When you think of the term “thought leader,” what comes to mind? It’s always been defined as being a known expert or trusted source in your field. Thought leadership exposes your business to your market in a credible way. To build it, it's important to step up and bring your industry to a higher level of thinking about the strategic problems it faces. 

As we face this abrupt shift in our lifestyles with COVID-19, nothing changes with how we define thought leadership, but we are needing to get more creative with how we practice it. What remains consistent amid all these changes(and arguably now more than ever)?

• People still need to feel relevant.

• People still need to connect (just in new ways).

• People need to claim their stake in their industry.

Physical events and conferences are pivotal spaces which have enabled us to do this, but as we wait for those to come back into play, what can we be doing to continue building momentum from home?

1. Get involved in webinars & podcasts. Even before this pandemic, virtual opportunities have been on the rise for their cost and time saving, broader reach, and longer shelf life.  We’ve always included these, if desired, in our services, but we’re now busy double-downing on our connections with webinars and podcasts to maintain activity while physical events are postponed or canceled. 

2. Post & repost past session videos. Make your existing thought leadership efforts work harder for you. There’s never been a better time to resurface that session from last fall than now, while people are craving content and have the time to watch. 

3. Clean up your speaking platform. Create a new angle or deck, spruce up your bio, organize your speaking experience and examples, and/or create a website to visualize it.

4. Think ahead. We’re optimistic this will pass, and based on our COVID-19 event tracking, events will be in FULL SWING when we do. Sixty-one percent* of events impacted by COVID-19 have been postponed to fall, which is already the busiest conference season of the year. Given the average lead time for conferences is six months, waiting for this time to pass will be too late. Continue researching and lining up your fall schedule now. 

5. Practice. The most compelling speakers get requests for their next opportunity when they’re speaking; doesn’t matter if physical or virtual. Take this time to rehearse: record yourself or listen to existing recordings, practice eye contact, and visual or physical cues. Take advantage of your home audience, be it your roommates, your spouse, or your kids! 

Let’s not miss out on opportunities to continue building your brand by seeking and embracing the benefits of virtual while we pause on physical. Don’t wait for COVID-19 to pass, or it could be too late. 

*Updated as of the publish time of this post

Looking to build or enhance your thought leadership profile?