This week, I am handing the blog over to Ally Tankard of Your Go To Virtual Assistant to talk about finding speaking opportunities for clients.  Ally has recently launched a community to help you find those last minute speaker requests (a link is in the Meet Ally below).

Want to score brownie points with your clients? Need to find a speaker, and fast? Here’s how.

Almost every Virtual Assistant (VA), Social Media Manager (SMM), and Online Business Manager (OBM) have, at some point in their career, been tasked with finding a guest speaker for their client’s podcast, group, or in-person event. And we all know how time-consuming that can be, am I right?

Of course, I am! Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt!

Your favourite client (we all have them) has left you a voicemail (yes, she has overstepped the boundary again, but you’ll deal with that later!). She’s panicking. Her guest speaker (that incidentally she organised herself [phew, small win]) has just let her know that something’s come up. She can’t make it. The event is in two days’ time…

“No problem”, you say. “I’ve got this”, you say. But you know, don’t you, that this ain’t gonna be easy? No s*** Sherlock.

Stop spinning and running around like a headless chicken. Use my ‘Go To’ top five places to try, when you’re looking for a Guest Speaker.

1. Social Media

For most of us in the online world, this will be our first port of call. There’s no doubt if you search long enough and hard enough, across all platforms, you will be able to find the speaker whose niche and style matches exactly what you’re looking for. Try to stay focused and not get caught down the rabbit hole though, from experience you need to remember to use the 🔍function!

2. Experts in the Field

Think. You may already know a speaker who would be perfect. You’ve seen them before, you’ve heard them speak and you know they’re a great fit. Reach out, don’t be shy. 📢 They may have a free slot. They might be willing. If you don’t ask, you don’t get and the worst thing that could happen is they’ll say “No”.

3. Use your Network

We’ve all got one. I can guarantee that 90% of the people reading this will have a client who is actively looking for guest speaking opportunities. or if they’re not, they’ll know someone who is. The wonderful thing about the VA/SMM and OBM world is how supportive we are of each other.  Reach out to your network to see if anyone can help and remember to use your family and friends too, they’re all routing for you.

4. Free Speakers

Let’s face it, most of our clients will be looking for guests who are willing to come into their group as a FREE guest speaker, in exchange for the opportunity for them to become more visible and promote their services. SPEAKERNET is a great FREE 🆓 site that I found recently. OK, so not all the speakers offer free talks, but the site has a filter facility. It’s one of those ‘great to know’ websites, just in case and, in my opinion, worth a bookmark.

5. Speaker Websites

Full transparency here. This is a new one for me and had I not checked, one that I wouldn’t have touched with a bargepole. If the budget allows (i.e., it’s a paid opportunity you’re trying to fill) there are some great websites for booking speakers. BuzzSumo is one of them 🎤. There’s a FREE 30-day trial that gives access to 100 searches.  Sign up when you know you’ve got the time; you can have a list of influencers/speakers to refer to any time you want.

Use my top 5 suggested places above to find a Guest Speaker to help you find an amazing speaker for your client’s next event or have a look at the Your Guest Speakers Playground.

Ally created the “Your Guest Speaker Playground” to help Virtual Assistants support their clients in finding speaking opportunities but also to support Speakers in finding new opportunities to speak. Click here to learn more and join today.