Hey guys! Welcome to Shama.TV! It is “Ask Shama” time so let’s see what we have! Today we got a question from Greg Turner and Greg says “While you might consider this out of your specialty, which is Social Media, it seems like you do a lot of public speaking which I think is a great way to get your message out there. Would you ever consider doing an article or something on your show about how to get speaking gigs? That’s something I’m working on.” Absolutely, so how do you get speaking gigs online? And I have to tell you, I give out 99% of my speaking gigs online. 1% comes from me actually speaking somewhere and of course someone else sees it and invites me to speak somewhere else, but even then they’ve mostly seen me online and they’re pretty familiar with my work. So things you can do – 1: Have a very well-established brand online. Be very clear about what you talk about, what your topics are, and the value you bring to the table. 2: It doesn’t hurt to have a hot trend or to tie that into something that’s very popular. Social Media is very popular right now and I think one of the reasons I get so many speaking engagements from social media is because the topic is hot and a lot of people are looking for knowledgeable experts on that topic. So really, pick a topic that might tie into current events or current affairs or something that you know people really want to learn about. Again, going back to my first point in terms of my expertise, make sure you have a really good solid website and a speaking page that lists the places you’ve spoken, your speaking topics, and just make it really easy for people to contact you and book you if you want. Let’s see, what else. So the third thing is that when you do speak somewhere be sure you ask them (especially if you were good and they liked you) if there are other places they know of that you might be able to speak. I know often when I speak and I just let them know that I’m available I get a lot of contacts that way because people say “Oh, you know five organizations that need this topic” so on we go! And another thing you want to do is actually let them get a taste of your work. I have Shama.TV and I talk about why web video is so powerful all the time and why people should do it, and this is another big reason, because people can see you in action. They can feel your passion; they can connect with you. So if you can create some video and put it on your website, if you’ve got a hot topic, if you continuously establish your expertise and write on those things that you are passionate about, then the speaking gigs will come and when they do, make sure that you talk to the person that invited you, you let them know that you’re available for more.