You live and die by your ability to leverage one speaking opportunity into numerous additional bookings. It’s not enough to just be a great speaker, you also need to be an innovative marketer. The good news is your biggest potential marketing opportunity is your actual speeches.
One of the first questions I ask the speakers I work with is, “Can you tell me about your presentation in one sentence?” If they can tell me their position, their stance, their big idea in one sentence, I know they’re in great shape and we can turn our focus into fine-tuning their speech and focus on their marketing and their personal brand. If they can’t, and most speakers fall into this category, then I know we need to hone in on the speaker’s objective with their presentation. What are they trying to say and why does someone need to hear it? One of the better articles on this and one I recommend everyone interested in giving a clear, concise, and compelling speech read, is an article by Brenda Barbosa called The 1 Sentence That Will Make You A More Effective Speaker Every Time (you can find it here: https://www.inc.com/brenda-barbosa/the-1-sentence-that-will-make-you-a-more-effective-speaker-every-time.html ) The article also gives several additional resources that are also well-worth your time. Think of your one sentence as your GPS destination – if you don’t have that nailed down before you start, you’re not going to be able to navigate the best path forward.
Transitioning to a virtual event can be overwhelming and frightening not just for the event organizers, but for the speakers themselves. Giving a presentation in a virtual environment can be quite challenging for those used to the live audience – the energy, the non-verbal cues from the participants, the applause, laughter – it’s just not the same when you’re speaking into a web cam. That’s not even touching on the possible technical complications … technology is a wonderful thing, until it’s not working the way it’s supposed to, that’s when the stress really kicks in.
Your bio needs to be client-focused, rather than self-focused. Yes, you need to establish your credibility but only after you have triggered desire from your reader to know more about you.
Public speaking is one of the best ways to position and brand yourself as the local “go-to” expert in your field, and it’s also an excellent low-cost marketing strategy. The value of becoming a key-note speaker at local group meetings extends far beyond the event itself.