While the skill of hospitality is not essential for public speakers and entrepreneurs, those who master basic hospitable characteristics shine above their peers, get referrals, and collect invitations for future gigs.

A few simple details in behavior and presence help them “make it look easy,” as they prepare for a crowd ready to receive their message.

Think of the last time you had a wonderful meal at the home of a friend or a really good restaurant. Ever notice how a gracious host makes you feel welcome, pampered, and special? A meal at the home of a talented host or hostess, or a 5-star restaurateur, is one of the most memorable and pleasant experiences one can enjoy.

Those who do it well make it seem like an innate gift, but in fact hospitality can be learned with practice.

Hospitality sets the table for a great speech.

According to NYC restaurateur and author Danny Meyer, providing and receiving hospitality is one of the most intense human drives. In his wonderful book, Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, her writes:

Within moments of being born, most babies find themselves receiving the first four gifts of life: eye contact, a smile, a hug, and some food. ~ Danny Meyer

Now if that doesn’t make your heart skip a beat, you’re probably not cut out for the restaurant business. However, if you are an entrepreneur — even if your business isn’t food related — the business angel tapped you on the shoulder for one reason or another, so this sentence should strike a chord with you, too.

Your customers pay your for your services and products. If you’re also a public speaker (and we all are on some level) your audience also appreciates a memorable experience. Their encounter with you is transformed by your hospitality toward them: before the event, while you’re on stage or presenting at a meeting, and after your speech.

Infuse hospitality into your speech and your business. Your audience’s experience will be transformed.

Much of hospitality centers on presentation and service. I’ll bet you can vividly remember a meal that was so unpleasant you couldn’t wait to get out of there. Whether it was at a restaurant, a picnic, or a person’s home, if your experience was inhospitable then you felt like someone was doing something to you instead of doing something for you. The worst!

Your presentation is “felt” in everything you do. In business and on stage, serving clients, customers, vendors, and especially your audience: requires hospitable manners.

That may not mean white glove service (especially in the BBQ business!) but it does have those four elements Meyer mentions:

Eye contact: Your connection depends on it. Have you ever sat in a presentation where the speaker never bothered to make that connection? Even in the smallest room, the eye contact helps the audience follow your message and creates a dynamic and powerful link. The hands may move, the speaker may walk around, but unless she’s making eye contact, the speech falls flat on its face.

A Smile: If you’re nervous or worried, or if you think you’re just a smidgen better or smarter than your audience, it shows. A smile is the great equalizer, the universal sign of goodwill. One of my favorite personalities, author and speaker Guy Kawasaki, in his book Enchantment, says to smile so your crows feet dig in. Smile so your eyes close, smile like you really mean it. A smile works wonders to dazzle your audience before you even get to the actual content!

A Hug: OK, even if you wanted to, and even if it were required; it’s not possible to actually hug everyone. What IS necessary, though, is to embrace people with your message.

Even if they don’t have the slightest interest in what you’re presenting, your audience will be more receptive to your speech if you roll out that personal touch. Good speakers are prepared. They know ten times more than they actually tell. They spare you from boredom by incorporating stories, specific details, and enthusiasm for their subject.

That’s the speaker’s equivalent of a hug. The audience is practically enveloped in the aura of the speaker’s knowledge and passion.

Some Great Food (aka “Content”): The content you deliver will be remembered better if you practice the above three habits. So make it good! This is what people came for, after all. Unless you’re already that famous that people just come to see you, and even if that’s the case, your content should still be original and full of good, entertaining stories and information.

By the way, have you ever noticed how words and speeches are often perceived in distinctly food-related terms?

You want your listeners to digest what you’re saying.
They showed interest by consuming all of your content.
Your delivery was fresh.
He had a crisp tone of voice.
They roasted the guest last week.
Her words were tough to swallow.
Chew on this advice.
Break your speech down down into bite-sized portions.
He poured on the intensity.
She has a spicy style.
His words were raw but effective.

If you spend weeks and months working on your craft, you know that your word choices matter. A hospitable speech is memorable and well prepared, just like the most fabulous dining experience or exquisitely planned event.

Incorporate juicy words and phrases that connect with your audience’s senses. Over time your unique flavor and style will become second nature. (See what I did there?)

Take heart if you are new at this. With every stage appearance, your natural voice emerges, and you will find a cadence and delivery that just feels right.

Every time you speak you get closer to your true element. When you are “on your dime,” (a term used a lot by Speak-to-Sell Mentor Lisa Sasevich) your speech will be fun to give and receive, just like that human desire for hospitality.

Prepare to get out there and wow them!

Your presentation begins long before you step up to the podium. Just like your actual speech, your marketing materials also reflect your style and your professionalism. Copywriting plays a part in your hospitality quotient, too! as Michael (the “Prepaholic) Hyatt cautions, it pays to do this background work. Getting gigs will depend on that same compelling “voice” which will be hinted at in your speech title and speech descriptions.

You’re probably going to deliver these materials long before your speech, by directing the organizer to your online bio page, complete with your background and speech topics. Remember that every web page your publish, every email you write, your hand-written correspondence, your bio/about page, and all your web content is fair game for the planner to make a decision about hiring you.

Your copy reflects the caliber of content you’ll be presenting, and it also shows how prepared you are as a speaker. Get them in ship shape so you’re ready when opportunity strikes.

Follow Through Graciously.

