Create a Step-By-Step Plan for Speaking

If you want to be a speaker and you’ve never spoken in front of an audience before, you need to create a step-by-step plan to get you there. Here are some steps to take.

1. Create your signature talk: This is your main talk that represents who you are and you can give over and over again.
2. Be trained: If you’ve never spoken in front of an audience before, you want to be trained to powerfully deliver your message.
3. Your audience: You need to know who your ideal audience is. You want to be speaking to this group. These are the people you want to work with.
4. Places to speak: Find networking groups, organizations, associations, and events where your ideal client attends. Introduce yourself to the person who hires speakers and ask to speak to their group!
5. Speaker Sheet: Create a Speaker Sheet. This sheet describes your background, the topics you speak about, where you’ve spoken, and testimonials.

Shift Your Mindset About Speaking

When you shift the way you think about speaking, your whole view of speaking will transform. This means changing every single negative thought you have. Thoughts like, “I’m not good enough, I’ll never be a successful speaker, or she/he has what it takes and I don’t.” These thoughts were made by you.

Ask yourself, “What are the thoughts I’m creating right now?” Are you thinking about ways to become a speaker or are you thinking of reasons why you’ll never be able to be a speaker?

Studies show the mind is like a programming machine. Whatever thoughts the mind hears over and over again believes it to be true. We can turn any negative thought into a positive and powerful thought.

You have within yourself the ability to change your thoughts and by doing that, you can achieve everything you want to achieve. You can be the speaker you’ve always wanted to be!

It’s Okay to Speak for Free

I want to share with you what authors Dottie and Lilly Walters, authors of Speak and Grow Rich, say about speaking for free.

“There is no reason to make a ‘free’ presentation. There are many good reasons to present for “no fee.” The majority of speeches in the world are done for no fee. Obviously, there are many benefits of speaking for no-fee, or so many people wouldn’t be doing it!”

Here are some benefits of speaking for “no fee”:

• Correct Performance Problems: A way to sharpen your speaking skills for the world of paid bookings is to practice before live audiences.
• Educate the Public: Most companies realize the tremendous marketing and benefits available to them by sending presenters into the public to teach them about their product and industry.
• Obtain Prospective Clients: Speaking for no fee is one of the best ways of obtaining prospective clients.

Meet with the Audience Before You Speak

Many new speakers feel nervous at the beginning of their talk. The main reason this happens is they don’t know the people in the audience. This may bring up the fear of being judged and not being good enough. I have found the easiest way to break the ice with the audience is to arrive and mingle before you give your talk. When you do this, you’ll get to know the people you’ll be delivering your talk to and this will put you at ease.

When I spoke at a conference, I stood outside as people signed in and introduced myself to them. They loved having the opportunity to meet me. And for me, connecting with them early on helped me to relax before I got up to speak.

F-E-A-R Doesn’t Have to Stop You

The only power fear has over you is the power you give it. Remember fear may come up for you when you're doing something you've never done before. The next time you feel yourself pulling back because of fear, notice you're the one giving it power. Then choose to take your power back by taking an action step forward. When you step into what you fear the most, you have broken through to the other side!

There's a great quote by Oprah, "Whatever you fear most has no power — it is YOUR fear that has the power."

Fear of Failing Keeping You from Becoming a Speaker?

Does the thought of failing keep you from pursuing your dream of becoming a speaker? If the answer is “yes,” you’re not alone. When we hear the word “fail,” we connect it to something negative and bad. For many people, the thought of failing brings up strong feelings and emotions. The feelings are so strong, it’s feels safer not to take on new things.

If you’ve read the bios of most successful people, you’ll see they’ve all failed many times over before they achieved success.

Here are 4 key steps to help you move through the fear and be willing to take that risk.

1. Identify the fear: Write out specifically what the fear is, including all the details. To move through the fear; you first have to clarify exactly what the fear is.
2. Emotions and feelings: Write the feelings you’re experiencing as you think about your fear. Do you feel scared, nervous, frustrated, anxious, angry, or hopeless? The clearer you are about the feelings connected to the fear, the easier it will be to move through it.
3. Identify the fear: Ask yourself, “Is this a real or self-imposed fear? A real fear would be if you were about to be pushed out of an airplane. A self-imposed fear is a fear you’re experiencing that hasn’t happened. Once you identify that it’s a self-imposed fear and your life is not endangered, you now know you’re in charge and can take action.
4. Action steps: A powerful way to move through the fear is taking action. Once you take that first step, you’ll feel freedom and confidence because you’re taking charge of your life and the next steps become easier to take.

