March 25, 2025 • 14 mins
Have you wondered how you can use LinkedIn to land dream speaking gigs? LinkedIn expert and international expert Michelle J Raymond shares her journey and practical tips.
Key moments in this episode -
00:00 Becoming a Speaker
03:14 From LinkedIn Lives to International Stages
03:57 Owning Your Niche
06:36 Beyond Expertise: Crafting Memorable Talks
08:51 Leveraging LinkedIn for Speaking Opportunities
10:37 Promoting and Networking at Events
13:50 Conclusion
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
If you're someone that dreams aboutbecoming a speaker and wants to learn
(00:03):
how to leverage LinkedIn to do thatin today's episode, I'm going to
share with you exactly how I did.
(00:26):
G'Day everyone, it is coach Michelle JRaymond, or should I say International
speaker, Michelle J Raymond thisweek, because I am still listeners
on my World Page Advocacy Tour.
As this goes live, I'll be in theUK, just about to head off to Social
Media Marketing World in San Diego.
And it's still a pinch me moment,absolutely mind blowing for me that this
(00:52):
is all happening and it is just the best.
For some of you that are listening tothe podcast, you might be thinking,
there is no way on earth that I am evergoing to become a speaker and I say
don't switch off just yet, because if Irewind the clock, just a couple of years,
I was sitting down having lunch withmy business mentor and she said to me,
(01:14):
Michelle, why don't you become a speaker.
Have you ever considered that?
And I just laughed at her.
I nearly spat my sushi out at the time andshe said, no, you'd be really good at it.
You do your LinkedInLives, you do your podcast.
Why not on a stage?
And I was like looking ather like, is this woman nuts?
So shout out to her for encouraging meand planting that seed back that long ago.
(01:36):
But it really wasn't somethingthat I ever imagined for myself.
So even if you're not there right now.
Listen into this because I think there'slots that people can learn anyway,
whether you want to become a speaker.
Maybe you just want to appear as aguest on other people's podcasts, or
maybe you're just curious, like whythe heck do I do this kind of thing?
No matter what, there's going to besomething in this episode for everybody.
(02:00):
So before I go into how I gothere, let's hear a quick word from
our podcast sponsors, Metricool.
(03:14):
Let's talk about how LinkedIn opened upthe world of international speaking for
me, and it is something that startedlong before I ever got the first invite.
It is something that I didn't realiseit at the time, but every comment, every
post, every update to my Company Page ormy LinkedIn profile was all doing the work
(03:37):
bit by bit, building my personal brand.
And that is where I started buildingthe credibility, you know, that
was almost five years ago now.
And it's crazy to think that all thoselittle posts one by one, which at the
time, some days they perform well,some days they performed rubbish.
If I go back and have a look at how Iended up here, the number one thing,
(04:04):
which I think everybody needs regardless,whether you're a speaker or just creating
content and trying to grow a business onLinkedIn is you have to have a niche or an
area of expertise that you own that space.
Like you're the go to, no questions asked.
Whenever that topic comes up,people in their brains just
(04:25):
go Company Pages, Michelle.
For you, what do they go to in their mind?
Now, if you have lots and lotsof different things that you're
good at, I see you, I hear you, Ifeel you, I was exactly the same.
And so in the beginning, I used to thinkCompany Pages being my niche was something
that boxed me in and how would I evershare all of my amazing other knowledge
(04:48):
that I brought to the table with people.
And there were times whenI gave up on Company Pages.
I was like, this is crazy.
There's so many other thingsthat I can help people with.
And so I spat my dummy, not going to liebecause let's be clear at the time Company
Pages or maybe even still now, are neverthe cool topic at a dinner party, but
ultimately what happened was I realisedthat was the thing that I was known for.
(05:11):
That was the thing that made me standout amongst all the other fabulous
LinkedIn trainers around the world.
That was my thing.
That was the immediate, obvious thing thatif someone posted about Company Pages,
they said, go and speak to Michelle.
And so that was something thatI didn't realise how powerful
that was at the beginning.
(05:31):
So if this message resonates with you,if you think, yeah, people know me
for this one thing, but I'm so goodat all of these other things, or right
now you're trying to figure out whatyour thing is, it is worth the effort.
Finding your thing.
Whatever it is, and however youcome across in your own way is
so critical because it's goingto come out in your content.
(05:53):
It's going to come out inthe conversations you have.
