In this episode of Your Dream Business Podcast, host Teresa Heath‑Wareing talks with Lauren Davis, a marketing & brand consultant, about how public speaking can boost your business. Lauren shares her journey into speaking, offers a framework for deciding whether to say “yes” to unpaid gigs, compares keynotes vs. workshops, and shows how to make the most of events (think networking, pro photos/videos). A big emphasis is put on making sure speaking opportunities align with your values and business goals.
Key Takeaways
- Choose Speaking Gigs That Align with Your Values & Goals
Not every opportunity is worth taking. Lauren emphasizes evaluating engagements based on how well they match your personal values, the audience, and your long‑term business vision. Saying yes to misaligned opportunities can dilute your brand and effort.
- Weigh the Difference Between Keynotes, Workshops, Paid & Unpaid Gigs
Workshops and keynotes serve different purposes. Workshops might offer more interaction, learning, or depth, while keynotes often give broader visibility. Similarly, unpaid gigs aren’t always “bad”—they can offer exposure, networking, or content. But you need criteria (audience, promotion, platform) to decide whether the cost in time/energy is worth it.
- Maximize What Each Event Gives You
Treat speaking engagements not just as “one‑off gigs” but as opportunities. Get professional photos/videos, leverage them for marketing, build relationships with other attendees/speakers, and ensure organizers promote you well. These extras amplify the value of the speaking moments.
LINKS TO RESOURCES MENTIONED IN TODAY’S EPISODE
Connect with Lauren on Instagram, Linkedin, Website
Freebie:
Connect with Teresa on Website, (Grow, Launch, Sell), Sign up to Teresa’s email list, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook
Transcript
Teresa: Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Your Dream Business podcast. I am, Teresa Heath-Wareing your host as always, and this week we have an interview and we’re actually talking about. Something that was [00:01:00] so good. Well, every interview I have is so good. Like, I dunno why I just said that, but this, this is like a subject very close to my heart.
We’re talking about speaking. Now. If you are not a speaker and you don’t want to be a speaker, you might be thinking, well, this episode’s not gonna work for me. This, you know, this is not gonna be what I need to listen to. But the conversation that we had was so good and included so much that basically, I think people think of speaking as stood on stage.
When speaking is when we talk about us and our business and we’re connecting with people and we’re having conversations. So I think there is so much that you can take from this episode, even if you don’t wanna be a speaker. So let me tell you about who I’m chatting with. Today I’m talking with the lovely Lauren Davis.
Lauren is a marketing and brand consultant that helps speakers and entrepreneurs establish a memorable personal brand resulting in Magnetic, easy for me to say engagement and lifelong clients. Lauren and I met because we were both doing sessions at Atomicon and I instantly [00:02:00] loved what she was saying and I instantly loved her take on things and.
We actually talked, even though she has a lot of stuff to do with personal branding and becoming a personal brand. We use this entire conversation to talk about speaking because it’s something that a Lauren helps with. Lauren helps speakers. Lauren is a speaker, and I just loved talking about it and talking about what it really is because people think that, well, there’s so many misconceptions with speaking.
People think a, you make a load of money from speaking. That is not always the case. And sometimes isn’t the case. People think that when they speak, they want to get on the big massive stages. They don’t wanna start small. I started very small and also they think they wanna be the next Mel Robbins or the next keynote, inspirational motivational speaker, and we talk about.
So much good stuff in this episode about what it really is [00:03:00] like to be a speaker, what it can really do for your business. And like I said, even if you’re not planning on being a speaker, I think it’s definitely worth listening to this episode with Lauren. We chat about how you prep for speaking. We talk about different ways in which the way I prep, which is.
Very different to the way other people prep. We talk about do you still get nervous and what that means, and if that’s a good or a bad thing. And then we talk about what’s the difference between a keynote talk and a workshop or a strategy style talk. And like I said, it’s one better than the other. Then how you decide whether you want to speak somewhere or if someone asks you to speak whether it’s worth being paid or not.
She has a really good framework with some things that made me think so hard about this, and it was genius. Some of the stuff that she said about some of the questions you should be asking yourself or some of the things you should be looking at. When you decide whether to speak somewhere and [00:04:00] also if there’s a budget or not a budget, because some places will not pay you.
And we talk about this and how do you know whether you should speak for free or not speak for free. And she has a really great framework for this, which she’s gonna take you through. So like I said, whether you wanna speak or not, Lauren is just the nicest person anyway. And like I said, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in person, having lots of conversations with her.
I’ve been on Lauren’s podcast as well. I just think this is a really cool conversation. Um, but if you do wanna speak or if you are a speaker and you wanna know more about it or you’ve started, then this is definitely, definitely gonna give you so much value. So, without further ado, here is the very lovely Lauren.
Lauren, welcome to the podcast.
Lauren: I am so happy we are finally doing this podcast. We have, we met one year ago today. No one needs to know, know when this is, but
Teresa: no, we met
Lauren: a year ago today, and we’ve been planning this podcast episode ever since.
Teresa: Literally, and it was like. You had to change. I had to change.
You had to change. I had to change. And it was like we finally get to the point where it’s like, [00:05:00] yes, we’re on the call. So we just had a really lovely catch up. So we’ve already been chatting for about half an hour, which I love. I know. And, and at some point we were like, no, we probably should get on with recording the interview next.
