Since August, I've been on pace to have one-on-one conversations with more than 500 speakers over the course of a calendar year.

These are business coaches, corporate consultants, financial advisors, health and wellness practitioners, CPAs, private equity lenders, real estate investors, motivational speakers, and more.

Their speaker fees range from barely paid to over $50,000 per keynote, with a minimum crowd size of 10,000.

Side note: That doesn't include the thousands of additional LinkedIn messages, social media replies, and emails to and from speakers.

No, these 500+ touchpoints are focused, scheduled one-on-one calls or meetings for one key reason...

I want the best possible pulse on what's happening for industry experts gracing stages worldwide in 2025.

These conversations already uncovered three huge challenges I believe every speaker will face this year.

It doesn't matter if you're a brand-new speaker, an experienced presenter, or a full-time professional keynoter.

As a speaker, you will face these three challenges in some form or fashion this year.

If you plan on stepping on stage for any audience in 2025, you will want a plan for overcoming these obstacles.

Challenge 01: The Return to Real Is Gaining Ferocious Momentum.

Deepfakes, voice cloning, ChatGPT-copy-pasted drivel in the form of social media posts and articles, and chatbot experiences designed to imitate actual people without relationships or connections voraciously eroded your audience's trust mechanism over the past three years.

Your audience craves reality.

That's why we're seeing a massive surge in in-person events.

Four event planners in the past two weeks told me they're doing away with the virtual or live-streaming element of their events in 2025.

No livestreams. No virtual access. No moderated chatroom with a dedicated virtual event host.

Why? They're sensing more people value the in-person experience.

People want to be in the same room with other people in 2025.

That means getting off Zoom, boarding on planes, walking through lobbies, and sharing air with your crowd.

This also means your audience expects you to own your message.

Anything you share from the stage needs to be sourced by you, not a talk generated by your AI agent, as trained as it may be to sound like you.

No, audiences want to be inspired by you and your genius, warts and all.

This Return to Real will include more in-person events, more organic talk content, vulnerable, messy stories that show your human side, and sharing air with more people.

Challenge 02: Meritocracy Is Sexy Again.

For the past decade, I've seen countless subject matter experts glide from event to event, stage to stage, sharing well-packaged theories and ideas.

That's going to get snuffed out almost entirely this year.

Theory-packed talks and feel-good anecdotes will pale compared to data-driven insight.

As much as I love great messaging, the best messaging is doing cool 'stuff' between events and showing your audience what's working in their area of interest.

What have you done that merits your audience's attention?

Show us the receipts. Prove your concept works through case studies and a behind-the-scenes look at your process.

It's time to make meritocracy popular again.

So, what do you do if you're a passionate speaker who has yet to achieve many results?

Implement, test, track, and prove your process like your life depends on it.

Even if you don't get the greatest results, showcase at least some good results to your audience this year.

Invite them to see what you learn along the way in between events.

That will catch more event planners' attention because you're actively proving your genius.

Challenge 03: Your Most Valuable Speaking Opportunity Is Your Content Platform.

Event planners are exhausted from watching sound bite-sliced sizzle reels (still a weird name, 'sizzle reel').

It's not hard to give a seven-second sound bite. Bundle a dozen of those together, and it used to be enough to book decent speakers but not great speakers.

Thankfully, event planners are paying more attention to the quality, frequency, and audience receptivity of your content beyond your sizzle reel.

Speakers who show up more consistently between events will get more speaking opportunities this year.

This isn't a new concept, of course, but it's still arguably the most overlooked concept for speakers today.

If you aren't already investing time in creating high-quality, organic content (polished and produced or not), this is your most valuable speaking opportunity.

Pick your favorite platform and go all-in for 2025.

Create ongoing content. Get over yourself. Get on camera or behind a mic.

Write, publish, and respond to every comment.

Demonstrate mastery of your message through core and complex topics.

You don't necessarily have to be on every platform - a good publication assistant can make that happen.

However, you do need to be somewhere meaningful to your audience on a regular basis.

I'll share more insights as these conversations keep unfolding for Q1 here.

For now, let me know what else you're seeing and hearing about speaking opportunities this year.

Cheers to you!

- Jon

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P.S. - Whenever you're ready, here are three ways I can help you grow your impact, income, and influence as a coach, consultant, or advisor:

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