7 Proven Steps To Finding & Booking PAID SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 Determine The Industry You Could Speak To Find A Problem You Could Speak On Structure Your Presentation Establish Yourself As The Expert Mine For Speaking Opportunities Contact Decision Makers Get Paid Speaking Engagements BONUS! Building Confidence As A Speaker T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M 01 Determine The Industry You Could Speak To • There are seven primary industries that hire speakers: Corporations, Associations, Faith/Churches, Non-Profits, Government/Military, Colleges/Universities, and Education (K-12). • You potentially could speak to multiple industries, but you should only pick ONE to focus your marketing efforts towards. • If you think you can speak to anyone, you really can speak to no one. You won’t get hired this way. • The more clear you are about WHO you speak to, the easier it will be to find speaking engagements. • But Grant…there’s a bunch of different audiences I’m interested in? How do I pick just one? Let me give you permission to take some of the pressure off yourself. • You’re not making a lifetime commitment to only speak to this same audience forever and forever. Pick an audience that you’re willing to stick with for at least a year. For now, you just need a starting point. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M 02 Find A Problem You Could Speak On • Assuming you were put in front of your perfect audience to talk about any subject, what would you speak on? Just like when picking an industry, if you think you can speak about anything, you really can speak about nothing. • Finding a problem you could speak on requires both interest and integrity. The problem has to be one you are actually interested in helping to solve AND be a problem that your industry legitimately cares about. • If you try to solve a problem nobody cares about, you won’t get booked to speak. Integrity means, are you qualified to talk about this subject? Just because you’re interested in talking about it doesn’t mean you can. • But Grant…what if I’m not an expert? You don’t have to be the best in the world at something to be considered an expert. What comes easy to you may be super complex or confusing to your audience. • It’s critically important to be clear on the Industry you speak to, a problem you have an Interest in solving (and that the market actually cares about) and have the Integrity to be able to actually speak on that topic. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M • Industry + Interest - Integrity = If you have the market and the interest is there but you’re not qualified to speak on that problem, you’ll be a Bogus speaker. • Interest + Integrity - Industry = If you have the interest and are qualified to solve that problem but there’s no market for it, you’ll be a Broke speaker. • Integrity + Industry - Interest = If you’re qualified to solve the problem and there’s an industry that needs your help, but you’re not interested in that, you’ll be a Bored speaker. 03 Structure Your Presentation • Begin with the end in mind. Imagine your talk is taking people on a road trip. A road trip must have a destination…somewhere you’re intending to go. • So where do you want to take your audience? What feeling, change, or action do you want to the have or experience as a result of your talk? Once you know that, then you can begin to create the ‘map’ that will help you lead them to that place. • EXERCISE: Create a one paragraph description of your talk (before you’ve written it). Think of it like the back cover summary of a T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M book. You can take a 250 page book and condense it down to one paragraph to give someone a snapshot of what the book is about. Create the same thing for your talk. One paragraph giving an overview of the talk and what audience members will learn from it. • I generally manuscript out my talks. I write them out like I would say them. I never just do bullet points or talk off the cuff. That’s not professional. You can always tell the difference between a speaker who has prepared and someone who is just winging it. • Tell lots of stories. Stories are memorable. Stories are relatable. Stories hold people’s attention. Try to avoid third person stories. I’d rather hear about stories you lived rather than what someone else lived. • Practice a lot. Practice your talk by recording yourself on video. Do it exactly like you would on stage. Your talk should sound natural but not memorized. I manuscript out my talks, but I don’t memorize them word-for-word. • Technology should be an enhancement not a crutch. Here’s how you know what it is for you…if you couldn’t use any technology in your talk, would it still be good? There’s a lot that can go wrong with technology so be prepared to present any speech without it. • One of your best marketing tools is presenting a great talk. You want to have both the sizzle (presentation skills) and the steak (content of your talk). But again, take some of the pressure off. Your talk doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate. You’ll give the same talk multiple times and hopefully, each time it’ll get better and improve. