Unlock paid speaking engagements with a proven personal branding system. Learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, showcase your experience, and establish credibility through your personal website to attract keynote opportunities worldwide.

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Getting Paid for Keynotes: A Proven System to Secure Speaking Engagements

Paid keynote engagements are more accessible than you might think if you apply a strategic personal branding system. Here’s a step-by-step guide to transforming your profile and positioning into a magnet for opportunities.

1. Build Your Foundation: Your Personal Brand and Hub

Your personal brand is the cornerstone of your success as a speaker. It begins with your hub—your personal website—which serves as the primary repository of your content. Showcase your expertise, past keynote topics, and testimonials to build trust.

Your website should act as the destination for your online presence, connecting all other platforms. From your website, distribute content across social media channels to create an omnipresent brand, ensuring you’re visible everywhere your audience searches.

2. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Discovery

Many companies searching for keynote speakers start with Google or LinkedIn. Ensure your profile is optimized:

• Title: Include “Keynote Speaker” in your headline.

• Experience Section: Detail past speaking engagements with event names, locations, and topics. This demonstrates experience and international credibility.

• Visual Proof: Add photos and videos of you on stage to convey professionalism and expertise.

Remember, if “Keynote Speaker” isn’t in your profile, you won’t appear in relevant searches.

3. Showcase Credibility

On your website and LinkedIn, highlight notable events or organizations you’ve spoken for. Even local or small-scale events add value, as they demonstrate experience. Include specifics like cities and countries to position yourself as a global speaker.

For those just starting, prioritize local engagements to build momentum. Over time, this foundation expands into national and international opportunities.

4. Leverage Networking and In-Person Opportunities

In addition to online optimization, in-person networking plays a crucial role. Events such as demo days, panels, or casual gatherings open doors to connections that lead to invitations. Consistent visibility builds trust and familiarity, key ingredients for securing speaking opportunities.

5. Practice and Adapt

Whether presenting online or on stage, preparation is essential. While improvisation can work, outlining your key messages ensures clarity and impact. Regularly refine your approach based on audience feedback and emerging trends.

Key Takeaways:

• A strong personal website and consistent branding on LinkedIn are essential to being discovered as a keynote speaker.

• Highlight your speaking experience clearly, including events, locations, and proof of your expertise.

• Start small, use every opportunity to build credibility, and expand into larger stages over time.

• Networking—both online and offline—opens doors to new opportunities.

Master these strategies, and you’ll transform your personal brand into a system that attracts paid speaking engagements effortlessly.

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction to Getting Paid for Keynotes

00:28 Understanding the Personal Branding System

01:29 Leveraging LinkedIn for Keynote Opportunities

02:48 Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile

05:17 Showcasing Your Keynote Experience on LinkedIn

13:02 Creating a Compelling Speaking Page on Your Website

17:02 Enhancing Credibility with Speaking Engagements

21:24 Addressing Audience Questions and Concerns

25:21 Audience Feedback and Speaker Events

27:02 Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

27:33 Building Credibility as a Speaker

28:26 Leveraging Speaking Agencies

30:25 Getting Started with Paid Speaking Engagements

31:17 Importance of Recording and Documentation

32:37 Local Opportunities and Networking

34:10 Daily Video Challenges and Practice

44:38 Crafting Engaging Video Content

47:56 Upcoming Events and Community Challenges

48:39 Conclusion and Farewell

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Getting paid for keynotes is today's topic. And as usual, I have prepared slides. So first is we go into the system. It's just something I routinely now do for everyone getting on the same page. Then we go into LinkedIn website and speaking agency. So these are three key points, or in the end, it's four points that.

Helped you getting paid speaking engagements system is the personal branding system I talk all the time about in the end It starts with the star with your personal brand then it's the hub your personal website the content that is Embedded into your website and then distributed into an omnipresent world, which is all the social media [00:01:00] and as well physically, I mean, not the content, but you physically.

And of course that is then connected to your business or in this case, it is connected to you getting speaking engagements. So everything we do is always based on the system. I just highlighted it again, and we are touching today, the distribution a little bit and specifically the hub, obviously. Let's start with basics.

So when companies are looking for keynote speakers, they're doing a couple of things. They start with Googling keynote speaker, or they start with LinkedIn. A lot of people that I have contacted or was in contact with over the last years, they said they start with LinkedIn. So what they do is they just Go to LinkedIn search and put in keynote speaker.[00:02:00] 

And funnily enough, when you have in your title, keynote speaker, you will pop up. It's so basic that I was thinking I shouldn't share it, but it's very, very, very interesting and important. So if you want to have paid keynote speeches, you need to show that you're a keynote speaker. If nobody knows that you're a keynote speaker, nobody will be able to contact you and then in the end pay you.

I guess it makes sense, but I'm just saying it. So having, having keynote speaker in, in your title and important is to understand that you're the title you can change all the time. I will go into LinkedIn after, after the next slide. So having you yourself as keynote speaker will enable other people to find you as a keynote speaker.

Then the next part of LinkedIn is having a [00:03:00] section where you show yourself as a keynote speaker. So this is a section inside of my experience, like jobs, you could, you call it as well. And what I found out is if you put all your keynotes there, people are getting into this and they see, Oh yeah, he's not a keynote speaker that is speaking once in a while.

