I spent two hours networking with 8 rooms of 5 students each, providing career advice.
Hosted by the Ted Rogers Management Conference
and Kevin Balkaran
Featured Panelist on the Ted Rogers Management Conference 2021 Corporate Round Table
Featured on the Queens Sales Initiative Panel February 2021
Speaker Panel Questions I was asked:
1. What did your journey from school into sales look like?
2. How did you get involved with your company? What did the application process look like?
3. Was their a particular moment or experience that led you to realizing that sales was the path you wanted to pursue?
4. What does the sales cycle look like at IBM and Microsoft?
5. Are there any specific strategies you use to stay engaged with prospects or clients given the work from home environment?
6. What do you think are the most important skills for success are in your role?
7. What does your day-to-day look like at your prospective company?
8. Being tech focused, where do you see your role heading in the next 5-10 years?
9. How do you see the sales role shifting in the age of technology?
10. Concerning professional designations/credentials, are there any sales specific one’s that you would recommend? If so, how helpful would they be in advancing someone’s career?
11. Is there a specific moment that has been the highlight of your career?
How I got Involved:
Real Talks with Ryan Ing: A Business Talk Show – Ep.1 New Grads in Tech Sales
In January 2021 I became inspired to host my own speaker panel because I realized how critical having a good Speaker Moderator is, in creating a great audience experience. They can basically make or break the show. So I set out to create a speaker panel event unlike any other!
I really gave it full effort by:
– hosting a pre-interview with all 3 panelists for 45 minute to create a great question/answer list with added visuals
– creating a marketing campaign of images/videos themed after Jimmy Fallon
– DJ’ing music at the event live for the introduction!
The Pitch
Welcome to the Ryan Ing Talk Show, where the guests are business professionals but the questions I ask are the utmost personal. Controversial questions? I will ask them. Personal questions? I will ask them. Memes? You better be prepared.
Besides the highly entertaining flair, I’ll make sure to get the facts you really want to know, from each of the speakers. What are the pros AND cons of working at your company? What’s the real secret behind their hiring process? Is your corporate culture really a cult? 😂
This episode we are featuring three new grads who did the undoable – landing multiple offers at top tier tech firms during the pandemic: Shopify, DocuSign, and Amazon Web Services.
🎵 *Cue the hip hop music* 🎵
See you there!
P.S. One last bonus: Three lucky audience members will be selected to win a coffee chat with the speakers, live during the event!
The Event Recap
The first episode of the Talk Show was a success 🤗! We sold 104 tickets and had 75 attendees live! We went through personal stories, life lessons, insights from the interview process, and engaged the audience live through polls and Q&A! #RealTalksWithRyan
From the success of this event I’m happy to share that Tech Pod has brought me on to host 4 of their upcoming speaker panel events across the US (Atlanta, Texas, California, Chicago)
👉 My goal for 2021 is to host 8 events. If you are putting together a virtual speaker panel and want a host that will work with your planning team to put together a great show, please DM me!
Until then I will keep channeling my Jimmy Fallon, Joe Rogan, and Steve Paikin (TV reporter) energy in preparation for EPISODE TWO 2️⃣!
Thank you Simrah Ali Mae Coulson Rotimi Ojo and Ryerson Sales Initiative for bringing this event to life!
Above is a montage image capturing all the best elements!
The idea of the workshop was to be themed after Jimmy Fallon show!
Here was the eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/real-talks-with-ryan-ing-a-business-talk-show-ep-1-tickets-137042488773#
Here’s what an attendee, Ahmedullah Shah had to say:
“Cracking The Sales Case Interview” with Ryan Ing & Simrah Ali March 2020
On March 2021, I was called by the Ryerson Sales Initiative back for a second year to lead a workshop on sales skills. We had 25 students attend, and we ran for 2 hours.
The first thing we taught was why the sales case was important:
Our Two Sales Cases were RElated to:
IBM – Pitching an AI Chatbot to Rogers Canada
Shopify – Pitching a Shopify POS solution to a retail store
The two winners of the workshop were:
Anas Abdul and Adam Rose
They won $25 Uber Eats giftcards and referral for the TRUST program
For anyone looking for a highly interactive sales workshop where students walk away with tangible skills/practice. Feel free to email me and we can discuss.
Recording of this workshop is available upon request.
IBM Summit Program Experience – 12 – Farewell IBM!
Today marks my last week at IBM.
It has been an incredible journey over the last 3 years.
This video captures some of the highlights! Have a listen!
I am forever grateful for the opportunity to work for such a great organization and to be surrounded by amazing people 😊
My heart is filled with such great memories, from how I felt when I first received my dream internship, to graduating from Global Sales School, to being in charge of a full sales territory, and to all of the awesome people I have been able to work with 🧑🤝🧑
I also hold dear in my heart all of the opportunities provided for me to make an impact on people, including the Summit Program, Employee’s Charitable Fund, EANG, and Blue Core Coaching 🙏
Sharing my story and empowering others around me, are two personal values that I discovered and let flourish during my time at IBM. These are two things I will continue doing for the rest of my career 👏
I’m taking a couple weeks off before starting the next journey, stay tuned 👋!
