PAID TO TALK - How To Brand Yourself As A Keynote Speaker

Let’s take it for granted you know your stuff. How can you get paid (or increase your rate and bookings) for telling people about your stuff? Here are a few tips...

START NICHE

Become the ultimate expert in your field. If your field is saturated with experts, find a corner to hone in on and become the go-to person for that.

Digital Marketing Expert? Become the 'Ultimate PCC Wordsmith', revealing the power words of 2020.

Once you’ve established credibility and created a convincing showreel, then it’s time to extend your repertoire, firstly to digital marketing, then marketing, and then…  pivot!

‘How To Avoid Being Lured In Marketing Power Words.’ ‘Why Words Matter.’ ‘How People Make Decisions.’ You get the idea.

Build a life long speaking career or side hustle.

LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE

You can be a good speaker without necessarily being funny. But a paid speaker? The audience wants to be entertained. And if you can make people laugh, you become instantly more likeable.

Your best resource for comedy isn’t the internet (God, no!) but the reality of life. If you don’t have any personal anecdotes to contribute (really, are you sure?!) then you can start to Google. Not for the dreaded Googled-gags but for intriguing, unusual, real-life stories that can add interest and humour to your speech.

If you’re not naturally the comedic type, humorous stories are generally much easier to deliver than one-liners.

SAY SOMETHING NEW

In the internet world, it’s hard to find something completely new to say but spend time researching the outer crevices of your expertise. And do this regularly!

Sometimes it’s about packaging up your point in a new way. Can you make the lesson more memorable, the point more practical?

You want to be known as a thought leader so look at established thinking in your field and question it. Think counter-intuitively. Ask more questions (even if you don’t have the answers).

NETWORK

Yes, the key to getting paid to talk, is unsurprisingly, talking to people.

If you’re booked to give a speech, get to the event early and speak to the organisers. As well as checking in re your speech, find out what other speakers and conferences they have lined up over the year ahead. Make sure they have your social media handles to promote.

After your speech, stay behind and engage with your audience. There will be people there who can book you in future or recommend you to others.

WELCOME FEEDBACK

From friends, family and the organisations that you’ve spoken at.

After giving a couple of well-received speeches it’s easy to become complacent but it’s essential (and good manners) to check in with the event team following a talk. Welcome brutal feedback and take it on board. The good thing about being a public speaker is that you can adapt your style.

REGULARLY BIN YOUR SPEECH

Never give the same speech twice. Tailor your speech to suit every event. As well as ensuring your speech hits the mark with the audience, it also keeps you on your toes.

PLAN YOUR ONE-LINERS

Not gags, but one-liners the audience will remember.

Those key slogans, that summarize your point or motivate behaviour, are so powerful and need to be a major consideration when scripting your speech.

(We will discuss this in greater depth in a future post).

VISUAL AIDS

Remember, they’re not there to help you, they’re there to help your audience.

It’s easy to make your slides genuinely eye-catching and interesting these days. We love slidescarnival.com.

GO VIRAL

Inevitably, at the majority of talks, the audience will be on their phones as well as listening to you. Exploit this rather than resent it.

Think about your slides. Have your ‘one-liner’ on one with your personal hashtag.

People want to tweet and update Linkedin. Make it easy for them to include you.  

FINALLY, GET HELP

Yes, that will be Speechy. Bloody good at writing speeches.

https://www.speechy.co.uk/speechy-business/