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Blog / News – Posted: 17th January, 2019

How to get speaking opportunities

Have you ever fancied speaking at an event, but have no idea how to go about it? This blog post shares with you how to get speaking opportunities.

Event speakers enjoy instant credibility, not just with the attendees, but with other speakers, and anyone who sees you mentioned on the sales page. After all, only movers-and-shakers who have an interesting or inspirational story to tell are asked to be a guest speaker. Thus, once you get booked for a speaking gig, your credibility soars.

However, your speech is not just an ad for your business. You need to teach the attendees something or inspire them to reach new heights in their business. What’s your story that makes you stand out from the rest of the speakers? What message will you share? These are all branding questions that you should have answered before now but reviewing them again will help you solidify what type of talk you’ll give.

Maybe you have an interesting backstory to how your business got started. Maybe you overcame some adversity before starting your business. Maybe you’ve learned important life lessons that made you change careers. No matter what your story, embrace it along with all its lessons and be willing to share it with your audience. Once people are enamored with your story, they will start following you online and they may be in need of the services or products your business offers.

Speaking at events is a way of creating relationships with your audience as well as with other speakers but you still need to do research to choose events at which to speak. Here are a few tips to get you started:

  • Start with small events where you know the organiser. These may be local and a small audience, but you already have an “in” by knowing the organiser. Smaller events are often more willing to accept speakers without experience provided the organiser knows your background and knows you’re professional.
  • Look for events that attract your ideal client but which are not hosted by your competitors. First of all, the hosting company may not even accept your proposal if they think you’re there to poach their attendees and who wants to be witness to awkward moments between speakers who are direct competitors of each other. Your audience is huge; don’t think you have to knock off other competition just to gain a foothold. Find different events to address your ideal clients.
  • Have a standard talk that you have perfected and can simply tweak for different audiences. You’ll relieve stress on yourself, knowing that you have your talk prepared and you’ll feel confident, especially if your standard talk was well-received at other events.

Finding your first speaking gigs can be stressful and time consuming but the more speaking gigs you can add to your resume, the more you’ll be asked to speak. And think of all the exposure you and your company will receive in all the pre-event advertising, on the ticket sales page, in the event program guide, during networking times, and on signage throughout the venue.