He is an established keynote speaker. And that's of course, something that you want to create that people understand, okay, I'm This person is a keynote speaker and because this person is a keynote speaker, they're willing to pay for that as well. So let's, let's just give you the example on, on, on LinkedIn.

So I'm just getting out here and share my whole screen. Let's do this. And then we go into LinkedIn just to show you how, okay, can you see my screen and LinkedIn now?[00:04:00] 

Yes. No, I can't hear you. Yeah. Okay. Sign language always works. So what, like I said, if, if, if you're a company that is looking for a keynote speaker, you start with like your LinkedIn or Google, but Google is the next part. And what you would be doing is keynote speaker,

right? And interestingly enough, You will find people that are keynote speaker keynote speaker Somewhere is most probably keynote speaker at her profile keynote speaker if you just see all results Um, keynote speaker, keynote speaker, keynote speaker. So it's very, very simple to pop up because what I see here is now my first, second and third degree of connections.

So if you are connected to someone that is looking for a keynote speaker [00:05:00] and they're searching keynote speaker inside of LinkedIn, they can't find you if you don't put keynote speaker in your title. So go back to this. Here. If you don't have keynote speaker, you are not shown there. Then the next part, what I, what I showed on the slide, if you go down to your jobs or what is it called officially experience what I have created, and I've copied that from a well known keynote speaker, um, even more well known than I am.

Um, I have linked this, I created a job, which is called keynote speaker, very simple and added my personal website to this. I'm just adding a couple of people here and waiting in the waiting room. So I, I added this and what I did. Uh, that's, that's the part I copied. I just added all the different keynote speeches that I did into [00:06:00] this, this job part.

So that people that are going to my profile and looking for me as a keynote speaker. So what would they do? They search for keynote speaker, let's say they click on my, my profile. And then what they do is, okay, there's written keynote speaker. Then they will scroll down to. figure out what is this person about, right?

So most of the time, they will look into your experience and what kind of jobs did you do? And if what I did is I moved, um, this fairly up, even though that I'm doing that for a while already, but that it is at least fairly quickly visible that I'm a keynote speaker. And then I just added all the different keynotes and A little trick here as well, what I did is always either the company or the event where I was speaking, and then I put the city and the country.

Obviously, if you are only speaking in one country, then, then that doesn't make sense. But I want to be seen as an international keynote speaker. So I, I always edit [00:07:00] the, the city and as well the, the country. So. If you just look over this, I have done keynote speeches in Russia, in Germany, in the UK, in Spain, uh, in the US, in the Netherlands.

Again, in Germany, in Berlin, so in, in Switzerland, in Belgium, so it just shows, um, an, an, an opportunity for people to understand where you are. And then last part of this, I added my speaking page, which we go into. So you can add a link to assets that you want to highlight. I quickly show this, this may be easier.

So if you go to editing your kind of experience part, and then you go to a specific section, um, Then you can edit your experience, like this, the title of this keynote speaker, uh, with a lot of details, [00:08:00] then one part is adding your, your link here so that people can see that the other part is you can add media.

And when you press at media, you can add a link. And what I did is I was just linking this to my landing keynote speaker page on my on my website so people can directly click to my speaking page.

Frank, you have a question.

We can't hear you. so much. Just a question, James. In my case, I was, you know, it's about sustainability in Spain, in Germany, and in different events like the four years from now, and in different equipment. Do. Do this experience work as a keynote speaker? Yeah, for me, as soon as you're on [00:09:00] stage and speaking to an audience, that's for me a keynote.

And that can be in front of 20 people or 20, 000 people. Okay, uh, that's good, because I never know that I can I was driving a K Note. I was doing a lot of presentations. Yeah, but in the end, it's just a different word. Okay, and in the LinkedIn page, is that like a new job inside your company? Like a new position?

Um, okay. I got a new, I would say a new role in my company for, and after that I go over there and then I put media. Is that for the free version or is that a premium one? I think it's free. Okay. Good. Good. Um, do you link your, uh, the information from your app into the LinkedIn link? Okay, good. That [00:10:00] was my question.

Thank you, Jens. You're welcome. Okay. Let's get back to the slides.

Oh, maybe any more questions on LinkedIn? Yes. Uh, yeah, I put it in the beginning. I think I got just like, uh, overseen. Um, if I have just like a officially, I mean, I could blow it up a bit like maybe to seven or something, but like really business, real business keynotes, if it's a four or five, because then you don't look so experienced, even though I started 2011.

So, but I haven't had that many in between. Um, what would you recommend? Doesn't matter. Put them. It's for me is if you, if you add. yourself, if you have been on stage and that is 10 years ago, it's still valid. Of course. Like you're not born two years ago. So you have a lot of experience, even if you haven't done any in between circumstances, whatever, I would still add them.[00:11:00] 

I would, I would add everything where you have been on stage, which is a little bit wider audience, like not two people. Okay. So now we are, now we are talking because like the biggest audiences I had when I was running like this kind of like, I told you it was called the orgasm workshop on fast 300 people.

I mean, you can boil it down to human connection or conscious relating. Take that as well. Yeah. Cool. It's, it's maybe in the, in the business sense, not seen as a keynote, but in the end you did the performance on stage, which was like you curating an experience. Oh, a hundred percent. You like. Maybe not 100%, but I would still use it if I would be you, I would do it.

