You know those moments when someone asks you a simple question and it just blows your mind? A question that makes you fully pause and appreciate its greatness? I got one of those questions a few months ago from a client. She asked, “Knowing what you know now…if you had to start from scratch today, what would you do to see success as a speaker, fast?”

I know, right?! This question damn near took my breath away. But the cool thing is, my answer was simple. I’d follow the Speaker Sprint Gameplan.

What is the Speaker Sprint Gameplan? How did it come to be? And how can you use it for your own speaking journey? I got answers to your questions below.

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What is a “speaker sprint?”

A speaker sprint is a strategic plan to make a big impact with speaking and build momentum for your biz — all in a short time frame. Just like a literal sprint, you want to gain traction and cover a lot of distance in the short span of time that you have.

This doesn’t mean bringing in the largest speaking fees in a short window. Increasing revenue doesn’t work when you rush. Instead, you focus on brand awareness, honing your speaker portfolio, collecting marketing assets, and positioning yourself as an authority in your space and/or on your subject.

Is a speaker sprint right for me?

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, the speaker sprint strategy is perfect for you:

Are you planning to launch a new program, course, membership, book, or product?
Are you shifting gears and serving a new audience?
Do you need to quickly build authority and grow a targeted audience?
Are you focusing on visibility and audience-building over the next 6 to 12 months?

The speaker sprint is great if you’re in pre-launch or launch mode. It’ll work best if your current or upcoming goal is to get a lot of eyes on your biz, build trust with your audience, or increase your influence.

It’s also perfect for anyone getting started with adding speaking to their business, and wants to gain momentum right out of the gate. That’s exactly what my friend Dannie Fountain did!

She delivered over 100 presentations to 27,000 people in 45 different countries in a little over a year. I called her the queen of speaker sprints way back in Episode 2 and the title still holds.

Now, if you’re already feeling stretched thin and you don’t have time to dedicate to speaking opportunities, the speaker sprint strategy is not a good fit for you right now. It’s just not your season, and that’s okay.

Where did the Speaker Sprint Gameplan come from?

It was 2006, and being a speaker was the last thing I wanted to do. I was also the last person someone would want to book. I was the offender, the murderer, the drunk driver who killed her best friend. I had an open criminal case and was facing 10.5 to 15 years in prison.

Should I have been speaking publicly in the first place, taking full responsibility for what happened, while facing criminal charges? No. But I had to do this. I had been given a second chance at life; I refused to let my best friend’s life be lost in vain. And I wanted to prevent others from repeating our mistakes by sharing my story.

In short, I need to make an impact fast by speaking. I was 19 years old. High school seniors and college freshmen were my peers. I knew my message would resonate most strongly now, not a decade later. I also knew I’d be sent to prison soon. I wanted to make my mark before that time came.

That’s why I created the Speaker Sprint — a plan to go all in with speaking and fast. And it happened. I went from being the anti-poster child for a school to being booked out across the country. I spoke at high schools, universities, organizations, and nonprofits. My message got major media coverage from The Today Show, Katie Couric, Good Morning America, and more.

The Speaker Sprint Gameplan worked.

How I created the Speaker Sprint Gameplan

Now you know what a speaker sprint is and where it came from, let’s talk about what I did with it, and how you can apply the same method to your speaker journey.

Getting clear on three things

So many speakers who aren’t seeing the traction they want aren’t clear on three very important things:

Why they want to speak
Who they want to speak to
What difference their presentation would make for their audience

If you know why you want to speak and what impact you want to make, but you’re unclear on your target audience, you’ll have trouble finding speaking opportunities. If you know your target audience and why you want to speak, but you’re unsure of the impact you’ll make, you’ll struggle with pitching and closing opportunities.

Find your speaker sweet spot by understanding these things, and the speaker path ahead of you will be much clearer.

Find stages in your own network

After I clarified the who, what, and why, I looked to my own network to get started. I searched for those who could help me get in front of the audience I wanted to serve. That is how I was able to make an impact more quickly: by starting with the lowest barrier to entry, not the biggest stages or largest platforms.

By the way, I encourage you to shift your focus from “I need to go viral and be seen” to “I need to make this impact.” This mental mindset is not rooted in the approval of others, but instead, what you can do for others. How you can leave the world better than you found it. It helps you stay motivated when you’re feeling down or waiting for replies to your pitches.

I then sought out a specific stage where I knew I could make an impact because I had been in the audience of that room one year prior. I asked for the mic to that stage rather than wait for it to be handed to me.

Yes, I reached out and pitched my vision for my presentation with zero experience. Was it terrifying? Of course. Did it work? Yes. And you can bet I prepped and practiced my ass off so that my talk was everything I promised and more.

“Turn one into three”

After that presentation, I resolved to “turn one into three.” I used the impact from the first stage to book three more and continued this strategy with every subsequent stage. This approach helped me reach over 50,000 young adults in person plus millions more through media coverage.

I did this all in less than two years, starting with zero. Zero credibility. Zero authority. Zero social media. Not only was I able to rewrite the narrative about me, but I was also able to impact more lives and communities than I ever thought possible.

You can do the same, my friend.

The first step of your sprint is the hardest

The good news is, this speaker sprint strategy is simple and easily duplicated. I know for a fact because I used this exact strategy when I started working with biz owners roughly eight years ago! It works, folks.

The even better news is, it is so much easier to build traction today than it was in 2006. Social media, podcasts, virtual presentations, and other speaking opportunities that weren’t around back then can get you noticed much more quickly today.

If you’re ready to start sprinting today, grab your Speaker Sprint Gameplan now from our shop. This plan breaks everything you need to know down and includes scripts, timelines, templates, and more.

Not quite ready to lace up your shoes and hit the track? I’ve got something special just for you.

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