Orly Amor, a business coach for public speakers and a certified behavior analyst, argues that most speakers leave money on the table simply because they never ask to be paid. She learned that the hard way in reverse: after being paid for every talk across 31 countries and 18 states, she met three speakers in Arlington, Texas, in 2010 who had only been covered for expenses. That moment became a coaching business built on a bold promise, $150,000 in a speaker's first year or she keeps working with them. Talking with host Eric Berman, Orly explains why event planners care more about a speaker starting and finishing on time than about the message, why messaging planners on LinkedIn can get you blacklisted, and how a single question about timing can put you on a planner's private speaker list. For entrepreneurs who already speak to promote their business, it is a practical look at treating stages as a revenue line.
In this episode, you'll discover:
- Why Orly Amor tells speakers to stop speaking for free, and how industry fee ranges help a first-time speaker set a starting rate
- How a short email asking when a planner looks for speakers gets you onto the private list they contact before going public
- What event planners actually value most, according to Orly's interviews with more than 3,400 planners who pay speakers
- Why contacting event planners through LinkedIn messages can backfire, and why finding their email on the event website works better
- The two mistakes Orly sees most often, failing to own your value and quitting too soon, plus the daily time commitment she asks for
Episode Summary
Orly Amor built her speaker coaching business on a simple premise: if you have a message, somebody is willing to pay for it. She did not set out to coach speakers. As a certified behavior analyst and trained profiler, she had been booking herself into corporations to teach them how to close deals through profiling, and she says she was paid every time she spoke in 31 countries and 18 states. In 2010, after a paid talk in Arlington, Texas, three speakers approached her and were stunned to learn she had been paid. They had only received expenses. That was the first time Orly heard terms like pay to play, speak to sell, and speak for free, and she realized most speakers were not running speaking as a business because they never asked for the money.
That realization led to her guarantee: $150,000 in a speaker's first year, or she keeps working with them until they get there. She frames it with an analogy to a McDonald's job, where minimum wage is guaranteed by law, and says that in public speaking the equivalent floor is $150K once you know what to do. To make the case that demand exists, Orly shared three statistics: 64,000 events a day across Canada and the United States pay speakers, the industry will spend $118.9 billion on events and speakers this year, and the world is one million speakers short. She added that women make up just 1.9% of speakers and that the average speaker earns only about $30,000 a year. Eric Berman read the numbers as a supply and demand gap, especially for women.
On pricing, Orly says a speaker with no paid history does not start at zero. Using what she calls an industry value schematic, she places new or less experienced speakers between roughly $1,000 and $5,000 per keynote, upcoming and corporate speakers between $5,000 and $10,000, B-list celebrity speakers around $20,000 to $50,000, and A-listers at $50,000 and up, while stressing that this is industry value rather than her own rate. Her rule is blunt: if you want to be paid as a speaker, stop speaking for free, unless selling from the stage is deliberately your model. She dismisses the advice to speak a hundred times for exposure with a line that the sun gives plenty of exposure but will not pay the bills.
Much of the conversation centers on what event planners want. Orly wrote a book, Public Speakers, You're Not All That: 12 Reasons Why Event Planners Won't Hire You, after interviewing more than 3,400 planners who pay speakers over four and a half years. She played a quick game with Eric to show that planners care less about message or delivery than about a speaker showing up on time and finishing on time. She calls the common checklist of a book, website, TEDx talk, podcast, and NSA or speaker bureau membership myths, noting she went two years without a website after a developer held her site hostage and was still booked for paid talks every month. According to her research, the top complaint from planners is that speakers do not know what they are doing.
Her outreach method is deliberately simple. Google is the first tool for finding events and planner emails. Instead of messaging planners on LinkedIn, which she says can get you blacklisted, find the event or website, locate an email address, and write from your own account. The first question is not a pitch but timing, asking when the next event is or when they look for speakers, since some events run every two, three, or four years. The real goal is getting onto the planner's internal speaker list, which Orly says receives an email at least two weeks before a public call. Fast replies win, and she cites a figure that 48% of speakers never respond to event planners. Eric tied that directly to the follow-through gap he sees among entrepreneurs.
Orly closes on mindset and commitment. The two biggest mistakes she sees are failing to own your value, since your knowledge was paid for with education, money, time, and experience, and quitting too soon. Her guarantee asks for roughly 30 minutes to an hour a day, five days a week, done consistently. She also promotes her weekly Speakers Exchange networking session and an annual Speakers and Authors Cruise, and explains that her drive comes from a nonprofit, which Eric named as the You Are My Light Foundation, building healing centers for rescued survivors of human trafficking.
Big Ideas Discussed
Treat Speaking as a Business and Stop Giving Talks Away
Orly Amor's central argument is that most speakers are not underpaid because the market lacks money, but because they never ask for it. She points to her own surprise in 2010, when three speakers in Arlington, Texas, told her they had only received expenses for the same kind of gig she was paid for. Her conclusion was that they were not running a business. Her rule now is that anyone who wants to be a paid speaker should stop speaking for free, unless selling from the stage is the deliberate model, which she notes is not how she works.