Okay. Pastor, you had a question as well. Yeah, just want to clarify, uh, being on stage like, uh, Horan was saying, uh, is it being in stage, on stage within an organization? Or it has to [00:12:00] be outside of your normal organization talking to, yeah, independents, uh, gathering. For what I did, I only put the external ones.

Because if you take all my IKEA history, then I was like every week on stage, even if it's like 30, 40 people. But that, I mean, it's not credible. Nobody will pay you. For, for, for that experience. I mean, I get it. You have the expertise and the experience to do it. And maybe you could have maybe one line, several keynotes internally inside of the corporation, but it's, it's not a trigger for people to pay you.

That's why I'm only listing the externals. Thank you. Okay. Let's go into the next. So that was LinkedIn.

Again, for those that came later, we, we look into the system, which is the personal branding system, [00:13:00] then LinkedIn website and speaking agencies. Next part is website. Let's go directly into my website and it's, it's just the example, because it's the easiest for me to explain if we go to my, this one, my website.

So the whole thing about speaking engagements is that the credibility that you bring as a speaker. So let's say they're, they're, they're starting on, on Google and then they will find your personal website. Okay. If they start on LinkedIn, they find you as a person, if they, if they start on Google, they find you as, as, as a, as a personal website.

So in this case, what I have seen working super well, first, I had speaking somewhere in one of the other folders. And, and then I found out that people don't necessarily see on this page, if you just look at my page, except maybe this photo that helps. Um, but before [00:14:00] I had that photo, nobody sees that I'm a keynote speaker.

So I just added speaking visible in front on center on, on my personal homepage. And then obviously people click to this or they go from LinkedIn and then end up in at this page, which is. My website slash speaking key part here and the sections are important. So I've tested this over the last years.

First and foremost, it's a picture of you. Um, it's, it's because you are the differentiator. You are the person that is delivering the keynote. It doesn't matter too much in the beginning of Which companies you have worked in when they enter your, your world in the, in your personal website and your speaking pages about you and then directly call to action, like book me for a keynote in this case, very easy, very simple.

And then you can go to the contact form. Go on. You have a question. Yeah. [00:15:00] Uh, because I have actually such section on my website is called keynotes. Would you call it rather speaking? Do you have any experience if there's an advantage calling and speaking over keynotes? But me speaking is. More international.

I don't know. Mm hmm. Like you have seen it with the question from Frank So is it workshops? And that's just my experience. I I have started with speaking from the beginning and Honestly, I don't know why I called it speaking.

Maybe worth to test it. I've never tested it I called it speaking from the beginning. Yeah, so upper section is It's your photo and you know, obviously very important to understand. Maybe that's obvious for some people, for some not, they, I have chosen this photo because this shows credibility just by the way the photo is taken.

It shows credibility to the person that is looking and that's what I [00:16:00] want to represent. Other people want to represent something else. I want to represent seriousness and business acumen when it comes to keynotes for those that are booking me. Um, then next section is, is, is this part. What I show here is that I have been on stage.

So, I give people the possibility, and these are smaller clips like one or two minute videos. I give people the possibility to get a very, very fast snapshot of me being on stage and interacting with people on stage. I have used the panel discussion instead of a real keynote because I wanted them to see that I bring value to the audience and value to the other people that are in the panel discussion.

Nothing, you can use anything that, where you are shown on stage. As better you interact and interact with some someone in the audience, as better it is, in my experience. So showing yourself being [00:17:00] on stage is a huge credibility booster. Then same like LinkedIn, previous speaking engagements. And these are the same ones that I have had.

It's just showing again. Um, the, the company or the event and then city and country, I just use that as a credibility booster to show, Hey, I have been speaking on stages around the world. And that as more you do this, as, as more it grows, no, nobody sees which are, which ones were paid and were not paid. So it doesn't matter when, when you look at the, the total list, because as more you have, as more of them will be paid.

And then what I have here, which is the next section, the black one is example keynotes. So these are different keynotes that I've given over the past and that, um, I use as a sales argument. So when they look at different formats and different ways that I just get trigger them with [00:18:00] this topic. So, leading with impact is one that I have done a couple of times, human innovation in different ways I've done in a couple of time, data driven leadership, innovating the edge of an organization, um, innovating with technology and collaborate to innovate.

These are just keynote titles that I have used in the past so that the person that is looking to potentially book me gets an understanding, okay, this other topic Jens is speaking to. So just to give you a couple of keywords, human. Innovation, leadership, these are three key points that I have. I should add a fourth one, which is sustainability, which I don't have right now.

And then the last section, or not the last, but the next section is pictures of me on stage in different environments. That, that shows again, it's a credibility booster of, okay, I have been speaking in Airbus, in case they missed it up, upstairs, this is a photo of me speaking [00:19:00] in, in, in Airbus. This is a photo of me speaking in the climbing center.

This is a photo of me speaking in Spain. This is a photo of me speaking in Russia. Um, same with the other side. This is a photo of me speaking in Belgium. This is a photo of me speaking in Switzerland. Again, this is not, not, not for me to brag. It's, it's about the credibility that you show to the other, other person that, okay, he has been on stages and the people that pay attention, that see that I'm in different ages as well here.

So it was not always like this month. And then what I add in the bottom of, of the page, I add the, the, a couple of keynotes. So I have two main here. One is a keynote that I did in Amsterdam where I got a professional video from the organizers. So I've used the video from the organizers. It's not perfect and I will change that in the future, but it gives you a perspective of how [00:20:00] am I on stage?

