Landing The GIG

What makes a speaker memorable long after they leave the stage? For Brigitte Lessard, founder of Women Talk, it starts with something every speaker already has: a story. Brigitte joins Kelly for a lively conversation about how storytelling can help speakers connect with an audience, stand apart from other speakers, and bring more personality to the stage. After hearing thousands of stories through...

How is AI changing the way event planners find and book speakers? What once felt like a threat to the speaking industry may now be changing how speakers get discovered in the first place. Kelly welcomes Lisa Condon for a timely conversation about AI, speaker visibility, and what it takes to stay bookable as the industry evolves. Lisa shares how event planners are increasingly using AI as part of t...

What actually makes a speaker bookable? According to speakers bureau founder Nicole Anderson, having a powerful message is only part of the equation. Event organizers need to quickly understand who you are, the problem you solve, and why your content is right for their audience. Nicole joins Kelly to share the booking process from the perspective of someone who works directly with speakers and org...

Are you spending too much time chasing speaking gigs instead of building the relationships that could lead you to them? Lady Jen Du Plessis has built her speaking career differently. Rather than relying on endless speaking applications, she creates opportunities through relationships, her own events, strategic partnerships, podcasts, and reciprocal stages. She and Kelly explore what speakers can d...

How do you turn your story and expertise into speaking opportunities people actually want to book? Becoming a professional speaker takes more than writing a speech about a topic you love. You also have to understand what your audience wants to hear. Kelly learned that lesson early in her speaking career when a topic she thought would resonate received almost no interest. That experience taught her...

How do you actually find speaking gigs once you’ve decided you’re ready to become a professional speaker? A great website, speaker one-sheet, and clearly defined topics may help you look ready, but the opportunities don’t simply start showing up. Kelly knows that feeling because she was there herself. When she decided to pursue a speaking career at 44, she was navigating major changes in her perso...

Welcome to Landing the Gig , the podcast for speakers who are ready to find more opportunities, get booked, and build a speaking career around their message. Join speaker and coach Kelly Woodhouse as she learns directly from professional speakers, speaker coaches, event planners, event managers, and speaker bureaus about what gets speakers hired, what gets in their way, and what it really takes to...

The fastest way to become a better, more bookable speaker may be to stop waiting for the perfect paid gig and start getting on more stages. After four decades of speaking, hosting events, selling from stage, and coaching entrepreneurs like Kelly, Ken Krell has experienced the wins, failures, technical disasters, and awkward moments that ultimately build a confident speaker. He challenges the belie...

Great content doesn't make you the obvious choice for a speaking gig. It's simply the minimum an event organizer expects you to bring. After speaking on roughly 2,000 live and virtual stages while also organizing events himself, Iman Aghay has seen the booking process from both sides. He explains why speakers need to understand the motivation behind each event before deciding how to approach it. A...

Landing the speaking gig isn't the finish line. What you do with the opportunity can determine whether you're ever invited back. As an event host who regularly hires speakers, Christine Campbell Rapin pays close attention to far more than what happens during the presentation. She looks for speakers who live what they teach, understand that the stage is a partnership, follow through on commitments,...

Being visible as a speaker and getting paid as a speaker are not the same thing. Orly Amor discovered that firsthand when she learned she was the only speaker at a major business conference receiving both a speaking fee and expenses. The reason was surprisingly simple: the other speakers hadn't asked. That experience helped Orly recognize how many talented speakers understand their message but nev...

Your personal story can make people listen, but that doesn't necessarily give an event planner a reason to book you. Anthony Trucks discovered that distinction early in his speaking career when feedback from his bureau forced him to rethink how he was using his story on stage. Instead of simply sharing what happened to him, he began identifying the message, process, and audience value underneath t...

A great speech, polished website, and professional one-sheet don't create a speaking business on their own. As a speaker agent and former large-scale event producer, Antoniette Roze has seen what separates speakers who struggle for occasional bookings from those building sustainable careers. The difference often begins with treating speaking like a real business. Antoniette breaks down the infrast...

By the time an event planner starts looking for speakers, you may already be too late to build the relationship that gets you booked. After experiencing the frustration of submitting speaker applications and hearing little back, Shannon Peel started looking at the booking process from the event planner's side. Her conclusion was simple: speakers need to get on the radar before the event is being p...

A $25,000 keynote isn't necessarily more valuable than a no-fee speaking opportunity. The audience in front of you can completely change the equation. With more than 30 years spent building platforms, speaking, publishing, and working with experts, Melanie Warner approaches speaking opportunities through the lens of return rather than simply the fee attached to them. She explains why knowing your...

Being great on stage doesn't automatically make you easy to book. Corey Poirier learned that lesson by building his own speaking career without a mentor and discovering firsthand how different delivering a great speech is from creating a successful speaking business. Drawing on those years in the trenches, he shares what he would prioritize if he had to start again today, including getting speakin...

The person who could open your next speaking door may have no idea you exist because you've never had the courage to contact them. Laban Ditchburn has turned bold outreach into a relationship-building strategy that has connected him with influential speakers, authors, coaches, and business leaders around the world. Drawing from his own experiences reaching out to people like Les Brown, he reveals...

For Marjorie Dunkey Jacobs, great speaking starts by shifting the focus from “Here's what happened to me” to “Here's why this matters to you.” She shares how vulnerability can create immediate connection, including why the story you're most reluctant to tell may hold the greatest potential to resonate, without making someone else the villain in the process. Marjorie breaks down a simple heart, con...

What if the reason you're not landing more speaking gigs isn't your marketing, your fee, or your sales strategy, but the speech itself? After more than two decades as an entertainer and professional speaker, Jason Hewlett has learned that becoming more bookable starts with becoming unforgettable on stage. He and Kelly dig into what it takes to create a presentation people immediately want to recom...

A speaker fee isn't the only way to get paid for your expertise. The right stage can create revenue before, during, and long after your presentation. With Kim Walsh Phillips bringing the marketing strategy and Justin Guarini bringing the performance side, this conversation looks at what it really takes to turn a talk into both an engaging experience and a business opportunity. Kim breaks down the...

What if your best source of speaking gigs isn't another Google search or application, but another speaker? Lisa Reid joins Kelly to share the referral strategy that has helped her avoid cold calling for speaking opportunities for nine years. She explains why speakers need to get clear on what they speak about, who they serve, and which types of engagements actually support their business, financia...

Getting paid to speak is only one way to make money from the stage. What if the bigger opportunity is getting paid from speaking? Jesse Cruz joins Kelly to challenge speakers to think beyond the speaking fee and build a business around the message they bring to the stage. He introduces his PAW method for getting clear on the problem you solve, the audience you serve, and why you speak, then explai...

Before an event planner books you, there’s a good chance they’re going to Google you. What they find can determine whether you ever get the call. Dennis Yu joins Kelly for a deep dive into building the kind of visible authority that leads to more speaking opportunities. He explains why speakers need more than a polished website, sharing how stage footage, audience reactions, books, media appearanc...

The best speaker pitches don't convince someone you're amazing. They make it obvious how your message will serve their audience. Podcast strategist Michelle Abraham joins Kelly to share why so many speakers miss opportunities by making every pitch about themselves instead of the people they're hoping to serve. She explains how researching a podcast or event before applying, personalizing every out...

The speakers who consistently get invited onto more stages aren't always the most talented. They're the ones who invest in relationships long before they ask for an opportunity. Marketing strategist and event host Ron Reich shares why networking remains one of the most valuable investments a speaker can make. Together with Kelly, he explains how authentic relationships, strong personal branding, a...