How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Speaking Gigs
In today’s episode Jamil Qureshi talks about How To Use LinkedIn To Get More Speaking Gigs.
Would you like to learn how how to use LinkedIn to get more speaking gigs?
In today’s interview James Taylor interviews speaker Jamil Qureshi about:
- LinkedIn marketing tips for speakers
- Stories vs Learning Points
- The power of using flipcharts on stage
Artificial Intelligence Generated Transcript
Below is a machine-generated transcript and therefore the transcript may contain errors.
James Taylor
Hi, it’s James Taylor, founder of SpeakersU. Today’s episode was first aired as part of International Speakers Summit the world’s largest online event for professional speakers. And if you’d like to access the full video version, as well as in depth sessions with over 150 top speakers, then I’ve got a very special offer for you. Just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com, where you’ll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yep, that’s right 150 of the world’s top speakers sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to launch grow and build a successful speaking business. So just go to InternationalSpeakersSummit.com but not before you listen to today’s episode.
Hey there, it’s James Taylor and I’m delighted today to be joined by my good friend Jamil Qureshi. Jamil is a performance coach and psychologist and has what were some of the best sports and business teams in the world. He has helped six sports people obtain a number one status and as a result, he’s one of the most in demand speakers in the world today, as we’ve been a Find out. It’s my great pleasure to have Jamil with us today. So welcome Jamil.
Jamil Qureshi
Hello, James, how are you?
James Taylor
Very well, Bill. So tell us all what’s happening in your world at the moment.
Jamil Qureshi
What you don’t want is conference season as you well know. So it’s all kicked off, isn’t it? So nice period at home throughout August and now September, October, November. It’s, it’s speaking almost every day. So I’ve got busy I’ve been quite fortunate this week because all my work has been in the UK. So I’ve really been doing the motorways more so than you know, waiting around airports.
James Taylor
So take us back. How did you first get into the into this world of professional speaking because you come from the sports side? How did you then start to transition into more professional speaking and as you were starting to build your speaking career? Were there any mentors that you had or Were there any speakers that you can have looked at me to that’s gonna Speaker I want to be able to have a speaking business I want to build
Jamil Qureshi
but you know what I mean, mine’s an odd one. It’s definitely a road less traveled. I fell into speaking. Now I didn’t, I didn’t go to university to become a guest speaker. You know, I, my degree was business and marketing I, I then fell into psychology because I have such a passion for such an energy for psychology. And it was something that I really wanted to explore further. And then I have a lot of good fortune and shoot through sheer good fortune I met a professional sports person ended up working with them doing psychology within performance coaching, they did very well. And from that I got the back pages of newspapers and, and professional sport is such a small world, James that other other sports people at a very high level found out about me very quickly. And so I was just very, very lucky. And then what happened was that sports people, very high level no business people at a very high level. So why would be somewhere like the BMW open in Munich, the golf tournament and a sales director from BMW would say to me, Look, if you’re working with the best golfers around, can you come and work with my sales team? Can you Coming to talk to my sales guys and tell them what it’s like to perform at the highest level. So I fell into speaking. And I think the more talks you do, the more talks you get, you know if your content and delivery is good, so I turned around one day and realized I was a guest speaker, my diary was, you know, busy with speaking engagements. And in fact, I found out I was almost speaking more than speaking more about my job than actually doing my job. You know, that’s really how it came about. So in regards to that, following speakers or known speakers, I didn’t at the time, you know, I just did my own thing. And for some reason, it sort of worked and went along and I guess learnt it as I was doing it, it’s only it’s only now that you know, I’m part of the speaking industry and understanding can contextualize what I do for a living, you know, that I’ve come to, you know, my speakers like yourself at home, you know, and and learn from, you know, people like you and others who are operating on a global level. And, you know, there’s great content and great style.
James Taylor
So I want to trigger a job like the you’ve, you’ve come from in the world of, of dealing with working with people coaching them. They’re working a very, very high level, and they’re under huge stresses from the work that they’re having to do. They’re under the spotlight and very short period of time of high intensity. And when you get brought to travel sometimes with these, you know, these top sports people, and you’re you’re sitting with them in the green room or the backstage of the dressing room. backstage, I’ve never been in that situation to be able to sit in a room like that, when that’s kind of going on. What is the conversation give me a give me a preview of some context of what’s happening in that room, just before they get a starting line or before they go to their swing or that first tennis Yeah.
