Learning to Love (or Survive) Speaking Events
credit: Daniel E/Flickr
Many freelancers enjoy the solitary aspect of their work style. Working long stretches uninterrupted by co-workers, controlling when you’ll be called into a meeting, and donning your best-loved sweatshirts are all benefits of the lifestyle. But that same solitary lifestyle can have some adverse affects. With less reason to use them, many freelancers let their public speaking skills go stale, perhaps without even realizing it. Speaking skills are a valuable tool, and it pays to stay sharp.
“Speaking to others is a great networking and referral tool that will help grow your business. One effective speech can lead to multiple other freelance projects,” says Gary Schmidt Past International President, Toastmasters International. “You owe it to your business to speak as often as possible.”
Teaching classes, hosting seminars at a conference, or making presentations at schools help you establish a presence in your field and attract new clients.
“Early in my career, I began speaking about graphic design to high school classes, small business organizations and related conferences. Speaking engagements now make up about a third of my annual income,” says Jeff Fisher, Engineer of Creative Identity for the Portland-based design firm Jeff Fisher LogoMotives.
Don’t let inexperience or nerves stand in the way of pushing your business to the next level. Here are some tips for revitalizing your public speaking skills:
Observe: Watch other speakers, observing their good and bad habits. Study news reporters, seminar hosts, speakers at church, clubs or social gatherings. Mimic their positive traits such as eye contact, expression, or speaking pace.
Learn: Read books written by other powerful speakers. Join networking groups, or public speaking organizations such as Toastmasters, to help you learn and practice.
Take baby steps: If your dormant public speaking skills are admittedly dormant, warm them slowly. Invite a few colleagues to get together for lunch. Host a small party at your house. Attend a meeting of a local networking group.
Seek a mentor: Find someone you know who frequently makes presentations, and offer them a free lunch in exchange for sharing their tips.
Start locally: A community center is a great place to get your feet wet. “My earliest speaking engagements were to local high school students and neighborhood business groups. With experience, invitations came my way to speak at the national and international level,” says Jeff Fisher.
Know your stuff: Start off with speaking engagements on topics you know inside and out: a beginner’s course in your field, or a hobby you know well. This will build your confidence with speaking in general before you move on to more challenging material.
Prepare, prepare, prepare: “The key to success is to prepare and practice. Just like exercise, you do not see results without consistent and constant effort,” shares Schmidt.
Scope out the setting: When the big day arrives, arrive early. Seeing the room when it’s empty can calm your nerves.
“Take a deep breath. Relax. Visualize a successful presentation. Remember that you were asked to speak because you have something of value to share. The audience is looking forward to learning from you,” advises Schmidt.
Also locate things you may need: a podium, pen and paper, overhead projector, water fountain, rest rooms.
Afterwards, congratulate yourself on taking a major step forward, buy yourself a treat, and begin planning your next event!
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Daniel E
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One of my goals this year is to speak at my local networking group, so this advice has come at just the right time. I think that along with all the necessary preparation, visualising a successful presentation is essential & will definitely help to overcome any nerves you may have.
Public speaking is a tough one for most people (myself included). I occassionally teach classes, and when I haven’t done it in a while I can be hard to get to it. One thing I’d add is that it helps if you can either have a separate place to wait (then make an entrance when you’re ready to speak), or at least have something to keep you occupied (such as equipment to set up). I find that those moments before as eveyone files in and waits are the most scary part.
I’m as afraid as public speaking as the next person – maybe even more so, but I’ve also had the opportunity to teach and have found that to be a great way of facing that fear. Attending networking events regularly. It’s going to help you curb your public speaking fears while marketing yourself and your business. The more you attend, the easier it gets as you’re more than likely going to run into people you’ve met previously. Try to talking to a few people you know first: it’s a good “warm up” before you start introducing yourself to people you’ve never met before. It could save you from babbling like a fool and making a terrible first impression.
Drinking beforehand doesn’t help. Despite what you may have seen on TV…
The biggest fear of humans is the fear of.. other humans. I know I read that somewhere and is true.
Speaking in the front of a large group of people, it is what freaks out an unexperienced speaker. It is the fear of what the others may think.
Control that fear and than speaking will be easy.
Of course, don’t be boring and speak convinced and clearly enough. If you mess up something make a joke about it. The audience will love you!
Thanks for including me as a resource in your article, Debbie. I would add that, if given the opportunity at the venue, a speaker should double-check one’s visual presentation and the equipment being used to avoid technical glitches during the actual event.
I second the recommendation for Toastmasters. I am a member of a chapter in New York City, and it is both an excellent training ground for public speaking and a great way to make friends and network.
Not only that, but annual dues in my chapter are less than $150 per year. I did the math, and the cost is less than $3 per hour of training. Where else can you get that?
Debbie – can i add a point to your excellent piece. You talk about observing speakers. I would also add try to observe audiences as well. Notice just how many audience members have blank faces in any audience.
We as speakers need to understand those faces – not as bored or judging faces but just as normal listening faces for an audience. As a speaker we are still in conversational mode – looking for the approving nods and smiles from our listeners. We don’t get much response and thats what makes public speaking scary. We need to learn how to work with ease with blank faces and not read them negatively. And learn how to really connect with the audience so that they become people and not just a block of judgment.
These are skills that we can learn and I think they are essential to help us master being ourselves with ease in front of people.
I’m definitely in the “love it” camp – even though it used to scare the hell out of me, and still does (I speak publicly quite frequently, and I’d like to say well, but my hands are shaking after every single time). I’ve found a good technique is to just relax and try to enjoy it, and remember that I’m the expert in the room – so nobody’s going to know if I mess up anyway. Not to say that I don’t bring my A game, but it helps to relax.
Does anyone have knowledge of how to obtain speaking engagements? I haven’t traveled that road, yet, but I’m very interested. I assume just getting your name and qualifications out there with local groups or associations is a good place to start.
I was wondering the same thing. It seems like some folks have built reputations for being good speakers and presenters, so I’m sure word-of-mouth plays a big part in getting invitations to speak at events and meetings. But how these people got started is a bit more unclear.
I think it depends a bit on the type of public speaking engagement you’re looking for. My suggestion would be to pick a topic about which you feel you have some valuable insight and knowledge to share, think of an audience you feel it would be valuable to, then mockup a basic outline of bullet points you would talk about to figure out roughly how long the presentation would take.
Once you have that, find a pathway to your audience (could be a community or industry organization, or anyone who puts on classes or seminars for your target audience), and pitch your seminar. If they take you up on the offer, then you can flesh out your outline and decide on the specifics of the content.
For example, if you are an expert in social media marketing, and you feel you could really help small businesses with your ideas, you could pitch a “Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses” seminar to your local chamber of commerce. Things like this are great, because it can bring attention to your business, while positioning you as an expert on the subject.
that’s a great read, never spoke to any events yet but only listens podcasts and other peoples wish once i can get chance to speak (especially how i get started with blogging – my own story)
I’ve spoken at a few events and it’s been fun. I wasn’t really scared I guess because I’ve been a musician back in the day, so probably I’ve lost the ability to be embarrassed.
But still, I should find me more events and keep developing my speaking skills before they go zombie.
Thanks for sharing
Great article! I have been asked to speak at a new WordPress group here in New Mexico and this article gave me some great pointers. I’m nervous as hell, but confident that I can make these baby steps to help overcome that. This will be my first public speaking attempt
Thanks!