5 Ways To Be Featured As A Guest Speaker

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Remember, I talk all the time about speaking strategy? Are you speaking to grow your business? Are you speaking to grow your list? Are you speaking to grow your authority or are you just looking to grow your confidence so that you can show up on stages with more confidence? I want you to think about that. 

Sometimes speaking o virtual stages can drive you leads. Sometimes, honestly, it's a feel good. Get some exposure. That's okay, too. I want you to be clear on what you're using it for, but knowing virtual summits can be a great opportunity to get your name out there. I would just caution you of really giving your head and your heart stuck on the fact that it's going to drive a bajillion leads in your business. It may or may not, but what's important is, is it the right audience for you and your business?

Hey, friend, welcome back to the Heather Sager Show. Coach Heather here, where we're here all talking about how you can show up in a more magnetic way for your audience, talking about growing your authority by becoming a speaker on live stages, virtual stages, all without winging it or trying to put together your presentations the night before. 

Today's specifically, I want to get your brain moving, thinking about different kinds of guests speaking opportunities, because I think oftentimes, in this online space, we see the big names on the lineup for a virtual summit, we think, man, to get to that point, we have to have this big following, which is just not true. 

But I want to start percolating some ideas in your brain for different types of speaking opportunities you could be chasing, many of which are available to you right now. Today's episode is going to be quick, we're going to go a five list around different things that you could be doing right now, specifically different kinds of stages, but let's dive through the list. We're gonna make this realquick and actionable. 

And hey, if you like this episode, if you haven't done so yet, could you take like 30 seconds, open up your little iTunes. Scroll to the bottom and click a little rating and leave a review, if you find the content from the show helpful and you think more online entrepreneurs would benefit from it. That's a great way for us to get in front of more people is those awesome reviews. And of course, I love giving shout outs on Instagram to the amazing reviews coming in for the show, but let's let's dive into this because this comes from some questions I get all the time where entrepreneurs think that there's some kind of rule book when it comes to running our businesses. And let me tell you, my business has been successful, because I kind of ignore all of the rules that I thought were there. 

There are no rules. When it comes to speaking, speaking does not have to be this big keynote on a stage. In fact, earlier episode I did at the in early 2019, I talked about different ways that you could be speaking at live events. 

Let me talk a little bit more today about, we're talking virtual. We're in 2020 at the time of this recording, where pretty much all live events are shut down. I have seen some happening. I've actually had two clients that have done real in-person events over the last few months. But for the most part, most people are not not running live events, and I don't really see that changing in the next 12 months. 

Sure, there might be some smaller mastermind retreat, those kinds of things, but for the most part, we have a really incredible opportunity right now to position ourselves as the go-to in our niche. 

I don't love, I've talked about this before. I don't love the idea of like calling yourself an expert. I don't know. It's hard for a lot of people to say but I do think there's something to be said about identifying with this expert level status and having little 'as seen on,' or featured on, or featured in on your website, and also that social proof that comes on Instagram stories or Facebook Lives when you're sharing that you're a guest experts on different stages. 

There's power in that. Bit by bit as you do those, it's going to send a signal to your audience that you do know what you're doing, because you do but us saying we know what we're doing all the time like that's less believable than other people saying, you should go follow, talk to her, work with her, right? That credibility that transcends when other people look at you as the go to that is gold. 

Honestly, that's how I built my business is by other people talking about the work I do with them, then their audience comes and man it's so fun to sell at my programs and have a full client schedule. 

I say that not in like a, 'Oh, look at me my schedule is very full.' I built a business that I love, that I like working with because I work with people that I love and like working with, and I get those people to talk about it. You can do the same thing but I think positioning yourself as a guest expert on these five different stages we're going to talk about today is going to help you with that. 

Number one, let's bat out the one that we already know to be true. Number one guest expert type is you can deliver a keynote at an event. Let's say for example, there's a ton of live events, maybe you host your own event or you know other people. 

A few of my online friends, Tyler McCall has an event coming up next month, Bobby Klinck has one coming up, Amy Porterfield has coming up. All of them have their speaker lineups, all set.

But it's to show you an example of on all of those stages, they have a variety of guest speakers. When you start networking a bit in your industry, when someone runs a live event, if you are like in the circle, it's much easier for you to drop your name in the hat, or what most likely happens is they'll actually reach out to you to ask. 

I would say the virtual event keynote, this is not the one to chase right out of the gate, because it really does land on who you know, and I don't want you to get caught up in here, but this is the one that's so visible that we all see, 'that, oh, they were featured in this event or this event or this event.' 

