Do you enjoy giving speeches in front of groups? Do you wish to reach out to individuals and businesses but don’t know where to begin?
I’ve had a fantastic speaking career spanning more than 30 years. I’ll tell you how I got started as a public speaker and share some ideas I’ve picked up along the way to help you do the same.
A large percentage of professional presenters begin their presentations in the same way:
They begin by giving talks in their organization or firm, or they may be invited to speak to a small group of individuals in their field on their topic.
They jot down some ideas and discuss what they’ve learned.
When others respond positively, the speaker will immediately understand that he or she is on to something.
1) You Have To Really Want A Public Speaking Career
People would approach my buddy Bill Gove, who used to be one of America’s best speakers, all the time, telling him they wanted to be speakers.
He’d ponder the question, “Why?”
They would frequently tell him that they wished to be famous, wealthy, and a theatre star.
He pointed out that these were insufficient justifications. The desire to acquire money and gain recognition was insufficient motivation.
Successful people succeed in public speaking because they have a burning message that they want to share with the world and that people can genuinely benefit from.
2) How Zig Ziglar Started Speaking
Zig Ziglar, a famous motivational speaker, has said that he delivered 3,000 lectures before getting paid for the first.
I spent years traveling with Zig and giving talks with him. I eventually figured out what he meant when he said he started in sales and then spent a decade or more training salespeople.
Every morning, he would deliver a brief sales presentation to his team. That was his beginning: he would tell short anecdotes and provide little motivational and sales morsels.
This might be the start of something…
3) Don’t Agree To Speak On A Subject That’s Completely Out Of Your Experience
Every topic I’ve ever agreed to talk about has been something I’ve personally dealt with.
I had been a sales manager at major businesses when they invited me to talk about leadership.
For years, I hired, dismissed, trained, deployed, and worked with people. Because I had previously served as a leader, I was well-versed in the subject. I had already studied sales and time management for years when they invited me to talk about these topics.
What are some ways you can apply this to yourself?
What areas of expertise do you have? Develop a specialty in one area of your knowledge and take advantage of speaking opportunities with organizations interested in your field.
4) Speaking Requires You To Care About Your Subject
You must be passionate about the subject, as well as concerned about how the subject may positively impact others. When you genuinely care about your subject, you will gain confidence and become more successful in your delivery.
5) Stay Current And Up To Date
I was at a conference just a little while ago and someone said that I was the most current person they had ever spoken to.
He told me this:
“Everything you say is current to within the last 30 days, and sometimes as recent as seven or even two days.”
This, by the way, is really key to surviving and thriving in the world of professional speaking and training.
6) 80% Of All Speakers Are Also Trainers
Here’s another example:
Approximately 80% of all speakers are also trainers.
One of the most crucial books to read if you’re going to be a trainer is Robert Mager’s book on training.
He had a master’s in professional education.
He primarily teaches what is known as the Mager Method. It’s something I learned as a kid, and once you learn it, you’ll never be the same. You won’t have to think about it again; it will become second nature to you, like riding a bicycle.
According to Mager, you must:
Determine what behaviors and outcomes you want individuals to achieve as a consequence of participating in your training program with your client.
Then you select what actions they’ll need to engage in in order to achieve those goals.
Then you talk to the supervisors and sometimes even the people who will be in the training to determine their present level of knowledge, skills, and habits.
You will be able to train as well as talk if you use this approach. This will increase the likelihood of businesses and others booking you to speak.
7) Give 300 Talks As Hard And As Fast As You Can
One of my earliest memories is being called to speak in front of a huge gathering after someone had heard me speak. The organizer approached me at the end of the 60-minute presentation and handed me an envelope.
“Thank you very much,” he said. I’m grateful for your presence. ” I took a step back and opened the envelope, which contained a $500 check.
Oh, my goodness!
I had offered to give the presentation for free in the hopes that some of the audience members would attend my seminar. I’ll never forget how delighted I was when I received $500. If things go well, individuals will approach you and offer to pay you. They claim that if you want to start speaking professionally, you need f
Then you select what actions they’ll need to engage in in order to achieve those goals. Then you talk to the supervisors and sometimes even the people who will be in the training to determine their present level of knowledge, skills, and habits.
You will be able to train as well as talk if you use this approach. This will increase the likelihood of businesses and others booking you to speak.
How In The World Is It Possible To Give 300 Talks?
What’s the best place to deliver 300 talks?
In the United States alone, there are between two and three million meetings every year… Rotary meetings, Lions Club meetings, non-profit association meetings, car club meetings, and any other business organization gathering fall under this category.
And each of these organizations is seeking a speaker for their upcoming gathering.
8) What Is The PTBS Or “Problem To Be Solved?”
Every speech is a chance to address an issue that the audience is experiencing.
The keyword here, as usual, is clarity. You must be clear about the problem your speech will address and the responses it will provide.
How will it benefit people?
Even a motivational speech is meant to assist individuals by motivating, focusing, and channeling their energies.
9) Never Turn Down A Talk
Keep in mind that finding an audience is 95 percent of the battle. As a result, you’ll need to pick an organization that already has a following. Someone is already putting together meetings.
Bringing people together in a room is the most difficult thing you’ll ever accomplish. The majority of speakers have little ability to draw people into a room. They need to find someone else who can bring the folks into the room, whatever the size of the gathering is, someplace, somehow.
Continue reading and I’ll tell you where to look for those folks…
10) In The Beginning, Focus On One Single Subject
So you’ve got specialization and you’ve decided to speak about it…
You specialize and concentrate on a particular subject at first.
If someone asks what your topic is, you respond, “I show leaders how to get the very most out of each individual who reports to them.”
“Great. All of our managers would like to hear that. ”
Here’s An Important Point:
Always describe your speech in terms of the transformation, change, or consequence that will occur as a result of people listening to it. In your lecture, you never discuss the content; instead, you discuss the consequence.
You’ll be able to schedule a lot more talks if you do this instead of just talking about your content.
11) What Is Your Specialty?
What do you excel at? What are your passions? You are free to speak on anything as long as you are enthusiastic about it and have expertise in it. Because business, sales, and leadership were my areas of expertise, I began speaking in those areas.
What do you excel at?
All of the courses in your public speaking training will pay off if you are enthusiastic about your subject. You’ll rapidly lose your audience if you don’t have passion.
12) Develop Multiple Ways To Make Money Speaking
Making money from speaking is only one of the ways you may make money from speaking when you give a speech. You may also give free speech and sell a range of items you’ve developed, such as books or audio programs.
You may put order forms on people’s chairs and tell them that they can fill them out and have your goods delivered to them as soon as possible.
13) Be Humble And Grateful
Because someone in that business audience could be able to blow your career wide open.
It happened to me when I gave the lecture to Caterpillar for a cheap cost. One individual in the crowd was responsible for getting me into IBM and launching my speaking career.
If that happened to me, I’m confident it will happen to you as well.