Joining our host David Bain on the panel to discuss how to speak at SEO conferences is Gemma Houghton, Co-Founder of International Search Summit, Sophie Logan, Community & Editorial Manager at Rough Agenda (producers of brightonSEO), Marcus Tandler, Founder & Host of SEOktoberfest, International Speaker Katarina Dahlin and SEO Mindset Coach and conference speaker Adrijana Vujadin.
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David Bain
Hello and welcome to the May 2026 edition of the Majestic SEO panel discussing how to speak at SEO conferences. I’m your host, David Bain, and joining me today are five great guests. Let’s meet them and find out exactly who they are. Starting off with Sophie.
Sophie Logan
Hi there, I’m Sophie Logan, and I’m the Community and Editorial Manager at Rough Agenda. No one knows who Rough Agenda are, but we’re the team behind brightonSEO, Hero Conf and MeasureFest.
David Bain
Thanks for joining us, Sophie. Also with us today is Gemma.
Gemma Houghton
Hi, thank you for having me. I’m Gemma Houghton. I’m the Director of Marketing at TransPerfect Digital. I was formerly with WebCertain, and we became part of TransPerfect Digital a few years ago. We’re the team behind the International Search Summit that’s in Barcelona and coming up in New York this year too.
David Bain
Exciting stuff. Thanks so much, Gemma. Also with us today is Adrijana.
Adrijana Vujadin
Hello, everyone. I’m Adrijana Vujadin and I was head of SEO for five plus years and then my journey came to be the SEO Mindset Coach.
David Bain
It’s great to know about the mindset behind what it takes to be a successful SEO speaker. And of course, you’ve just come from speaking at brightonSEO as well, and your perspective on being a great speaker which will be interesting alongside Katarina’s perspective.
Katarina Dahlin
Yes, my name is Katarina. I’m a senior Growth Hacker and SEO expert at WhitePress. It’s one of the biggest link-building marketplaces. I also tend to speak whenever I get the chance and I’m glad to be here.
David Bain
I’m keen to find out how you go about getting the chance, and I guess keeping the chance when you actually get it as well, so that’ll be incorporated into the discussion today. Also with us today is Marcus.
Marcus Tandler
I’m Marcus Tandler and I’ve been an SEO geek since pretty much the day SEO became a thing, and I’ve been speaking publicly about it since 1998. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to keynote in 18 countries: from SES New York, SES San Jose, to SMX, TEDx, SimilarWeb, etc, plus lots of corporate talks at Google, at Microsoft, at Meta.
These days, I don’t really speak at conferences anymore. I co-founded Ryte, which Semrush acquired back in 2024, and just last week, Adobe officially closed its acquisition of Semrush, xo it’s been an incredibly interesting ride, and I’m thrilled that our software will live on within the Adobe Experience Cloud.
But honestly, the bigger reason I’ve stepped back is that there are so many great new voices out there, including, I would like to say, everybody else on this webinar, and I don’t think the world needs to hear from me all over again.
What I love now is helping new and aspiring speakers tell their stories on stage. I’ve been on the advisory board for SMX Munich and for SMX Advanced for over 15 years. My wife actually has spent a decade as a conference organizer at Rising Media, so it runs in the family.
I also host my own event, the SEOktoberfest G50 Summit, which we started in 2008 and which is now considered the number one SEO think tank in the world.
David Bain
Sophie, how do you go about getting your first speaking gig? You must get so many people approaching you with regards to speaking at brightonSEO. Is there a better way to be approached by someone to make it more likely for someone to actually get that speaking gig?
Sophie Logan
Personally, as someone reviewing the pitches, I’m looking to see if someone has spoken before, but I don’t think it’s a requirement and we have a lot of first-time speakers. In terms of the ones I see that are doing the best job of getting themselves out there, it is all down to that pitch and making sure that they’re putting the right information in, putting their best foot forward.
More often than not, they have incredible insights and unique perspectives to share, but sometimes they struggle to be able to put that across in a pitch. And that is what we’re looking at really, and that’s what we’re judging from. So that’s my advice. Don’t rush that pitch. If it takes you an hour, two hours, three hours to write, then it’s absolutely worth it, because that’s you promoting yourself in your talk.
David Bain
Marcus is nodding away there as well. So it gives me an excuse to go to you second there, Marcus, so what did you agree about, maybe, what did you disagree about?
