Speaker Reel Day #2
Your first reel starts here.
A cinematic speaker reel, filmed on a 1,000-seat broadcast stage and shaped frame by frame by Emmy Award winner Max Partain, so the moment a planner presses play, they see what you already are.
Melody Vachal
Speaker & Author
"He saw a need for speakers who didn't always get the stage footage they needed, and he freaking created it."
Michael Snyder
ADHD Coach & Keynote Speaker
“If you're a speaker working on your reel, Max is the one and only guy you need on your team. An Emmy winning filmmaker, and someone who genuinely cares about getting it right for you.”
Vikki Lange
Corporate Keynote Speaker
“I had someone ask me about you Max, and they said they couldn’t afford you. I told them they can’t afford not to!”
"The quality of a true filmmaker."
Kelly Swanson, CPAE Hall of Fame speaker
The email every speaker dreads
"Do you have footage of you speaking?"
Every planner asks it. Their whole decision runs through it. And right now, here's what you have to send back:
A clip from the back of a hotel ballroom, shot on someone's phone, with the AC humming louder than your best line.
A reel from three years ago that shows a speaker you've already outgrown.
The keynote of your life, and the venue's single camera caught the back of your head.
A polite reply that says "we'd love to see you on a bigger stage," which quietly ends the conversation.
Your story is real. The speakers getting booked ahead of you simply have better proof. And proof is something we can build in a day.
The math nobody shows you
What the missing footage is actually costing you
The keynotes going elsewhere.
A single booked keynote pays for this day several times over. Every season, planners fill their calendars with speakers who had ten great minutes on film. The fee you're missing costs more than any reel ever will.
The fee your footage is anchoring.
When your proof looks homemade, the conversation circles back to price. Broadcast-quality footage moves the conversation to value, and your rate moves with it.
The compounding delay.
Planners book quarters ahead. Every month without a reel pushes your next stage back another season. Waiting has a price, and it renews monthly.
From speakers who stood where you're standing
Here's where July's speakers were before they walked onto the stage.
Melody Vachal
Speaker & Author
"He saw a need for speakers who didn't always get the stage footage they needed, and he freaking created it."
Michael Snyder
ADHD Coach & Keynote Speaker
“If you're a speaker working on your reel, Max is the one and only guy you need on your team. An Emmy winning filmmaker, and someone who genuinely cares about getting it right for you.”
Vikki Lange
Corporate Keynote Speaker
“I had someone ask me about you Max, and they said they couldn’t afford you. I told them they can’t afford not to!”
What changed for them?
One day on a broadcast stage.
Same speaker. Thirty days apart. This is the difference a planner sees.
Karen Lynn Kaplan - Keynote speaker
Before
After
Michael Snyder - Keynote speaker
Before
(He didn’t have one!!)
After
Vikki Lange - Keynote speaker
Before
(She didn’t have one!!)
After
Fast forward
Now picture yourself in October.
Your reel landed in mid-September. Here's what starts happening:
✔ A planner presses play and sees you commanding a 1,000-seat stage in cinematic 4K.
✔ You quote your new fee, and the call keeps moving.
✔ The reply comes back: "When are you available in Q1?"
✔ Your headshots, your slide, and your positioning line up across every profile you have.
✔ You open your raw footage folder and cut your fifth piece of content this month from it.
Bigger stages. Better fees. Proof that works while you sleep. That's what happens when your footage finally matches your talent.
Introducing
Speaker Reel Day
One day on a broadcast stage. Everything in your reel gets created on September 8: the footage, the photos, the testimonials, the film. You arrive with a story. You leave with the proof every planner asks for.
If you've never been professionally filmed, you're exactly who this day was built for. Have past footage? Great. We can weave it in. Starting from zero? Even better.
Here's what happens between now and your reel
1. You find the story worth telling.
On a positioning call with Max, you get clear on exactly how you should be known. You leave knowing your one line, your proof, and the buyer your reel is built to win.
2. You get it into your body.
Your script gets written with the edit already in mind. Then group coaching and a timed run-through move it from the page into your voice, so you walk on stage ready.
3. You take the stage.
September 8. Hair and makeup done, script confirmed, a director in your corner. You deliver ten directed minutes on a 1,000-seat broadcast stage, in front of a room full of working speakers, with four cinematic cameras catching every angle.
4. You watch your film with Max.
A live review of your cut, together. Every frame shaped by an editor who's spent a career deciding which moments deserve to survive.
5. You send it.
The next time a planner asks for footage, you attach the reel and hit reply in under a minute. That email changes what happens next in your speaking career.
