I was sitting in a hotel lobby in Dubai last
month, scrolling through my calendar for 2026. sixty-three confirmed speaking
gigs. Another dozen in negotiation. My fee higher than it's ever been.
And here's what hit me:
Not a single one of those bookings came from
cold outreach.
Not one came from a fancy marketing campaign.
Every single booking—every single one—came
because someone saw me speak, or knew someone who saw me speak.
After 25 years on the professional speaking
circuit across 70+ countries, I can tell you the uncomfortable truth: 95% of my
bookings come from someone in the audience seeing me deliver.
The other 5%? They came from people who
watched my showreel and thought, "That's exactly what we need."
Your stage performance is your real marketing.
Everything else—your website, your AI prospecting, your social media
presence—exists to get you on more stages where more people can see you work.
But here's where it gets interesting.
AI is fundamentally changing how speakers find
those stage opportunities, connect with decision-makers, and stay visible
between gigs.
The speakers who understand how to combine
exceptional stage performance with intelligent AI-powered business development?
They're booking more gigs, at higher fees,
with less effort than ever before.
Let me show you how to do both.
The
Foundation: You Must Be Brilliant on Stage (Or Nothing Else Matters)
Before we talk about AI tools, LinkedIn
strategies, or any other tactics, let's establish the non-negotiable
foundation:
You have to be genuinely good on that stage.
Not just competent. Not just "fine."
Genuinely excellent.
Because when someone in that audience thinks,
"We need this person at our next event," they're not thinking about
your LinkedIn profile or your clever email campaign.
They're thinking about how you made them feel.
How you challenged their thinking. How you gave them something they can
actually use.
I learned this watching a speaker in Singapore
who had immaculate marketing materials, a gorgeous website, and an active
social media presence.
On stage? Forgettable. Generic content
delivered with no energy. I watched three people check their phones within the
first ten minutes.
Contrast that with a speaker I saw in Manilla
who had a basic website and almost no social media presence.
On stage? Mesmerizing.
Every person in that room was leaning forward.
I counted five people taking photos of his key slides. At the end, there was a
queue of event planners waiting to talk to him.
Six months later, guess which one is booked
solid?
Your stage
performance is your product. Everything else is just packaging.
What makes a booking-worthy stage performance:
You deliver immediate value—not just
entertainment, not just inspiration, but practical insights people can apply
Monday morning.
Your content is current and relevant,
addressing issues your audience is actually facing right now.
You connect emotionally whilst backing
everything with credible data and examples.
You're adaptable, reading the room and
adjusting in real-time.
You finish strong with clear takeaways, not
generic platitudes.
Most importantly? You're authentic.
Audiences can spot manufactured personas from
three rows back.
The speakers who book consistently are the
ones who show up as themselves—just the best, most focused version of
themselves.
I've seen speakers with incredible credentials
bomb because they were performing a version of who they thought a speaker
should be. And I've seen speakers with modest backgrounds absolutely crush it
because they were genuinely, authentically present.
After you walk off that stage, people should
be thinking about your ideas, not your delivery. When they remember the message
more than the messenger, you've nailed it.
Why Your
Website and Showreel Are Non-Negotiable in 2025
Here's a scenario that plays out almost
weekly: Someone sees you speak. They're interested. They pull out their phone
during the break and search for you. What do they find?
In 2025, that moment—that immediate
post-performance Google search—is where most potential bookings live or die.
A decision-maker at a conference in Amsterdam
saw me deliver a keynote on AI and sales. Loved it. Wanted me for their
leadership summit in March.
Before approaching me, they did what every
professional does: They googled me, found my website, watched my showreel.
My website clearly showed my expertise areas,
my speaking topics, my fee range (yes, I list it), client testimonials with
logos, and contact information that didn't require jumping through hoops.
My showreel showed me working different
rooms—intimate boardrooms and massive conference halls, different topics,
different audiences, all delivering value.
