Speaking Business podcast

In this episode of Speaking Business Podcast, I'm joined by Donna O'Toole, award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author of WIN, founder of August Recognition and co-founder of AwardsApp.ai.

Donna helps businesses and individuals raise their profile through credible awards, and in this conversation we talk about how recognition can support visibility, trust and commercial growth, especially for speakers who want to become better known and more bookable.

We discuss the difference between credible awards and scam awards, how to spot red flags, why awards should never just be a popularity contest, and what judges are really looking for when they read an entry. Donna also shares how to use awards properly once you've won, including the importance of explaining why you won and who benefits when you win.

We also talk about profile-building, Google, AI, writing a book, the role of awards in becoming known, and Donna's new AI-enabled Awards App, designed to make entering awards safer, easier and more inclusive.

Donna shares the tools she uses in her own business, including Fathom, Slack and Zoom, and offers practical advice for anyone thinking of entering awards as part of their profile-building strategy.

Donna explains that awards can help speakers demonstrate credibility, show independent validation and build positive reputational evidence online, which is increasingly important when people are searching through Google and AI tools.

In this episode of Speaking Business Podcast, I'm joined by Alex Atherton, an ex-secondary school head teacher, keynote speaker, author of The Snowflake Myth, and a winner at the 2025 Speaker Awards.

Alex shares how he moved from running schools to building a speaking business, and why hearing young people dismissed as "snowflakes" pushed him to create a keynote that challenges lazy stereotypes about Gen Z.

We talk about the disconnect between older leaders and younger professionals, why Gen Z's experience of education, technology, work and independence is so different from previous generations, and what leaders need to understand if they want to attract, retain and develop young talent.

Alex also gives a very honest look behind the scenes of his speaking business. He shares what it felt like to go from the top of one profession to ground zero in another, how he developed his keynote slowly through research, blogs and focus groups, and why staying current is essential if you want to be seen as an authority.

We also discuss how he gets booked, the role bureaus have played in his business, how LinkedIn and referrals contribute to his enquiries, and why knowing your numbers matters if you are serious about growing as a speaker.

This is a fascinating episode for anyone who speaks on leadership, generations, workplace culture or change, and for any speaker building a business around a strong, timely and relevant idea.

In this episode of Speaking Business, I'm joined by Bobbie Carlton, founder of Innovation Women, an online speaker platform for women and other underrepresented voices.

Bobbie shares why she created Innovation Women, what she saw missing from conference stages, and how speakers can use speaking to grow their careers, businesses and visibility. We talk about what makes a speaker profile work, why event organisers need the right signals before they book you, and why speakers must stop leading with themselves and start thinking about the audience problem they solve.

We also discuss the changing world of search, AI, YouTube, speaker videos, building a pipeline of opportunities, and the difference between being an expert and being seen as a thought leader. Bobbie also shares the tools and systems she uses to manage multiple businesses, how she keeps learning, and what she would tell any speaker starting from scratch today.

A practical, generous and very straight-talking conversation for speakers who want to become more visible, more bookable and more commercially useful to the audiences they serve.

In this episode of Speaking Business, I'm joined by Captain Emma Henderson, international keynote speaker, leadership expert, founder of Project Wingman and creator of the AVIATE decision-making model.

Emma shares how she moved from aviation and charity leadership into building a successful speaking business, and what changed when she stopped treating speaking as something she did on the side and started treating it as a business.

We talk about positioning, selling yourself without feeling cringe, raising fees, building relationships with speaker bureaus, bringing personality into your brand, and why clients increasingly want practical tools they can take back into the business, not just inspiration.

Emma also shares the systems she uses to run her business, how she decides when to say yes or no, what she would do differently if she were starting again, and why relationships, relevance and doing the work still matter in a world where everyone is trying to automate everything.

A generous and practical conversation for speakers who want to build momentum, charge properly and create a business that is commercially solid as well as enjoyable.

In this episode of Speaking Business Podcast, I'm joined by Steve Markman, founder of Markman Speaker Management, who has more than 35 years' experience in the speaker field and has helped over 1,000 leaders secure speaking opportunities globally.

Steve shares what speakers often don't realise about the conference world, including how competitive it is, how far in advance events are planned, and why your abstract can matter even more than your bio. We also talk about the difference between paid and unpaid speaking, why unpaid speaking can still lead to future income, and what paid speakers can learn from executives using speaking as part of their visibility and thought leadership strategy.

This is a practical conversation for speakers who want to understand what really happens behind the scenes, how to make themselves more attractive to conference organisers, and how to position their content so it matches the audience, the event and the opportunity.

