I got the chance to chat with Lacy at the BEATS conference and wanted to have a deeper conversation on what she’s seeing from running her speaker bureau, Elevated Events & Education.
Let’s start with a couple bits of insider info.
Lacy spends her days working with the Education Directors and committee members putting together events. Here’s what she’s picking up…
Event organizers are being influenced or overruled by volunteer committee members with strong opinions on speakers and topics
A speaker bureau’s most powerful move for its speakers isn’t pushing one speaker at a time…it’s being brought in to help plan the event
That’s where Lacy loves to get involved, structuring the flow of an event, plugging in her roster of speakers. She’s able to fill in a piece many speakers miss… ensuring their style, tone and content fits the timeslot. Making their speaking session more effective for both speaker and audience.
Now let’s get into the non-obvious insights…
Agents SAY They Want More Tactical Content…The Reality is More Complicated
“We’re in a big shift [where] the challenges are agents not having clarity of where they’re going with their business, how to move forward. How do they overcome the barrage of industry news that’s out there? So [the challenge is] getting agents to be really clear.” - Lacy Schuldt
I take this as a symptom of the uncertainty we all feel.
Lacy gave some more context on the topics that Ed Directors ask her for:
The role of the agent
How to better articulate agents’ value to consumers
Business development (sales and marketing)
“Some of the hot ticket items we’re hearing about still is AI, but I’ll tell you that there’s a shift away from that…Another big one is like they want tangible takeaways, no more fluff. What do [agents] do? What do they go home and implement? Those are the things that I’m asked for the most.”
Lacy pointed out that while agents always say they want tactical content, it often falls flat because…
Many Speakers Are Missing the Bigger Picture
“When [agents] have a scarcity mindset, they don’t know how to take those tactical things cause they’re going to take them like a fire hose and [think they’re] going to implement everything.”
Lacy pointed out that as an industry, we need to take mental health a lot more seriously. Here’s one way she’s addressing it in her work with event organizers:
“The first question I always ask is, ‘Tell me about your members and what they’re feeling right now’ ... People are going to remember a small amount of the information they’re told or they’re taught, but what they aren’t going to forget is how they felt.”
If your session isn’t ‘in tune’ with the emotional state of that group of agents, your session will fall flat. You might even tick them off. (Just look at the recent commencement speeches where any mention of AI drew rounds of ‘Boos’).
The same insight applies at a bigger level, to all the content you create…videos, podcasts, email newsletters, social posts, etc.
If you want better results from ALL the content you create, start by understanding how agents are feeling right now.
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The Speaker Slot That Gets the Least Attention Might Be the Most Important
“I talk about this with my speakers…that last 10 minutes, you have the opportunity to leave them in a very positive place. Give them a sense of hope because without hope we have nothing….People are going to remember a small amount of the information that they’re told or they’re taught, but what they aren’t going to forget is how they felt.”
This is well-established science called the Peak-End Rule.
We don’t judge experiences on the average or total sum of every moment. We remember how we felt at two points…
the most intense moment (the Peak)
The End
(check out Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Fredrickson’s work for more on this).
So the last speaker slot of an event rarely gets the attention it deserves, as does the actual closing minutes of the event. While you can’t control the closing minutes of the event, you can certainly control the closing minutes of your own session.
Leaving agents in a positive emotional state at the end of your session will massively impact your speaker ratings and feedback. Considering how many bookings come from word-of-mouth among event organizers, a tweak to your session endings might generate several new opportunities a year.
Want to go deeper? Click on the audio file for the full chat, or search Real Estate Thought Leaders on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Lacy also shared more nuts-and-bolts advice for:
building relationships with event organizers
how to better package your sessions to get more bookings
what needs to be built before working with a speaker bureau
Ask This:
Are you giving agents a firehose of tactical content, trying to stuff as much ‘value’ as possible into your sessions or content?
I’ve done it myself, and I see others making the same mistake early in their thought leadership journey. The sooner you focus on emotional impact, the better.
You’ll start looking for stories, examples, exercises, games and themes. Elements that create emotional impact beyond the information you share. And that’s what the audience will remember.
Quick Links & Resources
Lacy’s speaker bureau - Elevated Events & Education
I had a blast chatting with Lacy at the BEATS event and in this conversation, her first podcast interview ever! She’s a great person to know in this industry, so reach out if you want a personal intro.
Talk soon,
-Matt
Agency Founder & Author of MicroFamous
PS Here’s how we can help…
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From Michael Maher and Lars Hedenborg to Jeff Cohn and Marki Lemons Ryhal, we’ve been the content team behind many of your fellow real estate coaches, speakers and authors.
We start every client engagement by developing your ‘Signature Talk’ - So you have a message you’re excited to take to stages, guest interviews and all your content.
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Each month we give you research-based video title and topic ideas, scripts, outlines, even slides. Plus all the support you need to stay consistent, from email updates to strategy calls.
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