Reference Letter

A reference letter is a wonderful way to help others know the valuable information your attendees learned, as well as to say thank you to the speaker. Your letter should be on your organization's letterhead, dated, and should have three distinct areas: an introduction, a body, and a close. Most people dedicate a paragraph to each area.

Introduction

The introduction should be an overview statement of the facts - date, location, speech title, and a thank you or acknowledgement of how well the speaker did. Here are two examples:

Thank you for an awesome presentation at our training event in Glendale, Arizona on June 15, 2007 - everyone in the audience is still singing your praises! Your keynote presentation, "Entrepreneur Survival Skills” was timely and on target to help our team better understand how to grow our practice. The practical concepts and tools shared will be easy to remember and apply.

"Thank You" just does not seem adequate enough to convey how we feel about the presentation you gave to our members at our meeting in Peoria on March 13, 2007. Since delivering "How to Maximize Your Publicity," I have had many members comment on your incredible knowledge and your ability to motivate and inspire. You make publicity seem doable even for the smallest business.

The Body

The body of the letter is normally the area that takes the most time. However, we have found a very easy method to convey the information you want, without taking up much of your time. Simply take the top three things you heard people say about the speaker's presentation and format them into a paragraph or a series of bullet points. Here are two examples:

Julia-Isabel, I had no idea that getting publicity was so easy. Your explanation of the process made everyone realize how they could do it themselves. When participants were asked what they could implement immediately, their comments included:

Ť How to write a press release

Ť how to make the media work for you

Ť how to plan publicity for the future

Ť how to contact the media

Ť the list of newsworthy angles

I had no doubts that you would be fantastic on the subject, but I was not prepared for your enthusiasm and energy. You had the audience on the edge of their seats, laughing, nodding, and participating all of the way through. Here are a few of the comments that people made on the evaluations:

Ť This was a very useful seminar!

Ť The presentation covered things I was not aware of.

Ť This is very useful info for a small business!

Ť This was an excellent presentation.

Closing Paragraph

The closing paragraph summarizes your feelings about the speaker's presentation and ends the letter. If there are future opportunities to utilize the speaker, this is also a great place to "plant that seed." Here are two examples:

It was such a great pleasure working with you. Thank you for all of your efforts in making this event a huge success. Based on the comments of the attendees, we will certainly be contacting you about next year's conference.

Julia-Isabel, on behalf of the Programs Committee, I appreciate the valuable contribution you have made in making our event a success. Once again, the knowledge, information, and enthusiasm you shared really had an impact on our members.