Custom Advisory Service
IN-HOUSE STAFF
Speaking To Key Audiences: How To Create An Action Plan To Land The Best Opportunities For Your Organization
Virtual and Live Customized Session For Staff
Your organization recognizes the value of speaking as a strategically important element to help meet its marketing, branding, public relations, business development, and thought leadership objectives.
Whether you want to learn how to improve upon an existing executive speaking program or if you need direction because you are just getting started in this endeavor, this advisory program is perfect for you! The program takes the form of a virtual 4-hour session, typically conducted in two 2-hour sessions, held either on the same day, or on consecutive days.
The session is not an off-the-shelf program – it will be customized to your organization’s needs and tailored to your specific business.
Regardless of your industry this deep-dive live virtual session will teach you how to build the most effective system to successfully obtain speaking engagements for your leadership – at both in-person and virtual events.
This session is designed for either individuals or small groups in one of these hands-on formats:
one-on-one session
session for two or more staff members
The session begins with a description of the current speaking landscape, including how event organizers choose their speakers. Learn how to land all types of speaking opportunities – virtual and in-person – including those at national and international conferences, local and regional association chapter meetings and business groups.
Learn the tactics and strategies to develop a truly powerful method of achieving a high rate of success in obtaining speaking engagements, using a proven, systematic approach developed by Steve Markman, a leading expert in the field for over 30 years. Participants can be the speaker(s) or member of the PR, communications, and marketing staff, or any other staff that have responsibility for obtaining speaking engagements for the organization.
Learn best practices to obtain speaking engagements
Take this custom program and find out exactly how to:
Develop a proactive and successful speaking strategy – an 8-step action plan
Research, identify, and evaluate the speaking opps matched with your target audiences
Create compelling speaker proposals and “pitches” to submit to event organizers
Shape your presentation content to attract an audience without giving a sales pitch
Write effective presentation abstracts to be submission-ready
Reach the decision-makers who choose speakers
Respond to Call for Speakers proposal applications
Maximize your ROIT – Return on Investment of Time before, during, and after the talk
Improve your overall success rate in landing speaking engagements
Propose your organization’s executives as podcast guests
TAKE THIS SESSION AND YOU’LL RECEIVE:
- A review and critique of all your written materials that are used with speaker proposal submissions, including presentation descriptions and bios.
- Useful materials and tools to help you secure speaking opportunities – checklists, samples of effective presentation summaries and bios, and sample spreadsheets that can be used to collect and track speaking opportunities.
The session is typically conducted in 2-hour sessions, held either on the same day or on consecutive days.
Bottom Line:
You will get hands-on and practical advice, ready to use right away, providing you with a roadmap to achieve your organization’s speaking goals!
What Clients Are Saying
“Steve knows how to put you into conferences. Has decades of experience doing this well. At IBM, I relied on Steve to place speakers at business conferences relevant to our work. He knows how to find the “right” conferences and how to persuade organizers to include speakers he is assisting. He takes the initiative to match both well.”
“We are incredibly grateful for the time and knowledge and experience that you shared with us. We are excited to implement the straightforward action steps you outlined for us! We really appreciate your genuine intentions of helping us with this part of our journey by using your extensive wisdom in the arena of speaking. This feedback is fantastic.”
“I was fortunate to have the opportunity to engage in a two-hour training and prep session as part of my larger objective to expand my portfolio of speaking opportunities. Steve is a real pro with decades of experience at producing conferences and placing speakers into all types of speaking situations. He provided me with a practical, actionable road map of specific steps to take to position for strategic speaking opportunities. The time with him was well spent and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with him. A value added asset in a highly specialized space”
“My goal was to increase the reach of my consulting practice outside of New England at a time when the market here was slow. I had been speaking at local events for several years but was really interested in being on the national stage. Steve quickly got up to speed on my expertise, helped me pull together speaker abstracts and got right down to work. The results have been phenomenal! I have landed some great customers and have achieved my goal of expanding nationally. I highly recommend Steve for organizations who want to put key executives on the national stage. He can take your executives and make thought-leaders of them.”
“Thank you again for the training. It was definitely beneficial to both of us and we’re looking forward to implementing these tactics.”
“Steve’s session, ‘Speak to Get More Business’ is one of the best sessions that I’ve taken as I shift my business focus to include corporate America. He truly customized my session to teach me how to land the best speaking opportunities and delivered on what I was hoping to learn. Steve really knows what works and what doesn’t so I highly recommend him to anyone looking to get more business by speaking in front of the right audiences."
“Steve has an incredible depth of experience and knowledge of the conference world. He also has many valuable contacts that greatly add to the success of a speaking program. During the time we worked with Steve, he helped us to triple our conference speaking engagements and break into new shows. His genuine and positive personality, and professionalism make him a true pleasure to work with.”
“Working with Steve Markman allowed me to take a good look at my speaking business – in particular, how to best monetize my expertise—small business marketing and PR. Before we even met, Steve researched my brand and visibility as a speaker. At our first in-person session, he provided feedback on my speaker’s kit, signature talks, and strategies on how to target speaking gigs best suited for my goals – along with a list of contacts I should be in touch with. What I loved was that he understood my business model from the get-go and provided a clear roadmap on next steps, including follow-up. It’s obvious that Steve is not only a top consultant in the speaking industry, but someone who wants you to succeed. He builds relationships, not just a client base. For this and hundreds of other reasons, I’d recommend working with Steve and his speaking agency to build, tweak and get exposure on stage.””
Meet Steve Markman - Session Leader
Steve Markman has over 30 years of experience in the conference and speaker field. Since founding Markman Speaker Management, LLC in 1994, Steve has helped hundreds of organizations obtain speaking engagements.
Steve has worked with clients in all industries and professions. He has obtained speaking engagements for organizations of all sizes – from small firms to mid-sized firms to the Fortune 500, including IBM Global Services, PayPal, Subaru, Bank of America, Hitachi, and Ogilvy PR Worldwide. Dozens of professional services firms have also taken advantage of Steve’s expertise – such as Booz, Monitor Group, Perot Systems, L.E.K. Consulting, Mercer Consulting, and AmLaw 100 firms such as WilmerHale, Ropes & Gray, and McGuireWoods.
Clients have greatly benefited from Steve’s singular focus on landing executive speaking engagements. He attributes part of his success to his hands-on experience earlier in his career when he headed up the conference divisions of leading event organizations such as COMDEX and The Conference Board.
