Oh No! Someone Else Has My Topic!

You’ve been booked for a conference. 

You’re pumped. Your topic is locked in. And then…

You check the agenda.

Wait. What?!

Holy smokes! Someone else is speaking on your topic?

(The nerve!)

Or maybe this happens…  

You’re scrolling through LinkedIn, and BAM! Fifteen other people are talking about the exact same thing as you.

That creeping panic sets in. 

“Am I unique? Am I just saying the same thing as everyone else? Why would they pick me over them?”

If you’ve ever felt this, you’re not alone. Every speaker has had this moment of existential dread.

Yeah, I know. That sounds totally backward. But stick with me.

Let’s talk about why competition isn’t your enemy—it’s your greatest advantage.

Topic Overlap is a Good Thing (Really!)

Let’s go back about ten years to when I first saw Jay Acunzo speak.

He was giving really great content marketing advice, but at the time, it was similar to what many other people were saying. It took Jay about a year to find his unique voice, perspective, and vision—and once he did? He took off!

Suddenly, he wasn’t just another speaker on content marketing—he became the Jay Acunzo. He was booked constantly.

That’s the first key lesson here: 

Your perspective, your style, your energy—that’s what makes you different.

Why Speaker “Competition” Actually Helps You

Still feeling uneasy about sharing a topic with others? Let’s break down why competition is a sign of opportunity, not a threat.

1. Market Validation

Competition is good for any business. 

When I was writing Town Inc., I learned about a concept that fast-food restaurants use to be more successful. If there’s a Burger King on one corner and a Wendy’s on the other, the best move isn’t to avoid the area—it’s to put a McDonald’s on the third corner. That clustering creates more opportunities for everyone.

And that first idea applies to speaking as well.

Competition confirms that there’s demand for what you’re talking about. When a lot of speakers are earning a living discussing exactly what you do—whether it’s a broad topic like leadership, sales, or marketing, or something super specific like LinkedIn profile development—it confirms that there’s market interest and budget for it.

If you look at it from an event organizer’s perspective, they seek out different speakers on the same topics for different events, different audiences, different budgets, even different regional or local needs. If you’re not finding any competition, that’s actually more concerning.

Lack of competition could mean there’s just not enough market demand. Sure, pioneering a topic can be fun, but it’s also financially risky.

2. Event Organizers Need OPTIONS

Event organizers aren’t looking for a single “winner” on a topic.

The speaking world is an interconnected network. Different speakers serve different niches, fractals, price points, and audience needs. It’s an ecosystem—and you don’t need a winner-takes-all attitude. You don’t have to be the only speaker on a topic.

Instead, you should want to be part of the ecosystem and know exactly where you fit.

Think about it from the event organizer’s perspective. One of the things that makes a speaker successful is addressing everyone in the audience hierarchy of needs.

Different speakers provide different perspectives on the same topic, serving different audience segments.

• Some speakers are great at workshops for practitioners.
• Some are amazing at high-level, strategic talks.

For example, Robert Rose is a fantastic speaker for high-level strategy and big-picture thinking in marketing. If you want to hear about content marketing strategy, he’s your guy. But if you need practical, tactical email marketing insights, you’d go to Jessica Best.

Both are valuable. Both are necessary.

So, different approaches to the same subject actually create room for different angles and more speaking opportunities.

3. The Referral Advantage