TCC Podcast #195: Get Better as a Speaker with Stef Grieser

Growth marketer and event co-founder, Stef Grieser, is the guest for the 195th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Kira met Stef and Shine Bootcamp late last year and immediately knew that she had a lot to share with our audience. But we didn’t just talk about speaking. We covered a lot of ground—and went a little longer than usual. Here’s a taste of what we talked about: •   Stef’s career path and how she came to co-found two big events •   how she used meet-ups to “test drive” CTA Conference •   how the first CTA Conference line up led her to focus on diverse voices at conferences •   the mix of speakers and why up-and-comers are just as important as stars •   what she did to turn herself into a conference speaker •   the difference between “growth” marketer and “regular” marketer •   how Stef scaled her team and community as she built CTA Conf •   what makes a good speaker pitch and how to get accepted as a speaker •   the cues that let conference organizers know you are a fit for them •   what she did to connect with sponsors and what makes a good sponsor •   the importance of being a subject matter expert •   the other skills you need on stage… in addition to content •   when you should reach out for help from a speaking coach •   Stef’s thoughts on the importance of copywriting as a business skill •   what Stef would like copywriters to do differently •   how she’s developed her leadership skills and built a team •   the stuff that hasn’t gone very well and how she fixed things •   her advice to anyone who wants to do what she’s done •   product founder fit and the importance of finding it •   Shine Bootcamp—what it is and how to find out more If you’ve ever thought about getting on stage (or presenting workshops or webinars) as a way to build your authority, you won’t want to miss this episode. To hear it, click the play button below or scroll down for links and a full transcript. Or subscribe using your favorite podcast app.   The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Shine Bootcamp CTA Conf Oli Gardner Lianna Patch Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground   Full Transcript: Kira:   This episode is brought to you by The Copywriter Underground, the place to find more than 20 templates, dozens of presentations on topics like copywriting and marketing your business, a community of successful writers who share ideas and leads, and the Copywriter Club Newsletter mailed directly to your home every month. Learn more at TheCopywriterUnderground.com. Rob:   What if you could hang out with seriously talented copywriters and other experts, ask them about their successes and failures, their work processes and their habits, then steal an idea or two to inspire your own work? That's what Kira and I do every week at the Copywriter Club podcast. Kira: You're invited to join the club for episode 195 as we chat with marketing specialist and public speaker, Stef Grieser, about growth marketing and what copywriters need to know to help their clients grow, Shine Bootcamp and what you need to know to land a speaking gig, the lessons she's learned after co-founding two big events, how she looks at and solves business problems, and her biggest career struggle. Kira:   Welcome, Stef. Rob:   Hey, Stef. Stef Grieser:   Hi. Kira:   Hello. It's great to have you here. Last time I saw you was at Shine Bootcamp in Toronto last September, so it's such a pleasure to have you here so we can dig into everything that you're doing. Stef Grieser:   I am so excited to be here and excited to dig in. Kira:   All right. Why don't we start with your story? How did you end up as a growth marketer, founder of Call-to-Action Conference and co-founder of Shine Bootcamp? How did you get into all of it? Stef Grieser:   Yeah, that's a really, really great question. I'll go way back when I was graduating university, I had worked internships and industries that were established for decades and really, really big companies, like I'm talking some of the biggest in the world, like Exxon Mobil. I 180'd, not 360'd because that would mean I was right back where I started, but no. I 180'd and I decided that I really just wanted to get on the ground floor of a growing startup. That landed me at a little software company at the time called Unbounce and I started there as their second marketer who was really primarily in charge of our community and our blog. That looked at a bunch of things that essentially working with guest bloggers, and then also cultivating community over social media, but for the most part, it was very digital. Like, software is very digital and it was a very digital play. I remember about one year in, and I remember this so vividly, I went out to lunch. It was this tiny Lebanese restaurant. It was in a basement with our CEO, Rick. We sat there and I pitched him on the idea of taking this community and this content that we cultivated and turning it into an event and going IRL, so to say. We were a software company and everything is so distant when you are a software company and I felt like an in-person event or in-person events, plural, or conference could really help strengthen the brand, give us a lot of great industry relationships, but also it was just an extension of our content because we had such a great blog at the time. It was well known in the industry and it was just taking the content on the blog and basically pulling it into another medium. Rick took the bait and I started really MVP and started off with a bunch of little meetups. As those meetups were successful, we started our first conference and the first conference was Call to Action Conference. It was 300 people and I remember I was so heads down creating this conference that when I sat and watched the conference when it was all said and done, I saw that there was two women up on stage and there was about eight dudes. That was because I was relying heavily on the network of the six co-founders of the Unbounce, all who of which were six white men and that didn't really sit well with me, so year after year, we got better. We brought more women in, but then also just other diverse voices. I also had this big feeling that we needed to bring in people that weren't "speakers." Like, they wouldn't self-identify as speakers, but they were really smart. They had something to teach and if you gave them that spot at the conference, they were going to step up to the plate and then deliver. What I call that is the Underground or the Underdog Speaker or the Up and Coming Speaker and I really, truly believe that if you... Of course, you want the big names, but if you sprinkle your conference with speakers that aren't well known but are up and coming, that have something share, your conference will be better for it and that's actually how Shine Bootcamp started. I grew that conference from 300 to over a thousand and I actually grew a team of people that put on the conference as well and then the one year, I raised my hand and I was like, "I think I have..." It's funny. I had so many people knocking on my door asking me like, "Oh. How did you sell tickets? How did you do this conference thing and how did you even market it? How did you get people to show up?" They had so many questions about the event and how I built CTA Conf, so after the 20th coffee date, I was like, "I think I have something to speak about. I think I could speak." I raised my hand and I spoke at the conference that I created, but I realized that being a subject matter expert is really different than being a speaker. It's just a different skillset, there's little nuances. I remember, I got help. I got coaching because I was going up on stage with industry heavy hitters and I really didn't want to fall flat on my face. Also, this was the conference that my entire company was at. That's scary in and of itself. I think sometimes the scariest thing about presenting is presenting to people that know you and that you have to go back to the office on Monday and they'll see you again. I just remember being like, "What have I done? I just signed up for this and now I'm part of the speaker line up, but I am in no way, shape or form ready." I ended up getting coaching and I remember, I remember this so clearly, after my first dry run, Oli Gardner, who was my coach, said to me... I remember asking him the question, "So, do you think I'm good enough to speak on stage?" He said, "Uh, not yet, but you will be." It was really, really awesome because I basically took that and just built upon it and that's basically the earliest forms of what Shine was. Essentially, fast forward the next year people asked me at the company, "Oh, are you going to speak again?" I was like, "No, I'm not going to speak again," but it kind of clicked in my head that we should have this open speaking spot. Hey, let's have this open speaking spot for people internally, like me, to raise their hands. They'll have to pitch and then we'll take one of them. The first year, I remember all four people who pitched to speak were all women and at that time there was two people who spoke on behalf of the company and they were two men. I was like, "This is awesome. We are giving people a shot to get up on stage and share their knowledge." Anyways, that speaker behind me, she went up on stage and absolutely killed it. She got invited to speak at, I think, 10 conferences right after CTA Conf that year and then we wrote about this in a big, lengthy blog post, myself and Amy Wood, who's one of the co-founders of Shine, we wrote about this whole journey. About how conference organizers, it's an excuse to not have diverse speaking lineups and what you can do. It hit a chord because at that time it was kind of when the Me Too movement was heating up. It was very timely and there were so many comments.