So You Want to Be a Speaker? Getting Clear Before You Get Booked

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Description

Wanting the stage and being ready to serve an audience from it are two very different things. Speaking can be a visibility strategy, a business development tool, or a business in its own right, but each lane requires a different strategy. When you treat every speaking opportunity the same, you miss the chance to make intentional decisions about your time, your preparation, your pricing, and your follow-up. And all of it starts with clarity: knowing what you have to say, who needs to hear it, and the value you want people to walk away with.

In this episode of Branding Room Only, Paula T. Edgar kicks off the So You Want to Be a Speaker series with an honest conversation about what speaking actually requires before the bookings, polished website, or speaker reel. Drawing from her experience speaking to lawyers, executives, affinity groups, leadership teams, and professional audiences, she breaks down the three strategic lanes of speaking, the foundational elements every aspiring speaker needs, and a simple exercise to help listeners clarify their message, audience, and purpose.

Chapters

2:28 – The distinct differences between speaking on stage for industry visibility, business development, and as a fully paid operation

3:43 – Why wanting the stage is not the same as being ready to serve an audience from it

6:17 – Why narrowing your focus is actually what makes you findable, bookable, and memorable

7:12 – How your brand needs to communicate your expertise before you even walk in the room

8:00 – What gathering proof in the beginning stages of public speaking will require of you 

9:46 – Paula’s fill-in-the-blank framework that clarifies your message, audience, and purpose in a way that other people can use to refer you

