1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:01,610 Carol Cox: You're going to learn how to make your 2 00:00:01,610 --> 00:00:03,500 conference speaking proposals and 3 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:06,260 presentation stand out with my guest, Cathy 4 00:00:06,260 --> 00:00:08,780 McPhillips of the Marketing AI Institute, on 5 00:00:08,780 --> 00:00:10,520 this episode of the Speaking Your Brand 6 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:17,350 podcast. More and more women are making an 7 00:00:17,350 --> 00:00:20,050 impact by starting businesses, running for 8 00:00:20,050 --> 00:00:22,930 office and speaking up for what matters. 9 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,210 With my background as a TV political 10 00:00:25,210 --> 00:00:28,060 analyst, entrepreneur and speaker, I 11 00:00:28,060 --> 00:00:30,550 interview and coach purpose driven women to 12 00:00:30,550 --> 00:00:33,040 shape their brands, grow their companies, 13 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:35,680 and become recognized as influencers in 14 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,070 their field. This is speaking your brand, 15 00:00:39,070 --> 00:00:41,530 your place to learn how to persuasively 16 00:00:41,530 --> 00:00:46,000 communicate your message to your audience. 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:47,380 Hi everyone! Welcome to the Speaking Your 18 00:00:47,380 --> 00:00:49,510 Brand podcast. I'm your host, Carol Cox. 19 00:00:49,510 --> 00:00:51,310 Today we're going to talk about how to 20 00:00:51,310 --> 00:00:53,950 create a speaking submission for a 21 00:00:53,950 --> 00:00:56,590 conference or event that stands out so that 22 00:00:56,590 --> 00:00:58,270 you get selected by the conference 23 00:00:58,270 --> 00:01:00,490 organizers. One of the things that I miss 24 00:01:00,490 --> 00:01:02,500 the most in the first couple of years of the 25 00:01:02,500 --> 00:01:05,440 pandemic was actually attending conferences. 26 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:07,900 I love the buzz and the energy of being 27 00:01:07,900 --> 00:01:09,490 around lots of different people from 28 00:01:09,490 --> 00:01:11,620 different places, meeting new people, 29 00:01:11,620 --> 00:01:13,210 figuring out what they're working on, 30 00:01:13,210 --> 00:01:15,010 whether it's in business or marketing or 31 00:01:15,010 --> 00:01:16,060 technology for me. 32 00:01:16,060 --> 00:01:18,430 And so I was really excited to attend 33 00:01:18,580 --> 00:01:20,950 MAICON, the Marketing AI conference, which 34 00:01:20,950 --> 00:01:24,100 was held in July of 2023. 35 00:01:24,100 --> 00:01:26,020 And I also had the opportunity to speak 36 00:01:26,020 --> 00:01:27,520 there. And I've talked about this on the 37 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,650 podcast last year as well, and I'll make 38 00:01:29,650 --> 00:01:31,630 sure to include links to those episodes in 39 00:01:31,630 --> 00:01:34,000 the show notes. Today I have joining us 40 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,190 Cathy McPhillips, who is the chief growth 41 00:01:36,190 --> 00:01:38,860 officer at the Marketing AI Institute. 42 00:01:38,860 --> 00:01:41,560 That's the organization that puts on Maken 43 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,420 the marketing AI conference. 44 00:01:43,420 --> 00:01:46,360 And she has a background as the Content 45 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,150 Marketing Institute helping to put on 46 00:01:49,150 --> 00:01:51,910 content marketing World, which is a huge 47 00:01:51,910 --> 00:01:55,060 conference. And she also has, uh, have a 48 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:57,340 background in advertising with different 49 00:01:57,340 --> 00:02:00,130 agencies in Cleveland, Ohio, where she 50 00:02:00,130 --> 00:02:02,770 lives. Cathy, welcome to the podcast. 51 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,930 Cathy McPhillips: Hi, Carol. I'm so excited this date finally 52 00:02:04,930 --> 00:02:06,790 has arrived. Yes. 53 00:02:06,790 --> 00:02:08,260 Carol Cox: Well, I was really excited. 54 00:02:08,260 --> 00:02:10,600 It was about a year ago last February when I 55 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,580 got an email saying that I had been selected 56 00:02:12,580 --> 00:02:15,400 to speak at Macon. I had submitted my my 57 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,010 speaker submission, just like so many of us 58 00:02:18,010 --> 00:02:20,170 do, and I know so many of you listeners do. 59 00:02:20,170 --> 00:02:21,850 And so it's always nice to be picked. 60 00:02:21,850 --> 00:02:23,800 We we always like it feels good and 61 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,600 especially it feels good to be able to speak 62 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:27,460 at a conference that I was excited to 63 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:30,220 attend. Obviously, you know, I has basically 64 00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:32,770 exploded onto the world in the past 15 65 00:02:32,770 --> 00:02:34,510 months. And you all at the Marketing AI 66 00:02:34,510 --> 00:02:36,370 Institute, I know I've been working on 67 00:02:36,370 --> 00:02:38,440 marketing an AI for years, so this was like 68 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,530 your opportunity to to shine and to attract 69 00:02:41,530 --> 00:02:44,410 so many people to the work that you all do. 70 00:02:44,410 --> 00:02:46,360 So, Kathy, can you fill us in a little bit 71 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,400 more on your background and what brought you 72 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,170 to the marketing AI Institute? 73 00:02:50,650 --> 00:02:53,290 Cathy McPhillips: Certainly. Well, like you said, I started at 74 00:02:53,290 --> 00:02:55,870 two agencies in Cleveland, Ohio. 75 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:57,970 Um, one, I was working in the studio and in 76 00:02:57,970 --> 00:03:00,520 production, and the other, I worked in media 77 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,290 planning, which is what I wanted to do. 78 00:03:02,290 --> 00:03:05,410 My first agency, I just I needed a job, and 79 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:06,850 there was an opening there, and I was like, 80 00:03:06,850 --> 00:03:08,620 okay, I'll do it. But it turns out that I 81 00:03:08,620 --> 00:03:10,240 loved it. It was such a great experience 82 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,010 because it helped me learn about every 83 00:03:12,010 --> 00:03:13,360 aspect of the agency. 84 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,070 So when I switched into media, which is what 85 00:03:15,070 --> 00:03:17,860 I wanted to do, I just really appreciated 86 00:03:17,860 --> 00:03:19,120 what the other departments did. So it was a 87 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:21,880 nice, nice, um, opportunity to kind of learn 88 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:22,960 more about an agency. 89 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,030 And then I did my own thing for about ten 90 00:03:25,030 --> 00:03:28,180 years, and then I started working with Joe 91 00:03:28,180 --> 00:03:30,070 Pulizzi in the Content Marketing Institute. 92 00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:32,050 And through Joe, I met Paul Roetzer, who's 93 00:03:32,050 --> 00:03:34,750 the CEO of the Marketing AI Institute. 94 00:03:35,050 --> 00:03:36,850 And it's been about three years. 95 00:03:36,850 --> 00:03:38,500 It'll be three years in May that I've been 96 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:39,790 that I've been with Paul and the team. 97 00:03:39,790 --> 00:03:40,990 So it's been it's been great. 98 00:03:40,990 --> 00:03:44,410 It's been exciting and fun and kind of what 99 00:03:44,410 --> 00:03:45,700 are we what are we doing? 100 00:03:46,660 --> 00:03:48,220 Um, and just so exciting. 101 00:03:48,220 --> 00:03:49,630 So I'm really excited. This will be my 102 00:03:49,630 --> 00:03:52,150 fourth Macon with the team. 103 00:03:53,210 --> 00:03:54,800 And then our fifth one overall. 104 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:55,850 Carol Cox: Oh wow. Okay. 105 00:03:55,850 --> 00:03:58,910 And so then you have obviously a lot do a 106 00:03:58,910 --> 00:04:01,160 lot online. You know you have the podcast. 107 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,920 You have different courses that you offer 108 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:05,720 through through the through your website. 