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Sam Horn, the Intrigue Expert, is a positioning, messaging and branding expert whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, the Washington Post and on NPR and MSNCBC. Her speaking clients include KPMG, Cisco, ASAE, Boeing, Inc. 500, Intel, NASA, and Capital One, and she has served as the pitch coach for Springboard Enterprises, which has helped entrepreneurs receive $6.6 billion in funding. Sam was also 2-time TEDx speaker.
Her stage fright moment
Speaking at an Inc.500 event, Sam started feeling self-conscious. “How do I look? What if I forget what I say?” She had some stage fright moments like these. She believes that the important thing is to focus on connecting with the audience, and adding value for the audience.
How Sam became the Intrigue Expert
Years ago, Sam was at the Maui Writers Conference, an event where authors had a chance to meet decision makers. Talking with a colleague, they observed that you could guess which writer would sign a deal just by looking at the publisher’s eyebrows. The decision makers who got eyebrows raised were intrigued and more interested in the book. That’s how she started talking about intrigue. Ten years ago Sam renamed her company as The Intrigue Agency and she became the Intrigue Expert.
Related: Effectively communicating with venture investors
Her book “Got Your Attention?”
Released in April 2015, and endorsed by Daniel Pink and Marshall Goldsmith, Got Your Attention? is a book full of ideas of how to intrigue and connect with anyone. Among many other techniques, Sam developed a 60-second opening for a pitch. First, ask three “did you know …?” questions. Secondly, ask “Imagine if …”. Finally, show your solution with “You don’t have to imagine, we have it …”. You can read the technique in the following article.
Being TEDx speaker and coach
Sam has been a TEDx speaker twice. She made the talks interactive because she believes that even in this 18-minute short format there must be interaction with the audience. As a TEDx coach, she has developed a system to help people to give great TED/TEDx talks.
Favorite quotation
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It’s to matter, to feel that it made some difference that we lived at all.” — Leo Rosten
Recommended book
What do you do with an idea? by Kobi Yamada
Routine to Shine
Ink it when you think it! When you hear or see something interesting, write it down. Otherwise you will forget it, lose it. Go to a stationery store, buy a journal and start carrying it with you everywhere you go.
Links
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