Marcus Tandler
I think Sophie has a great point. The fastest way to get rejected is to send a pitch that could have been sent to any conference, right? A good pitch makes the organiser think you’ve actually been to the event, and a great one makes them think you understand it better than they did.
So I would say, stop pitching, start publishing. Organisers don’t discover speakers. They recruit the ones they’ve already been watching. So basically, in 2026, your social feed is your speaker reel.
David Bain
Okay, your social feed is your speaker reel.
Gemma Houghton
I would just add that I would definitely agree with the point about making your pitch tailored to that conference. We’ve definitely seen that where you can tell immediately if a pitch is just a bog-standard generic pitch that’s been sent to about 50 other conferences.
You can really tell when it’s one that’s been designed specifically for the event that you’re recruiting for, because it really does take into account who that audience is, what sessions have been in the past on previous agendas, and matches the format and the style and the focus of talks.
For example, if it’s an event that’s quite a broad event, maybe they want more high-level, generic talks. If it’s a very specific event and they’ve got a lot of talks on one topic, they want very focused talks on one specific angle.
If you can get that right, that’s another way that I think you can really stand out and you’ll be considered, because it’s clear that you have done your research and you understand what you’re pitching for.
David Bain
Get the angle right – I like that. So, if a prospective speaker can speak to someone like you, Gemma, then the question to ask is, is there any specific angle that I should include within my proposal in order to make it more likely that my application will be accepted?
Gemma Houghton
Yeah, yeah, definitely, I think you can ask that question. Some conferences may have so many that they may not be able to answer you, but I think many would if you ask that question, and also, yeah, just looking at what’s been spoken about before, the kind of topics they’ve had will give you a good sense of whether or not you know the angle you’re going with is a good fit for that event and different event.
You know you might have one topic that you go in with one angle for one conference, and you change it for another, and that ultimately is the same topic, but you’re just positioning it differently to suit that audience in that event.
David Bain
Is it worthwhile building a reputation on a particular topic and trying to actually be an expert on a very niche topic and attempting to actually speak at multiple conferences on that one topic?
Gemma Houghton
I think different approaches can apply, but yes, I think that can work. Like Marcus says, your feed becomes your profile if you are regularly talking about a similar topic, and if you’re sharing a lot of content on that, that immediately suggests that you have that experience, and that you’re going to be a good knowledge source of knowledge on that topic, which can be good.
I don’t necessarily think you have to have only one topic you speak about. And that’s definitely not a prerequisite. For some speak speakers, they will have loads of topics. But I think it can definitely be an advantage to at least have things to back up why you’re talking on that topic that can help.
David Bain
Adrijana, how did you go about getting your first speaking gig, and what are the tips that you can actually offer in relation to that?
Adrijana Vujadin
It was so scary and it was my first experience. What I did back then was to actively look for the events who were looking for the first time speaker. I wanted to go as lowest as possible, but be comfortable with me. And for the speakers, we are constantly afraid that we are going to be rejected. Like if it’s a big conference, then we are thinking we are not good enough.
So I would like to recommend for SEOs who are trying to find these speaking gigs, there doesn’t need to be a conference in the first place, because when we are trying to achieve a big thing, then our nervous system is stopping us doing that. So we can start with the small events, like small local events and podcasts. We are having so many incredible SEO podcasts in the industry.
So whatever is helping us to go step by step, that’s perfect for us, because definitely all these speaking activities will come. For example, brightonSEO was one of my first experiences because they are definitely very encouraging people for the first-time speakers, so we are feeling like a safe to go with like these events first. And then when you are seeing that like that is not dangerous as we were thinking it is, then the next year we can go and engage with other conference organizers.
What I’m seeing as the biggest fear is fear of rejection, fear that we are going to embarrass ourselves, and then that is stopping us to do any kind of action, even the pitch itself, or when we are doing the pitching, like, from the state that, like, we are so nervous we are thinking that we are not good enough, fear of rejection and embarrassment, we will just like, do it like in the 15 minutes and just like, send it and like, of course, the rejection will come because especially in the days where we are using AI tools, like, for the creating, like, any kind of content like we are, you know, like now we are not even like thinking by our brain, because we are thinking that, just like these AI tools will do these pitches better than us. Of course these conference organizers can see if the pitch is made by ChatGPT or similar tools.