109 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:07,160 And I'll make sure to include a link to the 110 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:08,720 website in the show notes as well. 111 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,240 So why did you all decide to do an in-person 112 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,670 conference? And had you done this before the 113 00:04:13,670 --> 00:04:15,920 start of the pandemic, or was the first one 114 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,900 kind of at the kind of as we were coming out 115 00:04:17,900 --> 00:04:18,920 of the pandemic? 116 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:20,600 Cathy McPhillips: So like I said, this will be the fifth one. 117 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:22,160 The first one was in 2019. 118 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,870 So it was the summer before 2020, and in 119 00:04:26,870 --> 00:04:28,940 2020, obviously the event got cancelled. 120 00:04:28,940 --> 00:04:30,500 I had not been I was not working with the 121 00:04:30,500 --> 00:04:32,870 company in 2019 for the live event. 122 00:04:32,870 --> 00:04:34,280 I came as a paid attendee. 123 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:37,040 I came with, um, with Joe Pulizzi actually, 124 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:38,660 and he and I went there and were like, okay, 125 00:04:38,660 --> 00:04:40,580 this is you know, obviously we're friends of 126 00:04:40,580 --> 00:04:42,170 Paul. We like Paul. We want to see what he's 127 00:04:42,170 --> 00:04:44,750 talking about, and we really want to support 128 00:04:44,750 --> 00:04:47,360 him. And I left like, oh my gosh, there are 129 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,970 so many applications and things I'm working 130 00:04:49,970 --> 00:04:53,360 on. But then I went back to work and it was 131 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,960 like things just kind of got busy and it 132 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:58,940 just wasn't so tangible yet. 133 00:04:58,940 --> 00:05:00,740 And then 2020 didn't happen. 134 00:05:00,740 --> 00:05:03,080 2021 was virtual, which was great to get 135 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,690 back together, but it still wasn't the same. 136 00:05:05,990 --> 00:05:09,020 Even 2022 wasn't quite the same then. 137 00:05:09,020 --> 00:05:11,000 2023. Oh my gosh. 138 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,250 It was just it was just the absolute best. 139 00:05:13,250 --> 00:05:14,630 And like you said, you don't realize how 140 00:05:14,630 --> 00:05:16,700 much you miss seeing people. 141 00:05:16,700 --> 00:05:18,170 And like, I don't know if you know Tim 142 00:05:18,170 --> 00:05:21,380 Hayden, but he got to MAICON 2023 and he 143 00:05:21,380 --> 00:05:23,030 walked in and I was almost like, I think I'm 144 00:05:23,030 --> 00:05:24,350 going to start crying right now. It was just 145 00:05:24,350 --> 00:05:26,810 so nice to see our friends and see people 146 00:05:26,810 --> 00:05:29,480 together. So this will be our fifth one this 147 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:30,590 summer or this fall. 148 00:05:30,590 --> 00:05:32,570 We're going to September this year. 149 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:33,740 Carol Cox: Yeah. That's exciting. 150 00:05:33,740 --> 00:05:35,810 And it's in Cleveland, Ohio, which I know is 151 00:05:35,810 --> 00:05:37,850 where you live and I know and Paul and Mike 152 00:05:37,850 --> 00:05:39,710 and a bunch of you all live there. 153 00:05:39,710 --> 00:05:41,930 All right. So let's talk about then, you 154 00:05:41,930 --> 00:05:44,750 know Macon marketing I so obviously those 155 00:05:44,750 --> 00:05:46,610 are that's the main kind of gist of it is 156 00:05:46,610 --> 00:05:49,070 around marketing and I applications in 157 00:05:49,070 --> 00:05:52,010 marketing. So how do you all select speakers 158 00:05:52,010 --> 00:05:53,180 for Macon. 159 00:05:53,180 --> 00:05:54,800 What are you looking for? 160 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:56,570 I know you have your main stage speakers as 161 00:05:56,570 --> 00:05:59,030 well as the breakout session speakers, so we 162 00:05:59,030 --> 00:06:00,410 can talk about both of those different 163 00:06:00,410 --> 00:06:01,100 buckets. 164 00:06:01,580 --> 00:06:04,250 Cathy McPhillips: Sure. From the main stage, that really is 165 00:06:04,250 --> 00:06:06,410 very highly curated by Paul. 166 00:06:06,410 --> 00:06:08,900 It's people that he's meeting through some 167 00:06:08,900 --> 00:06:10,400 conversations. It's people that he's 168 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:12,170 following online. 169 00:06:12,170 --> 00:06:14,540 He's got a very, very highly curated list of 170 00:06:14,540 --> 00:06:16,490 folks he follows every week to get his eye 171 00:06:16,490 --> 00:06:18,050 news for the podcast. 172 00:06:18,050 --> 00:06:20,120 And if a new name pops up or even an old 173 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:21,530 name pops up, he's like, oh my gosh, they've 174 00:06:21,530 --> 00:06:22,820 got a really great story to tell. 175 00:06:22,820 --> 00:06:24,530 I would love to have them at the event. 176 00:06:24,530 --> 00:06:26,570 So Paul and Tracy really do most of the 177 00:06:26,570 --> 00:06:27,620 programming for Macon. 178 00:06:27,620 --> 00:06:30,230 I like to interject some ideas when I can, 179 00:06:30,230 --> 00:06:31,460 or if I talk to someone, I'm like, this 180 00:06:31,460 --> 00:06:33,020 would be a great speaker. 181 00:06:33,020 --> 00:06:35,240 So I do collaborate a little bit with them, 182 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:36,920 but those two really focus on most of the 183 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:38,960 programming when it comes to breakouts. 184 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:41,090 I feel like that's the biggest opportunity 185 00:06:41,090 --> 00:06:43,550 for so many of us from a, you know, director 186 00:06:43,550 --> 00:06:45,650 level, practitioner level, whatever the case 187 00:06:45,650 --> 00:06:49,310 may be, where we have we have stories to 188 00:06:49,310 --> 00:06:51,800 tell. You know, I'm on our team. 189 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,870 Mike and I probably are the two using I the 190 00:06:53,870 --> 00:06:55,190 most on a lot of the things that we're 191 00:06:55,190 --> 00:06:57,890 doing. So me being able to say here was my 192 00:06:57,890 --> 00:07:00,140 problem. Here's a tool that I found to help 193 00:07:00,140 --> 00:07:02,840 me. Here was my process, here is my outcome. 194 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,180 Like, that's a really powerful story to 195 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:08,210 tell. And so I like to think like, if I was 196 00:07:08,210 --> 00:07:10,880 an attendee in the room, what would I want 197 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,950 to get out of this? Like I want to give them 198 00:07:12,950 --> 00:07:14,750 something tangible, something meaty, 199 00:07:14,750 --> 00:07:16,550 something like a real good case study so 200 00:07:16,550 --> 00:07:17,810 they can either go back and do it 201 00:07:17,810 --> 00:07:20,390 themselves, go back and get buy in from 202 00:07:20,390 --> 00:07:22,520 their management, just giving them something 203 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:23,540 really useful. 204 00:07:23,540 --> 00:07:25,070 And I think that's what we're looking for 205 00:07:25,070 --> 00:07:26,930 the most when it comes to breakout sessions 206 00:07:26,930 --> 00:07:29,960 is especially since last November 30th when 207 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,210 ChatGPT came out, it was like, or I guess 208 00:07:32,210 --> 00:07:33,560 that was 2022. 209 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,600 But since that happened more, there are so 210 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,700 many more stories now that people have, from 211 00:07:37,700 --> 00:07:41,000 generative AI up to AI and data, AI and 212 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,760 analytics, AI and so many other things, that 213 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:45,350 there are just so many good stories now. 214 00:07:45,350 --> 00:07:47,690 And that's really what attendees, you know, 215 00:07:47,690 --> 00:07:50,540 the main stage is wonderful, obviously, but 216 00:07:50,540 --> 00:07:53,360 it's the breakouts that get a lot of folks 217 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:54,470 that give them. 218 00:07:55,190 --> 00:07:57,680 The reason, you know, their managers wanted 219 00:07:57,680 --> 00:07:58,610 to say, what are you going to get from this 220 00:07:58,610 --> 00:07:59,960 event? You know, that's great to go see 221 00:07:59,990 --> 00:08:01,640 people in a network, but I want you to bring 222 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,050 back something tangible. 