Speaking
Professional Speaker on Social Media, Tourism and Travel
Do you need a lively, fun person who can make sense of tech and social media, dive deep into topics with expert audiences, use plenty of examples for your specific industry AND keep everyone laughing and interested in the process?
You’ve found the right speaker to hire; I’d love to present at your next event.
In addition to my social media educational work on Tourism Currents, I speak and hold workshops, training sessions and webinars about the social Web to a variety of audiences including journalists, tourism and economic development experts, public relations and marketing professionals and Web developers.
As a certified Navy Master Training Specialist, I’ve had many years of “podium time” covering topics from the most interesting to the, well, pretty doggone dull (but I make them interesting.)
There is a reason that I’m often scheduled as the luncheon or post-lunch speaker….I keep audiences awake and engaged!
When presenting, I prefer to go live to the Web from my laptop to demonstrate tech and social media concepts, but I can also whip up the traditional slide deck and even (gasp!) speak quite comfortably without any audio/visual assistance at all.
List of Topics
Social Media and Travel/Tourism
** The Great Equalizer: How the Social Web Helps Any Destination Play in the Big Time — intriguing stories of people and organizations who use social media to increase the vibrancy and visibility of their town/state.
** Hosting Wired Press Trips/Fam Tours — Bloggers are a new kind of online publisher, and they can connect you with new audiences. A fam tour is still a great way to share your destination with them, but wired writers have some unusual needs and perspectives. Learning their digital ways can result in tons of instant coverage for your destination.
** Finding Your Social Media Champions — Oh, if only there were some people out there online (like bloggers) to help us spread the word…. Well, they are out there (they may be locals living right under your nose in your town) and they want to help. Find them, approach them in the right way and give them the tools they need. I’ll show you how.
** Promoting Your Special Events and Festivals on the Social Web — We’ll explore some innovative ways to promote special events online using tools like Flickr, Facebook, video and mobile-friendly technology.
** Outreach Beyond Travel Bloggers — Food bloggers, crafters and quilters, history bloggers, pet bloggers; the web is powerful for connecting people with niche interests and they might love your town! Where to find them and how to interest them in your destination.
** Blog Highways: More Content in Less Time — Better online publishing with less time and effort, and how to get more posts out of your online content using video and photos.
(Note: I frequently partner with my Tourism Currents co-founder Becky McCray to present on tourism topics.)
General Blogging, Web and Tech Topics
** Overview workshop: how social media tools work — Live demos of several tools like Facebook personal and business pages, LinkedIn professional networking, the back end of a WordPress blog, how to shoot and upload simple videos, etc. Tailored to your needs.
** Writing for the Web — Compelling content, Web usability, SEO, etc. I have both beginner and advanced user versions of this workshop.
** How Flickr and YouTube Can Amp Up Your Blog — I can very easily split this into two presentations as well, if desired (photos/Flickr or video/YouTube.)
** Sorting the Noise: How to Find and Hear the Online Voices That Matter — How to know when they’re talking about you; listening online with search engines, Twitter search and in Facebook.
** How the social Web spreads the word — Also called “follow the bouncing blog post,” where I demonstrate with one or two blog posts or tweets how information spreads across the Web via links in other posts, tweets, Facebook mentions, etc. Probably one of my most effective presentations for those who honestly “don’t get” social media.
** Ear to the Geek Ground: Tech News You Can Use — This is a fast-paced, intermediate/advanced level update on just about everything that I think is important in response to the question, “What’s new in tech and social media?” Tailored to the audience and always updated with the most current info.
** Web 2.0 in the Real World — Targeting students from middle/high school through college, this covers how I use blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to build credibility and professional reputation and extend my reach/influence. I like to get students to take the tools seriously for work and career development, rather than only see them as fun and social.
** Social media marketing on a shoestring budget — Using free/low-cost social media tools to market your business or nonprofit.
Where I’ve Spoken
** Lehigh Valley Regional Tourism Annual Meeting (keynote plus a workshop) in Allentown, PA.
** Keynote, Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Tourism, Tulsa, OK.
** Texas Travel Industry Association (TTIA) annual Texas Travel Summit in Galveston, TX.
** BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2010, Las Vegas NV and 2011, Los Angeles CA. My Tourism Currents business partner Becky McCray and I organize and run BlogWorld’s Tourism track.
** South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference in Austin, TX
** E-Tourism Summit (with Travel2Dot0′s Troy Thompson) in San Francisco, CA.
** The SOBCon business and social media conference/think tank with Becky in Chicago, IL.
** The 2010 and 2011 Symposium on the Use of Social Media in the Tourism Industry – SoMeT – in Loudoun County, VA and Tunica, MS.
