11/6/2026
Editors: Rebecca Morgan & Ken Braly
See “About SpeakerNet News” at the end for information on how to submit tips and use this newsletter. Remember, your “dues” for this free ezine are submitting two tips a quarter. Send your best tips to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com.
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SNN Webcast Info
Tuesday, November 10
AI for Speakers:
10 Things I Wish I’d Known Sooner (webcast)
with Gina Carr, MBA
These days, it seems like every street corner has people selling courses or other materials on how to use AI in your business and personal life.
There’s a lot of information out there, and a lot of options. Some of it may be useful, but how much is targeted specifically to your business as a speaker?
Wouldn’t you like to find someone who uses AI successfully in a business very much like your own, and who also has been doing it long enough to learn the mistakes that many speakers make?
Our next program features just such an expert. Her “10 Things I Wish I’d Known Sooner” will save you time and money and make running your business easier. Don’t miss this special session.
Read more about this session at the bottom of this newsletter, then register for the live program or pre-order the recording.
Note: Everyone who registers for the live webcast session or orders the recording will get a link to the recorded video of the online webcast, as well as the audio MP3 for convenient re-listening.
Miscellaneous Tips
Insights from IMEX 2026 — Joe Heaps
Here are a few insights from IMEX 2026 (“the heartbeat of the global business events community”) — one of the largest conferences in the meetings industry. The 17,800 attendees were primarily meeting planners and event organizers — the people who hire you — from every corner of the globe.
I hope you’ll find these takeaways helpful in making intentional plans for growing your speaking business in 2026–27.
(Editors’ note: Joe shared so many tips, we’ll be spreading them in the next few issues.)
Outcome focus
This isn’t new, but we’ve heard it louder and louder at IMEX over the last few years: event organizers want results from the meetings where you speak. One panelist pointed out that information has never been easier to get. Your job as a speaker, coach, or expert is to change behavior.
In addition, 27% of attendees say hands-on or participatory learning makes them afraid to miss an event. That’s not typical keynote activity, so if you can deliver that, you are differentiated in a positive way.
How to apply it:
- Make sure your presentations have the emotional impact to drive change in the audience.
- Highlight your results through the sales process and marketing material.
- Design a way (polling, etc.) to track results in your audiences — that becomes marketing gold.
- Turn your keynote content into a hands-on workshop with an exercise or worksheet.
- Add each format to your eSpeakers profile as its own presentation, so planners searching for a workshop or short session can find you.
Spending and attendance are up a bit
MPI’s latest poll found 61% of event organizers expect attendance at meetings to increase in the future, with 56% saying their budgets are increasing. An Events Industry Council (EIC) report found that 2026 budgets are up 12% over 2019 (things are more expensive now).
MPI’s research indicates that the meetings industry is currently in an expansion period. If the cycle holds, it will peak in the next 1–2 years, then have 1–2 years of slowdown (sometime around 2029).
How to apply it:
- When negotiating your fee, understand their budgets are up, but so are all their other expenses.
- During the sales process, focus on the results you will drive in the organization so that your fee seems like a bargain.
- Focus on consulting, assessment, and other non-keynote revenue that will smooth out your income when meetings slow down.
Recommending the Course on Designing Immersive Gatherings — Rita Risser Chai
We know that audiences don’t want to just sit anymore. Here is a creative way to make your programs more engaging. I just completed a 6-hour, 3-week virtual course on creating immersive gatherings. The target audience is theater people, but we worked with examples of housewarmings and wedding receptions as events where the guests become essential players.
I worked on my harassment prevention Respectful WorkSpaces training. The facilitator gave me insightful feedback and suggestions, and got me excited about changing up the program I’ve been facilitating for 10+ years. The model we learned and practiced could be applied to keynotes, coaching, and virtual presentations.