The practical first step is knowing where you sit on the market's fee range. Orly describes an industry value schematic that puts speakers with little paid history roughly between $1,000 and $5,000 per keynote, upcoming and corporate speakers between $5,000 and $10,000, B-list celebrity speakers around $20,000 to $50,000, and A-listers above $50,000. She says she fee-structures clients so they know where to start and how low not to go. Once a speaker lands the first couple of paid engagements, Eric Berman notes, they are officially a paid speaker with rates that rise with experience. For business owners who already speak to promote their companies, the takeaway is to price talks as a product rather than treat them as free marketing.
Event Planners Hire Reliability Before Message or Delivery
When Orly asked Eric whether event planners care more about a speaker's message or delivery, he picked message. She said it was a trick question: according to Orly, planners care most about a speaker showing up on time and finishing on time, which she says most speakers do not know how to do. Her book, Public Speakers, You're Not All That: 12 Reasons Why Event Planners Won't Hire You, came from interviews with more than 3,400 planners who pay speakers, and she says their number one complaint is that speakers do not know what they are doing.
That reframes what a new speaker should worry about. Orly calls the usual prerequisites, a book, a website, a TEDx talk, a podcast, and NSA or speaker bureau membership, myths. She went two years without a working website after a developer held her site hostage and says she was still being paid to speak every month. On topic selection, she groups hot topics into health, wealth, and relationships, with communication and leadership under relationships and AI fitting all three, so a speaker with a clear message can fit almost anywhere.
Use One Timing Question to Get on the Planner's Private Speaker List
Orly's outreach approach is built around the reality that event planners are overloaded. She cites a survey of the most stressful jobs that she says has ranked event planner coordinator fifth for five years, and asks whether a planner really has time to read a speaker's book or browse a website. Instead of pitching, she recommends finding the event or its website, locating the planner's email, and asking one question from your own email: when is your next event, or when do you look for speakers? If the answer is March, file it and contact them in March, year after year.
The goal of that first email is not a booking. It is getting onto the internal list planners use before a public call. Orly says planners email that list at least two weeks before going public, and the first people to respond are often the first hired. She warns that messaging planners through LinkedIn, including Sales Navigator, can get a speaker blacklisted. Combined with her claim that 48% of speakers never respond to event planners, the advantage goes to whoever is organized and fast.
Response Speed and Consistent Daily Effort Separate Paid Speakers
Orly told a story about a prospect who emailed event planners, left for vacation, and came back to find that three had said yes. When he followed up, two told him they had already hired the first three people to respond. Her advice was blunt: when you are reaching out to planners, check your email at least twice a day. Eric connected the story to a wider pattern he sees among entrepreneurs, where poor response time and follow-through hand an edge to anyone who replies quickly, including people relying on AI tools and assistants to stay responsive.
Orly also links results to consistency. She says the two reasons speakers do not get paid are that they do not know how and that they do not want to do the work. Her guarantee asks for roughly 30 minutes to an hour a day, five days a week. She adds that quitting too soon is one of the biggest mistakes she sees, alongside failing to own your value, and that some clients get booked right after their first session because they know what to say when an opportunity comes.
Questions We Answer in This Episode
How much should a new public speaker charge for a keynote?
Orly Amor says a speaker who has never been paid does not start at zero. Based on what she calls an industry value schematic, speakers who are new or not yet well-versed in the industry fall roughly between $1,000 and $5,000 per keynote, upcoming and corporate speakers earn $5,000 to $10,000, B-list celebrity speakers earn about $20,000 to $50,000, and A-listers earn $50,000 and up. She stresses that these figures are industry value, not her personal rate.
What should you say in your first email to an event planner?
Orly Amor recommends keeping the first email to one basic question: when is your next event, or when do you look for speakers? She says the goal is not to get booked from that email but to get on the planner's speaker list. If the planner says they look for speakers in March, file that and reach out in March. Eric Berman summarized the approach as keeping it simple, because the planner does not care about you yet.
Why does Orly Amor say not to contact event planners on LinkedIn?
Orly Amor says that contacting event planners through LinkedIn messages, whether through Sales Navigator or other messaging, can get a speaker blacklisted. She says people do it because they think it is the new or right approach. Instead, she advises finding the planner's event or website, locating their email address, and emailing them directly from your own private email account.
What do event planners care about most when hiring a speaker?
According to Orly Amor, event planners care most that a speaker shows up on time and finishes on time, not about the message or delivery. She says most speakers do not know how to do this. Orly based her views on interviews with more than 3,400 event planners who pay speakers for her book, Public Speakers, You're Not All That: 12 Reasons Why Event Planners Won't Hire You, and says their top complaint is that speakers do not know what they are doing.
Do you need a book, website, or TEDx talk to become a paid speaker?
Orly Amor says no. She calls the common requirements, including a book, a website, a TEDx talk, a podcast, and membership in the NSA or a speaker bureau, myths from a list of 20 she keeps. As proof, she describes going two years without a website after the developer she paid held her site hostage, while she says she was still being paid to speak every month.
How does Orly Amor guarantee speakers $150,000 in their first year?
Orly Amor guarantees $150,000 in a speaker's first year or she keeps working with them until they reach it. She compares it to a fast food job: if she can get you a job, she can guarantee minimum wage, and she says minimum wage in public speaking is $150K once you know what to do. She says the guarantee requires about 30 minutes to an hour a day, five days a week, done consistently.
