So You Want to Be a Speaker? How to Turn a Speaking Engagement Into More Opportunities
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Description
Excellence without intentional follow-up has a very short shelf life. You can deliver a great presentation, have people tell you how much they enjoyed it, and still leave entirely too much value on the table if you don’t have a strategy for what happens next. There’s a window after you speak when people still remember your message, your stories, and how you made them feel.
What happened during the engagement can also give you clues about what comes next. A question that keeps coming up, a conversation with someone in the audience, or feedback from the organizer may point toward another opportunity. The point is to pay attention, follow up thoughtfully, and not treat the engagement as something that ended the moment you left the stage.
In Part Four of So You Want to Be a Speaker? on Branding Room Only, Paula T. Edgar walks through what to do after a speaking engagement to keep the momentum going. She shares how to follow up with the people involved, build proof of your work, and use the experience to support future opportunities while continuing to build genuine relationships. She also gives you a practical timeline for the days and weeks that follow, so you know what to do next while the experience is still fresh.
Chapters
1:35 – Why the first 48 hours after you speak matter just as much as the talk itself
3:12 – What to say in your LinkedIn post reflecting on the event
4:39 – The right and wrong way to send a personalized LinkedIn connection request
6:03 – How to follow up with the event organizer and ask for a testimonial and an introduction to a new audience
9:13 – How you can turn every speaking opportunity into a content goldmine
10:58 – The video and photo strategy that builds evidence of your work for potential clients
13:12 – How to build a simple system for collecting and organizing testimonials
14:18 – Why you should think of the people in your audience as future connectors in addition to potential clients
15:47 – Practical timeline to use after your next speaking engagement, from 48 hours to 30 days
18:32 – A short tease for the next episode of this series
Mentioned In So You Want to Be a Speaker? How to Turn a Speaking Engagement Into More Opportunities
Part 1 - So You Want to Be a Speaker? Getting Clear Before You Get Booked
Part 2 - So You Want to Be a Speaker? Build a Personal Brand That Gets You Booked
Part 3 - So You Want to Be a Speaker? How to Pitch, Prepare, and Get Invited Back
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Sponsor for this episode
This episode is brought to you by PGE Consulting Group LLC.
PGE Consulting Group LLC empowers individuals and organizations to lead with purpose, presence, and impact. Specializing in leadership development and personal branding, we offer keynotes, custom programming, consulting, and strategic advising—all designed to elevate influence and performance at every level.
Founded and led by Paula Edgar, our work centers on practical strategies that enhance professional development, strengthen workplace culture, and drive meaningful, measurable change.
To learn more about Paula and her services, go to www.paulaedgar.com or contact her at info@paulaedgar.com, and follow Paula Edgar and the PGE Consulting Group LLC on LinkedIn.
Transcript
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. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Branding Room Only. It's Paula Edgar, and this is episode four of my five-part series, So You Want to Be a Speaker. So, so far, we've talked about building your foundation, developing a clear and compelling speaker brand, pitching yourself and then preparing to deliver when you get the opportunity to speak. Today, we're talking about what happens after the applause, because delivering a great presentation is important, but what you do after you leave the stage or the dais can determine whether that speaking engagement becomes one good moment or the beginning of several new opportunities. I want to be clear, when I talk about a speaking engagement, I don't only mean delivering a keynote or leading a workshop. Maybe moderating a conversation, serving as a panelist, participating in a fireside chat, or speaking in a webinar. Each of those opportunities gives you a platform to demonstrate your expertise, expand your visibility, you know that's important and then to build relationships.
The size of the role, or the nature of it doesn't determine whether you can be strategic about what happens afterwards. You do. So let me set the scene. A lot of speakers walk off stage or a dais and they check their phone, take a deep breath and they start looking for the closest place to sit down, right? Listen, I understand that completely. Because when you've poured yourself into a room and given people your energy, your expertise, your best stories, you definitely need a moment to breathe, drink some water, decompress and process what just happened. And you should take that moment. That adrenaline dip that happens is not a joke. Take that moment. I'm not telling you to walk off the stage and immediately start working the room like you're running for office. However, while you're taking that moment, something else is happening. The audience is either moving on to the next session or leaving. The organizer is managing the next problem. People are checking their emails, multitasking, going to check flights, posting pictures and then returning to whatever else is happening in our very busy lives. So the energy from your session is still there, but it's already beginning to fade. So if you don't have a strategy for what happens after you speak, you're leaving entirely too much value on the table. Your session may have been excellent. I'm sure it was. And people may have loved you. I'm sure they did. But excellence without intentional follow-up has a very short shelf life. There is a window after you speak when your visibility is at its highest. People remember your message, they remember your stories and they remember how you made them feel. They may be talking about your session in the hallway, tagging you on LinkedIn, let's hope so, texting a colleague, or even thinking about someone else who needs to hear what you just said. And so that window is precious.
