For most people, the idea of standing up and speaking to a huge crowd of people fills them with dread. But a small minority are the complete opposite: they thrive on the applause and approval of their audiences and make a lucrative career out of their own storytelling and confidence.
If you are considering becoming a public speaker, there are many reasons to do so. Corporate and motivational talks can earn you a huge amount of money, and there are plenty of people, such as Tony Robbins, Ariana Huffington, and Kevin Lucas, who have forged successful careers in this arena. It allows you to travel up and down the country, providing expertise and inspiration to countless people, all the while improving yourself and becoming a confident, self-assured individual.
But public speaking is not an easy game to get into. For a start, there are so many people doing it brilliantly that it will take a lot of hard work and commitment if you want to break into the big leagues. It could take years of unpaid or low-paying talks to small audiences before you finally start to earn enough to do it full-time.
But if you are truly devoted to your goal of becoming an inspirational speaker then there is no reason you can’t make your dream a reality. To get you started, here are three tips to help you along the way.
Identify your niche
To become a public speaker, you need to have an area of expertise. Perhaps you have overcome hardship and adversity in your life and want to use your story to help others. Maybe you are an expert in a chosen subject and can share your knowledge with the world. Once you know what you want to talk about, it’s time to determine who your target audience is. It’s possible that your subject matter has universal appeal and will be just as beneficial to school groups and corporate boardroom types. Or maybe you work within a specific area such as the fitness industry or adventure travel world and will need to find events that suit your particular field.
Gain experience
Talking confidently in front of a large crowd is one of the hardest things you can do. As humans, we have evolved to be frightened whenever a large crowd is staring at us. In prehistoric times, this was a survival tactic to enable us to flee when confronted with a herd of predators but it is now a useless and rather frustrating attribute. Even the most successful public speakers had to get over their nerves at the beginning of their career, and it’s a good idea to get confident with public speaking before you pursue it full time. Get experience by joining a public speaking group like Toastmasters or volunteering to do presentations at work. Over time, your confidence will increase and you can build up to more substantial audiences.
Improve your speaking skills
We’ve all had to sit through those boring presentations where the speaking is just mumbling incoherently while reading from a set of PowerPoint slides. The last thing you want is to send your audiences to sleep so brush up on some public speaking skills. Learn how to make your audiences laugh, cry, and feel inspired. There are plenty of tutorials from experts online to help you out.
Category: FreelanceTags: public speaker