Wwe really need to go a step back a little bit, leave the one hour, take a coffee, and then really find like what we are passionate about and what we can share with the audience. Definitely finding a unique voice is something that all these conference organizers looking for so just allowing us to really share our perspectives. That’s what I was experiencing.
Marcus Tandler
I think Adrijana, you had a great point regarding the fear. And I think this is, I want to say this real quick. I think imposter syndrome is real. And I think we can all admit that we have that imposter syndrome, right? Even after 30 years of doing SEO, I’m standing on stage and I’m like, oh my god, people will be like, That’s bullshit. That’s not true. This happens to everyone, even the top speakers here, they all have imposter syndrome.
So if you’re sitting at home and thinking, oh my god, I’m not good enough and I’m gonna do something and just they will rip it apart and boo me off stage – don’t worry because this is not happening. Everybody has the same feeling. You just cope with it. And I think Adrijana made some great points how to do this.
Adrijana Vujadin
Yeah, if you are having imposter syndrome, welcome, because we are having the imposter syndrome as well. But we are just catching that thought that is a lie at the end of the day, and we are trying to pitch and trying to get so it’s about just like catching all these thoughts and lies that are constantly circling back like in our head, and just like doing what we really want.
Gemma Houghton
Something I always say to people, I really think, is that everybody at that conference, you might get the odd person who likes to be a bit difficult or might be critical, but most people going they’re going to learn. They’re going to get new ideas and hear from different people. They’re not going to kind of watch people fail or hope that people don’t do very well.
Everybody in that audience is really willing you to do great. They’re appreciative that you’re sharing your time and that you’ve put effort into a talk. So I’ve really, very, very, very rarely, if ever, seen people have a bad experience. It’s usually a really positive experience of real support and real kind of appreciation for you putting that effort in. And many people in that audience will be thinking, I wouldn’t get on the stage, so they’ll really admire you for doing it as well. So really don’t think people will be willing you to fail, because they just won’t.
Katarina Dahlin
I think you just need to put the fear aside and just go and do it anyway and decide that you will do it. I want to share my story that pitching is not the way I have got my conference talks a couple of times. In the beginning, I was just attending conferences in Milan and Denmark because, yeah, I wanted to learn.
But then the opportunity comes and people and speakers drop off for one reason or another. And at that time I was trying to pitch, but never got in. So then I saw people are dropping off, but like, I have this talk. So then I just go speak to the speaker who can’t make it, or go speak to the organizers. And like, this way I got on stage with three-hours notice in the beginning of my speaker career. So it’s not the only way.
David Bain
That’s worth expanding upon as well there. So you say three-hours notice, does that mean that someone didn’t turn up and you just offered to talk?
Katarina Dahlin
The first time it happened, it was in Marketing Business Summit in Milan. It was a two-day conference. So, yeah, after the first day, I was still with the guys at the bar having beer, and then just Arnout Hellemans was going to speak the next day as well, but he couldn’t speak about his case study because he did get permission from his client or something like that.
So he asked me at midnight, like, Katarina, do you want to speak tomorrow? And I was like, of course. Like, if I can speak with Arnout Hellemans, of course I say yes. So he sent me his slides. We were like, gonna do a co-talk, so speak together. So he sent me his slides, one of his old slides at midnight, and he said, like, okay, look at my slides and decide which ones you want to speak about and which ones I will do then. So then I went back to bed, and it was like, 1:30, and I started to look at his slides, and I was like, No, I cannot speak about someone else’s slides. But okay, I was totally scared, but yeah, so I went to bed after three hours sleep as well.
I met him at the breakfast and we tried to put it together, but we decided that he will put me on stage instead and I had just went to Brighton. So I had slides ready, and we just extended them together a couple of hours before. And, yeah, that’s how I got my third talk in Milan.
David Bain
So tip number one, spend a lot of time in the bar at SEO conference?
Katarina Dahlin
Yeah, that’s how I got my fourth talk as well, same way. But I do think its important to talk to the organizers when you meet them at conferences, and let them get to know you as well. Maybe you will get invited later.
David Bain
Marcus. You’ve got a really relatively unique conference, it’s a bit more bespoke, a bit more targeted, I guess, towards a certain type of SEO. So how do you encourage the right type of person to apply to you to be a speaker?
