Public speaking engagements are excellent opportunities for your organization to share its unique message and gain industry credibility.

Speaking engagements provide the opportunity to raise visibility, interact with prospective clients, and reconnect with existing ones. They also give your organization an opportunity to market its ideas, increase awareness, and enhance its reputation. However, identifying and securing public speaking opportunities can be difficult:

1. You want to be a known, proven, and trusted entity to the event planners and meeting organizers or be referred to them by a credible third-party (someone they like, know, and trust).

2. Most conferences or events only have room for up to three, six, or potentially nine main-stage speakers (also known as anchor or keynote speakers).

3. Most credible event organizers book their in-person keynote speakers 6-9 months in advance before the event. Some even book 9-12 months in advance. For virtual events, it might be three months in advance.

As a speakers bureau for your company's leaders and experts, we help get executives placed for public speaking engagements in the right places to reach your critical audiences.

Three types of speaking opportunities

There are typically three types of speaking engagements that occur at an industry or company conference or inside an organization:

1. Paid professional speakers
Paid speaking gigs are typically reserved for established, well-known professional speakers. These are often for main-stage professional speakers.

Professional public speakers:

• Have household consumer name, niche industry business, or celebrity fame with social media following to attract more paying event attendees

• Are choreographed performers with a stage presentation that's been carefully crafted, planned, plotted, rehearsed, and delivered hundreds or thousands of times

• Offer a transformational experience for the audience made up of dozens of micro-moments and signature bits

• Deliver some actionable takeaways to the audience that they can implement right away (optional)

• Have a speaker's resume with glowing references
• Have a powerful highlight reel demonstrating their signature bits and stage presence

These speakers may receive 4-7 figures for a one-hour keynote. In addition, organizations may pay these speakers to speak privately to their employees or customers.

2. Earned 
An expert speaker may earn a speaking opportunity and not look to receive payment. Some experts speak exclusively for the visibility. Sometimes, expert speakers receive a modest honorarium or travel stipend, depending on the speaker's fame, expertise, and the event's budget. These opportunities might not take place as a keynote on the main stage. They might be in smaller ballrooms or auditoriums as breakout sessions, often considered a better platform for training or workshopping topics that provide actionable takeaways.

3. Sponsored 
These are speaking opportunities where speakers pay for the platform and audience. We don't prefer these "pay for play" speaking opportunities where the speaking opportunity is associated with a paid event sponsorship. However, these arrangements have become more accessible and common since the Great Recession. These opportunities might not take the main stage. Some of our clients want every available opportunity to get in front of the right audience and are willing to pay a sponsorship fee to receive these opportunities. Meanwhile, other clients prefer to avoid sponsorship-based speaking opportunities altogether.

We manage all three types for our clients.

Our typical client is mostly interested in earning (unpaid) speaking engagements and is open to hearing more about sponsorship opportunities. Most clients aren't looking for paid speaking engagements. To be a paid speaker, you likely need to be a celebrity and/or a trained professional public speaker. A professional speaker has a strong transformative speaking performance, accompanied by a speaking resume, reel, testimonials, references, and social media following.

We will get the job done for you.

Our trained team of professionals recognizes the importance of boosting an organization's visibility through public speaking. Whether you're looking for large, national audiences or small, local ones, our Speakers Bureau public speaking program can identify these special speaking opportunities. We'll pitch and secure your engagement, and then upon request, we can promote your appearance.

Axia's three-step documented proven process

Using our unique, documented, proven processes, training, and certifications, Axia will help your organization earn business, industry, trade media, and community speaking engagements.

Step I: Research & Recommend
You'll complete our short speaker and organization questionnaires.

As part of our unique process, we'll prepare a:

• Executive feature magazine-style biographical profile written by a People Magazine writer for your speaker/media kit

• Professional speaker/media kit with an organization overview and/or fact sheet

• Sample speaking agreement (which must be reviewed with your trusted legal adviser)

For certain client packages, as a unique feature of our PR agency, we might also:

• Refer your expert to our recommended public speaking training organization for a free two-day session.
• Submit your expert to various professional public speaking directories.
• Submit your expert to Associated Press AP Planner, AP Newsroom, and AP Resource Desk, which reaches 15,000 AP and other newsrooms (WSJ, NYT, NPR, etc.) directories worldwide. Conference and meeting organizers, attorneys seeking expert witnesses, and journalists and academics seeking industry experts use this tool.
• Perform our unique Strategic Insights process, which includes researching your brand, competition, and target buyer. 

We'll quote those services individually and as needed.

Meanwhile, we'll research one year's worth of corporate, industry association, conference, corporate, and/or community speaking opportunities. We then recommend and rank those speaking opportunities in three tiers (good, better, best fit) based on the platform and audience prominence, which opportunities reach your organization's critical audience, and which ones your speaker(s) has the best opportunity to compete in for placement.

Step II: Submit & Apply
After Step I, we'll collaborate on your desired speaking opportunities. Here, we'll focus on pitching speaking engagements where you are selected for conferences and events through a request for speaker form or other submission or application process. In addition, based on your unique needs and direction, we can also seek sponsored speaking engagements where you might pay a sponsorship fee to get stage time, also known as "pay for play." And in cases where you have a professional speaking resume, reel, and reputation, we can seek speaking opportunities in which the organization pays you to speak. Typically, paid engagements are reserved for the main stage, visionary keynote speakers, or speakers hired to speak privately to an organization's employees or customers. We manage all these opportunities, with most speakers focused on earned speaking engagements (where you do not pay to speak, and they do not pay you to speak). You want to speak for the visibility and ideally "stage-side leads."