** Texas Association of CVBs (Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus) annual conference (with Tourism Currents co-founder Becky McCray) in Lubbock, TX.
** Red Carpet Country annual tourism conference (again with Becky; we’re a great tag team) in Alva, OK.
** Texas Festivals and Events Association (TFEA) annual conference in Houston, TX.
** Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) travel blogging conference, New York City
** Texas Leadership Institute tourism seminar in Bastrop, TX.
** International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) training conference in Austin, TX.
** BlogHer blogging conference, Chicago, IL.
** TRAPS (Texas Recreation and Park Society) in Garland, TX.
** Austin Women in Tech in Austin, TX.
** PeopleFund (economic development) in Austin, TX.
** InnoTech tech conference in Austin, TX.
** Chamber of Commerce, Rockdale, TX.
** Metropolitan Breakfast Club in Austin, TX.
** Mass Communications Conference, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX.
** Webinars for the Association for Women in Communications (AWC) National Headquarters, Destination Marketing Association International’s empowerMINT, Girlfriend’s Guide to the Business of Blogging and the UpTake travel site’s blogger network. The most popular one so far was No, You May NOT Pick My Brain.
** Local panels for AWC Austin, Refresh Austin, Social Media Breakfast, the Writer’s League of Texas, RISE Austin, the Young Women’s Roundtable, Freelance Austin, Kingsland (TX) Genealogy Society and the University of Texas Undergraduate Writing Center.
Where I’m Going Next
** Explore Dallas-Fort Worth – social media marketing for business – Dallas, TX – February 17, 2012.
** South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive – international tech conference – Austin, TX – March 9-13, 2012.
** SOBCon online business conference – Chicago, IL – May 4-6, 2012.
** TBEX Travel Blogging Conference – Keystone, CO – June 15-17, 2012.
** Travel Media Showcase – travel media meet CVB/DMOs – Sioux Falls, SD – August 21-24, 2012.
** BlogWorld and New Media Expo – Tourism track at the biggest blogging conference in the world – Los Angeles, CA – Oct 4-6, 2012.
Testimonials
From Liz Strauss, online culture strategist, speaker and founder of SOBCon
“Sheila Scarborough lights up a room with information and personality. Can’t wait to be there when I know she’ll be speaking. Every time she delivers on her promise of fun, fast-paced, actionable content. I walk away inspired to start doing great things with my business.”
From Patrick Jones, Executive Director & CEO, International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association (IBTTA)
“Sheila Scarborough rocks! Great story teller. Relevant. Knows and cares about her audience.”
From Julie Tereshchuk, writer, special features editor at austinwoman Magazine and Board of Directors member, Metropolitan Breakfast Club (“Austin’s premier speakers’ club since 1984″)
“In person, Sheila’s dynamism and sense of humor combine with her subject matter knowledge to make for a compelling speaker with a level of energy seen only amongst the best speakers and presenters.
In webinars, I’ve sat through many presentations feeling little empathy and connection with the speaker, particularly when they were just a disembodied voice on the end of a phone link. I had the opposite experience with Sheila Scarborough, who hit the perfect note in an online environment which demands a more nuanced set of skills than those of an in-person presentation.”
From attendee surveys, Texas Leadership Institute tourism seminar, my session on reaching out to bloggers and writers:
“Loved her energy. Kept ALL of my attention!”
“Informative and entertaining.”
“Wow – amazing energy.”
Speaker Rates
There’s a lot of secrecy about speaker rates, and it drives me crazy. You should be able to figure out right away whether I fit your event budget or not.
*** My current rate for a 1 – 1.5 hour keynote is US$3200 plus expenses.
NOTE: I often include a smaller one-two hour conference workshop in that fee, at no extra charge. If I am going to spend time at your event, I might as well stay on my feet and keep talking!
*** For a small workshop (1 – 1.5 hours) and nothing else, I charge US$800 plus expenses.
*** For a half-day workshop (all morning or all afternoon) I charge US$1500 plus expenses.
*** For a full-day workshop (roughly 9-5) I charge US$3000/day plus expenses.
*** When my schedule permits, I like to hang around at conferences, perhaps attend a few other panels and be available in the hallways and at evening socials to answer questions that many are uncomfortable asking during my sessions. If I request accommodations or a conference badge to do so, I’m not trying to “milk the system, ” I’m trying to add maximum value to your event.
I’m willing to negotiate on pricing if you are a nonprofit, educational or governmental organization, or are in my local Austin, Texas metro area.
Please contact me: sheila@sheilascarborough.com