Travel Tips
Your credit card may pay for PreCheck, Global Entry, and CLEAR+ — Rebecca Morgan
Your credit card may provide a statement credit for your choice of a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application. These include:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee)
- Capital One Venture Rewards ($95 annual fee)
- Capital One Venture X Rewards ($395 annual fee)
- Chase Sapphire Reserve ($795 annual fee)
- American Express Platinum ($895 annual fee)
The AMEX cards that offer CLEAR+ statement credits include:
- Amex Platinum
- American Express Business Platinum
- Hilton Honors American Express Aspire
If you’ve got multiple travel credit cards, you can use the credits to cover application fees for family members and friends.
Requests for Info / Advice
Vacuum travel bags question — Helen Spielman
Reviews are mixed for all vacuum travel bags that I can find. Have you used a specific brand over time that you’ve found consistently reliable?
Topic of the Month (TOTM) — Your Input Wanted
In January, we asked how AI was helping your business. These tools have improved exponentially, so we want to know how you’re using them now, differently from 10 months ago. Our TOTM is: What are some tasks you have AI help with? What have you had it help with that you’d been putting off? (Please state which AI you’ve found most useful for which task.)
Send your brief, pithy responses *that are different from those previously mentioned* to editor@SpeakerNetNews.com. Please put “Topic of the Month” or “TOTM” in the subject line.
When I write press releases, or review my clients’ chapters, I ask ChatGPT these questions:
- What works?
- What doesn’t work?
- What’s missing?
- What could be made better?
- Suggest 5 newsworthy headlines that would catch the attention of a reporter
I still use my knowledge, experience, and instincts to make the final edits. More often than not, ChatGPT gives excellent advice.
Claude.ai and I have jointly developed an 8-step process for reviewing new articles. It includes a copy edit, meta description, creating a headline, subheadings, an image search, bullets for a graphic, text for LinkedIn and X posts and hashtags. This began a year ago when I asked for guidelines for a good headline. Then I gave Claude my article and asked it to suggest 10 possible headlines; then my publisher sent me its headline guidelines, and Claude incorporated those into our old guidelines. I’ve added more steps over time.
SpeakerNet News Webcast Info
Tuesday, November 10
AI for Speakers:
10 Things I Wish I’d Known Sooner (webcast)
with Gina Carr, MBA
Are you using AI but wondering if you’re barely scratching the surface of what’s possible?
Stop guessing, start leveraging, and discover what you’ve been missing!
AI is changing the speaking business at lightning speed, and most speakers aren’t taking full advantage of it.
Join AI strategist and marketing expert Gina Carr, MBA, for an eye-opening session revealing 10 things every speaker should know about AI. You’ll discover powerful tools, practical shortcuts, and money-saving strategies to help you save time, create better content, attract more clients, and grow your speaking business.
No tech expertise required — just a willingness to discover what’s possible!
What you’ll learn:
- Beyond Basic ChatGPT: Discover powerful AI capabilities you probably aren’t using — and how they can transform your speaking business.
- Which AI Tool for Which Job? Learn when to use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other popular tools.
- Free vs. Paid AI: Find out which subscriptions are worth the investment and where free tools are good enough.
- Work Smarter, Not Harder: Use AI to research audiences, develop presentations, repurpose content, and market your speaking services.
- Avoid Costly AI Mistakes: Learn practical tips for getting more accurate, useful results while protecting your time, money, and credibility.
Note: Everyone who registers for the live webcast session or orders the recording will get a link to the recorded video of the online webcast, as well as the audio MP3 for convenient re-listening.
Date: Tuesday, November 10
Time: 7:00 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central, 5 pm Mountain, 4 pm Pacific
(Enter your location here to get your local time)
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: $49 (webcast)
Special Limited-Time Offer:
If you would like more ideas about how to use AI to transform your business, we’re suggesting the recordings of several earlier programs to complement this program:
- “Sell Smarter with AI: Turn Speaking Leads into Booked Gigs” with Julie Holmes
- “Searching for Speaking Engagements: Secrets to Leveraging Search and AI to Find Speaking Opportunities and Grow Your Business” with Sam Richter, CSP, CPAE
With your order of this live or recorded session, at checkout you will be offered these recordings.
About SpeakerNet News and the Editors/Publishers
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