One of the quickest ways to gain credibility is to get out there and speak in front of audiences.  Usually, I get one of three reactions when I tell clients this.  The first (and preferred) reaction — is “sounds great” how do I get started”.  The second reaction is yikes – I couldn’t ever get out in front of people and speak (if this is you — go out and find a Toastmasters club to join) – the final reaction is that sounds great — but how can I find people to get me to speak.  If you fall into that third category – this post is for you.

Here are three great ways to find speaking gigs (even if you are just starting out – and even if you are aiming for webinars and not live events).

1. Start a Video Blog  Event planners (even for virtual events) want to see how you present “live”.  You can’t quite get that across in a written blog post.  Once a week take the time to do a video posting (and.. no cheating and doing powerpoints with voice over).  Choose topics that are part of the speeches you offer on your speaking sheet. At the end of the post, make a link that says something like … click here to find out how you can have me speak to your audience about this topic.

That brings me to hint number 2…

2. Have a speaker sheet.  Every “serious” speaker has a sheet with their picture, speeches and bio on it.  It is just expected that if you want to speak, you’ll have this.  It goes without saying that you need to have  tab on your website that says “ask me to speak” — otherwise nobody will know that speaking is something offer.  Here is the link to my speaker sheet so you can see what can be included.

3. Interview other people.  The easiest way to be the most popular person at the party is to invite the most people… This holds very true in the Internet marketing world too.  Over and over again, I’ve seen people rocket to the top of their business by holding a telesummit, hosting  radio show or just offering teleseminars for their audience.  I do this with the Decisive Minds Success Series.  Speakers are always looking for gigs… so offering them a chance to get in front of your audience (no matter how small) makes you a hero — and makes it likely they will book you in return.

4. Bonus Tip – Google Alerts  A quick way to get a heads up on speaking opportunities is to set up a google alert – http://www.google.com/alerts for your topic and call for proposals, call for speakers, telesummit, conference, etc.  Even if you don’t get on the roster for this year… a quick e-mail to the conference organizer can get you on the short list for next year.

What is your biggest frustrating in finding speaking gigs?