Why does response time matter so much when working with event planners?
Orly Amor says planners email their existing speaker list at least two weeks before a public call, and the first speakers to respond are often the first hired. She cites a statistic that 48% of speakers never respond to event planners, and she recommends checking email at least twice a day during outreach. Eric Berman added that poor follow-through is common among entrepreneurs, so fast responders gain an edge.
Full Episode Transcript
Read the Full Episode Transcript
Getting Paid to Speak and a Guarantee That Raised Eyebrows
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Orly Amor: I'm a straight shooter. I'm not going to fluff it up. I'm not going to just tell you what you want to hear. Like many people say, oh, I have my bio. Yeah, not in the way they want to see it. I have my speaker sheet. Yeah, not the way they want to see it. And if you ever mention a one sheet, they'll close the deal on you. Not close, meaning get the deal. You lost the deal before you started.
Eric Berman: Welcome to Inside the Speakeasy podcast, and I'm so excited today to bring on Dr. Orly Amor. If you're out there wondering how can I get on stages, live stages, and actually make some money if you're going on stages, you are going to be so excited to listen to this episode, because we are talking to the business coach for public speakers. For decades, she's helped thousands of speakers, entrepreneurs, and professionals turn their message into a revenue-generating asset without speaking for free and without chasing opportunities. She's been on over 5,000 stages around the world. And most importantly, get this, she guarantees that you're going to get $150,000 in your first year from paid opportunities on stages. Otherwise, she keeps working with you until you get there. She guarantees it. My mouth dropped when I heard that. I'm like, what? Come on. Do you do that? And I said, you got to come on the show. I want to learn, but don't tell me in private. I want to bring you on live, and we're going to talk about how you're able to guarantee people they're going to make money from stages and what the formula is, or at least some of the formula. I know we can't give away everything, but you're going to teach us some really cool things today. Welcome from Orlando, one of our Orlando members of Speakeasy Mastermind, Dr. Orly.
Orly Amor: Thank you so much, Eric, for having me. And I love the Speakeasy family, so I'm very happy to be here.
Eric Berman: Excellent. Well, thank you. Well, I mean, I want to get into the good stuff, but I mean, I know it doesn't happen overnight. So maybe you can kind of take a step back and tell me a little bit about, like, how did you even get into what you're doing? And then I want to get to the gold here. Like, how are we making money on stages?
Orly Amor: Mm-hmm. It's a great question, but you know, it's a long answer. So I would love to just give you a little bit of it.
Eric Berman: Sounds good.
The Arlington Moment That Started Her Speaker Coaching Business
Orly Amor: You know, I didn't even know I was doing this business of public speaking on my own. I went to 31 countries, 18 states. I've been paid every single time. So I thought it was normal to get paid as a speaker. I never thought, I never even heard of pay to play, speak to sell, speak for free. I didn't even hear of this terminology until I got paid to speak in Arlington, Texas. And while I was in the break room for speakers, these three guys came over to me, and one of them said, aren't you Orly Amor? I said, yeah, do I know you? Sorry, I don't remember. So they said, oh no, we've never met before, but we've seen you on the circuit. And I'm like, okay, I'm a corporate speaker. So it was kind of, okay, maybe you saw me at a couple of events. I'm not saying no. Anyways, we started talking. You know how it goes, we're networking. At one point, one of them said to me, I'm just curious, how did you get this gig? And I said, well, I don't know. I called, I told them what I speak about. They paid me and I'm here. They all looked at me like if I had three heads. You got paid? And I'm like, no, you didn't? And they're like, no, we didn't get paid, but we got our expenses paid, but not paid. And I'm like, oh no, I got paid and I got my expenses paid. So at that point I was boasting. And it got me thinking, because that's the time I learned about pay to play, speak to sell, speak for free. I never even heard that terminology until that moment. And that was in 2010.
Eric Berman: Wow.
Orly Amor: So I went home and I decided to look at what I do and what I've been doing as a speaker. And then I realized, well, hold on a second. This is a business, and they're probably not doing the business because they're not asking for the money. Like, what's going on? And that's when I started coaching speakers. I went back to those three guys, by the way, and I told them that I don't know what I'm doing. Like, you can't make this shit up. I just basically said, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna guarantee you 150K your first year, or I work with you until you do. So to bring it back to your question, how do I guarantee that? My question to you and your listeners is, if I can guarantee you a job at McDonald's, anywhere USA, can I guarantee they start you at minimum wage? The answer is yes, it's the law. Well, minimum wage in public speaking is 150K. It's easy to guarantee it once you know what to do, right?
Eric Berman: Okay, well, hold on. You got me curious here.
Orly Amor: I know.
Eric Berman: The listener here is saying, let's go more before we do that. You mentioned a couple of things. So you started by, you were working for a corporation. You were a corporate trainer, and that's like, tell us about you.
Orly Amor: No, no, no. I started by booking myself in corporations. I'm a trained profiler.
Eric Berman: Okay.
Orly Amor: So yeah, I'm a certified behavior analyst and a trained profiler. So I go into corporations teaching them how to close the deal 98% of the time through profiling, not through Sales 101. So I've been doing this for years, all over the world. I've been brought in for that kind of, you know, bring up the bottom line kind of thing. The other one is your network is your net worth. If you don't make enough money, you don't know enough people. And you know that, Eric, I read your book, Proximity Pays.