223 00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:05,150 And the breakout sessions are that are those 224 00:08:05,150 --> 00:08:07,820 tangible sessions that most people attendees 225 00:08:07,850 --> 00:08:10,910 need to prove that the event was worth worth 226 00:08:10,910 --> 00:08:11,900 their investment. 227 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:13,880 Carol Cox: So and then when you're looking at the 228 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,940 speaker submissions, what stands out to you 229 00:08:16,940 --> 00:08:19,310 as far as like, yes, this this speaker looks 230 00:08:19,310 --> 00:08:21,470 like definitely in the we're going to look 231 00:08:21,470 --> 00:08:23,030 at them further, you know, to make it to 232 00:08:23,030 --> 00:08:25,160 make a decision versus some submissions that 233 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:27,260 come through and is clearly no, it's not a 234 00:08:27,260 --> 00:08:28,040 good fit. 235 00:08:28,730 --> 00:08:31,010 Cathy McPhillips: I think one just taking a little bit of time 236 00:08:31,010 --> 00:08:33,650 on it and don't just, you know, make just 237 00:08:33,650 --> 00:08:35,330 don't breeze through it. Like really invest 238 00:08:35,330 --> 00:08:36,890 time. Look at the event. Look to see if 239 00:08:36,890 --> 00:08:38,870 there's a theme. Look to see who their 240 00:08:38,870 --> 00:08:39,980 audience is. 241 00:08:39,980 --> 00:08:42,320 Really, really read the speaker submission 242 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,030 guidelines to make sure that you're adhering 243 00:08:44,060 --> 00:08:46,070 to everything that they're asking for. 244 00:08:46,490 --> 00:08:48,230 Uh, and customizing it to the event. 245 00:08:48,230 --> 00:08:49,220 You know, you might have the same 246 00:08:49,220 --> 00:08:51,020 presentation you're doing many times, which 247 00:08:51,020 --> 00:08:53,420 is which is great. We do that too, but we 248 00:08:53,420 --> 00:08:54,650 make sure that everything that we're doing 249 00:08:54,650 --> 00:08:57,500 is really customized to the audience and 250 00:08:57,650 --> 00:08:59,900 that we truly can show that we understand 251 00:08:59,900 --> 00:09:01,400 the people in the room and what we're and 252 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,260 what message they need to hear from us. 253 00:09:03,260 --> 00:09:05,330 So it's important to really customize your 254 00:09:05,330 --> 00:09:07,790 abstract. I think it's also really important 255 00:09:07,790 --> 00:09:09,680 when they say to include a video that you 256 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:11,510 really do. And if you're someone that 257 00:09:11,510 --> 00:09:12,890 doesn't have video, you know, I've been on 258 00:09:12,890 --> 00:09:15,530 stage dozens of times and I don't know if I 259 00:09:15,530 --> 00:09:19,070 have access to any of the recordings, but so 260 00:09:19,070 --> 00:09:20,780 either call the event that you spoke at and 261 00:09:20,780 --> 00:09:22,220 said, you know, can you send me a few minute 262 00:09:22,220 --> 00:09:24,770 clip of my session or they may send you the 263 00:09:24,770 --> 00:09:26,120 whole thing and they might just say, just 264 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:27,920 don't publish it anywhere, but you can share 265 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:29,930 it with somebody or. 266 00:09:30,540 --> 00:09:32,940 Get your phone out and just record yourself, 267 00:09:32,940 --> 00:09:34,260 you know, just have a conversation. 268 00:09:34,260 --> 00:09:35,460 They just want to see you. They want to see 269 00:09:35,460 --> 00:09:36,630 your emotion. They want to see your 270 00:09:36,630 --> 00:09:38,820 personality. They want to see if you can 271 00:09:38,820 --> 00:09:40,560 talk. You know how you're how you're 272 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:42,510 talking. So that's really helpful to make 273 00:09:42,510 --> 00:09:43,860 sure that you include something like that, 274 00:09:43,860 --> 00:09:45,360 even if it's very, very rough. 275 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:46,830 You know, they know that what you and your 276 00:09:46,830 --> 00:09:48,390 kitchen with your phone is not the same as 277 00:09:48,390 --> 00:09:50,010 you on a stage. They just want to see you. 278 00:09:50,010 --> 00:09:53,070 They want to see, uh, how you shine. 279 00:09:53,070 --> 00:09:54,870 So I think that's really important. 280 00:09:54,870 --> 00:09:57,780 I think, you know, being able to show that 281 00:09:57,780 --> 00:10:00,090 you are an expert in whatever it is that 282 00:10:00,090 --> 00:10:02,760 you're talking about, and I like to and I'm 283 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:04,920 giving advice that I have been told before, 284 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:06,150 you know, I always say, like, I don't know 285 00:10:06,150 --> 00:10:08,190 if I really have a story to share. 286 00:10:08,190 --> 00:10:09,900 Everyone else is doing the same things I'm 287 00:10:09,900 --> 00:10:13,680 doing. And what difference does my is my 288 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:15,540 presentation versus somebody else's. 289 00:10:15,540 --> 00:10:17,760 And I like to say that, you know, no one has 290 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:19,620 the unique experience that you do. 291 00:10:19,620 --> 00:10:21,630 So if you are going into a room and you are 292 00:10:21,630 --> 00:10:23,730 talking about a specific use case, a 293 00:10:23,730 --> 00:10:26,970 specific example of you doing something, no 294 00:10:26,970 --> 00:10:28,530 one else has that experience. 295 00:10:28,530 --> 00:10:31,770 So you might think, oh, it's so simple, but 296 00:10:31,770 --> 00:10:33,270 there might be someone in the room who will 297 00:10:33,270 --> 00:10:35,970 who can leave. They're just so inspired and 298 00:10:35,970 --> 00:10:37,500 so educated based on the information that 299 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:38,700 you told them. And I think that's really 300 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:41,400 powerful. So don't shortchange ourselves on 301 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:43,050 our expertise and our knowledge, because 302 00:10:43,050 --> 00:10:44,520 people don't have that same knowledge that 303 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,830 we have for our product, for our service, 304 00:10:46,830 --> 00:10:48,180 for the marketing that we're doing. 305 00:10:48,750 --> 00:10:50,790 Carol Cox: Yes, I completely agree, Cathy. 306 00:10:50,790 --> 00:10:52,830 Thank you for sharing that. And back to your 307 00:10:52,830 --> 00:10:55,590 point about customizing the speaker 308 00:10:55,590 --> 00:10:58,290 submission for that particular conference. 309 00:10:58,290 --> 00:11:00,810 And that's one thing that we we work with 310 00:11:00,810 --> 00:11:02,550 our clients on. And we and we tell podcast 311 00:11:02,550 --> 00:11:04,560 listeners all the time, like you said, like 312 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:06,960 go to the website, see who the audience is 313 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,120 for that particular event and what the 314 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,400 organization is saying about the speaker 315 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:13,110 submissions. Because I know, for example, 316 00:11:13,110 --> 00:11:16,080 for Macon use very specifically said say 317 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:17,520 that the event largely caters to 318 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,590 non-technical audiences. 319 00:11:19,590 --> 00:11:21,030 So, in other words, if you're going to be 320 00:11:21,030 --> 00:11:22,890 doing a submission, it's probably not going 321 00:11:22,890 --> 00:11:25,440 to be on. Kind of like the nuts and bolts of 322 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:29,370 how to how to use an LM API to build your 323 00:11:29,370 --> 00:11:31,950 next application. Like that's a great topic 324 00:11:31,950 --> 00:11:34,950 for other conferences, but probably not the 325 00:11:34,950 --> 00:11:37,200 one that's in line with your audience's, 326 00:11:37,470 --> 00:11:38,850 which you tend to be, you know, marketers, 327 00:11:38,850 --> 00:11:41,190 people actually using tools like ChatGPT. 328 00:11:41,220 --> 00:11:43,590 They're not the ones building applications 329 00:11:43,590 --> 00:11:44,970 on top of ChatGPT. 