TaleCatcher - How Do These Things Happen?

How Do These Things Happen?

“I’m planning the Government CIO Summit,” the lady from Federal Computer Week said over the phone, “and we wondered if you’d be our keynote speaker?” Bill froze, wondering how to tell the woman she’d dialed a wrong number. “You spoke at one of our sessions a few years ago,” the woman said, probably to counter the silence that had descended, “and I read your interview on our web site.” She’d dialed the right number.

Bill, Bob, John (back row), and cousins

You want me to give the keynote?
What’s a keynote?

Bill knew the conference well. A high percentage of the 150-200 attendees were Chief Information Officers of federal, state, and local government organizations. For Bill’s novel, there could be no better group of “sneezers” (a marketing term coined by Seth Godin and meaning “those who spread the word”).

“By the way,” the lady added, “we’d like to buy copies of your book for all of the conference attendees.”

When Bill regained speaking ability, he choked out a favorable reply.

“What are your needs?” the lady asked.

“You mean like a dozen roses in my room?” Bill asked.

“We can do that.”

“No, no.” Bill said. He also turned down a testimonial fee to avoid a conflict of interest with his day job, but finally accepted coverage of his travel costs.

How did this happen? The people at Federal Computer Week had heard Bill speak years earlier, if any remembered, and they had interviewed him two days earlier, but none had read his novel. In fact, they were not even aware that the novel had become one of the 500 best-sellers on amazon.com, a fact Bill mentioned several times. Bill’s conclusion was that somehow “buzz” had started. At least, he could hear it inside his head.