Where To Talk
There are an abundance of speaking opportunities, if you’re looking for them…
Groups You Belong To
You’ve read the chapter on networking, so you now belong to a number of local clubs, groups, and industry associations, both formal and informal. There is a good chance that at least a few of the groups you belong to are looking for speakers. You can tell if your group is open to speakers by showing up and seeing if they have speakers at meetings (amazing trick). If you’re still not sure after that, ask the organizer.
Presentations in front of these kinds of groups usually fall into two categories: the longer educational talk and the shorter “About Me” talk.
The longer talks happen at groups devoted to an industry, specific market segment, or other self-selecting club. For example, a monthly meeting of real estate investors might want a speaker to talk for forty-five minutes each month about some specific real estate issue like tenant disputes or working with property managers.
The shorter talks tend to happen at “Business Networking” or “Business Referral” groups. If the group membership is stable, they usually like to give each member the opportunity to give a 5-15 minute talk about their business. While this is supposed to be a little ego-centric and sales-pitchy, and it is okay to talk about yourself and your services, you still want to provide some valuable, useful information to your audience.
Groups You Don’t Belong To
You can’t join every group. The schedule doesn’t work out, they’re too far away, or you don’t actually meet the demographic. But you have useful, valuable, non-salesy information that they would benefit from.
Call them up. Or show up to a meeting.
And ask.
If that’s too far out of your comfort zone, you might want to rethink your decision to become a Thought Leader.
You’d be surprised at how open groups are. If they have regular speakers, they will almost certainly say yes, providing you don’t smell like a time waster. Groups that have regular speakers are always looking for good ones— they don’t know how to find them, they are desperate. They end every meeting with, “If any of you would like to give a presentation, or know someone who would, please let us know.” Good speakers are hard to find.
The trick (besides showing up and asking) is to come prepared with an idea of what you’d like to talk about. Write up a description. Be prepared to say why this presentation would be useful and valuable. Be prepared to explain why you’re an expert in the area. Be prepared to explain that you’re not trying to sell anything.
Your written description should be easy to read and attractive, but it shouldn’t be too “done up.” You want it to look like you put some thought and energy into it, but you don’t want it to look like it was churned out by a publicity machine. Make it specific to that group, even if you’re pitching the same talk to hundreds of other groups.
Often you’ll have to wait a few months— some groups plan their speaker rotation several months in advance. Make sure you keep in touch with the group organizer in the interim, and try to go visit the group again if you can. Also, make sure you don’t wait until there’s a lull in your social calendar before you start approaching groups, otherwise that lull will stretch on for weeks and months before it picks up again.
Small Business Organizations
Your local SBA (Small Business Administration), and an extensive network of other government, private, and non-profit groups like the Small Business Development Council, regularly offers educational classes and events. Go ask if you can offer one.
These are not usually regularly scheduled meetings, but rather classes, seminars, workshops, and events they just host whenever a presenter would like to offer one. They advertise for them in a number of community calendars, and (if the topic is compelling) they draw a good crowd of entrepreneurs, sales people, and business owners.
These groups tend to be both more open to presenters (they want them) and a little more discerning about who they let speak. They might even have a formal process for deciding who can give a presentation. Your best bet is simply to ask. Have a brief proposal ready, and ask what the process is for giving a presentation. The proposal you have in your bag might be all they want. If they need more, they’ll tell you.
Your Own Seminars and Workshops
You can organize your own workshops and seminars— and you should. The upside is that you don’t have to convince anyone that it’s a good idea, so there’s a little less hassle on the scheduling end. The tough part is that then you are responsible for filling the room.
If you have some kind of network of people who pay attention to you— blog readers, twitter followers, newsletter subscribers, website visitors— this is fine. You schedule the event about two months ahead of time, and push out invitations and announcements. If you’re cool and connected enough, you could try to get other people with a good following to advertise for your seminar. And you must talk about it at all the networking events you go to.
People often feel the hardest part of setting up their own workshop is finding a venue. If you don’t have an office space (you work from home) and you don’t have the money to rent something, what are you supposed to do?
A lot of restaurants will provide free rooms, especially if they anticipate that some people will buy dinner. Some even provide free hors d’oeuvres. If you network a lot, you’ll start to notice that one or two places in town get a lot of traffic. It’s probably because they are easy to work with. Ask them.
You can also partner with someone in an allied field who does have office space. They host, you talk, everyone gets exposure. Which brings up a good point— if you have office space or access to a venue, try hosting other people’s workshops and presentations. It gives you exposure as a leader in your community, and takes almost no work (other than cleaning up after people).
Conferences and Trade Shows
Unless you’ve invented a new industry (you haven’t, by the way), there is a conference or a trade show for people who do what you do. There are probably several. You should go to them. You should speak at them.
You’re unlikely to get a keynote address just from trying, but there’s no reason you can’t lead a break-out session. It’s often just a matter of asking. Almost every conference has a website with a “Be a Presenter” button on it somewhere. Click it (click it good). If you can’t find something to that effect, call the organizers and ask. Be prepared with a useful, valuable topic. They may ask for anything from a formal proposal to a copy of your entire presentation. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Just ask, “What do I need to do?” and “What’s the process?” You won’t get every one you try for, but you’ll get one or two a year. And that will make you more of a Thought Leader than 99% of your competitors. Competitors who will now view you as an authority.