I don't want you worrying about that too much, but just know, if you do have a, like if you're in a program right now where in a pure mastermind, or you have a business coach, make sure that you're telling people that you speak, that you're a speaker, that you have a signature talk, what the talk is about, make sure people know that, so when they hear of opportunities they can think of you.

People love knowing someone, meaning like if somebody comes to me and they're like, man, I really need to find something to help me with x. I love being able to refer people that specialize in x. Terrible example, but you know what I mean, right? Number one, you know this already to be true. You can deliver a virtual keynote at a live event. Let's not spend any more time on that. 

Guest speaking type number two, virtual summits. Now I position this one a little differently, because I think a lot of people get confused by this virtual summits. They are a different thing. I might get in trouble for saying this, but this means they probably need to say it. 

I didn't understand virtual summits when I started the online space. If you're newer, or maybe you don't have a lot of experience, maybe you don't either, so let me just call it out. 

Virtual summits are free or very low ticket, high content with a big fat asterisk. They're designed to sell something at the end, and that something is typically a VIP pass to get all of the recordings from the summit of like the 30 to 40 to 70 bajillion presentations that you of course did not have time to go to, or they're selling a membership or something at the end. 

I've participated in many virtual summits. They can be awesome. Also, they can be a really negative experience. Luckily, the ones I've participated in, I vetted a bit, and I've had incredible experiences with these, but here's what I want you to think about. 

I don't want you blindly saying yes to virtual summits. I know. What I want you thinking about is virtual summits, you have to ensure like you know what you're in for with the virtual summit, because there's a variety of speakers talking about a variety of things. Some of them could be really high quality presentations that are content driven, workshop group driven, really focused on teaching. Some are more salesy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just depends like you don't know what the audience is. 

My recommendation is, if you're considering a virtual summit, make sure you know the host, and you know their audience to make sure it is a really good fit for you. If the virtual summit has a ton of speakers in it, you might get lost in a sea of speakers. 

But also you have to ask the question. Remember, I talk all the time about speaking strategy? Are you speaking to grow your business? Are you speaking to grow your list? Are you seeking to grow your authority or ou're just looking to grow your confidence so that you you can show up on stages with more confidence, so I want you to think about that.

If you are using virtual summits to grow your list, understand that with the competing classes, you might not get a lot of views on your class so you got to know how to market and get the really good theme there. It's just kind of a hit or miss, but sometimes there's other names in the lineup, where it might look good for you to have your face beside it. 

This is so funny, but I'll give you an example. I don't know, over a year ago, I had the opportunity to speak at the Parent Preneur Summit. My friend, Nick Murphy, was hosting the event. He was pivoting this business into this lane of parent preneurs and launching his membership in the months after.  

I noticed he was touting some really incredible names. One of them was Stu McLaren and his wife, Amy. I'm like, man, if he's got Stu and Amy on there, like, so I pitched myself. The topic that I wanted to speak on was already taken by one of my competitors, so I said, 'Huh, what else could I speak on? I'm a mom. I could talk about work-life balance as a mom and a business owner.' 

I intentionally said, yes at that opportunity because, one, I wanted to help out my friend. Two, I thought it'd be a really good experience to be in a lineup with some really big hitters. I said, yes to that opportunity for street cred, right, like to be able to get my name out there, for me to tout it to my audience a little bit, be able to talk about being on that. 

I think it's okay to call it what it is. I think it's kind of taboo. People are like, let's not talk about us saying yes to opportunities to get a little clout, but I think that's a good thing, just know what you're saying yes to. 

I recently participated in another event, specifically for moms. It was a Purpose Driven Mompreneur summit, which was an incredible experience. My friend Cara, who hosted it. She's a great host. She really did a great job vetting her people. 

It's actually by invite only, and it was a really well engaged group. She had a really awesome Facebook group with a live Q&A happening, not just recorded sessions. On that opportunity, I had the opportunity for people to text in to get some freebies, and I had an overwhelming response from that. 

Sometimes, speaking of virtual stages can drive you leads. Sometimes, honestly, it's a feel good, give some exposure. That's okay, too. I want you to be clear on what you're using it for. Knowing virtual summits can be a great opportunity to get your name out there. 

I would just caution you of really getting your head and your heart stuck on the fact that it's going to drive a bajillion leads in your business. It may or may not. What's important is, is it the right audience for you and your business? I can't make that decision for you, only you can. 

Let's move on to the three more, I would say more juicy types of, it's a weird way to put it but more interesting types that I think are really applicable for you to be chasing, dare I say that word right now, but inviting these opportunities in your life, here they are. 

