The Speaker Lab Podcast

"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 fees, built the profiles, sent the demo reels, connected with the reps. Total paid gigs booked across all of them? Zero. Meanwhile, he's doing 40+ events a year using the exact process he teaches at The Speaker Lab. So either he's unbookable — or something about the bureau model is broken. In this episode, he breaks down exactly what bureaus are actually selling, who they actually work for, and what to do instead.
You'll hear about:
Why the bureau pitch is so appealing — and why it almost never delivers what it promises
The difference between a booking machine and a listing service (most bureaus are the second one)
The four things bureaus won't help you with: positioning, marketing assets, coaching, and actual speaking experience
Why the speakers who get booked through bureaus are almost always speakers who were already booking themselves
The bureau is an amplifier, not an engine — and why most speakers have the order completely backwards
Dan's personal nine-month bureau experiment: paid the fee, sent everything, got zero leads — and a vague email when he finally asked what they'd done with his profile
The story of a woman who signed with three bureaus, paid onboarding fees, and started wondering if she was even cut out for speaking (she was — the system was the problem)
Why the bureau model quietly destroys speaker confidence by making you think you're the problem
The three things that actually get speakers booked: owning your system, working with guides who are in the trenches, and building the wraparound infrastructure
Why the talk is only 15% of the equation — and how bureaus won't touch the other 85%
And much, much more!

"Stop renting somebody else's process. Build your own. That is where the freedom is. That is where the income is. That is where the calendar full of gigs you actually want comes from."
Tried a bureau and hit a wall? It's not you — it's the model. Grab a free 15-minute Speaker Business Assessment at thespeakerlab.com/SBA and talk with someone who's actively getting booked and paid right now.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"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 three patterns.
In this solo episode, Dan breaks down the three speaker archetypes he sees on repeat — the Two-Year Thinker, the One and Done, and the Plateaued Earner — and gives you the honest, direct truth about what's actually keeping each one stuck. If you hear yourself in one of these today, that's not a bad sign. That's the first move.
You'll learn:
Why studying, researching, and redesigning your logo for the third time is not the same as building a speaking business
Why "I just need to figure out my topic first" is almost always code for something else
What happens when a great talk goes nowhere — and why it's not because the moment was a fluke
Why the relationship and the room were always the real asset (not the talk)
How speakers who are already getting paid hit a wall — and why it's a strategy problem, not a skill problem
Why the thing that got you a $1,000 fee will not get you a $10,000 fee
How Dan went from a self-described two-year thinker to eventually buying the company that taught him
The one thing all three archetypes have in common — and what actually breaks the pattern
Why "my situation is different" might be the most expensive sentence in your speaking business
What 17,000 speakers who've broken through all have in common
And much, much more!

"You are not lacking talent. You're not lacking passion. You're not lacking a message. You're lacking a system."
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Heard yourself in one of those patterns? That's exactly the conversation Dan has on every Speaker Business Assessment call. Grab a free 15 minutes at thespeakerlab.com/SBA — no pitch, just a real look at where you are and what to do next.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"A speaker with 200 followers and 30 conversations a month is going to out-earn a creator with tens of thousands of followers and zero conversations. Every single time."
Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin calls out one of the most common — and costly — mistakes he sees on speaker calls every week: mistaking a content habit for a speaking business.
Dan gets on the phone with speakers who have thousands of followers and zero paid gigs. He also gets on calls with speakers who have 200 followers and a packed calendar. The difference isn't the algorithm. It isn't the brand colors, the bio, or the reel that almost went viral. It's one thing: conversations. In this episode, he breaks down exactly why followers don't equal bookings, what event planners actually care about, and what you can do this week — not next month, not when your website is done — to stop building an audience and start building a pipeline.
You'll learn:
The content cycle that feels like progress but isn't — and how to recognize if you're stuck in it
Why content builds awareness but conversations build a business (and why those are not the same thing)
The real reason speakers hide behind posting instead of reaching out (hint: it's not strategy)
What event planners actually check when they're considering booking you — and what they absolutely don't check
Why "I don't have a big enough platform yet" is a story, not a reason
Dan's "tab game" — the 10-tab outreach habit he used to build his speaking business from scratch
How one speaker prioritized outreach over posting and booked three paid gigs in a few months
What a good outreach message actually looks like: short, specific, and ending with a question
Why the discomfort of sending that email is exactly the point — and why most speakers won't do it
The assignment Dan is giving you this week: 10 orgs, 5 contacts, send the messages
And much, much more!

