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The Speaker Lab Podcast

The Speaker Lab Podcast

The Speaker Lab 636 Episodes Aug 18, 2026

The Speaker Lab Podcast teaches you how to get booked and paid to speak consistently. Hosted by TSL CEO Dan Irvin and featuring insights from successful speakers, the show covers business tactics, speaking tips, and insider strategies. You'll learn how to find speaking gigs, build relationships, negotiate higher fees, and grow your speaking business. Each episode provides practical advice for both new and veteran speakers.

Episodes

The No's Don't Get a Vote with Marcus Dove
The No's Don't Get a Vote with Marcus Dove Aug 18, 2026 00:28:40 "And so I'm sending out the emails, I'm doing the work, I'm following the process, and I'm not really getting any responses. And so by the end of the day, I'm like, well, am I doing this right? Or, you know, imposter syndrome kind of sets in, you know, am I really built for this?" Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight, Dan Irvin sits down with Marcus Dove — a p
You Don't Need a Superpower, You Need a System with Amy LaBelle
You Don't Need a Superpower, You Need a System with Amy LaBelle Aug 6, 2026 00:38:55 "You do not need a superpower. You simply need a system that gets you one step at a time, one day at a time, toward your goal." Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! This week's Alumni Spotlight features Amy LaBelle — founder and winemaker of LaBelle Winery in New Hampshire, which she started with five thousand dollars and a dream and opened 4,083 days later. Today that's two locations
Navigating the Fog: Getting Clear on What You Actually Want with Scott Hacker
Navigating the Fog: Getting Clear on What You Actually Want with Scott Hacker Jul 31, 2026 00:30:09 "We're always going a hundred miles an hour. So we never even realize that we're driving through fog all that time." Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! This week's Alumni Spotlight features Scott Hacker — thirty-plus years in corporate sales, now a certified high performance coach who goes by the clarity coach. His signature talk is called Navigating the Fog of Life, and the premise
Why Loving the Process Beats Loving the Stage with Matthew Sharpe
Why Loving the Process Beats Loving the Stage with Matthew Sharpe Jul 23, 2026 00:32:39 “The better the foundation is, the more opportunities I'm getting to do exactly that.”Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! This week's episode is another alumni spotlight, and it might be Dan's favorite combination yet: Matthew Sharpe is a licensed therapist — and a stand-up comedian. He put the two together in Standup Therapy Live, where the laughs do the heavy lifting for the mental
The Question That Flips the Switch on Fear with Jennifer Ryan
The Question That Flips the Switch on Fear with Jennifer Ryan Jul 16, 2026 00:28:01 "What if I didn't let it stop me? What if I just push past it?"Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight episode, Dan Irvin sits down with Speaker Lab alumni Jennifer Ryan — a speaker who just hit a real turning point. She finished her book, Be the Donkey, Not the Jackass, she's ready to take it on the road, and she's built a talk that is unmistakably her own.Jenni
Value Over Volume: Why the Best Speakers Lead by Giving with Michael Hidalgo
Value Over Volume: Why the Best Speakers Lead by Giving with Michael Hidalgo Jul 9, 2026 00:35:21 "When you're late, you tell people you don't care. I didn't agree with it at the moment. But then I started really just disciplining myself. And it is hard work for me every single day to be early."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight episode, host Dan Irvin brings on Michael Hidalgo — a keynote speaker who helps teams actually talk to each other. His core ide
How to Turn Free Talks Into Paid Speaking Gigs with Dr. David Chastain
How to Turn Free Talks Into Paid Speaking Gigs with Dr. David Chastain Jul 2, 2026 00:33:21 "I didn't get paid to go to Seattle, but I made a good connection there that I will be paid for."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight episode, host Dan Irvin sits down with Dr. David Chastain, a speaker who works at an intersection most people are afraid to even name out loud: grief and addiction, and the way the two are wound together. Grief can delay recover
The Ugly Start: Why Momentum Beats Perfection with Chris Jackson
The Ugly Start: Why Momentum Beats Perfection with Chris Jackson Jun 25, 2026 00:28:38 "It's never gonna be right. It's gonna be good enough to get started. You have enough to get started — just get started."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this Alumni Spotlight episode, host Dan Irvin sits down with Chris Jackson — a speaker and consultant building his business from the foundation up, getting ready to land his first paid gig in this chapter of his career. And th
Why People Buy — and How Speakers Get It Backwards — with Kevin Sidebottom
Why People Buy — and How Speakers Get It Backwards — with Kevin Sidebottom Jun 18, 2026 00:32:25 "You have to have influence. That's the relational collateral that gets everything done. Think of it like a bank account — the more you put in, the more you can take out when you need to."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, host Dan Irvin sits down with Kevin Sidebottom — a keynote speaker, sales trainer, and author who has spent two decades studying one question: wh
How to Sell a Message Nobody's Heard of Yet with Danny Karon
How to Sell a Message Nobody's Heard of Yet with Danny Karon Jun 11, 2026 00:35:18 "I said to my wife literally yesterday: for the first time in 60 years — I just turned 60 — I feel like I've found my true calling."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this episode, host Dan Irvin kicks off a new format — sitting down with real speakers who are a step or two ahead of you, because the fastest way to figure out your next move is to connect with someone living it rig
The Truth About Speaker Bureaus: 3 Things You Need to Hear
The Truth About Speaker Bureaus: 3 Things You Need to Hear May 28, 2026 00:24:12 "I finally realized I was not paying for a service. I was paying for hope. And hope is not a business strategy."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! Fair warning — host Dan Irvin is ruffling some feathers in this one. In this solo episode, he takes on one of the most common "shortcuts" speakers chase: the speaker bureau.Dan has personally signed up with about a dozen of them. Paid the
Which Type of Stuck Speaker Are You?
Which Type of Stuck Speaker Are You? May 21, 2026 00:19:30 "Preparation feels like progress. It's not."Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! After thousands of calls with speakers at every stage, host Dan Irvin has noticed something: it stops sounding like thousands of different stories and starts sounding like the same three. The names change. The cities change. The topics change. But the place where people are stuck? Almost always one of thr

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