So, you want to be a professional (paid) speaker?
Do you feel you have a story to share?
Are you curious how to get started to be a Les Brown, Zig Ziglar or Anthony Robbins?
Deborah Deras, Keynote Speaker
Deborah Deras, Top Latina Speaker
Fun Fact: It is not as easy as it may seem. Only 20% of professional speakers are booking gigs on a regular basis.
Like the music industry, the speaking industry is very volatile and often times feast or famine. When it is good it is great and it is a fantasy to believe you have made it and it is all champagne and limos from here because in my 16 years in the industry everything from the 9/11 tragedy to the housing crash of 2008, radically changed the budgets that corporations allocated for speakers.
It takes a special person, one with tenacity, passion, and a burning desire to make a difference in the world. If that is you, read on but don’t say I didn’t warn you it is not easy industry but very rewarding.
It does have great pay and full of amazing perks like getting paid to travel the world and getting driven in limos and sharing the stage with celebrities. I once shared the stage with Eva Longoria, Marianne Williamson, Michael Beckwith and Panache Desai at various events in my Career. Super awesome!
So, how do you book paid speaking gigs? Here are a few steps to get you started.
- Master your craft: I attended and spoke at Toastmaster two times a week for three years before I ever hit the stage. I took seminars on how to be a masterful trainer and invested in a speaking coach. Once you have been speaking for a while and getting paid you can join the National Speakers Association.
- Niche and grow rich: I tell of consulting clients. Clarity is Cash. If people don’t know what problem you solve for their group why should they hire you? Gone are the days of speakers just for the motivation of fluff. In today’s market, the industry expects experts who specialize not generalists in a specific niche. Think about it you had a heart problem would you want a cardiologist or a general M.D. for the job. Same for speaking, so specialize in your expertise and you will find yourself booking more gigs.
- Create a signature program: Learn from my mistakes and work smarter not harder. I used to constantly reinvent my speaking my having to create new speeches for every audience. Some wanted Leadership, others Change, others Team Building and I would adapt and recreate the wheel every time. If you niche than you have that clarity to what problem you solve and are able to present that same program over and over again and just customize the anectodes and illustrations to be specific to the unique challenges of that audience. This is what expert speakers like Mark Victor Hanson and Les Brown do. Both were members of the NAtional Speakers Association, Los Angeles when I was a member in the early 2000’s.
- Start speaking for free. I have booked more paid speaking gigs from free speaking gig than any other marketing strategy in my bag of tricks. If you have substantive content, do a great job of delivering your presentation, ENGAGE the audience and leave them wanting more, trust me there will be someone in the audience with influence that can advocate you to speak for their company. This is how I booked: J.P. Morgan, State Farm, New York Life, Macy’s, Kaiser and countless others. Note of warning, I would never tell the client you are speaking for free, I would offer to waive the fee in exchange for something of value, like a recommendation to other gigs, testimonial letters, recorded video of your presentation or another valuable item that you negotiate. (I will save that for another blog).
- Create A HOT Sizzle Reel. Back in the day, I feel old now, I used to mail my VHS tapes. In today’s high-tech market we have this wonderful marketing tool called, YOUTUBE. I booked my biggest contract to date a $60k campaign ten one-hour speeches for a big cell phone company by them finding me on YouTube. But you need to have a powerful sizzle reel. What to put in your sizzle reel to make it HOT, I will save that for my next blog.
Deborah Deras, Professional Speaker, Author, Business Consultant
I help small businesses to grow through mindset, social media and energy efficiency strategies to increase revenue and productivity.
Be sure to stay tuned for more great tips to: Be A Paid Speaker Now. If you would like to attend my Be A Paid Speaker Now seminar LIVE or online click www.BeAPaidSpeakerNow.com. If you are already speaking for free and ready to take it to the next level join our Power of Synergy Speakers Mastermind group a 6-month coaching program to fast track your speaking to another level. www.DeborahDeras.com/mastermind