My guest this week is Joseph Frankie III, a soldier, logistician, businessman, coach and author of LinkedIn: The Five-Minute Drill for Executive Network Success.

Joe has helped more than 750 executives, veterans and students across 15 countries use LinkedIn more strategically, and in this episode we talk about why your LinkedIn profile is no longer just an online CV, it's your digital persona, your networking tool and, in Joe's words, your billboard when you're not in the room.

We explore why senior professionals and speakers need to show up properly on LinkedIn, what people are missing on their profiles, how storytelling helps you become more searchable and memorable, and why your LinkedIn presence may be doing more heavy lifting than your website.

Joe also shares how his military background shaped his coaching business, how he uses podcasts and LinkedIn commercially, and why speakers need to start with the end in mind if they want LinkedIn to support more bookings.

In this episode of Speaking Business Podcast, I'm joined by Elliot Kay, speaker, entrepreneur and CEO of The Speaker Awards and Speaker Summit. We talk about how to build a speaking business where everything works together, from keynote speaking and training to coaching and industry platforms, so that your positioning is aligned rather than all over the place. Elliot also shares the thinking behind his new keynote and book, Watch Me, why personal stories are landing so strongly right now, and the difference between speaking from a healed scar rather than an open wound.

We also get into the business side of speaking, including habits, timekeeping, productivity, managing a five-hour workday, staying out of overwhelm, getting better commercially, and why speakers need to pay more attention to what is actually left after they've been paid. We also talk about The Speaker Awards and Speaker Summit, the gap Elliot set out to fill, why recognition matters, how awards can open doors, and what makes the summit different for speakers who want insight, access and practical value. It's a lively conversation packed with useful lessons for speakers who want to grow a credible, profitable business.

In this episode, I'm joined by speaker coach Jenn Espinosa, whose route into speaking was anything but obvious. Before building her business, Jenn worked as a certified fraud examiner, using data, investigations and insight into human motivation to uncover where things were going wrong. Today, she helps speakers, coaches and consultants turn their message into something the market will actually pay for.

We talk about what it really takes to build a speaking business, especially if your topic doesn't naturally fit into the obvious corporate boxes. Jenn shares how she helps clients shape their message for the right market, why so many speakers stay stuck on low fees, how to handle fee conversations more confidently, and why trying to speak on everything usually makes you harder to book, not easier.

She also talks openly about how she gets work, why she believes speakers need to learn how to sell themselves, her thoughts on bureaus, the tools she uses in her business, and why she still believes in doing some things the old-school way. There's plenty in this conversation for speakers who want to become more commercial, more focused and more bookable.

In this episode, I'm joined by Jon Card, former business journalist for The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Telegraph, and founder of Full Story Media. Jon shares what makes someone interesting to the media, how speakers can turn their expertise into quotes journalists actually want, and why being media-ready has far more crossover with being speaker-ready than many people realise.

There's a lot in here for speakers who want to raise their profile without turning PR into a full-time job. We also dig into the parallels between media and speaking: credibility, clarity, story, readiness, and the fact that the people who get picked are often the ones who show up well, say yes, and make life easy for the person doing the choosing.

If you want more visibility for your speaking business, this conversation will give you practical ideas you can act on straight away.

What does it really take to achieve and sustain high performance when the pressure never lets up?

In this episode, I'm joined by two-time Olympian, six-time World Champion and Britain's most successful female kayaker, Anna Hemmings. Since retiring from elite sport, Anna has built a leadership and performance consultancy, working with organisations that want to stay at the top of their game year after year.

We explore what changed for her after winning her first World Championship title, why the second one brought even more pressure, and the mindset shift required to keep raising the bar when everyone else is chasing you down. Anna shares how working with a sports psychologist shaped her approach to confidence, preparation and controlling the controllables, and how a career-threatening illness forced her not to "bounce back" but to bounce forward.

For speakers, there's plenty here on building a serious business. Anna talks openly about how 50% of her work now comes from speaker bureaus, how long that took to build, and what changed when she improved her positioning, materials and fees. We discuss moving from one-off keynotes to longer-term client relationships, offering workshops and coaching beyond the speech, and why clarity of positioning is what brings repeat bookings.

We also cover continuous learning, accreditation, tools such as CRM and LinkedIn, and why your content needs to resonate with the audience rather than simply tell your story.

If you want to build a speaking business that is credible, sustainable and positioned at the top end of the market, there are some powerful lessons in this conversation .