Paula Edgar: Welcome to Branding Room Only, the podcast where your personal brand gets a front row seat. I'm Paula Edgar and if you're here, it's because you know your brand isn't just about what you do, it's about how people experience you. In each episode, you'll hear stories, strategies and lessons from leaders and influencers who built their brands and made their mark. And I'll share the tools you need to do the same.
Let's go. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Branding Room Only. I am Paula Edgar and this is episode three of So You Want to Be a Speaker. We've already talked about what speaking really is and we've talked about why your brand has to do some of the work before anyone actually books you. But today, we're going to get into the mechanics, how speaking opportunities actually begin, how to pitch yourself with strategy and how I prepare, once I'm booked. Some people think that getting booked is the hard part. And yes, it can be. But I want to tell you something that I've learned over time. Getting to the yes is not the finish line. It is the beginning of your responsibility as a speaker. So what you do to begin to get between that yes and the moment you walk into the room is what separates someone who gets invited once from someone who gets invited back.
Let's start with a reality check. Most paid speaking engagements do not come just because someone randomly finds a proposal you submitted for a call for speakers. Some happen that way, you know, but proposal submissions can be useful, especially for conferences, bar associations, industry programs and like professional development events. But some speaking opportunities, many speaking opportunities come from relationships. Someone saw you speak, someone follows your content, someone heard your name in a meeting, or a past client recommended you. A colleague remembered that you were strong on a particular subject. There's usually a drumbeat about you before you get particularly paid speaking engagements. This means your pipeline is being built all the time. It's being built when you post on LinkedIn and you should be. It's being built when you moderate a panel and make everyone else look good. It's being built when you send a thoughtful follow-up after a conference. And it's definitely being built when you do a great job for a client and make the organizer feel smart for bringing you in.
Speaking is a relationship business long before it's a stage business. That said, waiting to be discovered is definitely not a strategy either. You can be excellent and still be overlooked if people do not know what you do, who you served, how to bring you into the right rooms, what your expertise is, which is why we talked about branding in the last episode. But let's get into talking about pitching. When you're deciding where to pitch, don't start with the biggest stage. Start with the right audience. Where is it that your decision makers gather? Where do the people who need your message show up? Which associations, conferences, internal leadership programs, affinity groups, client retreats, even podcasts and webinars, what aligns with your experience? Because not every stage is going to be worth your time. And visibility in the wrong rooms can feel like busyness and produce very little opportunity. But visibility in the right rooms can change your entire pipeline.
So once you identify the right opportunity, personalize the pitch, right? So a generic pitch usually sounds generic because it is. You want to reference the organization, the audience, the theme and the problem that your session will help solve. And you make it clear that you're not just looking for any stage or speaking opportunity, you're proposing to bring value for the room that they are going to be in. And of course, you want to also connect, if there are any connections or contacts that you have with the organization or with the event, you want to be able to reference them as well, because that can be helpful. Your pitch should lead with the client outcome, right? Too many people lead with their credentials, right? Yes, I'm this and I'm that and I'm this and I'm this. And credentials do matter. You know, we've talked about it a lot on the podcast, but the organizers are usually asking themselves a practical question. What will our audience, stakeholders, get from this? And you want to lead with that. What will the audience and the attendees understand differently after hearing you speak? What will they be able to do? What conversations will the session you have open and what pain point are you going to help the organizers or the attendees address?
Here's the difference between them. One pitch says, I'm an experienced speaker who would love to present to you on leadership. A strong pitch says, I would love to offer a session for your mid-level associates on building strategic relationships inside the firm with practical tools for visibility, feedback, sponsorship and business development readiness. So the two could be talking about the exact same thing, but being able to show up front to the organizer that this is a picture of what I'm going to be doing, it helps them to imagine the session in their agenda. And then, of course, you send it out and you want to make sure you follow up. Follow up is a huge opportunity, because a no response or not hearing response is not automatically a no. People are busy. Committees move slowly. Stakeholders are hard to pin down. Priorities change. So send a thoughtful follow up. And if it's been a while or you had a definite no, add a new angle if appropriate. Keep asking, because your pitch and their opportunity might be coming at the exact right time to meet. You want to stay visible and present for them. Share a recent article, an episode, or a clip that reinforces why the topic is timely and why you're the right person. You don't want to harass people, but you do not want to disappear after one email and call that strategy.
Now, let's move on to what happens after you get a yes. Because that's where your reputation is really built. When I'm booked for a keynote, a workshop, or retreat session, my first job is to understand the audience. I want to know who's going to be in the room, what is it that they're navigating and what the organization wants them to leave with. And what have they already been experienced too many times? What has already been said to them? How can I differentiate what I'm going to do with them? So I ask a lot of questions and I listen to what is spoken and also what's underneath the spoken concern. You know, for most of my engagements, I customize the content so I'm not walking in with a canned deck. And that matters because people can feel the difference between a speaker who's prepared for their specific audience and a speaker who prepared a talk and just happens to be delivering it to them, right? That it's not customized.
