Repurposing Our Content

The other night I gave a brief seminar as a Toastmaster project. The topic was Proactive Preparation, and the source of the content was a chapter from my upcoming book, "The Six P's of Change." The seminar was received very well, and it gave me hope for my future endeavors as a speaker. But the real value for me was how it reinforced the notion that, as communicators and speakers, we are able to apply our material, the product of our toils, to other purposes. The content of just one chapter from the book became a single seminar. With hard work, it could easily become a full-day or multi-day seminar. After it is edited and published, I can rewrite it for the ear and create an audio version. It could be a keynote speech.

I know that any professional speakers reading this must be laughing at my naivete, as though I just discovered fire for the first time. But for those of us who are not so experienced, it is a worthy lesson. We should learn to use our creations in a variety of media. Our best thoughts, ideas, concepts and products will gain greater value if we find new audiences who will benefit from them.