originally posted to www.carnsight.com

It might sound logical, but many people skip one important step when they identify an event they’d like to speak at. Attending it. Even if you’re sure it’s a sweet spot for your target audience, here’s why going along in person long before you pitch can be the key to securing that spot. 

What’s the vibe? 

We’re not short on information about events – through emails, images, social media and videos, we can get pretty close to the action. But nothing allows you to experience it like attending in person.  

An event’s “vibe” might not be tangible, but it’s something you can certainly experience when you’re in the room. Are people there for debate, a catch up or networking? Do people attend the stands and how are attendees distributed during the day? Does the venue empty out at a certain time? This kind of information is invaluable to understanding it. 

Is the audience right? 

You might have identified an event as the perfect business touchpoint, and you may imagine the audience is spot on, but it’s difficult to gauge that unless you’re actually there. Sometimes even carefully researched conferences don’t deliver in the way you think they will. Or sometimes the audiences are much smaller and more niche than you’d imagine.  

You could turn up and see that it’s spot on first-hand. But it could be even more useful to go along and be able to rule out one that you thought would deliver what you needed. 

What opportunities are there? 

A conference flyer can’t tell you everything. It’s important to understand what kind of sessions there are and how the day plays out. For instance, sometimes there are breakout sessions that could be worth pitching in for, even if the headline spots are taken. By going along you can suss these out and be better equipped for your pitch. 

Try and catch the speakers 

By being there you’re in a good position to try and catch some of the speakers in person and find out more about their journey to being selected. Directly after their appearance you might find a queue of people waiting to speak to them, but catch them at coffee time or, if you don’t manage to, at least you can reach out on LinkedIn and say how much you enjoyed their contribution. That’s a much more powerful approach than completely cold and could get you some useful information. 

Build relationships with the organisers 

As with anything, securing speaking opportunities starts with building good relationships. Do your research and understand who organises the conference beforehand, and make a point of introducing yourself during the day.  

Remember, this isn’t the time to pitch, but it could be the time to start a conversation that you then follow up on LinkedIn or via email. Explain why you enjoyed the content on the day, ask more about how you pitch for a slot, get on any relevant submission mailing lists and be prepared to play the long game. Building good relationships with the right people can pay dividends, potentially leading to multiple appearances and more invitations to speak in future. 

Be aware of the commercials 

More conferences than ever are charging for speaking slots, and you can understand why. Venues and suppliers are getting more expensive, advertising models aren’t what they were and there’s a ceiling to what costs can be recouped on ticket sales. 

A good way to understand the landscape is to attend and see the sponsorship opportunities live, and start to understand what might be charged for and what might be more editorial. In our experience, there are some red lines, but a compelling pitch that delivers exclusive content, or a really interesting speaker, can really help to open doors. Relevance is key. 

We’ve seen time and again that the cost of attending a conference that you’d like to target could be one of the best investments you make. It’s all part of approaching securing a speaker slot strategically, rather than tactically. And if you’d like to chat about how we can help secure speaking slots, just let us know.  

About Carnsight Communications

At Carnsight Communications we create strategies and campaigns to showcase our clients’ brilliant work through PR, content and social media. We help them get noticed by the right audience, at the right time. We specialise in creative agency PR.