Many industry conference speaking opportunities require a competitive "call for submissions" form and a unique application process. The pitch and submission process includes coordinating, researching, writing, revising, editing, submitting, and following up. Some speaking opportunities require a comprehensive submission with significant background information, while others need less detailed submissions.

To that end, we'll either individually quote project rates for submitting for each speaking opportunity or an annual program to manage submissions for the selected speaking opportunities. Most clients prefer we quote an ongoing annual program to manage their desired speaking opportunities and for budgeting purposes.

Step III: Share & Promote (optional)

Once we secure interest (a "lead"), we will immediately make an introduction to the conference organizer or meeting planner with your speaker and/or their designated contact to coordinate times, technology, travel, etc. So, the opportunity is quickly and easily booked.

Because earning speaking engagements increases your organization's visibility and lends credibility to the organization and your target audience (from clients and customers to employees, investors, and suppliers), Axia recommends developing news, social media, and web content to promote your speaker and each opportunity to expand their reach and platform with social media, blogging, website design and development, search engine optimization, podcasting, videos, speaker video highlight reel, and more. That scope of work is also available from us for an additional investment.

"If you try to make three points, you make no points." – James Carville

Buy a Speakers Bureau package.

FAQs

How will Axia help me secure speaking engagements?

Axia handles the entire process: identifying opportunities, creating compelling speaker materials, submitting proposals, and pitching to event organizers. To begin, we’ll have a strategic discussion to outline your goals, topics, and speaker profiles. From there, we’ll propose a tailored plan and begin developing your speaker materials. Once approved, our team will start pitching to relevant opportunities immediately.

Our goal is to secure engagements that elevate your brand and generate valuable leads. We specialize in earned conference placements, where organizers invite speakers based on merit rather than sponsorship.

I need help preparing my speaker materials and performance. Do you help with that?
Yes. We work with you to develop comprehensive speaker kits, including:

• Executive bios tailored for speaking engagements
• Specific presentation topics and pitches
• One-page organization backgrounders
• Highlight reels
• Stage photos
• Testimonials

These assets are designed to position you as a sought-after thought leader and make the event organizer's decision easy.

If you need public speaking training (most non-professional speakers do), we know where to refer you for excellent coaching and training. Ask us!

What is the typical timeline for securing speaking engagements?
The timeline varies by event. High-quality conferences often finalize their keynote speaker selections 6–9 months in advance (some even book a year in advance), while smaller events might have shorter lead times. Virtual events might book speakers as few as three months in advance. 

Remember that event planners and conference organizers typically only look for 3–9 main-stage speakers per event. That means this process is competitive. You can do it, but it's going to take time – and a transformational message that serves the audience. For optimal results, we recommend beginning outreach well in advance to align with event planning cycles.

What topics should we focus on for speaking engagements?

To maximize impact, we recommend focusing on one core topic or niche that aligns with your expertise and market demand. This allows you to refine your message and establish yourself as an authority. Over time, we can adapt the content to cater to specific audiences or trending topics.

What level of involvement is required from us?

Our approach minimizes your time commitment. We handle the heavy lifting, from crafting materials to engaging event organizers. We assign a dedicated point of contact to coordinate our team’s efforts and ensure alignment with your goals. You'll provide input on topics, approve materials, and participate in strategic discussions when needed. Otherwise, we focus on delivering results while you focus on your core responsibilities.

Does Axia offer guidance on event follow-ups and promotion?

Yes. We equip you with strategies to subtly communicate your availability for future opportunities without appearing promotional. Additionally, we can guide you in repurposing your event content, such as creating social media reels or website assets, to maximize your visibility and ROI.

What does Axia’s engagement model look like?

Most clients opt for our flat-rate monthly program, which provides a comprehensive, ongoing service for securing speaking engagements. We also offer custom proposals for specific needs, whether you have one speaker or a team of presenters.

I'm only interested in paid speaking engagements. Can you help me with that?

Sure! If you're an expert or a visionary, we can develop unique opportunities for you. 
 
Typically, paid speakers are professional public speakers. Professional public speakers have a track record of successful speaking engagements. They’re visionary speakers who delight audiences. They have a strong stage presence, a speaker's resume, glowing references, and a powerful highlight reel of their signature bits. They also have a loyal, engaged social media following that increases event audiences. If this is you, send us your speaker reel and speaking resume so we can evaluate your work! If you don't have these yet, we can help you get them.

If you haven't already done so, you'll likely need to complete a series of unpaid speaking engagements first to build your brand, visibility, experience, confidence, messaging, performance, stage presence, and reputation. You may also need some public speaking coaching. We can help you here, and we can refer you to more comprehensive and intense training programs.

Are my travel expenses covered when I speak?

Yes, reasonable travel expenses are negotiable when the organization has a budget for travel reimbursement. What's more typical is a small honorarium. You should always ask yourself, "Am I willing to speak to this group without payment and cover my travel expenses to be there?"

What are stage-side leads, and why are they important?

Stage-side leads refer to direct opportunities that arise from speaking engagements, such as:

• Invitations to present at other conferences
• Requests for consultations or organizational talks
• Interest from potential clients or partners

These leads often provide high-value networking and business development opportunities.