How a Ghostwriter Can Help You Land Public Speaking Opportunities

In this blog post, I’m going to teach you how to land more paid speaking opportunities using a ghostwriter.

Have you ever wanted to step up on the stage of TED and be able to motivate and influence millions? Or perhaps you just want to be a speaker who is able to sell his or her products. Speaking is an amazing experience that is unlike any other. It’s both scary and exhilarating at the same time.

At times it may seem overwhelming, especially if you’re a beginner so we’ve put together a comprehensive blog so you can meet your speaking goals.

Author’s Note: 

If you haven’t checked out my blog post about how to write a business book, check it out it out HERE

Getting Started Speaking 

A great way to help you with your public speaking career is by writing a book.

Professionals and creatives alike may have different motivations for writing a book. For some, having a published book under your belt may be a means to build brand awareness.

In many cases, your ‘brand’ may be YOU as an individual entity. Your brand may represent your unique skill set, knowledge and/ or experiences, and the subsequent accomplishments and accolades you have received as a result of your expertise.

Having a published work to your name can enhance your level of exposure to your desired audience and lead to a number of opportunities, one of which being public speaking engagements.

Protip: One of the biggest myths about speaking is that it’s not an option for someone who’s shy. Learning how to speak and communicate clearly is like any other skill – will practice you’ll be able to master it. While you may not be the next Tony Robbins, you can find your own style. Just be open to feedback and be yourself. There is nothing more captivating than a person who speaks from the heart.

Having a book attached to your name can attract conference coordinators while they seek out qualified and relevant speakers for their upcoming events. Of course, getting to the point where your public speaking is in high demand is a longer-term process.

Until you gain that level of recognition within your professional community, your book can give you a ‘leg up’ to apply to speak at upcoming events.

Is there a well-known, widely-attended conference approaching? Then use your book as leverage to apply as a speaker.

Marketing First

If you decide on using your book to promote your speaking, don’t wait until you’ve published your book before you start speaking. Start promoting yourself – and your book – immediately!

Post your book on your social media profiles, keep your email list updated with your progress, ask for input on titles from your social media following, start building relationships with event organizers – all this allows you to build your profile well before your book is done.

An author who’s already working on their book is still more valuable to a speaker booker than one who hasn’t even started. It shows you’re serious about your subject.

Whenever you’re marketing yourself as a speaker, always be thinking about how you can bring your book into the picture. Nothing says ‘author and speaker’ better than footage that incorporates you both speaking and showing your book.

Does your speaker showreel feature your book? If not, next time you get the chance to be filmed doing a talk make sure you hold your book up to the audience, get some footage and insert it into the reel.

Protip: How about being interviewed on your book topic and creating a series of YouTube videos out of it? Posting videos on Youtube is one of the easiest ways to promote yourself. It not only gives you a marketing channel but allows organizers to see how you present. 

You’ll need:

• Smartphone
• Tripod
• Lapel mic

That’s it!

Just point the camera, plug in the microphone, and start recording!

Write Your Book With Speaking In Mind

Getting high-paying speaking engagements from your book is as much about how you write the book as it is about what you do once it’s written. Make it easy for yourself by writing the right book in the right way.

With the right strategies in place, you can gain gig after gig which puts you far ahead of your non-author competition.

Whenever you write, you always want to put your audience first. In a world where all knowledge is only a click away, how can you bring a fresh angle to a topic? How does your experience differ from Joe Blow down the block?

As a speaker here are some things to think about before going up on stage:

• What does your audience want to learn?
• What information would benefit them the most?
• What is your area of expertise?
• How can you entertain?

So how does your book help with all of that?

As a writer, you need a clear and tightly focused topic for your book, aimed at an audience who want to know more about it.  Think of your book as just an outline for your speech – a practice run, if you will.

They should have the same structure.

The same stories.

And the same takeaways.

Your audience, your topic, your book and your speech all need to be cohesive.

Once you’ve decided that, create your book around this knowledge. That’s the way to have a book that’s irresistible for an event organizer which brings us to the next step.

Use Your Book As A Business Card

Who uses business cards anymore?

The answer is nobody.

If nobody uses them then why carry them?

Carry copies of your book instead. They are a much better way of standing out.

Make a list of everyone you want to get in front of and split it into two categories.

The first list is everyone who might book you directly such as event organizers, HR managers, and speaker agents.

The second list for one for influencers in your area of expertise such as people your peers who have a large following and who can help you generate a buzz about your book.

Protip: Don’t forget past and present clients, and people you’ve spoken for in the past. Reach out to these people, even if the last time you spoke to them was years ago. As I write this, I just had an influencer who I hadn’t spoken to in at least four years reach out to me because I was an author.

When you are pitching yourself or you get a booking enquiry, send them a copy of your book.

The money spent on sending them a free copy of your book could generate thousands in booking fees, especially when you consider the possibility of repeat bookings.

In addition, reading your book gives your enquirer a great feel for your tone of voice and approach. They’ve got to know, like and trust you before you even met.

Finding Paid Speaking Engagements

You’ve written your book, posted on social media and did all your outreach. It’s a good start but likely not enough to get you those big juice speaking opportunities you’ve always dreamed about.

What next? Here are some great tactics to put yourself out there more.

