Maria Nesterova
Underdog Consulting
Becoming a speaker at professional tech conferences and sharing your expertise with the public is one of the quickest and most effective ways to build personal branding and career. For companies, it is a great way to be exposed as a thought leader which can help with marketing products and services and attracting awesome engineers. However, how do you secure speaking opportunities competing with market mastodons, especially at conferences that do not have an open Call for Papers?
Today, we will explore how to become the sought-after speaker whom organizers eagerly invite. As someone who organizes a local technical conference with 5,000 attendees, curates marketing sections at various conferences, and manages tech communities, I possess considerable insights into this matter.
There are several critical strategies we will delve into today:
1. Media Prominence: A speaker’s publicity is one of the primary considerations for conference organizers. Why? Speakers are not only invited to deliver content but also to drive ticket sales or event registrations. A speaker with robust media visibility tends to attract more attendees. Furthermore, public speakers often have their own loyal social media followers, allowing them to offer additional promotional support for the event.
What can you do? Enhance your media prominence and activity on social media. Write articles, speak at smaller events, and participate in podcasts. You can write a book – no one knows how many copies of the book sold, but the book author really feels like an expert.
2. Expertise: This is the second key factor that organizers value. Every conference organizer’s aspiration, even for smaller events, is to feature top experts in their respective fields as speakers. Therefore, aim to specialize in a particular niche and strive to become the number one authority in that niche.
The topic relevance also plays a role. There are always trending subjects, such as AI today or Kubernetes a couple of years ago, that organizers seek to include in their agendas. If your topic aligns with these trends, your chances of being invited to speak increase.
3. Public Speaking Skills: These include the ability to create compelling content, present it in an engaging manner, connect with the audience, exude confidence, deliver well-timed humor, and provide your unique speaking style.
Public speaking is easily trainable. You can seek guidance from a mentor or simply start speaking in public. Begin with a small audience and progressively expand your reach. Analyze your own performances and those of your colleagues. It’s a skill that can be honed over time.
Experiencing initial nervousness is perfectly normal, but every moment spent on stage contributes to your growth. Confidence in public speaking comes with experience.
4. Discipline and Organization: A speaker who gets invited to conferences all the time is someone who’s always on time, prepares carefully, sends their presentation slides on schedule, sticks to their speaking time, and keeps communication with event organizers.
This is really important because, as an organizer, I can tell you that if we’re not sure if a speaker can be counted on or if they cause too many problems and stress before the event, they are unlikely to be invited again.
5. Visibility: If you want to be invited as a speaker, make it known to the world: share your intentions on social media or through your personal blog, monitor the Call for Papers deadlines for conferences in your field, and submit applications promptly. When you receive an invitation to speak, be sure to announce it on social media.
You may not get immediate invitations to high-profile events like AWS re:Invent or BigExit, even speaking on a friend’s podcast or participating in an online webinar can benefit in terms of the factors mentioned above.
To achieve your desired outcomes, the timeframe may extend to up to 10 years, depending on the time you can dedicate, your starting point, and the strength of your desire to become a well-known speaker.
You can reach your goal independently or fast-track your journey with assistance from Underdog Consulting. We will enhance your speaker profile and secure speaking engagements at pivotal events in your professional area. In just one year, you can elevate your media presence, refine your public speaking skills, and establish yourself as a prominent speaker. We will provide you with a foundation upon which you can continue to promote yourself as a speaker.
Maria Nesterova
CEO
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