It's going to come out inthe community that you build.
And all of these things aregoing to highlight you as the
obvious choice for event planners.
Cause if you think about it from theperspective of an event planner, they
have a billion LinkedIn members, peoplethat aren't on LinkedIn, they listen to
(06:14):
podcasts, they might be over on YouTube.
They are on the hunt to tryand find the right person.
And normally they've got a listof topics and they're looking
for people to fill those spots.
So you have to pick your spot, own it,and just be the best of the best at it.
(06:36):
Let's say you've nailed down your niche.
What else are eventorganisers looking for?
And the thing is, it's more thanjust being a subject matter expert.
And I think the thing that has beenhardest for me to, reframe how I
think about things is to becomea speaker, it is more than just
(06:56):
a how to or a training session.
You have to come up with ways thatyou can share valuable insights and
whether that's frameworks or haveinsights into industry challenges.
Maybe you've done your own research.
Having something unique andinteresting as a way of speaking
about that topic is equally important.
And I find coming up withframeworks and playbooks and
(07:19):
things like that extremely hard.
My brain just says, why can't Ijust say this, that, or the other?
And the reason I can't is because I needto make sure it's memorable for other
people so that after they leave the eventthat they still can think in their minds.
What did Michelle talk about?
What could I take awayand what can I implement?
That's really where I'm coming fromwhen I'm planning out these talks.
(07:40):
So having these insights is really good.
I think also being able to speakfrom real life experiences.
So not just something you read in a book,but how does it play out in everyday life?
So for Social Media MarketingWorld, I know that that audience
is predominantly marketers.
It's roughly split 50 50between B2B and B2C marketers.
(08:01):
I know the age group, I know the senioritylevels, like I've got all the insights
in who attends and I need to be able torelate to them and tell them why what
I'm talking about makes a differenceand helps them achieve their goals.
So when I'm coming up with my frameworksfor what I'm talking about, you
really have to plan for that audience.
(08:22):
So when you understand your audienceand you understand the type of
event that the planners are puttingon, then you can put forward a
proposal to say, I talk about this.
This is how it helps your particularaudience be better at what they do.
When you help these event organiserstick both boxes, yes, you know your
stuff and yes, it's going to makea difference to their audience.
(08:44):
You become the no brainer choice.
Let's talk about the actual thingsthat you can do on LinkedIn to
really highlight your experience andexpertise to these event planners
so that they know you're a speaker.
They know what topic you're talking on.
(09:04):
They can get a sense of yourenergy, your presentation styles.
And this is really where the powerof video comes into LinkedIn,
whether it's short form, whetherit's long form, whether it's
LinkedIn lives, it doesn't matter.
But you can't just be words on a page.
People want to see you in action.
They want to see theenergy that you bring.
Do you have big hands?
(09:25):
Are you big energy?
You know, It can be all kinds ofdifferent things that they're looking for.
But at the end of the day, if you don'tput some kind of video content out
there so that they can see you, thenyou have really diminished your chances
of ever getting that speaking gig.
I think the only other chance you mayhave is maybe if you're a really well
published author, you might get a lookin, but still you have to give them
(09:50):
confidence that you're the right choice.
So for me, video content is a must have.
The other thing that's a must haveis an updated LinkedIn profile.
Do you make it clear to the peoplethat visit your profile what you do?
Are they clear who you do it for?
Are they clear that you are a speaker?
So if you go to my LinkedIn profile rightnow and look at my banner, for instance,
(10:11):
you're going to notice that there's lotsof pictures of me on stages because I
want people to know that's something thatI'm interested in, that I love talking,
I love presenting, and that's somethingthat I want them to associate with me.
So from that perspective, makesure that your LinkedIn profile
also makes it super obvious.
(10:37):
What else have I been doing tomake sure that not only do I
land these speaking gigs, but Iget invited back a second time.
And I think the thing that I do probablymore than most speakers, actually, I
reckon I'm one of the best that does it.
I'm going to throw it out there.
I'm just going to back myself.
One of the things that I do is Ihelp them promote before, during,
(10:59):
and after the event to my community.
And I've got a significant communityaround the world and I do my
part to help them promote it.
I'm doing my part to make sure thatthey are getting tickets sold up front.
That there is a sense of FOMOcreated while we're there.
I do lots of networkingwhile I'm at the events.
(11:19):
I'm not aloof and unapproachable.
