We recently hosted the brilliant Aleyda Solis in our WTS Community Slack for an Ask Me Anything (AMA).

For 1 hour, Aleyda answered WTS member questions posted in our #general-career channel about all things pitching to speak at conferences.

Aleyda is a well known and highly experienced International SEO consultant.

She provides personalized and strategic SEO advice, training, and ongoing support through her boutique SEO consultancy, Orainti and a free weekly industry newsletter over at SEOFOMO.

Aleyda also has a brilliant free resource on this topic that you can see here:

➡️ Pitching & Structuring a Talk - by Aleyda Solis

Want to join our next AMA or check out what else the WTS Community Slack has to offer? Head over here for more info.

Now let's dive into the AMA...

How do you find speaking opportunities?

• I keep my eyes open in social media of people I follow / peers / industry leaders / people I look up to / etc. and where they share they go
• I keep monitoring “search/seo/digital marketing events” in my alerts (I need to do this for SEOFOMO too… I have an events section that I update there every week)
• I write and read my own newsletter where I include the top upcoming events… I spot the ones I would love to join next year for example and keep an eye open to pitch, etc.

I also share the new upcoming ones I see myself to be attractive in SEOFOMO My newsletter! I also have a list in the seofomo site:

https://hub.seofomo.co/events/

I need to update with those in Q1 next year in the next weeks, should be updated soon!

How do you choose your topic for a speaker pitch?

This should be based on your own expertise/experience - what you love to do/share and who the audience is you’re going to share it with.

If possible, I would highly recommend to ask the organizer what’s the profile of the audience and what type of topics they usually request or like the most, and based on that, you can personalize it.

If not possible, take a look at the past editions of the event to see what was covered in the agenda, the overall focus of what has been already presented and choose a new angle of the type of topics the event tend to like to feature because of audience preferences.

I always think:

• What have I done lately that I have found particularly useful/exciting?
• What I have shared in social media / posted on my blog that has become very popular?
• What topics in SEOFOMO are usually the most popular/clicked on?
• I try to develop surveys/polls to gather data about what people think about key topics and use those for new topic ideas (eg. Technical SEO trends, SEO consulting trends)

What I believe is key here is that you know what you like to cover, what are your strengths, and you can blend what you know you’re good at. Much more important than what’s attractive or looked upon by the audience at the moment.

How do I choose a topic based on what the event organizers need?

I would say that even if an organizer might go to X or Y specialist who are very well known to cover certain topics, and you might think:

“I can’t compete with them for the same slot”

What’s important here is your own “unique selling proposing” and the unique angle and insight you bring to the table.

An example, even if I’m not the most well known person to speak about EEAT or Updates Analysis and the organizers might have other people in mind for this and prioritize that other people, I have options.

What I can definitely do is pitch a different angle more aligned with my own expertise:

“EEAT trends across International Markets: Similarities, Differences and How to prioritize” or “EEAT for Ecommerce Sites: What to avoid and what to focus on for growth”

I believe there’s always something new you can bring to the table, it’s about creativity and finding what you’re great at vs what the organizer/audience is looking

How do you choose the length of your speaker pitch? Which details are essential vs. what can be left out?

Ohhhh - this is a great question, thank you!

Soooo I literally do a short paragraph: 2-3 lines max introducing the topic and then 3 bullet points about what the audience will learn. Example:

Description Example for the “How to Forecast Your SEO Traffic (and Revenue) in Google Sheets from Scratch” talk:

In this SEO forecasting session, the audience will learn:

• How to develop SEO forecasts that can be used to win support by decision makers
• Key aspects to take into account for effective organic search traffic and revenue forecasting
• To understand how to Use Google Sheets functions to develop SEO forecasts for free

Short and sweet to avoid wasting the time of the organizer… they need to go through dozens (hundreds) of pitches!

So make it easy for them to understand what you’re pitching and if it’s a fit or not.

I have seen people going through their CV in their pitch … although I can understand the urge to show your credentials, believe me: there are fields for that in the form (eg. past experience) … keep your pitch right to the point.

📝 Note from your WTS Team: Here's an example of a successful WTSFest talk pitch by the brilliant Helen Pollitt.

How do I adapt my topic based on what the event? For example, would the same topic have a different pitch for WTSFest, brightonSEO, & SMX?