Jamil Qureshi
It’s a it’s a really good question. And I haven’t really thought about it really before and people have their routines, you know, and I say that consistent See if mind gives you consistency of play. And that’s the same to being a speaker to, you know, to whatever routine you have beforehand, whatever consistency you can get in your, in your thinking before you go out on stage. And no matter how you’re blindsided by, you know, maybe some of the technical requirements not being what you think they’re going to be very similar setup is not what you expected. But if your routine is the same, then I would think there would be consistency in the way in which you can perform. So many sports people will go through some sort of ritual, some say some way of being, which will allow them a way of doing you know, it’s interesting when I went to the Ryder Cup team, European Ryder Cup team, you know, and you know, that’s a dressing room full of people who compete against each other on a weekly basis, and then for one week of the year come together to play as a team, you know, and you’ll be amazed about the energy, camaraderie, the team dynamic, you know, they the way in which you would almost think they spent a year together. So I think that You know, as people, you know, we’re all individual, we’re all different and the environment affects what we do and how we perform as much as our own thoughts. And I think it’s really important to, I guess, understand which environment you’re in and how you need to be and what you need to do to perform optimum levels whether it’s going to do a talk whether it’s going to win a golf tournament or player ship football match.
James Taylor
I guess that’s interesting know that that Raider team, that red cup team, they’re within all been competing with each other throughout the course of a year then they get together for that. You know, for the Ryder Cup. That’s a little bit similar when we’re when we’re as we’re kind of a speakers, especially not so much in in general conferences, but sometimes I find if I’m going to speak in a conference, which is around a particular area that I speak a lot then around creativity or innovation or AI. And I’m often in the in the green room with other speakers who we know each other really well because they’ve been pitched for the same gigs as me and often in the shortlist. We We can get into the room and I think there’s that, you know, your eyes meet from across the green room and there’s a kindred spirit there because you know what the other person goes through to be in that room and, and the challenges they have to go through and the things that they have to sometimes give up in their life and not be able to do in order to be traveling and do the speaking and, and do the kind of what they have to do.
Jamil Qureshi
Yeah, do you know what I mean? It’s funny because I, you know, in a way, we’re the lucky ones, aren’t we? Because people go to great lengths to organize a conference. It’s a huge amount of responsibility by the events, organizers, the the, the events, managers, the people who put these things on and we turn up do our our, you know, and, you know, that’s our, that’s our bit of performance. So I think there’s a there’s a huge amount that goes on behind it. And it is important to be respectful of all the people who are involved in making this thing happen via the other speakers, and some of which aren’t professional. These are people that are CFOs or CEOs or marketing though. Because you have to stand up in a day, and at least you and I have the good fortune of being practiced. You know, I have people say to me often that, you know, I couldn’t do what you do. I couldn’t speak and tell me in front of a crowd. And but you know, when I started speaking, I was absolutely awful. I was dreadful, I was nervous, I can tell you I’m nervous. I was, after so many times, I thought I literally can’t go out. But you know, thinking about pulling out as minutes before I was getting ready to go onto stage. But if you do something every day, and you practice it, you almost feel the fear diminish. So, so we’re lucky, we’ve practiced and we’re lucky because you know, we’ve done it last. And I always feel sorry for the people who stand up twice a year because you know, it’s the time in their business when they have stand up a sales director, you know, and deliver something I probably have more empathy for those people. Because I think people like yourself a professional stand up and do it.
James Taylor
But so you I mean, you are one of the busiest Busy speakers in the UK, and you probably weren’t busiest speakers in the world. You’re saying to me earlier that I think in the month of one particular month, you’ve got coming up, you’re speaking every single day, in that in that particular month. So, how did you go from that? You know, what do you do, especially around the, the, I guess, the marketing piece or, or how you ensure that when you gave a speech, that it resulted in other speeches and other ongoing bookings? How did you get to being able to speak every day?
Jamil Qureshi
I think you’re I think you’re telling me off of this, and it’s not what you’d want to hear. But, but you know, my marketing is particularly poor. So, any help you can give me I’m
James Taylor
definitely doing something right. If you’re speaking everyday, you’re definitely doing something. Marketing.
