My very first public speaking gig! So much more nerve-wracking than singing in front of an audience of 500 super smart people.
The theme of the night was “Failure” and I talked about my failed US Tour and then my successful pre-sold tour.
Way back in the summer of 2011 I was the first person to pre-sell shows this way, I wrote about it for warrenellis.com and then BoingBoing.net picked it up. Then the idea steamrolled it’s way onto CNN, The BBC, and more.
Now there are several websites devoted to pre-selling concerts! I haven’t tried any of them yet, but the one I mention in the talk is Detour.com. At present they are focussed on bringing big name acts to new markets. But I hope they’ll open up for small, independent artists soon. If you are looking to pre-sell shows now you can check out www.wedemand.com or www.bringthegig.com.