Only if the audiences have the same preferences and they have little overlap, so even if someone sees you in one or the other, they’ll see something new.

In general, I believe you can be creative enough to present about those topics you have more interest and expertise on (eg. international SEO, ecommerce, Search Updates, Technical SEO audits, etc) and personalize them to try to make them as unique and appealing for each audience … without having to start from scratch!

For example, at the start of last year I started covering AI Overviews (SGE) while they were still being tested… my topic what:

“What’s new in SGE, where things are going, what can we expect”….

I had the same topic across 3-4 different events in the first 3-4 months of the year.

In each one of them, I had something new and different.

And in none of them did I just present the same stuff.

Mainly because:

1) SGE/AIOs were always changing, I had always something new to present on, a new latest trend/insight/evolution

2) I personalized the examples based on the audience (if it was in Norway, my examples were for Norwegian topics, if it was an ecommerce event, examples were focused on ecommerce)

So even if you decide you want to stick to a topic because you have a very clear expertise/preference, this doesn’t mean it will be exactly the same for each audience.

You should personalize the pitch and presentation content based on what’s new or particularly useful/attractive/interesting for that particular scenario.

In general though, I would suggest you stick with 2-3 topics max, to avoid having to start new pitches/decks from scratch over and over, and you leverage/capitalize on your expertise.

You’ll have a wealth of examples, insights, scenarios, etc. in 2-3 topics rather than 10 different ones.

To recap choose a different angle based on your experience/expertise! The more specialized the better, for example, ecommerce:

• Ecommerce SEO: Top Trends and what to do to win in 2025
• Optimizing for Product Grids : Maximize your visibility now
• The 3 keys to grow your product listing pages
• Why your ecommerce needs informational content and how to make it ROI positive

There are no boring or already covered topics… but there can be a lack of creativity.

More examples, even focused on the exact same thing: PLPs

1. Are PLPs dead? PLPs search trends and what to do about them
2. The anatomy of perfectly optimized PLPs that will rank
3. A Benchmark of Top Ecommerce PLPs in the US and what do they tell us about the future of ecommerce SEO

What SEO trends or emerging topics do you think will be hot at conferences in the next few years?

I could tell you AI but honestly… everybody and their mother will be pitching for this.

So better to ask: What new have you learned or done and you can share that can be useful and insightful with a new AI blended search paradigm?

If automated content becomes the norm … can you share about how/why human content is still the best and share insights/data about it?

or, how you can leverage AI related automation for technical audits to accelerate the process…

or, if you’re doing ecommerce: how ecommerce sites are leveraging AI features/content and how they’re performing in top organic search markets?

I’m making all this up right now! Be creative!

It’s about blending what’s hot / attractive in the market with what you actually know about and have expertise on to share.

What are the common speaker pitch mistakes?

Not being clear enough what the audience will learn from you.

That’s why I shared this:

➡️ Pitching & Structuring a Talk - by Aleyda Solis

To make it very clear what will you cover and what is there for the audience to learn, what will be the takeaways from there.

I’ve seen in the past how speakers who haven’t been well rated is because at the end of their talks the audience is like:

“great. now what should I do with this?”

The audience shouldn’t even have to ask themselves about this. It should be clear. You should give them something new / different for them to try/do/test or even think about.

What level of experience and credentials do I need to be considered for a speaking opportunity?

The reality is that an organizer will maximize the chances of audience satisfaction.

They will try to maximize the chances of audience satisfaction.

And for that, even if they want to give opportunities to first time speakers, the easiest will be for them to pick people with existing experience speaking previously about similar topics.

It’s not about them not being open for change… it is because organizing an event is hard work and they need to ensure their audience will learn, they need to ensure the speaker will show up, and will perform.

So of course, they may look for people who are reliable and they know will do those things rather than taking chances.

So, the more you can show you have already done it, the better.

It doesn’t need to be with huge events, it can be with webinars or podcasts. The organizer just needs to be able to check you’re able to perform and that you’re actually committed to it.

The more you can show along these lines the better:

1) That you know your stuff (share blog posts, research, etc.)

2) That you know how to speak (share videos of webinars, small meetups, etc.)