How do I engage with. The audience and how do I speak. That's like 45 minutes something. The interesting part of that, what I got as feedback from other people that have booked me after that, they said they have seen this video and they knew how I'm going to do it. Because I, I am not a stiff person when I'm on stage, I'm, I'm engaging with the audience and I do jokes in between.

And for some people that is a no go and for some people that's, that's, that's exactly what they want to have. And for me, I don't play a role when I'm on stage, I'm myself. So I can't be not joking. I can do less, of course, but it's just me. When I'm on stage, then in German it's called Rampensau. I don't even know what the German word is, what the English word is.

It's kind of, I'm using the energy I have to, to bring energy into the room. And that's visible in this video. That's why I use that. And then, then the whole version of the whole, um, World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, where I [00:21:00] was on stage, um, talking with these two beautiful ladies. And then again, a call to action in the end, nothing complicated.

It's just a sequence that I have found out when someone is Googling me inside the World Wide Web, I want them to get to this page when they look for a keynote speaker. Um, then I want them to get this page because that that page gives me the credibility I want to show any questions on speaking page.

Yes, I was done. Yeah, but back to the question earlier about credibility, uh, you said, I think it was Horan who asked the question about, you've done it five years ago and you've done another one maybe four years later or something, and you have a list of all these and different [00:22:00] countries. Is that still credible in the eyes of people looking for keynote speakers?

It is. If you are organizing an event, let me quickly, now I'm seeing as well that there are a couple of questions in the chat, I will, I will answer them in a second. So if you are organizing an event and you look for someone that has a specific topic they speak about, then you more look into what experience does that person have.

As bigger the event, as more experience you want the other person to have. And in the end, it doesn't matter how much time is between those. Because for me, as, as more senior you are, and as more experience, as more keynotes you gave, as more qualitative your keynote should be, at least. So for me, from a credibility perspective, it doesn't matter.

Like the, like the Moscow, for example, that was 2017. It's already quite some time [00:23:00] ago, but not so long ago that I would say it doesn't, it doesn't make sense anymore. So if it obviously depends on age, if you're, let's say 60, like in your case, then you, you have done keynotes most probably the last 20 years in different contexts, but you can all use them because you have the credibility of 20 years speaking on stage.

Let me quickly go through the questions. Okay. Okay. Yoran, we have already the role, then Andrei, a role of the keynote speaker is literally to set the keynote for the conference or event. They're responsible for the establishing. Yes. It's a copy and paste, I didn't, I didn't have a question. I just thought we should start from the definition because at first I was a bit confused.

So that's why I searched it and shared it. Yeah. I mean, of course you have. [00:24:00] In the end, it's kind of you, you give a keynote, which is like you give a speech, you, you, um, present something. Yeah, for me, it would mean that it's like, you're the main theme, main attraction of that event, which I guess since we're all beginners, we can start small and that's the debate I seem to have with Maggie there.

I mean, do you start as a normal speaker, as a classic speaker? Yeah, that's honestly, that's for me, um, definition perspective. Nobody cares when you're on stage, if you're the main keynote speaker or not. If you can capture the audience, they will, I have seen like the, the keynote speaker. If you, if you call it like this, the person that is getting paid the most as the speaker on stage, I've seen them very bad ones.

And other speakers were, were 10 times better than that person. So for me, [00:25:00] it doesn't matter if you ask me. And yes, we can go into all the theory and discuss this the next two hours. But in the end, the person that captures the audience will get booked more. Okay. That's, that's my experience. So it's, it's, it's the speaker who makes himself being keynote.

Exactly. By the way, he's like delivering the public. Okay. Thanks. I mean, I was doing this in Switzerland a couple of weeks or two weeks ago, and I got feedback from the audience afterwards that I was one of the best speakers of the total two days. I was not the number one speaker. I was just, it's just the feeling that they go home with.

And other people might thought like, he's the worst speaker, which is fine. Yeah. Okay, I have a question. [00:26:00] Um, I was at this, um, you know, like this, like speaker I don't know how it's called the speaker event of Herman Scherer five years ago When but it was just a jury was not a real auditory It's really weird because if there's not your auditory, there's just a jury of 20 people It felt really weird, but there the effect was there were really great speakers I'm not talking about myself my performance that day was not that great You But the ones that like won the prize and get an engagement with this, um, speaking agency from Vienna, um, you know what I mean?

There's like one big from Vienna together with Herman Scherer, they work, but they chose, you could really see the coach shoes to choose people that were like bad speakers or mediocre speakers, but had a certain like media related track record. So it looked like, okay, they, they made them win due to the potential to market these people.

Yeah, I don't know. [00:27:00] That's not my world. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't like I'm, I'm, I'm totally But maybe, um, I don't know, like maybe it's just the imposter syndrome. So I know I can capture people. I was running alone workshops of 300 people. I know I can do that. So, but if you were like in that context, maybe not taken serious because you have your jack of all trades, or you don't have a track record with this and that and that company, how would you recommend to overcome that?

Or would you just recommend to change the context?

Good question. I mean, in, in, in the end is as more, I mean, what we go into that because Maggie was asking as well. How do you get into, into page? It starts with your credibility. So when we looked at LinkedIn, if you don't call yourself keynote speaker, then people will not even look at your profile because they don't know.

