Too many speakers go after the same markets when trying to book speaking engagements.
They chase after trade association meeting planners who typically receive calls and letters from several dozen speakers each day.
James Malinchak, a 33-year-old stock broker-turned-speaker, says that if you can spin your topic for a college audience, you can command attractive fees and keep busy speaking to college students year-round, or whenever it’s most convenient for you.
Colleges hire speakers, authors, trainers, coaches and consultants for orientation, welcome week and back-to-school programs. They need speakers for student leadership gatherings, student government events, and lectures sponsored by fraternities and sororities.
They need experts to address students at career and job fairs, commencements and graduations, student conferences and summer programs. Add to the list academic, athletic and club events, and other meetings where an “outside” expert is needed.
Best of all, colleges and universities have guaranteed budgets from sources like student activity fees. If you can book yourself at a college, a flurry of publicity can often precede and follow your speech. Your article and photo can show up not only in the college newspaper, but in the local and weekly newspapers in that town. You might even end up on local radio and TV stations and be seen by students and others who never even heard you speak at the event on campus.
But the secret is knowing how to navigate the college speaking circuit, who to contact, how to follow up, and how to identify which topics are in demand.
Join James Malinchak and me for a complimentary telephone seminar at noon Eastern Time on Wednesday, April 26 (originally scheduled for April 19). Jim will spill the beans on how to find your way to the meeting and event planners who hire speakers at colleges and universities. Register for the teleseminar.
If you can’t make it, sign up anyway and you can listen to the recording afterward.
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