If you want to increase the likelihood of getting hired as a speaker, testimonials can make a difference! Whether you are speaking for free or for fee, you can ask people to give you testimonials. Video testimonials are great, when you can get them, but you can also use written testimonials.
I’ve found it highly effective to ask for testimonials via LinkedIn’s “Request a recommendation” system, rather than asking via email. If a testimonial/recommendation is written through a LinkedIn request, then you can choose to have it appear on your LinkedIn profile, as well as use it elsewhere (website or print materials).
I would estimate that about 90 percent of my current 39 recommendations on LinkedIn were ones I solicited, sometimes after someone wrote a glowing email. I thank them for their kind words in the email and let them know I would be asking them for a LinkedIn recommendation (including the words of their email, so they could just cut and paste). I often suggest what they might comment on in my LinkedIn request.
Of course, this does mean you have to be connected with the person you want to write your recommendation. So, remember to connect on LinkedIn with the meeting planner and others prior to the event!
Click here for written instructions on how to request a recommendation.
I also made a short video (2:37) that walks you through the process:
Below is a sample of an actual request for a recommendation that I made recently:
Dear Kirsten–
Thank you again, for the honor of speaking to your leadership team yesterday. They were a very engaged group, especially when they did the “appreciation exercise”
I would greatly appreciate your writing a brief recommendation for my LinkedIn profile, from your perspective of being the meeting planner and also in the audience.
For example, you could address:
Ease of working with me
Audience engagement/reaction/significant takeaways
How you were personally impacted by my presentation
Thank you in advance for your recommendation; it will encourage other meeting planners to consider having me speak at their events!
-Diane Windingland
Remember, ask and you shall receive!