What You Need to Have Before You Pitch Yourself to Speak
If you joined us for last week’s training with Kat Schmoyer of the Creative at Heart Conference, you already know most organizers hand pick their speakers BEFORE they do an open call.
If you missed the value-packed free training, you can catch the replay here:
That means, you’re going to need to get comfortable pitching your presentation beyond an application. In order to help you position your talk like a pro, I’m going to break down exactly what you need to have BEFORE you pitch yourself to speak.
What you need to have in your back pocket BEFORE you pitch:
Your presentation pitch that makes it CLEAR you are prepared to deliver VALUE.
Know your audience and your expertise. What is your zone of genius and who do you serve?
Have a rockstar speaker bio. Position yourself as THE expert speaker on this topic.
Compile references and testimonials. No need to brag about yourself… let others do it for you.
Speaker marketing materials. Look the part because they WILL research you.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be breaking down these five items in more detail. Today, let’s just focus on #1: Your presentation pitch that makes it CLEAR you are prepared to deliver VALUE. How do we do that and why does it matter?! Ideally, before you start pitching yourself to speak at creative conferences (or other events) you should already have a clear plan of attack for what you’re going to present on. This helps the organizer know that you’re not just ‘winging it’ and you’re ready to deliver value.
You’ll want to map out the Topic, Title and Take Aways for your proposed topic.
*Bonus points: Map out THREE of these to keep in your back pocket. Why? What if the organizer doesn’t have a need for your ‘talk #1’? No problem, you have #2 and #3 ready to pitch!
Picking Your Speaking Topic:
It may seem counterintuitive, but you do NOT want to offer to speak on “anything.” The goal here is to expand and establish your expertise… NOT be a jack of all trades. Establishing yourself as the ‘go-to’ expert on a topic will do two things:
This will help to generate more referrals. When event planners are looking for a speaker on YOUR topic, we want them to think of you, first!
This will also help you deliver high quality presentation. Let’s face it: practice makes perfect. The more experienced you are with your content, the better you’ll deliver it.
Crafting Your Presentation Title:
If you’re worried the market is ‘saturated’ this trick is going to be your new best friend. Just stating what your area of expertise is… that’s not going to cut it here. We need to craft titles that are intriguing and make the audience (and organizer) excited to hear more.
Your Expertise + Your Experience + What’s Relevant (and intriguing) to Your Audience = Your Presentation Title
Let’s paint the picture. Say you’re experienced in the social media industry and your expertise is Instagram.
Social Media 101
--OR--
3 Secrets to Land New Clients with Insta-stories
My question to you: If you were only given the two titles above, which talk would YOU want to attend? See where I’m going with this…? ;)
Outline Audience Takeaways:
A topic that SOUNDS interesting is a good start…. but if we can’t back it up with valuable content, we’re not serving anyone. Make it easy for the organizer to see the value YOU are going to deliver with your talk. Make a list of the EXACTLY what the audience will gain by attending your presentation.
Need some help determining your takeaways? Use these prompts to help you brainstorm:
After listening to your presentation..
- What will the audience have learned?
- What tangible pieces of information will they be able to take with them?
- What transformation will they have experienced?
- What decisions will they have made?
- What clarity will they have gained?
- What will they be able to do that they could not do before?
Remember, the magic here is to have THREE of these Topics, Titles and Takeaways crafted. Although you are an expert in a particular area… how can you approach that area of expertise in three different ways?
Not quite sure on what YOUR 3-T’s are?
Take our quiz by clicking the link below to find out which speaking opportunities are best for you so you can finalize your 3-T's in a cinch!
JESSICA RASDALL // MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER + COACH
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Jessica Rasdall is your secret weapon to achieving the speaking success you desire. As a professional speaker and coach for female entrepreneurs, she is dedicated to partnering with women business owner to craft stories and presentation that connect with their audience and help them stand out in a saturated market.