Speaker Resources
Explore expert advice on finding speaking engagements in Chicago, building your professional brand, and mastering public speaking. Our ‘Speaker Resources’ series is the ultimate resource for pro bono and professional speakers in the Chicagoland area.
Learn public speaking tips and how to be a better presenter to maximize your public speaking experience. Content is written by Free Speakers staff, experts in public speaking, professional speakers, and Free Speakers Chicago speakers.
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Build Your Influence and Find Speaking Engagements in Chicago
Want to find speaking engagements in Chicago? Free Speakers Chicago connects vetted speakers with Rotary clubs, chambers of commerce, libraries and other groups, so you can build your brand, sharpen your skills and become known as an expert.
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Beyond Business Cards: Why Free Speaking Engagements Are Your Best Marketing Tool (opens in a new tab)
Public speaking is an overlooked marketing tool, even when the talk is free. Free Speakers explains how speaking engagements make you the go-to expert, build a more genuine network than business cards, and carry your message further than an ad.
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Speaking with Confidence: It’s not a Presentation, It’s a Conversation (opens in a new tab)
Forget picturing the audience in their underwear. Treat public speaking as a conversation instead. Practical tips for speaking with confidence, from choosing what your audience cares about to dropping hedges like "I think" that undercut you.
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How to Turn Speaking Opportunities into Massive Amounts of New Business (opens in a new tab)
Business coach Tom Kelly explains why he speaks for free to groups that cannot pay his fee. Speaking puts you in front of a whole room as the expert, and the new business it brings in far exceeds his normal speaking fees.
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Free to Fee: How FreeSpeakers.org launched my professional speaking career (opens in a new tab)
Motivational speaker Doug Dvorak joined FreeSpeakers.org to gain experience and spoke more than 35 times for free in his first year. The paid requests that followed launched his professional speaking career. Here is how he made the move from free to fee.
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Speak More and Sell More with Confidence (opens in a new tab)
Former IndyCar trackside engineer Nadine Haupt found that her free talks as a new business coach drew applause but no clients. She explains what she changed so that speaking brought in leads and sales.
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No-Fee Public Speaking Yields Wonderful Advantages (opens in a new tab)
Speaking for free is terrific public relations, networking at its finest and community service, writes Ginny Richardson. She shares how her free talks on getting publicity turned audience members into clients for her PR firm, and how to pick and polish your own topic.