So if you are at one of these eventsand you see me, please come and
say hi, I promise I won't bite.
That makes me laugh because itmakes me think the first time I went
to Social Media Marketing World.
And as I was walking down theaisles of the conference centre
and they're huge and I'm by myselfand I'm like a deer in headlights.
(11:41):
And people would walk past andgive me a side glance up and
down and then keep walking.
And then I'd turn and lookover my shoulder and they
were doing the same thing.
And I was like, what is wrong with me?
Have I got like something on my shirt?
Have I stood in something?
Have I got toilet paper somewhere?
And what it turns out is alot of people recognise me.
I didn't recognise them becauseI hadn't seen them before.
(12:03):
Maybe they're podcast listeners,and I don't know what you look like.
And so they knew who I was andI didn't know who they were.
And it was such an uncomfortable feeling.
So my request is if yousee me, please say hello.
I won't bite.
But anyway, I digress listeners, but Ihope you know, you can understand that
when you're at these events as a speaker,the thing that you can really do to
(12:26):
help those event organisers is Make surethat the people that are attending, the
ones that make it possible for you tobe there, you make yourself available
to have conversations with them andit just makes the world of difference.
The other thing that I think they cando is afterwards, like just because
the event's finished doesn't meanyou need to stop talking about it.
(12:47):
It's not just the photos on the stage.
What was it like for thepeople that missed out?
Because a lot of these eventorganisers have tickets for sale for
the next year's event immediately.
So encourage people to purchase them,create more photos, create more content
that you can share that encourages otherpeople who may not have been able to
(13:08):
attend that event come to the next one.
And, hopefully you get invited back.
I am so excited and gratefulthat I am coming back to
Social Media Marketing World.
And I'm also going back to Denmark forthe Linked Summit, which I can't wait
to do both of these events as well.
So it won't be long now forSocial Media Marketing World.
I'm almost there as this goesto air, but I hope this has
(13:30):
helped people like ultimatelychoose your topic, stay on topic.
Be unique and have your ownway about talking about it.
And then ultimately create insights andframeworks or playbooks around that, that
then can translate well to an audienceand practice, practice, practice.
This is the thing that I'm going to bedoing more and more of is learning how
(13:54):
can I perfect what I do on a stage?
No different to whatI do for this podcast.
So listeners, as we wrap this oneup today, I hope that I do get to
bump into some of you in the aislesaround some of these events, because
absolutely, it just makes my day.
So until next week, cheers.
If you're someone that dreams aboutbecoming a speaker and wants to learn
(00:03):
how to leverage LinkedIn to do thatin today's episode, I'm going to
share with you exactly how I did.
(00:26):
G'Day everyone, it is coach Michelle JRaymond, or should I say International
speaker, Michelle J Raymond thisweek, because I am still listeners
on my World Page Advocacy Tour.
As this goes live, I'll be in theUK, just about to head off to Social
Media Marketing World in San Diego.
And it's still a pinch me moment,absolutely mind blowing for me that this
(00:52):
is all happening and it is just the best.
For some of you that are listening tothe podcast, you might be thinking,
there is no way on earth that I am evergoing to become a speaker and I say
don't switch off just yet, because if Irewind the clock, just a couple of years,
I was sitting down having lunch withmy business mentor and she said to me,
(01:14):
Michelle, why don't you become a speaker.
Have you ever considered that?
And I just laughed at her.
I nearly spat my sushi out at the time andshe said, no, you'd be really good at it.
You do your LinkedInLives, you do your podcast.
Why not on a stage?
And I was like looking ather like, is this woman nuts?
So shout out to her for encouraging meand planting that seed back that long ago.
(01:36):
But it really wasn't somethingthat I ever imagined for myself.
So even if you're not there right now.
Listen into this because I think there'slots that people can learn anyway,
whether you want to become a speaker.
Maybe you just want to appear as aguest on other people's podcasts, or
maybe you're just curious, like whythe heck do I do this kind of thing?
No matter what, there's going to besomething in this episode for everybody.
(02:00):
So before I go into how I gothere, let's hear a quick word from
our podcast sponsors, Metricool.
(03:14):
Let's talk about how LinkedIn opened upthe world of international speaking for
me, and it is something that startedlong before I ever got the first invite.
It is something that I didn't realiseit at the time, but every comment, every
post, every update to my Company Page ormy LinkedIn profile was all doing the work
(03:37):
bit by bit, building my personal brand.
