How to Get More Invitations to Speak

Have you ever attended an event that left you feeling inspired, connected, and energized, only to realize later that you missed an opportunity to build lasting relationships and advance your career? It's not enough to simply attend events and hope for the best – you need to follow up strategically to turn a one-time invitation into a long-term partnership. 

If you have to make a speech, you might search for "writer for my speech" online. For me, online speech writing is an ideal solution for a short deadline, but writing the speech isn't enough to guarantee responses and connections from organizers. In this article, we'll share practical tips and examples for following up after an event, so you can maximize your impact, build your network, and get invited back again and again. 

Whether you're a freelancer, entrepreneur, or corporate professional, these strategies will help you make the most of your event experience and take your career to the next level.

Send a Thank You Email

When you first connect with an organizer, you may exchange many emails before the big day. But how many of us actually thank the organizer for their help and support in the event? That thank you email is crucial to showing how much you appreciate the organizer and all their work. 

For example, you can send a thank you email to an event organizer and share a case study highlighting some of the recent work you've done on the topic. This approach could guarantee future invitations from the event organizer, possibly to talk about some of your cutting-edge work.

Connect on Social Media

Social media like LinkedIn is ideal for creating connections you can rely on later to secure future events. They allow professionals to remain close to each other online, even though they may be geographically separated. According to Angelina Grin, a Studybay expert writer, social media also provides a platform to reach out to potential online speech writers to craft the right message for an event. 

One way you could connect with an organizer on LinkedIn is simply by adding them in the lead-up to the event so you can keep in touch. The connection remains even after the event, and allows the organizer to always have your details handy, to arrange for future events.

Use Social Media Marketing

LinkedIn isn't just a great place to make and retain connections; it’s great to market yourself as well. Aside from being an excellent place for creative writing majors to land a job, LinkedIn offers a publishing service called Pulse. Through Pulse, professionals can write articles or drop comments on elements of their industry that demonstrate their level of knowledge and expertise. 

This content marketing system is invaluable in landing and keeping leads for events. Using social media marketing isn't limited to LinkedIn though. For example, you could record a small segment of your presentation and share it as a reel on Instagram or as a short on YouTube. Both would get views on your presentation and make the organizer realize you're also giving them free social media exposure. A great way to get reinvited to future events!

Get in Touch With Attendees

You won’t be the only expert invited to give a talk at the event. Other industry professionals will be there and offer you a great way to interact with others who may remember you for future speaking opportunities. 

• Exchange business cards and send a follow-up email or LinkedIn connection request

• Send a personalized email or message through social media to anyone you had a meaningful conversation with at the event

• Attend any post-event gatherings or follow-up meetings to continue building relationships with attendees

• Use event hashtags or tags to interact with attendees on social media and start conversations

• Reach out to attendees who may benefit from your expertise or services and offer to provide value or help in any way you can.

Guest Posting About an Event

As a professional, you probably have your own social media following. The people who follow you on social media may be different from those an event organizer has access to. By offering them this social media exposure, you may tick a box that many other professionals miss entirely. 

Smart Insights mentions that 59% of the world uses social media, meaning that something put out there has a good chance of getting shared around. A perfect method of doing this would be to let the organizers know you'll be promoting their event via a social media post. They might even help you with some of their marketing images to give your post a more official feel.

Reach Out Now and Then to Organizers

Planning an event is no small feat. Logistics can be challenging to maintain, and arranging multiple professionals' schedules can be a headache. Some organizers spend so much time on logistics that they may even forget to book speakers for some segments. Reaching out to the organizers you've added previously, to find out about their current projects can put you in a great position to be reinvited as a speaker to one of their events. 

For example, you could send a message to one of the organizers on your list to ask about their plans for the next few months. They may have a planned event for which they need a speaker like you to fill in.

Become More Visible in the Industry

There are often many small events occurring at any one time within an industry. While the big ones stand out in your resume, the smaller ones establish your expertise as a speaker or thought leader in the industry. Attending smaller events sets you up for the more significant events. Contacting your professional contacts within the industry is a great way to be invited to small events. They may know of some of the smaller events or even be on the planning committee for some. 

This approach provides a direct line to be invited to those less prominent events and starts getting you visibility within the industry. Before long, even people you don't know directly will be looking for you to speak at their event.

Build a Network of Industry Professionals

While social media marketing has its uses, word-of-mouth is probably the best and most organic way to get people to realize who you are. Organic marketing, in this sense, is the network of professionals who know you personally as an expert in a field. Social media networks like LinkedIn thrive on building and maintaining these connections. An excellent way of building your network of industry contacts stems from meeting individuals at the events you attend. 

Setting aside some time to meet and chat with professionals in the industry for a short while gives you access to many more people who could say they know and trust you. Handing out business cards with your LinkedIn address on them would make it easier for those professionals to connect with you and build your network.

Write, Publish, and Comment

Publication sites such as Medium or Vocal have sprung up in recent years, allowing writers to demonstrate their expertise in a topic. These publication platforms make it easy to set up and start writing. Writing, publishing, and commenting on what others have written establishes you as an expert in your industry and an expert that other sectors may rely on. 

Writing and publishing on these platforms may also enhance your visibility for Google searches. These sites are trawled regularly by Google’s search spiders, and your name will show up as publishing certain types of articles. This second type of connection is crucial for building relationships that could lead to event engagements.

Everything Feeds One Into the Other

An industry is not a closed ecosystem. However, many things, such as professional contacts, knowledge, and experience, circulate within a small number of companies. By establishing yourself as a professional speaker and industry expert, you create the right environment to get invited to speaking engagements. Each of the things mentioned above has its part to play in getting yourself set up as a respected speaker and helping you keep in touch with the right people. Event follow-ups are crucial to remaining relevant in your industry.