After you speech, your personal, hospitable touch is again necessary. Now the tables are turned. While you owe it to your audience to be hospitable throughout your delivery, now you owe it to your host to thank them and ask for feedback. Top speakers and even 5-star restaurants do this to keep honing their craft and delight future audiences.

Send a thank you note, inquire about how your speech was received, and ask for recommendations about other speaking opportunities.

As you know, it’s a rare speaker who makes his bread and butter through speaking alone. In a lot of cases, the speaking engagement smooths the way for a future sale, if not an actual close at the end of the talk.

Hopefully at some point during your presentation, you’ve given your audience an easy way to get more information or to connect with you in the future. This doesn’t mean just posting your website or email address on your last slide!

Go the extra mile and offer a download of your deck, next steps, or a free ebook, etc. You can even have people text their email addresses or a special code to a designated number so that you can reach out to them again. (This is one time you’ve be glad to see members of your audience playing with their phones!)

Remember that your demeanor and tone, warmth and authority, all set the table for a scrumptious presentation.

Words are the compelling, meaty, content-part in the event organizer’s eyes; but your hospitality skills ensure that your speech makes a favorable, long-lasting impression. Pull out the stops for your next speaking engagement and reap the rewards and appreciation enjoyed by a generous host.

My Team Connects serves small businesses, entrepreneurs, and public speakers with online and direct response copywriting that inspire customers, agents, organizers and audiences. I am delighted to help promote individuals and companies with copywriting as fresh and as passionate as you are!

Good Copywriting Doesn’t Require “Impeccable Words.”

I talked about the fallacy of perfection the other day. The fear of “impeccability” can scare the bejeezus out of the aspiring copywriter who’s thinking of writing his own copy for his business.

But you don’t have to be a perfect writer. You just have to focus on communication. And like I said before: If you can speak you can write.

Good copywriting doesn’t mean perfect writing.

Good copywriting is writing that communicates and writing that “sells” ideas, products and services. You probably already do that in your speech.

The Fallacy of “Impeccable” Written Words

Which is easier for you, writing or speaking? If you’re like most people, you’d say speaking is easier. Your mother was probably in your face telling you to say “mama” before you were old enough to eat carrots. Speaking is hardwired into our brains in a way that writing is not.

A copywriter’s job is to fearlessly leap between the spoken word and the written word.

Copywriters pay attention to the spoken word in order to excel at their craft. They listen to what people say and how they say it. They study how easily a speaker skips from descriptions of physical things to intangible ideas. They listen for the moment the story turns into a request. They hear how speakers naturally build a case or illustrate a point.

The written word is a different beast from the spoken word, though.

Spoken words are here one second, gone the next. They flit off into the ether. They can be mumbled, forgotten, and even “taken back.” Not so with written words. No wonder writing freaks some people out. There’s that sense that you can’t remove words once they are written.

Even the very phrase, “It is written” carries a Biblical connotation. Writing is seen as a somewhat sacred activity.

There’s also the impression that writing is permanent. After all, you can go back and re-read it long after you’ve written it.

In writing, you are putting yourself “out there.” Writing is like going out on a limb. And once it’s done/posted/sent and consumed by your reader…it’s un-editable.

But don’t confuse “un-editable” with “permanent.”

On the Internet (that’s the kind of writing we’re talking about here, not the Great American Novel) impermanence is expected. Granted, you can go back and read something written years ago if that web page still exists, but the very nature of digital content is such that it’s here today, forgotten tomorrow. Unless a post or article is evergreen and well-researched, it probably won’t get seen much after about a week of the publish date. (A good case for repurposing and scheduling social media posts more than once… but that’s another blog post for another day.)

Like one frame in an animated cartoon, your single piece of writing adds to the entire impression your customer has of your business. It’s usually not the only deciding factor for a sale!

Finally, even experienced writers have to beat back their inner critics with more assertion than with our spoken conversations. Sure, every now and then you recall something you should have said differently or not at all. But writers frequently second guess themselves even after the piece is finished. Even if the writing is so clear, simple and elegant that a 6th grader can understand it; yet powerful enough that a Ph.D. is moved by it — yes, in the same piece of writing! — it’s still not going to be perfect for everyone. We often think the next draft would have been better. Alas, the deadlines…

The impeccability that professional copywriters strive for only emerges after many thousands of pages. For the new writer one blog post may take on epic importance. But the experienced writer knows it’s just part of the flow.

Remember that good copywriting makes a personal connection with your reader.

There are critics who would shred this article to pieces. Luckily, they’re not here to stand between you and me now, are they? That’s the beauty of the written word, good or bad. Your reader absorbs your message alone inside her own mind and imagination. No one else’s opinion matters at the moment.

So “speak” to your reader; forget about the copywriting critic inside your head. Over time, you’ll learn to ignore her.

Just say your piece. If you think of something to add, then go back and say it differently next week. You can do that, you know. That’s called practice. And you’ll get better at writing if you do lots of it.

So the next time you want to write an email or blog post that stands a chance of getting read, simply say what you need to say. Don’t worry about style, or how your writing would be critiqued. Get it down on the page (even if it’s a little rough) and get your message out to your reader. Give yourself permission to start here and improve.

Good copywriting chops are earned over time, so why not start now?

Need a few copywriting tips to get you started? I made 21 short, one-minute videos where I share my top writing tips for copy that sells. If you’re doing your writing for your own website or product, then start with this… Just join the free content library and you’ll get access to the video course and much more! [Click here]

How To Dazzle Your Audience With Tips From Top Restaurants