How to Become an Event Speaker — Without any Prior Experience
When working with personal brands on their public relations efforts, speaking engagements always top the list of goals. I mean, I totally understand why — they are a major confidence booster from a personal perspective, and can help you expand the reach of your brand faster and more effectively.
While this is always a #1 goal, it also comes along with the #1 question: How can I start securing opportunities when I have no prior experience stepping on stage?
This is usually when our Imposter Syndrome starts to bubble up, along with excuses like:
I haven’t been in business long enough to be considered an expert
I haven’t made enough revenue yet to justify my expertise
I don’t have enough followers to attract these types of opportunities
I haven’t been recognized as a speaker before
Well, I hate to break it to you, but I secured my first speaking opportunity when I had only been working in my business full-time for 2 months. I had less than 500 followers on Instagram, and I too, had never stepped on stage as a speaker before (unless you count the time I was the Ambassador of the Fall Fair in my hometown, I think I was 16).
That was July of 2023 (yes, less than a year ago), and since then, I have booked six more opportunities at the time of this post, without pitching a single one. That’s right, every single opportunity showed up organically, in my inbox, which I credit to my consistent and unique personal brand development.
So how exactly am I doing it? It really breaks down into three main areas of impact, outlined below. Let’s go deep on each aspect of this Event Speaker Formula, right now!
Define your unique position
Amplify your talking points
Work your network
The ‘Event Speaker’ Formula
Define your unique position
This is the first thing you must do regardless of the type of public relations tactics you wish to employ in your business. If you don’t understand what sets your work apart from your competitors, and the unique service offering you bring to the market, you won’t just have a PR problem, but likely a sales problem too.
Having a unique position enables you to become ‘well-known’ for whatever it is you speak most frequently about. For me, it’s how I became known as ‘that PR girl’ in my community, but more specifically, because I found a way to talk about public relations in a way that others hadn’t heard before, it opened up my inbox to events, podcasts and other partnership opportunities fast.
This is often where I see a lot of business owners get stuck though. They feel like their industry is oversaturated, and they aren’t able to step outside of themselves and articulate their unique perspective. That’s when working with a personal brand consultant like me can be helpful, just saying. 🙂
Amplify your talking points
Once you have your unique positioning nailed down, you’ll want to decide on your talking points (otherwise known as your storytelling angles). I like to think of these as three main concepts that support your unique positioning, that could all be incorporated into a longer keynote presentation (or interview), but could also be shorter, individual topics too.
While these will be the pillars of your future presentations, when you’re just starting out, they will become your social media content pillars. You will make a point of speaking to each of these topics on a regular basis, and I mean really speaking. Whether it’s Instagram Stories, Reels or TikTok, if you want to be recognized for speaking on a topic, you have to start on your Owned Media channels.
Although I know it can be challenging to consistently show up online, this is the BEST way to start practicing your talking points, and it allows your audience to view you as an authority on a topic.
Work your network
Each and every speaking opportunity I’ve secured has arrived via a personal referral. And no, these are not longtime contacts or colleagues, a lot of the time they’re people I’ve just started to form a relationship with in my network, but my social media content reinforcing my unique positioning has enabled these people to view me as an event speaker.
This is your daily reminder that public relations is relationship-building at its core. If you are keen to speak to someone’s audience, please keep in mind that this is a great privilege, and avoid mass pitching or cold pitching without forming an authentic connection with the individual first.
Ready to step on stage and claim the spotlight?
If you’re a service provider, influencer, founder or small business owner, you may have the desire to add ‘event speaker’ to your bio too.
I’m a big believer in developing this branch of business, not just for fun, but also because it’s extremely profitable.
If you’re interested in cultivating your own personal brand as a speaker, I’ve got the resources to help. Check out my Publicity Coaching services for more information, or stay tuned for a very exciting mini service, coming soon!
If you’re interested in learning more, book a Discovery Call so we can talk about the option that may be right for you.
Until then, take care!
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