Public speaking can be one of the most powerful avenues for bringing in traffic, business deals and developing a strong reputation for your growing business.
The Potential Impact of Public Speaking on Your Business
Anyone who has heard you speak in person is a candidate for being a loyal customer. Furthermore, if you made a favorable impression, influential business people may invite you to explore business deals. When someone steps on stage to speak, they are automatically branded as an expert and people look at you as an air of authority and with deference.
If you use this opportunity to demonstrate skill, knowledge and expertise, you will build a level of credibility that is hard to rival through online newsletters or even one-on-one interactions. You will be able to speak to larger and larger crowds, building a more solid reputation, getting more traffic and more business deals.
Getting Your First Few Speaking Gigs
The first and perhaps best place to start speaking is at Toastmasters, an international organization with groups from four to one hundred people that gives all its members the opportunity to learn how to speak in public. You will learn skills such as how to prepare a presentation, how to research in-depth facts, how to use your body and voice, how to use comedy and how to improvise on stage.
Once you have a fair bit of speaking experience under your belt, proceed first to the “small speaking circuit.” This is basically the local groups and meet-ups in your area. Look on Meetup.com for meet-ups related to your industry and meet their organizers. See if you can help out by offering your expertise. Also look into speaking at your local chamber of commerce.
Finding Larger Audiences to Speak To
Organizers of conferences and seminars need good speakers and spend a considerable amount of time finding them. The trick is to start building relationships with as many influential people in your space as possible. Do this by attending conferences and seminars and meeting people who speak at conferences or have large email lists.
Also, if you have a clear offer for speakers, that can help. For example, if you sell a product or workshop and you are willing to split profits, that can go a long way towards convincing people with audiences to let you speak.
Before you have a solid reputation, some speakers may want to see a video or two of you on stage before letting you speak on their stage. They basically want to make sure you know how to speak before putting their reputation on the line. If you don’t have a video like this, just have a friend film you speaking at a Toastmasters meeting and put it on YouTube.
To recap, build your speaking skills by speaking at Toastmasters, then start out in your local circuit through meet-ups and your chamber of commerce. Then, build your relationships and reputation and gradually work your way up to larger and larger audiences. The influence, traffic and reputation that you will build this way can completely revolutionize your business.
