Most professionals who hire me to build a profitable “expert brand” on LinkedIn list “book paid speaking events” as their number one priority. 

It makes sense, given four common products and services in the thought leader business model: 

• A book
• High-ticket consulting
• High-ticket speaking events
• Online education products

It’s a gorgeously fulfilling and high-profit business model if you structure it right, and your products/services become a flywheel, each providing an opportunity to cross-sell and up-sell the other. 

Why, then, do so many professionals who are experts in their field fail at booking paid speaking events? 

Here are a few reasons:

• You think they need to write a book to charge top-dollar to get paid to speak (so you wait to write the book, and that takes forever)
• You think you need a speaker’s agent to book them gigs
• You think you haven’t “put in your time” for speaking, and since you haven’t been paid top dollar yet, you can’t go in and charge the amount that actually makes it worth your time. 
• You don’t have a speaker’s kit or a speaker website
• You don’t know the magic event organizer gatekeepers to connect with

Listen, all of these sound perfectly legitimate, but the real problem is that you’re waiting on circumstances or people to control your speaking trajectory instead of creating your own opportunities.

In this article, we’ll break down:

• Why LinkedIn events are a great place to start getting paid to speak
• How to increase your event’s success and profit
• The tools to set it up in under an hour

Why LinkedIn events are a great place to start getting paid to speak…

1. You can set up your own event (and it’s simple). 

LinkedIn events are no more than a digital way to invite people to a webinar. You can host a LinkedIn event through your personal page using LinkedIn live (with Streamyard) or on an external platform like Zoom. You don’t need to rent a conference space, hire a team, and schlep anywhere. You can literally set up a video stream and start sharing your brilliance with the world from your home/office. 

2. The LinkedIn audience supports a paid model.

LinkedIn is the “world’s largest professional networking platform.” Due to the very nature of the platform, you are connecting with/advertising to people who are in management positions, fortune 500s, and companies that very much have a learning and development budget to reimburse attendees’ time at your event. 

Unlike a Facebook/Instagram audience who are used to lower-ticket or free events, the LinkedIn crowd expects premium education to cost a premium ticket price. This goes hand-in-hand with the education level of many of its members.

Too many people forget this! Too many of us are so programmed in the outdated funnel paradigm of “Facebook ad → free webinar → high dollar course” you don’t notice what’s right in front of you– a crowd eager and ready to learn and willing to pay a decent price for it. 

3. LinkedIn does the leg work of inviting for you.

I love LinkedIn for 100+ reasons, but in my top 3 reasons is the fact that when you set up a LinkedIn event, you can bulk invite people using specific qualifiers like their location and industry.

So, how can you increase your event’s attendance and profit?

1. Non-negotiable: You need to be actively providing value on the platform.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Don’t think for one second you can go from “dormant” on LinkedIn to charging for expertise events. You need to show up on LinkedIn and add value to your network frequently. Without that, how will people be hungry to pay more for your knowledge? 

Allow me to be perfectly clear, this methodology works if you are actively creating content on the platform. You need to be a reliable value-provider before charging a dollar at the digital door. 

2. Know how to time and price.

First and foremost, don’t assume more is more. Remember, for professionals, time is literally money; that doesn’t mean charging more for more time, that means charging more for effective use of time. People have places to be!

Which would you pay $150 for? 

1/ A 3-hour course on how to set up your Quickbooks account

2/ A 1-hour power-packed course to master Quickbooks basics and set up your 3 most critical reports as a business owner.

Say what you will; I’m choosing option 2 all day. 

Stuck on the right/time price combo for your event? Easy solution. Ask your ideal audience what they would put the event’s value at. When in doubt, I’d keep it around the $100 mark. Remember, 20 people at $100 is a $2,000 hour for you from the comfort of your own home.

My client recently made $5,400 from a masterclass promoted on LinkedIn. Attendance was 95% and 18% higher than industry average. She CRUSHED it. 

3. Position and name your event correctly. 

Naming is about 75% of the heavy lift here. The name of your event will either be the wallet opener or door closer when it comes to attendees.

Keep the promise and target audience of the event specific. 

Vague titles generate vague results. The more clear, the more conversions. Let’s give some examples:

Vague:

Project Management 101

Clear:

The Profitable Agency: Implement Teamwork for your digital agency to cut lost time by 40% and increase billable hours (Led by Teamwork-certified expert Karen Smith) 

The second is clear on program, deliverables, and target audience. 

4. Know your agenda.

In your event description, there will be a space for an agenda. Make sure you list out the core learning lessons you’ll cover in the event. Don’t over-promise. Keep it clear, and make sure it oozes with value. Ask people ahead of time if there are specific areas they want you to cover. Make sure to work this in your event or include them in a follow-up event. 

The tools to set up LinkedIn events in under an hour…

The first tool you’ll need is (obviously) a LinkedIn account. Ensure you have “creator mode” turned on. Then you can set up an event. Do not choose LinkedIn live, or you won’t be able to charge for it. There is a time, and a place for LinkedIn live (to increase brand awareness)

The second is a way to gate the event for payment. You can do this with a paid Zoom account, HopIn, or your other paid webinar platform. Once you set up the LinkedIn event, you simply need to choose “external” as the destination and input the URL for ease of registration.

And there you have it! That’s how to set up your paid LinkedIn event and start charging for your expertise.

Recap:

• Stop waiting for external gatekeepers to pay you for your expertise. Use LinkedIn events to control your own speaking career.
• For this to work, you need to position yourself as an authority on the platform and post content frequently. (for more on this, see below)
• Know how to structure and charge for your event. The value and agenda must match the price. 
• Assemble your tech stack (Zoom or HopIn) and do a dry run prior. 

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