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M 04 Establish Yourself As The Expert • There are two marketing tools every speaker needs: a website and a demo video. • I recommend you use your name as the domain (i.e. grantbaldwin. com). Why? Because as a speaker, you are the brand. When an organization or event books you to speak, they aren’t booking some random company…they are booking you! You are the product. • Knowing who you want to speak to is so critical when building your site. You want to speak the language of the decision maker, so that when they come to your site, they feel like, “Yes! This speaker is perfect for our event!” • Your demo video may be the most important part of your website. It’s the chance for people to actually see if you’re good and if you’re a good fit for their event. • Keep your demo video short. Consider your own attention span for online video. I’d recommend you stick to 3-4 minutes max. • Think of your video like a movie trailer. It should be short enough to give someone an overview but should make them want to see more. Show some of your best material but leave some cliff hangers, so they want to talk further with you. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M 05 Mine For Speaking Opportunities • Just because you have a website, demo video or a great presentation doesn’t mean anyone cares or that anyone will magically stumble across you. The more proactive you are in finding speaking engagements, the quicker you’ll gain traction as a speaker. • The best potential clients are those who already book speakers. It’s much more difficult to convince an organization or group to book you if they’ve never booked a speaker before. But if they’re used to bringing in a speaker, it’s much easier for you to get your foot in the door. I can’t stress enough how important this is in the beginning. • Google is extremely effective for finding events. Let’s say you wanted to speak on the subject of ‘dog training.’ I would go into Google and I would search for phrases like… » “dog training conference” » “dog training association” » “dog trainer conference” » “dog trainer event” » “[STATE] dog training conference” (Side note: state/regional/ local events are generally great places to get started because they are smaller and lower risk for you as a speaker and for the client hiring you.) T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M • Another way to find existing events is to look up other speakers who are speaking at the kinds of events and to the types of audiences you want to speak to. Then you can check their recommendations page for testimonials of places they’ve been or some speakers may also post their calendar of upcoming events they’ll be at. • Your biggest investment in doing this will be your time. This is the part where most speakers give up. Why? Because it requires commitment and hard work. Waiting for the booking requests to magically come in just doesn’t work. You have to be willing to hustle and find the opportunities. 06 Contact Decision Makers • Before you contact any decision maker, remember this is a relationship business and people do business with people they know, like, and trust. Don’t make the mistake of burning a bridge with your first email. • Think of it like asking someone out for a first date. You’re not proposing. You’re not trying to start a family. You’re just building a connection and rapport with the other person. Therefore your goal T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M should be to make a connection and to build a bridge, NOT to get a booking right now. • Keep your email short and sweet. The longer it is, the less likely it is to be read. Also, personalize it. You can tell the difference when you get an email if it was written specifically for you or if it’s a mass thing sent to a bunch of people. • Try to ask a question and generate a dialogue. Have you started planning your next conference yet? Who are some speakers you’ve worked with before? (don’t ask questions where answers are already on their site…you’ll look dumb :)) • The reality is a large majority of your emails will be ignored. Don’t get discouraged though. This is a bit of a numbers game. The more potential clients you contact, the more likely you’ll get booked. 07 Get Paid Speaking Engagements • You CAN get paid on your first real speaking engagement. My very first legit speaking engagement I was paid $1,000 to speak once for 45 minutes. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M • There are several factors that go into how much you should charge (your industry, your experience, your marketing materials), but most new speakers charge between $1,000 - $5,000. Not too shabby. • One of my biggest pieces of advice for new speakers wouldn’t be to get so caught up in exactly what to charge as much as that you’re charging something. When someone pays you anything for a product or service you provide, it expands your mind to what is possible. • Generating revenue as a speaker isn’t limited to just speaking from stage. Speakers generate revenue from having a book or curriculum, offering coaching and/or consulting, providing webinars or online training courses, or even from advertisements/ sponsorships and referrals. BONUS! 08 Building Confidence As A Speaker My hope is that what I’ve taught you have given you some of the early steps you need to start getting booked and paid to speak. What I’ve shown you isn’t just tactical, but I hope it creates a mental and inspirational shift that you can do this. T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M You can be a speaker! When I first started speaking, I spoke at a few things for free and fumbled my way through the process. But deep down I knew I could do this. I knew I had the potential and the drive to be a speaker. What I lacked was confidence and a plan. I knew I could do this, but I didn’t know how. Maybe you know what that’s like. I’ll be back soon with more great content on how to find and book speaking engagements, so keep an eye on your inbox. Talk to you soon! You’re awesome, Grant Baldwin T H E S P E A K E R L A B . C O M
