“Speaking is a great way to demonstrate thought leadership, expose your brand, and get business. Speaking is a business development effort.”-Steve Markman

Today's guest is Steve Markman, president of Markman Speaker Management, a speaker placement firm. Steve helps speakers get both paid and unpaid speaking engagements by using his 30 years of event and conference experience. In this interview, he shares with us the most important thing a conference organizer is looking for when they hire a speaker, the falsehood among speakers that stops them from landing big speaking gigs, the one thing a paid speaker must have on their website to get hired, what your speaker video should include to showcase you as a speaker, and the #1 reason you won’t get hired for a speaking gig. Steve also shares the most common negative feedback speakers receive and how to avoid it, and how to present like a pro. Find out the three most important questions to ask yourself to get started as a paid speaker, and much more! Steve really knows his stuff and this is the perfect episode if you have any interest in being seen as a leader or speaker in your field.