So, but I am. So happy to have you on because we actually met at the at Atomic on in 2024. Where are we now? 25. Because you were doing, we both did a fringe event for Andrew and Pete to run Atomic on. Yes. And you were doing an event at the same time as me. And that was the first time we met. And then we went to the speaker dinner and we just hit it off and it was awesome.
And. I’m really excited and I dunno whether I’m really excited to talk about this today’s subject because I literally have just come off the back of coming back from Atomic Con 2025, which is where my voice sounds a little bit. ’cause it’s a lot, right? Like you’ve been to the event, it’s a big event.
There’s a a lot of people, it’s a lot of fun. But boy is it exhausting. So, so I’m really excited that it’s kind of strange that. That’s how we met, and it’s a year later, but, and the subject we’re talking about. So what we’re talking [00:06:00] about is being a speaker. So, yes. What I wanna start with is why should someone even consider being a speaker?
If they are an online business owner, course creator, coach, membership owner, what? Why should they even consider it?
Lauren: Oh, I love speaking as a visibility tool, and I know you talk all about visibility. Mm-hmm. But it is such a powerful way. To show people your personality. It’s a powerful way to book your next speaking gig.
It’s a, it’s a powerful way to bring people in at the top of your funnel. You know, if we’re talking in marketing language, right? But if we’re talking in non-marketing language, it’s just a really great way to make a whole bunch of new friends all on the same day who are just going to be your cheerleaders and encourage you and check in with what’s next and connect with you and.
It is my favorite. It’s absolutely my favorite way to become more known.
Teresa: Did you, how did you get into speaking? That’s something that people [00:07:00] ask me. I think when you get to a certain level of speaker, people wanna know the steps you took to get there. So how did you start speaking, or how did you even discover that was something you wanted to do?
Lauren: I really, I will say that I really love being a, like a workshop speaker or a facilitation speaker, and so I am not like your typical speaker whose like desire is to be a keynoter, right? Mm-hmm. That’s not really my, that’s not my big desire, my big dream. But I do love the workshop side of it. And so when I first.
Oh gosh. I realized this year I’m celebrating 15 years in business for myself, which is just Oh, wow. Absolutely bonkers. Yeah.
Teresa: That is amazing.
Lauren: Um, I knew it started in 2010. I never wrote down the date or anything, so I probably should just pick a date on the calendar and celebrate it. But in about 20 16, 20 17.
I started going to lots of conferences and meeting a lot of speakers and getting to know [00:08:00] them, and in my hometown I had started a non-for-profit for local business owners and small business owners, and I would gather them once a month to have networking events. I would speak to them. So we’d have 40 to 50 business owners show up.
I’d speak to them. I would teach them something, or I’d bring in a speaker from either slightly out of town or a speaker from our local community to talk. So I started really studying what they were doing. I started. Studying what the speakers at these conferences were doing, and I started putting together that really the essence of a speaker on stage.
What they’re really doing is building this community and building a network, and that is the same thing that local business owners need to do. So then I started going to these conferences, meeting speakers and saying like, will you come back to my. City. I live in Rockford, Illinois, which is the second biggest city in Illinois.
And I would say come, come back to Rockford, which is not necessarily a [00:09:00] major city that people go to all the time. Come to Rockford and come speak to this conference of small business owners for 250 people. And I would host these conferences. They would rival the type of conferences that were at, like these big conferences, right?
But they were all for small local business owners. So then I got really. Nerdy about how do you plan a conference? What kinds of of speakers are conference owners looking for? Like how do you book the right speaker for the right event? Because I had to make sure that these speakers, when they came in.
They weren’t expecting a bunch of marketers. They were going to be talking to small business owners. So I really got this really well-rounded education through life of planning and hosting my own conferences, speaking and hosting my own meetup events that were really professional and, and really, really cool and dynamic with so many different types of businesses in them.
And then also speaking myself as I got to know more speakers, as I got to know more personalities. [00:10:00] Having them say, Hey, can you come speak to us about. About this organization that you run or about your personal branding and marketing business or mm-hmm. About the record store that I used to own, you know, like building a legendary local business.
They started asking me to kind of talk about these things and that’s really how I sell into the speaking orbit, I would say. Mm-hmm. Because it was, it was not just one thing. It wasn’t just like, oh, here, let me have a chance to get on stage, or I didn’t apply for one. Yeah. One speaking gig and then I got on stage.
It was just, um, a whole bunch of different universes coming together to put me in the right place at the right time.
Teresa: Okay. I love it. So there’s a few things that you brought up that I wanna touch on. Yes. So, first thing I wanna ask, which I think lots of people are going to wander about is do you get nervous?
And how do you get over that nerves thing? Because I think when you, if you are not a speaker. And even if you want to be, I mean, some people just straight up don’t wanna be, and if they don’t wanna be absolutely fine, [00:11:00] great. I think if you are listening to this and you don’t wanna be a speaker, I don’t think this is gonna be an episode that you think, oh well this is a waste of time.
Because I think what you’re doing as a speaker is you’re making those connections. You are presenting yourself, you’re doing all these things. So I think you’re definitely still gonna get stuff from it. But I think the nervous thing or the, I would be too scared. So does that ever bother you? Have you ever had that to, to worry about?
Lauren: Oh my goodness, yes. Every time. No, I will, I’ll say that. I know that, you know, we, we’ve heard the statistic a lot. Like speaking is one of the number one fears. Mm-hmm. Like, aside from dying or something like, I don’t know what the real statistic is, but it’s, it’s pretty high up there. I, I’m here to tell you that I’ve spoken like maybe a hundred times and I never not get nervous.