Eric Berman: Totally. Yes.
Orly Amor: And so it's not what I speak on. The business side of public speaking is not my topic. It's really how to close the deal.
Eric Berman: Right. That's what you're talking about. Okay. That's interesting too. We could probably go down that rabbit hole later about being a profiler and what that means. That's quite fascinating.
Orly Amor: Fine. Yes.
Paid Speaking Market Statistics and Setting Your First Fee
Eric Berman: Okay. So maybe we'll circle back to that if we have time. But okay, so back to, you were good at teaching something. You're out there, you were getting paid every time. Yeah. The light bulb went off when all of a sudden you're like, wait a second, there's all these people not getting paid, and they're [unclear]. You're like, this seems so foreign. You're like, working for free? What's wrong with you? You're not even getting your minimum wage here. You're flipping burgers and doing fries and you're not getting paid. What's going on? Well, let's get into it a little bit. I mean, what can we share? What are we all doing wrong here?
Orly Amor: Okay. Well, first of all, we need to know our worth in the industry, right? I had somebody come to me and say, how much do you charge? And I said, well, right now I'm a $10,000 speaker. And they're like, oh, that's what I should be charging. I said, when was the last time you made $10,000 for a speech? And they're like, oh, I never made money. I'm like, that's where we need to start. Let's talk about industry value versus my value, right? But here's another thing that people are not knowing about this industry. I'm going to give you three statistics that are going to blow your mind. 64,000 events a day in America alone, Canada and the United States, pay speakers.
Eric Berman: 64,000 a day?
Orly Amor: A day pay speakers. Pay speakers. Yet most speakers make less than $30,000 a year speaking. Some people are making it good, but I'm just going to go to the average, right? Average speaker makes about $30,000 a year, which is unbelievable because there's so much opportunity. The second statistic that I'm going to share with you is that this year alone, the industry will be spending $118.9 billion on events and speakers. I don't know about you, but I'm already having a piece of that pie, you know? There is so much money, and people just don't know how to do this business. And then the third statistic is that we're one million speakers short in the world.
Eric Berman: Okay. Yeah.
Orly Amor: And the industry is starving for women speakers. We are, women are just 1.9 of all the speakers in the world. It's horrible. 1.9%. Yeah, I know, it's like, this is like, I told you I'll blow your mind. People don't know this industry. I know this industry inside and out. I studied it, you know what I'm saying?
Eric Berman: Yep. Okay, well, that's some great stats. I mean, obviously, all those who are listening are immediately jumping to, okay, supply and demand here. There's a massive demand, way bigger than any of us thought, and there's not enough supply. If you're a female, my amazing female listeners, hope you're really getting excited here. Major, massive shortage. I think intuitively a lot of women I know that are great all around, they realized too that there's opportunities to get them on stages. Even in Speakeasy events, we're always like, we need more women. It's like, we want to get more women on stages. All right. I love the data. So clearly what you're saying is no matter what our mental limitations are, thinking there's no money out there, we got to beat that, because the data is completely telling us the opposite. There's money out there. You just need to know how to get it and to get out there. You also said the value, where do you start? Well, okay, let's go back to that question, or you can go whatever direction you want, which is how do we help determine, if I've never been on stage before, I got to start somewhere. Can't be zero because I'm starting at zero.
Orly Amor: No, it's not zero. It's definitely not zero. You fall between, so if you've never been paid before, you fall between, and there is an industry value schematic that I can share, usually on PowerPoint. But the speaker that has started or just not yet, you know, well-versed in the speaking industry will make between a thousand and 5,000. But where do you stand between those two numbers is something that we need to have a conversation for. That's why I fee structure people, because they need to know where they can start and how much not to go under. Because then the event planners are gonna say, well, you don't know what you're doing. Upcoming and corporate speakers make between five and 10,000, right? And then there's the more celebrity kind, not totally A-listers, B-listers, would make about 20 to 50. And then there is the A-listers that would make about 50 plus, okay? For one talk, for one keynote. Let's just talk about keynote right now. We can get into the other one later. But that's the industry value, not my value. But when you know where you need to start, how much have you ever been paid? You gotta know that. And then you gotta make that money in order for the industry to recognize you as a paid speaker. I tell people all the time, if you wanna be paid as a speaker, stop speaking for free. Unless you're really good at selling from stage, and that's your model, and that's okay. I don't sell from stage. I don't know how, and I don't want to. That's what I do.
Eric Berman: Yeah. And then you have your rates. Like, this is my rates, this is what I do. You're saying go get that first couple, now you're officially a paid speaker. These are your rates. And I guess with more experience, rates go up like any other experiential thing. Step one is, you know, help identify where you fit, what your rates are.
Orly Amor: Yep. That's a misconception, where you fit.
Eric Berman: Okay. Good. Help me.
What Event Planners Really Care About and the Three Hot Topics
Orly Amor: Yeah. Yes, I'll help you for sure. Because when people are thinking, so my tagline is, if you have a message, somebody's willing to pay for it. You want to play a game with me for the audience?