Marcus Tandler
This is completely different. I mean, this is just 50 people, right? Obviously, this a very closed group, and therefore there goes a lot of deliberation and screening of potential newbies for this format. But since it also has a very hefty price tag, obviously sometimes a hard pitch from our side, as when we want a speaker, but it’s always hard to tell, as we call speakers experts, it’s always hard to tell someone, hey, I would love you to speak at our event, but you have to spend what it is this year, I think, six and a half thousand euros to speak there.
Obviously it’s a hard pitch, but we’ve ran it for almost 20 years, and it has organically grown into what it is today. So there was no grand strategy behind it. I’m just happy that it, that it turned out this way.
But let’s talk about the G50. I think Katarina just made a great point. The conference circuit looks like a big industry, but it’s actually a very small village, and your reputation arrives before you do, and this is, I think, Katarina, what you just said, you are active in the bar, meeting with the conference organizers, talking with other speakers. This is what’s happening, and this is what you need to do to really, you know, to work your way forward and get invited at more more conferences.
So although it sounds very exhausting, and me almost being 50, I haven’t been up until two o’clock for 15 years. Maybe I don’t know, so, but this is the way to go. You know, this is how you really, you know, make contacts, make friends. Within this industry, it’s really a small village. And then these opportunities arise, and you just grab the opportunity when it when it comes.
David Bain
Okay, so that’s a good few tips on how to apply, how to be in the right place at the right time, and how to just grab the bull by the horns and just go for it.
But what separates a good speech from a bad speech in terms of maybe slides, what to incorporate in slides, perhaps even things like body language, how someone talks, how they come across, what to incorporate in a speech as well.
Could we get a few tips from from everyone, just in relation to that? Sophie, would you like to start off with that?
Sophie Logan
As someone who has just gone through 180 decks as part of our review process for the event last week, I have a lot to say on this one. I think it’s really important to remember that your deck is what people are seeing. It’s your chance to show off. Everyone loves a sleek-looking design, but the content really needs to be there as well, and it needs to be clearly and concisely presented.
It sounds like a very basic thing, but just making sure that your deck is the right font size, for example, that you’re you’ve got high-quality images, because someone is looking at those. And as you know, they are kind of judging you and what you’re saying, but how you’re presenting what you’ve got to say. So decks are really important.
I would say to spend your time on that. It doesn’t have to have swooshing animations and fancy videos, but that content is really important. That’s what you share after the event on Speaker Deck. That’s what people are reading when they go back to the office. So people are taking pictures to reference. So don’t neglect your deck.
I know it’s a little bit boring, and I know from experience that it can take a long time, but it really pays to spend your time on those decks.
David Bain
Gemma, what are your thoughts?
Gemma Houghton
Absolutely that is definitely true, and I think that this is common advice you’ll hear, but not cluttering slides up with too much information. It’s so tempting when you’ve got all this to say, but people need to be able to follow it and you put on 45 bullet points. Or, you know, your amazing spreadsheet that’s got so many cells that no one can see it from looking at it. Really think through what needs to be on the slides and only put, you know, this should really be an aid for what you’re saying. You want people to be focused on you and your words, not kind of reading ahead.
For example, don’t put loads of bullet points on and talk about them one by one, because people will have read ahead and they’ll be considering the last bullet point before you finish the first. Do one bullet point per slide. Or, you know, stagger them and really focus on what you’re saying rather than what the slides are there for. So, while they’re important, they shouldn’t be. You shouldn’t pin everything on them. It’s about what you’re going to say, and they should support that.
I would also really think about the first few minutes. That’s some advice I’ve heard several times, and we’ve seen that applied, and I think it’s really true if you’ve got a really strong start that really sets you up for the rest. So really work out how you’re going to introduce yourself, or how you’re going to start your talk. Are you going to tell a story? Are you going to set out what you’re going to say? But really kind of feel confident in how you’re going to start an open few minutes.
Once you get that going, the rest then flows, and that helps you feel more relaxed, I think, and and that comes across to the audience that you’re organized, you’re practiced and you’re ready to go, and then they kind of sit up and listen.
David Bain
Does the number of slides matter? Because Sophie, I’ve seen Greg Gifford at brightonSEO share about 100 slides with all his movie anecdotes. And that’s not necessarily best practice, but it’s very effective for him.
Sophie Logan
I can’t say anything because my decks are usually about 100 slides for 20 minutes as well. But I think it’s the style, right? So as Gemma was saying, my decks might just have a picture of my dog, for example. I’m clicking through them quite quickly. They’re not necessarily there to read.
