By Brett Kaufman. 8 years using relationships to build sales pipelines, from political fundraising to a 7 figure business to running matchmaking for two communities. Over 1,000 introductions facilitated.

How to get more speaking gigs after a panel: follow up inside 30 days with the three groups the panel just put in front of you, the organizer, your fellow panelists and moderator, and the audience members who run their own rooms. Each group controls different stages, and most speakers only ever thank the first one.

Here is the scene. The panel went well. The moderator says “we should do something together.” A man in the third row tells you he chairs a chapter breakfast. The woman next to you on stage hosts a podcast. You fly home with a great feeling, one thank you email half written, and nothing else. Nine months later you are still a one panel speaker.

I have never spoken on a panel. I have made over 1,000 introductions, and what I know is that every introduction creates more than one relationship. A panel is the same. You walk off stage with three new paths, not one. Here is how I would work them.

Where do more speaking gigs come from after a panel?

They come from three places: the organizer who booked you, the people who shared the stage, and the audience members who book stages themselves. This table is the map most advice skips.

Path	Who	What they control	What to send them	When
1. The organizer	Organizer, committee chair	Next year’s program, their other events	A thank you, then a speaker or topic for next year	Within 24 hours, then monthly
2. The stage	Moderator, fellow panelists	Their own podcasts, chapters, events, and who they recommend	A short note plus one useful intro	Within 48 hours, then week 3
3. The room	Audience members who run something	Chapter breakfasts, member dinners, shows, company offsites	Answer their question, ask what they run	Within 48 hours

Path 1 is the one everyone knows. Paths 2 and 3 are where the extra gigs hide.

How to get more speaking gigs after a panel: the 30 day plan

Spread the work over 30 days so it fits around your real job. One person or two per day is enough.

1. Day 0, in the room. Capture everyone who came up to you, with one line on what they asked and what they run. That line is your next opener.
2. Day 1: the organizer. A short thank you that names one moment, attaches your slides and asks for nothing.
3. Day 1 to 2: the stage. Two lines to the moderator and each panelist. Thank them for one specific thing they said.
4. Day 2: the room. Reply to every audience member who asked a question. Answer it properly, then ask one thing: “What do you run?”
5. Week 2: the hallway topic. Tell the organizer what people kept asking about, and name someone who could speak on it.
6. Week 3: give the stage something. Send a panelist a guest for their show, or a speaker for their chapter.
7. Week 4: the soft offer. To anyone in path 3 who runs a room, offer a session built around the panel topic. Once.

Notice the order. You give in weeks one through three, and you offer only in week four, only to people who told you they book stages.

What does one into three look like?

Here is a worked example. It is illustrative, not a real person’s story.

Say you sat on a lender panel at a regional M&A conference. In the room, a fellow panelist mentions she hosts a podcast for searchers. The moderator runs a member dinner series. An audience member says he sits on his local chapter’s speaker committee.

Those committees are real and they matter. The Association for Corporate Growth operates in 61 local markets, and the ACG Boston Speaker Committee says its goal is to “determine content and speakers” for the chapter’s events, from conferences to quarterly sessions.

Now run the plan. Day 2, you answer the committee member’s question about seller notes and ask what the chapter is planning. Week 3, you send the panelist a lender who would be a great podcast guest. Week 4, you offer the committee member a 30 minute session on the panel topic.

Three outcomes are possible by spring: a chapter breakfast, a podcast episode, and a return slot at the original conference. You will not get all three every time. You only need one to have turned one panel into two.

Should you also submit to formal calls for speakers?

Yes. The panel is your proof, so use it in every submission while it is fresh. Formal doors run on deadlines, and they are published.

The IBBA 2027 conference, May 21 to 23 in Orlando, has workshop submissions open through November 13. The AM&AA Winter Conference has a speaker interest form and says a representative will reach out. Link the session page from your panel, name the topic and say what the room asked. For the committee side of M&A programs, read how to speak at M&A conferences.

How do you stay the name they think of?

You stay the name by staying recent with the people from all three paths, not by asking. Organizers fill agendas and last minute gaps from memory, and the names in memory are the ones they heard from lately. The month by month version for organizers is in how to get invited to speak at conferences, and the replacement side is in last minute speaker replacement.

The full stage strategy is in the speaking, podcasts and panels playbook.

Why does one panel stay one panel?

It stays one panel because the event creates eight to ten new relationships in one afternoon and your week has room for none of them. The panelist’s podcast becomes a note you cannot find. The committee member becomes a badge photo. By week four, the moment is gone and so is the offer.

The system that works all three paths

That is why I built FRONT OF MIND. Capture each person in the room in seconds: say a name and a sentence out loud, snap a badge or a business card, or take a selfie together, and it is filed under the event. Then it opens on your 10 minutes for today. The moderator and panelists show up with a reason, like you met at an event two days ago and never followed up.

Every person comes with a drafted text style message, 40 words max, in your voice. Nothing sends without your tap, and it learns from your edits. Ask Liala out loud, “who do I know that runs a chapter event,” and get the right people with why. Intros to make this week show up with dated proof on both sides, so the guest you promised a panelist actually gets sent.

Your contacts are encrypted. No one on our team looks at them. Export and delete anytime.

For the note to send the organizer the day after, use these thank you email templates for event organizers.

Start free with your first 25 contacts and see who comes up first.

See how it works