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Three Strategies for Finding Your Ideal Speaking Opportunities

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.

How to Land More Speaking Opportunities

As an entrepreneur, there will always be an excuse not to do something.

Not enough time.

Not enough money.

Not enough help.

When I talk to entrepreneurs, there are plenty of excuses as to why they are not booking speaking engagements to help grow their business.

They are hungry to get their message out there and become a known expert in their fields.

They have desire.

Passion.

Knowledge.

What I see as lacking is a plan and a strategy to turn their speaking goals into reality.

So, here is an easy step-by-step plan to get you more speaking opportunities.

Set Your Goals

It’s not enough to say “I want to speak” or “I want to speak more often.” Setting specific, tangible goals provides the clarity you need to succeed.

To help you get clear, consider how often you want to speak: weekly, monthly, quarterly?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. It’s up to you to determine what success looks like.

So, take a look at your calendar and get clear on that goal.

Identify your ideal audience

One of the biggest benefits of public speaking is gathering a group of prospects in one place.

If you could fill a room with prospective clients, who would those people be? Think about both demographics like gender, age and location as well as psychographics such as values, beliefs, interests and lifestyle.

This will give you a better perspective as to which organizations you should be speaking. This goes hand-in-hand with the next tip:

Determine where to speak

Once you determine who your ideal client is the next step is to find out where they hang out – both online and off. Think about associations, meet up groups, libraries or networking events happening in your local area. Attend those events to learn more about the organization, the membership and their events. This is a great way to build a relationship with the meeting organizers.

Decide what you want to speak about

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is often overlooked. What topic(s) are you an expert: Sales? Marketing? Health & Wellness? Numerology? Once you have a general category, break it down into specific titles you can use when submitting a proposal to be a guest speaker:

30 days to a healthier you

How to add six-figures to your business

10 Strategies to get clients on LinkedIn

Now it’s your turn. How have you been successful in booking speaking engagements? Post your thoughts in the comments below.