Yeah. So that's the starting point. Same with your website. And, and then being registered [00:28:00] at official speaking agencies helps. But that doesn't mean that speaking agencies give you a keynote. Um, and that's most of the time not. If we go, if we quickly go into that, and I will come to the questions that Maggie put in.

Let's, let's, I mean, the slide is just showing one thing, but I will, I will show my whole screen. That's, that's easy. So if we, if we just go to Google, I, again, use myself as an example, you put Jens Heitland speaking. What you see is that I'm registered at certain speaking agencies. What they do, they put money behind this ads.

So sponsored, sponsored shows that they put money into when you put in Jens Heitland speaking, then that shows up. Interestingly enough, if you put in my [00:29:00] name only, that doesn't show up because my organic ranking is higher than, than what they put in. So, so they, they really want to be the first one to, to, to get to, to speaking at least this guys.

Now the other guys are gone. Okay. So what I use speaking agencies for, don't tell them, just to have more SEO. So I want to be visible. So I'm at Premium Speakers, I'm at A Speakers, I'm at, um, another A Speakers, Global Speakers Bureau, uh, Scam Speakers. Honestly, between us here in this small room and nobody, we are not recording.

I don't care because for me, I want to get speaking engagements where I'm getting paid to where it comes from. I don't care what I see. And that's, that's quite interesting from the companies that have booked me in the events that have booked [00:30:00] me. They tried to get closer to me, which means they tried to get directly to me, not with speaking agencies, because what they understand is that.

When they pay speaking agencies, there's always a fee on top. And that means that. I, they can get me cheaper. That's what they think. But let's go back to, um, Maggie's questions. So how do you get started? The number one thing to get started when you want to get paid for speaking engagements is speaking as much as possible on stage.

That means what I would say is look at every single event in your local area, like Google chat, GDP, all the potential events that are close to you because that costs you nothing to go there. and contact the organizers of the event of the meeting to and ask them for [00:31:00] if you can be a speaker at their event as easy as that.

It sounds almost too simple, but nobody does it. So that's That's an easy way you can get speaking and get on stage as more you do this as more comfortable you get. Plus, what I would recommend, take a friend, take a friend that takes a video and photos as an example. We have a good example with Frank because Frank invited me to speak at the Berlin Fashion Show last year, this year, this year.

So Frank was organizing an event and he asked me to come to do a keynote. What he did was He helped me to kind of record the whole thing. So now I have a video of me speaking on a fashion show in Berlin. And of course I can now use that to promote me even further. So as more you have of that, as better and [00:32:00] easier it gets to speak because you have videos, you have.

proof that you have spoken on stages. Nobody cares if you got paid for that or not. So, get yourself in as many events as possible and, and get, get, um, footage of that. Frank question. Yes. I mean, with this possibility, you've got another invitation to the alter, uh, institutions in Berlin as well, because you've got the credibility as a speaker, serious speaker with good connections inside the city.

If you say local is nothing local is more than nothing, because you need to start somewhere. Um, and now here in Berlin, we are doing a lot of demo tables and that keep. Gives us the opportunity to meet another person people because yesterday I got uh, today's monday. No No, yeah today's money. No, no on friday [00:33:00] On Friday, I got an invitation to speak with a lady from Korea who has a company here in Berlin and they are really interested to get sustainability and the demo days or the demo table in different locations that opens you different doors that you can open on the stage.

For me, it's really important to be close to the people in the events. Because they need to see that you are a real person, that you are not a fake, and you are close to them and, and they have the possibility to speak with you. Give a, a card, something like that to be, to be, to be close to them. Yeah. So num number one, getting back to Maggie, try to get as many as possible free speaking engagements.

I would not even ask for money in the beginning because they will not pay money if you don't have the credibility. So. Speak as much as possible. There are speaking clubs locally. One example is Toastmasters, [00:34:00] where you can kind of debate with each other, where you can speak, so you get practice. If you have never been on stage, it's difficult in the beginning.

And then, uh, the number one thing I do with a lot of people is, record yourself on video daily. I'm doing daily videos with like, uh, with the other community. We have now a day, a 30 day challenge of daily video recording of yourself. As more you, you get used to speak freely, as easier it gets. So it's really speaking, speaking, speaking.

Um, and as, as, as more you do this at, as. as more comfortable you get in speaking in front of people. It's in the beginning, it's always weird. Start with two, three people and then get bigger, bigger, bigger. So that's the, that's the, the basic version of getting yourself [00:35:00] out there and speaking more often.

And then use that credibility that you built up and that confidence by documenting it and then show this to other people. That's how I did it. So I, I added over and over and like the different speaking engagements and try to get photos. And now I do this that I'm organizing that I, I use like getting a professional videographer and a professional photographer with me, it's a little bit more expensive, but if you get paid, you can do that.

Um, having someone that takes photos and videos of you is game changer, as more high quality as better. Like I even, I did that with Frank, for example, I have this small, um, this one's microphones. So I had the microphone tucked in here. So I have my own recording. I have, I did that as well on stage. Um, in Barcelona, I had my own recording because then I have it.

And [00:36:00] then a friend of mine took a video of me. I still got the high quality version from them, but I had as well my version of it.

Okay. There's nothing a Toastmaster should be Maggie. I don't know where you are, but there is. There's, there's always opportunities to speak, even if it's just a, a wedding next door.