Jamil Qureshi
Yep. I had a website that hadn’t changed in seven years. And then I went back on Twitter and LinkedIn. And LinkedIn is fabulous. To me. I use LinkedIn. I’ve got 26,000 people on LinkedIn. It’s really my my day. To base. And so I use that for promotion and publicity more than anything else. But, but I’m a firm believer and someone once said it to me said that, you know, the more you speak, the more speaking engagements you will get. And so I’m really keen to do lots of engagements. And I thought about I’ve been advised to increase my fees before, but I don’t really want to increase my fees because I don’t want to I don’t want to diminish the amount of speaking engagements I have, but every time I do a speaking engagement, it feels like a bit of a, you know, and take this the right way a bit of a paid sales pitch. You know, it’s a bit of a, it’s a, it’s an hour’s advertising for you know, what you can deliver and what you can do and I’m just hoping that someone in the audience has got a partner who works at another company who booked speakers or need someone to come in. And that’s really what I’ve done is I’ve tried to, I’ve tried to work on my content and make it content. Rich, make it practical. Thanks was enough takeaway. I’ve worked on my style and tone, you know, trying to you have an energy of humor, a way in which I presented the way in which I do things, which I hope is attractive to people, I hope people like it. And I hope that they will go away and talk about it to others, because it’s almost the best advertising that I can have is that level of word of mouth. So So for me, I use a bit of promotion and publicity on LinkedIn, I do a little bit on Twitter. And really, what I’ve tried to do is work on my content and presentation to make sure that, you know, I create a buzz, you know, I want people to go away. And so that was really, really good. If people can rewind said that was good. I was alright, I liked it. And I would be disappointed. And I think it was Mark fain, who was talking about writing at the time, and he said, a difference between the right word and the best possible word is the difference between a firefly and a flash of lightning. And in a way, it’s the same with doing the talk. I mean, you know, we can all do great talks, and it’s the one where people say it’s the best thing have ever seen, you know, and when we can deliver that, you know, then we know that these people will go and tell others. I believe people know like minded people, you know, we know each other from being speakers, sales directors will know sales sales directors, CEOs will know CEOs, professional footballers, no professional professional footballers. And I think that I work on a premise that someone in the audience will know someone else will book speakers so I work as hard as I can each talk to deliver the best performance I can.
James Taylor
So the I mean, we just said there it might be a lot of what sounds like a Frederick Heron would say the best marketing is to give a great speech. Because if you can give a great speech and then two people come up to you and as exactly and I know you might not call it marketing by recall, I would call that marketing giving a great speech is for me is marketing is because it’s, it’s baked into the product as they were saying, and Silicon Valley, the marketing is baked into the product. And it gives you are you are the product so, so you’ve obviously that’s a really strong driver for you being able to get those those emotions LinkedIn as well, how in particular, are you using LinkedIn as it primarily in terms of publishing? content? Are you actually doing outreach in LinkedIn? And what what are you doing with LinkedIn?
Jamil Qureshi
Yeah, generally what I tend to do with LinkedIn is that, you know, I, I don’t really publish much content, if anything, I want the reasons why is that I’m just not very good at writing. You know, I don’t, I find it quite difficult to, I’ve only ever if you told me now to stand up and talk to an audience for three hours, you know, I had to do it immediately, you know, I’d be able to do it without hesitation repetition, deviation, they’re probably not forever. You asked me to write a page on something, which is my subject matter. I really struggle that the why that’s the case I just always have done. So I tend not to write blogs or anything. All I do is on LinkedIn, if I go and do a talk, you know, for a company, I’ll make sure that I find the Find the stakeholders online and LinkedIn and I sent him a message and join them and say thank you so much. That’s what I do. And again, You know, LinkedIn is all about peer communication and networking. So I’m hoping that you know, when I joined the CEO of some company who employed me to speak yesterday, and I’m just hoping that that connection and when I post something next will be liked by this person, you will then be seen by his peers. So are published, some of my quotes are published as some of my, some of my thoughts, and no more than that not read necessarily articles. And I do that once every couple of weeks, I’ll post something on LinkedIn. I will often post where I’m speaking in terms of I’ll say, I’m delighted to be speaking today for you. No, shell in Hamburg. Thank you for having me. I’m just hoping that people will see that who booked speakers and think this guy’s working for Shell, and we’re in the same industry or sector will check out his website. So I don’t know what that’s, you know, hugely proactive. But I feel so it’s quite relevant. And I’m much more You know, I’m much more into the rifle shotgun, the shotgun technique. You know, I like to join people and connect with people who have seen me speak to who have booked me, you know, and I’m just hoping that they are networked with other people who do the same as them. And I think if I can just keep up some regularity of contacts and connection, and I’m just hoping that people will see that and you know, you you’re in the front of mind when it comes to then making a decision about booking a speaker.
James Taylor
And on that outreach, I mean, how much of your business now comes from bureaus? How much comes comes directly, in other words is coming directly and how much is that where you’re doing very proactive outreach to prospective clients and how much it is someone seen you before or they’ve seen someone that seen you or spoken to on that senior?