That is very true. I always shake a little in the beginning. I always have that nervous moment. It does get better with practice and when you know your material front and back and you have, you have [00:12:00] practiced it, don’t I procrastinators unite out there? I understand. I am A DHD. It’s so easy to procrastinate till the last minute, but you have to.
That will help you. Okay. It’s not just mindset stuff. Rehearsing really, really helps. And then the second thing is I always take a second, go in the the bathroom or wherever if I have micd up and make sure you turn the mic off. Yeah,
Teresa: yeah. Sat in the bathroom and then you, and then I go in
Lauren: there and I start and I try to.
Imagine and visualize how people will feel after I give the talk. Mm-hmm. So I visualize the impact that I might make if I do a good job. If I help people, what will they walk away with? What kind of action will they ha will they take after my talk? Like how will it affect them? Will they come up to me and they’ll say like, oh, that was so good.
Thank you so much for helping me with this. That really helped. So I start to try to imagine the impact it’ll make. And I also tell myself if I can walk away from this event [00:13:00] helping, you know, at least half the room feel like they can do something that they couldn’t do before, that is 100% worth it to me.
Teresa: Yeah, totally. So one thing you just said, and then I’m gonna go back to another thing you said previously that I wanna touch up. Yes. You talked about practicing. So Andrew and Pete, who obviously we both know ’cause of Atomic on.
Lauren: Yeah.
Teresa: Andrew said to me, me a few days before the event, how’s your rehearsing going?
And I was like. Rehearsing Andrew, do you not know me right, because I now, it’s not that I don’t practice, I do, but my practicing looks different maybe to someone else’s. So I remember, I dunno if you know Mike Morrison. So he’s has a company called Membership Geeks. And when he talks, and we had a conversation, Mike and I, about this, and basically when he speaks, he writes a script, a full proper script.
He then reads the script verbatim, records himself. Listens to it as he sleeps and he delivers it verbatim. What like, I mean, [00:14:00] your face, Lauren says it all, but like literally that I could not do. If I can practice like that slide come next, that I’ll probably talk about that at this point. Then we move into this bit.
So practice can look so different, can’t it? ’cause I would do that whereas Mike is literally doing it verbatim. So is yours more like on my side or Mike’s side?
Lauren: Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, mine is more on your side for sure. So actually, you know what? It’s really interesting. I’m a little bit of both. So I generally script out most of my talk and, and then I kind of put that script inside the notes of my slides.
So that way if I need a little reminder, I can kind of, as I’m rehearsing, I can look at the notes of my slides. Mm-hmm. I have another speaker that I work with a lot who prints out the slides, prints, you know, with a printer, and then writes bullet points underneath each slide for them to remember, because writing it down physically helps them [00:15:00] remember what they want to talk about on that slide and remembers the story that they wanna talk about.
What I do think is worth memorizing word for word verbatim, if possible, is your opening story.
Teresa: Yes.
Lauren: And, and your introduction to yourself within your own talk. Because even if someone introduces you, even, there is a moment where you need to at least set the stage of who you are and why you’re here to talk to them today.
Mm-hmm. You need to have those two things memorized and then you need to have your ending story. Memorized or your, your closeup, your wrap up. It’s kind of like when you see a standup comedian mm-hmm. And they tell that opening joke that’s so wildly funny. But then at the end, they kind of come back to it and they say something that wraps it up with that.
Hint from the first part of the story and you’re like, okay, that was the end. That was perfect. It’s just like that.
Teresa: Yeah. And you are so right. If the bits that I focus on the most is [00:16:00] not 90% of it, it is literally the 5% at the beginning of the 5% at the end. Because once I get into it. I am fine. Like Right, and exactly what you said, which is something else I, I wanna touch on now, but like, you know, when you know your stuff, I am, and, and it’s not even verbatim know your stuff, but you know, if someone came to you and said.
And asked your question about the thing that you are, you know, teaching or known for or whatever, you know, that you could sit and have a conversation and tell them about the thing. Totally. So that’s what we’re doing. So I wanna touch on something that you said, which I think when people think of speakers, they don’t think of, they’re not thinking of this.
You said that you like being a workshop speaker, right? I do. Now I love a keynote, however. I am naturally more of a workshop speaker. I am naturally better at giving them like. Not even necessarily in a, always in a workshop style, but I am [00:17:00] good at like, here’s the strategy, here’s the steps, here’s the thing.
Whereas I see a keynote speaker, like a real keynote speaker like Drew Davis or Anne Ley, or who else was I just thinking of Then like Jasmine Star, like they are very good at storytelling and the whole thing is a story woven almost like a, a. Comedian, isn’t it? So, yeah, I think that’s an important distinction to make that just because you’re a speaker doesn’t mean, ’cause I do think people try and be that motivational male robin speaker, don’t they?
Lauren: They do, yes. And some people really desire to have that, you know, I’m working with a speaker right now like that is, that has always been the goal. They, they started as a more tactical speaker and they’ve always hoped to move into being the keynote on a large stage. And that is special for that person.
That doesn’t have to be your goal, you know? And, and I think you are actually a really tactical speaker, which, and, but you do really well on a stage too. [00:18:00] And I, the thing that I. On a big stage where you’re not doing like back and forth questions with the audience mm-hmm. And you’re not having them workshop things, right?
