How to Create Speaking Engagements

In the early years of my speaking career, I knew one way to get speaking engagements...

Bring enough value to get someone to want to pay you to be on their stage. 

And I would wait, wait, and keep waiting for opportunities.

Even though I was consistently posting on social media, growing my following, and implementing what mentors said...

It was frustrating to have only 22 opportunities to speak from 2016 to 2019. And, none of them were paid. 

When 2020 hit, it felt like the times were changing when I got to speak on my dream stage in Orlando, FL, in front of 100+ people! 

But shortly after that, the world shut down, making it hard for speakers to find opportunities to speak. 

By the Summer of 2021, I finally said screw it. I'm done waiting and ready to start creating opportunities to speak. 

So, I put together a flyer and Eventbrite page, then gave myself 3 months to sell tickets to get people to speak in front of. 

With the pandemic, it was a risky time to have events knowing the government could shut everything down at anytime. 

But I thought it would be riskier to continue waiting, so I took a shot.

My goal was 100; I ended up selling 72, and 57 people showed up that day. 

Many of those people have become my best friends and still attend my events today. 

So, I continued to focus on creating, and this year, out of my 181 speaking engagements, 96 were paid, and 85 were unpaid. 

And the funny thing is, all 96 paid gigs, except for 1, were through my events or a corporate speaker training. 

In my mind, CREATING is the best way to get OPPORTUNITIES to speak. 

So here are my two top tips if you'd like to create instead of wait...

1.) Understand Low-Ticketed Events Create Momentum for Bigger Ones 

Stop trying to focus on high-ticket events right away. If you haven't dialed in your messaging, following, and worked out the kinks with your events, you will be setting yourself up for failure. 

Many of the people I see start with high-ticketed events get overwhelmed, stressed out, and say, "This is so much harder than I thought!"

A low ticketed event (even $20) gets a cash exchange, and when people pay, they pay more attention. 

After the event, stay late and talk to your attendees to gather feedback on what they liked and what could be improved. Four years ago, Speaker School started at $100 (4 weeks, 1 hour a week). Now we charge $1,500-$2,200 for the Two-Day Speaker School Masterminds! 

If you're looking for a place to host an affordable event, Warm Heart HQ (Stamford, CT) could be a great option! 

2.) When You Collaborate, Make It a Win-Win

This past Thursday, Dave Reggina had his Book Launch Tour for 30 Lessons to Lead at Warm Heart HQ. Instead of paying the rental fee like most people would have. He decided to give me a percentage of ticket sales; this way, filling the room wasn't reliant solely on him. 

I profited 2-3x the rental fee; he was very happy with the financial return, and many of the people I got there bought a bunch more books for Holiday gifts for their family members.

Hosting successful events (turnout-wise and financially) is something I could talk about for days! 

So, if you're serious about creating more speaking engagements and want more insight on how to do so, I spend more time on this in our speaker school masterminds to help set up speakers for success.

Up next, we have...

Stamford, CT - January 23rd & 24th, 2026

Miami Beach, FL - March 20th & 21st, 2026.

If you would like more information, you can book a call with me or sign up here.