Mastering Live Events with David C. Baker
Description
Thinking about hosting a live event, but not sure how to make it well-attended, profitable and worth your time? Renowned author, speaker and creative firm advisor David C. Baker lifts the curtain on his wildly successful MYOB conference and live events:
The role of in-person live events in David’s expertise business model (plus a peek at the numbers for his four revenue streams).
How his pandemic pivot from in-person gatherings became a new lead generation source—and removed travel from his client engagements.
Why his conferences and events include multiple opportunities for attendees to engage with each other; he shares a few ideas you can borrow.
His philosophy on outside speakers: how he chooses, pays and manages them.
The one thing you must do if you want to make sure your conference doesn’t lose money.
LINKS
David C. Baker MYOB Conference | LinkedIn | Twitter
Rochelle Moulton Email List | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
BIO
David C. Baker is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He has written 6 books, advised 1,000+ firms, and keynoted conferences in 30+ countries.
His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, BusinessWeek, CBS News, Newsweek, AdWeek, and Inc. Magazine. He lives in Nashville, TN.
His two most recent books can be found here and here. His work has also been featured in the NY Times, where he was recently referred to as “the expert’s expert”. He co-hosts the most listened to podcast in the creative services field (2Bobs).
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RESOURCES FOR SOLOISTS
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The Authority Code: How to Position, Monetize and Sell Your Expertise: equal parts bible, blueprint and bushido. How to think like, become—and remain—an authority.
TRANSCRIPT
David C. Baker: You know, here's the easiest way to lose money with an event. When I learned this, my whole world changed about events. Do not sign up for room blocks because you're having to guarantee them. And then you have this pressure to sell and then you cheapen your brand by starting to beg people to come to these things and so on.
Rochelle Moulton: Hello hello. Welcome to the Soloist Life podcast where we're all about turning your expertise into wealth and impact. I'm Rochelle Moulton and today I am thrilled to welcome none other than the unforgettable David C. Baker. Yay!
David C. Baker: That's scary. There's lots of reasons to be unforgettable. I hope I'm on the good column of that, right?
Rochelle Moulton: Well, you are in my book. So, David is an author, speaker, and advisor to entrepreneurial creatives worldwide. He's written 6 books, advised 1, 000 plus firms and keynoted conferences in 30 plus countries. His work has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, Business Week, CBS News, Newsweek, Adweek, and Ink Magazine. His 2 most recent books are The Business of Expertise, which is a classic. So if you haven't read it, go grab your copy now, and Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors. His work has also been featured in the New York Times, where
Rochelle Moulton: he was referred to as the expert. Finally, he co-hosts 2 Bobs, which is the most listened to podcast in the creative services field. And in addition to all those superlatives, he's a generous guy to boot. So David, welcome.
David C. Baker: Thank you. It's really great to connect with you again. We had you speak at 1 of our live events, which I guess is what we're talking about, and it's very popular, so it's really great to do this. I enjoyed seeing the invitation from you. It was great.
Rochelle Moulton: Awesome. I like it when people are happy to see my name in their inbox. So, you know, you just alluded to what I want to talk about because we literally have a treasure trove of things that we could talk about from your work that would help solo us. But I really like to focus in on your live in-person events because I don't know that you've ever really talked about how you use them in your business, or if you have, I haven't heard it.
David C. Baker: Yeah. So I've been doing this for 30 years now and I didn't have live events in the early days. I kind of learned about how to do them from somebody that was, he wasn't a real partner, but we did a lot of work together. And I don't know, I remember maybe 7 or 8 years into it, I decided to do them. And there's a bunch of reasons why I do them. 1 is it's an income stream. So I don't want to put all my eggs in 1 basket. So that's 1 reason I do it. Another is
David C. Baker: sort of Legion. So it's a way to sample the advice in a sense. And so I've never tracked it exactly, but a lot of people that eventually work with me in a consulting arrangement came to an event. And they tell me that they came to a particular event, I don't remember them, and they tell me that that's what encouraged them to work together. So that's the second reason. The third reason is because I just enjoy them. I really like them. I hate virtual events, and I think that's just me. I think it's like I just need
David C. Baker: to get over it probably, but I just like the in-person things. I like the drama of being in front of a group of people who can ask you any question at all. And then lately over the last decade I've realized, oh, this isn't really about what I or speakers I'm inviting or talking about. It's about them connecting with each other as well. So, anyway, those are the 3 big reasons why I'd like to do them.
Rochelle Moulton: You know, I just have to ask about that, because I've always felt like you're probably an introvert. Is that true?
David C. Baker: Oh yeah, I hate people just in general. Yeah.
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah. And the reason I want to point this out is because a lot of introverts are really exceptional on stage because they're so hyper-focused on the experience of the audience, and most introverts will not get on a stage without knowing absolutely everything they need to know to be up there.
David C. Baker: Ah, that's interesting, yeah. Yeah, I'd much prefer speaking in front of 5, 000 people for an hour with no preparation than talking with individuals after that presentation when I walk off the stage. Yeah.
Rochelle Moulton: Yeah, I call those situational extroverts.
David C. Baker: Yeah, right, right, where you're acting for a few minutes and then you're exhausted, right?
Rochelle Moulton: Exactly, exactly. So, you know, when I spoke at your NYOB conference in Atlanta, I felt like I really got a firsthand taste of what I feel is a deep community that you've built, and I started to say just from that 1 offering, but it may be from the other events you've had over the years. So maybe we could just dive in and talk about your business model. So you're not a soloist, but it's possible that many people listening might think of you that way because you've got this really high profile as an authority in the creative
Rochelle Moulton: space. But when you think about your business model, how do you make money in your business? I'm not asking how much, but how do you make it?
David C. Baker: Yeah. Oh, I don't mind answering all those questions. So, there's 2 of us full-time. The other 1 is actually my oldest son, Jonathan. And we bill about 1.7 on average a year. And we divide the income into big streams. So there's events, there's the book revenue, there's the M&A side, which he runs, and then there's my side, the advisory side. The book revenue is anywhere from 70 to 120 a year. Those are the royalties. The events are probabl
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