Yeah. But I, and I haven’t seen you speak in workshop format, but I’m positive that you’re amazing at it. So, but I think for me, the, the love that I have for workshopping and facilitating is that my personality lends itself well to being like, integrated into. Into what people are doing, and I love having people work together.
I think that community is such a huge piece of my life. It’s, and it’s really, it’s one of my core values is like connecting people to each other. And so I love the impact that is made around a facilitation table or a workshop table. When you’re not only working on your own thing mm-hmm. But you’re also being able to siphon information and advice and like just encouragement and love from the people around you that you didn’t even know before that moment.
Yeah. And [00:19:00] then you become friends with them and stay friends with them for the rest of time and, and then you go on to be on each other’s podcasts and then you mm-hmm. And I just think like that kind of stuff is part of my core values, and that’s why I love. Workshopping and, and more of those like tactical talks where I am more in a more intimate level with people, and that is because I like it, you know?
Mm-hmm. And I, I do think that sometimes people get lost in this perception versus reality thing where they think like, the only important speakers are speakers be up on stages, right? Yes. On the speakers up inside the, when some people. When it’s okay to prefer the other way around. Yeah. And there’s plenty of people who get paid big, big bucks for being leading facilitation and leading small groups and doing workshops.
So don’t let, don’t let what someone else says, you know, or like the perception of what you think is more famous, less famous, more cool, less cool. [00:20:00] Become your reality. Do what you like to do and do what you feel comfortable What? What helps you bring out your care core values of yourself?
Teresa: I’m so glad you said that because one of the things that people think is they want to be the keynote, they wanna be the headline, they wanna be the, and normally those people are the storytellers, the motivators, the but, but also it’s a whole different set of tools doing that kind of thing over doing a workshop.
So when I’m doing a workshop style thing. It’s very relaxed. It’s very like, I don’t have to worry about my timing when I speak on, so like, you know, the talk I just did for Comicon, like you have a timer and I know roughly that my talk is gonna take that amount of time, but I have to have the ability to speed it up or slow it down on stage as I’m going.
Whereas when you are doing a workshop, that pressure isn’t there. Right. Also, the pressure of like. Again, there is a skill to talking to a audience that don’t reply. [00:21:00] Like, whereas when you’re in a workshop, you’ve got that back and forth. You’ve got that conversation, you can check that people know what you’re un you are talking about.
You can check that they’ve got the understanding. So I think I’m so glad you said that and I also, that brings us so nicely onto the next point, which is about being paid to speak. Yes. I think, and then I, I’m gonna give you my little brain dump and then I’m gonna come to you. I think people want to become speakers for one of two main reasons, right?
And I am definitely the one side either. They want to make a business and income and money outta speaking and be paid to speak, and that’s the thing. Or they use speaking as a tool to get visible, to get people in their world to build the know, like, and trust to get more credibility. And that’s not necessarily what they’re being paid for, and that is where I am so paid versus not paid.
Kick us off.
Lauren: Yes. I [00:22:00] believe that speaking is just an investment. Like you’re investing time, you’re investing travel. In some cases you are investing, you know so much of yourself and your energy and your story, and so I understand when people think, you know, I should always be paid for my speaking. Right. I get, I get that that is an investment, but it can also, you can also.
Ask yourself a few questions before you take an unpaid speaking gig that could help you determine if this would be a good one for you, because not all unpaid speaking gigs are equal. Okay. We know this, we’ve both done some unha speaking gigs that have seriously impacted our businesses and in a good way, right?
Yes. So that, so I just, I always want to shy away for I, one, I want you to charge what you’re worth, but two, I want, I always wanna shy away from. The black and white concept that all unpaid speaking gigs are [00:23:00] bad and all paid speaking gigs are good. I’ve also done paid speaking gigs that were absolutely not worth my time in way.
Yeah, yeah,
Teresa: totally. It’s not,
Lauren: and I just hate the like binary thinking of like wrong or right based on that. So I run myself and I also run clients through a little bit of a framework when we’re deciding like, should you take this unpaid speaking gig? And I thought that that might be something cool to talk about with you and your audience because I’m sure some of them are thinking like, I, I got this opportunity, I want to take it, but.
Sad face. It doesn’t have a payment. Right?
Teresa: A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Okay. Okay. Let’s go through that framework. Kick us off. Where do we start?
Lauren: Yeah, so the first thing I want people to think of is the, the people and platform. Okay. So you wanna, you’re thinking about your alignment with the people and your visibility.
The first thing I would ask [00:24:00] myself is, is this audience aligned with who, what I offer? That is really important because if you’re speaking to an audience that you would not not normally speak to, that would probably not be your customers or would not be your email list subscribers or whatever, like if it’s not gonna be a warm room for you, is it worth it to be there?
That is the first thing that I would ask myself.
Teresa: A hundred percent. And I think for me that’s almost been the main difference between being paid and not being paid. Yes. So when I have been paid and now would insist on being paid is when it’s not my audience and it’s not going to turn into a potential customer down the down the road.
So, for instance, I’ve done very industry specific stuff where I am, where the industry isn’t my audience. Mm-hmm. For instance, well, atomic On is a great example. You know, they’re a great, it’s a great audience, it’s a great credibility. Like why wouldn’t I [00:25:00] want to do it? So, yeah. Love it. Yeah. So, so tell us that the, the first one again was people.
Oh, it
Lauren: was people and platform. So that in, within that same place, people and platform. I would also ask myself, can I grow my email list from this? A good thing to ask yourself is, can I convert 25 to 50% of the room onto my email list with this talk? That is huge because if you can do that, then you have the opportunity to build trust with them, and that creates community.
