Public speaking engagements are valuable opportunities for your organization to share its unique message and gain industry credibility.

Speaking engagements help you build visibility, interact with prospective clients, and reconnect with existing ones. They also allow you to market your organization's ideas and enhance its reputation. However, finding and securing public speaking opportunities can be difficult:

1. You want the event planners and meeting organizers to know and trust you (or the person referring you).

2. Most conferences and events only have between three and nine main-stage speakers (also called anchor or keynote speakers).

3. Most event organizers book keynote speakers 6–9 months before the event. Some even book 9–12 months in advance. For virtual events, it might be three months.

That's why many professional public speakers rely on a speakers bureau, an agency that handles the heavy lifting and connects them with event organizers. With Axia's SpeakersBureau, our experts leverage experience, strategy, and unique proven processes to help your company's leaders get public speaking engagements that inspire your critical audiences.

Three types of speaking opportunities

Speaking engagements at conferences and industry events are typically one of three types:

1. Paid
Paid speaking gigs are usually reserved for established professional speakers. These high-level speakers may receive 4–7 figures for a one-hour keynote. Organizations may also pay them to speak privately to their employees or customers.

These speakers:

• Are celebrities or well-known leaders of niche industry businesses

• Have a large social media following that helps attract event attendees

• Perform presentations they've carefully crafted, rehearsed, and delivered hundreds of times

• Create transformational experiences for audiences through dozens of micro-moments and signature bits

• May deliver actionable takeaways audiences can implement

• Have a speaker's resume with glowing references and a powerful highlight reel demonstrating their signature bits and stage presence

2. Earned 
An expert speaker may earn unpaid speaking opportunities. In our experience, most clients focus on this type. These speaking engagements may be breakout sessions in smaller ballrooms or auditoriums, where speakers train attendees or illuminate niche topics with actionable takeaways. These events increase organizations' visibility and stage-side leads (opportunities that arise from speaking engagements). Sometimes speakers receive a modest honorarium or travel stipend, depending on their fame, expertise, and the event's budget.

3. Sponsored 
Some speakers pay for a platform and audience. These "pay for play" speaking arrangements have become more common since the Great Recession. While they might not be on the main stage, these opportunities allow speakers to get in front of the right audiences if their organization is willing to pay sponsorship fees.

We manage all three types for our clients.

Through SpeakersBureau, we help you pursue paid, earned, or sponsored speaking opportunities — or multiple types. Our typical client is mostly interested in earning (unpaid) speaking engagements and open to hearing more about sponsorship opportunities. Most clients aren't looking for paid speaking engagements, as these are typically only available to well-known professional speakers.

What is SpeakersBureau?

Our experts provide proactive services for ongoing speaking success.

When you invest in a SpeakersBureau package, we leverage tailored strategies and proven processes to help your organization find, secure, and excel in speaking engagements, whether for business, industry, trade media, community, or other events. With comprehensive support from our experts, your organization can earn and optimize speaking opportunities to amplify your message and stand out as a leader in your field. 

How it works: Axia's ongoing process

1. We research and recommend speaking opportunities for you.
To start, you'll complete our speaker and organization questionnaires. We'll discuss your goals, topics, and speaker(s), then develop a tailored plan.

We thoroughly research corporate, industry association, conference, and/or community speaking opportunities for you. We rank our top recommendations in three tiers (good, better, and best fit), based on the platform, audience, and competitiveness.

We also prepare the following for each speaker in your plan:

• Professional speaker/media kit with an organization overview and/or fact sheet
• People magazine-style profile story for your speaker/media kit
• Sample speaking agreement (which you must review with your legal adviser)
• Speaker reel and professional photos (if your plan includes this)

If needed, we might offer additional services (quoted individually):

• Refer your speaker(s) to our recommended public speaking training organization for a free two-day session.
• Submit your speaker(s) to professional public speaking directories.
• Submit your speaker(s) to the Associated Press' AP Planner, AP Newsroom, and AP Resource Desk, which reaches 15,000 newsrooms worldwide (including WSJ, NYT, NPR, etc.). Event organizers, attorneys, journalists, and academics use these tools to find industry experts.
• Perform our unique Strategic Insights process, which includes researching your brand, competition, and target buyer.

2. We position you for success in speaker applications.
Next, we collaborate on pitching or applying for the opportunities you choose to pursue. Many industry conference speaking opportunities use competitive "call for submissions" forms or other application processes. Some require significant background information, while others are simple. Either way, we use our experience and tailored strategies to craft strong and compelling applications and/or pitches with you. Our process includes coordinating, researching, writing, revising, editing, submitting, and following up.

