Years ago I hired one of the best publicists in town to promote my product. I paid $5,000 month, which is a lot now, but a fortune back then. After 4 months I was out of money and they had only booked me one magazine. Since I had no money left, I was forced to do it myself. So I learned on my own how to be a publicist.

I was only doing it for myself, but I soon had other people calling me to do their publicity. Before long I was working for large corporations, and kept raising my prices to keep up with the demand.  I never advertised my services or went on a single job interview. It all came from word of mouth referrals.

It’s ironic because I never really wanted to be a publicist. I didn’t have a college degree, so I wouldn’t have even thought to send in my resume. But, here I was making a great living and working for big companies who would probably never hire me based on my resume. They hired me because of one thing – results! I worked hard for my clients and got them results, which is an issue with many publicists who take your money and do nothing, like what happened to me.

Easiest way to book a speaking job

To get referrals you’d better be damned good at what you do and work hard for your clients. It’s pretty simple.

So, how does this relate to the speaking industry? The easiest way to book a speaking job is through referrals. It’s also the easiest way to get your full fee as a keynote speaker.

The words every speaker wants to hear

I remember getting a call from a meeting planner who said “what is your fee and where do I send the contract”? Just like that. She said “Someone on the committee saw you speak, you came highly recommended, and we took a vote. So, are you available?” Ah, the words every speaker wants to hear “Are you available”?

But this didn’t happen overnight. It took years of hard work and proving myself in the market. I can’t tell you how many speakers and actors complain that they’ve been trying to get work for several months and haven’t gotten anything. The entertainment industry in general, whether you’re a speaker, actor, writer, musician, etc. is not about being an overnight success. If it does happen it’s very rare. Most people who make it have put in the hard work and established themselves before that happens. Nobody owes you anything as an artist. It has to be earned, over and over again.

When I worked in casting for films, I would rarely take a chance on a beginner for any leading roles. It wasn’t worth me being wrong, no matter how talented someone was. I wanted to see lots of proof that they were professionals and that they could handle a leading role. I would hire them for a smaller role if they were a beginner, but would not take the chance on a bigger role. There is too much on the line.

Prove yourself as a speaker

This is the same way it is in the speaking industry. You have to prove yourself and keep looking for the open door where someone will take that chance on you. In the meantime, keep working on your craft. Keep improving. Keep learning. No matter how long you’ve been in the business.

If I thought an artist just needed some help to push them over the edge I would work with them, on my own time and my own dime, because I thought they really had potential.

I remember reading a script that was so unique and had such a different voice with characters that jumped off the page, but the grammar and spelling were horrible. I couldn’t pass that script on to my boss, but I knew the writer and the script had potential. So I went through and edited it myself.

I had numerous conversations with the writer to make sure I was on the right track with him. He was more than willing to listen to critique and improve. He had no training as a writer, which really kind of worked in his favor because he didn’t allow his writing to be guided by some template from a university or writing school. That’s what made it so unique. It was a script written about great characters who had unique voices and a lot of heart. It was like no other script I had ever read. That happened only a handful of times where I found those kinds of artists.

Be the complete package as a speaker

But not everyone is going to take the time to help shape you. It’s a business, and they simply don’t have the time to do it. You need to be the complete package right off the bat. If you’re not, then start cutting your teeth in places where people will take a chance on you. About half of all the speaking jobs out there are free ones. Meeting planners need good speakers even if they can’t pay them. I know plenty of established speakers who will still book free speaking jobs to test out new material. I think this is smart. But if you’re doing it for free, you might as well make money by getting a sponsor for your speech. This is how I’ve never spoken for free. I would test new material in a free job, but get a sponsor. That way I got paid while shaping a speech, getting audience reaction, and improving my craft.

The actors and writers I would hire for smaller roles still had to prove themselves. The ones that showed up early, never complained, prepared for their parts, didn’t act like divas, and were willing to go above and beyond were the ones that I would keep in the file.

Keep working as a speaker

To get referrals as a speaker you have to be working. Someone, somewhere has to see you. That’s what happened when I got the call asking where to send the contract. Someone had seen me speak. Someone who had enough clout and enough passion in me to convince the committee to use me. This is the easiest way to book a speaking job.

This is the place you want to get to in your career. If you ever wonder why the same handful of people seem to book all the speaking jobs, this is why. They have reached a point where they’ve proven themselves in the industry. The easiest way to book a speaking job is to be a speaker everyone wants to work with and get referrals because of it.