Jamil Qureshi
Yeah, I mean, I, I haven’t worked it out, but I think it’s probably I probably get about 40% word of mouth now and then 60% through agents and Booker’s. So I would say that’s probably the case. And the interest on our passport this out over the next six months, but you know, but
James Taylor
that’s a good number with with with with them with bureaus and Booker’s because
Jamil Qureshi
you know what’s funny because I don’t really, I don’t really use many Booker’s, you don’t really use many agents for three agents who I worked through. And if you, if you google me, I’m probably on lots of books or several books. But a lot of those agents I’ve never even spoken to before. So there’s probably strict, there’s probably three agents who put me out a lot. And so I do a lot of work through these three agents. And I get all of them. I get a lot of repeat business. I think what I’m going to try and quite lucky with James, and this is not good business thinking, this is just pure luck, is that I don’t really talk about, I don’t really tell stories. So what I do is I talk in learning points. So I say, Here’s three learning points, or here’s five things which I think are useful to you. So I do these learning points. And I think that people I get repeat business because people Say, have you got any more points? Have you got any more principles? Well, I say I like these three principles. These are really good, can you come back and deep dive one of them. So I get lots of repeat business, I feel because of the way in which I structure my content. So I think when someone’s got a story, there’s some speakers will come and tell their story or tell a story. And you’ve almost feel as though when people have heard that story, they’ve heard the story. But if you’re, you’re a psychologist with 30 principles, 30 ideas on how to improve performance, team performance, whatever it might be. And people hear three that day and they really like it. And you know, they’re engaged, they’re happy with the way in which you’ve presented it. And the feedbacks, great. And I’ll often get called back and say, you know, you got your three more that you can talk to this audience about,
James Taylor
but that’s interesting, because Also, I’ve seen other speakers do it in the past and, and I’ve I’ve actually started doing it more because there’s other times where I might have 1010 key presses. Like you say, like principles around a particular thing, but I’m only there for give me a 30 minute talk. And so I have to be okay. I can probably use three at the most. So I yeah, there’s and I just used to say, you know, here are three principles, it was actually another speaker just actually like yourself, we’re just saying. He said, what you should do at the start is you said, Listen, I have these I have these 10 principles I share but the time that we have available today, I’m just gonna share three, I think, agree most valuable to you. Because then you’re also previewing the fact Oh, you did this more. So that makes it that makes a huge amount of sense. Just it’s a little bit of you know, quite Celtic. No, there’s not quite that’s that’s that expression really. So say was it you sell the sizzle? Not the steak. Europe, you are actually giving some steak you’re giving some some stuff there for people. But you’re also saying that there’s a there’s a deeper background. And as you mentioned, like
Jamil Qureshi
we’re just want to point j thing that you know, it’s a really I think it’s a really it’s a really interesting point because I think that speak, is give away too much content. So I think it’s a common mistake. And you must have seen it as some speakers and I used to do it all the time. So I used to speak and I say, like, here’s seven or eight things that you need to know. And I would cram this hour full of content, because I’m desperate for someone to like one part of my talk. So I think the more I fit in, the more I put in, the more value I am. And actually, you know, what, I would skim over seven or eight points, and it would be disjointed, you know, not necessarily connected in a way in which it should be not have a narrative or golden thread, I would just be throwing a lot of things out there and I hope that someone likes some of it. And, and I think that as speakers, I think that you know, a good tip, you know, is is, is don’t give too much away, don’t use all your content. You know, I think that you know, hold that bit back and you know, you can use allows you to come back again, it allows you to talk outside of your speech about other principles and ideas, you know, thoughts about You’re useful to the audience when you’re engaging in a coffee afterwards.
James Taylor
It reminds me there’s a, I can’t remember the name of the writer now, he wrote a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma. And the first book was he’s either he’s a professor from Berkeley in California, I think. And the first book was quite a thick book. But it was really well researched really deep, and it was phenomenal. It was very, very well. But then everyone was coming out and saying, you know, it, could you could you let me do a shorter version, I want to give it to my son, daughter, grandparent. So we ended up writing a slightly shorter version. And then someone had to think he was doing he was being asked to do events and someone said, Can you could you trade like a little thin book just with the rules? And you know, the principles so he ended up writing the third version, which is just it’s a smaller and smaller and smaller. I think like when your speech, you’re giving that really small that real like this is not that you’re filling with loads and loads of stuff. But you’re making power but but you know, and and the way I do it, the way I like to do is, is if I’m giving an hour I do 45 minute speech 15 minutes q&a, because then you could find out those things. What do people want to go deeper on? Yes, sometimes you can do with great, the greatest pre event call in the world, you can think you really know when you get there early. But sometimes you actually find Oh, it’s actually that that’s the one that principle that’s the thing that they’re really, really interested in just now.
