Hello, amazing entrepreneur! It’s Tash Corbin here, and welcome to this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast.
Today, we’re talking about the one question that I get asked over and over again and it comes up even more now that I run the Heart-Centred Business Conference.
And that question is, “How do I get picked for more speaking gigs?”
I’m going to answer it, and I’m going to tell you that there’s one speaking gig that you’re missing out on and you’re not taking advantage of it and you could actually do it today.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FREE RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST MAY NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE.
I talked about pitching to be a speaker.
I also talked about running your own speaking events – running little workshops and making your own opportunities to be able to get up on stage in front of a range of people.
But one if the BIG things that I see people missed out on (and they actually have the opportunity to make the most of now) is something that all very successful speakers have and that is a PLATFORM.
Now, when I talk about platform, I’m talking about the existing audience and the existing opportunities that you have to present your keynote presentations, your inspiration, your advice, your workshops… You already have an audience.
That audience might be quite small but if you’re not consistently speaking to and growing your own platform, then chances are your opportunities to be a speaker on stage at other people’s events are going to be quite minimal.
It’s definitely something that I take into consideration when I’m selecting speakers for the Heart-Centred Business Conference; to what extent have you achieved success in your own business?
How many followers do you have?
How many people like your Facebook Page?
How many people are on your mailing list?
To what extent are you going to grow the audience of my event?
And to what extent have you achieved the success that the audience members at the conference want to achieve?
I actually have a minimum requirement for the Heart-Centred Business Conference, and I talk to all the speakers about it that it needs to be a six-figure business and that they need to be achieving a good $8,500 a month from their business to be on stage at the conference.
The reason that I put that in place is because people want to learn from people who have actually achieved the success that they want to achieve.
I think it’s a really important point that not a lot of people are sharing.
But you have a platform.
I know a lot of people feel like, “If I can get on stage, that will increase my business success.”
But actually, if you increase your business success, you’re more likely to get on stage.
It’s actually a cycle; it’s a cycle that grows and grows.
It’s not that one directly leads to another; they both feed each other.
So the best thing that you can do to be selected as a speaker at great events – other than things like going to the events themselves and buying a ticket – is actually focus on growing your business and growing your platform.
Continue to grow that audience of yours. You have the opportunity to do it now and present to that audience consistently.
How often are you doing Facebook Lives on your Page?
How often are you doing Facebook Lives within your Facebook Group, if you have one?
Are you consistently getting video-based content out to your audience – whether that’s video blogs, podcast, a YouTube video or a TV show? How consistently are you actually putting that content out there? How can you improve that consistency?
In particular, how consistently are you giving value and actually teaching people something that they can implement that’s going to create a difference for them – that’s going to either inspire them, educate them or get them to implement something new?
They are the three principles of the Heart-Centred Business Conference: Inspiration, Education, and Implementation.
Because all three of those are very important factors as to how effective the conference is in achieving change for the people who come along.
It’s the exact same for all of your videos: Inspiration, Education, and Implementation.
So, to what extent are you consistently helping people with the combination of those three things?
And if you’re looking to create more opportunities for you to be speaking in front of people, don’t discount the online elements of that as well.
You could pitch to be interviewed on other people’s podcast or on their blogs if they do spotlights like I do the Spotlight Series. If they do something like that for their businesses, get out there and start pitching to be on those.
That’s much easier to land as a gig than getting a spot on stage.
But the more you do that, the more people who know you’re a great interviewee, you’re a great presenter, you’re in front of lots of different audiences.
The more your audience grows, the more you build that platform.
It all creates this amazing momentum for you.
If you aren’t getting those aren’t getting those interviews, why not start your own interview series?
Why don’t you put other people into the spotlight and demonstrate your skills as an interviewer but also do your own solo shows?
So you’re getting in front of other people’s audiences and then you’ve got an opportunity to present your skills and expertise.
Don’t sit back waiting for someone to pick you. That’s is my biggest piece of advice when it comes to getting selected for speaking gigs and making the most of the opportunities that are available to you now.
Don’t wait for someone to pick you; pick yourself.
Be consistent in the way that you show up on video and audio content in particular.
Be consistent in the way that you grow your audience and then deliver value to them.
And be consistent in going out and looking for those opportunities – attending those live events, getting to know different events that may just be the perfect place for you to jump on stage.
An extra little tip from me:
If you’re going to pitch for an opportunity to speak such as coming and speaking at the Heart-Centred Business Conference, speaker spots are actually closed – we only have one speaker spot for people who are audience members (ie anyone who has purchased a ticket before 31 May) will be asked to do a pitch. We’re going to pick someone out of the audience to actually be a speaker at the conference.
Something that has happened to me quite a lot (and I’m not sure who’s telling people to do this) is I’ve had people email me, contact me and come up to me in real life and say, “I’m going to be on stage at your conference in 2019.” and then just walk away.
It’s really bizarre!
I don’t know if it has ever worked for anyone but it really doesn’t work on me.
I need to know who you are and what it is that you’re excited to share. This isn’t about you; this is about my audience. I don’t give away speaking spots as a favour for all those speakers. I curate the people who are coming and speaking at the Heart-Centred Business Conference based on what my audience needs.
And if people are coming to me with their pitch because they’re talking all about themselves and what it’s going to do for them, then you haven’t met my #1 criteria which is having a significant focus on what you’re going to help my audience do and help them achieve.
If you are going to pitch for speaking gigs at conferences, think about the audience, the organizer, the themes of the conference and then tailor a pitch to meet that and to actually speak to what the curator is looking to create.
I probably get 30-40 people offering to speak on my conference for free, and that’s really lovely but the fact that you’re willing to forego speaking fees in order to have the opportunity to jump on the stage and speak. It’s not a big enough selling point for me because I have people offering to do it for free all the time.
And I’ve actually made a commitment that I won’t have people on stage for free.
I’m going to pay every speaker who jumps up on stage.
Have a think about these things and get to know the conferences that you’re going to and you want to pitch as a speaker at.
That’s all my advice for you today. I hope that has been helpful.
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If you want to find out more about the Heart-Centred Business Conference, you can jump on over to the show notes – it’s at tashcorbin.com/146.
Until next time, I cannot wait to see you shine.
Bye for now.
