| p>To customize your bio for consideration for a | | | | paste them into your bio as needed. This is an |
| speaking engagement, start with your basic | | | | important part of customization. Create relevance |
| boilerplate bio that covers all the essentials. | | | | to the reader by inserting key phrases that will |
| Remember I don't care where you went to | | | | pique their interest. |
| school or how many years you have been in | | | | Now give some serious consideration to the topic |
| business. I want to know "what have you done | | | | you will be addressing. The secret is to be able to |
| for me lately." Are you savvy with today's | | | | create a speech that you can spin into myriads of |
| current "hot button" issues? Convey that in your | | | | other programs. Think about the core message |
| bio. | | | | of your bio. Who are you targeting? If it's only |
| Spice it up with names that create resonance. For | | | | one very specialized niche, you need to go back |
| example, I have spoken at the White House | | | | to the drawing board and create a broader |
| (twice). That always opens doors for me. Have | | | | audience base. Use the news to see what issues |
| you been involved with some household name | | | | are in the forefront. Identifying with current news |
| recognition project or company? Make sure to | | | | issues will help you keep your bio contemporary. |
| mention that in your bio. | | | | You don't want to continually reinvent the wheel. |
| What impresses you in someone's bio? For me it's | | | | When you have a bio that works, add some spin |
| always if they have written a book (not | | | | for different audiences that makes it seem as if |
| self-published -although that is a great way to | | | | you wrote your bio just for them. Keep it |
| start.) Give me strong sound bites without the | | | | continually updated too. Nothing cries "out of |
| fluff. There are certain compelling phrases the will | | | | touch" more than an old bio that reads like a |
| always generate interest. Look at the action | | | | resume. People simply don't care what happened |
| words in your cheat sheets. See if you can work | | | | to you five years ago, so don't waste their time. |
| these words into your verbiage. Keep thinking | | | | If you can't get to the core message in three |
| about words that will move someone to | | | | paragraphs or less then they aren't going to read |
| action-that is hiring you to speak. | | | | any more anyway. |
| Your basic bio should be no longer than three well | | | | Remember your short bio is an important part of |
| thought out paragraphs. Remember you can | | | | your professional repertoire. Don't just slam |
| always tell me more if I am interested in hearing | | | | something together. Take time to craft your |
| more later. Start big and get smaller. Record | | | | message and then rework and rework until it |
| important achievements so that you can cut and | | | | sounds like the real you. |