Number three is guest teaching inside a membership or a course. This has been a core strategy for my business over the last year, where I typically do this for my private clients and my members of my Speaking Club, where if I've worked with someone, I know their heart, I know their audience aligns really well. I will offer myself up as a bonus inside their course if it aligns. 

Now that sounds hilarious, offer myself up as a bonus, but for me, it strengthens the relationship I have with that person. They refer more people to me, but I get to go in to a hot, excited audience who's already invested in training, and talk to them about what I do and help them navigate through getting started speaking, and Then there's a huge opportunity for those people to then join my list and then potentially purchase my program. 

Let me tell you why this is important. There is a difference between guest speaking in front of someone's cold audience and guest speaking meaning cold to you and they haven't purchased from that person before versus speaking to somebody's warm audience who's already said yes, and inside a program. 

They've said yes to their own training and development. They said yes to investing before. There's a different level of intention and engagement that comes from a warm audience.  I think there's a great opportunity for you if your message aligns really well with another entrepreneur. That's a really great opportunity for you to help love up and serve their audience, but also drive leads to yours. 

If you haven't considered this option around guest teaching inside somebody else's membership or course, this is something to explore. You can put some feelers out there, maybe with your existing network right now. I also see people posting comments around this or looking for guest speakers a lot in different Facebook groups. 

Make sure when you are looking towards these options, again, you're asking yourself, how does this connect back to my speaking strategy, my business goals and making sure the audience is aligned. 

As I'm talking to you some of these things that might be helpful for you to ensure that you have your speaking strategy in place. If you haven't yet downloaded my five step guide for helping you set your speaking strategy, it's the five steps to speaking on stages for online entrepreneurs. 

It helps you understand what is your strategy in the first place. How do you identify your topic, and then actually start moving into pitching. It's a PDF guide. It's got a lot of good stuff in there. You should go grab that over at heather sager.com/5steps. I'll put the link in the show notes too. 

As I'm talking about understanding your speaking strategy, that's what I'm talking about. You need to understand why you're speaking in the first place before saying yes to these opportunities. 

But even guest teaching inside of a membership or a course, that could be a really exciting way for you to dip your toes into guest speaking, but kind of in a safe space because you know the person. They know their audience. 

It's really fun to do workshops for other people, where you actually get to see their faces in a Zoom room. I just did one of these this morning in a Zoom Room, and you can you can help them workshop through your content. 

And then of course, for those people who want to go deeper in your content, you can invite them to download your freebie or even invite them to in your program. You might have a little arrangement with that host, where maybe there is an affiliate situation happening like a partnership where they're taking a small fee, to give you access to their audience, and you get to grow your sales. 

You got to figure out that arrangement with them, but do not discount this one here. I see a lot of people skip this. Guest teaching inside someone else's warm audience is really good opportunity. 

Stage number four, as a guest speaker is guest expert interviews. You're familiar with this one. You hear people being interviewed on podcasts. There's other ways to do this too, right? Being a guest expert, so showing up on someone's platform and being interviewed, whether they're interviewing you because they are curious about your story and your background. Sounds a little less normal in this industry. 

It's usually they're interviewing based around your expert topic. That's how I want you positioning yourself. You can get on podcasts, but don't forget, there's other kinds of ways that you can snag interviews as well. 

You could be a guest on someone's Facebook Live. You could be a guest on someone's IG Live. Now both of these are incredible opportunities to get in front of an audience, and to help the host add more value to their audience. 

What you have to do is figure out how does your topic apply to their audience. Actually, make that host look good to their audience. If you can hook that, it's easy to get yourself onto one of those guests stages. 

Now what you might find is sometimes you don't like there isn't like a checklist. Let me find everybody with the Facebook show who takes interviews. I don't want you trying to like find the people who are already doing it so that you can fit yourself in their schedule. 

What I want you thinking about is people who are in your network or someone you know that they know, like, right one sphere or one degree of influence out. Think about Facebook groups they have or Facebook pages, where they're pretty active on Facebook, but maybe you've noticed they haven't done a guest interview before.  

You also know that your topic is a perfect value add for their audience. It doesn't compete with the offers they sell, it complements it. You can easily approach that person and say, 'Hey, you know, one of the things I've been doing lately is, is doing like little mini workshops via Facebook Lives with people in their audience where we do a little Q&A. We set up a little teaching and then we have that little sprinkle for your audience. Is that something you'll be interested in?

You don't have to put together this big pitch but just start the conversation. That could be a really incredible way for you to test drive this idea of guest speaking. In an interview, it's a little bit more natural versus like be right now in a microphone, staring at a camera, yakking at you for however many minutes. 