Eric Berman: Yeah. I want to get on some stages. I got a book out, as you know, Dr. Orly.
Orly Amor: Okay. So do you have a great message? And by the way, disclaimer, if you're passionate about anything, you do have a great message. So can you say yes to that?
Eric Berman: Yes, we all have a great message.
Orly Amor: All have a great message.
Eric Berman: So we need a coach like you to help get it out of us. Yes.
Orly Amor: No, not at all. And here's the other thing. Do you think you're a great speaker? And by the way, disclaimer, if you are passionate about anything, you're a great speaker. You don't have to worry about it. So would you say you're a great speaker?
Eric Berman: That's an interesting question.
Orly Amor: Yes, Eric. Say yes. It's okay.
Eric Berman: Yes. Sure. Yes.
Orly Amor: Eric, it's good.
Eric Berman: Because when I'm passionate about it, it becomes easy to speak about the thing you're passionate about.
Orly Amor: That's right. I love it. Yep. So between the speaking part or the messaging part, which one of these two do you think event planners care about most? Your message, or your delivery, your speaking?
Eric Berman: My message.
Orly Amor: Okay. It was a trick question. That's why I wanted you to play this game with me, because it's neither. Okay? They want you to show up on time and finish on time, which most speakers don't know how to do. Okay. Now, it doesn't matter if you're a bad speaker. They're not going to call you back, but you have 64 other thousand events that will book you, right? And that's what I like to share with people, is that you care about, oh, well, what do I fit, or what message should I have, and which genre should I be talking about, because it's the hot part of this industry. And let me tell you, there's only three pillars of hot topic, right? There is health, wealth, and relationship. Communication, leadership are all falling under the third one. And then people come out to me and say, well, what about AI? And I'm like, AI fits in all three. So don't worry about it. You fit everywhere. That's how you go out, everywhere, everywhere. You should go everywhere.
Eric Berman: That's right. I love it. Okay. So we all have the message. We all are good speakers. It doesn't matter. We just got to go perform and get our poop together and get in and out for the time we have. All right. It's great. I like it.
Event Planner Research and the Myths About What Speakers Need
Orly Amor: I wrote a book called Public Speakers, You're Not All That: 12 Reasons Why Event Planners Won't Hire You. I interviewed over 3,400 event planners that actually pay speakers for this book. It took me four and a half years out of my own time and my own dime to get it from the horse's mouth. Many people think that they need so many things before they can become a paid speaker. Let me tell you a few things that you might have heard that you need to have in order to get paid. So you need a book. They're all myths, okay? Things that people think they need. People think they need this because they've been told in the industry that they need this, right? You need to have a website, you need to have a TEDx talk, you need to have a podcast, you need to have a blah, blah, blah, and the list goes on and on and on. You need to be a part of the NSA and the Speaker Bureau and blah, blah, blah. All myths. None of that. I have 20, I have a list of 20. None of it are true. And I'm full proof of it. My website got hacked and was stolen from me. The guy who I paid to redo my website took it to his GoDaddy, doesn't want to give it back, and holds it hostage for thousands of dollars. And by principle, I didn't pay him. So orlyamor.com does not exist anymore because I won't pay him the money. Not that I don't have it. It's my principle. You did something wrong and you should not be paid. So I created meetorlyamor.com, right? But at the same time, nobody knows you. Why would they go look for your website? It took me two years to get over that whole hump, and I didn't have a website for two years. So how did I get paid six to eight times a month, right? And so I realized that I have something here that can show people how to function as a business first. Okay? Then they'll get paid. It's the easy part. Getting all your ducks in a row is the hard part. Why? Because in my book, actually, the number one thing that event planners are saying is speakers don't know what they're doing. That's what they're thinking of you guys. You know what I mean? They're thinking you don't know what you're doing. That's why you're not making it. That's why you're not getting paid or whatever. People ask from desperation instead of owning. And many things I say to my clients, but one of them is in this business, we don't earn respect. We demand it.
Eric Berman: Hmm. Okay. So what I'm hearing so far, a lot of it's just the attitude shift, the way we present ourselves. And tell me more. So what are the planners looking for? How do we get those gigs?
Eric Berman: Everything you hear on this show comes back to one idea, proximity. I wrote the book on it, literally, Proximity Pays, my bestselling book, available now at proximitypays.com.
Google, Networking, and Why LinkedIn Messages Backfire
Orly Amor: Well, the first friend you really have is Google. You can look up events. You can look up their emails on the events, and you can definitely contact them. It depends on what you say and how you say it. And then it's about getting on a call with an event planner and knowing what to say and how to say it, how much you charge, when you charge, how to scale. This is a business. And that's why I love the fact that I exist, but I'm still the only one in the world, after 16 years coaching speakers all over the world. I'm still the only one that does it in writing. Why is that? Because not only do I do what I tell people to do, I walk my talk. How many people you know that walk their talk? In this industry, not to name anyone, but yes, there's many people that don't walk their talk.
Eric Berman: Yeah. Okay. So you're training your clients on, first of all, macro. There's tons of opportunities. Macro, get your poo poo together, believe in yourself, get your message down, know where you stand, believe, let's get your price point. Once you have kind of the fundamentals there, then it's a matter of, okay, now where do we go find them? And you're saying, well, there's a lot of techniques. There's probably a number of ways which you teach people, I imagine a whole seven of them.