She booked me before we even spoke. The
conversation was about logistics, not convincing.
Another speaker I know and was going to refer.
I thought I would call him first. I phoned the office number on his website and
received a message that this number no longer worked and I had to call his
mobile number that he rattled off so quickly I could not get it. Two calls
later I finally got it.
I called the mobile number and received
another message asking to leave my details and he would get back to me.
Funny thing, I did not refer him and never
will….
Your website must answer five questions
immediately:
What do you speak about? (Be specific.
"Leadership" isn't enough. "How mid-level managers can lead
remote teams through uncertainty using practical communication frameworks"
is specific.)
Who have you spoken for? (Recognizable logos
build instant credibility. If you don't have big names yet, be specific about
industries and audience sizes.)
What will audiences experience? (This is where
your showreel lives. More on that in a moment.)
How do I book you? (Make this ridiculously
easy. Not hidden behind "Contact Us" forms that go nowhere.)
What's your fee range? (Controversial opinion:
I list my fees. Saves everyone time. Attracts serious inquiries. Filters out
the "can you speak for free" requests.)
Your showreel is your most important sales
tool.
Not your longest keynote. Not your entire
presentation.
A tightly edited 3–5-minute compilation
showing you at your best across different contexts. ( I have 3 different
versions on YouTube, 3 minutes, 6 minutes and 18 minutes)
I recently updated my showreel and the
difference was immediate. Inquiries increased 40% in two months because
potential clients could see me work before making contact.
What makes a showreel work? Show different
audiences responding to you—laughter, heads nodding, people taking notes.
Include 2-3 of your strongest insights
delivered with energy. Demonstrate range—show both entertaining moments and
serious, practical content.
Feature client testimonials from recognizable
organizations (I have 65, take a look at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBFF5A8C8590F57B2
.
Keep it under five minutes (three minutes is
even better). End with clear contact information and your website.
Audio quality matters more than video quality.
Invest in proper sound. A well-recorded iPhone
video with great audio beats a professionally shot video with muddy sound.
Most speakers' showreels are too long, too
generic, or too self-congratulatory. Yours should answer one question:
"What would it be like to have this person speak at my event?" Make
the answer compelling.
Using AI to
Identify and Connect With Potential Bookers (Without Being a Pest)
Right, here's where AI becomes genuinely
useful for professional speakers.
Not to replace the fundamentals—your stage
performance, your showreel—but to amplify your visibility and connect with
decision-makers who need exactly what you offer.
The speaking business has always been
relationship-driven. AI doesn't change that. But it makes identifying and
nurturing those relationships dramatically more efficient.
Finding the right event planners and
decision-makers:
Traditional approach: Scroll through
conference websites, manually compile lists, send generic emails, hope for
responses. Exhausting. Ineffective. Soul-destroying.
AI-powered approach: Let technology identify
potential clients whilst you focus on content development and stage
performance.
I have 3 qualified leads landing in my inbox
every day…
Tools like EventX's AI-powered Lead Finder
access databases with over 120 million verified contacts. You can search for
event planners, corporate meeting organizers, and conference producers in your
specific industries.
The system analyzes profiles and suggests
matches based on event types, industry focus, and company size.
Seamless.AI offers real-time
verification of contact information.
Unlike static databases that are outdated
before you access them, this platform uses AI to verify phone numbers and email
addresses in real-time. The free plan gives you 50 credits to test the system
before committing.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator combined
with AI tools like ChatGPT allows you to identify decision-makers,
analyze their activity to understand their priorities, and craft personalized
outreach that actually references their specific challenges.
I've been using these tools for the past 18
months.
Here's my workflow: I identify 20 potential
clients weekly using EventX or Seamless.AI.
I research each one thoroughly on
LinkedIn—understanding their recent posts, their company's challenges, their
event history.
I use ChatGPT to draft initial outreach
messages that reference specific context about their organization, not generic
"I'm a speaker available for hire" nonsense.
