How to Become an Indispensable Event Speaker—and Why You Should
Megan (Meg) Carpenter
CEO & Co-Founder of Ficomm Partners, LLC | Host of Growth Leaders of Wealth Management Podcast
The more people hear about you, the faster your business can grow organically. Getting prime speaking opportunities is a terrific way to boost your visibility. But speaking spots can be expensive and hard to get. Here’s how to turn the tables and make event hosts chase after you instead.
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Have you always wanted to feel heard? Then try looking out at a packed roomful of faces at a conference—and realizing everyone is listening to you.
I know you’ve probably sat through many forgettable conference presentations. But think about the handful who made the biggest impression on you. The best and most impactful event speakers shape our conversations. They’re our preachers, our politicians, our news anchors. When they walk onstage, audiences lean forward to catch everything. Social media blows up with pics and quotes from their presentations. Journalists fill columns with hot takes on their latest announcements. New trends are born, new jargon is minted.
From personal experience, I can tell you the impact of becoming a public speaker is huge. I’ve dreamt of making a difference in this industry ever since I was a lonely little marketing intern at John Hancock many jobs ago. Today, every time I step off a stage, I find people standing in a circle waiting to ask me questions. It’s as fulfilling to me personally as it is meaningful to my bottom line.
That’s just for me. Now imagine you had a superstar CEO, a phenomenal public speaker. How much play could your firm get? What impact would all that attention make on your bottom line?
Why speaking spots are so tough to get
It’s no wonder competition for speaking opportunities is fierce. Event hosts invite only a limited number of speakers, and only those that meet their selection criteria. What’s worse, many of the highest-visibility spots are pay-to-play. If you don’t sign up as a conference sponsor, you won’t even be up for consideration. Sponsorship dollars don’t always guarantee you a spot on the stage, and you need to allocate them carefully based on your event strategy. (See my Wealth Management.com article on?making industry events work for you. )
But there is a hack. It’s a way to score some of the choicest, most hard-to-get speaking opportunities in the industry—sometimes without paying any sponsorship fees at all.
Become an indispensable speaker. A bankable name-draw. The kind of marquee presenter every organizer wants on the agenda because you elevate the profile of the event, rather than the other way round.
It's simple to do, but few people try
There’s only one secret to getting on the must-have speaker list: Have something to say.
That advice may seem ridiculous. But most of the interviews and speeches in this industry sound exactly the same—tired, overly scripted, and jam-packed with identical talking points. The speaker’s title or company don’t even matter. If a speech isn’t about alts or M&A activity trends, then it’s about tech stacks or talent wars.
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If you want your name on the list of speakers every host wants, find a way to stand out. Dare to be different.
3 strategies for becoming a must-have speaker
Here’s are 3 ways you can attract the attention of event organizers:
Try all these ideas and see whether more of your calls and emails start getting returned. Even if you aren’t asked to keynote at EDGE or IMPACT right away, your street cred as a speaker will rise. That matters even when headliner spots are already filled. As Mark told me, events have a limited inventory of openings. Even as a paid sponsor, it’s hard to secure a speaking slot unless organizers know you (or your key spokesperson) have something interesting to say.
Everything is easier when you’re indispensable—including growth
If you develop a speaker pitch with these principles in mind, you’ll also gain spillover benefits in other media. Truly authentic content opens up more opportunities to share your ideas anywhere there’s a need for original thinking.
Next time you see an audience sitting in rapt attention at a conference, picture yourself up there on the stage joining in the conversation. Just find your authentic voice and speak up.
If you want to raise your profile and drive meaningful impact, but you’re feeling stuck,?click here to schedule time on my calendar . I love nothing more than helping industry leaders find their voice.
Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at Mission Wealth
1 年Meg, how do I subscribe to your newsletter? Thank you for the great read!
??Cut The Tie to Everything Holding You Back | Instantly Relevant systemizes your business growth | Founder InstantlyRelevant.com | Host "Never Been Promoted" Podcast | Author "Cut The Tie"
1 年Great insights! What's your top tip for standing out to event organizers, Megan??
Helping financial advisors break up with their broker-dealers! | Recruiter | Hiring and training G2 advisors | Speaker | Podcast Host of NextGen in 10 | Industry Troublemaker
1 年How do you feel about working with speaking coaches to craft your presentations?
Speaker | Investopedia 100 Top Financial Advisors 2022 | Investment News 40 under 40 | Managing Partner Silver Penny Financial Planning
1 年Great article Megan !
Senior Partner, SEIA
1 年Great perspectives as usual, Megan. Some of my most valuable collection of professional experiences was being in the audience of impactful speakers. The art, science, and hard work involved with arranging and delivering a speech that truly changes an audience in some material way remains almost magical to me.