How I Converted Nearly the Whole Room as a Speaker at an In Person Event

I have been a speaker for 8+ years at over 400 events virtually and in person, but for the first 5 of those 8 years I was relying on vibes and had no clear system for turning those opportunities into clients or referrals.

I have been really good at building rapport and I can get and keep attention with ease, but you and I both know what a big difference there is in business between people loving you and people paying you (yiiiiikes)

So, fast forward to 2025: I fly my happy ass back to Philly with my man and my kid to speak at an smaller event, hosted by a great friend of mine who I love.

Here’s what happened:

💸nearly the entire room opted into my email list

💸Four clients closed quickly (less than 30 days from the event)

💸1 closed a few months later

💸 Several more warm leads are still in my pipeline (I am writing this about 4 months post event)

🚨 Important 🚨That did not happen because I was the most polished speaker or because I have some huge fancy tech or system. It happened because I understood the psychology of the audience.

Let’s break it down

1. Understand what your audience is experiencing

People at in person events are overstimulated, there is a ton going on!

They are:

• Nervous about introducing themselves

• Trying to remember names

• Mentally juggling their next conversation

• Hearing a ton of information from everyone in the room

When someone is overstimulated, their brain is filtering stuff out on 2x speed, which means you are getting filtered right out, too (unless you read the rest of this and learn how to approach it differently)

You have to find a way to cut through the noise and meet them where they are at in order to get them to move forward with you wherever you lead them.

2. Make it ultra-easy for them to say yes in the room

Most speakers lose their momentum at any kind of ask (the opt in or the sale).

They say “hey, download this thing” or “here is where you can go to pay me” and the audience is like “yes! Amazing, I am going to do that later”

But, later never comes because they get busy and forget.

Procrastination is predictable human behavior, so I aim to remove it in all of my talks.

I design a short, easy opt-in that must be used during the talk.

When someone is already engaging with the tool in real time, opting in becomes frictionless and a no-brainer. It feels like continuation, not commitment.

That is behavioral momentum at work.

3. No hard pitch

This was one of the biggest shifts I had to make as a speaker that gets paid after every single event I speak at. Everyone tells you to sell from the stage whenever you’re allowed to.

Even when I am allowed to, I don’t. My goal is simple: give them a short and easy way to come into my world now and then they can make their way to what they need afterwards.

Example: a sign in sheet, a follow on social, a feedback or contact form

Freebie opt ins are really great and I use them a lot at the end as a natural next step, but these always have more friction and more hesitation so I never rely solely on these freebies.

The key is alignment. When someone feels pulled instead of pushed, they move faster.

4. Use events to start the conversation, everything else happens in the follow up

A huge mistake I see from business owners over and over again is not understanding how each piece of marketing serves the overall vision and pipeline.

Getting in the room at events is all about brand awareness, meeting new people, and staying top of mind for people you’ve already met. It is also a great way to nurture through providing value.

Providing value in this context does NOT mean coaching them for free or adding them to your newsletter without permission. It means making an intro to someone else, sharing a testimonial, giving an encouraging word, inviting to another event, etc.

Getting these events and connections to turn into something happens AFTER the event, which is why your follow up game needs to be on point.

Events are attention accelerators. But attention without a nurture system is wasted.

If you want to turn rooms into pipelines, stop thinking about performance and start thinking about psychology and how to lead the audience over selling them.

Create your approach with their experience in mind.

Freebie opt ins are great, but add another super easy “yes” that feels part of the presentation.

Ditch the hard pitch and remember the purpose of speaking (visibility and audience growth)

Follow up based on conversations and based on behavior or request.

Visibility is powerful. But structure is what makes it profitable.

SarahJeanCo. helps you get visible to the right audience with that right structure. We offer done with you and done for you: inquire today (takes less than 2 minutes!)