Whether you’re just getting started as a speaker or you have lots of speaking experience, it’s helpful to understand the tactics and strategies of the speaking world and what you need to do to get onto the stage more frequently to boost exposure for you and your agency. Many people are unaware that the vast majority of speaking engagements are not paid engagements. How can this be, you ask? Why would anyone give up their time and provide an audience with useful knowledge and not get paid for it? While some meeting organizers are sometimes willing to pay for a longer format than a 45-60-minute presentation, such as a workshop, it’s important to keep in mind that most events have a policy of not paying speakers other than the keynote speaker and possibly one or two featured speakers. It would be unaffordable for them to do otherwise. Further, most speakers and panelists are not interested in speaking as an income source. Rather, subject matter experts are usually trying to grow a non-speaking business, such as an agency or some other professional services firm. They look to speaking as a great way to create or boost awareness for their business and personal brand, so doing free gigs is a good business strategy. Speaking is also a great way to demonstrate thought leadership. Let’s focus primarily on unpaid speaking engagements and how to obtain those gigs. Speaking is a great way to expose your expertise to prospective customers and clients. Conferences, seminars and forums held by independent event organizers, associations, and professional and industry trade groups all offer the opportunity to reach your target customers. Furthermore, speaking often results in the attainment of business, by providing increased [...]