I would say, when I’m judging decks, I’m not really looking for a set number. It is about how the content is presented. Again, nobody wants death by bullet points, like spreading it out into separate ones. And sometimes that can mean you end up having 80 slides for 20 minutes. But it’s the way that you’re presenting it, the way that it flows.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a set number, but yeah, I can’t say anything. I think one of mine was 120 for 20 minutes. So there is no set number. It just needs to flow. And again, that clear and concise design so that people can read it and see what they need.
Marcus Tandler
This is my signature style: a slidestorm. For me, a 40 minute keynote will have 450 slides, right? It’s really death by slidestorm. And I think the most important thing, and also for normal presentations, is to practice, practice, practice.
So before the talk, I will spend one hour per one minute on stage, right? So if I’m on stage for 20 minutes, I will work 20 hours for the talk, right, as we just practicing it, and obviously, for a 40 minute keynote, even more. And I think this is really, really, really important, because it also shouldn’t look practice, you know, I think Gemma made some great points, right? You don’t want to be basically constrained by your own presentation, so to speak. So it, it needs to look like, basically, you’re winging it. But there’s no such thing as winging it. There’s just preparation that looks like winging it and but it’s this.
This is so important that you’re so well prepared. And I see a lot of the top conferences and now also basically having speaker coaches alongside, and basically telling their speakers that they can use the speaker coach to prepare them for their talk. And I think there’s a very good thing for the conferences as well, to encourage people to speak more. And on the flip side, and I think the worst thing is having a speaker who’s on stage and they’re like, oh, I made these slides on my flight back here. This is like, Okay, you’re never coming back, you know? Because, I mean, what are you saying, right? This is, like, the worst thing you could say at a conference.
David Bain
I thought that stat that you came up with to practise for one hour for every one minute of content that seems quite, quite intense. Would you say everyone does that? Or is that something that you probably do more than most people?
Marcus Tandler
Maybe I’m just freaked out the most, but, but for me, it’s like, I’m a, I’m an introvert, right? Although people see me on stage and they’re like, What? How can this be? But nevertheless, you know, I’m a straight up, an introvert, but through practice, you know, I can achieve, you know, actually enjoying being on stage, you know, because, if not, I’m just super frightened, you know, going up on stage and having that preparation, having that excessive preparation basically is my safety safety net that I know nothing can happen. I’m just one click away from my next slide and I’m in it again.
My problem was actually always that I basically went into a tunnel. So I started my speech, and I basically woke up when people were clapping, and I’m like, so always on my first slide, I would write, enjoy that I would like, Hey, be in the moment. Yeah, and don’t just, you know, spin off your preparation as well. I think that’s that’s very important. But again, it might just be me being super stressed out before I go on stage.
Katarina Dahlin
I would love to have 20 hours like, just practice time. But sometimes, you don’t have it. But my tips would be, then, like, at least practice the beginning because I think the beginning is the most difficult one. But if I know this well, like, if I know the two three minutes, like, I can speak actually without the slides that two and three minutes, then, like, then I kind of have survived the beginning and, like, then the rest goes easier.
Adrijana Vujadin
My experience is a little bit different, because I definitely don’t have this background that I’m reviewing the decks and talking with the speakers. I’m just becoming a public speaker, and that is something that I’m still developing, but during this process, I was always analyzing when I’m on the conference and when I’m listening to other speakers, what I liked and what the audience is resonating with.
And then I was taking the best moments from the other great speakers, and I was analyzing is that something that is resonating with me, and I might admire speakers who have great energy, who are making small jokes, who are animating the people, so the audience is not dropping their attention, who is asking some questions, who are kind of being honest, who is engaging the the audience who is calling out the audience.
Once I was developing myself as a speaker, and still I do, I was trying to incorporate the great things that I’m seeing that are going well on the other conferences. And then, you know, I’m finding my unique voice and combining these kinds of things. So definitely, I see the difference between some people are great and technical things, especially in the SEO space, like they are great, like technical expert, but they are not public speaker. Or we have great public speakers, but they are not having the right expertise. So I’m constantly trying, because I’m coming from the SEO space, I’m coming from the technical perspective, but I’m constantly trying to develop, like these speaking moments, how you are talking with the audience when, when you know, after 10 minutes the audience attention is going down, how you are recovering them.
