Question from a subscriber: “I’ve spoken at a few events but never at big conferences. How do I get more/better speaking gigs when every time I try I get ignored?”
Conference organizers and event planners can be super icy.
Why is it so hard to get professional speaking engagements?
Look at it from the conference organizer’s point of view – they take a chance on a speaker, and the person bombs (they get stage fright, say something inappropriate, or just plain stink), and you lose your job.
Real talk: picking an unverified speaker is a huge risk.
It’s for this reason that the speakers who get picked for one big event, usually get picked for all of them. That’s because they are verified. It’s less risk borne by the conference organizers.
Here’s how to bring the walls down – social proof.
Take this action TODAY:
- Be the best. Record yourself giving your talk until you become the John Bonham of financial advisor speeches.
- Present a video of yourself speaking everywhere you can: website, social media, in your email signature. Not just some ho-hum reel. Your energy should strike them through the screen. It should be completely inspiring to the point that you want the conference organizer to jump up out of their chair and say, “THAT’S THE ONE!!!”
- Get 20 of the people who attended the same event last year to send the video reel to the conference organizer with a recommendation to pick you.
- Figure out what the best talk you ever gave was, and then email the conference organizer who picked you for that talk. Ask them to call the person picking speakers for the event you want to speak at, and vouch for you.
- Connect with all everyone who spoke at the event last year, and ask them what they feel the decisive factor was that led them to be selected. Build a mutually beneficial support relationship with them and if it ever gets to the point where you two trust each other as peers, ask if they will recommend you to the conference organizer.
Sara’s upshot on getting speaking gigs
Getting picked for speaking engagements is a little bit like trying to get signed by a record label.
?Very few will be tough enough to persist and make it, but the ones who do will reap bountiful rewards.
Yeah?
Yaaaaah.
BOOM – there you go, today’s marketing tip for ya!
-Sara G
Sara’s upshot
Alright that’s all for now. I hope this blog about how to get more speaking engagements was helpful.
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Thanks for reading. See you in the next one!
-Sara G