The response rate? About 30-40%. That's
dramatically higher than the 2-3% I used to get with traditional cold outreach.
Frank's
Quick Tip: Don't
pitch in your first message. Offer value. I often share a recent article or
insight relevant to their industry with a note like, "Saw your post about
employee engagement challenges. Thought you might find this approach
interesting." No ask. Just value. Half the time, they respond asking about
my speaking services.
Crafting AI-assisted outreach that doesn't
sound like a robot:
The biggest mistake speakers make with AI?
Using it to generate generic messages at
scale. Event planners can spot AI-generated spam instantly. Your emails get
deleted before the second paragraph.
Instead, use AI as a research assistant and
draft creator, then heavily personalize.
Here's my process: I ask ChatGPT to analyze a
potential client's LinkedIn profile and recent company news, identify three
specific challenges relevant to my expertise, and draft a 150-word outreach
message that references these specific challenges.
Then—and this is critical—I rewrite it in my
own voice, adding personal observations that only a human could make. I send it
from my personal email, not a mass marketing platform.
The result sounds human because it is human.
AI just handled the research and created a starting point.
Staying visible between bookings:
AI tools like Opus Clip and Lumen5
can transform your keynote recordings into dozens of short video clips
optimized for social media. One 45-minute keynote can become 20+ pieces of
shareable content.
I record every keynote (with permission), then
use Opus Clip to identify the most engaging 60-90 second segments.
These become LinkedIn posts, Instagram reels,
and website content. Each clip is a mini-audition, showing potential bookers
what I deliver.
Taskade and Motion help
manage follow-up sequences.
After speaking at an event, I add every
attendee who engaged with me to a nurture sequence. Not aggressive sales
follow-up—value-adding check-ins. AI scheduling tools ensure I stay in touch
without manually tracking dozens of conversations.
The key principle: Use AI to identify
opportunities and stay organized. Use your human judgment and authentic voice
for all actual communication.
Speaking
About Topics That Actually Get You Booked in 2025-2026
Let me be blunt: You can be the world's
greatest speaker, but if you're speaking about topics nobody wants, you won't
get booked.
The speaking business rewards relevance. What
was hot two years ago is often dead today. What's emerging now will dominate
2026 bookings.
After conversations with dozens of event
planners, speakers' bureaus, and fellow speakers across six continents, here's
what's getting booked right now:
1. AI and Technology (But Make It Practical)
AI is the number one requested keynote topic
for 2025-2026.
But here's the catch: Event planners don't
want theoretical discussions about AI's potential (every man and his dog is suddenly
an AI speaker and most are very weak, actually getting their speech written by
AI, so obvious.)
If your AI content sounds like something
ChatGPT could have written, you're in trouble. Bring industry-specific
examples, real implementation stories, and practical frameworks.
They want speakers who can explain how their
specific audience—whether that's financial advisors, healthcare administrators,
or manufacturing executives—can actually use AI starting Monday morning.
Tech-focused speakers are being booked early,
especially those who can speak in plain language to both executives and
non-technical teams.
2. Human Connection and Relationships (The
Counterbalance)
While AI dominates half the requests, the
other half are specifically about human connection. Event planners are looking
for speakers who explore how to create meaningful bonds at work and in life
whilst technology accelerates around us.
Audiences are resonating with keynotes about
presence, authentic relationship-building, and emotional intelligence in an
increasingly digital world.
This isn't soft skills fluff—it's strategic
capability development for organizations where remote work and AI tools are
creating connection deficits.
3. Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Resilience
Wellness is no longer optional. In 2025-2026,
meeting planners are bringing these conversations centre stage.
But it's not just about yoga and
meditation—it's about resilience, mental clarity, stress management, and
sustainable performance.
Speakers who can address wellbeing with both
data and heart are getting booked. Organizations want practical frameworks for
reducing burnout whilst maintaining high performance.
