I used to give dozens of a year. I spoke at 54 events one year. I flew 100,000+ miles for 3 years. Speaking was my main source of income.
I gave it up back in 2019.
So, why did I quit speaking at events?
Presentations Don’t Lead To Change
I realized that talking about teaching just didn’t move the needle. Even when people loved my presentation, the chance that they’d implement anything from the talk was pretty low.
And it’s totally understandable! Talks leave too many details unexplained.
After you go home, you’re left with vague memories, some notes, and maybe a PDF of slides. That’s not enough to successfully implement a new idea. You need to see teaching in action. And you probably need to see it a few times before you can do it well.
Listening to a talk actually creates more work for teachers. Everyone has to go home and figure out how to implement the ideas I talked about.
⚠️ It’s also a problem that conferences don’t check if speakers have used the ideas they’re presenting. Not once in my experience did a conference ask for proof that I knew what I was talking about. I’ve sat through many talks where the presenters were speaking about ideas they clearly had not used in classrooms.
Even as a keynote speaker, no conference ever asked me to run through my presentation with them ahead of time. The organizers watched my talk for the first time along with the attendees. That’s not good!
Being More Useful
So, instead of giving talks that people like (but probably won’t implement), now I write fully-functioning lessons. Not mere “lesson plans”!! Reading lesson plans makes me go cross-eyed!
I make videos. But not videos for teachers to watch. I make videos that teachers can play directly for their students.
The difference has been striking. It turns out that teachers are starving for solutions.
They don’t want to hear someone vaguely describe an idea. They need work taken off of their plates! “Byrdseed.TV is a lifesaver!” people tell me. One person used the word “godsend.” (No one called any of my talks a “lifesaver” or “godsend”!)
Nowadays, Byrdseed.TV has more members than I would ever have dreamed of. It’s way way way larger than any conference I ever spoke at. I have more members than even the largest gifted association.
But Byrdseed.TV’s size isn’t what I’m most proud of.
The Proof Is In The Feedback
My favorite metric isn’t the number of Byrdseed.TV members. It’s the type of feedback I receive now.
Back when I “talked about teaching,” people would say to me:
I loved your talk! It was so engaging. You’ve given me a lot to think about.
Ok! That’s nice. But, now I get emails like…
My students just finished your lesson about the hundreds place and wanted me to show you what they came up with…
Or, even better:
We are in the middle of the Coloring Problem activity and my students disagree with your conclusion. Can you answer their questions…
Or,
My students were so excited to find three words you missed in scarecrow. They’d love for you to add them to the video…
Do you see the difference?
Teachers liked my talks. But they actually use the lessons from Byrdseed.TV.
I Hope I’m Retired!
Every year people reach out and ask me to keynote an upcoming conference.
But now you know why I’ve given that up. My time and energy are limited. I want to be as useful as I can.
Haven’t tried Byrdseed.TV yet? Explore the library. It’s about as useful as I can be without actually visiting your classroom!
If you’re running a conference and would like to offer Byrdseed.TV to your attendees, get in touch: ian@byrdseed.com. I guarantee you that teachers will find it more useful than your last keynote speaker.