(Bangkok, Thailand)

How do I get more speaking engagements internationally?

That is one of the most common questions that I get.

And the answer is: Speak more internationally.

But more specifically the answer is: Speak more at global conferences.

Because at a global conference there will be people from all over the world in the audience, so if you do a great job on the stage then you will have people from all over the world come up to you after the speech to want to book you for their home market.

Which today was a great example of.

Because today 1300 Entrepreneurs from 130 countries gathered in Bangkok, Thailand for the Global Learning Conference of Entrepreneurs Organisation – a global organisation for entrepreneurs with more than 11 000 members from all over the world.

I was one of the speakers.

When I summarised the conference and went through the business cards that people had come up and given to me, I could see that I had received concrete invitations to come and speak in 41 (!) different countries from 6 continents. People from South Africa to New Zeeland, from Canada to China had approached me and asked me to come and speak in their country as well.

Let me say that again: Concrete leads from 41 different countries. All from speaking to one audience. One global audience.

And I am now in the process of going through these leads to convert them into bookings.

So if the answer to the question “How do I get to speak more globally” is “speak more at global conferences”, then the follow up question becomes: “So how do I get to speak more at global conferences?” 

And the answer to that question is: Make sure you have a great speech that is universal (meaning it will work as well on a Chinese as on an American etc.) And then go speak at local and regional conferences.

If your speech is universal enough the people who organise global conferences are going to hear about you. Because the people who organise the global conferences listen to the people who organise regional and national conferences to find out about great speakers who they can use for the global conference.

It is of course not so easy that this is the ONLY answer to the question “How do I get to speak more internationally”, but it is one piece of the puzzle of how to increase your global foot print as a speaker.

If nothing else, the fact that I got concrete leads from 41 countries today from one conference should in itself inspire you to work towards getting to speak at more global conferences – at least if your goal is to be a global speaker.

 

(Cairo, Egypt)

Speakers might just have the easiest job in the world: Work for one hour, have someone organise and fix everything around the conference (from conference room, to inviting delegates, to audio and visual technology, etc etc). All we have to do is show up and speak.

Compare that to the event organiser who is in charge of one million things. One million things that can go wrong I should add.

Today I was the keynote speaker at the “IATA Aeropolitical Forum” in Cairo and got to see first hand how event organisers work hard to make a conference happen.

When I arrived at 8 am in the morning and stepped up on the stage to get a “feel” for the stage I see two men sleeping (!) behind the stage.

Turns out it is the AV-guys who had worked non-stop until 6.30 in the morning to get the screens to function properly. Now they were taking a nap for 90 minutes before being in charge of the technology during the one-day-conference…

Conference delegates hardly ever notice all the chaos that goes on behind the scenes (in the case of today it was literally “Behind the scene”…)

Event organisers hardly ever get the appreciation they deserve for all the (very stressful) job that they do.

The least thing we could do for them is to make their job as easy as possible with regards to our small role in making the conference a success.

So it was with great joy that todays event organiser went up to me today and said: “I have never worked with a speaker who is so easy to work with than you.”

Thank you! One of the best feedbacks an event organiser can give a speaker if you ask me.

Lesson: Be easy to work with. That is the least you can do to help the people who are doing the heavy lifting of making a conference happen. We might be promoted as the “star” of the conference, that does NOT mean we should behave like “pop stars” and demand all kinds of crazy stuff like they have a tendency to do. (click here for 13 11 Bizarre Celebrity Backstage Demands And Concert Riders.)

 

 

Tonight I had the privilege to meet up with Andrew Vine, founder and CEO The Insight Bureau. I was honoured to receive one of the very first copies of his new book: “Honestly Speaking”.

There are thousands of books about professional speaking written by speakers, some are great, some are good and many are bad. But there are very, very few books written about professional speaking written from the other side – from the perspective of how to HIRE a professional speaker. Thankfully, now finally there is. In Honestly Speaking Andrew Vine shares his extensive expertise from placing thousands and thousands of some of the best speakers in the world . Andrew Vine is one of the world’s most experiences speaker representatives and he has helped countless companies and conference organisers get the right speaker for their events. In this book he now shares his experience on how to – and how not to – book a speaker. Getting the right speaker for the event can be the difference between a great conference or a terrible one and considering the amount of money that goes into organising a big conference it is mind-blowing how little professional work some companies put into getting the right speaker.

This book is essential for anyone who work with booking speakers and organising conferences. And it should also be compulsory reading for anyone who is, or wants to be, a professional speaker. You should really not be allowed to handle a big or important conference that includes booking speakers without first reading this book.

To find out more about the book go to: Amazon.