It's more natural to have a conversation. Know the conversation doesn't have to be on podcast. It could be on a Facebook Live or IGTV. Alright, type number five for guest expert spots. I love this one, expert panelists.

You might not see this one as much and actually, this might be one that you could create the opportunity. What does it mean to be on an expert panel? Well, I think you can fill in the pieces. 

When somebody is on a panel, they are sitting with other experts, providing their insights and opinion around a topic or conversations. I don't see a ton of panels in this industry. When I do see them, they're typically on speaker or virtual summits or big events. 

It might be interesting for you to throw out this idea of creating a panel with some of your business besties, some of the people in your mastermind, or maybe there's some people in a program you're in, that you guys have aligned audiences. What if you created your own little mini panel? Just an idea. 

But I think taking the idea of a conversation where instead of a one-on-one interview, what if you had a group of three, four or five people? Spoiler alert, I'm working on this right now with a couple of my colleagues. 

I think doing a panel is an interesting way for you to position yourself as an expert but bring additional value for your audience or other people's audiences by having different voices, having different insights, and talking about different things in your use to. Guest experts on a panel, I think that's an interesting way for you to think about how do you position yourself. 

You also might, again, keep your like ear out and be telling people, 'hey, I'm interested in doing something like this. I know that sounds super lame, but the more you tell people that you have a talk or you'd love to get on more stages, or that you'd love to be featured on a panel, or that you want to be interviewed, I know that sounds really self serving. 

Talk about like the message that you want to bring. I think it's okay for you to say you want to get in front of more people and make an impact, like however you say it. I think it's okay to be telling people in your network, actively, that you want to get on more stages.Make it known that you want to be doing more guest speaking and I think you'll find that more people will start thinking of you when those opportunities come. 

Okay, these are a variety of ideas. Some of them are super straightforward. Some of them are just to get your brain. Again, just a little inkling around what's possible for you. 

I think the moral of it all is don't think that speaking on a virtual stage as a quote-unquote keynote speaker is the only path for you building your authority. There are so many different ways to do it, whether it's on your stages, on Facebook Lives, or social, or your podcasts, or you're thinking about how to get your message onto other people's stages. 

There's all different ways that you can do this. Honestly, you get to pick the pathway that feels exciting and in alignment to you and your business strategy. 

So hey, if you want to grab, I talked earlier about that five steps roadmap to help you with your strategy, but one of the things I think might be helpful. I think people get caught up in the, but how do I pitch other people? 

It is not have to be overly complicated to this day, two years into my business and a lot of speaking events. I still have yet to ever formally pitch someone. I don't slide into the direct messages and I have a very easy go-to way of pitching people. 

If you want to get your hands on my little script for an easy pitch. It's kind of like a softball, super easy pitch. I also put together a mini-training that helps you start thinking about, Huh, what are some different ways that I can be showing up speaking right now specific to this pandemic, where and how we're showing up on stages. Head on over to Heather sager.com, forward/mini-training, and I will get you access to both of those juicy goodies. 

Okay, friends, I hope this was helpful in sparking some ideas for you, for how you can start getting your topic out into the world and connecting with more people. Tell me over on Instagram. Shoot me a direct message and tell me what was one of the things you heard today that provoked a little idea in your mind, and what are you going to do with it because maybe that pitch will be coming my way for the podcast? 

But I want to know how you're putting this into action, because I know if you're listening to the show, you're not just here soaking up ideas. You're figuring out how you put your speaking chops into action and start getting your name out there. 

If that's you, come over, send me a direct message on Instagram @theheathersager and tell me what you're going to be doing so I can be cheering you on every step of the way. Okay, that was a quick episode today. I hope it got your mind moving and I will see you back here next week, where I have a guest on the show and we're talking about how you can use your iPhone or your smartphone to edit your video content so you can get out in the world faster. 

No special tech fancy stuff ever but everybody's got a phone, asterisk. I mean, almost everyone. I think there's a very, very, very small percentage of people who still don't have phones or smartphones but pretty much online business owners all have phones. 

We're going to be talking about how you can use your phone and edit video from your phone to keep you moving faster in your business.  I'll see you next week. Bye.

Hey, friends. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you liked what you had to hear, and you're looking to make a bigger splash with your brand online, then you've got to check out my brand new free video training. You can get it over at heather sager.com/minitraining where I'm going to teach you the three speaking strategies that every online business owner needs for this virtual world here in 2020. Hint: You don't have to be some big pro speaker to make speaking work for your business. Go grab it now, heather sager.com/minitraining and I'll see you on the next episode.