So you want to be a public speaker - congratulations and welcome to the club. Public speaking is one of the most rewarding, not to mention well paying, jobs you or anyone else could hope for. Not one successful speaker spends their days wishing they were doing something different.
But can you really make a full-time career from this activity? How do you keep the work coming in? How can you lift your game and become a great speaker who people want to listen to time and again? Here's my five tips to start out with.
Always have at least two speeches on a general topic that are well rehearsed and you can deliver at short notice. Once I was at a function where the speaker didn't turn up. I stepped forward and volunteered my services and gave one of my set 45minute talks. Because of that I got an unexpected pay-check and two more gigs.
Leave the ego at home. Effective public speaking, the type that gets you the next job, is all about giving of yourself and your knowledge. Unfortunately too many look for the adulation and applause. Trust me - put the audience first and you'll receive more than your fair share of fame and fortune.
Leave your audience something to think about after the talk. You can do this by using some well chosen, well positioned, thought-provoking questions to drive your message home.
Be current and always update your older speeches. No one wants to hear out-of-date research. "According to a 1994 poll...." 1994 - who cares! Your audience won't that's for sure. Public speakers need to be on the ball with all that's new and fresh in their areas of expertise.
Don't let the jokes hide your message. If you want to be a comedian then become a comedian but not while you're marketing yourself as a public speaker. Humour is fine and has its place, it relaxes both you and the audience and builds rapport. But don't become a stand-up comic. The buyer didn't buy one and the public certainly didn't come to hear one.
Follow these steps and see yourself transform from being just another average speaker to one then gets repeat orders and professional incomes. Try them and see.
But can you really make a full-time career from this activity? How do you keep the work coming in? How can you lift your game and become a great speaker who people want to listen to time and again? Here's my five tips to start out with.
Always have at least two speeches on a general topic that are well rehearsed and you can deliver at short notice. Once I was at a function where the speaker didn't turn up. I stepped forward and volunteered my services and gave one of my set 45minute talks. Because of that I got an unexpected pay-check and two more gigs.
Leave the ego at home. Effective public speaking, the type that gets you the next job, is all about giving of yourself and your knowledge. Unfortunately too many look for the adulation and applause. Trust me - put the audience first and you'll receive more than your fair share of fame and fortune.
Leave your audience something to think about after the talk. You can do this by using some well chosen, well positioned, thought-provoking questions to drive your message home.
Be current and always update your older speeches. No one wants to hear out-of-date research. "According to a 1994 poll...." 1994 - who cares! Your audience won't that's for sure. Public speakers need to be on the ball with all that's new and fresh in their areas of expertise.
Don't let the jokes hide your message. If you want to be a comedian then become a comedian but not while you're marketing yourself as a public speaker. Humour is fine and has its place, it relaxes both you and the audience and builds rapport. But don't become a stand-up comic. The buyer didn't buy one and the public certainly didn't come to hear one.
Follow these steps and see yourself transform from being just another average speaker to one then gets repeat orders and professional incomes. Try them and see.
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