It’s really simple. Be the best speaker, actor, writer, musician, entertainer you can possibly be. Be easy to work with and go above and beyond for every single job. Keep working and keep improving. Then one day you will get that call about sending the contract. The more you move up the ladder, the more of those calls you will get. And one more thing… resist ever becoming a diva. I could tell you many behind the scenes stories about actors who did this. Most of them aren’t working today. Be nice, be good, prove yourself, and love what you do enough to stay in it for the long haul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found out that you can get more speaking jobs by helping other speakers. Last week I got a call from a meeting planner regarding a keynote for their next conference. I spoke on the topics they were looking for and was available for the date of the event. She set up a time for me to have a 3-way call with the president of the company. And I had my list of questions to ask.

It quickly became clear that he was looking for something completely different. And I was met with a lot of resistance on the other end. At that point, I could have tried to push it in my direction but I got the impression if I had gotten the job they wouldn’t have been happy.

So after hanging up I called my competition. I knew that he was more what they were looking for and he was local. I’m not sure if he’s excepted the job or not but I felt much better knowing that the client will get what they want and get a great speaker and I won’t be miserable trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Sometimes your competition is a better fit

The point of the story is that sometimes it’s better to pass on a job than try to make it fit. Sometimes your competition is a better fit.

I had a friend who wanted to get on a TV writing staff, so she came up with a long term strategy that was kind of a gamble. She decided to spend a whole year helping other people in the industry get work. Not ignoring her own work, but always keeping an eye out for writing jobs that she could pass on to other writers.

For months, she networked like crazy and recommended good writers that she knew whenever a job would come up that they were right for. Many times the writers were direct competition. Sometimes they were better suited for that particular job than she was.

After several months she was starting to think maybe the strategy wasn’t going to work. She got a lot of grateful writers work, but she still wasn’t on a TV writing staff. And then one day she got a call that one of the writers she had helped had been promoted to showrunner of a new TV series. And that writer never forgot how she had helped her. She got the job as staff writer on a show that lasted a couple of years. Not only did she make a lot of money, but that led to other staff writing jobs.

Help the meeting planner

The bottom line is that there is a lot of work out there. If you’re the very best person for the job, you’ll get it. And if you don’t get it, you might as well be the one to help the meeting planner find the best person. That will make the meeting planner happy, so the next time they will remember you helped them out with a really good speaker. And the next job may be one you’re perfect for.

It will also make the speaker happy. Hopefully they will steer some business your way when the time is right. Sometimes they may be busy on the date of the event, or they could refer you the next year.

Speaker commission

You could do it just for the karma or you could do a reciprocal commission of 10 or 20%. But make sure you’re working with professional, ethical speakers who will do a good job for the meeting planner. Otherwise it’ll backfire on you. Get more speaking jobs by helping other speakers get speaking jobs.

This is why it’s a good idea to network with professional speakers who can hit it out of the park and pay it forward for you if possible. Even if it’s your competition.

You walk off stage to thunderous applause and pat yourself on the back. You nailed it. The audience was with you and they loved you. But did they really? How do you know if the audience liked your speech?

One of the first speeches I gave felt like this. Until I got my feedback. “She didn’t know who we were or what we do”. Yikes! I had no idea they felt this way. But the truth is, they were right. I had spent so much time perfecting the craft of my speech but I didn’t spend any time getting to know who the audience was or whether they would like or even need the material. I never made that mistake again.

But sometimes it’s hard to tell from their reactions or their applause how an audience really feels. So how do you find out?

Ask the meeting planner

Meeting planners will usually get feedback about a speaker so they know what kinds of things the audience likes or doesn’t like. Some of the feedback is brought up in the wrap-up meetings after an event. If you’re brave, you could call or email them to find out what kind of feedback they got. Then if it’s positive, great! If it’s negative, you need to know so you can improve.

Look on Twitter

It was only when I started checking the event hashtags that I discovered some great feedback from an event that I thought the audience hated. They didn’t really participate in the interactive portion and I had a hard time getting people to even raise their hands for questions. But it turns out they were a shy group, which explains why most people were sitting in the back of the room and didn’t want to be called on. But they put all kinds of praise on Twitter. I had no idea.

Ask the audience

This is also tricky, but I tried it after the last speech I gave. I asked people in the audience one on one if there was any information in the speech that they could use in their own organizations. I not only got an idea of the things they could and couldn’t implement, but they gave me ideas for other content to look into. If you’re doing a breakout or your own events you can give people a feedback form to fill out.

If you really take the time to know and understand your audience’s needs you should be getting good feedback from them. Audience feedback isn’t a one time thing, but should be done after every speech. The more you know, the more you will improve as a speaker.

Last week I talked to a meeting planner who had a keynote speaker coming from Florida who wasn’t able to get to their event due to hurricane Irma. When I asked what she did, she said she keeps a list of speakers she knows she can count on in a pinch, and goes through the ones local to the event in case of an emergency.