Jamil Qureshi
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that you know, the q&a always is the speaker gives you more chance to get more content in so you know, sometimes, you know, obvious the question about very specific about someone’s golf handicap. You know, there’s a, there’s a, it’s a 500 people, which majority don’t play golf. So how do I improve my golf handicap? So then what I do is I then, you know, then I’ll say, well, it’s really interesting because you know, the way in which you learn anything better is and I will always turn the question into more content. So, so you can almost Ask me anything. And so you know, and, you know, I’m almost prepared to make sure that 500 people in the audience get something from it. And I get a chance to get more content, Elbert. So, it sounds like you’re doing something very similar when you just cue in a bit. And it’s a brilliant opportunity, you know, for you to be more valuable, because you’re not just answering some questions, you’re actually delivering some more practicalities and more takeaways, you know, some more provocation or challenge. And because sometimes you’ll say that, you know, the best way to learn something is this, although many people can’t do that, you know, how would you learn a new skill? You know, I’ve seen people do it in this particular way. So you get a chance to chat, you know, in a more general form, and a specific question you’ve been asked
James Taylor
that that there’s a structure that they often use in media training, and ABC, your son asked you a question you accept you, Bridgette, and then two things you really won’t be able to then share and then you comment, and write or you hear all the time. I see, you’ve probably done your fair share of local media, local radio interviews. And usually local media interviews, the person that’s interviewing you doesn’t really know too much about the topic or doesn’t really know that. So, so you’re always thinking, Okay, how can I give value like you’re saying, not just that person sitting across from me there, but to the, to the listeners, and so the ABC except Bridget, so are you? That’s, that’s, you know, that’s really you know, Internet’s a really common question. I get around that. And one of the reasons is because and then you’re bridging and then you’re actually seeing the real thing we think is going to impact on that topic. So So yeah, that’s it. That’s a great great point about taking that and I don’t ever think that I don’t think I’m ever gonna ask the question about how to improve my my golf handicap.
Jamil Qureshi
So fair, I get it rarely.
James Taylor
So tell me um, as you’ve been building your speaking business, was there a key moment will you meet a an opponent distinction in terms of what you want to do with your speaking or you made an important distinction about the kind of speaking business you want to do and what you want to leave people with leave audiences with today
Jamil Qureshi
because two ways to answer that is that I decided that you don’t have to do psychology on a post it. And what I mean by that is that I want people to sit in the audience with a pen and paper. So I tend not to do after dinner or something like that most during the day. And I want people to sit there with a piece of paper, write down a takeaway, and be able to stick it on their computer and go away and use it. So I’ve kind of really practical psychology. I’m quite irreverent when I speak. It’s quite high energy. There’s lots of takeaways, you know, I want people to write down one thing, go and do it at home, go and don’t use it. So I think lots of private sector psychology isn’t particularly practical. It’s lots of stuff which is hard to get our heads around hearts. Implement how to you know, try and do you know, in our lives, I find make it really easy for people to make change. So I think that I decided two things very early on regard to content, make it really practical, make sure people can get hold of it, internalize it, interprets it, translate it into their world. And then the second bit is that I only ever use a flip chart. So this is more about style and presentation. So everyone, you know, was complaining about PowerPoint at the time, and, you know, and talking about how these presentations can be quite static. They’re really talking about the internal presentations that they have. And I just thought, you know what I’m just gonna use, I’m gonna use a flip chart. So no matter how big my audience is, the largest audience I’ve spoken to is three and a half thousand people. My average audience is probably two 300 people. And I always use a flip chart. It’s a traditional flip chart with a black pen and has a camera feed on it to the big screen behind At the sides as part of my brand, but you know two things content wise, it’s very practical psychology on a poster, and presentation style. You know, I’ll scribble on a flip chart, and the scribbling on the flip chart for me is really about creating more energy into performance more so than anything interesting on the flip chart. What I do on a flip chart is actually write the notes that I would take if I was in the audience. And that’s what I do. And, and, you know, although I didn’t position it with the audience in that way, but that’s almost what I do. And if one it just helps my thinking. So I know what I’m talking about when I’m writing when I’m scribbling it on, I’m drawing a diagram. And it’s not there’s no detail on it, I’ll literally just draw a triangle or draw a letter A or something like that. But I found that it adds more energy to my performance. It’s a different dynamic. When you use a flip chart, you know, I can, I can add live better and different, which means I get more rapport and more personality. You know, I’ve seen I’ve seen Presentations before using technology which almost take people’s personality away, they’re concentrating so much on the clicker, you know, or they’re beholden to a slide deck, you know, whereas now, you know, using a flip chart, if people are nodding their heads and writing things down, I think, you know what, I’ll do another two minutes on this because it’s obviously they’re responding to is relevant. You don’t have MIDI,
James Taylor
you’re not having to go with the slides, you’re not having to move in that topic.
Jamil Qureshi
So there’s that opportunity for more agility and open mindedness and the way in which I present so you know, I quite freewheeling I tend to be I like to make it up as they go along. You know, and that way I work with the audience more because you know, you are literally working with that energy in regard to what people are liking and what they’re nodding their head to and what they’re writing down in regard to notes, and just allows you to expand on those points more.
