SOLD OUT

FIND IT.
WIN IT.
GROW IT.

How to get more paid speaking gigs (and grow client value)

A one-day commercial intensive for established keynote speakers. Stop relying on inbound luck, convert more enquiries into booked dates, and turn single 45-minute keynotes into five-figure client relationships.

Thursday 29 October 2026 | Holiday Inn Guildford

Led by Maria Franzoni and Mary Tillson-Wharton

Scroll down to find out more ⬇️

"She is responsible for my business growing by roughly 10 times over the last couple of years!!"

— Emma Henderson

Are you relying too much on speaking opportunities finding you?

Most speakers build a great talk, set a fee, and wait for the phone to ring or the email to ping. When enquiries do arrive, they quote for 45 minutes on stage, deliver the keynote, and walk away. That leaves thousands of pounds of follow-on work with that exact same client completely untouched.

This day is designed to fix the commercial engine of your speaking business.

It will be particularly valuable if:

Prospecting keeps slipping down your list: You know you need more bookings, but you are tired of the feast-and-famine cycle and do not want to resort to spamming strangers.

You are losing enquiries you should win: Clients ghost after the fee conversation or pick a competitor - usually giving you "we went in another direction" as their reason for not booking you.

You want to turn £5,000 to £10,000 keynotes into £15,000 to £30,000 client relationships by proposing high-value workshops, deep dives, and advisory work.

This is exactly what this day is designed to change.

This isn't training in stagecraft or speech delivery.

It's about building the business around your speaking.

What the day covers

FIND IT.

Create more of the right opportunities.

Build a full diary without pitch-slapping strangers.

Identify the specific corporate organisations, industry events, and decision-makers who actually have budget for your topic, and start warm, dignified conversations they want to answer.

WIN IT.

Turn more conversations and enquiries into bookings.

Turn enquiries into paid bookings.

Lead the briefing call with authority. Uncover the real corporate pressure behind the event and position your solution so budget is no longer the sticking point.

GROW IT.

Create more value from the opportunities you win.

Multiply your client lifetime value.

Move beyond the 45-minute keynote. Learn how to scope the client's wider needs so you walk away with follow-on workshops, leadership sessions, and repeat bookings.

"I've been speaking professionally for 20 years, but I knew I could do better. Maria gave me advice I needed to hear and so many gems that will benefit my speaking business. Her years of experience are blatantly obvious. She was worth far more than she charged."

— Richard McCann

This is a working room, not a listening room

You do not need another day of taking notes and promising yourself you will look at them next week.

You will work directly on your own speaking business throughout the day, with real-time feedback and guidance from Maria and Mary.

You will research actual target organisations, draft messages in your own voice, practice high-stakes scoping conversations, and uncover the hidden revenue sitting inside your existing network.

The aim is simple:

Leave having already started the work.

MORNING: FIND THE OPPORTUNITY

Practical Prospecting with Maria Franzoni

Most speakers know they should prospect.

Far fewer know:

where to find the right opportunities

who to contact

how to approach them

what to say

how to follow up without sounding pushy

Maria will take you through the prospecting methods she used when she was acting as an agent and that she now shares in her private one-to-one work, expanded into a three-hour working session.

You'll learn how to:

  • clarify the problem you solve and who needs it
  • identify organisations and events that are more likely to book you
  • find the right decision-makers
  • spot genuine and relevant reasons to make contact
  • write messages that are easy to respond to
  • use proven approaches for email, LinkedIn, telephone and follow-up
  • build a prospecting routine you can realistically maintain

This won't be theoretical.

You'll research real prospects, adapt the approaches to your own voice and begin making contact during the session.

"Before working with you, I used to think that my only rebooking was due to luck. Now, I've approached a client again, got rebooked, and am meeting another client that is having a conference in the same city on the same day (they are even in the same industry) later in that day, possibly for another rebooking for next year."

— Helio Vogas

AFTERNOON: WIN AND GROW THE OPPORTUNITY

Quality Scoping with Mary Tillson-Wharton

Getting an enquiry is only the beginning.

The questions you ask next can influence whether you win the booking, how relevant your solution becomes and whether you uncover opportunities beyond the keynote.

In a competitive market, the quality of the scoping conversation can itself become part of what differentiates you.

Mary will take you through her Critical Questions approach — a practical framework for uncovering the real brief, ensuring your content is relevant and identifying opportunities to add value beyond "just the speech" — potentially increasing both your impact and the client's return on investment.

You'll learn how to:

  • ask smarter, more strategic questions that get beneath vague or shifting briefs
  • understand the business context, client objectives and why this matters now
  • balance the needs of the booker, stakeholders and audience
  • identify the "golden threads" that make your keynote more relevant to that particular audience
  • shape a stronger, potentially more transformational solution
  • recognise when the right solution may extend beyond the keynote
  • identify opportunities for workshops, follow-up sessions, programmes or wider organisational support
  • turn a one-off booking into the potential for a longer-term client relationship

There is another important reason your questions matter.