So from there, I then build the spine of the session. Every strong talk needs a through line. What's the promise of the session? What's the shift that I want them to make? And what do I want them to feel, think and do differently by the end? So if the story, or a slide, or an exercise, or a scenario does not serve that through line, then it has to earn its place or it gets out. So I'm very strategic about how I build that piece for them. And then I write, like I don't always speak from a full script, because I think writing and speaking things out loud is where you see the gaps. So it shows me where I have to do a little bit more, giving them some detail, or where the logic is thin, or if a transition is clunky, or if a story is too long, right? Or if I need a sharper takeaway. So again, this is not just getting up and talking. So as I write, it helps me to move the ideas that I have into then creating an experience for them. And then, of course, I rehearse out loud, not just in my head, out loud, because speaking is physical, right? You want to know and hear where the words land, how they land. You got to know where you're going to pause, where your energy shifts, where you want their energy to shift. And you have to practice the opening until it feels like it's grounded, because that first hook, that first 60 seconds or so matters so much for them to be invested in you and what you're saying. And if you start with the wavering or uncertainty, the people in the room will feel it. But if you start with your presence and showing your expertise, they will settle in with you as well and be invested.
I also prepare for the practical details of being a speaker. What is the room set up? Will there be a lavalier microphone or a handheld? That helps me determine how I'm going to dress. I like to have dresses and outfits with pockets, because it makes it easier if I have a lavalier, or if I'm holding a clicker. Is there going to be a stage, or is there going to be a riser? Are there screens on both sides? Will the audience have tables? What kind of seating if it's a panel? There's a lot. Will there be Q&A? Are we going to be using any kind of engagement tool? Who is going to introduce me? And have I given them the introduction I want them to read? That's another piece. I don't leave my introductions to chance. I create the introduction that I want them to speak on and ask them to have read it in advance so it doesn't sound clunky when they do deliver it. Also, what time do I need to arrive? Because you got to do tech check, make sure everything is connected. These details may seem like they're small, but they're not small, because all of those small details, they affect the delivery. And if you're a professional speaker, if that's what you want, you want to make sure that you're asking about these details, because you're caring about the experience of your attendees.
And let's just be clear about something else. The client experience also starts long before you actually start to speak. You want to make sure that you're responsive to client outreach, that you send any materials on time, that you make sure your bio, like I said, is easy to use and read and you're confirming all logistics, your name and security, every single piece, who's going to meet you. You don't want to make the organizer chase you for basic information and you want to ask the information that you need, in order for you to feel prepared. Because your reputation is not only about the keynote that you're going to be delivering, it's about how you made people feel while working with you. A lot of people can deliver the same sort of content of people who want to have the experience, right? The easiest speakers to rebook are the ones who deliver value, are easy to work with and are reliable. So on the day of the session, I try to get in the room early. I want to meet the tech people, make sure everything works, to test the technology. I want to feel the space, walk around a bit and meet the people who have made the event happen.
And of course, I want to take a breath before I begin, get settled, make sure I have my trusty Coca-Cola ready for me. And then by then, preparation has already been done. My job is to be present, connected and in service to the audience. There's a confidence that comes from the preparation and there's also a humility, right? You can prepare deeply and strategically and still may need to adapt, right? The room may be quieter than expected. A question that you get may shift the energy in the room. There may be something that's not said that is impacting how you're being received, but the more that you can be present to what is going on and the things that you have control over, the better you'll be able to pivot if need be, right? A moment may call for a story that you didn't plan to tell, because of a question or something else. That preparation gives you the foundation to be flexible without being thrown off by anything that may happen during the actual session.
So here's your takeaway from this episode. Speaking opportunities come from relationships, visibility, definitely referrals, great content and proactive pitching when appropriate. When you're doing that, you want to pitch with specificity and you want to lead with audience value and make sure you follow up. Always follow up professionally and when you get those yeses, treat it like the beginning of the work, right? You're building relationships. It's not the end of the chase.
The next episode, we're going to be talking about what happens after the applause, after you finish speaking, because the stage is not the finish line, right? It's hopefully a launchpad for continuity and consistency and referrals. So if you don't have a post-speaking strategy, you may be leaving relationships, more referrals content, and definitely revenue on the table. So all of you, I'm Paula Edgar, and this has been episode three of So You Want to Be a Speaker on Branding Room Only. Make sure you subscribe and share this series with anybody who wants to be a speaker more strategically. And I'll see you in episode four. Until then, stand by your speaking brand. Bye.
That's it for this episode. I appreciate you hanging out with me on Branding Room Only. Now, please do me a quick favor. Head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding, so more people can join this conversation. And make sure to stop by paulaedgar.com/events to see what's next. Whether I'm live, online, or in person, I'd love to see you there. See you next time in the branding room.
And until then, stand tall, shine bright, and always stand by your brand.