James Taylor
But I think that’s that’s also great. I see that reminds me of someone I remember seeing years ago, one of my favorite Speakers not because the speaker was particularly dynamic on stage or moving around because he wasn’t he was a professor, he was a professor university professor from Oxford. But he used to use an IF remember these acetates you know, the overhead projectors and used to draw the little diagrams. And it definitely I remember thinking back then I was really young, I was younger my team’s thinking, you know, stories make people listen. But images make people remember. And, and I just thought, okay, you remember those stories, but I can I can close my eyes. Now I can see exactly that image. That No, that’s not right. For everyone in the audience. Some people are more kinesthetic, and we have different learning styles. By doing what you do there. You’re obviously telling you are telling some stories, you’re telling these learning outcomes, but you’re giving it a visual anchor to for people to hold on to latch on to and then they write that on their little post it note, they take that back, they stick on their computer screen and the office when they get home and it’s just a little reminder when They buy this I love that. I think that’s fantastic. And I’m gonna put you on an imaginary long haul flight now. And on that long haul flight, good to have you sitting next to any speaker, author, thought leader living or dead. So you can be sitting next to him on this flight and having a long conversation with them. Who would you love to be sitting next to?
Jamil Qureshi
Oh, yeah. Oh, that’s a really good question, isn’t it? Should I live in all dead? Today, in a way I’ll miss want to be more interested in them? I’m going to say, but I am. But I think that I would like to sit next to Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, someone like that. And the reason why we’ve got a thought leader and also to speak is to I guess that really when you look at, you know, their performances, speakers, I was actually thinking as a thought leader. You know, my thing is all about cultural change. I think it’s all about people and performance. How do we get people to act differently? I seem to be any act differently when we think differently. So all of mine, my content, and my work is trying to get people to understand new perspectives, which allow them to optimize their potential differently. And I guess that people like that, you know, literally mobilize, you know, mobilize the nation. So I think that anyone who can affect that level of cultural change, anyone who has a vision and can put that into place with an energy, enthusiasm and passion in a way in which people like that did, I think would be fascinating to talk to, absolutely fascinating to talk to. I think there are so many, there are so many people for me, I think that’s part of the problem is that, you know, I, one of the things we try and do and people ask me for book recommendations, and, and I don’t really think in terms of business books, I, you know, I read also I love music, you know, so I read music, and biographies and autobiographies. You know, I love politics. So You know, I find out about politicians and, you know, and figures in politics I, you know, I, I try and draw experience and stimuli from, you know, the world around us, you know, so, so unfortunately, I don’t really spend much time with speakers, you know, I try and sort of spend my time with, you know, people outside of the industry, because I think there’s something which is, which is something which is going to give me a inkling or clue into how I can perform better, which is not necessarily based upon the mental tram lines that we all operate and when we do a particular job,
James Taylor
so on that note on the on the book, Sykes, I’m gonna ask that question. So it may not give you a book on speaking. But if there was a book, it makes like that, you know, the biography piece as well. And is there any, anybody who’s you read recently of perhaps some musicians or even or even states people that you think actually this is something that more speakers should just so they can make To open their mind up a little bit more or think about how to take risk or how to you know, this is a book you’ve read recently you, you’re particularly inspired by Yeah.
Jamil Qureshi
I mean, the thing I do you know, it’s funny actually because I’m, you know, you know that I love music. And so I’m a huge Johnny Marr fan from the Smiths. So the Smiths are the best band ever. I’m obsessed by them, all my friends. Just know that. And so I read set the boy free, which is the Johnny Marr autobiography. And for me, he’s a groundbreaking guitarist, he’s a creative, you know, he’s a, you know, fabulous musician. But actually, you know, read it not just as a fan and as a music fan, it was just really interesting to see someone’s journey from, you know, poverty in Manchester to you know, multi million rocks, your world class rock star. And the thing that comes through and books like that for me is pen Energy drive self expression, I always say to be a good to be a good speaker, you know, to be a good leader is not about seeking to impress. It’s about seeking to express to be ourselves in the context of our work. And I think musicians can do that brilliantly. I learned so much from comedians and musicians. And because they genuinely do it for the love of what they do, yeah, they find this innate reason for being and express themselves through their creative platform. So, so I think, for me, set the boy free is the book that I would recommend, not just because I’m a huge fan, and but, but I actually quite learn quite a lot about myself by looking at someone else’s circumstances and the decisions that they made and the investment they made in regard to learning growing and developing towards success in a field that they were passionate about.
James Taylor
Actually, as you’re seeing that, it also reminds me there jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, he just retired suddenly. And his retirement do it was it was a stadium this retirement do. And he actually came out on stage in like almost like a punk outfit with a guitar and he got up on stage and he is out leaving the company with him on stage rocking out doing that thing. So there’s definitely a lot of similarities I think in the connections between sports, music and and business as well. What about in your speaker bag, you’re traveling all the time, you’re going from one speaking gig to the next, what is in that bag or that little box of tricks you carry around with you to your various speaking engagements.
