Last week, my mentor/friend asked me if I knew anyone who’s stellar at storytelling and would be willing to hold a 1-hour workshop about it with his mentorship group. I connected with my buddy who earned his chops podcasting and being a brilliant customer-oriented founder, specifically on the user journey.
And it got me thinking. Hmmmm, I wonder how long people take to prep for a workshop or talk designed to inform and educate. Which eventually led me to the question… How much time allocation might many event hosts underestimate when asking a speaker to speak at their event?
Well, outside of travel, set up, rehearsal time, and of course, the length of the talk/workshop itself.
So, over the last few days, I reached out to 68 friends, mentors, and colleagues who have been on the stage before, including:
- VCs – who invest out of vehicles that range from $5M to $1B (sample-specific)
- Angels – investing individuals, who have over $1M in net worth
- Founders – both venture-backed and bootstrapped
- Executives – Fortune 500 and startup
- Journalists
- Influencers – YouTubers and podcasters
- Consultants/Advisors
- Professors
- And, those who’ve been on public stages with 1000+ in live viewership.
… and asked them 2 questions:
- How long, in hours, do you take to prepare for a 1-hour talk?
- For the purpose of slightly limiting the scope to this question, let’s say it’s on a topic you’re extremely passionate and well-versed in, and the audience is as, if not more, passionate than you are.
- And if I said this was for a high-stakes event, that may change your career trajectory, would your answer change? If so, how long would you spend prepping?
50 responded, with numerical answers, by the time I’m writing this post, with a few results I found to be quite surprising. *pushing my nerd glasses*
Continue reading “#unfiltered #24 How long do you take to prepare for a talk? – A Study about Time Allocation”