Protip: Remember that you shouldn’t always look for the biggest and splashiest events first but the ones that bring together the most relevant audience for your brand. You’ll probably get to know the bigger (more expensive) shindigs pretty quickly, but keep your eyes peeled for interesting small- to medium-sized events that offer great opportunities for you to connect with your target audience.

1. Google

Google is almost always the first place to look for anything. Google speaking opportunities in your area.

Protip: type your search into Google but don’t press enter just yet. Look at the auto suggestions Google gives you. It might give you some ideas and suggestions you might not have thought about yet.

You’ll want to check out the National Speakers Association (U.S.) in the United Kingdom Professional Speaking Association and here in Canada Speakers Association. Find the speaking association in your home country or area.

2. Follow  Industry Leaders

First, you’re going to need to identify the major players in your industry. What thought leaders, CEOs, and influencers are people in your field always referencing. Once you have a list of the top influencers in your industry, Google around to see where they’re speaking. Check their social media profiles and follow them on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll learn about the events they’re joining in on in real-time.

Protip:

Twitter allows you to put your favourite influencers on a separate list. You should check this list daily to see what they are posting about.

3. Read the Trade Publications

As you’ve likely already discovered, almost every industry has trade publications dedicated to writing about information, news, and events specific to their industry. Trade publications are where you can learn about industry events. Subscribe to these publications and read them religiously.

4. Networking

Your clients are always a good source of information. What events are your clients attending? Ask them for suggestions and tell them to keep an ear out for opportunities. You’re probably at networking events anyways so use that as an opportunity to ask around.

5. On Social Media

Social media is a wealth of endless opportunities. I’m just going to give you a couple of tactics you can use.

Do a “Call for Speakers” Facebook Search like this:

Login to your Facebook account and in the Facebook search bar at the top, type in the words “Call for Speakers”. Once you hit enter, you’ll get a number of possible searches. Here’s a current example:

You can refine your search results by selecting a specific city if you want to speak in a particular area as with a wrap-around event. Using the current year is great for upcoming events, but you can also use past years to look for annual events for future.

Protip: Be sure to click the “See All” link to see the full list of suggestions.

Follow Hashtags on Twitter and Instagram

Pick a couple of relevant hashtags in your industry and make sure to follow them.  Twitter especially is especially useful to source out people who are hiring speakers.

Protip: If you have a social media tool like Hootsuite, Oktopost, or Sprout, you can actually monitor hashtags like #speakingopportunities #speaking and #conventions.

6. Build it Yourself

Want to guarantee a speaking gig? Create the event yourself. Host a fireside chat, create a conference, or launch a Meetup that you think your community will enjoy. If you think it’s appropriate, you can even sell tickets using Eventbrite. This is definitely a good testing ground for upcoming, large speaking opportunities.

7. Community Events

Ask people in your local community for events like regional festivals or business summits. Even if there’s no obvious route to applying as a speaker, don’t be put off. Find the name of the person organizing the event and drop them an email or phone call introducing yourself, and ask whether a speaker at their event might be of interest. These tend to be a little less competitive than bigger events and can lead to referrals.

8. Associations and Board of Trades

Most cities have a Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce with a calendar of events you could get involved with. These types of associations are usually desperate for speakers and as an added bonus, they are usually connected to influential people.

There are thousands of TEDx events around the world held every year. They are a great platform to help leverage your brand and further your speaking career. If you’re new, try to find a smaller TEDx that is not as competitive.

9. University Events

Got knowledge to share about how you developed your career? Or maybe you work in an interesting field that might appeal to young people planning their careers? Get in touch with your old high school or local college to see if you can speak as part of a careers event.

10. Public speaking groups

Check out organizations like Toastmasters International where members have the opportunity to hone their skills and practice in front of an audience. I can’t say enough good things about Toastmasters. Not only will it will vastly improve your communication skills, but it provides great connections to like-minded individuals. Ask the leadership team to help you get larger speaking opportunities. Most of them will be happy to help!

Hire A Writer To Help You

When embarking on the seemingly lofty task of producing a written publication, hiring a ghostwriter can help you achieve your goal of landing more public speaking opportunities.

Though the correlation may seem murky at first glance, a skilled ghostwriter can aid you in achieving a means to an end. Whether it’s presenting your patent-pending screw to a room full of construction business owners, or discussing current wedding décor trends to a group of event planning professionals, having a published work lends to your credibility within your specific industry.

Facing a group of your peers also presents you with the chance to pitch your book and possibly lead to sales of not only your products/ services, but also your book itself. Gaining traction on book sales can then lead to demand for more publications that feature your unique ideas.

In Conclusion

To bring it back to square one, all of this requires a thoughtfully crafted, well-written book to your name.

Chances are, you do not possess the time, resources or skills required to compile your ideas into a piece of literature that will not only convey your ideas in a clear and concise fashion but also appeal to your target demographic.

This is where a ghostwriter comes in!

They can streamline the entire process from a theoretical ‘pie in the sky’ idea to a tangible book that can then be pitched to publishing agents or self-published, and then pitched to the professional organizations/ unions to which you belong, and circulated within your network of industry professionals.

Do you have novel ideas that you wish to transcribe into a book? Feel free to contact Ghost Writers & Co and we can help you get the ball rolling!