14 Ways to Make the Most of Being a Speaker for Events

14th November 2022 / All, Blog, How To

Becoming a speaker for events is a fantastic way to get in the room with the people that matter to you – your ideal customers and people you want to build relationships with. It provides the perfect opportunity to show your expertise, demonstrate how you can help, and give people a sense of your ethics and what it’s like to work with you. 

That’s why we spend a lot of time researching and securing speaker opportunities for our clients.

With any event, especially live and in-person events, the real opportunity comes from networking and connecting with people, both before, during, and after the event. There are many ways we help our clients to do just that, and so here are some of our top Nellie PR tips.  

Before we begin

So that you can make the most of all your speaking opportunities, here is a free, downloadable checklist. 

Note: These tips will also help if you’re an attendee at an industry event. While being a speaker is great for building your profile and future sales pipeline, you should also make the most of being an attendee.   

A lot of hard work goes into becoming a sought-after speaker for events, so it’s critical that these opportunities aren’t wasted. Take the time to champion the event you are speaking at and build relationships with the people that attend and support, your fellow speakers and those that have invited you to speak. 

Here’s our before, during, and after guide:

Before: 

1. Connect with the host, key contacts, speakers, and other contacts via LinkedIn – review the agenda/speaker list and make a note of which sessions to attend, who you want to meet (you can ask the organiser/key contacts for introductions) and even look to set up meetings on the day with some of your fellow speakers and other contacts. Be there for the event, not just your session 
2. Have conversations 🙂 Chat to people ahead of the event 
3. Promote and share the event (LinkedIn post, newsletter, blog post, etc.), tagging people as appropriate. You can also offer to draft a guest pre-event blog post, for example, and there may be other opportunities too
4. Invite relevant referrers, partners, and ideal customer prospects to attend. You may have extra gifted tickets you can pass on to members of your team, students, or to causes/people you support.

During

5. Encourage people to connect with you – sharing LinkedIn details (use QR code on LinkedIn) – and include your contact details in your presentation and welcome people to get in touch and come chat to you after your session 
6. Network by attending other sessions, meeting with people (pre-arranged meetings), and get talking to people at lunch and during refreshments
7. Share links to your research and key assets/insights
8. Live tweet/blog on socials, using the event hashtag.

After

9. Write a post-event round-up for your own blog/LinkedIn and/or the organiser’s blog 
10. Share the event recording(s) with contacts – use as an introduction/start conversations  
11. Connect with people who attended/people you met – send useful insights and look to have follow-up calls etc.
12. Thank the host, key contacts, as well as the organiser 
13. Look to develop closer relationships and build on the experience – meet up again 
14. Add the experience to your speaker profile and utilise the experience, building your credibility to secure other speaker opportunities.

Download and use this checklist to keep on track and do let us know if you find this post and checklist useful. 

Social Media Tips

Don’t forget to share, post about and promote the event/speaker gig on our own social media accounts, as well as on your company’s social media. If you’re stuck for ideas, here are some content examples that you can share and talk about leading up to the event:

1. Download any digital assets produced by the event coordinators to promote the event, such as images and event information
2. Share the booking link with connections and potential audience members who may be interested in attending
3. Comment, like, and share posts created by the event, organisers and speakers 
4. If there’s a LinkedIn group, make sure you join it for updates and changes, as well as to build connections with other attendees and speakers. 

How to secure a position as a speaker for events

If you want to start landing regular high-profile opportunities to build reputation and relationships, as well as become a go-to speaker for events in your industry, make sure you’ve got the right communications and PR agency by your side. 

At Nellie PR, we’re experienced in building profiles, turning business leaders into thought leaders, and delivering true value to businesses. We make a difference to our clients in ways that yield real, profitable, and long-lasting results. 

For a chat about growing your business and the value of securing speaker opportunities, book a free consultation call with Ellen Carroll today. Alternatively, get in touch via our contact page to discuss the many different ways we offer PR and comms advice and support.