Orly Amor: Yeah, there's seven of them.
Eric Berman: Okay. Are you able to talk about a macro?
Orly Amor: Well, one of them is network. Tell people you're a speaker and start charging. It doesn't matter what you charge, just start charging. Stop speaking for free to begin with, because that's when you're telling the universe, everybody, that you're a free speaker. And many people come to me and they're like, yeah, I was told I'm supposed to speak for free for 100 times because I need to get exposure. And I'm like, you want exposure? By the way, Eric, I have no filter between my brain and my mouth, just a warning. You want exposure? Go outside. The sun is going to give you plenty, but it's certainly not going to pay the bills, right? And people like that about me, because I'm a straight shooter. I'm not going to fluff it up. I'm not going to just tell you what you want to hear. Like many people say, oh, I have my bio. Yeah, not in the way they want to see it. Oh, I have my speaker sheet. Yeah, not the way they want to see it. And if you ever mention a one sheet, they'll close the deal on you. Not close, meaning get the deal. You lost the deal before you started.
Eric Berman: Got it. It almost reminds me of, the analogy in my head is a little bit like PR, public relations. Like, there's somebody on the other side of all these TVs and the newspapers, these formulas of, like, how to get to them, what to say. So it's a similar concept, right? Like, you don't send the one, you do this. This is what you send to them. You don't send if they didn't ask. How many people send stuff to event planners? They never asked them for it. You want to get them interested. You want them to ask for your stuff. You got to become the prize, I imagine. There's a psychology there, right? You got to be wanted. Or so.
Orly Amor: Yes.
Eric Berman: Okay, so there's networking, there's just straight Google search. What else is there?
Orly Amor: Also, when you're contacting event planners, like many people tell me, I contact event planners on LinkedIn. I'm like, let me give you a secret. If you contact event planners on LinkedIn, on messaging, like a messenger kind of thing, whether it's in the Sales Navigator or other, it doesn't matter. You just got blacklisted. Okay? Right? People are doing the wrong thing because they think it's the new thing or the right thing to do. That's not how to do it. You wanna get to them, you need to find their event or their website, go find out what their email is, and email them from your private email. That's what you need to be doing.
The First Email to an Event Planner and Getting on the Speaker List
Eric Berman: So let's walk down that path. I'm just trying, I mean, if we can get one or two good takeaways from, this is really good, the macro, let's go down this one. So I find somebody on LinkedIn in my city. Let's just say they're an event planner.
Orly Amor: Yes.
Eric Berman: One of these, lots of events that are going on in, let's say, San Diego, or your city, Orlando.
Orly Amor: Yeah.
Eric Berman: I reach out to them. I found them on LinkedIn. What am I saying in that first email?
Orly Amor: Well, when is your next event? Because here's what you're assuming, that you saw the event or that you... because maybe their event... And here's an umbrella comment here that's very important. Some events happen once a year, twice a year, three times a year, four times a year, right? But there's also events that happen every two years, every three years, every four years, like elections. So you need to be careful of who you're talking to, event planners. They did a survey on the most stressful jobs in America, Canada and the United States, 100 most stressful jobs. Number one was military jet fighter plane pilot. Number two was air traffic controller. Number five, for the last five years, is event planner coordinator. You really think they have time to read your book, go to your website, listen to your nonsense on your emails and all that stuff? No, they don't have time for it. So when people are not getting responses from event planners, they say, oh, this shit doesn't work, or this doesn't work. And I'm like, no, no, no, that's not true. You need to understand the psychology behind this, because if they're not looking for speakers, what are you contacting them for? So if you say to them, when are you looking for speakers, typically, whatever, right? So they'll tell you, oh, we don't look for speakers until March. Great. Well, you know what? Put it in your folder for who to call in March. If you're organized enough, you'll get all the ones that are in March and just keep calling people year after year after year, because they're doing it all the time, the same time.
Eric Berman: Okay. So your first question, event planners, what I'm reading between the lines is keep it simple. Don't talk about yourself. They don't care about you yet. You're asking one basic question. When are you looking for speakers for your next event? That's it. Or, when is your next event? And then you can come back. Like, if they respond, you can say, oh, our next event is in September next year, because they already booked this year, or something like that. Right? When are you looking for speakers? And then you say, okay, great. When do you look for speakers? Do you ask them, like, what kind of speakers? Or you just say, when are you looking for speakers?
Orly Amor: No, because what happens is that you really just want to go on the event planner's list of speakers. That's what you want. Your end result is not to get booked from that first email. It's really to get on their list. Why is that? Because they have a list of speakers that they will reach out to when they're looking for speakers. Before they go public looking for speakers, at least two weeks before they go public, they send an email to their list of speakers that are already on their list. If they kept you on their list, consider yourself very lucky, because you will get that email. And if you're one of the first ones to respond to them, you're the first one to get hired.
