Finding Speakers 

I spent 3 years on the content creation team. We had a large email list (8+ Million) and would conduct massive email campaigns to find people who might want to speak on topics. We also reached out directly on email, and directly through linkedin.

But lets assume your email list is not filled with people who can speak on your topic. 

  1. Find people who are already speaking. 

  • Go to conference websites, identify speakers on your topics, and reach out to them over email or on linkedin. Outreach  templates here. 

  1. Find people who are subject-matter experts and ask if they want to speak. 

  • Go on linkedin or google and search for topics that people speak on, reach out to those people. 

  • Go on Amazon and identify authors on books of your topic. 

  1. Ask friends or co-workers if they know someone who can speak on this topic. This is great for a warm intro. 

  2. Connect w/ a speaker’s bureau ($$$) 


There is a 100% chance a speaker will not answer your first email, so following-up until they tell you to stop is a good idea. Templates here.  


For multi-speaker, multi-webinar events: 


Speaking Opportunity on [topic]. If you’re marketing to a large audience, be as broad as possible. If you’ve hand-selected people based on specific topics, be more narrow. 


If you’re working with a sales team, make sure to comb your list of emails: the sales team might be trying to sell a sponsorship to Apple, and if that same speaker gets a free invite for the same event, there will be friction. 


Be fair and equal with your speaker slots. If you have one BIG and Free speaker that wants to come back, and a smaller speaker who wants to come back, Make sure to establish a policy for saying “you can speak once per quarter”, etc. 


  1. Know your moderators

  2. Train your speakers

  3. Audio / video check 

  4. Make sure people register. 

    1. The point of the email should be very clear: REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR. 

    2. For this reason, Putting a time in the webinar might not be a great idea. People might opt themselves out of the webinar. So, lead with the content. If it is something they GOTTA watch, they will make time.

    3. Start promotions at least 3 weeks out. 

  5. Conversion expectations

    1. If you have 100 people sign up, you might get 30 people to show up. Of those, 1 might ask a question. 

    2. Sign-ups : Show ups : Questions = 100 : 30 : 1

    3. 100 emails might have 25 people open the email, and 1 person click to register.