I Built a 109-Stage Public Speaking Pipeline With AI. Steal My Playbook.
Most people would rather do their taxes than speak in public.
Jerry Seinfeld even has a classic joke about this:
I’ve always been the other kind of person. Just put my on stage.
It started with middle school and high school plays. Later I served as president of our Toastmasters club during my MBA program, and in consulting at KPMG and Slalom I ended up leading blockchain and crypto sessions for clients who wanted someone to explain what this stuff was and why it mattered. Every time I got in front of a room, I wanted the next one.
My speaking has always been opportunistic though. A friend mentions a conference, or a panel invite shows up, and I say yes to whatever comes through the door. Then I hear about the perfect event two weeks after its call for speakers closed.
For 2027 I wanted to run it like a pipeline instead: a list of real applications I could write one at a time, on a schedule, to give myself the best odds of landing the rooms I care about.
So I asked an AI agent to build me a pipeline and it came back with 109 opportunities in 2027 alone!
A few things jumped out:
The clocks are wildly different. Consensus closes speaker applications about seven weeks before the event. SXSW closed its 2027 panel submissions more than seven months out.
Pitching counts. 39 of the 109 had no public form, only an organizer who books by outreach. For those, a short and specific email is the application.
The unglamorous rooms are wide open. Professional associations that grant continuing-education credit need speakers all year, and they were the most overlooked source of stages on my list.
Halfway through, it hit me that nothing about this was specific to crypto. The research worked because the agent knew who I was and what I wanted to talk about. Give it that same interview and it works just as well for a nurse in Denver or a CPA in Charlotte.
So I turned it into a free playbook for you to use that you can download here!
Here’s all you need to do:
Hand the file to your AI agent of choice.
Type “Let’s build my speaker pipeline,” and talk for about 15 minutes.
The agent interviews you, helps you find your talk idea (most people don’t know theirs yet), researches every stage that fits, and builds you the same kind of tracker you see above.
Once a month, you ask it to refresh.
One caveat: a list gets you to the door, and the application still has to earn the slot. Check every deadline on the organizer’s own site before you apply.
Hope this helps! What are you applying to?
Matthew Snider is the founder of BitFinance and principal at Block3 Strategy Group, where he advises emerging digital asset fund managers and RIAs on fund operations and compliance frameworks. He holds both Series 65 and Series 7 licenses, and is the author of Warren Buffett in a Web3 World.
This note is for informational and educational purposes only and is not investment advice. BitFinance is not affiliated with or endorsed by any event, organizer or AI company mentioned. Event details change often, so confirm them on each organizer’s own website before applying.