Teresa: Sorry, I keep stopping you because there’s like so much good stuff in here and I just wanna say how grateful I am that you just said. Can I convert 25 to 50% of the room to my email list? Okay. So people just take that in. Lauren didn’t say, can I get a hundred percent of the room to buy my thing by the end of the talk?
All we’re trying to do is convert them to our email list. Yes. And it’s not even going to be a hundred percent of the people that are in there. So help, [00:26:00] hopefully what Lauren just said there is going to help manage your expectations if and when you do go and do this. Sorry. Well, you
Lauren: can’t, ’cause you can’t sell something to someone that doesn’t trust you yet.
Right. And they might trust you a little bit more from this stock, but you’re, they’re still in that trust part of the. Of the funnel, right? They’re still in that trust like validation period where they’re saying, I need to validate the experience I’m gonna have with Theresa or with Lauren. Mm-hmm. Before buying something from her.
Even if it’s a $10 PDF, you know, they just wanna know like, are you who you say you are? Are you as likable as how I feel after watching you on stage? Are you going to encourage me? They’re in that validation stage. And then the third part of that first bucket is, can I create connection points online without pitching something?
So I, what I mean by this is, is there a way to subtly guide people to your digital spaces? Your digital houses? So your email list or like saying like, oh, feel free to take a picture of this slide. Mm-hmm. Just make sure you tag me. [00:27:00] Like things like that, you know, things that where you can subtly. Introduce ways for people to connect with you online without saying, follow me.
You know? Yes.
Teresa: Yeah.
Lauren: That if I can, if I’m allowed to do those things at a talk that, and there’s going to be a good audience and I’m gonna be able to convert 50% of the room to my email list, all of these things, right? Yeah. Then it’s a pretty good indication. I’m going to do that talk.
Teresa: Okay. So that’s kind of bucket one.
Lauren: Yes. Bucket two. Okay,
Teresa: so two
Lauren: yes is perks and promotion. So this is where I say, you know, even if it’s a, an event where you are not being paid, ask if travel is covered. Mm-hmm. Because sometimes, like even when I ran my nonprofit and I would have speakers come speak, I would try to give them a small payment.
It was nothing like what they were getting before, but I would absolutely always cover their hotel stay and their flights. So always, and we had a zero budget non-for-profit. We were working with, like, we had so little in our budget and we were still able to cover those [00:28:00] costs. So make sure that you just at least ask, and if you don’t ask, just see if that’s, see if it’s a possibility, right?
Mm-hmm. If they can travel, they can cover your travel, they can cover your hotel or your miles or whatever it might be. Another perk that I would say falls into bucket two is, am I gonna get professional photo or video? Yes. Out of this, if you can get professional photo or video, that’s gonna hugely boost your credibility.
It can help you get future gigs. It’s like that was another thing when I hosted our conferences, I was like, I can’t pay you a huge stipend, but we’re gonna give you a fully produced. Video of your talk in front of a big audience afterwards that you can use. It’s gonna be unbranded. You can use it for whatever you would like.
You can cut it up for clips or reels or do whatever you’d like with it. And we’re gonna get you some really great high quality photos of you sneak too.
Teresa: Yeah, perfect, perfect, perfect. Having
Lauren: those things, especially when you’re building your speaking career or you’re building more [00:29:00] credibility around your speaking, having photos and video is like something that almost every application will ask you for
Teresa: a hundred percent and a.
You’re so right. So travel wise, I’ve done stuff in Greece, in Cyprus, in Dubai, in the States. Like I’ve had some amazing trips that they may not have paid me to speak, or they paid me not very much to speak, but they paid for me to go and to stay and to be somewhere where maybe I hadn’t been before, which is awesome.
So I love that. And then you are so right about the. You know, again, just coming off the back of Atomic on, you know, one of the things that they do brilliantly is the quality of the photos. Yes. And the videos and the, like the room I’m in, even like the stage that I’m on, you know, it all just looks so good.
And even if, for me anyway, even if you’re thinking, well I want to be paid in the early days. [00:30:00] You need that. So you probably need to do the free stuff that gives you that, or the lower cost stuff that gives you that in order to help build you up to do the more higher paid stuff.
Lauren: Absolutely. And you, you just need those things in general, you know?
Yeah. It, it surely beats going and renting a stage just to get a few of professional photos or renting, you know, hiring a photographer. Mm-hmm. Or trying to. Stage, something like that. It’s just, yeah, and it makes you feel more authentic. It gives you confidence. You can use those photos on your social media when you’re talking about booking speaking gigs.
It can give you more validity when you’re talking about your speaking career. Just like all of those things are so priceless, you know? Yeah. And. I think that people forget how, how important those things can be, especially in the beginning.
Teresa: You know what’s also funny is quite a few years back now, someone pitched to me on the podcast and they had a really lovely site and it was really lovely done.
And it like the social media was perfect and they were like, I’m a speaker, I’m a this, I’m a this. And it just [00:31:00] so happened that my stepson, not that he often sits and watches me work or is in my office, but he just happened to be over my shoulder at the time as I was looking through and. I went to the speaker page and I was looking at the speaker page and I was looking around at the socials and he just happened to say, there’s no photos of her speaking.
And I was like, oh my God, you are right. Wow. Like, so this person was saying they’re a speaker and yet there was no evidence of any speaking gig. At all or any other, like even, ’cause I quite like it when you know it’s someone else’s stage. So you go, look, they were at that event ’cause that’s the stage or whatever.
