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Professional Speaking: Known. Booked. Paid.

Professional Speaking: Known. Booked. Paid.

John Ball | Speaker Coach for Paid Keynotes & Professional Positioning 200 Episodes Aug 19, 2026

Most speakers aren't struggling with speaking. They're struggling with being seen, chosen, and paid what they're worth. Professional Speaking: Known, Booked & Paid is the podcast for speakers who are serious about building a commercially viable speaking business — not just getting better at speaking. Each week, host and speaker coach John Ball cuts through the noise on what actually drives bookings, referrals, and higher fees. Solo episodes tackle positioning, pricing strategy, and the commercial mistakes keeping good speakers underpaid. Guest episodes bring in working speakers, bureau insiders, and industry experts with candid insight.

Episodes

What AI Can't Write For You: Stories and Structure (Part 2)
What AI Can't Write For You: Stories and Structure (Part 2) Aug 19, 2026 14:20 Part two of the AI and keynotes series. Last episode covered the tells that give away a keynote written too much with AI. This one goes underneath that, to the parts of a keynote that were never AI's to write in the first place, even for speakers who've already cleaned up the obvious tells.John draws the line between a personal story and a personalised one: a personal story is something that happe
How to Get Booked as a Speaker: Pitch Mistakes to Avoid.
How to Get Booked as a Speaker: Pitch Mistakes to Avoid. Aug 12, 2026 52:57 Mike Verret last joined the show in 2021, back when it was still finding its way under a different name. He's back with a sharper, more focused message: the reason most pitches, whether for a speaking gig, a podcast guest slot, or a networking room, fall flat isn't the words. It's that the person pitching is thinking like a business when the person listening is thinking like a human.Mike spent fou
The AI Written Keynote Tells You're Not Catching
The AI Written Keynote Tells You're Not Catching Aug 5, 2026 20:30 Most speakers think the problem with their keynote is the content. It's rarely the content. In this episode John breaks down why writing your keynote with AI is a bad idea, even as the tools keep improving, starting with a story about a speaker he coached at TSL whose entirely AI-written talk was, in John's words, drivel.John walks through the planning-stage traps that happen before a word gets wr
Charisma Isn't Innate, It's Built: Owen Fitzpatrick on the Psychology of Influence
Charisma Isn't Innate, It's Built: Owen Fitzpatrick on the Psychology of Influence Jul 29, 2026 55:18 Most speakers assume their audience is persuadable by good evidence. Psychologist Owen Fitzpatrick, who trained under NLP co-creator Richard Bandler and has travelled to over a hundred countries, including North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran, studying how belief actually forms, argues that's backwards. People believe what feels right, fits their identity, and keeps them inside their tribe. Evidence
Why Getting Booked Is So Hard When You Have Real Experience and Expertise
Why Getting Booked Is So Hard When You Have Real Experience and Expertise Jul 22, 2026 15:04 You spent decades becoming the best in your field. You assumed that would be enough to get you booked as a speaker. It isn't, and in this episode John explains why: the gap between being qualified and being booked comes down to one distinction almost nobody gets right the first time, whether your talk is informational or transformational.John breaks down the three things speakers try when they're
How Speaker Bureaus Work: Insights from Dominic Eldred-Earl of London Speaker Bureau
How Speaker Bureaus Work: Insights from Dominic Eldred-Earl of London Speaker Bureau Jul 15, 2026 50:29 Uncover the true role of speaker bureaus with Dominic Eldred-Earl from the London Speaker Bureau. Many speakers mistakenly see joining a bureau as the ultimate goal, but Dominic reveals why this is just the beginning.Learn the crucial differences between speaker agents and bureaus, and understand the strategies needed to effectively leverage a bureau to boost your speaking engagements.Dominic shar
Keynote Speaking Isn't Dying: It's the Only Thing AI Can't Replace
Keynote Speaking Isn't Dying: It's the Only Thing AI Can't Replace Jul 8, 2026 10:49 Most speakers assume the flood of AI-generated content is bad news for them. In this solo episode, John Ball argues the opposite: as content gets cheaper and more abundant, a real human voice saying something only they could say becomes harder to ignore, not easier to overlook.John traces why speaking has held power for centuries, from Cicero to Churchill to Martin Luther King, and pulls in a call
Building a $360K Speaking Business: From Overdose to Success with Ryan Botner
Building a $360K Speaking Business: From Overdose to Success with Ryan Botner Jul 1, 2026 38:44 Discover how Ryan Botner transformed his life and business after a near-fatal overdose to create a $360,000 speaking empire. In an industry filled with eloquent speakers, Ryan stands out with his ability to sell and market himself effectively. Drawing from twenty years of sales experience, he reveals how power hours, unyielding outreach, and personal visits fill a speaking calendar.In this episode
Stop Waiting to Be Discovered: How Speakers Build Businesses That Don't Depend on Luck
Stop Waiting to Be Discovered: How Speakers Build Businesses That Don't Depend on Luck Jun 24, 2026 21:01 Unlock the secrets to building a successful speaking business that doesn't just rely on luck. In this insightful solo episode, John Ball uncovers the real reason why hard-working speakers aren't seeing the inquiries they expect. Discover the strategies to focus your efforts in the right direction, leverage your unique strengths, and transform your speaking engagements into consistent business grow
What Makes a Keynote Work: The Buzz Is the Business With Brian Miller
What Makes a Keynote Work: The Buzz Is the Business With Brian Miller Jun 17, 2026 54:03 Magician-turned-keynote-speaker Brian Miller built a speaking career on the back of a TEDx talk that went viral in 2015, then watched that career dry up within eighteen months because charisma and entertainment weren't enough to make anyone act on what he'd said. In this episode, Brian and John dig into the real argument underneath most speaker training: is a keynote about how you deliver it, or w
The Authenticity Gap: Why Containing Your True Self Is Costing You on Stage
The Authenticity Gap: Why Containing Your True Self Is Costing You on Stage Jun 10, 2026 29:08 Most speakers talk about authenticity. Fewer actually practise it. There is a version of you that turns up on stage and a version of you that exists everywhere else, and for many speakers, those two people are further apart than they would like to admit.This episode is a Pride Month episode, but the argument is not seasonal. The LGBTQ+ experience of navigating identity in public life contains less
Speaker Demo Reels: What They Are Actually For (and Why Most Get It Wrong)
Speaker Demo Reels: What They Are Actually For (and Why Most Get It Wrong) Jun 3, 2026 50:24 Bernadette Marciniak is a video producer who works specifically with speakers and event organisers, giving her a rare dual perspective on what actually gets speakers booked. She has captured footage at live events, produced demo reels for speakers at various stages of their careers, and uses speaking engagements herself as a visibility lever for her business.What you'll take away from this episode

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