Cadi is south of Spain. You need to ask Frank, he's, he's from Spain. Of course now, not in English, yeah, that might be the, the trouble. But then go online. Online there are possibilities. I mean, you can speak in one of these events, even if it's on Monday. Maybe that's an interesting one to do. Everyone is doing a five minute keynote next time.

We can easily do that.[00:37:00] 

Good question. Ah, yes. I mean, that is some home homework. Sorry, sorry. Ine

That is some homework. , by next time we won't prepare, but I think we're booked until 2nd of December. So I think the next one will be 9th of December. Yeah. Af after the 2nd of December. Yeah. Sorry, sorry. Yeah, no, no problem at all. It's a good idea actually. Good point. Uh, Andrea, uh, the, the, the, the question really was about.

They're gonna search you by the word keynote speaker. I remember in many companies I've worked for, uh, it was more about the theme of the meeting, and then we decide which type of keynote speaker we have to look for. So it was not, it was not about, Who was keynote speaker? It was about, okay, uh, what's the team of the meeting and who are we trying to bring in?

Is it an athlete who [00:38:00] climbed Everest or Kilimanjaro or whatever, uh, to show a mindset, to show resilience? And then we go and look based on that. And so would you say it's first keynote speaker and then which area of specialization, if I can call it that way? No, it's both. I a hundred percent agree. It's always, the starting point is often depends if it's a company event, then you start with the theme, but then you, what you would do is these days you Google speaker in sustainability, speaker in this, and But if you don't have the keyword speaker everywhere, anywhere for you, nobody will find you as a speaker.

Of course, yeah. If they Google for sustainability, they might find you if you're the sustainability expert. But if you have never given a keynote or don't put the keywords in, nobody will find you. [00:39:00] And that it, it is just, if we think about the digital world, it's just you need to tell people that you have these keywords associated to you, like you are a keynote speaker or you're a speaker, and that enables other people to find you.

And it's more, you do this as more speaking engagements you get, and then it's kind of a, a, a circle. And of course, the best one is always you have been speaking on stage and other people have seen you on stage and want to book you for the next event. I mean, that's the, that's the non plus ultra.

What is non plus ultra? What does it mean? I'm sorry, I don't know the term. No, sorry. That's a German saying. So it's, it's the thing, like, if I'm speaking on stage, I get directly the next gig, because there was someone in the audience who said, I want to book Jens for a speaker. And then I'm speaking [00:40:00] at their event.

And then someone books me someone books me like that's the that's the best that can happen. If you want to be a paid speaker, keynote speaker,

and I mean, maybe going back to Maggie, I can't highly emphasize it enough. The biggest change for me and keynote speaking bookings came through my daily videos, speaking daily into, into the camera and be visible from anyone that is consuming that content shows them that I'm a confident speaker. So because I'm always asking, where did you find me?

How did you, why did you book me? That's one of the questions I always ask. And it always goes back. I've seen your video on LinkedIn. I've seen your video on Instagram somewhere. And then I went to your website. [00:41:00] Every time. I was, I was booked, um, from a speaking agency in, what was it, in June. And even Derek Kallions found me through the, the videos.

So they found, I think they found me first on their website, on the speaker's website, because they work always, it's a big company, they always work with the speaker company, bureau, and then they checked me out, but then they looked into my videos. So they have seen that I'm a confident speaker and that I don't do this the first time.

So, Just to highlight that again, I know I, I talk a lot about videos, but it's it for me personally, it was game changer. So maybe specifically for Maggie, if you have not been on bigger stages, speak, speak to, in, in video and videos, like, literally take your, your, your phone. I mean, Frank is part of [00:42:00] the challenge.

Of the 30 day challenge. And he's doing it every day. Now, if you don't trust yourself, please record your, your speech. Because I remember the last, no, two years ago, when I wrote the first invitation to the four year from now in Barcelona, I asked James, what can I do? And he told me record yourself and send me the video.

Um, I started something like that because I never trust myself in front of the camera, but now. Like, like drinking water or something like that is something natural today. But there's a work, um, it comes with the time, um, with the practice, go ahead and try to, to record yourself. Yeah.

Any more questions?[00:43:00] 

I would, I would love what to speak about, what to speak about. I mean, this is, it takes longer, but I always go back to what are you interested in, what are the topics that you are an expert in? So that's, that's the starting point. If you are an expert of something, you can talk about it. If you are interested in, let's say running and you're a runner, you can talk about running.

If you, especially when we talk about videos, that's the easiest way. Um, if we, if we think about more strategically, I would then start with what is your personal brand about and how do you utilize your personal brand and, and create visibility through like, uh, your personal brand pillars and then talk about this areas.

But that's the already like the advanced version of that, that the base version is really talk about what you're passionate about.[00:44:00] 

And as more you do that, as easy it gets. My thing is writing. That's that's difficult. We can see, we can see

without speaking. It doesn't work. So I mean, do it. It gets easier if you, if you just do the video and talk to yourself, you don't need to share it with anyone. Maggie, talk. Okay. I'll try to talk instead of writing. Um, so the next question would be like, do you always prepare what you going to talk on the, on the video online or whether you just kind of improvising?

