Stage 1 now reads speaking slots and podcasts

Stage 1 now reads 48 buying signals in ten families. Two of them are about leaders talking in public.

Speaking slot is now its own signal. Podcast guest is new.

Speaking slot, split out of event attendance

Until now, a leader at a conference counted as event attendance. Going to an event and standing on its stage aren't the same thing, so we split them.

A leader posting about a talk, a panel or a keynote reads as a Speaking slot. So does a headline that names one. It scores at Medium strength, ahead of event attendance at Light.

The reason is simple. A talk names the program in the leader's own words. And it puts you in the room.

That's a better first line than anything you'll find on the company's website. The leader picked the topic, wrote the slides and said it out loud to a room of peers. Quoting it back shows you paid attention to what they care about, not to what their marketing team published.

The opener Stage 1 drafts leads with the talk. The full case for the signal is in speaking slots tell you what a leader is selling inside.

Podcast guest, a new signal

Leaders go on podcasts and talk for thirty minutes about their priorities. That's research you can quote.

Once a day, Stage 1 looks up the senior people named at your watched accounts in public podcast directories. Each person gets checked about once a week.

An episode only counts when its title or show notes name the person and the company. That keeps namesakes out. A VP of Engineering with a common name won't pull in someone else's episode, and you won't send an opener quoting a stranger.

Podcast guest scores at Light strength. Shows need a guest every week, and a guest spot says less about budget than a talk does. Its value is in what the leader said.

The opener leads with the episode. Why we think it works is in podcast guest spots are a buying signal.

Where they live

Both signals sit in the Topic family on the signals page.

The strength of each is yours to change in the app. If talks are your best way in, move Speaking slot up. If podcasts never turn into meetings for your firm, move Podcast guest down.

A talk and an episode are both a leader telling you, in public, what they're working on. Stage 1 now reads both, and the opener starts from their words.