And I want to think about that first 48 hours as your momentum window. So what should you do during that window? First, a thoughtful reflection about the engagement, right? You can do a LinkedIn post and post a picture, but don't post a picture from the stage with a caption that only says, you know, honored to speak. Like, so happy and honored to have spoken. I think you're finished. You can absolutely say that you're honored if you want to. Gratitude is a good thing, but give people something more, right? Tell them what the conversation was about. Maybe one of the questions that the audience asked you about and they were wrestling with, you know, a theme that emerged, or give them the takeaways that you intended somebody to use, even if they're not in the room. When you're making that post, you want to tag the organization when appropriate. Thank the people who made the opportunity possible. And of course, if there was another speaker or panelist that said something to stay with you, amplify that. You want to do what you want them to do as well. The goal is to extend the value of the session and to create an opportunity for the conversation to continue. You're also giving people who are there an easy way to engage with you again, right? They can comment, share the post with their network, tag a colleague, or add a takeaway of their own. We love that. Every one of those actions helps the message that you gave and helps your name to travel beyond the room or the Zoom or the LinkedIn, right? It makes people know more about how you added value.
The second thing you want to do is to connect with the people who engage with you. So if somebody asked you a thoughtful question, came up to you afterwards, definitely posted about your session, or even if they just introduced themselves, you want to continue the conversation. Send a short, personalized LinkedIn connection request. And I do mean personalized. Don't use the standard, I'd like to add you to my professional network message, especially when you have just shared a real moment with that person, right? You want to capitalize on the moment you shared. And that doesn't mean it's a long message. You can say something as simple as, I appreciated your question today about visibility and sponsorship and I'm glad we had a chance to connect. I look forward to staying in touch here on LinkedIn. That's enough. You don't need to attach a proposal, offering them service packages. You don't need to ask them to schedule a call with you before they've made it back to the hotel room. In fact, I often will say, I want you to have the strategy in 48 hours, but it may make more sense for you to send an email, two or three business days down, or connect two or three business days after, just because people, when they're off for an event or for a conference, they often come back and are inundated with messages. The point is be a person, be thoughtful, right? So a thoughtful follow-up is relationship building. And relationship building is how speaking stops being a one-time thing, one-time goal or performance, and instead becomes a network of possibilities.
Third thing you want to do always is to follow up with the organizer. Thank them for the opportunity. If there was a moment that went particularly well, you want to talk about it, name it and let them know that you appreciated the audience, right? Or something about the experience. And particularly if audience feedback was collected by either you or by them, you want to ask if they can share it with you. And if it was collected by you, you want to share the information with them. And then also, you know, if people approach you afterwards with positive feedback, you want to let the organizer know that too. And sometimes people won't fill out an evaluation form, but you want to take any feedback that you received that is good and share it with the organizer, so they can be happy about the performance as well. So this might also be the right time to ask for a testimonial from the organizer while the experience is still fresh. And I'm going to pause here, because I know asking makes a lot of people uncomfortable. You gave the talk, everybody clapped and the organizer said you were wonderful. And then you go home and hope that somehow those kind words will magically appear on your website or your LinkedIn, or your speaker sheet and child, they will not, right? Your proof does not build itself. We've talked about this over and over again on the podcast, that you have to own your visibility. You know your value, but you have to own your visibility. And again, that can be amplified by a good testimonial.
So if you delivered value, which I know that you did, it is appropriate to ask for a testimonial, right? It's appropriate to ask whether the organizer knows another audience that might benefit from the conversation. And it is definitely appropriate to say that you would welcome the opportunity to build on the session with additional members of the team, or at an additional conference opportunity. Those are the professional next steps. But the key is to make the ask specific and aligned. I found it's not a good thing to ask for 10 different things in one email. And don't make the organizer do all the work of figuring out what you want. Make it easy for them to help you. You might say, thanks for the kind words. And given that your team found the session valuable, I'd be grateful for a brief testimonial that I can use on my website, or share in my speaker materials. Or you may say something like, based on the questions that came up during the session, I believe that your team could benefit from a deeper workshop on this issue. I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss what that could look like in timing. Something where you're taking the momentum and not leaving it on the table.