And that is where I started buildingthe credibility, you know, that
was almost five years ago now.
And it's crazy to think that all thoselittle posts one by one, which at the
time, some days they perform well,some days they performed rubbish.
If I go back and have a look at how Iended up here, the number one thing,
(04:04):
which I think everybody needs regardless,whether you're a speaker or just creating
content and trying to grow a business onLinkedIn is you have to have a niche or an
area of expertise that you own that space.
Like you're the go to, no questions asked.
Whenever that topic comes up,people in their brains just
(04:25):
go Company Pages, Michelle.
For you, what do they go to in their mind?
Now, if you have lots and lotsof different things that you're
good at, I see you, I hear you, Ifeel you, I was exactly the same.
And so in the beginning, I used to thinkCompany Pages being my niche was something
that boxed me in and how would I evershare all of my amazing other knowledge
(04:48):
that I brought to the table with people.
And there were times whenI gave up on Company Pages.
I was like, this is crazy.
There's so many other thingsthat I can help people with.
And so I spat my dummy, not going to liebecause let's be clear at the time Company
Pages or maybe even still now, are neverthe cool topic at a dinner party, but
ultimately what happened was I realisedthat was the thing that I was known for.
(05:11):
That was the thing that made me standout amongst all the other fabulous
LinkedIn trainers around the world.
That was my thing.
That was the immediate, obvious thing thatif someone posted about Company Pages,
they said, go and speak to Michelle.
And so that was something thatI didn't realise how powerful
that was at the beginning.
(05:31):
So if this message resonates with you,if you think, yeah, people know me
for this one thing, but I'm so goodat all of these other things, or right
now you're trying to figure out whatyour thing is, it is worth the effort.
Finding your thing.
Whatever it is, and however youcome across in your own way is
so critical because it's goingto come out in your content.
(05:53):
It's going to come out inthe conversations you have.
It's going to come out inthe community that you build.
And all of these things aregoing to highlight you as the
obvious choice for event planners.
Cause if you think about it from theperspective of an event planner, they
have a billion LinkedIn members, peoplethat aren't on LinkedIn, they listen to
(06:14):
podcasts, they might be over on YouTube.
They are on the hunt to tryand find the right person.
And normally they've got a listof topics and they're looking
for people to fill those spots.
So you have to pick your spot, own it,and just be the best of the best at it.
(06:36):
Let's say you've nailed down your niche.
What else are eventorganisers looking for?
And the thing is, it's more thanjust being a subject matter expert.
And I think the thing that has beenhardest for me to, reframe how I
think about things is to becomea speaker, it is more than just
(06:56):
a how to or a training session.
You have to come up with ways thatyou can share valuable insights and
whether that's frameworks or haveinsights into industry challenges.
Maybe you've done your own research.
Having something unique andinteresting as a way of speaking
about that topic is equally important.
And I find coming up withframeworks and playbooks and
(07:19):
things like that extremely hard.
My brain just says, why can't Ijust say this, that, or the other?
And the reason I can't is because I needto make sure it's memorable for other
people so that after they leave the eventthat they still can think in their minds.
What did Michelle talk about?
What could I take awayand what can I implement?
That's really where I'm coming fromwhen I'm planning out these talks.
(07:40):
So having these insights is really good.
I think also being able to speakfrom real life experiences.
So not just something you read in a book,but how does it play out in everyday life?
So for Social Media MarketingWorld, I know that that audience
is predominantly marketers.
It's roughly split 50 50between B2B and B2C marketers.
(08:01):
I know the age group, I know the senioritylevels, like I've got all the insights
in who attends and I need to be able torelate to them and tell them why what
I'm talking about makes a differenceand helps them achieve their goals.
So when I'm coming up with my frameworksfor what I'm talking about, you
really have to plan for that audience.
(08:22):
So when you understand your audienceand you understand the type of
event that the planners are puttingon, then you can put forward a
proposal to say, I talk about this.
This is how it helps your particularaudience be better at what they do.
When you help these event organiserstick both boxes, yes, you know your
stuff and yes, it's going to makea difference to their audience.
(08:44):
You become the no brainer choice.
Let's talk about the actual thingsthat you can do on LinkedIn to
really highlight your experience andexpertise to these event planners
so that they know you're a speaker.
They know what topic you're talking on.