We really need to be as human as possible in these moments, because that is what the audience will resonate with, so we really need to be owning the stage. If something is happening in the corner, if someone is slamming the door, like we need to address that, because we need to address, like these elephants in the rooms. That is how we are taking like distracted people from the audience to the stage to be with me, you know, like, so I’m constantly trying to develop that skill of owning the stage and owning the audience.
For example, I just had a talk and almost like 400 people came, and I was constantly seeing how they are handling calling some friends, just like small jokes, just like, so people are seeing us as a real human, and they are, of course, like they’re resonating with us, because we are all humans in the end of the day and like, especially on Brighton and other conferences, like we are coming there with the friends. Our friends are clapping us, you know, like taking a picture. So it’s so natural to, you know, like make some jokes, or my friends are clapping and they are invoicing me now for this.
Or, you know, like small things that people will come give out the the attention again to us and doing like these small things every five minutes, because we know that we are so addicted to phones, like, we are constantly on the phone, on the LinkedIn, you know, like, and even on these conferences, like, so these kinds of small analysis are really making us better and better speakers.
And then in the end of the day, it’s about the experience, constantly improving yourself asking for feedback. So that is kind of like the way that me as a speaker want to go, because, you know, like, that is something that I really enjoy.
David Bain
Okay, it’s good to react to something that’s happening live. If someone slams the door, if some noise happens that you don’t necessarily expect, acknowledge it, make a little joke out of it, ideally, if you only get one or two people clapping for you, saying thank you, my friends for attending. So it’s nice to have those little things up your sleeve.
What happens if you’re speaking after lunch and everyone starts to just get a little bit down and not very motivated, and I guess start to look at their phones, and is there a particular style of presentation that you can come up with that makes it more likely to actually regain the energy of the people in the room?
Adrijana Vujadin
I had that experience, basically on Thursday last week, I was talking after the lunch, and when I saw that I’m going to talk after the lunch, I was like, Yeah, nobody is going to be there because people are enjoying sun, coffee and, like, all these things. So basically, that was my first sentence when I was on the stage addressing this thing, “hey, when I saw that my speak is going to be after the lunch, I thought nobody’s going to be here. Now, when I’m seeing you all, I’m so happy, and like, everybody is going to be here”.
So addressing that elephant is really what is taking that attention again, to yourself, and people are, oh, you know, like she’s addressing she is interested, you know, like I’m seeing so many speakers, just like they are talking in the same level of the tone, like they’re not even addressing us in the audience, you know, like we are real humans. We want to be visible. We want to be engaged with them. And they’re just like, coming, talking, talking, talking, going, and like, nothing happened in yen, you know, we spent like, 20 minutes nothing happened. No one is being remembered.
Gemma Houghton
I was just gonna say that. I think it’s really important to be confident on the stage as well, like you saying about owning the stage, Adrijana, and I think it’s really true that I think naturally, as humans are, our default is to go, oh, you know, I’m really nervous, and I hope I’m not going to waste your time and, you know, you’re going to learn something from me, and almost kind of bill yourself as, you know, kind of almost justify that. Oh, you might not, you know, I’m not sure I deserve to be here, almost.
I think it’s really important that you don’t do that, that you don’t give the impression that, oh, I’m, you know, I’m not really sure why I’m here, but actually going confident, not arrogant, but confident and clear on why you’re there. Because that also makes people think I’ve got, you know, if you, if you don’t think you deserve to be there, then they’re going to maybe thinking, why should I listen?
So I think don’t it kind of almost feels natural as a self-defence mechanism, but I think it’s really important not to do that and to just be confident, to appreciate that if you’re on that stage, it’s because the organizers believe you should be. They’re not going to give you a slot if they don’t think you’ve got something to add to their conference. So you deserve to be there, and then you should kind of deliver that while you’re on the stage as well.
Marcus Tandler
Can I say one thing to Adrijana again, the jokes, this is so important, because in the end, people want entertainment. They want to be entertained, right? I mean, like, obviously we love, oh my God. Look at the juicy data, look at the technical stuff, right? This is all awesome, but in the end, people want to be entertained. You’re sitting in probably a dark conference room, you know, for like, a whole day. In the end, you just don’t want to fall asleep. So all these jokes and everything this is super important, you know, to to lighten up the mood.
You know, I’ll always laugh when somebody would like, go out of the room, and when I’m just talking, and I’m like, and I would just talk about, I don’t know, like link buying, and he’s like, oh, there’s a guy who runs out to buy some links and stuff like this, right? This is so easy, right? Such easy things to play with these situations.