📝 Note from your WTS Team: We know this is an unfortunate reality and aim to change that for our industry through our pitch process.

While we don't ask in our pitch form if people are first time speakers, we were so thrilled to organically discover that HALF of our Philadelphia 2024 speakers were first time speakers!

And our audience was certainly satisfied with 91% highly satisfied with our session talks!

We'd love to have YOU on stage at our upcoming WTSFest - pitch here.

Our WTSPartner, Digital Olympus, is currently accepting pitches for their community speakers panel - dedicated to showcasing new experts, chosen based on their ideas rather than their speaking experience.

How do you "prove" your authority on a subject in your earlier process of building your reputation?

• Send guides or articles you’ve written
• Send webinars, podcasts, Q&As, any digital work you’ve done
• Send a link to your speaking or resources pages - a history of your former speaking engagements; testimonials; links to videos showing you can perform well on stage, your work, etc

📝 Note from your WTS Team: please pitch for an opportunity to write a PAID WTSKnowledge article and check out our #wts-opportunities Slack channel (join Slack) where WTS and other members drop speaking, webinar, podcast, and other opportunities for YOU!

👀 SNEAK PEEK: And we have some exciting news coming in the new year on WTSPodcast - sign-up for WTSNewsletter to hear when it first drops!

What is your perspective on speaking for free to build your resume vs. insisting you're paid?

1) Not all benefits come in the format of money

2) It all depends on if what they offer to you is actually beneficial in exchange of your effort time.

For example, speaking for the 10th time at the same small event in your town you’ve spoken already 3 times this year (I might be exaggerating here for the sake of the example) for free might not be beneficial for you anymore.

However speaking at a major event in your sector where you’ll share stage (and likely, speaker dinner) with some of the top ecommerce specialists (let’s say you’re in ecommerce) you usually don’t have access to, and you’ll be able to learn from, share ideas, and even potential professional opportunities.. might be totally worthy.

So, think about the benefits each event gives to you, monetary or not, and if they’re worthy of going for at the stage of the professional journey you’re at atm

I highly recommend this read:

https://thenextweb.com/news/speaking-events-for-free-is-fine

📝 Note from your WTS Team: we pay all our speakers, writers, contributors, etc. Our hope and goal is we can show our industry that if our bootstrapped operation can prioritize compensating people for their labours, others can too. AND we understand that not all events will be able to pay speakers and, in line with our values, do not judge them for that.

How do you determine your speaker fees in scenarios where you're asked to name your own price?

The best way to go about this is you asking them what’s the budget they have for speaking.

Then, if at some point they say something that is below what you expected: think about the pro’s and con’s of going despite that, think about the other benefits beyond money (they exist: eg. networking with the relevant/right people you care about) and if they can provide and balance that out to say yes or no.

Lastly for this, I always do a litmus test: Imagine I accept it.

How would I feel if they cancel next week because of X or Y reason? Will I feel relieved or sad?

Decide accordingly.

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Want to join our next AMA or check out what else the WTS Community Slack has to offer? Head over here for more info.

Parting words from Aleyda

Thank you everybody for so many great questions over here I hope my answers have been useful.

Here's a few more topics I think are helpful:

Dealing with speaker pitch rejections

When they reject or don’t even follow up with your pitch: please please please don’t take it personally.

It’s nothing against you … it’s likely a:

1) Mismatch in the topic/angle you’ve decided to take or a repetition with others that they have already accepted

2) There are only so many slots and by the time they arrived to your pitch, they were taken

This is why is critical for you to be clear on the value you’ll bring, how your session will be very useful and attractive for the audience, how you’ll be an insightful speaker, and they better include it.

Ask for feedback

Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback and learn from the experience to pitch again next time!

… also; try to be one of the first ones pitching to avoid one of the issues mentioned above (slots being taken for the same/similar topic)

as my grandma said: don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do today

... also, something I believe can be very useful: Put yourself in the shoes of the person picking the speakers.

They need go through dozens/hundreds of pitch, little time, too much noise:

What can you do to make their life easier? (be straight-forward)…

How can you do to make your pitch to stand out (eg. a little video?)

It’s about standing out and making it clear they need to have your session!

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Want to join our next AMA or check out what else the WTS Community Slack has to offer? Head over here for more info.