Featured on University of Texas Austin Alpha Kappa Psi Panel by Tech Pod March 2021
I was the speaker moderator on this live event.
We had 100 atteendees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvoFVXqT3Wo&ab_channel=TechPod
The feedback we received:
Photos of the Google Slides we used:
Google Slides available here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1oV3W4pAnGFvYv7KyT8I4t4OUoGdl3H2Src-G_rzRv2U/edit?usp=sharing
What I would improve on next time as a moderator:
> Help the audience ask better questions by giving them general topics. (Preventing the audience from asking dumb questions.. happens often)
> Help the moderators bond with each other by pointing out similarities between each other, so they can laugh and joke with each other. (Preventing the moderators from only talking when I ask them a question… can get dull)
Featured on GSU Panel Feb 2021
I was the Speaker moderator for Delta Sigma Pi at Georgia State University!
Hosting the IBM Canada Lunar New Year Celebration Feb 2021
Last Friday my team hosted the IBM Canada Lunar New Year Celebration and I was selected to host the show 🎤! With our team effort we brought out 100 attendees from all across North and South America for an hour long show of fun and education!
Whenever I’m on brought on as an organizer, I always try innovate, by giving the audience something completely new. So we decided on hiring a virtual comedian 💡! DK Phan recounted stories of cultural mishaps, asian parents with high academic expectations, and life as a former kung-fu instructor😂! We had the audience laughing out of their seats and yes – we triple checked to ensure this all fit within our diversity guidelines.
One thing that I was surprised with was the amount of IBMers of non-asian backgrounds who attended but who were eager to learn and relate to the festivities. One attendee pointed out that during Diwali, they have the same tradition of “cleaning out the house” for the New Year.
Lisa Marie Chen helped the audience to find their Chinese Zodiac!
👉 Any IBMers interested in attending future events or volunteering with EANG, please message Caroline Yang, CHRL, CCP!
👉 DK Phan is also open to future comedy gigs! DM me or him for info!
Quote from DK Phan
“Ryan Ing is incredibly organized and ran a terrific show for the IBM Lunar New Year show. He was an amazing host and facilitator, setting me up for success by priming the crowd for a comedy show and bringing me up just as if he were a professional comedy club MC himself. He was also very thorough leading up to the event in terms of making sure that everything would work from a technical standpoint and providing me with all of the tools necessary to put on a great show.”
Ryan Ing – Professional Speaker Moderator
If you are reading this page, you are likely an Event Organizer hosting a Speaker Panel event and are curious – how can I make my event be amazing for the attendees?
How can I make the presentation engaging enough so that attendees don’t lose interest after 15 minutes?
How can I create an event that people will speak highly about to their friends, and want to attend again in the future?
| Average Moderator | Ryan – The “Talk show Host Experience” |
| Allows the panelists to self-introduce themselves | Hosts a pre-interview with the panelists prior to the event to get to know them, then gives a highly compelling introduction at the event |
| Asks the same question to each moderator | Asks different, tailored questions, to each panelist |
| Sticks to “safe” topics | Asks “controversial” questions in a graceful way, revealing the intimate facts that the audience really wants to hear |
| Allows panelists to finish their answers, even if they know its boring for the audience | I will cut off a panelist from speaking in the most polite way possible, if I feel they are talking for too long |
| Sticks to asking open-ended questions e.g. “What is the biggest lesson in your career?” | Uses both open-ended and close-ended questions. |
As an example, look at reporter Steve Paikin, one of Canada’s best journalist and interviewer. He always asks the most DIFFICULT questions
My Process
– I talk with you (the organizer) to understand
– I book a 1:1 with each of the panelists to get to know their story.
How You Benefit
– You
Why should I choose Ryan as opposed to someone else?
– I have spoken on 12 panels and attended over 24.
The cost
– Nothing! I do this for free.
Well let’s first break down the pieces of a Speaker Panel Event.
You have four people with competing interests.
Organizers
Moderators
Panelists – Want to make themselves good without bragging. Want to
Audience – Want to be entertained, educated, inspired, and want to network with everyone above.
Completing the Blue Core Coaching Program
Ryan co-facilitated a 8 week coaching program which included 5 facilitated online sessions with just over 20 learners. Ryan was exceptional in his communication skills in facilitating learning conversations that kept the team engaged and curious. He was pro-active throughout the entire process, taking initiative to reach out, set the tone with the team and insure that the two of us were on the same page as we created this experience for the team. During the online sessions he brought relative points to the discussion and was supportive of each individuals learning experience.
Julie Foxcroft, Certified Coach