Public Speaking Notes

by Precious Maseko

One of the first steps as you launch your professional speaking career is to get good at what you do. You’ll find that you’ll need to speak for free. Gain experience and build your client database. In doing so, you’ll be able to go after higher paying jobs as you can demonstrate your professionalism, credibility as a speaker and your ability to draw large crowds.

You can do an online search for the keyword term “calls for speakers” or “speakers wanted”. You’ll obtain a listing of organizations and meetings that are requesting professional speakers.

Research the NTPA (National Trade and Professional Associations) Directory. You can purchase it for about $150. Issued in February each year, it gives you the information you’ll need to begin making contacts in the association market.

These are places where you can find jobs. However, you will need to also put together a promotional kit. Start with a simple letter and build your promotional kit up. You’ll also have to develop a marketing strategy to build and maintain a potential client listing. Using this listing, you can use direct mail or make phone calls to promote yourself as a professional speaker for hire. Now that you know where to look, you’ll be able to start going after speaking engagements and gaining experience!

Sources of income

Sell your knowledge via a training system package. Create a training system using CDs, DVDs, a training manual and any other parts that you’ll need. Package the system and sell it for a profit.

Get paid as a speaker through speaker bureaus. Speaker bureaus help to connect speaker with meeting planners. Get listed with these bureaus to help promote your professional speaking career.

Get paid for telephone seminars. Many people are doing live seminars or telephone seminars in their businesses. Make contacts with people in the businesses that do them. It’s the same thing as doing a speech except that it’s on the telephone.

Work for training companies. Companies like Fred Pryor can be great interim sources of income that help you gain confidence as a speaker.

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Tags: speakers, public speaking, topics

by Elias Maseko

The first message type is the verbal message. First off, your verbal message should be clear and concise. Your discussion points should be detailed and well supported by data, testimonials and perhaps even visual aids. Discussion and transition points should flow and lead your audience from point A to point B.

One visual presentation you make is the one with your personal appearance and attire. Your audience doesn’t know you. If you say that you are a professional, do you look like it? You don’t have to have the Armani suits or the Dolce & Gabbana dress, but you should at least look like the professional you claim to be. Men speaker should avoid loud colored shirts. Leave those shirts at home for the night out. Women should dress conservatively. You don’t have to be wearing a burlap sack, but low-cut blouses and high skirts don’t belong here. Your goal is to create credibility as a professional.

The movements you make in your speech should be planned or at least controlled by you. Any movement that is not planned could potentially be distracting. Many of the above mentioned mannerisms stem from being nervous about being on stage. Additionally, they could also come just because you don’t know you are doing them. Either way, you’ll need to minimize and eliminate as many of these movements as possible.

Review your video tape for places where you make distracting mannerisms. Make a list of the mannerisms you have and thoughtfully practice your speech without those mannerisms. Rerecord yourself and keep reviewing your tapes until you a satisfied that all the mannerisms are gone.

You should consider the body movements you incorporate into your presentation. Body movements should look natural. You can use facial expressions and make eye contact with your audience for maximum effects.

The real success of every presentation is leaving your audience with something of value. What do they get out of spending time in your presentation? Many people believe that they need natural brilliance in speaking well and presenting well. The believe is that they need to be polished, smart, witty and charming all before they actually start to build a speech. Those attributes can come naturally, but most often, they come as a result of passion, knowledge and practice of the speaker’s material.

Give your audience something of value by becoming their friend. Sometimes you may need to stop thinking of yourself as a professional speaker and start thinking of yourself a close personal friend of the audience member. You’ll teach them something and give them advice. You’ll sound more natural in our speech and you’ll be more relatable to your audience. People often associate those on stage as automatically having knowledge and wisdom on the topic covered. While this thought is great to establish you as a leader, the points you make in your presentation may be better received if you came across from a more personal standpoint.

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Tags: topics, speaking, tips

by Elias Maseko

As a professional speaker, the first message type is the verbal message. First off, your verbal message should be clear and concise. Your discussion points should be detailed and well supported by data, testimonials and perhaps even visual aids. Discussion and transition points should flow and lead your audience from point A to point B.

The environment that you hold your presentation in impacts your message as well. The room itself can be a distraction and you can lose your focus and worse yet, you can lose the attention of your audience. Details like the room temperature (too cold, too warm) or noisy traffic (beeping horns and emergency vehicle sirens) may seem like they are out of your control, but you do have some control. Other environmental considerations include the appearance of the room. Is it professional? Is it warm and cozy? Does it enhance the message you want to convey or does it take away from it? It behooves you to minimize as much as possible all of these types of distractions from your presentation.

As a professional speaker, everything you do the minute you walk into the room sets the tone for your message. Without even speaking one word, you can determine just how many people you will reach because their engagement to your message depends on you; not on them. You can have a great topic to speak on and great presentation skills, but without communication the passion you have about your topic, none of it really matters!

Relate to your audience. Relating to your audience goes beyond just speaking to them. It encompasses everything from the greeting you give, the way you dress and your tone of voice you use to address them. Part of relating to your audience means knowing who they are and what appeals to them. You’ll have to research beforehand who your audience members are. If you do this, you’ll be positioning yourself to be more relatable to them.

Achieving success in professional speaking

One of the most important factors in having a successful presentation is serving the needs of your audience. Going back to the idea that you need to leave your audience with something of value, caring for your audience’s needs doesn’t require perfection. You can make mistakes with speaking and it’s going to be okay. The projector equipment can fail and it’s still going to be okay. You don’t have to include humor in order to be a success. With that in mind, real perfection is more like being successful at reaching your audience.

Realize you don’t have to control every situation in your audience. You don’t have to emerge as the victor over negative audience members. The audio/video equipment does not have to be perfectly functioning. You simply don’t have enough time to combat situations in your audiences (I.e. - like them falling asleep, talking or cell phones ringing) and still communicate your message effectively. Remember that your whole goal is to give your audience something of value.

Professional speaking portfolio

Speaker bureaus and meeting planners - Expect to see certain pieces of information in order to see if you are the professional speaker they are looking for. These pieces of information include a content sheet highlighting the material you’ll be presenting, a speaker biography, testimonials / reviews, a list of the services you provide including educational materials and fee schedule, a sample client list, a demo video and a business card with contact information. You can also include a letter on a personalized letterhead stating your interest in the event and why you feel they should choose you.

Speaker biography (bio) - highlight certifications and qualifications in your 2 -3 paragraph narrative. Each paragraph should be about 2-3 sentences long and should tell give bureaus and planners an idea of who you are and what you’re about. This bio may also be used as part of the advertisement of the speaking engagement and may be shortened to a short paragraph. You should also send a picture of yourself.

List of the clients you’ve worked for - you can combine this with your testimonial and review sections however, keep in mind that not everyone will respond to your request for feedback. Either you didn’t ask for a review or they didn’t take the time to fill out your review sheet. You can still keep a running list of the people who have used your services.

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Tags: tips, speaking, public speaking