Something else you could also say is that there are other practice groups, affinity groups, leadership programs, conferences, or just colleagues who would benefit from knowing me or having this same conversation, I would definitely appreciate an introduction. It's direct, it's respectful and it lets people know exactly how they can support you. This is where your listening skills matter, because the next opportunity you have may already be embedded in what happened during the engagement, the panel, the keynote. Maybe the audience kept asking questions about one specific issue, or maybe the organizer mentioned a challenge that the organization is facing. Maybe someone asked whether you could deliver a session for their partners, summer associates, employee resource group, or leadership team. Those are the clues and you want to make sure you're paying attention to them.
Now let's talk about content, because every speaking opportunity can be a content goldmine, if you are paying attention. The story that you told, the framework you shared, the questions you received definitely, the themes that surfaced during the conversation and also, you know, the behind the scenes preparation, the travel, the room, the audience reactions, all of those things, like even the lessons you learned can all become content. And again, this is true whether you deliver a keynote, you moderate a conversation, or you served as one of several panelists, right? A thoughtful point that you made during a panel can become a LinkedIn post. A question that the moderator asks can inspire you to include it in your newsletter. And one of the themes that emerge during a conversation, or discussion can become a podcast episode. You don't need to be the only person on stage to create and share valuable content from the experience. This is really important to think about. Because one speaking engagement can become a LinkedIn post, a newsletter, a podcast episode, a short video, a blog article, like a carousel, a follow-up resource and of course, the foundation for a future pitch.
And I don't think this is for everything. This doesn't mean you have to squeeze every single drop out of every moment until there's nothing left. But it's important for you not to treat an engagement that required your time, your preparation and your expertise as a single-use asset. It should have legs other than just when you're doing the event, because you already did the work to prepare your message and your perspective. And now, after it, you can repurpose them responsibly and strategically so that more people can benefit and your ideas continue working for you, after you leave the room. And of course, the visibility is amplified. Speaking of visibility, please capture video whenever you can. If the event is being recorded, ask in advance whether you'll be able to receive a copy of the recording or a few clips. And if the event is not being recorded and the circumstances allow it, if you can hire somebody to capture video, or ask whether you can set up a camera, right? You don't need to have a full production team at every speaking engagement, but sometimes you only need to capture a short segment. But it's important for you to have evidence of your work, because a potential client is not only evaluating what you say, but they also want to see how you teach. They want to see how you connect. See how you contribute to a conversation and respond to the audience and definitely how you hold and own a room.
And this same strategy applies to photographs. Like before the event begins, ask someone you trust, who looks like they can take a good picture, to take pictures of you while you're speaking, right? Don't wait till after the session and realize that the only photograph you have is, you know, a group selfie or a picture of you standing besides the event sign. Now, if that's the only thing you have, okay, I want you to get something. And if the event has an official photographer, number one, introduce yourself to them, because you want to make sure they take good pictures of you. And also ask the organizer whether the photographs will be shared and whether they can provide the images of you, right? You also may want to ask permission and if there's any photo credit needed before using the photographs on your website, social or speaker materials from both, the event organizers as well as the photographer. Don't only ask for posed pictures. I know it's me saying this, but you want to see photographs that show you that you are in movement, that you are actively contributing. Because if, you know, a lot of times I'm not able to get video, but there's a picture of me, you know, with my hand in the air or pointing or doing something that shows that I was animated during the conversation, or interacting with the audience, right? Those images, they'll help people understand how you show up in the room, even if they're not a video. And I have seen speakers spend years telling people that they are dynamic and they're engaging and they're insightful, but they have no proof that allows someone else to reach that conclusion other than being told. So don't just tell people that you're a great speaker or panelist, help them to see it.
And the same is true for testimonials, right? You want to build a simple system for collecting and organizing them. So after each engagement, ask for feedback. Save the strongest quotes, track who said what, especially if they're given their title and organization and whether you have permission to use the testimonial publicly. I would, I do, keep a central document with client language, audience comments, results and observations about the impact of my sessions. You should do that as well. So then when you're writing a proposal, when you're refreshing your website, or preparing your speaker wheel, you're not searching through two years of emails trying to remember who said what and that wonderful thing that was thought about you, you know it. And I think this is where a lot of speakers miss the business or professional development opportunity, right? They deliver the talk, they feel great about it and then they move on to the next thing. But the follow-up is where the relationship has the opportunity to deepen, right? It's where referrals happen. It's where someone says, could you do this for our partners? Could you speak to our summer associates? Could you facilitate our retreat? Could you come back to this conference next year?
