How to get more Professional Speaking Opportunities

Written By Andrew Ford

Speaking is one of the highest paid professions per hour, but how do you get more gigs?

This is a common question from my clients who have speaking as one of their client offerings. For some clients it’s their main service, for others it’s a smaller part of their offering. Regardless of your goals, I believe the way to get more gigs is to have a complete and compelling product offering and in this blog I will explain why.

But first a bit about my personal experience being a speaker.

LinkedIn just informed me that I am celebrating 24 years as a keynote speaker. Wow that sounds so long! When I started it was the year 2000, which doesn’t seem that long ago. How time flies when you’re having fun :)

I started speaking in my corporate roles where I was a marketing manager and presented regularly for clients but also internally in my various organisations. I was also lecturing at University which was great practice.

But I really wanted to be hired just for my speaking skills so once I left corporate I did a speaker training course run by the legendary Travis Bell, AKA the bucket list guy. I still have friends from that course and it opened my eyes to the world of speaking from stage.

What I remember most is that there are a lot of scams out there!

Many people pay to speak on stage and not the other way around. These organisations charge to speak with the big branded speakers so you can sell your services to the audience. Most people don’t know that happens, but it’s very common.

It’s an extremely competitive industry. With speaker rates between $5,000 - $20,000 for an hour of work, why wouldn’t it be! But that isn’t the real economics. It’s like saying Usain Bolt gets paid millions for less than 10 seconds of work running the 100 meter sprint. It’s the years of training, preparation and skill development that is what they are really paying for. The same with a quality professional speaker.

Please note this isn’t the same for a celebrity speaker. Those lucky individuals are paid high sums for their personal stories but don’t need to be great speakers, they just have to show up and tell their stories.

This blog relates to speakers who get opportunities from the way they can engage and transform an audience with their knowledge, stories, skills and techniques. I am in this camp as I am in no way famous or have a remarkable personal journey, I get hired for my knowledge and stage ability.

My approach to get speaking gigs is similar to my overall e-ttraction marketing methodology. After over 20 years being a speaker and working with them, I realise it’s quite difficult to cold outreach to companies, speaker bureaus and conference organisers. They get so many people approach them that it’s difficult to cut through with brute force.

What I find works much better is the value approach. That means having a razor sharp offer that is unique to you and offers real value to the audience; which could be individuals wanting to improve their lives or companies wanting you to influence their staff to achieve their results.

Either way, the value needs to be compelling. It should directly address a problem that the audience knows they have and your solution will greatly enhance them to be able to change the outcome in a tangible way. In that way they can obviously see an ROI from having you present which will differentiate you from the celebrity competition.

Once you have this offering and pitch, the next challenge is how to communicate it to the people who book speakers. As Trav Bell says the best way to get speaking gigs is to speak. Take on all opportunities to get in front of your audience. Podcasts, charity gigs, speaker showcases are obvious examples. What some speakers miss is the opportunity to speak to executives in the boardroom, small training events, and lunch and learns in your target companies. If you offer a suite of products designed to solve the problems they have, some of which involve speaking, you are more likely to get the connection to the right people.

Speaking gigs are the cherries on top of the overall work of solving your customer's problems. Leverage your other skills to help them in many ways and you are more likely to get the speaking gigs.

My personal experience of leveraging my networks and other products reinforces this point. A large bank engaged me to speak at a large event prior to COVID and I secured this when I did a lunch and learn free gig for a friend who worked there. I did my full presentation online, bringing all my energy and enthusiasm to the role and that convinced them to hire me for the stage.

Another client recently flew me to Thailand for their annual conference after I ran a boardroom sales training session for their team. They liked my methodology and can see that I authentically bring valuable material to their audiences.

If you are already booked out as a speaker, awesome! If you are working on filling your calendar up for 2025, I highly recommend considering adding more offerings to your business portfolio. Choose a problem to solve and work backwards from there how you can add the most value.

Happy to assist if you have any questions, just contact me or the team.

Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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