330 00:11:45,690 --> 00:11:48,510 Cathy McPhillips: Yeah, but it might be someone who is a CMO at 331 00:11:48,510 --> 00:11:50,550 an organization who was looking at, okay, 332 00:11:50,550 --> 00:11:53,130 we're in a regulated industry and we are 333 00:11:53,130 --> 00:11:55,950 trying to build our own LM because of our 334 00:11:55,950 --> 00:11:58,440 our privacy restrictions and things like 335 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:00,720 that. So or any company could do that 336 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:02,160 doesn't need to be healthcare or anything 337 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:03,720 regulated, but we just want to protect our 338 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,670 own data. And here's how we did that. 339 00:12:05,670 --> 00:12:07,170 So maybe that is a really good story to 340 00:12:07,170 --> 00:12:09,570 tell. You know, if marketers and business 341 00:12:09,570 --> 00:12:10,620 leaders can understand it. 342 00:12:10,620 --> 00:12:12,150 And I think that's the difference, I think 343 00:12:12,150 --> 00:12:14,580 was what your point was, is our audience is 344 00:12:14,580 --> 00:12:16,470 marketers and business leaders, not data 345 00:12:16,470 --> 00:12:18,930 scientists. So if you have a story that a 346 00:12:18,930 --> 00:12:20,490 marketer or business leader really could 347 00:12:20,490 --> 00:12:23,610 understand, then yes, please, please apply, 348 00:12:23,610 --> 00:12:26,670 you know, and ask questions, you know, maybe 349 00:12:26,670 --> 00:12:28,470 send in a few different submissions. 350 00:12:28,860 --> 00:12:31,650 So you're because maybe there maybe one 351 00:12:31,650 --> 00:12:34,230 isn't. Just because sometimes if someone 352 00:12:34,230 --> 00:12:36,630 says no, this isn't a good fit for us, that 353 00:12:36,630 --> 00:12:38,310 doesn't mean that you aren't a good fit. 354 00:12:38,310 --> 00:12:41,640 It means that maybe that's that is already 355 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:43,110 filled in the agenda. 356 00:12:43,260 --> 00:12:45,180 But if you send in a few things, maybe they 357 00:12:45,180 --> 00:12:46,560 can say, oh, this actually would fit. 358 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:48,030 This person would be great, but we need them 359 00:12:48,030 --> 00:12:49,140 over here instead. 360 00:12:49,950 --> 00:12:51,720 Carol Cox: And when you're thinking about the speaker 361 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:53,250 submissions like you mentioned, about case 362 00:12:53,250 --> 00:12:56,040 studies and use cases and what that that 363 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:57,960 particular speaker is doing at their company 364 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,300 or at their organization, are you looking 365 00:13:00,300 --> 00:13:03,900 for certain sizes of of organizations or 366 00:13:03,900 --> 00:13:05,610 companies that people work for? 367 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,100 Is it are you looking for a mix people who 368 00:13:08,100 --> 00:13:09,720 are, you know, companies that are actually 369 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,840 building things themselves, or more speakers 370 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:15,600 at companies who are using the tools? 371 00:13:16,170 --> 00:13:18,480 Cathy McPhillips: I would say we lean more toward people that 372 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,510 are using the tools less on agencies and 373 00:13:21,510 --> 00:13:23,130 less on tech companies. 374 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,740 Um, but again, if there are stories to 375 00:13:25,740 --> 00:13:28,290 share, if a tech company, if a marketer at a 376 00:13:28,290 --> 00:13:30,060 tech company has a story to share about 377 00:13:30,060 --> 00:13:33,000 their using their technology or another 378 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,830 technology, we're not going to exclude 379 00:13:34,830 --> 00:13:36,870 someone just because of the company they 380 00:13:36,870 --> 00:13:39,360 work for. It just really just depends on 381 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,040 what message they have to share. 382 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,830 And agencies, um, unfortunately, there are 383 00:13:43,830 --> 00:13:46,590 just always some bad eggs at any event where 384 00:13:46,590 --> 00:13:48,420 they get on stage and they just promote, 385 00:13:48,420 --> 00:13:49,440 promote, promote. 386 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:51,780 And that just kind of makes us a little bit 387 00:13:51,780 --> 00:13:54,180 guarded on bringing in other companies and, 388 00:13:54,180 --> 00:13:55,980 you know, similar, you know, like I said, 389 00:13:55,980 --> 00:13:57,540 tech companies or agencies. 390 00:13:57,540 --> 00:13:59,190 But gosh, if there's an agency with a great 391 00:13:59,190 --> 00:14:00,660 story to tell, especially if they bring a 392 00:14:00,660 --> 00:14:03,060 client with them, that's wonderful. 393 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:06,930 Carol Cox: So then okay, so imagine that we have our 394 00:14:06,930 --> 00:14:08,040 speaker submissions right. 395 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:09,240 We do a great job on that. 396 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:10,530 You know it's targeted towards that 397 00:14:10,530 --> 00:14:13,200 particular conference and it appeals and we 398 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,130 get selected. So now what have you found has 399 00:14:17,130 --> 00:14:19,800 been helpful for you all on your end as the 400 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,260 event organizers, as you're getting closer 401 00:14:22,260 --> 00:14:25,110 to the actual conference date, as far as 402 00:14:25,110 --> 00:14:27,180 things that are helpful for speakers to be 403 00:14:27,180 --> 00:14:28,530 doing for you all. 404 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:31,530 Cathy McPhillips: Oh, it's always really nice when speakers 405 00:14:31,530 --> 00:14:32,910 just share that they're speaking at the 406 00:14:32,910 --> 00:14:34,890 event. You know, they have a network that, 407 00:14:34,890 --> 00:14:36,540 you know, we might have some overlap and who 408 00:14:36,570 --> 00:14:38,580 you're following and or you know, who's 409 00:14:38,580 --> 00:14:40,260 following you and who is following us. 410 00:14:40,260 --> 00:14:41,940 But it's always great to have someone say, 411 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:43,740 oh my gosh, I didn't even know that event 412 00:14:43,740 --> 00:14:45,690 existed. Thank you, Carol, for telling me 413 00:14:45,690 --> 00:14:46,980 about it. You know, so that's always a 414 00:14:46,980 --> 00:14:48,150 wonderful thing. 415 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,820 Um, you know, learning more about the 416 00:14:50,820 --> 00:14:52,860 audience, jumping into the app when the app 417 00:14:52,860 --> 00:14:55,170 is live to engage with attendees. 418 00:14:55,170 --> 00:14:56,940 And I think from an attendee standpoint, 419 00:14:56,940 --> 00:14:58,560 it's always great when there are speakers 420 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:00,780 who hang out for 15 minutes after their 421 00:15:00,780 --> 00:15:02,400 session is over, just to take those 422 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,740 questions to stay at the event for a little 423 00:15:04,740 --> 00:15:06,750 while, to meet attendees, to even come in a 424 00:15:06,750 --> 00:15:08,250 little bit early, to meet with attendees 425 00:15:08,250 --> 00:15:10,290 before your session, because there might be 426 00:15:10,290 --> 00:15:13,020 a little story you pick up in a conversation 427 00:15:13,020 --> 00:15:14,130 the night before that, you're like, oh my 428 00:15:14,130 --> 00:15:15,210 gosh, I'm going to weave this into my 429 00:15:15,210 --> 00:15:17,370 session. So really engaging with the 430 00:15:17,370 --> 00:15:19,590 audience and not just popping in, doing your 431 00:15:19,590 --> 00:15:21,030 session and hitting the road. 432 00:15:21,030 --> 00:15:23,610 It really is nice to have have people stick 433 00:15:23,610 --> 00:15:24,210 around. 434 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:26,910 Carol Cox: I agree, if I'm speaking somewhere, I like to 435 00:15:26,910 --> 00:15:28,830 be there for the entire event because I like 436 00:15:28,830 --> 00:15:31,080 to get kind of the vibe of, you know, what 437 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:32,250 are the other speakers? 438 00:15:32,250 --> 00:15:33,810 What have they been talking about? 439 00:15:33,810 --> 00:15:35,520 How has the audience been resonating with 440 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:37,020 certain topics or certain things that have 441 00:15:37,020 --> 00:15:38,940 been brought up? So I remember my session 442 00:15:38,940 --> 00:15:42,180 that I did last year was about brand voice 443 00:15:42,180 --> 00:15:44,850 and maintaining brand voice, using AI tools 444 00:15:44,850 --> 00:15:46,650 like ChatGPT and how to do that. 445 00:15:46,650 --> 00:15:49,260 And at the beginning I had these really fun 446 00:15:49,260 --> 00:15:51,780 paddles that had either human or robot. 