"Stop building an audience. Start building a pipeline."
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Not sure who to reach out to or what to say? That's exactly what a free 15-minute Speaker Business Assessment is for. Grab a time at thespeakerlab.com/SBA — Dan and the team will help you get clear on your audience, pipeline, and next steps. No pitch, just a real conversation.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Cold outreach is a great way to start — but it's not how you scale."
Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin makes the case that the most efficient gig you'll ever book is the one you just finished. The problem? Most speakers walk off stage, shake a few hands, grab a photo, and move on — completely missing the two, three, maybe five opportunities that were already sitting in that room.
Dan breaks down the exact post-event process he uses to turn every speaking gig into referrals, rebookings, and long-term relationships — including the story of a low-fee local event that turned into over $50,000 in workshops with a client he's still working with today. This isn't about doing more work. It's about doing the right work after the work most people think is the finish line.
You'll learn:
Why the stage is just the beginning — and what your job actually looks like in the 48 hours after you leave it
How Dan's post-event process generates referrals, repeat bookings, and long-term clients on autopilot
The handwritten thank you note habit Dan swears by (and why it still works in 2025)
Why post-event calls are non-negotiable — and exactly what Dan covers in every single one
The performance review section: how to ask for honest feedback without making it awkward
The one question Dan always asks to surface referrals — and who you should (and shouldn't) be asking it to
Why most event planners won't bring the same speaker back year over year — and why that's actually great news for your business
How to stay top of mind without forcing the relationship
The $50,000 follow-up: what happened when Dan showed up to a packed standing-room event he almost didn't take
Why your next 10–15 gigs are probably already sitting in rooms you've spoken in
And much, much more!

"Your next gigs are already sitting in the rooms you've spoken in — but only if you treat the relationship that way."
Want help building a post-event system that actually works?Grab a free 15-minute Speaker Business Assessment at thespeakerlab.com/SBA — Dan and the team will look at your audience, pipeline, and revenue model and help you figure out exactly what to do next.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"If you don't know your number before the conversation, the buyer will pick the number for you."
Welcome back to The Speaker Lab Podcast! In this solo episode, host Dan Irvin tackles one of the most common — and most avoided — questions in the speaking business: what should I charge?
Everyone asks it. Almost nobody answers it straight. You've probably heard "charge what you're worth" or "it depends" — which, while technically true, isn't much help when you're about to hop on a discovery call and you know the question is coming. Dan breaks it down with the three things that actually drive your speaker fee, shares the exact way he handles pricing conversations, and gets real about the moments he's had to decide whether to hold his number or adjust.
Whether you're just figuring out your first fee or you've been leaving money on the table for years, this episode will help you walk into your next pricing conversation with clarity and confidence.
You'll learn:
The 3 things Dan always considers when setting his speaker fee: audience, budget, and outcome
Why "charge what you're worth" isn't helpful — and what to think about instead
The real reason most speakers underprice themselves (hint: it's not what you think)
Why every discovery call should be on video — no exceptions
How to bring up budget without it being awkward — and what to do when they won't give you a number
Why Dan never sends a proposal the same day as the discovery call
The factors that should move your price up or down: travel, sessions, repeat clients, and long-term opportunity
The story of a $22K ask that became $15K — and why that decision led to three more events
Why pricing to the outcome (not the talk) is the shift that changes everything
What to do when your heart rate spikes the moment someone asks, "so what's your fee?"

And much, much more!
"I want to walk away from that conversation with a number that actually excites me, that takes care of my family, and reflects the impact I know I'm going to have in that room."
Not sure what to charge? Book a free 15-minute Speaker Business Assessment at thespeakerlab.com/SBA — Dan and the team will walk through your audience, pipeline, and revenue model to help you get clear on your number and confident in the conversation.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.