(09:04):
They can get a sense of yourenergy, your presentation styles.
And this is really where the powerof video comes into LinkedIn,
whether it's short form, whetherit's long form, whether it's
LinkedIn lives, it doesn't matter.
But you can't just be words on a page.
People want to see you in action.
They want to see theenergy that you bring.
Do you have big hands?
(09:25):
Are you big energy?
You know, It can be all kinds ofdifferent things that they're looking for.
But at the end of the day, if you don'tput some kind of video content out
there so that they can see you, thenyou have really diminished your chances
of ever getting that speaking gig.
I think the only other chance you mayhave is maybe if you're a really well
published author, you might get a lookin, but still you have to give them
(09:50):
confidence that you're the right choice.
So for me, video content is a must have.
The other thing that's a must haveis an updated LinkedIn profile.
Do you make it clear to the peoplethat visit your profile what you do?
Are they clear who you do it for?
Are they clear that you are a speaker?
So if you go to my LinkedIn profile rightnow and look at my banner, for instance,
(10:11):
you're going to notice that there's lotsof pictures of me on stages because I
want people to know that's something thatI'm interested in, that I love talking,
I love presenting, and that's somethingthat I want them to associate with me.
So from that perspective, makesure that your LinkedIn profile
also makes it super obvious.
(10:37):
What else have I been doing tomake sure that not only do I
land these speaking gigs, but Iget invited back a second time.
And I think the thing that I do probablymore than most speakers, actually, I
reckon I'm one of the best that does it.
I'm going to throw it out there.
I'm just going to back myself.
One of the things that I do is Ihelp them promote before, during,
(10:59):
and after the event to my community.
And I've got a significant communityaround the world and I do my
part to help them promote it.
I'm doing my part to make sure thatthey are getting tickets sold up front.
That there is a sense of FOMOcreated while we're there.
I do lots of networkingwhile I'm at the events.
(11:19):
I'm not aloof and unapproachable.
So if you are at one of these eventsand you see me, please come and
say hi, I promise I won't bite.
That makes me laugh because itmakes me think the first time I went
to Social Media Marketing World.
And as I was walking down theaisles of the conference centre
and they're huge and I'm by myselfand I'm like a deer in headlights.
(11:41):
And people would walk past andgive me a side glance up and
down and then keep walking.
And then I'd turn and lookover my shoulder and they
were doing the same thing.
And I was like, what is wrong with me?
Have I got like something on my shirt?
Have I stood in something?
Have I got toilet paper somewhere?
And what it turns out is alot of people recognise me.
I didn't recognise them becauseI hadn't seen them before.
(12:03):
Maybe they're podcast listeners,and I don't know what you look like.
And so they knew who I was andI didn't know who they were.
And it was such an uncomfortable feeling.
So my request is if yousee me, please say hello.
I won't bite.
But anyway, I digress listeners, but Ihope you know, you can understand that
when you're at these events as a speaker,the thing that you can really do to
(12:26):
help those event organisers is Make surethat the people that are attending, the
ones that make it possible for you tobe there, you make yourself available
to have conversations with them andit just makes the world of difference.
The other thing that I think they cando is afterwards, like just because
the event's finished doesn't meanyou need to stop talking about it.
(12:47):
It's not just the photos on the stage.
What was it like for thepeople that missed out?
Because a lot of these eventorganisers have tickets for sale for
the next year's event immediately.
So encourage people to purchase them,create more photos, create more content
that you can share that encourages otherpeople who may not have been able to
(13:08):
attend that event come to the next one.
And, hopefully you get invited back.
I am so excited and gratefulthat I am coming back to
Social Media Marketing World.
And I'm also going back to Denmark forthe Linked Summit, which I can't wait
to do both of these events as well.
So it won't be long now forSocial Media Marketing World.
I'm almost there as this goesto air, but I hope this has
(13:30):
helped people like ultimatelychoose your topic, stay on topic.
Be unique and have your ownway about talking about it.
And then ultimately create insights andframeworks or playbooks around that, that
then can translate well to an audienceand practice, practice, practice.
This is the thing that I'm going to bedoing more and more of is learning how
(13:54):
can I perfect what I do on a stage?
No different to whatI do for this podcast.
So listeners, as we wrap this oneup today, I hope that I do get to
bump into some of you in the aislesaround some of these events, because
absolutely, it just makes my day.
So until next week, cheers.
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