, what happens afterward.
That’s why I talk so much about the business behind the stage.
Your reputation isn’t built during your keynote alone.
It’s also being built when nobody is clapping.
Sometimes it’s built in an email.
Sometimes it’s built by meeting a deadline.
Sometimes it’s built because you remembered to send what you promised without somebody chasing you down for it.
None of that is glamorous.
Nobody is posting:
“Look at me! I sent my follow-up email!”
But it matters.
Don’t Let “I’ll Do It Later” Run Your Business
You know what happens to “I’ll do it later.”
Later becomes tomorrow.
Tomorrow becomes next week.
Then another engagement happens.
And one day you’re scrolling through your contacts thinking:
“Oh Lord. I never followed up with her.”
Been there?
That’s exactly why the follow-up shouldn’t live in your head.
It should live in your system.
Because the more booked you become, the less you can depend on remembering every little thing yourself.
And that’s not a bad problem to have.
It just means your operations need to grow up with your speaking business.
The Applause Isn’t the Finish Line
I don’t believe every event planner is going to book you again.
And I certainly don’t believe every relationship needs to turn into a sale.
That’s not the point.
The point is to finish the engagement with the same level of professionalism you brought into it.
Don’t give somebody a great keynote and then disappear.
Don’t make the relationship transactional.
And don’t let being busy keep you from doing the small things that help people remember what it was like to work with you, not just watch you.
Because six months from now, that planner may be sitting in a meeting and somebody says:
“We need a speaker for this.”
And your name comes up.
I’d much rather the planner say:
“We worked with her. She was great to work with.”
That’s a pretty good sentence to have working for you when you’re not even in the room.
And THAT is part of the business behind the stage.
That’s Speaker Operations.
Follow me here on Medium for more conversations about what happens after the booking, before the stage and long after the applause is over.