447 00:15:51,780 --> 00:15:54,360 And so it had the audience, you know, lift 448 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:56,280 the paddle. Who do you think is going to be, 449 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:57,870 you know, running the show either five, ten, 450 00:15:57,870 --> 00:15:59,310 15, 20 years from now? 451 00:15:59,310 --> 00:16:01,620 And what I said and this was this was not 452 00:16:01,620 --> 00:16:03,150 planned, totally impromptu at the very 453 00:16:03,150 --> 00:16:04,440 beginning was, okay, based on everything 454 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:05,970 you've been hearing at the conference so 455 00:16:05,970 --> 00:16:08,310 far, all these sessions, you know, whether 456 00:16:08,310 --> 00:16:10,560 it's about the future or about IP or, you 457 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:12,030 know, all these different things, what, you 458 00:16:12,030 --> 00:16:13,200 know, how would you answer? 459 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:15,450 So, because I had been there for the past 460 00:16:15,450 --> 00:16:17,310 day and a half now, I was able to talk to 461 00:16:17,310 --> 00:16:19,290 the audience about that and to your point 462 00:16:19,290 --> 00:16:20,970 about staying afterwards. So I think I was 463 00:16:20,970 --> 00:16:23,280 on the second day. 464 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,280 So then the the morning of the third day, as 465 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:27,660 you know, we were having the morning 466 00:16:27,660 --> 00:16:29,400 sessions and wrapping up before everyone 467 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:31,530 left. At lunch, I was standing in line to 468 00:16:31,530 --> 00:16:34,680 get food, and I had a couple people kind of 469 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,450 find me and say, Kara, I really enjoyed your 470 00:16:36,450 --> 00:16:37,770 session yesterday, you know, thank you so 471 00:16:37,770 --> 00:16:39,300 much. Can I follow up with you? 472 00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:42,360 And if I hadn't stuck around, I never would 473 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:43,980 have had a chance to meet some of those 474 00:16:43,980 --> 00:16:45,750 people who had been in the audience who, you 475 00:16:45,750 --> 00:16:47,610 know, you can't meet 100 people after your 476 00:16:47,610 --> 00:16:49,950 session, but they'll find you during other 477 00:16:49,950 --> 00:16:51,540 times of the conference. 478 00:16:51,750 --> 00:16:54,300 Cathy McPhillips: Absolutely. It's such a nice, such a nice 479 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:55,740 community. It's such a nice group of people 480 00:16:55,740 --> 00:16:57,600 and you never know, you might get a speaking 481 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,060 opportunity out of sticking around, right? 482 00:17:00,060 --> 00:17:01,230 Carol Cox: Yes, exactly. 483 00:17:01,230 --> 00:17:03,000 All right. So then let's talk about actual, 484 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,160 you know, the speakers presenting their 485 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:08,370 talks. What makes a great speaker at your 486 00:17:08,370 --> 00:17:10,080 events, what have you found, based on the 487 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,540 feedback that you get from attendees that 488 00:17:12,540 --> 00:17:14,970 they really like about about speakers that 489 00:17:14,970 --> 00:17:17,040 they've been sitting in their sessions? 490 00:17:18,630 --> 00:17:20,640 Cathy McPhillips: I guess I just think part of that is like 491 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:22,770 one, they know who's in the room that they 492 00:17:22,770 --> 00:17:24,870 really can. They're really speaking the 493 00:17:24,870 --> 00:17:26,760 language of the people at the event in the 494 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:29,220 room who are trying to learn from them to 495 00:17:29,220 --> 00:17:31,110 being engaging, you know, making eye 496 00:17:31,140 --> 00:17:33,210 contact, doing all this, the right things as 497 00:17:33,210 --> 00:17:35,850 a speaker, speaking slow, not reading off 498 00:17:35,850 --> 00:17:39,150 your slides, making it engaging, having a 499 00:17:39,150 --> 00:17:40,740 starting point and having like, here's the 500 00:17:40,740 --> 00:17:42,990 outcomes and here's here's what I did. 501 00:17:42,990 --> 00:17:44,010 Here are the steps I took. 502 00:17:44,010 --> 00:17:45,450 Here are the outcomes I think having 503 00:17:45,450 --> 00:17:47,790 something that they can just say, okay, 504 00:17:47,790 --> 00:17:50,460 taking the whole 45 minute session or 505 00:17:50,460 --> 00:17:52,050 however long the session is and saying, 506 00:17:52,050 --> 00:17:53,640 okay, here's what you need to take away from 507 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:55,050 this. I think that's just really helpful to 508 00:17:55,050 --> 00:18:00,000 have just a flow to really to especially to 509 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:01,320 the breakout sessions. 510 00:18:02,210 --> 00:18:03,590 And I like. And I love when there's 511 00:18:03,590 --> 00:18:05,240 engagement. You know, if there's a poll that 512 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:06,800 goes up or if there's you're taking 513 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:08,870 questions in the middle of your session and 514 00:18:08,870 --> 00:18:10,010 it's really up to the speaker, you know, 515 00:18:10,010 --> 00:18:12,230 whatever is easiest for you. 516 00:18:12,230 --> 00:18:13,610 But I love the engaging ones. 517 00:18:13,610 --> 00:18:15,680 Those those always seem to resonate a lot. 518 00:18:16,430 --> 00:18:18,350 Carol Cox: And then, Cathy, since you do quite a bit of 519 00:18:18,350 --> 00:18:21,050 speaking yourself, what are what are some 520 00:18:21,050 --> 00:18:22,730 things that you have done during your 521 00:18:22,730 --> 00:18:24,380 speaking engagements that you have found 522 00:18:24,380 --> 00:18:25,640 have worked really well? 523 00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:29,060 Cathy McPhillips: Well, I always start with a pretty a pretty 524 00:18:29,060 --> 00:18:30,080 good story. 525 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,750 You know, I just did a presentation a few 526 00:18:32,750 --> 00:18:35,930 months ago at an alumni event for a many 527 00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:39,080 Ohio University universities in Ohio, all of 528 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:40,460 their alumni directors. 529 00:18:40,460 --> 00:18:43,670 And I started with a story about me and a, 530 00:18:43,670 --> 00:18:46,430 um, a story about me with an alum and how 531 00:18:46,430 --> 00:18:48,830 this alum helped me get through college. 532 00:18:48,830 --> 00:18:50,270 And it was like it just kind of set the 533 00:18:50,270 --> 00:18:51,890 stage, you know, it kind of set the stage as 534 00:18:51,890 --> 00:18:53,000 me, as a human. 535 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,410 I'm coming here to tell you a story about 536 00:18:54,410 --> 00:18:56,840 why I'm here and what what this impact of 537 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,420 this person's role, who I was speaking to 538 00:18:59,420 --> 00:19:02,780 all these alumni directors, how that person 539 00:19:02,780 --> 00:19:05,750 at my university changed my life and how 540 00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:07,190 important it is, what they were doing. 541 00:19:07,190 --> 00:19:08,780 So just kind of was like just a real good 542 00:19:08,780 --> 00:19:10,610 that sounds, you know, a little bit cheesy. 543 00:19:10,610 --> 00:19:11,930 My daughter's like, that's really cheesy. 544 00:19:11,930 --> 00:19:14,480 I'm like, it is cheesy, but it's it's 545 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:15,980 genuine, you know? 546 00:19:15,980 --> 00:19:17,990 And it just made me feel it made them feel 547 00:19:17,990 --> 00:19:19,940 like, okay, she values what we're doing. 548 00:19:19,940 --> 00:19:22,610 She's trying to, you know, relate to us and 549 00:19:22,610 --> 00:19:24,380 and I and then I often say sometimes like, 550 00:19:24,380 --> 00:19:27,110 I, I can talk to you about what I know. 551 00:19:27,140 --> 00:19:28,910 I am not trying to pretend to be an alumni 552 00:19:28,910 --> 00:19:30,290 director at a university. 553 00:19:30,290 --> 00:19:32,330 I'm just trying to tell you me as me. 554 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,100 Here's some of my experiences. 555 00:19:34,100 --> 00:19:35,870 Maybe you can find a nugget or two for you 556 00:19:35,870 --> 00:19:38,000 to take home and and work on this yourself. 