Depends. So for the 30 day challenge, we just bubble. It's just getting confident in talking. Just the [00:45:00] first 30 days, it's more getting used to the camera. It's like getting a friend. You talk to yourself in the end, getting used to the camera. That's the number one priority with like a challenge like this.

When, when you go into professionally producing like reels or, uh, shorts and so on, then, yes, then is you build ideas and then you build a very specific structure that helps you to be seen as you want to be seen. And the, the, the base version is this. So, you, you build a hook, you build a story, and then you create something where you drag the people in.

So, hook, for example, if you talk about running. This is why I believe running is the best sport in this world. That's the hook. And then you talk. I started running when I was 16, when I needed to run in a football team. And then I got fatter when I left playing football. So you tell a story around this.[00:46:00] 

And, and then did you ever try running? That's the end. That's short form videos like hook story offer as simple as that. I do this every day and today I recorded 30 videos, so it's kind of my brain works like this. And as more you do this, as easier it gets, I mean, maybe Frank, you can share, you can share a couple of your videos from the last days inside of the chat, the daily ones.

Just for fun, or even in the community, maybe that's even better than in this chat so that everyone can see it. Um, as more you do this, as better it gets. So, in the beginning I was scripting really every word of what do I want to say, but then I found out if I'm scripting it and it feels like I'm reading it.

So it's not me, it's not my energy, it's not. So I just needed to Get used to it. So just start talking as easy as it gets. Exactly. Russell Bronson. [00:47:00] That's whom I have it from. I learned from him.

Yeah. And I think we have even inside of the community, I've described that in the 90 day version in the 90 day, step by step there's, uh, there's as well, the script from Russell and a couple of other things from Russell. For those that don't know, Russell Bronson, Russell Bronson is, uh, I think a marketeer.

He has built a very, fairly big tech company in the U. S.

Yeah, he speaks very fast, even faster than I do, but he's American.

Okay, any questions?

So, I will, I will put the next, [00:48:00] what is it? The 2nd of December we will do another topic that I posted already, uh, which is a leadership topic. Then we do the week after we will do keynotes. Everyone gets the possibility that, that wants to do, uh, let's see how many people we are, but let's say five minute keynote, whatever you want to talk about.

Shall we do that? Sure. Good. I will, I will put that into the community and we'll tag all of you. Challenge accepted. Awesome. Looking forward. Yep. Thank you very much for today. Sorry. My voice is dying. That's how it is. Have a good one. Take care. Ciao. All right. Thanks. Bye. Take care.

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Transcript:

Personal development masterclass. One of the topics that's dear to my heart, because of what I have seen over the last 15 years is that personal development is quite seldom in organizations. It's not really taken, uh, in a proper way, at least in my eyes. So that's why I'm really keen on sharing this today.

So we have two. main perspectives. One or two topics for today. One is personal development talk versus performance evaluation. And then we do a deep dive into how I'm doing personal development talks. And then we do questions in the end. Personal development. So we have one part, which is the personal development talk, and then we have the performance evaluation.

And a lot of organizations, focus on performance evaluation. And the difference between those two is that the performance evaluation, the main part they are focusing on, or the main source of that is the company. So the company is on the top. And from there, it goes into, the individuals and the different tasks that need to be done to accomplish what's happening in the company, what is required to do to be done in the company.

And the individual that is doing the task is the last point. And then inside of the performance evaluation, you're looking backward. So you look, how did this person perform in the past? The development talk is the opposite. So the most important part of the. Development talk is the future. Where does the person want to be in the future?

And it has nothing to do with the outcome of the company or where the company wants to be. The goal of this is, and why, why do this personal development talk? I believe that if we are developing people in organizations beyond what the organization needs, they will contribute more to the company. They will contribute better.

So the goal of what I'm doing with development talks is finding out what the people desire and going deeper into that. And we will have a look at that in the next couple of slides. And then look, what are the different tasks of the organizations that fit the person and what the person wants to be. And then you marry these two things.

And then it works as well from a performance evaluation perspective. So that's my perspective on development talk and performance evaluation. Let's go into personal development talk a couple of, I think it's almost two years ago or something. I've developed this in as, as a worksheet. So if anyone is interested in getting this worksheet as a PDF.

Happy to share that. So, the starting point of a development talk is really a setup of the atmosphere and the place. So you are going to do a development talk with another person. So you are the manager and the, the other person is like reporting to you and then you're meeting up. So what you need to make sure of is that you have, an appropriate place.

The best case is always doing this outside of the office environment in a. In a place where people feel well, the atmosphere is super important. The time of the day is important, not doing it on Friday afternoon, for example, when people want to go on the weekend, of course, you need to be aware of your relationship with the other person, depending on how deep your relationship is.

You of course have then a perspective on how deep you can go. And how much that is. And then what is important as well is that you put the note-taking responsibility to the person that is inside the room or is working with you. So me as a leader, I always give the note taking responsibility for the other person because then you see what they understand and what they get out of that.

And then I always do as well. A version in front of us so that people understand this. So printing out this worksheet as an example, if you do that in a physical space, then you print it out and then you go into the development talk. And the starting point of the development talk goes really wide.

Looking into what's the personal vision like. I always ask these as open questions without showing them the worksheet in the beginning. Who do you want to be? And that's very, very, very wide. Like, who do you want to be? What does it mean? Some people who have never had a conversation like this, struggle with this.