Response Time, Follow-Through, and Consistency as the Edge
Orly Amor: People don't believe me until it happens to them. One person that wanted to hire me, he didn't, but here's the thing. He came on the call with me, and he was all peeved because he went on vacation, and before he went on vacation, he sent out a bunch of emails on his own. I didn't know him. And so he came back from his vacation, and he reached out to the three event planners that responded, that said yes, they would be interested to hire him. Is that right? And then he says to me, he's all peeved, because he said that two of them told him that they hired the first three people that responded. And I said to him, and you know I have no filter, I said, where did you go on vacation, Planet Mars? Like, where did you go that you couldn't check? Because you're reaching out to event planners, this is the time to check your email, at least twice a day. Are you kidding me, right?
Eric Berman: Yeah.
Orly Amor: And here is what I want to say to that, right? It's all about the response time. Let me tell you a statistic. 48% of speakers never respond to event planners. That is so sad.
Eric Berman: It's so funny, because this is music to my ears, because I've learned doing what I'm doing here that the response time and the follow-through of a lot of entrepreneurs is, I hate to say it, very, very low and poor and all that kind of stuff. And I always say, for those that have high follow-through and response times, they're going to gain an edge because they're fast to respond. I mean, I totally agree with what you're saying, because you're right. People are busy doing things. They don't have time. These event planners are just like, make my job easy. Okay, great, you're responding. Great, let's move on. I have to solve this problem in the next 48 hours.
Orly Amor: That's true.
Eric Berman: I'm talking to you. I can't remember the other 10 people I talked to over six months ago.
Orly Amor: Right.
Eric Berman: So that's right. And I think it's a lesson for those people out there that are relying heavily on their AIs and their assistants on being responsive and getting out there when these opportunities come up. Okay. So that's really important. I think what I'm hearing and sensing is you're teaching how to do basic, simple things, but there's a structure. There's a formula. Casting a huge net, being on the ball, being responsive, saying the right things, and just, it's a numbers game. You just go out there as much as you can. But is it any business?
Orly Amor: Yeah, it's a number.
Eric Berman: Yeah, you get out there and don't be afraid, and just say, look, I'm going to go out there and do all these things, and at some point, calls are going to come in.
Orly Amor: Consistency is key. People who go through my program sometimes get booked right after the first session.
Eric Berman: Wow.
Orly Amor: Because they know what to say. They know what to say. Opportunity arrived, and they knew what to say, so they got the deal.
Opening Doors Through Your Network and Staying Top of Mind
Eric Berman: Right. So the devil, there's a lot of macro. Obviously, you teach a lot of things within the weeds. Okay, you do get the call, here's what to say, here's how to get their interest, here's what you do, here's the emails you go out. That's great. And that's a pro. So I think for those listening, there's a lot of little things here. Google, LinkedIn, finding event planners, any other kind of, like, little nuggets there? And then I'm going to talk about some of the other things that you're working on.
Orly Amor: Your network is your net worth, isn't it?
Eric Berman: Yep.
Orly Amor: So [unclear] network. Exactly. Ask, tell everybody in your network, I'm a public speaker. If you know of any opportunities, would you please introduce me to leaders of groups or events that are looking for speakers? Forget the hiring part, because you can get to that conversation later. But you can absolutely get the door opened. You know, one of my clients, she hasn't even finished the program yet, but she was able to talk to somebody that knew that now she's taking this program. And they said to her, oh, they need somebody. It's going to be 10K. And I was like laughing, because she didn't even have her speaker sheet yet. So I said, okay, let's do it then. You know, and she's like, okay, because I need to give it to them this weekend. So I was there. And that's what I tell people. I'm there to hold your hand until you make it. But here's the other thing. My condolences in advance, if you ever want to work with me, you have me for life. Because there's a lot of nuances that you're going to make mistakes. But I already walked that talk, so I already know what you're going to face, and I can help you close the deal. I have clients who have made hundreds of thousands of dollars from one contract.
Eric Berman: Right, right. Amazing. And I'm going to say, you didn't say it, but I know this is the way you think, I'm following you now. Even if you're in the networking events, don't assume because you're bringing it up once that everybody's going to remember. All these things, it's top of mind. Like, you're going to have to say it all the time. You want to get known. Every time you have a chance, tell people this is what you do, this is what you do. Because at some point, in that moment, nobody may have a lead for you. But when you keep saying it, you want to be top of mind. That seems like to be the goal here, right? You got to be in people's spaces enough times. Just keep going at it until they're like, okay, I'm now ready for you.
Orly Amor: Yes. First call. Yes, for sure.
The Speakers Exchange and the Speakers and Authors Cruise
Eric Berman: Love it. Okay. And then, so is this what you're doing? I see two boards up on your, well, I see Speakers Exchange. Tell me about Speakers Exchange and Authors Cruise.
Orly Amor: So the Speakers Exchange is every week. It's on Wednesdays from noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. You can come and really network with some amazing people. Some of them are event planners, podcast hosts, so on and so on. So you might meet people that will open the doors for you. You never know. You just never know. Every week I'm surprised by who's there and so on. Then there's the Speakers and Authors Cruise that happens every year. This year it's from the 26th of September to the 3rd of October, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And we do this every year. So you get on stage, you get feedback from the audience as well as the pros to refine a three-minute speech. Because the premise of it is that, let's say you get hired, Eric, for an hour talk, right? You got paid $10,000, and you get to the stage. You're all rehearsed. You're all prepared. Everything is good. You look amazing. And now they're mic'ing you just before you go on stage, and the event planner comes all nice and stressed, and saying, I'm sorry, Eric, but I need you to cut it to five minutes. And you're like, what? Hold on a second. Which slide can I omit? Or what do I have to do now? Like, which story do I tell? So we teach you to do the hardest speech ever, and then teach you a framework that you can expand on to do a longer speech. So it's cool, because everybody gets on stage.