Mentioned In So You Want to Be a Speaker? Getting Clear Before You Get Booked

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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. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Branding Room Only. I am your host, Paula Edgar, CEO of PGE Consulting Group, personal branding expert, keynote speaker, and someone who has learned a lot about speaking by doing it, refining it, and sometimes getting it wrong before getting it right. Today I'm kicking off a series called So You Want to Be a Speaker. Lots of people say they want to be a speaker. They see someone on stage in good lighting with a microphone, commanding a room, and they think, I want that.I could do that. And you may be absolutely right. You may have a message that people need to hear. You may have a story that could shift how someone sees themselves, their work, or their possibilities. But today I want to talk about what that actually requires, because the fantasy of speaking and the reality of becoming a speaker are two very different things. The fantasy is the applause, the photos, the LinkedIn posts, the person who comes up to you afterwards and says, you were amazing. The reality is the message development, the relationship building, the positioning, the preparation, the followup, the rejection, the refining, and the discipline to keep showing up even when nobody is inviting you yet. So this series is for the person who wants to speak more to raise their visibility, and it's also for the person who wants speaking to become more a part of their business model. Those are related goals, but they're not the same goal. And so we're going to be honest about that from the beginning. During the series, I'm going to talk about the foundation, building your brand, your pitch, the preparation, and what happens after the applause, and what I have learned from years of speaking in rooms full of lawyers, executives, leaders, students, association members, and professionals who are trying to be seen, heard, and valued. This really is a series I wish I had when I was first trying to figure out how to turn my expertise into a message that people would gather to hear. So let me start here. Speaking is not just one thing. For many people, speaking is a visibility strategy. You get on panels, you moderate conversations, you present at industry events, and you become associated with a particular topic. This can help you to get promoted, attract clients, definitely build credibility, and become the person people think of when your subject comes up. For other people, speaking is a lead generation tool, right? You speak so that the right audience can experience how you think, how you teach, and how you solve problems. And for some other people, speaking is the business. You are paid to design and deliver keynotes, trainings, workshops, retreats, and facilitation experiences. And you can do all three. I do. But you need to know which lane you are in for each opportunity. A panel at a bar association may be a visibility play. A webinar for a group of potential clients may be business development. A keynote for a law firm retreat may be a paid speaking engagement. Each one can be valuable, but each one needs a strategy. When you treat each opportunity the same, you miss the chance to make the right decision about your time, your preparation, your pricing, and your follow-up. So here's the truth. Not everyone who wants to speak needs to build a speaking business right now. That is not an insult. That's strategy. Wanting to be on the stage is not the same as being ready to serve an audience on the stage. And that's just the truth. We've all been in rooms where there's been speakers who think that they were better than they actually were, or were not what you expected for that particular engagement. And so let's talk about this. A speaking business requires you to have something specific, developed, and useful to say. You need a point of view, you need a framework, you need experience that has taught you something other people can use. You need the ability to translate what you know into language that meets the audience where they are. Audiences are smart. Decision-makers are even smarter, especially when they're paying. They can tell the difference between someone who has earned their message and a person who just wants the visibility. They can tell when someone has a talk and someone has just a title. A title is not enough. A clever title may get attention, but your substance is what gets you invited back. So before you worry about your speaker reel, your website, your one sheet, your booking form, I want you to ask yourself this foundational question. What do I know deeply and specifically that other people need to learn? Not just what I'm interested in, not just what sounds popular right now. What do I know? What have I solved? What have I lived and experienced? And what have I helped other people navigate? Basically, what can I teach in a way that creates a shift for someone else? For me, you all know, you're in this podcast, that has been personal branding, but not in a fluffy way. My work is about helping professionals understand how they are being perceived, how they communicate their value, how they build relationships, and how they create visibility with intention. I have done that with lawyers, law firm leaders, corporate legal teams, affinity groups, women's initiatives, students and executives, and more. The topic is personal branding, but the application shifts depending on the audience. And that matters. The topic is not just what you talk about. It's the problem that you solve for a specific room. All of my engagements are customized. I want to know about the audience, what their trouble points are, et cetera, before I deliver a speech. Nothing for me is canned, because it makes me feel more engaged when I'm creating something customized and it makes the audience feel heard. So let me get to the first thing that you need. You need a clear topic with, in your mind, a defined audience. You can't be a speaker about everything, right? I know there's some people who think, well, I can talk about whatever it is. And that may be true, but to be impactful as a speaker, you can't be for everybody, right? You need to have a defined audience and defined topic. For example, leadership is a category. Professional development is a category. Inclusion is a category. Personal branding is a category. Your topic, though, lives at the intersection of your expertise, your audience, and the problem that they need solved. So the more specific you are, the easier it is for someone to understand why they should book you. Specificity, right? While it may feel like it, it's not a limitation. Specificity, just like branding, is how the right people find you, right? Because you have a niche. The second thing you need is a brand that communicates your expertise before you even walk in the room. So as we've talked about on this podcast many, many times, your brand is not just your logo, your colors, or the font on your website. Your brand is a story that people experience about you before they even speak to you or hear you speak. When someone Googles you, or they visit your LinkedIn profile, they read your bio, they see your headshot, or they get a chance to watch a clip of you speaking, they are collecting evidence, brand evidence. They're asking, can this person hold our room, can this person teach our audience, can this person represent our organization well? Double-click on that one. So your brand answers those questions before you actually get a chance to do so. The third thing that you need is proof. You need evidence that you can deliver, and that might be video. It definitely should be testimonials. It might be a track record of panels and trainings, workshops and podcasts, webinars, or community programs you've done. And yes, you should be tracking those. Also, in the beginning, some of that proof may come from paid or low-paid or unpaid opportunities. And I don't want you to stay there forever, which we'll talk about in this series, but I also don't want you to despise the early part, the part where you kind of put in more than you're getting back, because every strong speaker has a period where they're building the evidence that helps someone else say yes later on, and also helps them to build their skill as a speaker. One of the mistakes that I see people making is waiting till they feel official, that they want like a perfect website, a polished reel, an invitation for the dream conference they want to speak at. But truthfully, becoming a speaker often starts where it looks official to everybody else, right? So fake it till you become it. It starts with you saying yes to the right rooms that may be a little smaller, paying attention to what resonates for the audience, collecting their feedback, sharpening the stories that you tell, and learning how to manage your nerves while still serving the audience. Listen, I've spoken in rooms where the setup was beautiful, and in rooms where I had to adjust because the technology was acting up, the room was cold, the microphone was strange or non-existent, or the audience came in tired. And that is a part of the work, because speaking is not just delivering content. Speaking is reading a room, definitely adapting in real time, managing energy, theirs and yours, and then staying connected to the purpose of why you're there. So if you're listening and thinking, I want to do this, here's my challenge for you. Write one sentence that answers this. I speak to blank about blank so they can blank. Keep it simple. I speak to mid-level lawyers about building strategic relationships so they create visibility, opportunity, and influence. I speak to women leaders about personal branding so they can communicate their value with more clarity and confidence. I speak to nonprofit executives about board leadership so they can lead with greater alignment and impact. One sentence. If you cannot write it yet, that's not a failure. It's just your first assignment. It's where you should start so you can have a mission and vision as you go forward. So once you have that sentence, test it. Say it out loud. Share it with a friend or a trusted colleague. If you are feeling brave, put it in a LinkedIn post. Definitely use it when someone asks what you speak about and watch what happens. Do people understand it? Do they ask a follow-up question? Do they immediately think of an audience that needs it? The clarity that you're getting from defining what you're speaking about and for whom is not just for you, it's what helps other people refer you to opportunities. And that's a part of what I want you to hold on to as I'm coming to the close of this first episode. Speaking is a craft. It is a business development strategy. It's definitely a brand accelerator. And for some people like me, it is a business. But at the center of it all, it is a service. You're not there to perform importance. You are there to create value. And when you lead with that, the strategy becomes more grounded. Your brand becomes more honest and authentic. And then the opportunities you get become more aligned. So this is episode one of You Want to Be a Speaker? Your takeaway should be simple. Get clear on your what, your who, and your why right now. Before you pitch, before you design or redesign your website, and before you chase after a big stage opportunity, know what you are here to say and who needs to hear it. In the next episode, we're going to talk about your brand and why it has to do some of the work before you even get booked. Because by the time someone reaches out to you, they have probably already formed an opinion about you. And we want that opinion to work in your favor. In this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who's been saying that they want to speak, but has not taken the first strategic step. And I want you to connect with me on LinkedIn at PaulaEdgar.com. And guess what? As you know, I'm Paula Edgar, and this is Branding Room Only. Until next time, stand by your brand and get clear on what you want to speak about. 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.