Leveraging Speaking Opportunities to Build Your Coaching Brand

As a coach, you have insights to share. When you share this expertise, you partake in compelling thought leadership that can have an incredible ripple effect with the people you inspire — including inspiring people to engage you for a coaching engagement!

Pursuing speaking engagements can be a great way to both amplify your impact as a coach and build your business. If the idea of getting up in front of an audience makes you anxious, you’re in good company. Finding the right audience, topic, and presentation style for successful speaking engagements is an art that demands creativity, strategy, and persistence. However, your qualities as a coach give you a jumpstart on these skills.

These 5 Tips Will Help Set You on the Right Path

Go Where Your Audience Is

It’s simple: A speaking opportunity is only as good as the audience you’ll reach. That’s why it’s crucial to choose both your presentation topic and the events you pursue with intention. Start by being clear and specific about whom you want to reach.

Your audience, of course, is prospective coaching clients. But what does that mean to you? Should you be at a conference for CEOs or young emerging professionals? For tech innovators or creative writers? Be ruthless in your specificity to define this target audience and then use that as your north star to identify what events and forums that community offers where you can contribute.

Pep Up Your Pitch

When you approach an event or organization for an opportunity to present, you will almost certainly be asked to offer a brief description of your topic and expertise. When you’re crafting your topic description and title, remember: This is a chance to apply some creativity!

The description is what both event organizers and event attendees will use to determine if they wish to attend your session. This assessment will likely include considerations such as your topic’s relevance to their interests and needs, the topic’s timeliness, and how enticing and fun the description is. Audiences will take your topic description as a reflection of not only your subject matter, but also the experience of your presentation style for the audience. Thus, being authentic to your personality, voice, and presentation style in your topic description can be a driving factor in your success as a speaker, right alongside finding a timely topic that addresses key challenges for your target audience.

Don’t hold back! If you’re having fun, your audience will likely have fun, too.

Baby Steps Beat Giant Leaps

If you’re new to speaking engagements, don’t pressure yourself to be at a different top-tier event every week! The ability to command an audience and convey ideas in a way that is digestible and motivates action is a skill that is fostered with practice.

Instead, start with more approachable settings. These might be local gatherings, smaller events in your industry, or communities you know well from years of engagement. As you get more comfortable in your style and message, keep stretching yourself to pursue bigger opportunities.

Inspire Through Stories

PowerPoint slides won’t change lives, but stories can. While any compelling presentation offers data and facts to back up its insights, the true power to engage an audience and inspire them derives from emotional connection. Finding ways to tell stories in your presentation, whether it’s a personal journey from your own experience, case studies, or examples from (approved) client challenges and outcomes, can take presentations from bland to transformative.

Invite Opportunity — Literally

In today’s world, your online presence serves as a global stage, making social media an essential tool for building an audience and attracting event organizers and companies searching for engaging speakers. Start by creating a dedicated speaking engagements landing page that showcases your expertise, highlights the topics you speak about, explains why you’re passionate about them, and provides clear instructions on how to book you.

To make your landing page more impactful, include videos of yourself presenting or discussing your expertise. These clips offer a glimpse into your speaking style, energy, and ability to connect with an audience, allowing event organizers to see the value you bring to their stage. Share your landing page on your website and across your social channels. Additionally, request testimonials and referrals after every engagement and incorporate them into your promotional materials. These endorsements build credibility and reinforce your reputation as a speaker.

Your Message Can Inspire Audiences and Spark Your Next Client Opportunity

Becoming a speaker doesn’t mean morphing into some polished, TED-style guru. It’s about taking your coaching magic and sharing it with audiences who need exactly what you offer — and will likely want more! Investing time to find and prepare for speaking engagements can enhance your practice and establish yourself and your brand as a coach across a larger audience.