Today’s topic is finding ideal speaking opportunities. You’ve spoken at events in the past, but are looking to find the “perfect” event for your business. With thousands of events, both live and virtual, to choose from finding the “right” speaking opportunities can be difficult.

To help narrow down the choices, think about the end goal for the speaking engagement. For most speakers, that means connecting with new prospects and clients, and the events where they gather. Here are a few steps to help you select your ideal client and events.

1. Create Your Ideal Client Avatar

If you could fill a room with hundreds (or thousands) of your ideal client, who would that client be? If you’re scratching your head right now, here are a few questions to narrow this down: which of your current or past clients did you really enjoy working with? What was it about that client that made it fun – personality? Results? Sort though your current and past clients (going back about six months) and create a list of qualities you look for in a client.

Then gather data. Look at the demographics of your clients – what gender are they? What are are they? Where do they live? Do they have children? Also, consider psychographics including the clients’ values, beliefs, interests and lifestyle.

2. Find out where your ideal client spends time networking.

Once you’ve created a basic profile of your amazing client, determine where they hang out in large numbers. Associations are a great place to start. Most industries have a national association and many have chapter meetings in major cities. If your ideal prospects are small business owners consider BNI, National Association of Women Business Owners, and local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce or public library. If you’re unsure which organizations your clients are members of  – ask them. A quick email or phone call to your top clients will yield a list of groups for your to check out.

3. Attend the events.

Once you have a list of target associations and groups, attend their networking meetings. Most organizations host a monthly meeting and many will allow guests to attend. By attending the event you can find out how many people attend the events, get to know their members and build a relationship with the meeting organizers.

Once you’ve attended a few events and become familiar with the organization and its members you can create a list of your “ideal” speaking opportunities. This will give you a targeted list to focus on so you can book more engagements in less time.

Your assignment for this week:

Use the steps above to create a list of ideal speaking opportunities. Attend several networking events and start building key relationships.