1)What is the best way to contact chamber of commerce to be a speaker?

I have a list along with contact name (etc) for every Chamber of Commerce in my state. I realize that the best way to contact them, would be through a referral, but I don't have that to go on. My efforts to speak at the Chambers I am a member of, have gone on deaf ears. There are very few meetings where the topic is actually about growing a business. And locally they don't do much in the way of quarterly conferences or any special events on that subject (very strange indeed

The program I'd like to propose is on business and marketing planning -- on one page. So I know that the topic is very relevant to the chamber members I've spoken to so far. Also this is the only one of my program that I teach for free (for up to 1 hour) when I'm contacted by an organization.

Seems like I have good credibility - testimonials, have been quoted in recognized magazines, articles have been reproduced around the word

I'm wondering, if you've contacted organizations where you don't know someone, where have you started, what types of things have you pitched?



2) On this same topic. I find that many chamber won't pay you to speak at monthly meetings or even quarterly meetings. Is this pretty much try across the board? Even today, when I spoke with the Program person at a chamber, she almost had a heart attack when I suggested in kind payment OR doing an event where I'd speak at the meeting and they'd coordinate a paid event after the meeting for 3 hours. And forget about even putting a table in the room with my products! It's evident that this Chamber is not my ideal client either