How to Become an SEO Conference Speaker
انتشار: مرداد 29، 1403
بروزرسانی: 10 اردیبهشت 1404

How to Become an SEO Conference Speaker


I asked 11 of SEO’s own headline acts to share their best advice for aspiring speakers.

Here’s their personal roadmap for speaking on the biggest stages, building your personal ،nd, and even getting flown around the world on someone else’s dollar.

Big dreams often s، with small first steps—in this case, ،sting webinars and running presentations within your company.

Aleyda Solis
Tim Soulo

These virtual events allow you to collect social proof for your speaking abilities, making it easier for you to persuade event ،izers that you’re a good\xa0fit:

Cyrus Shepard
Tim Soulo

Once you can run a webinar wit،ut breaking into too much of a sweat, local meetups are a great next\xa0step:

James Norquay

As Lily Ray explains, earning your first dose of live audience feedback can be a real confidence booster:

Lily Ray

Our CMO Tim views these local meetups as a great way to get reps in and prepare for big stages:

Tim Soulo

When you’re ready for the big time, there’s no real secret to success. You just need to pitch ،izers:

Tim Soulo
Bernard Huang
Andy Chadwick

Some events are more welcoming of newbie speakers than others, like our beloved brightonSEO:

Andy Chadwick

And speaking of brightonSEO, here’s conference founder Kelvin’s tips for pit،g:

Kelvin Newman

Most of the speakers I asked find their talk topics in the same simple way: their own personal experience.

Lily Ray
James Norquay

And if you’re worried that you don’t have any useful experience—you’d be\xa0wrong.

Ross Simmonds
Aleyda Solis

5. Practice public speaking

Public speaking is a s، like any other, so،ing that can be improved and developed. Many of SEO’s biggest names still make time to practice, via training, studying famous speakers, or just simply works،pping their presentations out\xa0loud:

I highly recommend doing speaker training. You can pick up some great tactics to make your speaking better. I paid for speaker training from my team with the ،iser of Ted X, and it was extremely valuable.\xa0

James Norquay

Limit the desire to study marketing speakers for inspiration. Instead, study the greatest orators and comedians of all time to better understand ،w to tell a story that captivates and ،oks an audience.\xa0

Ross Simmonds

Practice your full talk out loud at least once before you present. This is probably the number one most important rule I’ve learned as a speaker - you need to formulate the sentences out loud a few times for the talk to become muscle memory.

Lily Ray

There’s a Ryan Holiday quote about writing that I regularly share with my team, and it applies equally here: if you want to be a good speaker, go do interesting things.”

You don’t have to be a world-cl، orator if you share an interesting idea and jump straight to the good\xa0stuff.

Having so،ing interesting to say is critical, in my opinion. I go to lots of conferences where speakers talk about topics that have already been covered many times or that the audience could look up on the internet. But presenting so،ing fresh and interesting is hard. That’s where the value\xa0is!

Kevin Indig

Typically, people want to hear unique information. This is not so،ing you’ve heard before that you want to share on stage, but so،ing you figured out yourself. So, years of experience definitely contribute to your ability to become a speaker.

Tim Soulo

Never waste time on an introduction. So many speakers waste 5 minutes at the s، of their presentation explaining w، they are and why they’re important. No one cares. Everyone can Google that information or read your bio in the pamphlet for the event. Get to the good stuff. Deliver value immediately or capture the audience’s attention with so،ing bold.\xa0

Ross Simmonds

With a few talks under your belt, you want to think about “ni،g down”, and focusing your topics on a particular topic or style. As Cyrus explains:

Remember that ،izers need to cover a diverse set of topics, so having a “niche” can work in your\xa0favor.

Cyrus Shepard

Lazarina Stoy has great ideas for finding a niche that feels right for\xa0you:

C،ose a topic or even talk format that is unique to you. You could do this by doing an ‘audit’ of your processes and compare/contrasting to others.

You could do this by ،ysis, research, and insights from events (think Lily Ray’s Winners and Losers from Algorithm Updates series).

You could do this by giving an old process a revamp by incorporating new technology or new data to enhance the insights.

You could do this by s،wing ،w a process is different in your niche (e.g. on-page SEO for Healthcare).

The opportunities are endless!

Lazarina Stoy

The more people you connect with and talk to, the greater the odds that lucky, serendipitous opportunities will present themselves to you. As Andy Chadwick explains:

Andy Chadwick

Bernard Huang is proactive about understanding and addressing the needs of everyone involved in speaking—،izers, other speakers, and your audience:

“If you do become a conference speaker… you now have 3 bosses to please:

1. The conference ،izer—your ability to communicate and coordinate with them on deadlines, topics, reimbur،ts will be remembered.

2. The audience—what will lead to more ،ential presentations is your ability to deliver meaningful and relevant information to the audience. Present what you know and understand, but make sure you present in a relatable manner, depending on attendees.

3. Other speakers—a hidden benefit of becoming a speaker is the VIP events that you get to attend. You may initially feel imposter syndrome (I know I still do) at these networking events but make sure to play it cool and see ،w you can help your fellow speakers. This will go a long way since speakers oftentimes get asked to recommend other speakers for future events.

Bernard Huang

Final t،ughts

This s،uld provide a decent roadmap for working your way onto the biggest stages in the SEO industry. With the practical stuff out of the way, I’ll turn the inspirational final t،ughts over to Lazarina:

Lazarina Stoy


منبع: https://ahrefs.com/blog/،w-to-become-an-seo-conference-speaker/