Yeah. But literally, and, and in all truth, I didn’t have on the podcast because I thought, no, you said you are, but you are not proving to me that you are. So having those photos, these videos, like, and again, I think sometimes we think we need them on the big massive stages. I just need them generally anywhere, like, you know, yeah.
You could be speaking to a room of 30 people, you’re still a speaker. Like, so take some [00:32:00] photos. Right. Have some video. So, yeah. Awesome. Okay. Was there anything else in that bucket?
Lauren: No, I just think that’s so, but I, I think that’s really important what you just said, that you, when somebody even pitches you and says like, Hey, I wanna be on your podcast, or, Hey, I wanna come to your event, or Hey, how can we work together?
How can we collaborate or co-create something you, the first thing you do is you go check out. Yeah, if they are being authentic to what they’re saying and especially in the the year of Che, GBT, everything. Yeah. I’m sure it’s gonna get worse from here. You know, people can say anything. Yeah, they can say anything they want.
They can write anything they want and it is so helpful to actually see. Somebody doing what they say they do. Yeah. It’s another like authentic, like it’s another way to validate that you are who you say you are.
Teresa: And the other thing that I have literally just done right before I got on this episode was I was screenshotting some stories that people had posted about me, right?
So [00:33:00] I didn’t screenshot all of them. But the ones that were like really complimentary or a really good angle or a really good shot. Yeah. But again, because even if you don’t have the professional shot because the epi the got event, my brain wasn’t working, then the event hasn’t, isn’t having an amazing photographer.
Even just having that is enough. Like even having people putting you on their Instagram stories or putting you on social media going, this was awesome or they were great, or, I love this session. Yeah. That in itself is, is great as well.
Lauren: Yes, you’re speaking my language. Okay. The third bucket you asked me about is proximity and positioning.
Okay, so this is where I ask myself if I’m going to go do this event and it’s not paid, maybe I’m getting flight or something like that, but it’s not paid for the actual event. Do I have the capacity to network before and after the event? That is going to be a main thing for me because I want to be able to.
Have conversations [00:34:00] or build more trust with the people after I talk or before I talk, at least one of them.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah. Relationships
Lauren: at events often turn into collaborators. Often your next speaking gig is sitting in the seats of the speaking gig you’re doing currently. Like how, how much capacity do I have for networking?
The other thing is that I ask myself is like, does my talk actually solve a real recognizable problem for this group? Is my talk actually going to be impactful, impactful for them in a way that would make them want to take action afterwards in some way to stay connected with me? Because sometimes people want you to come speak because they know you or because they, they know that you’re giving talks, but your talk might not be right for their audience.
And so it is okay for you to say like, I just don’t know that this is a good fit. If it doesn’t feel like a good fit for you, you don’t have to take everything.
Teresa: I feel like I’m barely letting you get like a few words in and then I start talking because this is like you and I and this is obviously why we got on so well [00:35:00] when we met.
Yes. ’cause we are so on the same page because I think our ego, right? Well, I’m okay. I can’t talk for you, but my ego definitely wants to be asked to do these speaking gigs. Right. And it definitely loves the idea of a big stage with a big audience and the. The photos and the social mm-hmm. Proof that will come from it.
Yeah. However, and, and I’m so glad you brought that last point in. ’cause up until this point, rightly so, we are looking at it as to how does this benefit me if I’m not going to be paid. But that last question, that last point in in bucket three in terms of actually is this right for them? Because we’ve all been to an event where.
Like, and so I went to an event that was a business event and there was a really good speaker, and actually she was speaking about something that was really interesting and I really enjoyed the talk, but it had nothing to do with why I was there. Right, right. And it was [00:36:00] like. That was cool because you were good and I found it interesting, but it was just my own personal curiosity that found it interesting, not, oh, great.
I came away with some things that are actually gonna help me. And I think when we’re being asked, like I said, my ego goes, yes, I want to do that, but in truth. Now I am very much geared up to working with online business owners. So for me, one of the things that I’m looking at is either there are a big chunk of online business owners in the audience, or it is aimed purely to put online business owners, or I’m being paid for it because that’s the trade off, right?
So if it’s not my audience, I see that as a standalone way to make some money. So. What else did you say? Oh, proximity as well. Networking. Yeah. Can I just say as well, like, so you and I and and anyone, and we keep talking about to Kong ’cause that’s the, the talk we’ve had in common. But like Yeah. Every event I go to, I am there the whole day.[00:37:00]
Yep. Okay. And I am out and about the whole day. I don’t love it. And I get that some speakers are really high profile and they’re. Maybe quite famous, but I don’t love it when a speaker literally comes in, does their thing and leaves like leaves.
Lauren: Yeah.
Teresa: I don’t love that. Like it doesn’t feel very, I don’t know, you just can’t connect with them and that feel that sucks.
Like so this year Atomic Con, they had Ryan Dice, right? Ryan Dice is a big speaker. Like he’s a very, yeah. Like. Well respected. He’s done some huge speaking gigs. He was there all day. Wow. He, they had a sponsor called Go High Level, which I’m sure lots of people have heard of. Mm-hmm. But he was pretty much hanging around the go high level stand the entire time.
Right. And it was like, that is brilliant. I find it, I find it sad as an attendee when the speakers aren’t mixing, but as a speaker, I try really hard to get out there and have [00:38:00] conversations and be part of the event. And it’s exhausting, right? We’re not even gonna pretend it’s not. It’s very tiring. Yeah.