Once we secure interest, we immediately introduce your speaker and/or their designated contact to the event planner to coordinate times, technology, travel, etc. to quickly book the opportunity.

3. We help maximize your impact (optional).

Because speaking engagements increase your organization's visibility and credibility, we recommend developing news, social media, and web content to promote your speaker. You can use content from each opportunity to expand your speaker's reach through social media, blogging, website design and development, search engine optimization, podcasting, videos, speaker highlight reels, and more. We offer that scope of work for an additional investment.

"If you try to make three points, you make no points." – James Carville

Buy a SpeakersBureau package.

FAQs

How will Axia help me secure speaking engagements?

Axia handles the entire process: identifying opportunities, creating high-quality speaker materials, submitting proposals, and pitching to event organizers. To begin, we’ll have a strategic discussion to outline your goals, topics, and speaker profiles. From there, we’ll propose a tailored plan and begin developing your speaker materials. Once approved, our team will start pitching to relevant opportunities immediately.

Our goal is to secure engagements that elevate your brand and generate valuable leads. We specialize in earned conference placements, where organizers invite speakers based on merit rather than sponsorship.

I need help preparing my speaker materials and performance. Do you help with that?
Yes. We work with you to develop comprehensive speaker kits with materials such as:

• Executive bios tailored for speaking engagements
• Specific presentation topics and pitches
• One-page organization backgrounders
• Highlight reels
• Stage photos
• Testimonials

These assets are designed to position you as a sought-after thought leader and make the event organizer's decision easy.

If you need public speaking training (most non-professional speakers do), we know where to refer you for excellent coaching and training. Ask us!

What is the typical timeline for securing speaking engagements?
The timeline varies by event. High-quality conferences often finalize their keynote speaker selections 6–9 months in advance (some even book a year in advance), while smaller events might have shorter lead times. Virtual events might book speakers as few as three months in advance. 

Remember that event planners and conference organizers typically only look for 3–9 main-stage speakers per event. This process is competitive. You can do it, but it's going to take time – and a transformational message that serves the audience. For optimal results, we recommend beginning outreach well in advance to align with event planning cycles.

What topics should we focus on for speaking engagements?

To maximize impact, we recommend focusing on one core or niche topic that aligns with your expertise and market demand. This allows you to refine your message and establish yourself as an authority. Over time, we can adapt the content to cater to specific audiences or trending topics.

What level of involvement is required from us?

Our approach minimizes your time commitment. We handle the heavy lifting, from crafting materials to communicating with event organizers. You'll have a point of contact on our team who will coordinate our efforts and ensure alignment with your goals. We'll ask you to provide input on topics, approve materials, and participate in strategic discussions when needed. Otherwise, we focus on delivering results while you focus on your core responsibilities.

Does Axia offer guidance on event follow-ups and promotion?

Yes. We equip you with strategies to subtly communicate your availability for future opportunities without appearing promotional. Additionally, we can guide you in repurposing your event content, such as creating social media reels or website assets, to maximize your visibility and ROI.

What does Axia’s engagement model look like?

We use a flat-rate monthly program, which provides a comprehensive ongoing service for securing speaking engagements. We also offer custom proposals for specific needs, whether you have one speaker or a team of presenters.

I'm only interested in paid speaking engagements. Can you help me with that?

Yes! If you're an expert or a visionary, we can develop unique opportunities for you. 
 
Typically, paid speakers are professional public speakers. Professional public speakers have a track record of successful speaking engagements. They have a strong stage presence, a speaker's resume, glowing references, a powerful highlight reel, and an engaged social media following that increases event audiences. If this is you, send us your speaker reel and speaking resume so we can evaluate your work! If you don't have these yet, we can help you get them.

If you haven't already done so, you'll likely need to complete a series of unpaid speaking engagements first to build your brand, visibility, experience, confidence, messaging, performance, stage presence, and reputation. You may also need some public speaking coaching. If so, we can help you here, and we can refer you to more comprehensive and intense training programs.

Are my travel expenses covered when I speak?

Yes, reasonable travel expenses are negotiable when the organization has a budget for travel reimbursement. What's more typical is a small honorarium. You should always ask yourself, "Am I willing to speak to this group without payment and cover my travel expenses to be there?"

What are stage-side leads, and why are they important?

Stage-side leads are direct opportunities that arise from speaking engagements, such as:

• Invitations to present at other conferences
• Requests for consultations or organizational talks
• Interest from potential clients or partners

These leads can provide high-value networking and business development opportunities.

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