If you want to build your credibility and authority as an expert in your field, speaking at industry events and conferences is one of the most effective ways to do so. Speaking engagements allow you to connect with new audiences, strengthen your network, and position yourself as a thought leader. However, getting invited to speak at events is challenging and competitive. Here are some tips to land speaking engagements and take your expertise to the next level:
Focus on Your Niche and Expertise
The first step is to determine your area of expertise that you want to convey to audiences. What do you have unique and valuable insights into that would benefit event attendees? Make sure you have a well-defined message and expertise before you start pitching yourself as a speaker. You need to be able to communicate your expertise and the concrete takeaways audiences will get from your talk.
Crafting your niche also requires to look inwards and have a good sense of your personal branding and value proposition. If you do not know where to start, our branding program can help you navigate all those questions whilst adjusting our advice to your current experience.
All in all, what matters is that you convey to event planners what makes you different from other speakers, and how you can help audiences.
Build Your Online Presence
Establish yourself as an authority in your niche by creating educational and engaging content on your website, blog, and social media platforms. Share insightful posts, videos, and a free valuable resource like an ebook. Being an author, having publications, handling big audiences and any past corporate or entrepreneurial experience can add up towards your credibility as a speaker. This demonstrates your expertise to potential event organizers and also gives you material for your talks. An active online presence also allows event hosts to discover you when they are looking for industry experts to speak at their event.
Some factors to take into account for your online presence are SEO work (with a blog or content in your website), YouTube videos, TikTok videos, Instagram presence, Twitter presence, and LinkedIn networking. Showcasing a cohesive and strong speaker brand across all platforms will help you get recognized more easily by event planners.
Perfect Your Speaking Skills
Even the best expertise and message will not get you far if you do not have good speaking and presentation skills. Work on your skills by practicing in front of a mirror or friend. Engage your audience with stories, ask rhetorical questions, and speak with passion and confidence. You can also join a local Toastmasters group to get experience speaking in front of others and receiving feedback. Your speaking skills and level of engagement will determine if you get asked back to speak again at future events.
Target the Right Events
Focus on events that match your expertise and target audiences. Do research on the events, attendees, and any past or upcoming speakers. Smaller niche events may be easier to break into as a new speaker. Look for calls for speaker proposals on the event websites and social media. Make sure you submit on time and be concise but compelling in your speaker pitch. Share details on your expertise, proposed topic, key takeaways, and speaking experience.
If finding the right events gets tricky for you, TrinityFix provides a big and updated events database that you or your booking agent can leverage to get booked on speaking engagements.
Provide Value to Event Organizers
Providing value is more than just the speaking engagement itself. Networking, being resourceful, easy to work with, flexible and adaptable, whilst also charging what your service is worth, is important so that event organizers know they can count on you. Having good visuals (high quality photographs and personal branding) that can help event planners to promote you in their venue will be much appreciated.
Some speakers offer personalized content for each talk, others specialize on a single vertical to keep their niche spot-on. Whatever you choose, make sure you meet the event planner’s needs and listen to what is required.
