I blame that fact that I paid $1400 for a 1 hour consult with a pitch coach for a fight breaking out at my talk in Arizona last week. Nobody actually came to blows and there was no blood (that I saw) but it was definitely a fight. Let me start at the beginning…

Big Bucks Consult

Yes, mind boggling as it seems, I paid 4 figures for a single-rushed-hour with a pitch coach, the wonderful Sam Horn because I wanted to knock it out of the park for my upcoming breakout for which I invested 10 times that amount at the InsideEdge Event last week.

You’re The One That I Want

I had always admired Sam Horn from a distance but could never afford her. I had read her books Pop! and Tongue Fu! and anything else of hers that I could get my hands on. I said to myself “Chala, if this woman can help craft venture capitalist pitches, she can definitely help you take your speaking to the next level!” So I jumped.

The Fight That Broke Out

Fast forward to my breakout session at the event. My first ever that I paid to speak at. My first ever at a conference in the US. I was so excited. I used every trick Sam taught me and made my offer at the end of my talk. I was basically offering a free consultation and to sign up, people had to use my sign up sheet. As soon as I ended my talk, I went to hand the clipboard with the signup sheet to my assistant in the back. A gentleman sitting right in the front asked me to hand it to him before handing it to the back. Not thinking much about the crowd that had rushed to the back of the room, I gave it to him and then I turned around and started talking to the people lined up to ask me questions.
What followed was right out of a sitcom.  Apparently a man who was lined up in the back saw that people were not handing the clipboard to my assistant and got upset. There was some shouting, some pushing, some general unpleasantness and chaos. However,  I’m happy to say that it must’ve been resolved peacefully because as I said I didn’t see any blood. My assistant later told me about this very exciting and unusual fight, making me marvel at how powerful Sam’s training must’ve been to elicit that kind of response.

The Secret

So what was the big secret that I learned from Sam that had people trampling each other to get to me? She taught me to bake every single teaching into a story that happened to me. For example, if my niching criteria was to rate the ‘fit for own personality’, she had me demonstrate it with a story about my client who was a vegan and was considering niching in meat manufacturers. In addition, Sam had me structure the talk strategically by adding exercises through planned points of the talk to deliver a higher value and engagement to the audience. Finally, the biggest secret that Sam shared with me is that people don’t buy processes or information, they buy emotions that are conveyed through powerful stories.
Thank you for making my audience break into a fight Sam.
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