Speakers are often hired because of their story. Whether you’re just beginning to speak or adding speaking to your existing business, you should be prepared and willing to speak for free. There’s actually a lot to be gained by speaking at events for free, so it’s not all bad.

Once you’ve developed your message and identified your target audience, offering to speak for free to interested groups and organizations that fit with your expertise can provide you with many important benefits. While you may not bring in a paycheck for your speaking engagement, don’t discount the return on your time investment.

Unpaid speaking opportunities allow you to:

• Hone your speaking skills. The more you speak in front of an audience, the more comfortable you will become, and the clearer your presentation will be. You can ask the organizer to share the results of the speaker evaluation forms for honest feedback on your content and presentation skills.
• Fine tune your message. Each time you speak to a group, you will find ways to improve or enhance your message so that your best light shines.
• Gain exposure. Every speaking opportunity is a marketing event that will help to get your name and expertise out there.
• Establish your expertise. This prepares you for speaking at larger and possibly paid engagements in the future.
• Promote your business. As an unpaid speaker, typically you are allowed to sell your products or services from the stage or the back of the room. Sometimes you will be required to pay the host a percentage of what you sell, but this usually a nominal fee.

Unpaid gigs can often lead to paid gigs. Someone may hear you speak for free at a local event which may result in a paid keynote speaking opportunity. If you have a book, you might speak for free, but be sure to ask the program coordinator to purchase copies of the book for the attendees at your discounted cost.

A few helpful things to know about paid speaking opportunities:

• Most speakers have a particular speaking rate they charge depending on the engagement. For instance, the fee for being the keynote speaker would be higher than being a speaker at a breakout session.
• Some events will typically have varying fees that they are willing or able to pay, based on value, not time. For example, TED, the global, nonprofit conference organization does not pay its speakers; they only cover travel expenses.
• Likewise, other events may only pay travel costs or provide a free ticket to the event.

These are all things to consider when establishing your speaker fees or seeking speaking engagements. Take advantage of every speaking opportunity that makes sense for your area of expertise, your message and your business. Check with local Chambers of Commerce or other organizations that have events requiring speakers. If you belong to any professional organizations, offer to speak at one of their conferences. In addition to speaking at live events, you should also be holding webinars and teleseminars.

My challenge to you this week is to seek out at least three paid and unpaid speaking opportunities that fit your target audience. Then pitch them on a specific talk that would fit their event. Please share your results on our Facebook page.