And what I also did, and this is really awesome, I actually hired a writer from a satire show as like a comedy writer. I hired a comedy writer which are surprisingly cheap, and I send them all, basically the news reports I would like feed off of. So basically like Core updates being announced, or Google doing this, Microsoft doing that. I would send him all the news articles, and he would send me back, like, three, four pages with jokes, with little jokes about these things. And I would pick, like, three or four of those, and they’re, like, gold, right?
Because, like, really a delightful, good joke, or stuff like this, you know, lightens up the atmosphere again. It also when people, when somebody is watching the phone, you know, he would, he looks up again, what? Why are people laughing? You know? And I immediately get him back with my hundreds of slides. This always worked really well. So just want to say comedy authors are really cheap, and again, like spend 200 bucks, you know, and you make some good jokes in your talk, which will be more well received, you know, maybe that’s a good tip for someone.
David Bain
But you’re better off paying a comedy writer than using AI for that, Marcus?
Marcus Tandler
AI is not funny. AI is not funny. And again, I mean, if you get paid a lot, why not? You know, spend a little to make it better. You know, I think that’s perfectly reasonable.
Katarina Dahlin
That’s something I have been experimenting as well, like making jokes and stuff, but I’m also a Finnish person, so the jokes doesn’t come natural for me. So one day, one time, I was like, trying to think of, think of something, but didn’t come up with something. But I still wanted to try something new when I was in Dublin, so I kind of did that with slides instead.
So in the beginning, instead of just starting like normal, I put in a slide that’s, like, completely unrelated to SEO and like. So like, I didn’t have to say anything, I just showed the slide, and people started to laugh. And then, like, then I got their attention, and then I could continue with the actual stuff.
David Bain
So Sophie, you mentioned that you’ve just come from reviewing, you know, 100-plus potential speaking applications. So obviously, you’re looking for things to jump out at you. What’s something that people can add to their pitch to make them more saleable. I’m thinking about an offer to promote the event or the pitch a little bit more to interact with organizers, a little bit more. Is there something that someone can add to their offering that will make them more likely to be selected over someone else?
Sophie Logan
I think kind of what we were saying earlier about how you find in those opportunities. You know, if you don’t have to have been to every event that you want to pitch for, that would be impossible to do, but it does make a difference. When someone has been to the event, is already familiar with it. They know what your audience are like. You know they’re liking your posts. They’re engaging with them. They’re seeing me at other events and dropping me a message and saying, Oh, I’m pitching this weekend. Look out for my pitch. There is those types of things which will help you, you know, to promote yourselves to the promoters of the event.
But also, there’s usually a section there is in ours of like, tell us about yourself. Like, yes, your talk, your job title, everything is great. But if there’s a section where you can tell the organizers what you’re passionate about, why you want to speak. You know, what are you bringing that you that is unique, that really stands out because people buy from people, people listen to people, and that’s what we’re looking for as well.
You know, as everyone has been saying here, adding your personality in there, people want to know that. I know that I would stand out for me when I’m looking through hundreds of pictures coming through like show me. Show me what you’re interested in, what’s your passion, what’s your twist, what’s your perspective. Bring your personality into your deck, into your pitch, into your social posts, bring it into everything, because we want to see you.
Marcus Tandler
Can I share one more thing that you asked me before about the G50, which I shot down, but at the G50, you actually apply anonymously, right? Because it’s not about fancy titles, it’s not about fancy companies you work for. It’s about you, you yourself among the other 50 people. So it’s always anonymous, and everybody else votes on these anonymous applications.
David Bain
Gemma, can I get your thoughts please on something else that people can add to the pitch in order to actually make them stand head and shoulders above other applications that you’re seeing?
Gemma Houghton
Yeah, I think sometimes it is just really honing in on what the value is for the audience. So sometimes there’s a lot of description about what they can say and all these things that they can talk about, or what. They’ve done. But actually, why is this an important topic? You know, why do you believe other people need to know this? Why will it help them? I think that sometimes, if somebody can really articulate that, and you can tell they’ve really thought about the audience, that helps.
