Hi, Speaker Friends! Last weekend was my last event of the spring speaking season. It was a wonderful event, and I was thrilled to have my first event outside the US. My Canadian hosts were charming, and it thrills my wander-lusting (a label my grandmother gave me) soul to say I’m now an international speaker!

At several of my spring events, event planners came up with some truly innovative ways to let their women know me ahead of time. I was inspired by them and by an excellent post by Gina Duke in womensministry.net’s weekly tips. Click here to read the article. *There’s usually a timeframe these articles are available, so read it today before it’s gone.

Angela Donadio, a Next Step client, friend, worship leader & speaker, used Facebook in the most unique way I’ve seen. Check this out:

Isn’t that an awesome idea?! Angela had me send several questions that related to my talk, and women could enter for the giveaway with a comment or like.

I’m going to use these ideas to create a PDF on my “For Event Planners” page on my website so that I can help planners with their attendance. Do you have anything you’re doing to help planners engage women before your events? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Important Notes:

• As I mentioned, I just finished my last speaking event for spring, but I’m hitting my limitations in a big way. Summer is here. Boys are home. Book launch and She Speaks are coming fast!! So… I’m going to take a hiatus from blogging here for the summer. If you’re subscribed, you’ll see me pop back into your email box again come fall. If you’re not, this would be a great time to subscribe so that you don’t miss a thing in our Speaker Girl Community in the fall.
• Heatherly, who left her comment at 5:35 pm on 5/19, won the copy of How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird. Congratulations, Heatherly!

I used to hate marketing for all the reasons you probably hate it too.

It felt self-serving.

It felt like tooting my own horn.

It felt narcissistic.

Did I hit the nail on the head?

That’s how I felt until I understood that a change of focus is all it takes to take marketing from slimy to generous. Here’s how I was challenged to think differently and therefore to market differently. A friend asked me, “Amy, do you think you have a message that can help women? That will change their life?”

“Yes, of course,” I answered. “That’s what motivates me to do what I do.”

“Well, if you don’t tell anybody,” she challenged, “then how do they know what you have to give to them?”

Oh! The light bulb went on!

Photo Credit

It’s easy to think about in general terms, but I’m finding it’s harder to do in concrete terms as I market my book being release this summer. I’m so grateful for friends that are leading the way and setting godly examples for me.

One of those Next Step client turned friend is Amy Lively  who has just released her excellent book How to Love Your Neighbor Without Being Weird. 

In every promotion, every social networking post, and every interaction with those who love her book, Amy is all about the message that has set her heart aflame for a better way to follow God. Truly. Her book is written intimately and vulnerably for each of us in mind, but she says she really wrote the book for our neighbors–the ones who need love and desperately need Jesus.

Don’t you love that? Seriously, if you want to see generous messaging, follow the links above, and check out Amy’s . (Do you see how much stuff she’s giving away?!)

I love Amy. I love her heart. I love her message. (Enough to include a bad picture of me with a great book! This is a real day in the home office, folks.)

She loves us too! So she’s giving a book away on the blog today. You can leave a comment to enter about your ideas for generous messaging (’cause we LOVE hearing from you) or you can simply leave “Now that’s generous messaging!” as a comment to enter.

I did feel guilty at times about being paid to speak, and I’ll bet you’ve struggled too.

I don’t feel guilty anymore, though, and Michael Hyatt just wrote an excellent blog post with all the things I think, but he said it better. to read the post. My nugget of the week written by Michael Hyatt!