Quality questions build trust.

They show the client that you are genuinely interested in understanding their world rather than simply selling them your speech. That builds confidence in you and helps position you as a trusted partner rather than simply another speaker.

And while AI can generate a list of questions, this session will help you develop the judgement to know what to ask next, what to probe further and how to recognise the opportunity hidden within the answer.

You'll practise the Critical Questions approach using a realistic client scenario, identify opportunities within the answers and then apply the process to your own speaking business.

"Mary shared powerful scoping questions that helped me understand my clients' needs in a way that gets me more business. That's what I call a high ROI."

— Ricardo Cabete

By the end of the day, you'll have:

a clearer commercial message and understanding of who to target

a focused list of genuine prospects to pursue

practical prospecting scripts and messages ready to use

greater confidence approaching potential clients

a stronger process for handling and converting incoming enquiries

a bank of Critical Questions to improve your client conversations

a repeatable process for getting beneath the brief and uncovering what the client really needs

greater confidence shaping and recommending the right solution

the ability to spot opportunities to add value beyond the keynote

a clearer route towards repeat bookings and longer-term client relationships

a practical plan for generating more speaking income

Most importantly, you won't leave with a notebook full of good intentions.

You'll leave having done meaningful work on your speaking business — with prospects to pursue, conversations to start and practical tools to help you find, win and grow more opportunities.

"Maria is straight talking, no filler, no nonsense, just incredibly relevant information designed to help speakers get booked and paid to speak. I now have a clear pathway to getting booked and a complete strategy for cultivating and maintaining relationships with the people who matter in the industry. The impact of Maria's expertise has been immense."

— Dave Kitson

Why Maria and Mary?

Maria Franzoni

LinkedIn: Maria Franzoni

Maria has worked in the professional speaking industry since 1998 and spent 23 years as a speaker bureau owner and agent.

She founded and ran an international multi-million-pound speaker bureau and has worked with speakers including Neil Armstrong, Anita Roddick, Bob Geldof, Richard Branson and Bear Grylls.

She is the author of the number-one bestselling book The Bookability Formula: What the 1% Most Booked Speakers Do (and You Can Too).

Maria understands how speaking opportunities are found, assessed and won from the booker's side of the desk.

Mary Tillson-Wharton

LinkedIn: Mary Tillson-Wharton

Mary is a keynote content and transformation strategist who helps speakers become more relevant, memorable and commercially valuable.

Drawing on more than 20 years' experience in management and leadership development with global blue-chip organisations, she helps speakers uncover the real client brief, shape stronger solutions and turn keynote opportunities into wider organisational work.

Her Critical Questions approach helps speakers build trust, improve relevance and identify opportunities beyond "just the speech".

Two specialists. One commercial journey.

Maria helps you find the opportunity.

Mary helps you convert and grow it.

Together, they help you move through the full speaking-business journey:

FIND IT. → WIN IT. → GROW IT.

Find the opportunity → Convert the opportunity → Grow the opportunity

Who is this not for?

This day is not designed for people looking primarily for help with stagecraft, delivery technique or writing their first keynote.

It is strictly for established speakers with proven expertise who want a proactive, professional, and commercially robust system to win more paid gigs and significantly increase their revenue per client.

"Mary's Critical Questions tool has been game-changing for me. She explained not only what it was and how to use it, but the thinking behind it, using real stories and data to cement my understanding."

— Squash Falconer

The investment

GBP £997 + VAT


The commercial reality: This is an investment in the commercial engine of your business, not a one-day training course.

Consider the maths:

For most speakers in the room, a single additional keynote booking covers this investment two to five times over.

Converting one enquiry you would have otherwise lost pays for the room immediately.

Uncovering one follow-on workshop or executive session from an existing client turns a £6,000 keynote into a £12,000+ engagement.

No magic scripts. No automated spam. Just a smarter commercial system for your speaking career.

The details

Logistics

Registration, tea/coffee and pastries from 09:00

Programme 09:30 to 18:00

GBP 997 + VAT

Refreshments, lunch and parking included.

Places are limited

Included:

  • a full day of in-person training, support, and coaching
  • practical exercises and direct support
  • prospecting scripts and working materials
  • the Critical Questions framework
  • refreshments
  • lunch
  • parking on site


Ready to build a more proactive speaking business?

Stop relying solely on referrals, luck and inbound enquiries.

Learn how to create more of the right opportunities, convert more of them into bookings and make more of the client relationships you win.

FIND IT. WIN IT. GROW IT.

GBP 997 + VAT

Refreshments, lunch and parking included.

Thursday 29th October 2026

Holiday Inn Egerton Road, Guildford, GU2 7XZ

Room limit: Strictly capped to ensure individual focus and direct coaching on your business.