CAPS is the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. They just hosted their CAPS Convention https://www.capsconvention.com/ on December 5th, 2024 to December 8th, 2024 in Costa Rica! Here are my top 7 lessons from this year’s CAPS Convention:
1 – When people ask you, say YES!
Tyler Hayden and I met at National Speakers Association’s Influence Conference. I asked Tyler Hayden to be on my Engaging Virtual Meetings Podcast. Tyler asked me to be on the CAPS Behind the Mic podcast. After the podcast, he said I should apply to speak at the CAPS Convention being held in…Costa Rica! I was blown away to be accepted as a speaker! When people you know, like and trust ask you to do something, say YES!
2 – When you see a problem you can fix, STEP UP!
In the speaker call with the CAPS Convention Team, they said that they were unable to procure a breakout room sponsor and it was not in the budget to pay the quotes they received. They were only going to record slides and audio so I immediately raised my hand and said I could do. I became a silver sponsor and I felt a part of the program. Speakers were so appreciative of video and attendees who bought the replay package said thanks!
3 – The Canadian Association of Professional Speakers are AWESOME!
Over the past 2 years, I’ve been making friends with CAPS BC. I really enjoyed meeting all the amazing people at CAPS BC and CAPS Convention was that times 1000. I felt welcomed and appreciated. I appreciate the touches that CAPS does that other conferences do not.
4 – Make relationships long before you need them. Your network is your net worth.
I have already connected with many people and I’m connecting with the rest by LinkedIn after the event. In addition, there are a few special people who I felt an amazing connection to. Here’s a shout out to a few (and by no means conclusive list): Azadeh from CAPS BC, Layne the most amazing auctioneer I met in the pool, Sheri the Executive Director from CAPS, Mark Brown the incoming CAPS president and the new Hall of Famer Tyler Hayden, HoF! Renee Paser-Pauli invited me to speak to her chapter and collaborate on a hybrid program. I’m honored to call many of you part of my network and my net worth.
5 – Fail Faster! Improve Immediately.
As part of my presentation to CAPS Behind The Mic virtual presentation, I thought it would be effective to present 2 new never been delivered stories. FAIL. I got feedback to get to the content faster, “Where’s the beef?”. I used that feedback for my new “New Ways To Engage and Energize Your Audience” program that I presented at CAPS Convention. I got 100% Talkadot reviews and so much great feedback on how much value I shared. Be bold. Fail Faster. Improve Immediately. Be a better speaker.
Give boldy, click to download my entire presentation.
Click to use Talkadot to get Speaker Feedback like above. https://app.talkadot.com/referrer?via=ceojohnchen
Click to use my recommended tool StreamAlive.
6 – Jeff Civilico, CSP, CPAE says Create Pitch Videos
Hall of famer Jeff Civilico gave a keynote with multiple approaches on how to create more speaker business. One of the top takeaways that I wasn’t doing was creating pitch videos when I send a proposal. A short and personalized video that will most likely get played to the selection committee that makes a difference in getting the gig. Thanks Jeff for adding value to my life, I just sent my first pitch video.
7 – Azadeh Minted Speaker Gold
In one of the standing room only breakouts, Azadeh Yaraghi delivered her new presentation based on interviewing 25 of the top speakers in the industry. From using video in your presentations (something I’ve been doing of over 10 years) to investing as much as possible into obtaining video from your speaking engagements to the key step of putting your “Positioning Statement” at the top of your website, Azadeh has created 25 tangible and easy to implement ways to improve your speaking business. Congrats Azadeh and we look forward to you presenting your gold to the NSA Northwest chapter.
BONUS – Take Advantage of Travel While You Can
Take the only lesson from the pandemic, when travelling, take advantage of where you are going. Life is too short, it could be taken away again any day. We travelled to the #1 TripAdvisor Toucan Rescue Ranch and saw over a dozen baby sloths. We visited Bici Chocolate for the first time and took a cocoa fruit and saw the entire process to finished chocolate. Pura Vida!
Over the past 3 years, the speaker community has shown to me to be one of the most valuable investments of time that has a return on investment and return on relationship than anything I could have ever imagined. Click to check out CAPS https://www.canadianspeakers.org/. I will be there in Halifax in 2025. What association or community is doing that for you?