Jamil Qureshi
And do you know I try and take a couple of books because it’s my opportunity to read. I will take my laptop, I will take some sunglasses to stick on and rest when I need just rest my eyes. I tend not to do too much talking. So try and stay off the phones and things when I’m trying nifiga long haul. And apart from that, I don’t really, I’ve got some months of vocal losses, which, and you know what it’s probably more superstitious than anything else. I’ve got. I’ve got these vocals, don’t ever I mean, they’re probably out of date by about four years. But you know, I always keep them in there. I make sure I’ve got them. I’ve never used them in my life to keep them. And I think that i think i’m not particularly superstitious, and I probably, I probably don’t take as good care of myself. As, as you do when you travel. I’ve seen you travel. I probably go overboard. This is why you look so good. This is why I probably go over 15 years younger than me, you actually take care of yourself. And then whereas you know what I do? I do you know what? two things one I travel really light. So I travel extremely light. That’s part of my travel plan is a travel really light. And then and then I just take this retake essentials with me. I think that, you know, I’m quite uncomplicated, you know, I probably should do more people say to me that, you know, have your vocal coach, I say no, I would actually recommend getting a vocal coach, even though I don’t know because, you know, it is our business, you know, our throats and our voices and we do need to take more care of it. And I think cobblers children have the worst worn shoes. So although I would probably advocate taking a lot more in my travel bag, and I would probably suggest for the speakers they do, I’m not particularly good at it. So I try and travel in a simple and uncomplicated way. This is
James Taylor
a because you come from the world of sports, where you have those different coaches, you may have multiple coaches around someone. And and I’ve actually now spoken to a number of speaker speakers, I’m not going to say who they are, but very, very successful speakers. And when I talk to them, and they’ll talk the they will see publicize this, but behind them, the they might have a vocal coach those might have Performance coach. So if you look at Taylor Swift will have a vocal coach and she will also have a performance coach too. They’re doing two different tasks. They’ll have someone that raised their jokes I was shocked when I found this out that they that you can actually get someone to write your jokes for you but some of these some of those
Jamil Qureshi
have exactly what I need
James Taylor
some of the speeds I know I’m I probably need the same thing when we need to, we need to find something but and and then also if you have someone that’s more on the business side or helping them with their their speaking business as well, but they don’t really necessarily say that out in a public which I think isn’t might change. Because in the world of sports, you look at someone like an Andy Murray or and they’re always said, I’ve got this coach here but then it’s very isn’t an assumed thing that you have different coaches. I think in the speaking business where it seems a little bit more of a lone wolf type of profession is not so common at the moment but that that that may change I think
Jamil Qureshi
I think you’re right. I think, you know, it’s funny because people think that success happens in isolation. You know, things like Formula One drivers, you know, golfers, tennis players, these are individual sports, and they’re just not there’s huge teams around them. You’re absolutely right, massive teams around them. And, and I think that, you know, it may be seen as a sign of weakness if you have people supporting you, you know, but it’s really not and I also like to think of speakers. It’s almost like two types of speakers. There’s no there’s, there’s, there’s people who want to be a speaker, and they and they, and they dress themselves as speakers, their website, you know, how they present themselves. And I guess there’s other people who are experts in their field who end up speaking, you know, these people who are good at something and they end up being a speaker. And I guess it probably depends upon your background and how you were you were, how you got there and where you wish to go on how much you will use that support or you believe you need that Support. But I agree with you, I think that any any support any network is not a sign of weakness. You know, in fact, quite the opposite. You know, I genuinely believe that, you know, we are more successful when we we have a community, we’re more successful we work together. I think there is. There’s almost too much. I’m thinking that, you know, we need to go it alone. I mean, I can make myself successful. I totally understand that when it comes to ownership, accountability, greater levels of responsibility for our careers, our businesses, I get that. But you know, I think the best people that I’ve ever worked with, you know, are great at driving personal responsibility, but they’re also great at developing good people around them, you know, to help them on their journey to success. So if there’s any
James Taylor
speaker management companies watching this just now and you know, you want to know how to stand out, build a little team, you know, around that speaker management company that if you bring a speaker into your business, you could perhaps, you know, give them immediate access to that team as well. It can be quite a useful resource about tools. Are there any, any online tools or apps that you find particularly useful for yourself, you’re traveling all the time, obviously, and, and your gigs or any of that you find useful.
