You don’t need to be landing keynotes to land more (paid) speaking opportunities in 2025. In fact…

Let me explain.

As far as ‘getting paid to speak’ strategies go, keynote speaking alone is a pretty terrible one. It requires a significantly higher barrier to entry than delivering workshops. Especially if you want to get paid for it.

Why?

Because event organisers use keynote speakers to generate a sense of excitement about the events they are running.

For public events like industry conferences, that’s code for ‘selling tickets.’
For important events happening inside organisations that’s code for ‘look who we are able to get, aren’t we impressive!’

That means you’re going to need:

1. Industry fame 🤩
   Be widely recognised as a leading expert in your field (a social media following/books can help with this).
   

2. Notable experiences/insights/achievements ⚡️
   Like founding/exiting a recognisable company, starting a movement that’s gained traction, achieving a superhuman feat. etc.
   

3. Relevance 🔮
   Because the stories that might get us ‘there’ in the first place, won’t keep us there. It’s why the keynote speakers that stand the test of time are at the forefront of emerging trends around their field (this is massively overlooked).
   

4. A proven track record 👍
   It’s why having glowing testimonials from recognisable names/orgs, as well as storing recordings of you speaking is so important.
   
   [I collect and store all my testimonials in Senja (affiliate)].
   

5. A strong, close network 👥
   Most engagements come through recommendation. So being top of mind with company decision makers, event curators/producers and other speakers is critical.

On top of that, you’re going to have to compete with people who tick all of the boxes above AND are willing to speak for fee, like Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia.

It’s why your speaking business is far better off as a side-hustle, than it is your primary income generator. Free engagements are hard to resent if they drive the right people to your other products.

Workshops on the other hand…

1. Can happen every day (rather than at the annual company event)
   E.g. From low-budget ‘lunch and learns’ (from £1500+) to high-budget, leadership team offsites (from £5k-£30k for mere mortals like us).

2. Provide more tangible value
   Because they are centred around solving a problem that matters to the people booking them. (That means you can charge more)

3. Have the opportunity for upsell
   E.g. Selling across departments or turning one session into a multi-part series.

In other words, they are a far more reliable way to build a speaking business.

I’m not saying, stop offering keynotes.
I am saying, offer keynotes AND workshops.

Head to the website of a thought leader who is ahead of you on their journey, and you will see they offer workshops too.

The best bit?

Workshops can lead to keynotes. In fact, delivering a small storytelling workshop was how I ended up speaking at Adobe Summit a few years back.

But if you want to be landing keynotes, workshops or ideally both this year, you’re going to need to position yourself strategically.

What are the hot topics for thought leaders in 2025 (according to the bureaus and agents)? 🔥

I’ve been having some really interesting chats with the people booking thought leaders for keynotes and workshops over the last few weeks. Here’s their take:

1. Economics
   E.g. Trade wars, cost of living crisis, future of work

2. Workplace Culture 
   E.g. Return to office mandates, building trust, psychological safety

3. Effective Leadership
   E.g. Managing multi-generational teams, disrupting markets, communicating a vision,

4. Politics
   E.g. Geopolitics, corporate advocacy, global governance

5. Mental Health
   E.g. Burnout prevention, stress management, resilience, imposter syndrome

6. Practical applications of AI
   E.g. AI Agents, AI powered creativity, AI product development

I’ll leave you with two questions to consider:

1. Which of these hot topics align most closely with your expertise?

2. Is this clear in how you’re marketing yourself?
   (And if not, how might you need to reposition yourself without compromising your core values or expertise this year)

Go get ‘em!

Alex