To be recognized and selected by event organizers to speak at high-profile venues, you need to put in time and effort to showcase your expertise across various channels well beforehand. Essentially, you have to give them something to Google when evaluating your suitability for their stages.
At Sterling, we help our clients earn top-tier speaking slots by cultivating a personal and professional brand. This involves a combination of collaborative work that includes social media networking, pursuing opportunities for publication, being quoted in the media, contributing to occupational forums, participating in professional organizations and events, and more.
Here are a few tips on how to build personal brand and thought leadership recognition to secure speaking slots at top-tier conferences:
Stand up: Determine an area of focus and own it
Share your expertise with contributed content development for op-eds, commentary in relevant outlets, and bylined articles in industry trade publications. We work with subject matter experts amongst our clients to get their names in print and amplify their ideas, experience, and positions on matters of importance in their fields. If editors find the output interesting enough to publish, then event planners are likely to find it interesting, too.
Stand out: Use your voice across multiple channels
Join the public conversation. When there’s a pertinent trending media topic, you can bet Sterling is hustling to share your insights with reporters and analysts and get you quoted in the news. It’s also great to participate in podcasts (especially video ones) or online webinars so people can get a sense of what you sound like, how you present your perspective, and hear anecdotes that make you memorable. Social media channels can also showcase your voice. Share relevant industry articles and offer your take on interesting developments. And make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date with your most recent company messaging and an up-to-date bio including examples of past speaking engagements, webinars, and/or video interviews with media (event organizers will look at your profile).
Stand for something: Be bold in your messaging
Don’t be afraid to take a position, defend it, debate, and engage. This does not mean courting controversy for the sake of clicks (no one needs another troll). But displaying an actual human personality is not a sin — it’s a virtue! Event coordinators want to see evidence that you have the requisite knowledge and expertise, but also that you’re willing to draw on it to converse frankly.
Making a well planned thought leadership journey gets you on the right track to speaking at the most impactful industry events. After laying the groundwork, your odds of taking the stage improve dramatically.