Strong communication skills, captivating storytelling, and a willingness to prepare and practice are all valuable components that make up a talented podcast host.
If you’re a host who possesses these skills and has what it takes to build an audience through podcasting, public speaking opportunities could be the next step to level up your business and revenue.
In this episode of Mics to Millions, we speak with Megan Lyons, host of Wellness Your Way with Megan Lyons, who shares insights you can use to grow your brand and get paid through public speaking opportunities.
From this conversation, you’ll learn how Megan has attracted leads to her business through speaking opportunities, how her podcast has helped her secure speaking gigs, and why you shouldn’t offer to speak on a broad range of topics.
Don’t speak for free unless you can make it work for you
Batman fans will probably remember the Joker’s line in The Dark Knight “If you’re good at something never do it for free.” And while we can’t speak to how this relates to killing caped crusaders, according to Megan this doesn’t always apply to public speaking.
While she doesn’t recommend making speaking for free a regular habit, it can work in your favor if you’re presented with an opportunity to talk in front of your ideal audience. For Megan, a worthwhile opportunity means getting in front of HR professionals.
“In my situation, I speak to a lot of law firms, consulting firms, banks, and more high-level professional services firms. If I’m going to be hired at a law firm, usually the person making that decision is in the HR department. And so what I thought was ‘How can I speak at HR conferences?’ So instead of just talking to one of them, I’m talking to 100 HR professionals,” states Megan.
She adds “I don’t speak for free as a rule, except if it’s at a conference like this. I am happy to speak for free because it’s such a great marketing opportunity. And if you can get yourself in there and do a great job, some of the leads will naturally come to you.”
🎧Check out the full episode to find out how you can bring in more revenue with public speaking opportunities.
Being specific about what you can speak on will create more opportunities
When starting out, you might be tempted to create whatever opportunities you can by offering to speak on a very broad range of topics. This is a mistake Megan made when she first started. She quickly learned that if you’re not specific on what you can talk about, you won’t get many yeses.
“I started in 2014, in my first year in business, by contacting 100 gyms in the Dallas area saying ‘I will speak for free. Just bring me in. I can talk about anything on nutrition.’ And out of those 100 gyms, I got one acceptance. It was about six people sitting on the floor of a gym and I presented my heart out to them. But, what I learned from that was that if you say I can present on anything, you get crickets in response.”
Use your podcast episodes as a sample of your work for speaking opportunities
Before you go to the cinema, it makes sense to check out the trailer before committing to a full 90-minute feature. And when it comes to speaking events, organizers want the same thing.
That is why your podcast episodes can serve as a sample, or trailer, of what the audience can expect. Megan points to instances where she’s secured speaking engagements following those who recommended her and sent over her podcast in the process.
“All these networks are small, and they pass around names a lot. And, oftentimes the first thing they’ll pass along is the podcast. So they’ll say, ‘Hey, consider Megan as a speaker. You can get a preview by listening to her podcast.’ So often I will have someone say, ‘Sally or Bob recommended you. And then I listened to your podcast, and I liked what I heard. So, will you talk to our company?’
🎧Check out the full episode here.