4. Leadership in Uncertainty and Change
With technology, geopolitics, and market
conditions all in flux, organizations are looking for speakers who can help
leaders navigate uncertainty.
The keynotes that work blend personal stories
with practical takeaways about decision-making, communication, and adaptive
leadership.
Generic motivation doesn't cut it. Audiences
want actionable strategies they can use immediately.
5. Purpose, ESG, and Values-Driven Leadership
Corporate social responsibility,
sustainability, and mission-driven leadership are no longer buzzwords—they're
guiding principles for how businesses want to show up. Speakers who can connect
purpose to performance are getting serious attention.
What's NOT getting booked:
Generic motivation without substance.
Recycled TED Talk content everyone's already
seen. Obvious promotional talks disguised as keynotes.
Engagement bait tactics that patronize
audiences. Content that could have been delivered in 2019 without changes.
Frank's
Quick Tip: Audit your
content quarterly. Is it addressing current challenges? Are your examples
fresh? If your keynote description hasn't changed in 18 months, you're probably
speaking about topics that are losing relevance.
The Shift
to Short-Cycle Booking (And How to Adapt)
Here's a massive shift that's caught many
speakers off-guard: Event planners are increasingly booking speakers 2-4 months
out instead of 9-12 months in advance.
The data's clear: Shorter booking windows
remained a defining characteristic of 2025 and now 2026.
Organizations are keeping their options open
longer, waiting to see how markets, technologies, and business conditions
evolve before finalizing speakers.
Why the shift? Topics become outdated faster.
Market conditions change rapidly, requiring
more flexible planning.
Budget approvals are happening later in the
cycle. Organizations want speakers who can address current issues, not what was
relevant when they started planning a year ago.
What this means for your business:
You can't rely on booking out a year in
advance anymore. You need to maintain flexibility in your calendar.
Last-minute opportunities are becoming more
common and often better-paying. You must be able to create or customize content
quickly.
I've adapted by blocking out
"available" weeks rather than hoping they fill naturally. When an
opportunity emerges 6-8 weeks out, I'm genuinely available, not scrambling to
rearrange.
The speakers who struggle with short-cycle
booking? Those who need months to prepare. If you require extensive lead time
to develop content, you'll miss opportunities.
However—and this is important—not all events
are moving to short cycles.
Strategic conferences, annual leadership
summits, and flagship corporate events are still booking 6-12 months ahead.
These are often the highest-paying gigs with
the best audiences. A global firm scheduled its 2026 leadership summit nearly a
year in advance specifically to secure their first-choice economist and build
programming around that theme.
Technology and fast-moving industries prefer
shorter booking windows to maintain topical relevance. Healthcare, finance, and
government sectors often maintain longer planning cycles.
Company-wide annual events book far in
advance. Regional sales meetings and quarterly leadership gatherings book 2-4
months out.
Adapting your strategy:
Maintain two types of content: Evergreen
frameworks that remain relevant regardless of timing, and current trend
commentary that you can deploy with 6-8 weeks notice.
Make yourself easy to book quickly. Clear
availability on your website. Simple contracting process. Pre-approved travel
arrangements.
Stay visible in the interim. Regular LinkedIn
content, newsletter, podcast appearances. When planners need someone fast, you
want to be top-of-mind.
Build relationships before opportunities
exist. The speakers getting last-minute bookings aren't unknown
quantities—they're people event planners already trust.
Beyond the
Keynote: Expanding Your Value (And Your Income)
The relationship with keynote speakers is
shifting from transactional one-off engagements to longer-term partnerships.
Organizations are seeking speakers who can contribute ongoing value beyond a
single stage appearance.
This trend creates massive opportunity for
speakers willing to expand their offerings.
Pre-event engagement:
Many event planners now expect speakers to
contribute before the event. Pre-event webinars to build anticipation, custom
video messages to promote the event, participation in planning calls to align
messaging, or surveys to understand audience challenges.
I've started offering pre-event "audience
insight" calls where I interview 8-10 participants about their challenges.
