How to Extend the Shelf Life of Your Speech

Can a multi-speech strategy future-proof your speaking career?

Even the best speeches have an expiration date.

I’ve seen this personally in my own career.  Inspired had a 6-year run before event organizers stopped requesting it.  Social Momentum had a one year run. Now, Loyalty Loop is in its 7th year, and my Magic of AI speech is skipping into its second… 

… But I don’t expect them to be in constant (or even consistent) demand forever!

To build a sustainable speaking biz, you need to understand two things… 

First, you should know how to extend the life of your speech so it can last as long as possible.  Second, you should consider how multiple speeches at different lifecycle stages can shore up your biz for the inevitable decline of any given speech.

And guess what?  That’s exactly what we’re going to discuss today!

Specifically, let’s look at how to evolve trend-driven or fad speeches into evolutionary or even timeless speeches – while maintaining a multi-speech strategy to keep your calendar filled to the brim.

Why Every Speech Has a Shelf Life

As you’ll recall from part one of this article, a speech’s shelf life depends on the content it covers and how it balances the delivery of visionary ideas and practical advice. Event organizers and their audiences are either interested or not-interested in a speech topic.

Why? Well, first off, speeches reflect market demand. Trends and fads only dominate for a short period of time, so once they aren’t at the forefront, interest wanes.  

Just look at a topic like Bitcoin or NFTs.  For a period of time, these were hot topics and folks with speeches related to these topics were in high demand.  But when audiences moved on, demand for those speeches plummeted.

In comparison, a speech about a timeless topic like Brene Brown’s speech on vulnerability will resonate with audiences year after year without any sort of decline.

Audiences are always seeking fresh ideas.  Even a great speech becomes “yesterday’s news” if an audience no longer feels it’s relevant.  That’s why event organizers are always looking for the “new and now” topics to attract and retain their attendees.

But before we dive too much into having multiple speeches, let’s look at that fad or trend-driven speech you’ve been working on for years…

Can you give it a longevity boost?  Absolutely!

Turning a Trend or Fad Speech into a Timeliness or Evolutionary Keynote

Let’s look at how you can extend a speech’s shelf life so it lasts longer, earns more referrals, and generates more revenue. This is a four-step process.