Measuring Speaker ROI: Julie Holmes’ Practical Advice for New and Experienced Professionals

Welcome back to My First Stage! On the last day of the NSA Influence Conference I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with the incredible Julie Holmes. If you’re looking to level up your speaking business, land paid gigs, or just muster the courage to watch your own “game tape,” this episode is packed with exactly what you need.Julie Holmes is the founder of Stage Hopper, a lead finding and sharing platform built specifically for professional speakers aiming for paid gigs. But Julie is so much more than just a tech founder—she’s a Hall of Fame speaker, a PSA Fellow, a national champion in public speaking, and someone who’s spent decades helping companies (and speakers) master the art of communication. Safe to say, she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to getting—and crushing—your first stage.During our conversation, Julie Holmes and I covered so much ground:Defining and Demonstrating Your Value: Why it takes more than being “funny and engaging” to get booked and paid in the speaking world.The Five Sales Triggers: Julie Holmes’ simple but powerful system—internal, external, before, after, and time—for identifying why an organization would need your voice.Doing the Research: Real tactics for uncovering what’s going on behind the scenes at companies and how to speak directly to their biggest challenges.Numbers That Matter: How to articulate ROI in ways that clients can’t ignore (and how to translate abstract value into hard numbers).Different Paths to Payment: From paid keynotes to back-of-room sales to workshops and more, Julie Holmes breaks down the many business models in speaking.Her Own “First Stage”: From degrees in public speaking to decades in corporate, Julie Holmes traces her unique journey and the value of early career “reps.”The Infinite Value of Watching Your Own Tape: Why recording yourself is non-negotiable, and how the discomfort of seeing yourself on camera is just part of getting better.Advice for New Speakers: What to do if you’re scared, how to reframe the nerves, and why mastery comes from honest self-reflection and relentless practice.Ready to take your speaking career to the next stage? Here are your next steps:Rewatch Your “Game Tape” – No more hiding from the camera! Start recording your talks, watch yourself back, and see every single moment as a chance to improve.Connect with Julie Holmes – Learn more about her speaking, business, and strategies on LinkedIn.Share Your Story – How did you get your first stage? Head to myfirststagepodcast.com and share your journey—I’d love to hear from you!Subscribe & Review – Like what you’re hearing? Make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and help us bring even more real-world advice and inspiration to speakers everywhere.Thanks for tuning in to My First Stage. Whether this was your first episode or your fiftieth, I hope Julie Holmes’s insights inspire you as much as they did me. See you next week for another behind-the-scenes story!Timestamped Summaries[00:00-01:07] – I welcome Julie Holmes to the podcast, and she shares her dual perspective as both a speaker and a founder. We dig right into what real ROI looks like for event organizers—not just entertainment value, but true organizational impact.[01:12-02:32] – Julie Holmes introduces her five-point system for identifying a client’s needs—internal, external, before, after, and time—and why researching these is the secret to getting paid.[02:52-03:37] – We walk through internal and external triggers, from company reorganizations to broader industry upheaval (hello, AI!). Julie Holmes lays out exactly how these events tie to the value you bring.[03:51-04:46] – Julie Holmes explains the “before” and “after” of organizational change and how aligning your expertise to where the client’s headed is a mega sales tool.[05:12-06:17] – We talk research tactics: digging into board memos, third-party surveys, and, yes, even using AI. Julie Holmes stresses the difference between making assumptions and backing up your pitch with hard data.[06:39-07:39] – What does it mean to “find the number?” Julie Holmes shares how speaking on sales teams (with real growth targets) forced her to quantify value—not just “fun with AI,” but concrete outcomes and ROI.[08:01-09:52] – We tackle the many ways to “get paid”—from keynotes to workshops to back-of-room book sales—and why each speaker must find their own lane (and their own joy) in this business.[10:12-12:25] – Julie Holmes tells the story of her own first stages, from college competitions to corporate conferences, and why even those early, unpaid opportunities set the foundation for everything that followed.[12:28-14:56] – We go deep on the importance (and pain!) of recording yourself. Julie Holmes gives tough-love advice for getting past the cringe of seeing yourself on camera, and how self-review is the not-so-secret key to getting better every time you take the stage.[15:16-15:56] – To wrap up, Julie Holmes shares how listeners can check out Stage Hopper to find their next opportunity and grow their speaking business.