557 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,250 Do you use some AI tools in your own work. 558 00:19:41,390 --> 00:19:44,030 Carol Cox: And anything else from from your speaking 559 00:19:44,030 --> 00:19:46,580 engagements? Do you do you kind of tend to 560 00:19:46,580 --> 00:19:48,800 use the same couple different presentations 561 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:51,050 and then how much how how do you decide to 562 00:19:51,050 --> 00:19:53,450 customize them based for that particular 563 00:19:53,450 --> 00:19:54,200 event? 564 00:19:55,130 --> 00:19:57,470 Cathy McPhillips: Well, with AI, I feel like every time I do a 565 00:19:57,470 --> 00:19:59,630 presentation, I'm changing a handful of 566 00:19:59,630 --> 00:20:02,000 slides because things are moving so quickly. 567 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,430 I actually just one of the biggest things I 568 00:20:04,430 --> 00:20:06,260 talk about is our podcast production. 569 00:20:06,260 --> 00:20:07,490 And I went through and I was doing a 570 00:20:07,490 --> 00:20:08,930 presentation yesterday and I was like, oh my 571 00:20:08,930 --> 00:20:11,090 gosh, all. We just rebranded our podcast. 572 00:20:11,090 --> 00:20:12,860 So I had to go through and change all of my 573 00:20:12,860 --> 00:20:14,570 like half of my slides because I had the old 574 00:20:14,570 --> 00:20:16,790 logo on it, which was easy. 575 00:20:16,970 --> 00:20:18,500 Um, but I always make sure, like, like I 576 00:20:18,500 --> 00:20:20,000 said, I know who the audience is, I 577 00:20:20,030 --> 00:20:22,040 customize it, I update it based on any new 578 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:23,780 technology that I'm using. 579 00:20:24,170 --> 00:20:26,660 Uh, I'm trying to think what else I change, 580 00:20:26,660 --> 00:20:28,400 but I never use the same one twice. 581 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,950 It's always changed in some in some way. 582 00:20:30,950 --> 00:20:32,930 You know, even the one with the alumni 583 00:20:32,930 --> 00:20:34,880 directors. I was using some tools I don't 584 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:36,410 normally talk about because I wanted to 585 00:20:36,410 --> 00:20:38,150 apply it to, to their role. 586 00:20:38,150 --> 00:20:41,180 But the biggest story I have is our podcast, 587 00:20:41,180 --> 00:20:42,890 and that's what I know the best. 588 00:20:43,370 --> 00:20:44,630 So I want to make sure to include that. 589 00:20:44,630 --> 00:20:46,010 And I always start and say, you may not have 590 00:20:46,010 --> 00:20:47,840 a podcast, but a lot of the things I'm 591 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:50,390 talking about, just think of my podcast, 592 00:20:50,390 --> 00:20:52,700 think of your biggest piece of content and 593 00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:55,010 how can you relate that to these steps and 594 00:20:55,010 --> 00:20:56,720 these tools that I'm using for your own 595 00:20:56,720 --> 00:20:57,290 work? 596 00:20:58,450 --> 00:21:01,240 Carol Cox: Well, since I have you here, let's talk about 597 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:02,950 what you're doing with the podcast, because 598 00:21:02,950 --> 00:21:04,690 I want to talk about some of the AI tools 599 00:21:04,690 --> 00:21:06,220 that you have found to be really useful, 600 00:21:06,220 --> 00:21:07,660 since obviously you are you are the 601 00:21:07,660 --> 00:21:09,220 marketing AI Institute. 602 00:21:09,220 --> 00:21:11,680 And so tell me a little bit about, you know, 603 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,220 how has your podcast process changed, you 604 00:21:15,220 --> 00:21:16,810 know, in the past year and what are you 605 00:21:16,810 --> 00:21:19,090 finding really helpful now as far as tools? 606 00:21:19,660 --> 00:21:21,370 Cathy McPhillips: Well, gosh, when I first started working on 607 00:21:21,370 --> 00:21:23,590 the podcast, I asked Paul, I said, who 608 00:21:23,590 --> 00:21:24,610 produces the podcast? 609 00:21:24,610 --> 00:21:26,770 And we were using someone at the time to do 610 00:21:26,770 --> 00:21:30,430 it for us. But then at that time it was. 611 00:21:30,670 --> 00:21:32,380 And the reason we we liked that person was 612 00:21:32,380 --> 00:21:34,240 because they just handled it. 613 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:35,770 Except then when we got to the point where 614 00:21:35,770 --> 00:21:38,140 we were doing a news format, we didn't have 615 00:21:38,140 --> 00:21:40,180 48 hours for the podcast to have someone 616 00:21:40,180 --> 00:21:41,590 else produce the podcast. 617 00:21:41,590 --> 00:21:44,020 So Paul's like, can you do it? 618 00:21:44,020 --> 00:21:45,970 And I was like, I don't know, I can try. 619 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,730 So we started using these AI tools and we 620 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,200 and we're doing it. It's been great. 621 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,050 So we're using descript to edit our videos, 622 00:21:53,050 --> 00:21:55,780 edit our audio, create short form videos 623 00:21:55,780 --> 00:21:57,490 from that for YouTube shorts, Instagram 624 00:21:57,490 --> 00:21:59,860 Stories and TikTok, which has been the best 625 00:21:59,860 --> 00:22:02,230 thing in the world. There's a there's so 626 00:22:02,230 --> 00:22:05,320 many AI tools in there within, descript from 627 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,530 editing through cutting the transcription to 628 00:22:08,530 --> 00:22:11,170 adjusting your the sound through studio 629 00:22:11,170 --> 00:22:15,040 sound to overdubbing overdubbing voices. 630 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,560 And we've had to fix a few things with AI, 631 00:22:17,590 --> 00:22:19,810 Paul, AI, Mike and I, Kathy on some of on 632 00:22:19,810 --> 00:22:22,600 some things which has been remarkable. 633 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:24,280 And there are some other things we've been 634 00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:27,280 using in there. And then we also use Writer 635 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,500 or Jasper to help us with some of our blog 636 00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:33,670 posts. We use ChatGPT, perplexity, anthropic 637 00:22:33,670 --> 00:22:35,350 for Agora, Pulse. 638 00:22:35,350 --> 00:22:38,410 For some of our social uh, we use Opus clip 639 00:22:38,410 --> 00:22:41,800 for some short form videos because it makes 640 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,110 it the, you know, the portrait versus 641 00:22:44,110 --> 00:22:46,360 horizontal. So we can use that on, like I 642 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,790 said, YouTube shorts and things like that. 643 00:22:48,790 --> 00:22:51,610 And I know I'm missing some Grammarly to 644 00:22:51,610 --> 00:22:53,710 help us with our blog post, Canva to help us 645 00:22:53,710 --> 00:22:55,150 with some of our images. 646 00:22:55,150 --> 00:22:58,360 So there's AI all in every single step of 647 00:22:58,360 --> 00:22:59,230 our process. 648 00:23:00,010 --> 00:23:01,180 Carol Cox: That's a lot of tools. 649 00:23:01,180 --> 00:23:03,160 I mean, it's it's good, but it's a lot of a 650 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:04,210 lot of different things. 651 00:23:04,210 --> 00:23:06,340 I'm sure you were excited about the 652 00:23:06,340 --> 00:23:09,790 potentiality of AI agents to basically like 653 00:23:09,790 --> 00:23:12,400 take the workflow and go through, and then 654 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,350 the AI agents just do all of those different 655 00:23:14,350 --> 00:23:15,760 steps at some point. 656 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:17,950 Cathy McPhillips: But it is amazing that AI estimated. 657 00:23:17,950 --> 00:23:20,770 So we we save about 15 hours a week by using 658 00:23:20,770 --> 00:23:21,880 the tools that we're using. 659 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:24,220 So that's 60 hours a month, and we're 660 00:23:24,220 --> 00:23:26,980 spending less than $100 a month on the tools 661 00:23:26,980 --> 00:23:27,940 collectively. 662 00:23:28,330 --> 00:23:29,560 Carol Cox: Wow. That's amazing. 663 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,720 15 hours a week. 664 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,160 That's a that's significant. 665 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,500 Is that mostly like where where do you find 666 00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:37,270 this? Those savings are coming from. 667 00:23:37,570 --> 00:23:39,880 Cathy McPhillips: I think mostly in the transcription. 668 00:23:39,910 --> 00:23:41,530 We want to we want to have captions on 669 00:23:41,530 --> 00:23:43,180 things just to be accessible. 