But that is so important. So I love all of that. Okay.
Lauren: So that’s why. So that brings up like a good point. It’s not like, do I have capacity to network? It’s what kind of capacity do I have to network before and after the event? You don’t have to do the whole day. You don’t have to be there, but you have to be there for some element of time where you are able to build trust with people and be accessible to people.
I think that that is an important key. And I will say that every successful speaker I work with, and I am, I do, I have worked with some very, very successful speakers. You know those really high paid keynote, keynote talks. They always make time to mm-hmm. Talk to people before and after the event. I can’t tell you one person who doesn’t.
Yeah. I can’t. Yeah. So it, it’s, so doesn’t matter how high profile you are, make some, do you have some level of capacity? Just a little bit even. And, and is it going to be intentional? [00:39:00] That I think is, is the, that, that helped me kind of clarify that. So thank you. I
Teresa: love it. I love it. Okay. The last
Lauren: thing that fits into bucket three is, yeah, and this is a really big one for me is am I proud to be positioned alongside the organizer or other speakers?
Teresa: Oh, that is good. So good. Okay. Explain a bit more on that.
Lauren: So sharing a stage obviously means sharing a spotlight with other folks and in this day and age, I think that. There’s a lot of opinions out there in the world and there’s a lot of beliefs and values, and I like to show up and be, I like to make sure that I’m aligned in some level with the people that I am representing on their stage.
Yes. So if it feels like it’s a mismatch for me, representative wise, as far as like, are they, are they inclusive? Do they care about other human beings? Like, these things mean a lot to me, so, and mean a lot to me in my life. So I am going [00:40:00] to make sure that, that the conferences or the events that I am representing also have those values.
Teresa: I love that there was someone who asked me to be part of a summit a while back, quite a while, back by the time someone hears this. So don’t go digging down my feet or anything. Right. But basically a million
Lauren: years ago,
Teresa: yeah. Yeah. Like it probably never happened. But as a scenario, someone asked me to be part of a summit and I said yes, and then I promoted the summit and then towards.
The, the beginning of the summit, they announced some more speakers and they announced a speaker that I do not resonate with, that doesn’t stand for the values that I stand for, that actually. I don’t think through personal experience. This is not like rumor mill. This is a direct thing that I have had with this person that their values are not aligned to mine and I don’t think is necessarily a great human being.
[00:41:00] Right? Uhhuh and I had to go. I can no longer promote it. We are so close. I will, and I’d already recorded the sessions. Everything had already been done and it’s like, I will let you put my session out. I’ll let you do all that, but I can’t nag promote this session. Or promote the summit because I am not happy.
I’m alongside that or that person is on the lineup. Mm-hmm. There are events that I won’t go to because like the values of someone doesn’t align with mine and, and again, not that I ever publicly say these things, but I think that is so important because weirdly enough, I was just having this conversation, well, I was away that there is a lot of opinions drawn about you by association.
Yes. Right. My aim is that I get on with most people, pretty much as many people as I can. I am a bit of a people pleaser. I like to be liked and, and I, you know, I don’t like cliques or anything like that, so I do have lots of different friends in lots of different places. Yeah, same, but. By association people will make an a an assumption about you.
And [00:42:00] again, with the event, like, you know, if someone says to me they’ve spoke at a certain event, that can immediately go in my head. Ah, okay. Interesting. Like, you know? Mm-hmm. So I think that is so, so important. Okay. Anything else? That framework is brilliant. Anything that we, thank you missed on that before I move on.
It’s really good. That really, really good That is, is
Lauren: that, those are the things that I, I ask myself and I also encourage my clients to ask themselves before they take an unpaid speaking gig because I think it really gives you the ability to make a super informed Yes or.
Teresa: Perfect. Okay. I have one final question, which I’m just gonna throw on you ’cause you didn’t know I was gonna ask it.
Not that by the way Lauren knew anything. I was gonna ask it because I don’t, I am not that planned or organized anymore. Where do you stand, and I dunno if this is contentious me even asking it. Where do you stand on pay to play speaking? Okay, so this is when someone says you can speak, but you have to pay me as in the event organizer.
What are your thoughts and when do you think [00:43:00] that would be worthwhile? Someone doing.
Lauren: I think that, oh gosh, what am I see? Like, I don’t, am
Teresa: I throwing, am I throwing us under the bus? Having this conversation? I think it’s important to have this conversation.
Lauren: No, I think that we should talk about this. This is, I, I, I’ll dive head first into a challenging conversation.
I don’t care. Great.
Teresa: I
Lauren: think that when it is a sponsorship, if you are a conference organizer and you are selling sponsorships. And that sponsorship includes a 15 minute talk from a, the speaker that represents whoever that sponsor is, and you work with that sponsor to create a 15 minute or a 30 minute talk that is valuable for your audience.
Very, very valuable for your audience. I think those are the situations where it’s pay to play that I feel like more aligned with. That is okay if you do the, if the conference organizer does the work to make sure it’s good for the audience. Because what I don’t [00:44:00] alike and I don’t appreciate is when people pay good money out of their own pockets to come to a conference.
And every single speaker is a sponsor.
Teresa: Yes. Yeah.
Lauren: Yeah. And then the other side of this, like sometimes there are speakers that just, it’s, there’s conferences where it is just simply. Pay to play, right? Mm-hmm. I don’t, I don’t generally encourage my clients towards those conferences because they don’t, there’s not many of them that seem like they’re going to attract the right audience or the right outcome for that speaker in the first place.
