I’m sitting at the INC magazine GROWCO event. My experience with the content of the speakers has not been great so far.

The Elevator Pitch guys were fantastic. On topic. Great info. Engaging and interactive.

Norm Brodsky is a lively speaker with great stories – just read his column on INC. On topic? Not so much. When I’m in a session titled How to Close a Deal, please actually talk about that, not about tangents and Corporate Culture. Was it interesting to hear about Corporate Culture as a way to retain customers, stop relying on a salesperson, and growth? Yes. But that wasn’t the topic.

Paul Spiegelman was on topic with How I Work. Balance is an important topic to entrepreneurs.

As I tweeted this morning, I wonder why sports figures are keynotes. Listening to them regale their glory days is not my idea of worthwhile. George Foreman did drop some gems, like “Just keep getting up” and “Sell, sell, sell” and “Just get out there and do it.” And the audience loved him. Me? I’m a meat and potatoes guy.

I have put on events – ISP Expo, BarCampTampaBay (twice) and have helped other events find speakers, put together panels, and create content. Not many event planners understand that it isn’t so much the $495 for the 3 days but the time away from RGA (revenue generating activities) that keeps people away from conferences. The $495 becomes over $1000 with hotel, airfare, etc. The 3 days means I need to take away quite a few gems. Concrete ideas that can be implemented in my business. Yet that’s not the way it’s usually done. Event planners worry about the vendors who actually pay to have the event take place. Will they be happy. Take a lesson from your speakers: If your customers (attendees) are happy, so will the rest of the stakeholders.

Jim McCann of 1-800-Flowers spoke about himself for an hour — with commercials from his company over the years. Maybe he skimmed Presentation Zen to just catch the words play video. I spoke with INC’s online editor about the speakers. What would have been better? McCann and an editor in white sofas on stage. The monitors filled with the video close-up of McCann. The editor interviews him allowing 10 minutes for the history, then the next 45 minutes to explain how a promotion with AT&T or Martha or CBS Outdoor could be done by a small shop in Iowa. Where does the rubber meet the road? As Julia points out, my favorite word has been GRANULAR, which maybe is too intangible. What I want is something tangible to walk away with.

I didn’t hear all of Amy Simmons speech because my client said it was the same talk she gave yesterday and during the 5 minutes I listened had nothing to so with Making Raving Fans.

I was disappointed with the number of people who left Gail Goodman’s session this morning, especially the women. How many other female CEO’s pulled off an IPO in 2007? What woman entrepreneur wouldn’t want to hear that example speak? (And yet I get some flack that there aren’t enough women speakers).

As a speaker you are incurring costs and time to give a talk, but What’s in it for the Audience? They are giving up as much as you. Don’t you want to WOW them? Jim Rohn used to say that he wanted to perfect his craft every year. he didn’t want someone to say, “You should have seen Jim speak back then.” He wanted to hear, “I heard Jim speak before, but you should hear him now.”

BTW, sandwiches for lunch? Not a good idea. And granola bars or some form of protein for breakfast please. Yet, INC I greatly appreciate the water, soda, coffee all day!