Fyreside Newsletter - 4/27/26

Hey Reader,

In about two weeks, I'll be speaking at the Ohio Haunters Association Convention. On day two of the convention, I'll be hosting a seminar/class focusing on social media basics for haunted house owners. I've mentioned my involvement in the haunted attraction industry in this newsletter before, but this is my first opportunity in a number of years to combine my marketing expertise with that passion. I'm really excited! And, if you're local to the Mansfield, OH area, I'd love it if you came out! A little spoiler for the presentation: haunted house owners aren't very different from your average small business owner. That means the strategies and tactics I cover will be just as useful to you if you don't own a haunted house. Do with that information what you will.

While this is my first speaking engagement in the haunt scene, it's not my first time presenting on stage. Each time I've had an opportunity like this, I've gotten a lot of questions about the process. How do you find these opportunities? How do you apply? How do you prepare? Well, great news, I've got answers.

How do you find opportunities to speak?

A super valid question with a super easy answer: start looking.

There are plenty of resources that compile lists of engagements, conferences and conventions that are actively looking for speakers. There are also plenty of directories on which you can list yourself as a speaker for hire. Here's an example. However, and I mean no disrespect to these resources, I do not do either of these things. Instead, my tactic of choice is to find an event I want to attend first. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time putting together an interesting presentation for something I genuinely don't want to go to. There's no quicker way to end your career as a public speaker than by half-assing an engagement you're not passionate about.

Once I find an event I want to go to, I start checking their website and socials for speaker applications. It really is that easy: find somewhere you want to be, ask to be there. You're going to strike out a few times, but you'd be surprised how open event organizers are to excited applicants. This goes double for smaller, more niche and/or unique events. The OHA Convention is exactly that. It's a smaller, younger convention with a very distinct niche. That made it super easy to craft a pitch that felt specifically targeted to the event.

How do you make your application stand out?

Here's another benefit to applying to smaller, more unique events: there's less of an application field to stand out in. Sure, smaller events don't pay the way large events do, but they're way easier to land. You can bleed yourself dry trying to land a TED Talk, or you can find a local event that's trying to fill slots. Much like preventing forest fires, only you can decide where your effort is best applied.

Next, and this one's important, make sure your pitching what makes your presentation different than the rest of the application field. When I saw the speaker applications open up for a haunt-industry event, I had a pretty good idea of what most of the applications would look like. I figured there were plenty of people applying to teach seminars about acting, prop building and make up because that's the low hanging fruit. And that's not to say there isn't value to that fruit! All of those classes will be super popular because they fit the niche, but I don't have a way to stand out in those areas. I've been a haunted house actor for a long time, I've taught acting classes for years, but there's not much that sets me apart from the next guy who's acted for a long time and taught classes for years.

When you're applying for a speaking gig, you can't just pitch what you want to do. If your goal is to be selected, you have to move your own preferences down on the priority list. Sure, I'd love to teach an acting class at a haunt convention, but I needed to stand out, so I went a different direction. When you know what the application field will look like, it's pretty easy to stand out. I figured there weren't many folks trying to speak about marketing at the haunt function and I was correct, that's why I was selected.

How do you prepare for a speaking engagement?

That's a great question and I'm glad you asked. I actually start my event prep the same way for ever event. I make an overview sheet that looks like this:

I posted a video on TikTok that walks through my setup process for these docs; it's linked a little lower in this email.

This is also the cliffhanger for next week's newsletter! I've got a lot of work to do this week to prepare for the event and I'm excited to get into it. I'm even more excited to tell you about it, but I need you to come back next week for that. In the meantime, here are the things I identify at minute one.

What, where and when is the event?
A basic To Do list
My personal goals for the presentation
What information about the presentation has been made publicly available
A rough introduction to the presentation

Coming next week

An in-depth look at my preparations for this event! I'm looking forward to it, I hope you are too!

-MC

p.s.

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