Teresa: That’s very beautifully and diplomatically put, Lauren. I love that. I agree. I think as a speaker, as someone who speaks
Lauren: mm-hmm.
Teresa: I have not, hang on, am I? Am I a hundred percent in saying this? Have I never paid to speak? I don’t think that I can recall that I have ever paid [00:45:00] someone else for me to speak on their stage.
No. And I don’t think that is something I would ever do. Not, definitely not in person. I now, I have paid to sponsor someone’s online. Events, but that was very different. ’cause that actually, that’s different. Didn’t include a speaking thing that was just a sponsor and then I applied as speaker and I got as a speaker anyway.
But I don’t know that I would ever pay to be on someone else’s stage. I think there is, and it’s not to say I don’t think people shouldn’t do it because you’ve just gotta do what you think. My concern is that as a speaker. I get picked and weirdly enough, I’ve written a post that’s going out today about why I keep getting picked to speak at Atomic on because people joke that like, do I have some dirt on the boys?
Am I like, you know, are they, am I paying them? Is it ’cause I’m their mate? And none of that is true because they are so. They are so driven to put on an amazing event. They are friends with a lot of people that have never Yeah. And [00:46:00] or have and won’t speak again at Atomic on. Mm-hmm. And it’s not because like, you know, it’s because they’re trying to put on the most amazing event ever and Right.
They’re not having me back because we are mates or because I’ve got some dirt on them. If I wasn’t good enough, and it’s really hard for me to say this without coming across as arrogant because it’s like, I’m basically saying I may. Because they keep having me back. But the truth is they wouldn’t, they just wouldn’t be kind Like they are kind, but they wouldn’t, this is their baby.
They have worked very hard to have it to be such a credible conference that they only have amazing speakers back. And when you, when, when we, you and I work really hard for our craft, where really hard to show up as a great speaker when someone is paying to get in that spot. Mm-hmm. Often. Not always, but often they are not the same caliber a speaker.
And when I have been, and I have been to quite a few different pay-to-play conferences that I’ve attended and the speakers have varied greatly. Yes. ’cause [00:47:00] there are some that are on the stage that just quite honestly, they’re not that good. Like, and I, that’s my concern. The A people will think. I can’t get a speaking gig, which is why I’m paying for it, or B, the overall quality of the event won’t be where I need it to be.
Lauren: And that, I think that’s the part that bothers me is like maybe from the conference organizer side of me, is that I know that people are relying on this event to get to learn something. Yeah. And so there is, in my opinion. You’re gonna walk a really fine line if you make your sneakers pay. You’re gonna have to really do some deep curating and to, and, and are they going to actually do that
Teresa: and policing.
Lauren: Like if someone is just paying to be there?
Yes,
Teresa: of course. And again, like in one way, there’s no judgment because as a mm-hmm. I’ve never organized an event like this, you know? Right. You have, it’s hard, like the anxiety, it’s really hard, [00:48:00] is unbelievable. So I get it. Like if someone’s saying I’m gonna give you a chunk of money to speak, you are gonna go, okay, well I probably need to think about that because that money is really gonna help in running the event.
Right? Mm-hmm. I totally get it, but. I think this is where it comes back to, you know, what you said in, in bucket three of like being proud to be positioned alongside it and the other things. Yes. And, and, and are you a good fit generally. Just because you’re paying doesn’t mean. You know, that’s a great thing to do or, yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Awesome. Lauren, thank you so much. This is so insightful. That’s good questions. Thank you. Well, thanks. ’cause you know, I don’t rehearse these podcast interviews and not that anybody will be surprised, but I just like the conversation and I think it’s really interesting to have it, especially when, when people are trying to.
Part of having a personal brand is people need to know who you are. And as a speaker, that is a really good way of people knowing who you are because the content that we can get out of every speaking gig and the length of [00:49:00] time that I can stretch this content out for is immense. It’s brilliant. So Lauren, if someone wants to find out more about you and about what you do, where do you hang out?
Where’s the place they can come and find you?
Lauren: I would love for them to hang out with me on LinkedIn or Instagram. My handle everywhere is L Davis Creative and on LinkedIn. I’m Lauren V. Davis.
Teresa: Perfect. Lauren, it’s been an absolute pleasure to finally you on. It was worth the wait, and thank you so much for joining me.
Lauren: Oh, and Teresa, I have a couple awesome free resources for speakers. Oh, cool. Yes. So maybe I can, yeah. Give you those links. I’ve got, I, I actually talked to Andrew and Pete are on this. I didn’t know you when I made this, but I, um.
Teresa: Okay. We’ll take that as an okay excuse. Okay.
Lauren: I have a document where I asked, I interviewed 20 of my speaker friends Okay.
And who are doing to all sorts of gigs from like corporate gigs to big conferences and everything in between. And I asked them what their secrets are as far [00:50:00] as getting really good speaking engagements, what makes them a good speaker, like what makes speaking like how, how they optimize their speaking career.
And I compiled them all into one document and they’re like really easy to read tips and there’s so much information in there. And so I have that for free. I will send you the link for that for this podcast.
Teresa: Please do. We’ll make sure we put that in the show notes. So wherever you’re listening to this go check out the show notes ’cause you will get that as well.
But thank you so much, Lauren. That has been amazing.
Lauren: Thank you. Talk to you soon.
