I had the honour of meeting Darren LaCroix, 2001 world champion of public speaking, at the Toastmasters International conference in Lisbon. In 2001, Darren LaCroix outspoke 25,000 contestants from 14 countries to become the World Champion of Public Speaking. And in Lisbon Darren delivered a keynote “From Chump to Champ” which was full of great tips and advice on how to become a top speaker. I asked Darren to share some of his experience with us after the event.

As a conferenceholic, I cant miss any opportunity to network and attend any event I can – from the local meetups and toastmaster’s conferences to  expos and senior executive conferences. I have caught myself ‘overdosing’ a few times on conferences. “Overdosing” is when you attend event after event without even having the proper time to [...]

As a member of the Toastmasters International, I have the opportunity to meet many special people who are thriving to do the best and perfecting their public speaking and leadership skills. Many of them (if not all) are extremely talented one way or another. As a conferenceholic (the second name of this blog www.conferenceholic.com ), [...]

I just came back from a very inspiring District 59 Toastmasters Conference where I have attended several workshops. My favorite was by Conor Neill and I would like to share some take ways I got from it. Conor Neill is a professor in the Department of Managing People in Organizations at IESE Business School. An [...]

When I attend an event I always try to make a ROI calculation to see if I have invested wisely and I agree, its rather difficult to measure it exactly and there are many factors which simply do not translate to the numbers. In any case, I do try to make calculations and I like when in addition to having a great time and getting inspired, I see the real value from attending an event. Here is my formula:

There are so many conferences out there and we simply can’t sponsor every event. Yes, when you sponsor, you take a risk no matter whether it is an event you always sponsor or it is a completely new expo or conference for you.

We already know some basics that we can use to attract the customer: an eye catching design, prize draw, freebies, using light, sound and visual movements for impact. These are all good. If you want to add a little extra, you need to think what the customers at the event are missing.

TED – every one needs to get inspired from TED talks regularly, and this speech of Simon Sinek – I recommend very highly.

Working in conference business I had an opportunity to see many great presenters. Lucky me! In my opinion one of the most important ingredients in successful presentation, or event business conversation is Humor, does it come easy to you? Not to me. My presentations tend to be quite serious, and I am going to change [...]

Speaking at a conference is a golden opportunity to accomplish what entire marketing departments die for: lead generation and brand building. Don’t squander it. Capture it!