670 00:23:43,180 --> 00:23:45,430 And it is good for SEO on our blog post, on 671 00:23:45,430 --> 00:23:47,890 our show notes blog post, and then in the 672 00:23:47,890 --> 00:23:49,870 blog post. Writing my blog posts take a lot 673 00:23:49,870 --> 00:23:51,520 of a long time to write. 674 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:55,240 So if we can take Mike and Paul's content 675 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,550 from the podcast transcript and put it into 676 00:23:57,550 --> 00:23:59,080 some of these tools that help us write the 677 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,660 blog posts, I feel like that's a really good 678 00:24:01,660 --> 00:24:04,270 use of helping using AI to help you write 679 00:24:04,270 --> 00:24:06,940 posts, because we are taking their words and 680 00:24:06,940 --> 00:24:08,080 having it put into. 681 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:09,400 It's not like we're asking it to generate a 682 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,650 post for us. We're taking their words and 683 00:24:11,860 --> 00:24:13,570 having it repurpose for us. 684 00:24:13,570 --> 00:24:15,070 So I think that's a little bit different. 685 00:24:15,070 --> 00:24:17,320 So you know everything we're doing, Mike 686 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:18,730 goes in and gives everything a hard edit 687 00:24:18,730 --> 00:24:20,440 because sometimes it's not right. 688 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:21,970 Sometimes it's not the flow that he was 689 00:24:21,970 --> 00:24:23,080 looking for. 690 00:24:23,230 --> 00:24:24,910 Uh, but it really those are probably the two 691 00:24:24,910 --> 00:24:25,990 biggest areas. 692 00:24:25,990 --> 00:24:27,520 And the things like the sound, you know, I 693 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,910 don't know, before studio sound, before that 694 00:24:30,910 --> 00:24:32,800 feature was enabled, we weren't using it and 695 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,810 it sounded fine. But then you realize when 696 00:24:34,810 --> 00:24:36,100 you use that feature, you're like, oh my 697 00:24:36,100 --> 00:24:37,420 gosh, it sounds so much better. 698 00:24:37,420 --> 00:24:39,550 So there are some things we didn't even know 699 00:24:39,550 --> 00:24:42,070 that we needed until until we found them. 700 00:24:42,970 --> 00:24:45,430 Carol Cox: Cathy, what are you most excited about 701 00:24:45,430 --> 00:24:46,660 regarding AI? 702 00:24:46,660 --> 00:24:48,430 Unless let's talk about maybe this year or 703 00:24:48,430 --> 00:24:49,990 2024. Like what? 704 00:24:49,990 --> 00:24:52,150 And then I'm most excited about let's even 705 00:24:52,150 --> 00:24:53,590 look like, say, 3 to 5 years out. 706 00:24:53,590 --> 00:24:55,630 Like, what would your vision be for what I 707 00:24:55,660 --> 00:24:56,680 could do for us? 708 00:24:57,490 --> 00:24:59,350 Cathy McPhillips: I think the thing that we talk about that 709 00:24:59,350 --> 00:25:00,910 we're excited about the most is just the 710 00:25:00,910 --> 00:25:02,950 chance to get a little bit of our time back 711 00:25:02,950 --> 00:25:05,440 and not always having to replace that time 712 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:07,900 with more work, but maybe being able to to 713 00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:09,460 step away a little bit more clear our heads, 714 00:25:09,460 --> 00:25:11,890 more refresh energized, we can get back to 715 00:25:11,890 --> 00:25:13,750 doing what we're doing the next day. 716 00:25:13,750 --> 00:25:15,100 But I think there's going to be a lot of 717 00:25:15,100 --> 00:25:17,140 opportunities. You know, Paul talks a lot 718 00:25:17,140 --> 00:25:20,560 about generative AI being great, but there 719 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,600 are so many other ways I could help us, 720 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:24,820 especially in the data and analytics space. 721 00:25:24,820 --> 00:25:26,590 You know, I have to admit, as much as I love 722 00:25:26,590 --> 00:25:28,720 data, I am not an expert at it. 723 00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:31,150 And just to have some of these tools help me 724 00:25:31,150 --> 00:25:33,580 synthesize some of this data, pull it into a 725 00:25:33,580 --> 00:25:35,560 format that's so I can analyze it better and 726 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,160 be smarter using our data database better, 727 00:25:39,550 --> 00:25:41,560 um, things like that, that like, how can we 728 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,960 better reach our customers through the use 729 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,910 of AI, which sounds counterintuitive, but 730 00:25:45,910 --> 00:25:47,200 that actually can help us be more 731 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,420 personalized, be more human if the AI can, 732 00:25:49,420 --> 00:25:51,040 if the AI can help us in some of those 733 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:51,670 areas. 734 00:25:52,450 --> 00:25:54,850 Carol Cox: Yeah. One thing that I did is I downloaded 735 00:25:54,850 --> 00:25:57,340 all of the my podcast stats from. 736 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,250 Lipson into a CSV file, and I uploaded it 737 00:26:00,250 --> 00:26:02,380 into GPT and had it analyze it. 738 00:26:02,380 --> 00:26:04,750 So basically look at, you know, based on the 739 00:26:04,750 --> 00:26:07,300 number of downloads and you know, how in 740 00:26:07,300 --> 00:26:08,890 like the first 30 days of downloads with 741 00:26:08,890 --> 00:26:12,220 different criteria, which topics tend to get 742 00:26:12,220 --> 00:26:13,270 the most listens? 743 00:26:13,270 --> 00:26:16,690 You know, because I have 370 plus episodes, 744 00:26:16,690 --> 00:26:18,010 actually, this month is the seven year 745 00:26:18,010 --> 00:26:19,810 anniversary of the podcast, so there's a lot 746 00:26:19,810 --> 00:26:21,940 of content. Now, of course, I kind of know 747 00:26:21,940 --> 00:26:24,880 intuitively which topics get the most 748 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,190 feedback or or the most listeners, but I 749 00:26:27,190 --> 00:26:29,200 want it, you know, it to like, look at the 750 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:30,670 hard data and tell me. 751 00:26:30,670 --> 00:26:32,890 And it was actually surprising some of the 752 00:26:32,890 --> 00:26:34,990 things that I found and what I, what was 753 00:26:34,990 --> 00:26:37,030 interesting was that some of it is topic 754 00:26:37,030 --> 00:26:39,040 based, but a lot of it happened to be on 755 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:42,160 that. I knew it was the guest that drove a 756 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,570 lot of the downloads. 757 00:26:43,570 --> 00:26:46,180 The topic was secondary, but I'm like, oh, 758 00:26:46,210 --> 00:26:48,220 but I need to find more guests like that or 759 00:26:48,220 --> 00:26:50,170 have that guest back on, because obviously 760 00:26:50,170 --> 00:26:51,550 that drove a lot of listens. 761 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,350 Cathy McPhillips: That's really interesting. 762 00:26:53,350 --> 00:26:55,030 I mean, it's like like you said, you know, 763 00:26:55,030 --> 00:26:56,590 intuitively some of those things, but then 764 00:26:56,590 --> 00:26:58,630 you're like, oh, that's actually surprised 765 00:26:58,630 --> 00:27:00,670 me or something will surface that you don't 766 00:27:00,670 --> 00:27:03,250 even realize. Like, there's we have so much 767 00:27:03,250 --> 00:27:05,500 data nowadays, like, let's use these tools 768 00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:07,450 to help us, because I remember the days when 769 00:27:07,450 --> 00:27:08,800 I was, you know, early in my career when it 770 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,240 was like, we just need more data. 771 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:11,530 And now it's like, we don't need any more 772 00:27:11,530 --> 00:27:13,840 data. We just need to be able to dissect it 773 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:15,460 better and understand it better. 774 00:27:15,820 --> 00:27:16,900 Carol Cox: Exactly. All right. 775 00:27:16,900 --> 00:27:18,910 So Kathy, let us know what is going on with 776 00:27:18,910 --> 00:27:20,530 the marketing AI Institute. 777 00:27:20,530 --> 00:27:23,200 What are some different ways that listeners 778 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,780 can learn more and to get involved with what 779 00:27:25,780 --> 00:27:26,380 you're doing? 780 00:27:26,860 --> 00:27:28,390 Cathy McPhillips: Oh my gosh, there's so much going on. 781 00:27:28,390 --> 00:27:30,250 It's been a it's been a crazy start to the 782 00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:33,730 year. Uh, so we relaunched our 2024 AI 783 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:35,680 Academy for marketers classes. 