As some of the most significant events across the country are canceled or postponed until further notice, it can feel pretty tough out there if you’re dependent on income derived from public speaking engagements. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. There are several ways in which you can pivot to carry out bookings in an alternative manner or to boost your revenue potential for when the lockdown restrictions are eased over the coming months. Here are five ways to get back on track in the face of the threat to your speaking business posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

1. SPEAKERS CAN
ADAPT TO
COVID-19
5 Ways

2. As some of the most significant
events across the country are
canceled or postponed until
further notice, it can feel pretty
tough out there if you’re
dependent on income derived
from public
speaking engagements.

3. However, it’s not all doom and
gloom. There are several ways
in which you can pivot to carry
out bookings in an alternative
manner or to boost your
revenue potential for when the
lockdown restrictions are
eased over the coming months.

4. Here are five ways to get back
on track in the face of the
threat to your speaking
business posed by the
coronavirus (COVID-19)
outbreak.

5. 1 . Go Virtual
Amidst a wave of cancellations, many
event hosts have looked for alternative
ways to deliver their offering. One such
method is by taking the event online,
turning the physical into
the virtual.

6. If you have a current public
speaking engagement that may hang in the
balance, then why not look at ways you could
deliver your speech to virtual attendees in
conjunction with the efforts being made by
organizers. You may even be able to pre-
record your speech, helping your clients to
deliver an “on-demand” event.

7. While this isn’t an ideal solution, this may be
where the short-term future of public
speaking and events is headed. Thus, it makes
sense to become acquainted with the
necessary technology now, so that you can
add another string to your public
speaking bow.

8. 2. Get Social
If there’s one medium that people are
dedicating more time to thanks to being
stuck indoors most of the time, it’s social
media. That’s why this is the perfect time
to both assess your current presence and
ramp up your content output.

9. With so many eyeballs trained on cell
phones at the moment, the current
circumstances may provide the
perfect opportunity for you to get your
message out there in a way you’ve not
yet been able to.
Spend time on focusing on a social strategy
that’s going to grab an individual’s attention.
For example, what freebies can you offer
potential clients to stir up interest?

10. 3. Keep putting yourself
out there
If you’ve got a little excess slack in
your speaking schedule, or more
downtime than usual as a result of
COVID-19, then use it to your
advantage.

11. Email more prospects, submit
more proposals, and seek out
new opportunities for public
speaking.
Events that are due to take place
this fall and early next year are
still looking to fill their slots.
Furthermore, new virtual events
are springing up all the time, and
they’re all on the lookout for
experts to share their knowledge
within specific fields.

12. 4. Blog like there's
no tomorrow
Another way to attract the interest of
potential patrons is to ramp up your
inbound marketing strategies.

13. CHARLI JANE
SPEAKERS
Blogging is an excellent way to
both increase the presence of your
website within search engine
results while simultaneously
demonstrating real thought
leadership and credibility.

14. CHARLI JANE
SPEAKERS
But don’t restrict your blogging efforts to
your own website. Reach out to other
webmasters and look for opportunities to
reach new audiences with genuinely
valuable content. In many cases, you may
not even have to pay to reach those
audiences, which is excellent news if
revenues are down at the moment.

15. 5. Embrace
Podcasting
Similar to blogging, podcasting is
another great inbound marketing
technique that can land you
new public speaking engagements
during this testing period.

16. If you don’t enjoy writing out
blog posts, podcasting may
be the perfect antidote to
showcase your skills and
expertise.

17. CHARLI JANE
SPEAKERS
Once again, don’t limit yourself to a few
podcasts of your own, reach out to fellow
podcasters and enquire about guest
speaking opportunities. You’ll find that
established podcasts with loyal audiences
can have a much more significant impact
on your notoriety than guest blogging, so
don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

18. PRESENTS YOU
WITH AN
OPPORTUNITY
COVID-19

19. If you’ve seen bookings fall, or had many
engagements canceled, while it can be
concerning, this period presents you with an
opportunity you’ve likely never had before. Every
time you’ve thought, “I need to work on my blog” or
“I really need to start that podcast I’ve always
been talking about,” your public speaking schedule
has probably got in the way.

20. Now is the time to attack those projects with vigor
so that you’ve got plenty of content to release
when the bookings start to trickle back in. Not only
will these methods help you to gain new bookings
in this current quiet period, but they will also help
you to build a pipeline of speaking opportunities
for months, and potentially years, to come.

21. Remain positive!
It’s a tough period for everyone right now, but getting
down in the dumps about it isn’t going to solve
anything. As mentioned, look at this as an opportunity
as opposed to a roadblock.
Join our fantastic *free* Facebook group “Grow
Your Speaking Biz” to learn, share, grow, and get
connected today.