There are three ways to get a speaking slot, and cold pitching is the hardest. The easiest path is firm sponsorship. Conferences formally award or informally favor speaker slots to paying sponsors. The second route is a warm referral, like a senior partner passing along a speaking opportunity they don't want, or a contact at the organization vouching for you. Cold pitching yourself is possible but competitive. Conference organizations maintain trusted speaker rosters and receive many unsolicited pitches. What cuts through: a government or regulatory background, published writing that shows thought leadership, or the name recognition of a well-known firm. Newer conferences that haven't locked in their roster are more receptive to cold pitches… so if you don’t have an “in”, start there.

Preparation is what converts your one-time speaking slot into a recurring invitation. Josh puts several hours of prep into each topic, even ones he's presented before. He knows that nailing a speaking engagement is hard, but it’s worth the squeeze. If you do well, they’ll ask for you to come back, and other conferences will take note. Seize your opportunity with the first speaking engagement, don’t let it slip away. As far as content that works… the key is current, example-driven content. His export classification talks focus on a specific piece of hardware: he walks through which classifications are plausible, why some don't apply, and what the right answer is. Attendees want examples of real-world problems they actually face, not academic surveys of regulations.

The audience already knows what you do, so never pitch from the stage. Your job is to be genuinely helpful. If you walk through a real compliance problem and explain the answer clearly, attendees will come to you afterward with their own versions of that same problem. Josh has gotten as many as five direct clients from a single talk this way. The content sells you.

The biggest returns are indirect, and they show up months or years later. A customs broker who heard Josh speak once refers his name a year later when their client asks for a trade lawyer. These delayed referrals are hard to track but consistently valuable. The broker needs to look competent when a client asks for a recommendation, and your name sticks because they've seen you present at multiple conferences over several years.

Conference speaking works best as one leg of a three-part strategy. Josh pairs speaking with regular webinars or written content and word-of-mouth from existing clients. No single channel closes major business on its own. The combination compounds: someone hears you speak, then sees your name on a webinar, then gets your name from a colleague. That triangulation is what builds trust.

Doing the basics consistently is what gets you on the inside. Josh went from attendee to speaker to committee member to general counsel of ICPA over several years. He accepted every speaking opportunity offered, responded promptly to every email (including weekend messages when he had no obligation to), and built a genuine relationship with the organization's president. Eventually he was asked to join planning committees, then to serve as general counsel. Being on the inside gives him priority speaking slots and the ability to bring in colleagues.

Speak where your clients are (duh). Josh is a trade lawyer, so he targets conferences for customs brokers, freight forwarders, and corporate compliance professionals. Every attendee is either a direct potential client or has an underlying importer/exporter client who might need a trade lawyer. That double-layered reach multiplies the value of a single conference. The practical filter works for any practice area: find the industry association where the people who carry out the work you advise on are gathered.