784 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:37,810 We've got a great intro class which is free. 785 00:27:37,810 --> 00:27:40,030 Paul and I do that every few weeks. 786 00:27:40,660 --> 00:27:42,040 You can find that on our website. 787 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,610 And then within Academy we have piloting AI, 788 00:27:45,610 --> 00:27:49,480 which is an eight hour course on, uh, just 789 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,130 how to get started with AI, how to pilot 790 00:27:51,130 --> 00:27:52,990 your first program, how to figure out where 791 00:27:52,990 --> 00:27:55,480 to start. Scaling AI would be the next step 792 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,180 for directors and above, or anybody. 793 00:27:58,210 --> 00:28:00,430 Anybody could take it for sure about 794 00:28:00,430 --> 00:28:02,260 building an AI council, building generative 795 00:28:02,260 --> 00:28:05,200 AI policies, building an AI roadmap, being 796 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:06,820 that change agent within your organization, 797 00:28:06,820 --> 00:28:08,260 the governance and things like that, that 798 00:28:08,260 --> 00:28:10,180 really you spent, you know, you're working 799 00:28:10,180 --> 00:28:11,740 on piloting and now like, okay, let's see 800 00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:12,760 this come to fruition. 801 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:13,900 Let's see this through. 802 00:28:13,930 --> 00:28:16,180 How do you do that. And then our AI mastery 803 00:28:16,180 --> 00:28:18,610 membership. So the scaling AI is also a 804 00:28:18,610 --> 00:28:21,040 prerecorded. And they both just recorded it 805 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:22,540 within the past few weeks. 806 00:28:22,540 --> 00:28:25,030 And then the AI mastery membership I'm super 807 00:28:25,030 --> 00:28:27,520 excited about. It's once a month access live 808 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,280 access to our team, mostly Paul and then 809 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,260 Mike and then a little bit of me and on our 810 00:28:32,260 --> 00:28:34,480 other team members where there's an ask me 811 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:36,430 anything once a month or once a quarter, 812 00:28:36,430 --> 00:28:39,280 there is a trends briefing once a quarter. 813 00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,970 And then there is some demos and it's just 814 00:28:42,970 --> 00:28:46,270 our team demoing tech, no sales pitches. 815 00:28:46,270 --> 00:28:47,560 The tech companies may not even know we're 816 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:48,790 doing it. We're just going to go through and 817 00:28:48,790 --> 00:28:50,440 say, here was a use case that we had. 818 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,210 Here's a tool we use. We want to show you 819 00:28:52,210 --> 00:28:54,220 how we used it within this platform and 820 00:28:54,220 --> 00:28:55,690 doing some live demos. So I'm really excited 821 00:28:55,690 --> 00:28:59,200 about that. Macon, coming up, we've got a 822 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:00,790 bunch of virtual summits. 823 00:29:00,790 --> 00:29:02,770 We just had our AI writer summit in early 824 00:29:02,770 --> 00:29:07,270 March. Our AI for B2B summit is in June, and 825 00:29:07,270 --> 00:29:09,310 then our AI for agencies is TBD. 826 00:29:09,430 --> 00:29:11,200 So we're just trying you know, we've our 827 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,670 mission is really just to make AI 828 00:29:12,670 --> 00:29:14,440 approachable and accessible to marketers and 829 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:17,230 business leaders and AI literacy. 830 00:29:17,230 --> 00:29:19,990 So we just keep doing these new things. 831 00:29:19,990 --> 00:29:21,250 So it's been fun. 832 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,220 Carol Cox: Yes, lots of events and I and I'm and I'm 833 00:29:24,220 --> 00:29:26,950 always, uh, very, uh, have a lot of 834 00:29:26,950 --> 00:29:28,960 admiration for people who put on a lot of 835 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,300 events because it is not my thing. 836 00:29:31,300 --> 00:29:33,550 I'm, I'm very detailed and organized, but I 837 00:29:33,550 --> 00:29:35,680 don't know if event production and planning 838 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:36,970 is a whole different thing. 839 00:29:37,580 --> 00:29:40,130 Cathy McPhillips: It's. Yeah, it's it's a lot, but it's so much 840 00:29:40,130 --> 00:29:42,590 fun. It's so much fun to seeing attendees 841 00:29:42,590 --> 00:29:43,820 and seeing them. 842 00:29:43,820 --> 00:29:45,620 Like when you just see that something spark 843 00:29:45,620 --> 00:29:46,280 in them. 844 00:29:46,730 --> 00:29:48,710 Carol Cox: It is. Well, Cathy, thank you so much for 845 00:29:48,710 --> 00:29:50,960 coming on the Speaking Your Brand podcast, 846 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:52,520 and I really appreciate everything that you 847 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:53,900 all do at the Marketing AI Institute. 848 00:29:53,900 --> 00:29:55,880 I've learned a lot by listening to you all 849 00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,790 over the past year plus, and I will continue 850 00:29:58,790 --> 00:30:00,500 to do so. And for those of you listening, 851 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:02,600 make sure to connect with Cathy on LinkedIn. 852 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,640 I'll include a link to her profile in the 853 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,500 show notes, as well as to the Marketing AI 854 00:30:06,500 --> 00:30:08,600 Institute website and to their fantastic 855 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,060 podcast. Thank you, uh, Kathy, so much for 856 00:30:11,060 --> 00:30:11,750 joining us. 857 00:30:11,750 --> 00:30:13,190 Cathy McPhillips: And thank you. And one last thing, if you 858 00:30:13,190 --> 00:30:14,300 don't mind me saying so. 859 00:30:14,300 --> 00:30:16,610 So our MAICON call for speakers did close 860 00:30:16,610 --> 00:30:20,000 for this year. But events are always looking 861 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,260 for good people to speak. We have our 862 00:30:21,260 --> 00:30:22,820 virtual events, we've got our blog, we've 863 00:30:22,820 --> 00:30:24,260 got all these different things. 864 00:30:24,260 --> 00:30:26,330 So please. And we may have someone drop out 865 00:30:26,330 --> 00:30:27,530 of the event as we get closer. 866 00:30:27,530 --> 00:30:28,790 You know, you just never know what might 867 00:30:28,790 --> 00:30:31,370 happen. So always apply to speak. 868 00:30:31,370 --> 00:30:33,890 And if you didn't get included last year, 869 00:30:33,890 --> 00:30:35,780 then try again this year because it may not 870 00:30:35,780 --> 00:30:37,490 have been for any other reason than that 871 00:30:37,490 --> 00:30:39,050 they were full. So keep trying. 872 00:30:39,050 --> 00:30:41,330 Carol Cox: Yes, yes, keep trying because you never know. 873 00:30:41,330 --> 00:30:42,980 Just that they already had someone for that 874 00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:45,620 topic or they were full or just for some 875 00:30:45,620 --> 00:30:47,570 reason your submission just got overlooked. 876 00:30:47,570 --> 00:30:49,730 It doesn't mean necessarily that you were 877 00:30:49,730 --> 00:30:51,350 not a great speaker or your topic is not 878 00:30:51,350 --> 00:30:54,140 great. Just keep keep applying because there 879 00:30:54,140 --> 00:30:55,760 are conferences and events out there who 880 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:56,810 need great speakers. 881 00:30:56,810 --> 00:30:58,550 And I know for those of you listening that 882 00:30:58,550 --> 00:30:59,990 that's who you are. 883 00:30:59,990 --> 00:31:01,250 Thanks again to Cathy for coming on the 884 00:31:01,250 --> 00:31:03,620 podcast. If you would like to find out what 885 00:31:03,620 --> 00:31:06,350 speaker archetype you are so you can amplify 886 00:31:06,350 --> 00:31:09,170 your natural communication strengths and add 887 00:31:09,170 --> 00:31:11,300 to them to make you even more dynamic 888 00:31:11,300 --> 00:31:13,820 speaker, you can take our free quiz at 889 00:31:13,820 --> 00:31:17,120 speakingyourbrand.com/quiz. It only takes a 890 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:18,830 few minutes. It's ten multiple choice 891 00:31:18,830 --> 00:31:20,870 questions and then you get your results 892 00:31:20,870 --> 00:31:22,790 right away. Again, you can take that as 893 00:31:22,790 --> 00:31:25,370 speaking in your brand. Com slash quiz. 894 00:31:25,370 --> 00:31:27,770 Until next time, thanks for listening.