I agree with Sophie on, you know, we ask, Why do you want to speak at this event? And if you can explain why, because there are, you know, we get that some people just want to speak, and they’re going to pitch a lot of events and things, that’s fine. But if you can have a reason why you want to be at that event, and it’s not being all it’s the best event I’ve ever heard about, or anything like that, but just a reason why you think that event matches you, I think that can really help, because you think they really want to be there, they’re going to be involved, they’re going to be active in it. They’re going to be engaged with the whole process, and that’s important.
If you really want to stand out, I’ve suggested to people before, why not do a little video pitch, or something else that you know just is different to what other people do? You know? Find a way to add something to your pitch that isn’t just the words themselves, but that’s you know.
That’s not necessary every time. I think it’s really about again, going back to the core of why this event, why this topic, why you think it is going to be valuable? And that really is where we’ll look at for a starting point.
David Bain
Let’s finish off by going around a panel and asking for an answer to one more question. And that is, what’s something that will turn an event organizer off and make sure that that SEO speaker isn’t invited back?
I think Marcus, you talked about something like that earlier as well. So what’s something that an SEO speaker should definitely not do, either as part of their speech they actually do, or perhaps after the speech, in order just to make a very bad impression?
So we’ll finish with that tip, and then just remind the listener who you are and where people can find you. So you’re nodding away. Marcus, would you like to start off with that one?
Marcus Tandler
I don’t know I could like say 100 things, but I think I’ve taken so much time already, so I would just say one sentence a great talk gets you on stage, but being a great human gets you back on it. And I think that sums it up.
So I’m Marcus. You can find me on mediadonis.net, or LinkedIn.
David Bain
Amazing. Thank you so much, Marcus for coming on. Gemma, what are your thoughts on that last question?
Gemma Houghton
So again, there are probably quite a few, but one I’d say is is not not respecting the time of your session. So you’ll be very clearly told how long you’ve got for your session. Make sure that you do fit there or thereabouts within that.
Any speaker that you know is either really short or, in more cases, just goes hugely over time that really can throw out the whole day. It’s not very considerate for the rest of the other speakers or the audience, so that would automatically be a bit of a red flag. So really try and respect the time that you’re given and make your talk fit within that time.
David Bain
Absolutely brilliant tip. Gemma, where people, where can people find you?
Gemma Houghton
Yeah, so I’m mainly on LinkedIn, Gemma Houghton, and you should find me there. Or if you want to check out the conference, look for International Search Summit, and you’ll find our events coming up when you search for those.
David Bain
Superb, thanks so much for coming on. Sophie, what are your last thoughts?
Sophie Logan
To take feedback on board. I was guilty when I started speaking of being like I know everything my decks perfect. I don’t need to change anything if you are getting feedback on your deck or your presenting style, try and take it on board, because 99.99999% of the time, it will make you a better speaker. And it comes from a good place.
Yes, you can find me. I’m Sophie Logan on LinkedIn, and we are looking for new speakers for brightonSEO and MeasureFest in October in the UK. So if you’re listening to this and they’re like, I’m going to give it a go, then please get your pitch in.
David Bain
Amazing stuff. Thank you so much Sophie. Katarina, what are your thoughts on something that an SEO speaker absolutely shouldn’t do? And where can people find you?
Katarina Dahlin
My thought is that if you only go to the conference and speak and then you go home or disappear, the organizers won’t like that, because they want you to hang around there so the audience can also talk to you between the talks and so that would be my tip on that.
And you can find me anywhere, but LinkedIn is where I post quite often.
David Bain
Wonderful on LinkedIn, someone’s just posted on LinkedIn. We’re streaming live on LinkedIn as well. Thanks. So noted down a lot of great tips and a lot of great tips just in that concluding question here.
Katarina, thank you so much for joining as well. Adrijana, what’s something that an SEO speaker shouldn’t do?
Adrijana Vujadin
I have no idea, since I’m not from the conference speaker background, but me, as a speaker, I’m always thinking, these people who are organizing these things, they are also human. They are busy. It’s crazy things. So I really think that, like, we need to try to help them, you know, like, and really being like human as we would do, like, with our best friends. So in the end of the day, it’s, I think being human as more as possible, because we could be in that position there, and then we are expecting all these things.
LinkedIn is the way to go to find me. I’m Adrijana Vujadin.
David Bain
I’ve been your host, David Bain, and you’ve been listening to the Majestic SEO panel. If you want to join us live next time, sign up on majestic.com/webinars and, of course, check out SEOin2026.com as well.
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- How to Speak at SEO Conferences - April 22, 2026
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