Each cruise ship speaker has a different method to announce what cruise lines are looking for speakers – destination and enrichment.
One agent will email out to all the speakers a list of upcoming opportunities. Another has a web site that is updated every 5 seconds. Of course, ship needs don’t change that often. Yet another agent puts needs as they come to her on her Facebook page. If she friends you, you will see an upcoming need in the feed on your Facebook page, provided you are active there. And still another sent me to the home page of a cruise line with instructions to go through all the itineraries that the ships will be sailing next year and pick which ones I would be interested in. There were just two luxury lines. But two times every week times one year is a lot of itineraries. Where have I been, I can do destination. Where do I want to go – I can do enrichment. I am approved for both. However, I haven’t been everywhere. And not everywhere wants an enrichment speaker.
If it’s a destination speaker gig I am aiming for I have to send from 4-6 topics plus descriptions. Lots of destinations equals a lot of topic and description making upping. Enrichment? Four to six topics and descriptions and I am done.
My enrichment topic is in demand – Social Media for the Cruiser. Destination speakers are in demand as well. But I can’t destination speak to the places I want to go because I haven’t been there yet.
Point – the cruise director of the individual cruise line and itinerary I am aiming for makes the final determination. I get rejected, too!