Hello there!

If you've seen me on socials, I recently did a talk on 'How to Build An Authentic Network'. Here is a step-by-step breakdown of how I prepared the talk.

The team from Salesforce Design Days had reached out to me to do a talk at their event. It was a blank canvas.

Audience Composition

When the team reached out, we did a detailed lowdown of the design of the event as well as the audience. They were deeply respectful of my craft and took the time and patience to contextualise the event.

• Who is the audience?
• What are their challenges?
• What is their composition?
• What would make it worth the their time?
• What matters to them?

The key insight here was that most of their community is looking for ways to collaborate and connect, and struggle with making genuine connections.

This call happened 2 weeks before the event.

Setting the Intention for the Talk

Now that there is a sense of the audience's challenge, what can I do that's true to me?

I have always been curious about people, and connect with random people like the 18-year-old-kid-in-a-train to the Founder-of-a-Fortune500-company.

How can I ensure what's true to me, as well as valuable for the audience?

Narrowed down on 'How to Build An Authentic Network', which would also touch upon personal branding.

Crafting the Design

After the topic had been finalized and agreed upon, the team required details for the outreach around the event. The next stage involved the following:

• Talk Title
• Talk Description
• Media Kit
• Social Handles
• Format

The Takeaway

Once it was time to prepare the presentation, I like to do first-principles thinking. Get to the very basic level and teach simple concepts. Time in nature, listening to music, travelling, and spending quiet time energise me, especially when there is deep thinking work involved.

I then divided the talk into three parts:

• Connecting with people
• Building a Personal Brand
• Being Authentic to your values

On the day of the event

I meditate before going on stage, center my body, visualize the experience, and feel the connection to the universal energy before stepping on stage.

After the talk, a few people from the audience came to talk to me, and it was such a delightful feeling.

To stay focused on providing value to others.

Outside the external drivers of wealth, money, and status.

And plugging more into internal drivers of purpose, fulfillment and joy.

Thank you for reading this edition of the newsletter today.

Until next time, keep finding your stories!

Love,

Vipasha

(PS: Please give me feedback on what you liked and what can be made better in the newsletter so that it is of value to you. I read all replies. :))

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you:​
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🔊Workshop: If you are a business wanting to enhance storytelling capabilities within your organization, I teach storytelling and writing to decision-makers and leaders.

🎯Consulting: If you don’t have the time or inclination to learn storytelling, I consult with organizations to help tell their stories.

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