This makes my keynote dramatically more relevant whilst building anticipation.
Event planners love it because it increases registration and engagement.
Post-event follow-through:
The keynote's impact doesn't end when you
leave the stage. Post-event Q&A panels or online forums, follow-up
workshops or masterclasses, implementation guides or workbooks, and recorded
recap sessions all extend your value.
One client hired me for a 45-minute keynote
but then added a 90-minute workshop the next morning and a 30-day
implementation coaching programme for their leadership team. The keynote fee
was £15,000. The total engagement? £45,000.
Content licensing and repurposing:
Organizations want to maximize their
investment. They're negotiating rights to repurpose keynote material into
internal training modules, whitepapers and executive summaries, podcast
episodes for ongoing employee development, or video content for their learning
management systems.
I now offer three licensing tiers: Basic (they
can share my slides internally), Standard (includes recording rights and
internal distribution), and Premium (full repurposing rights including editing
and integration into their training).
The speakers thriving in 2025-2026 aren't just
delivering keynotes—they're solving ongoing challenges.
Think of yourself as a strategic resource, not
a one-time entertainment option. The event planner who books you once should be
thrilled to book you again because you delivered value far beyond your stage
time.
The Reality
About Speaker Selection in 2026: It's a Committee Decision
Here's something that's changed dramatically:
Booking a speaker is no longer a one-person decision. Most events now involve
2-5 people in the speaker selection process.
What this means practically: Your pitch needs
to appeal to multiple stakeholders with different priorities. The head of
events cares about logistics and audience experience.
The CFO cares about budget and ROI. The CEO
cares about message alignment with company values. The HR director cares about
employee engagement and retention.
When you're being considered, multiple people
are watching your showreel, reviewing your website, and evaluating your fit.
Make sure your materials address different concerns.
I explicitly address this in my speaker
packet. One section for event planners (logistics, tech requirements, what to
expect). One section for finance (ROI metrics, testimonials with measurable
outcomes). One section for executives (strategic alignment, my background and
credibility).
Also? Be easy to work with. Event planners are
seeking speakers who align with values, goals, and audience needs—not just the
flashiest resume. Responsiveness, flexibility, and professionalism during the
booking process signal how you'll be during the actual event.
Building a
Sustainable Speaking Business: The Long Game
After 25 years in this business, I can tell
you with certainty: The speakers with 20-year careers aren't the ones chasing
every gig or constantly reinventing themselves. They're the ones who master the
fundamentals and adapt intelligently to change.
Your stage performance is your real product.
Everything else supports that.
Your website and showreel are your 24/7 sales
team, working while you sleep. AI tools amplify your reach but can't replace
authentic relationship-building.
Speaking about relevant topics keeps you
bookable, but depth of expertise keeps you in demand.
The speakers I see struggling? They're focused
on tactics—the latest LinkedIn hack, the newest AI tool, the trending topic.
They're exhausting themselves chasing visibility.
The speakers I see thriving? They've built
systematic approaches to business development whilst never compromising on
stage quality. They use AI to identify opportunities and stay organized.
They maintain genuine relationships with event
planners, fellow speakers, and past clients. They continuously update their
content whilst maintaining their authentic voice.
Most importantly? They understand that this
business is built on reputation, and reputation is built one excellent keynote
at a time.
When you walk off a stage in Mumbai, Brussels,
or Vancouver, and three people immediately approach you wanting to book you for
their events? That's the business model. Everything else just increases the
frequency of those moments.
I've spent 25 years on stages across 70+
countries, helping organizations generate over £1 billion in additional
revenue. My speaking business has never been stronger, and AI tools are
absolutely part of that success—but only because they amplify fundamentals that
were already solid. If you're building your speaking career or looking to take
it to the next level, let's talk. Visit frankfurness.com to see my showreel,
explore my topics, and get in touch. Because the best speakers aren't just
delivering content—they're creating experiences audiences will never forget.