Jamil Qureshi
And all I do, all I do is I say, I stay really close to LinkedIn, really close to LinkedIn. And the reason why is that, to me, it’s business news, you know, I will often see that there’s an event going on somewhere, or, you know, someone will say, you know, thank you to x, y, and Zed for booking me. And I think, obviously, people who booked speakers there, and, you know, and if I’ve got a contact or a connection with them or spoken for that company before, you know, I’m, I will connect with them. You know, I will, you know, send them a short note. So, and so I use it in an interactive manner, LinkedIn. And although I don’t use that, in regard to the speaking industry or events industry, you know, because so Many of my contacts on LinkedIn are to do with the industry in some way. Most of my feed is to do with as a real relevancy. So if there’s something I see going on, someone’s at an event today, or someone is planning an event or looking out for I’ll often engage and interact with LinkedIn. So you know, that’s probably, although that’s not in my bag, it’s on my laptop. If I’m at an airport or sitting on a plane wasting on summer, you know, I’ll often be on LinkedIn and you know, engaging and interacting and looking out for so I think that my research and understanding of stakeholders who by speakers, organizations that use speakers, how they use them all sort of events here, my research actually is probably better than I give myself credit for, but I don’t actually necessarily make time for it. I almost narrow my channels. So instead of being available through lots of channels, and having access to And the industry through lots of channels. You know, LinkedIn is almost enough for me. Maybe you know what, maybe, maybe I’m missing out, maybe I should do more.
James Taylor
But no, I mean, it’s work, you know. And I think if, if, because you’re primarily speaking to corporations to associations, that makes absolute sense, I think so we had Jeffrey Hayslett on talking as the C suite network in the state of New York. And he very much that yourself is b2b. And to LinkedIn is where where he lives if it was a speaker, who’s more a b2c type of speaker like Brendon Burchard, or someone like that. Facebook, Instagram, that makes you obviously have a much more sense of spending time and resources there. But I think the more you’re doing or focusing on that I actually, you know, really, for someone in the b2b space, I would actually say probably LinkedIn, YouTube. You’ve seen that now LinkedIn videos becoming much better as well but you know, those two things and yeah, i think i think that’s that’s pretty much all we need to so final question for you, if you will, I’m going to have you imagine you woke up tomorrow morning and you have to start from scratch. So you’ve got all the skills, all the knowledge you’ve learned over the years, but no one knows you, you know, no one, what would you do? How would you restart things?
Jamil Qureshi
Yes, okay. I didn’t realize this interview would be so difficult. Okay, today, I think what I would do is that I would probably working on the premise if I if I believe what I’m saying. And I say that in, the more gigs you do, the more gigs you get, and I would have real confidence in my content and presentation style. So therefore, I would just go and get some gigs. And I, I’ve been quite fortunate that you know, I have a set fee for UK, Europe and you know, further afield, and I really haven’t compromised much on that. And I think that you know, I’ve tried to work on value, not online. Price. And this is why people have said to me, maybe you should put your price up. But you know, I would consider even doing gigs for free. You know, and if I was starting out, starting out, not necessarily to gain the experience, but to gain exposure to more people that I would speak to, and the more I would sure I would be able to get a paid speaking gig from it. So, you know, I would then spend that money on some food and water. But um, but I’d be quite happy to do the free gigs until I couldn’t do them anymore because you know, the few paid ones. And maybe there’s any
James Taylor
money left over, you could you could renew your supply of vocal throat suites as well. If
Jamil Qureshi
I drill where’s the best place that people want, check out the ones that went out. And
James Taylor
if people want to reach out to you, maybe to suggest you for a gig or something else, where’s the best place for them to go and I haven’t had this conversation. You probably already know where you’re going to want us to send people to but we’re going to go
Jamil Qureshi
Would you know, my website is Jamil Qureshi calm? And I’m obviously on LinkedIn. And my Twitter is Jamil underscore Kureishi. So, you know, anywhere through there, you know, is great. So most people will contact me through one of those three things. And then and that’s really, you know, the, the channels that I engage with. So, some of your pleasure to hear from anyone
James Taylor
who wrote email, thank you so much for coming on today, sharing about your story. I think it’s also very inspirational for people just to see how there’s different ways of building speaking businesses as well in the way you have exemplified that. And you may not call it marketing, but I would probably call it marketing is just give a great speech and speak a lot. So it’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you, and hopefully we’ll be sharing a stage together in the not too distant future. That would
Jamil Qureshi
be great. You’d show me out but that’s the problem. And thank you ever so much indeed. And Thomas Real pleasure speaking to James like that as well. And yeah, hopefully speak soon.
James Taylor
Today’s episode was sponsored by speakers you the online community for speakers and if you’re serious about your speaking career then you can join us because you membership program. I’ll speak as you members receive private one on one coaching with me hundreds of hours of training content access to a global community to help them launch and build a profitable business around their speaking message and expertise. So just head over to SpeakersU.com to learn more
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