And you should also think about the people in your audience as future connectors, not only as potential clients. Because some people who see you speak may not have a budget, or you may not be even looking to be paid as a speaker. Some may not be decision makers. They may not hire you directly. But one of them, likely more than one of them, may be the person who says your name in a room that you are not in six months, or hopefully six weeks from now. Treat those relationships with care. Every time you do a speaking engagement, make sure you engage with people and encourage them to connect with your LinkedIn so that they can keep seeing you in action and keep sharing your value, right? You want to think about this for business development. You're not only nurturing people who can hire you immediately, right? Because that's a really narrow approach. And I think that people can feel when you're being transactional anyway. So you don't want folks to think that you're only engaging with them, because you think they can do something for you. Ideally, your speaking pipeline should include past clients, current prospects, people who are your audience, the folks who organize the conferences, bar association, or professional association leaders, sponsors, podcast hosts, collaborators, other panelists, definitely, moderators and then people who just believe in your work and are willing to say your name. And I am so grateful that I have so many of you who do that for me. Because speaking opportunities, they grow through ecosystems. And so the more consistently you show people well, deliver value and follow up, the more your name travels.
So let's think about a practical timeline you can use after your next speaking engagement. So within the next, I would say, 24 to 72 hours, you want to post a thoughtful reflection that extends the conversation and acknowledges the organization and the people who made the opportunity possible. If it's a weekend, I might push it until the following week. Then you want to make sure within 48 hours, 72 hours as well, you want to connect with attendees, panelists, moderators and other participants who engage with you. Remember, personalize the message and remind them where you connected. Then within a week or so, you want to send a specific thank you to the organizer. You're going to ask for that feedback, request a testimonial and then follow up about any official photographs and then the recordings. This is also a good time to suggest a logical next step, if you think that the session revealed an opportunity for additional work or collaboration. Like within two weeks or so, you want to repurpose that session into at least three additional content assets. So for me, that definitely is a LinkedIn post, definitely put in my newsletter, but I might talk about it in a short video, or do a podcast. Just think about what platforms you have and what makes the most sense for your brand and your audience. That could be that you update somebody in a briefing at work. And then within 30 days or so, update any speaker materials you have. Get the testimonial, the video, the clip, the client result and all those things. Those are, again, adding to your proof of concept that you can deliver.
And then look at your pipeline. What does disengagement reveal? Is there a new audience that you should be pursuing? Did a question come up repeatedly that could be a new topic you speak on, or do you want to update your content because of it? Is there something that the organizer mentioned, in terms of a need that you can solve, so you should be following up on? Did somebody in the audience work at an organization that you've been trying to connect with? And is there like a fellow speaker, or panelist that you want to continue getting to know better? Follow the clues that came up, because every speaking engagement gives you market research, if you're listening carefully enough to hear it. So I want your takeaway from this to be the stage or the dias should be a launchpad. Don't let the opportunity end when the applause or the session ends. Make sure you're capturing the content, you're nurturing the relationships, you're asking for those testimonials and you're getting pictures and hopefully recordings. Open the door for referrals and for future work. And then of course, keep updating the proof of what you can do. This all keeps the pipeline moving. Because even though the opportunity is over, it doesn't have to end the potential opportunities afterwards.
So the next episode in this series is the final one, unless I do a Q&A, we'll see. But it's going to be more personal. I want to talk about what years of speaking have taught me about myself, my business, some mistakes I've made and what has taught me about my confidence and what I'm thinking about the long game, right? Because strategy definitely matters and so does having the stamina to keep showing up, evolving and doing the good work. So that's it. I appreciate you hanging out with me in the Branding Room. If you know somebody who gives great talks or contributes tremendous value as a panelist, but doesn't have a strong follow-up strategy, please share this episode with them. And if you have listened to all of this, definitely share the series with them.
And as always, head over to ratethispodcast.com/branding to leave me a review so other people can discover and join in this conversation. Until then, I'll see you in the Branding Room and always, always stand by your brand. Bye, y'all.
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 paulaedger.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.