Everything inside Speaker Reel Day
1. The Signature Reel
A cinematic, multi-angle film with motion graphics, refined with you in a live review. Every other reel service clips and crops. We shape a film.
"The quality of a true filmmaker." · Kelly Swanson, CPAE Hall of Fame
2. The Broadcast Stage Session
Ten directed minutes on a 1,000-seat stage. Four cinematic 4K cameras, pro audio, and a live audience of working speakers.
3. Two Private Calls with Max
A positioning call to establish your brand, and a script-writing call to build your ten minutes around your strengths.
"Max is the one and only guy you need on your team." · Michael Snyder
4. The Performance Lab
Group coaching, delivery practice, and a timed run-through, so the version of you that takes the stage is the version planners pay for.
5. The Image Kit
Hair and makeup, professional headshots, on-stage performance photography, and a branded slide designed around your story.
6. The Footage Vault
Every frame of raw footage from your session, yours to keep permanently, licensed to go anywhere. Past footage woven in, available as an add-on.
"He saw a need for speakers, and he freaking created it." · Melody Vachal
Why this reel wins
What makes Speaker Reel Day different
A filmmaker shapes it, frame by frame.
Every other reel service clips and crops. We keep the moments that show you at your best and build them into something that moves people. That's a film, and it's the difference a planner feels in the first five seconds.
An Emmy behind the lens.
Your reel carries the same editorial judgment that wins broadcast awards. Planners can tell.
A real room, full of real speakers.
You perform for a live audience of working keynote speakers. The energy on camera is real, and the testimonials come from people who know exactly what a great keynote looks like.
You own every frame.
Raw footage, headshots, testimonials, positioning. Yours permanently, licensed to go anywhere, with no watermarks and no strings.
I'm an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. I've spent my career in edit suites deciding which moments deserve to survive, including six years following a world-class orchestra conductor for a feature documentary.
Along the way I noticed something about speakers: the best ones almost never had footage that matched their talent. They were winning rooms and losing inboxes. So I built the thing I kept wishing existed: a broadcast stage, a real audience, and a director whose whole job is pulling your best ten minutes out of you.
"I help speakers figure out the optimal version of themselves to put in front of a buyer. And then I cut it."
Your director
Hi, I'm Max.
Is this for you?
YES, if you are:
A speaker with a real story and a keynote you believe in
Ready to be booked on bigger stages at better fees
Able to be in Naperville, IL on September 8
Willing to prepare: a script, coaching, and a timed run-through before you step on stage
Ready to invest in proof that pays for itself with one booking
This is STILL for you even if:
You've never been professionally filmed (you're exactly who this day was built for)
You have old footage you're unsure about (we can weave the good parts in)
You get nervous on camera (that's what the coaching, the run-through, and a director in your corner are for)
Your story feels fuzzy right now (the positioning call happens before anything else)
guarantees
✔ The story guarantee
We only move to filming once we're both convinced we've found the story worth telling.
✔ The editorial guarantee
I keep refining the edit over two days until it reflects the creative direction we approved together.
✔ The performance guarantee
If you're still working toward ready, we keep coaching before you step on stage.
✔ The ownership guarantee
You leave owning every frame captured of you. Your footage is yours, permanently.
The reel that gets you booked.
For the speaker who's done getting passed over.
$5,999 5 spots left of 15 · OpenThe day
- A cinematic day, filmed and shaped by Max Partain
- 10 directed minutes on a 1,000-seat broadcast stage
- Four cinematic 4K cameras and pro audio
- A positioning call with Max to establish your brand
- A script-writing call with Max
- Group coaching to rehearse your story
- Hair and makeup the day of the event
What you keep
- Your cinematic film, with a live review with Max
- A branded slide designed around you
- Headshots plus on-stage performance photography
- Audience testimonials filmed while it's fresh
- Every frame of raw footage, yours to keep
- Every asset ready to use, licensed to go anywhere
- Past footage woven in, available as an add-on
Booking closes August 18
Speaker Reel Day · September 8
Booking closes August 18.
Booking for September 8 is closed.
It's time to take the stage.
Naperville, September 8. When the spots are gone, they're gone.
You've spent years earning the right to be on bigger stages. One day builds the proof. The planners booking Q1 are watching reels right now. Make sure one of them is yours.
See you on set. · Max
P.S. We keep the day at 15 speakers so every person gets a director's full attention on stage. Five spots remain, and booking closes August 18. The right time to build your proof was before your last three planner emails. The next best time is today.
P.P.S. As Vikki Lange put it after her day on the stage: "I had someone ask me about you Max, and they said they couldn't afford you. I told them they can't afford not to!"