So they start with, yeah, I want to be a manager. I want to be something specific. So they go very, very, very specific and they don't really look into the future. So the first round of this, I just, Help them to find out who they want to be and they write down, they write down a manager. I want to be a good father.

I want to be whatever they come up with. And then I go to the next question and I show them the next question, not before. So why do you want to be that person? So then they're reflecting on the answers they have given and then they go back and refine who they want to go to be. And that's an interesting process because what.

You as the manager that is holding this development talk are doing, you're literally shutting up and just asking open questions to tell me more. How, how does that feel? What does that look like? What would that look like in the future? So you only ask open ended question when that gets the person talking and reflecting.

So if you're saying this, what does it mean? So, and then they're explaining, explaining, and they go in a loop between who am I going to be? And why do I want to be that person? So until they have clarity, and the first loop is always. The starting point where they don't know what's going to come, then who am I going to be?

They come up with high-level topics and then they go, Why do I want to be that person? Then they go back to Who am I going to be? And then they go deeper. And I always then give them a perspective. Okay, think about five years, 10 years from now, who do you want to be? And then they go more particular in all of these things.

And then we go, we don't close this, we keep it, we put it aside. And then we go to the next sheet, which is a personal development map. So I want them again to reflect on certain questions. And it doesn't matter in the order, I just take them clockwise right now. But it's really going and answering the specific questions.

What do I want to learn? So you're asking this, the person that is in front of you. So what do you want to learn to be that person? So linking it back to that person of the future. And then you're asking, what do you want to improve? And then they come up with things. So it's, it's like writing down the, all the different topics and then what do I want to leave behind?

And then they come back with topics that they want to leave behind. Another question is what excites you? Yeah. And then going deeper into this, who is important to them? And then what is important to them? And when you have done this circle, you go around it and they were deeper in this topic.

What quite often happens then if you ask them, so how, if we go back to the other one, is that still the same thing you want to be? Because they have now clarified what they want to be. and answer the question, they go back to this one and then clarify, no, no, no, I want to be this, I want to be this. What I always ask them, in this part is to paint a picture.

So when, when we have finished with this one, I go back to this one. And say, from a personal vision perspective, imagine a picture and describe the picture that you see on the wall. And then they describe to me who they want to be and who they are going to strive to be inside of a picture and explain everything that is around them.

I've had, for example, a person that told me where they are going to live, what, how it feels, um, in this picture, where the kids in this picture, where the wife or husband and, and going really into details and then linking this to. A job perspective as well, because in the end, we are at least this part is in a job environment.

So they are linking that to the job environment of who they're going to be working with as well. So these two are super powerful. And then you go into the next step, which is a goal perspective. So it starts with the staircase. So in the top right corner, we have what is the goal. And the starting point is really, um, defining that goal.

So if you want to be this person in five years, what is the goal for the next year for you to be very specific? And of course, you can do smart goal setting and all of that, but it's in the end, What does feel right for that person? What is the development goal they want to reach in one year from now?

And then they formulate that goal. And then you go to the bottom of this page where you look into where do you stand today on a scale from one to 10. So they're rating themselves on how close are they to that goal. If they're close, then they're at 10 or 9. If they're far away, then they're at 1. And what always happens is they're somewhere in between, obviously.

So when they have rated that, then you look into what are the things that get you closer to that goal, meaning moving your scale from 5 to 10. And that's what they are writing down above the stairs. So, above the stairs are the things that are getting them closer to their goal. And then they're defining this in bullet points and formulating that out.

And [you do that obviously all in a conversation. You ask the person who is doing the development talk, you are asking them questions to get them moving. You're asking them clarifying questions about the topics that are put, into the sheet. And then the next part is, what are the things that getting you further away from that goal?

So downstairs, if you think at it from a staircase perspective, and then they're writing these things down and then they have a clear picture of a goal staircase where they, they know they want, where they want to be linking that to the vision that's five years from now and the goal picture, and then they rate themselves.

And have then clear understanding of that are the things I need to do to get to my goal and that are the things I should not be doing. And then the last step of the development talk is getting specific. So now we zoom into one year and actionable goals that help them or tasks that get them towards the one-year perspective.

So what are the things they're going to do? When are they going to do this? What do they need to make happen to be able to do this? What are the things they need help with and how I'm, how they going to measure them? So it's a very, very simple setup where they write down literally the different steps that help them to get there.

And they're putting measurable goals towards the goal. And this is roughly. I would say one and a half hours, even if we go through this right now in a theoretical setting in, let's say 15 minutes in a real conversation, in a coaching style, where you ask the manager or coach the other person to find out what they are desiring and where they want to be.

It takes roughly one and a half hours if you do that well, sometimes it's faster depending on the relationship as well. The fascinating thing with this is it has zero to do with the company you work in and one hundred percent to do with who they want to be. And as well as zero to do with you as their manager, if you're their manager, like your perspective, your opinion on anything of that.

Um, just to give you a couple of examples, I've had people that told me that they want to be. building their own company in the next five years and they worked in the company and I was their manager they told me because they trusted me that they wanted to build their own company and we built a plan for how they were going to build their own company and I've had situations where people told me that they want to get married in the next five years and then we built a plan to get them towards marriage getting married and looked into how that does that work with the career perspective same with kids and all the other things so this is a development tool you That I use with everyone that is working with me over time because I believe that as further we as managers and organizations help people to develop as better it is.