How Speakers Can Book Association Opportunities with Erick Rheam

The Speaker Lab Podcast

The Speaker Lab

Authors, Public Speakers, Public Speaking, How To, Marketing, Smallbusiness, Coaching, Education, Entrepreneurship, Speaking, Business, Side Gig

4.8 • 575 Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“When you go to these associations’ websites, they don’t have robust staff…it’s not hard to find them. You can directly engage with them and talk to them about an event that’s coming up. You can identify, ‘You have a fall conference coming up. I’d love to chat with you and see how I can best support you on that.’”

This week on The Speaker Lab podcast, host Grant Baldwin sits down with industry expert and regular guest Erick Rheam for a deep dive into one of the most powerful avenues for speakers: associations. If you've ever wondered what an association is, why they matter to your speaking business, or how to break into these lucrative networks, this episode is your roadmap.

Throughout their conversation, Erick and Grant peel back the layers, starting with a clear definition of associations and moving into the different types. You’ll hear why associations can be the “low-hanging fruit” for both new and seasoned speakers, offering paid opportunities and exposure to hundreds of decision makers at a time.

Additionally, the episode covers practical strategies for researching associations in your area, using both Google and ChatGPT to quickly uncover dozens of opportunities—plus tips on who to contact inside these organizations. You’ll also learn about Association Management Companies (AMCs) and Societies of Association Executives (SAEs), two insider gateways to getting in front of hundreds of associations through one well-placed showcase or breakout session.

If you’re nervous about reaching out or unsure about timing and how to build relationships, Erick shares actionable advice for playing the long game, planting seeds, and earning your way onto bigger stages. This episode is packed with simple tactics and inspiring stories that will help you get past the overwhelm, start building momentum, and unlock the massive potential of speaking for associations!

You’ll learn:

Directories and resources for discovering associations
Basic definition & purpose of an association
Key characteristics of an association
The types of associations: trade, professional, cause or mission-based, state & regional
The benefits of being hired by associations
Matching your speaking topic to association opportunities
When and how to approach associations
Using technology to identify relevant associations
And much, much more!

“[Showcase events for speakers] are a great way in a forty-five minute to one hour talk to get in front of one hundred one one hundred and fifty decision makers that could potentially hire you.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, friend, are you looking for ways to book more paid speaking gigs?
0:03.7	Well, of course you are.
0:04.4	Maybe you're just starting out as a speaker. You're trying to figure out what to prioritize in order to get booked and paid as quickly as possible. Listen, if that's you, I want you to join us for a free live training where you're going to learn how to create the number one marketing asset that you need to consistently book more paid gigs. This is a tool that one speaker on our team used to book over $36,000 in paid gigs before he even had a website.
0:27.2	This training is free.
0:28.1	It's live and we offered a few times a week so you can find a time that works best for you.
0:32.5	All you got to do is head over to thespeakerlab.com slash get booked.
0:36.3	That's all one word.
0:37.2	Thespeakelab.com slash get booked. That's all one word, the speakerlap.com slash get
0:38.8	booked and register right now. We look forward to seeing you on the live training.
1:02.0	So, So whatever state you're in, if your list of this, you can literally do this exercise right now.
1:06.1	Type in your state and society of association executives, and it will pop up.
1:07.8	You want to focus on the annual meeting.
1:27.9	You're going to reach out to the person that handles that annual meeting. And all you want to do is basically let them know you know how to play the game. And that is, hey, I'm a professional speaker. I'd love to showcase my talk at your event and at the annual meeting coming up. But that's where you get in front of these decision makers like you do, the AMCs. It's a great way in a 45 minute, one hour talk to get in front of 100, 150 like you do the AMCs. It's a great way in a 45-minute,
1:32.0	one-hour talk to get in front of 100, 150 decision makers that could potentially hire you.
1:41.4	Hey, Seth, Fringe, Grimbaldon here. Welcome back to the Speak of Lab podcast. Excited for today's conversation. I'm going to be chatting with a good friend of yours and mine, Eric Green, who's a regular on the program. And today we're going to be talking about associations. Now, associations are one of these, like, I don't know, perhaps coveted type of groups to speak to. But I think there's a lot of like people going, but what exactly is in the association? How do they work? How do I get in front of them? And I know for me, I found associations to be incredibly, incredibly helpful, especially in the early days of my career and especially as I built my speaking career. And so we're really going to be digging into the weeds of that. I know Eric has found the same to be true.
2:35.7	But Eric, welcome. Good to have you back with us today. Hey, Grant, it's good to hang out with you, man. In fact, as we speak today, I've been worked with associations all day to day on different gigs I'm working on gigs. I just did partnerships we're looking to do. So associations have been a big part of my speaking business. I'm really excited to talk about this today.
2:34.2	Yeah, let me give you a quick, I remember a quick
2:38.0	story of early in my speaking career. I remember going to speak at a, I did a lot early on in
2:43.9	the education space. We did a lot with high schools and colleges and that sort of thing. But I remember
2:48.4	I got invited to speak at a student leadership conference,
2:52.8	one of the first conferences that I did.
2:54.9	And then I also, around the same time, I spoke at a school assembly.
	...

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