Eric Berman: Nice.
Orly Amor: Yeah, it's really cool. It's really cool. And we get pictures and videos, so more assets for people.
Eric Berman: We'll drop those links in the content when we post this, for those that are not watching on YouTube. I'm going to take my phone and I'm going to just do that QR code right now, because I'm interested in those, and I'll save that for later. But wow, that's really cool.
The Two Biggest Mistakes Speakers Make and the Time Commitment
Eric Berman: Okay. What else? Maybe kind of as we sort of exit through this, because I know we're coming up on our time.
Orly Amor: Right.
Eric Berman: Maybe the top couple, like, biggest mistakes that authors and speakers, you say, are making. And then maybe we'll flip that and say, if they just had to do one or two things differently, where would you start?
Orly Amor: One is own your value. I don't care how old you are, where you've been, what you've done. You've paid for what you know today. You paid with education, money, time, blood, sweat and tears, aggravations, experiences. No one can take that away from you. It's your intellectual property. Why not get paid for it?
Eric Berman: Right. So imposter syndrome is a real deal, and we got to get over it.
Orly Amor: It is, absolutely.
Eric Berman: Okay, and that was kind of a tip and a share at the same time. That was a mistake and a share at the same time. I like it.
Orly Amor: Uh-huh, it is, totally, yes. The second mistake is quitting too soon, right? Everybody is six seconds away from the miracle, because they just don't want to do it consistently. There's two reasons why speakers don't get paid. They don't know how, so we can't blame them for that. You don't know what you don't know. But they also don't want to do the work. The guarantee I give is like one hour a day, five days a week. What do you mean you can't give an hour a day to your business? It doesn't make sense. So that's the laziness. I'm sorry, I'm going to call it what it is. It's lazy.
Eric Berman: Got it. So that's actually interesting. For those that are interested, because you have such a great offer on getting $150,000 on stages, outside of, well, actually, well, they can reach out to you if they're interested in more. But as far as their time investment, you said one hour a day for five days. What's their time investment?
Orly Amor: Maybe 30 to an hour a day in the beginning, five days a week. The guarantee is there. Do it consistently. Stay in touch with me consistently. Have me in your corner, because, you know, my condolences in advance, when you do decide to work with me, you have me for life.
Paying It Forward Through Healing Centers for Trafficking Survivors
Eric Berman: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think I'm getting it. Anybody listening to Dr. Orly here realizes, I'm sure she's the first to tell you, you know, like anything, you can't just hope and pray and think happy thoughts that you're going to get $150,000 a year. You got to do the work. But she's created an incredible formula that if you do the consistent work, bingo, you're going to have success, and she guarantees it. So I think it's hard to beat that. And so please definitely check her out if you're interested in learning more about that and getting on some stages and leveling up everything you're doing out there. Is there anything I didn't ask that you want to cover with respect to the stuff you're teaching?
Orly Amor: Well, the reason I do what I do, because a lot of people come to me and say, well, I'm not really, I don't care if I don't make money. Well, you know, I'll tell you, you got to pay it forward. I don't need the money either. But the thing is that I have a nonprofit. We are building healing centers for rescued victims of human trafficking, sex and labor slavery, so that we can give them back their God-given right to life, freedom, education, and autonomy. We want more people to get on our board. We want more people to know what we're working on and to join us. So if you don't know what to do with your money, give it to a charity. I don't care if it's mine. My point is, pay it forward. If you really have that kind of money that you don't need it, go ahead, give it away, because we're not going to take it to the grave with us, are we?
Eric Berman: Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. I apologize, I didn't ask about that. I do have that in my notes. So yeah, that would say You Are My Light Foundation, and helping build healing centers for survivors of human trafficking. What a wonderful cause. Thank you for doing all the work there. Excellent. And thank you so much for your time today and sharing some great words of wisdom. I appreciate you.
Orly Amor: Thank you, Eric. Thank you so much for being our leader.
Eric Berman: Thank you. Have a great day.
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About The Guest
Orly Amor
Orly Amor is a business coach for public speakers who teaches speakers, entrepreneurs, and professionals to treat their message as a paid business. A certified behavior analyst and trained profiler who holds an MBA and a law degree, she built her own speaking career teaching corporations how to close deals through profiling, and she says she was paid for talks across 31 countries and 18 states. After a 2010 speaking engagement in Arlington, Texas, she began coaching speakers on the business side of the industry, offering a guarantee of $150,000 in a speaker's first year. Orly is the author of Public Speakers, You're Not All That: 12 Reasons Why Event Planners Won't Hire You, based on interviews with more than 3,400 event planners. She hosts The Speakers Exchange, a free weekly networking session, runs an annual speakers cruise, and founded the You Are My Light Foundation, which is building healing centers for survivors of human trafficking. She is based in Orlando and is a member of Speakeasy Mastermind.