I’ve been on the other side of that as a speaker who was booked because of another speaker having to cancel. When you have to pull together a speech literally at the last minute, it helps to be an expert in that topic who knows the subject backwards and forwards. Here are some examples of speakers who have been in that situation and meeting planners who have saved the day when a speaker cancels:

“As an international planner who has been in the events profession for over a decade, I have experienced a handful of times that a speaker has canceled their set less than two weeks prior to a conference. Only once have I had someone cancel onsite, and that was due to food poisoning. Surprisingly, he pulled it together and showed up after he cancelled.

In the times that a speaker has canceled, we have a few systems in place. First, we work with the speaker to see if there is a way for us to pre-record some of the content for our group or find out if there is a way to do a live stream before we announce any changes. Most of the time, either of those solutions works. Sometimes they have a protege they can send in their place, which most of they tend to deliver messages with more enthusiasm.

We also work with the speaker who canceled to implement post conference content that can be pushed to the attendees, which is a win-win for both their brand and for the attendees to still feel they received information from an industry leader.  In addition to those strategies, we always contact several speakers beforehand on their schedules and inform them that we may need them for a conference. Most of these speakers are of the lower tiered in their category, so their schedules are a bit easier to manipulate.”

Robin Oloyede
Events and Communications Director for Texas State Optical
Global Accounts Manager for Helms Briscoe

“As a frequent speaker, I find that too many meeting planners try to get their speakers on the cheap which is what leads to cancellations.  Yes speakers have important information to share, but frankly, we are not doing it for our joy and personal satisfaction alone, but we need compensation to keep doing what we are doing.

I have found today that too many speaking engagements are offered as ‘networking opportunities’ with very little financial incentive to make those engagements worthwhile.  Personally, I don’t accept such engagements, because I don’t want to be forced to cancel at the last minute, but I think the idea that “you get what you pay for” is important for those who need professional speakers to round out events.  Being too cheap simply sets them up for last minute cancellations.”

Pam Danziger
Speaker, Author, Market Researcher
Unity Marketing

“I’ve been an meeting planner for 2 decades and speaker’s canceling at the last minute is rare. Although, I worked a conference for another planner this week and 5 speakers canceled in two days which was really unusual. I hope it’s not a trend. I teach a class at AZ State Univ. and funny enough last night the topic was “meeting planners working with speakers” and we talked about this exact topic!

What do you do when a speaker cancels happens? Three things:

  1. The contract w/speaker is critical as there must be a cancellation clause that details out what the liabilities are when the speaker does cancel (6 months out, 3 months out, etc.). The next part is how the deposit will be handled such as return of % of deposit to the association or company based on timing.

In the contract you could require if the speaker does cancel they are responsible to providing a replacement based on the terms of the contract, meaning no additional cost to the host company.

  1. As the planner or educational committee you need to have a list of back-up speakers who could be called on to present the topic. The resources could be just knowing who are the experts in the field they can call on, other planners who have a list of recommended speakers, speaker bureaus
  2. Cancel the session if it happens at the last minute, like the day before, and the planner doesn’t have a local expert – this is the worst option as attendees are always disappointed that the topic they want to hear is not available. This happened yesterday when a speaker didn’t show and the room was packed. Truly a bad reflection on the speaker.

 

Marla Harr

Business Professional Development Consultant

Business Etiquette International

Act Well Do Well

“I was speaking at a conference in Boston 2 years ago in February, the winter of historic snowfall in the area. A major storm hit the day before the conference so several speakers could not make it into town because the airport had cancelled so many flights. I am based locally and ended up speaking 3 times on different topics the day of the conference.A lot of people who were already there ended up having to step in as well. It actually worked out amazingly well, the attendees were appreciative that the event went on and many seasoned speakers like myself were able to join panels on related topics or step in and give an impromptu talk based on their experience and background.

The survey after the conference rated it very successful and popular,sometimes you just have to roll with the punches as needed. I have spoken at other events over the years when the keynote had a last minute family emergency or conflict and the person who replaced them gave a terrific talk. Sometimes it works out even better than expected, the replacement speaker does not have time to get nervous so speaks off the cuff and the audience has lower expectations and is blown away by the authenticity of a less prepared speech.

Paige Arnof-Fenn
Founder & CEO
Mavens & Moguls

“Every meeting planner has that stomach-dropping moment when they have a room full of people waiting for a speaker that doesn’t show. The mark of a good planner is the ability to think on their feet – and this is definitely a test! Act quickly and calmly – if you have other sessions happening simultaneously, make a short announcement informing attendees of their other choices, and ensure them that you will have any materials (slide deck, handouts) they missed out on circulated post-meeting.

If you’re in a situation where the speaker is the main event, here’s where knowing your audience is key. Every conference has a few stakeholders in the room who may have a presentation or some seasoned advice up their sleeve – this is the time to pull together an onstage interview or fireside chat with those folks who you know will jump at the chance for the mic.

None of these options available to you? Slot in some extra time for networking! Many conference attendees are bored by constant programming and wish they had more time to connect with their peers – turn this into an opportunity.

Whatever you do, make sure you follow up with attendees who may have been disappointed by the change in schedule. Reach out to your speaker to see if they’ll record a video message or send a note to your attendees who missed out on their knowledge.”

Moey Fox

Senior Manager at Scott Circle, a full service communications, conference, and event management firm based in Washington, D.C.

“One time I was attending a 3-day leadership conference — as a participant — when it was learned that one of the speakers scheduled for the next morning would be unable to make it. So, when asked if I could possibly jump in to fill this void, I had to put together an entire 3-hour workshop – including powerpoint slides and handouts – overnight, on the fly! Glad to be able to report that it went great.

I’ve jumped in to speak, sit in on panels, and deliver workshops a few other times, as well, with less than a day’s notice.

The key to me, first of all, is to be a subject matter expert in your field, and to have a strong brand, so that others feel confident reaching out to you to step in with little notice. And to know your content so well that you can deliver it with minimal preparation.

Secondly, and of equal importance, is, in your preparation, to be clear on who your AUDIENCE is…and what your PURPOSE is. One-size-fits-all, generic presentations are, usually, not very effective. So I always try to find out as much as I can, as quickly as I can, about the Who, What, When, Where, and Why…so I can best determine the How.”

Todd Cherches

CEO & Co-Founder

BigBlueGumball LLC

www.bigbluegumball.com

 

“I host an annual event for small and growing business owners called, The BOLD Move Event.  We’ve been doing these two-day events since 2012, and have had only one speaker cancel.  She literally cancelled the day before the event because she said, “She wasn’t feeling the crowd; I don’t think there will be enough people for my workshop.”  Well as the event host, I had become so full of last minute registrants, changes, sponsor requests, that I literally said, “Fine.  We will do something else.”  I consult with businesses and do some speaking, so I created (on the fly) a workshop about when we have to make adjustments to plans and activities in business.  It was a big hit.

A last minute speaker cancellation can cripple an event and do harm to the hosting organization’s reputation, especially if the event is built around that speaker.  If the host is knowledgeable,  flexible and quick on his or her feet, a last-minute cancellation can create a positive lesson for conference participants.

Michelle Aikens

Sepia Prime Woman

 

Hard skills are those skills that are teachable, based in fact, and can be defined and measured. Some examples would include time management, sales training, social media, copywriting, and accounting.

Soft skills are less tangible, often associated with personal traits and character, and are harder to quantify. Some examples would include communication, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, and conflict resolution.

With more companies focused on the bottom line, I asked speakers, meeting planners and speaker bureaus if they were seeing more requests for hard skill topics or soft skill topics in the speaking industry today. Here are their answers:

“Soft skills is the most commonly requested presentation with content, content, content, content.  If you have a dynamic, humorous way of presenting the content you will be chosen hands down over the trainer type with content. You want to be motivation with content versus a content motivator.”

Wilene Dunn

Global Speakers Agency

 

“Conferences in the digital marketing industry always state that they are

looking for experts on the given topic of an event, session or panel —

they say want people who have the hard skills and “know their stuff.” But

what they rarely state — and what they may not even realize consciously

that they want — is that they also want someone with the soft skills that

will enthrall the audience.

 

People attend conferences because they want to experience something amazing. They want to be star-struck when meeting the celebrities in their field. They want to reconnect with old friends. They want to leave talks with their mouths agape while thinking, “Oh. My. God.” If someone wants “just the facts,” then he or she can read a blog post or watch a webinar.

People go to conferences for the emotional high.The best speakers have both hard and soft skills. A great speaker without substance is fluff, and a renowned expert can be extremely boring.

Personally, this is where I have been seeing conferences going. Conferences

first check that a speaker is knowledgeable and credible and will be

presenting something original.

 

However, more and more conferences are also insisting on previewing videos or even traveling to see a prospective speaker give a presentation elsewhere. At any serious conference, hard skills and knowledge among the speakers are absolutely necessary first and foremost. But soft skills and the ability to amaze an audience are a very close second.”

 

Samuel Scott

SEO and Internet marketing speaker

http://www.samueljscott.com/speaking

 

“Actually, we’re experiencing just the opposite. More than ever companies realize that there’s a direct link from employees’ abilities to the bottom line and they seek us out to learn how to traverse that path. There are many studies and lots of data to support tangible results when hard and soft skills are addressed as a symbiotic relationship in successful organizations.

Marian Thier
Partner

Listening Impact

www.listeningimpact.com

 

So, it seems that both hard skills and soft skills are needed today, and the speakers who can integrate both, while delivering the information in an entertaining way, will be more in demand.

 

What do you think? Are you seeing more requests for hard skills or soft skills as a speaker, meeting planner, or speaker bureau?