They say in life you’re either growing or contracting. The only way to grow is to be willing to not let fear stop you. I invite you to be willing to move the fear and become the speaker you’ve always wanted to be!

Think Outside the Box

When putting on a live event, you have to think outside the box when it comes to filling the seats.

Here are 4 creative ways to fill the seats at your event:

• In addition to doing Internet marketing, also combine it with an offline approach. People are constantly inundated with emails. Do direct mail campaigns and pass out flyers. This will help you to stand out from the crowd.
• Do a teleconference call for your list previewing your event and answering questions.
• Reach out to your colleagues and ask them to do a teleconference call for their list.
• Pick up the phone and personally call people who you think might be interested in attending.

Create a Catchy Title for Your Talk

Like it or not, people often buy books by their covers, or at least they are attracted to take a closer look at the book’s content because the cover has caught their attention. It’s the same with writing the title for your talk. If your title is the typical type of title, it will probably be ignored.

One of the best ways to come up with ideas for a catchy title is to walk through bookstores and peruse the shelves reading the titles of books. Notice the words of titles that quickly grab your attention. Titles are like headlines in newspapers and magazines. You buy the publication because the headline promises you information you need or are interested in.

As you’re creating the title of your talk, you want to think about what matters most to your audience. What’s their pain? What can they gain from my talk? Write a title that points out the problem and implies your material contains the answers the audience is looking for.

For example, “The 9 Best-Kept Secrets to Exploding Your Business as a Speaker”.

When you create a title that talks about the problem your buyers need a solution to, and then deliver the best material to solve that problem, you’ll start attracting your ideal clients!

Fear Stopping You from Becoming a Speaker?

Do you dream about being a speaker? Do you know you have a powerful message you want to share with the world? Is fear stopping you from pursuing your dream?

Fear shows up in different ways. It could be the fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of success. The fear can manifest itself in different ways that we’re not always aware of. Some signs of hidden fear are procrastination, distraction, excuses, feeling stuck, feeling overwhelmed, negative beliefs, worried, and anxious.

Whenever we step into something new or take on something we’ve never done before, it’s not uncommon to experience fear. We remember our past failures and pull back to avoid them happening again. I invite you to consider what happened in the past is over and will not happen again. We don’t know what is going to happen in the future. We only have the present moment. Be in the present and create action steps to take. Taking action will help you diminish the feeling of fear.

If you have a dream of becoming a speaker, write down the steps you can take and take action NOW!

Speaking Powerfully Videos

If you want to attract more people to your website, start doing videos! Sounds simple doesn’t it? After you do them for a period of time, it does become easier. At the beginning there are steps to take to help you come across powerfully on video.

Here are 5 steps to help you grab people’s attention right from the start when speaking in videos.

1. Create the script. When you’re speaking, the language you use has to be easy to understand. The words you say are different than the words you would write on paper.
2. Be fully expressed. No one wants to listen or watch a boring speaker. Show your passion and enthusiasm in every word you speak.
3. Be authentic. Speak genuinely from your heart. Don’t say what you think they want to hear, say what is true for you. Speak your truth.
4. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t expect to get it right the first time. If you fly by the seat of your pants when speaking, it will come across in your delivery. Practice saying your script until you can say it naturally and without looking at the words.
5. Connect with the audience. Look directly at the camera when speaking. Imagine you’re having a conversation with a friend sitting across from you.

What to Charge to Attend Your Event

A common question that comes up when planning your event is, “What do I charge to attend my event?”

In the past, many of the well-known people leading events charged a big upfront fee to attend their events. With the shift in the economy, that has changed. They’re now charging a lower upfront fee and delivering a lot of value, such that the attendees want to sign up for their higher end programs.

When deciding on the fee you want to charge to attend your event, check within yourself to make sure you can stand behind the fee you’re charging. You must believe in the value you’re delivering.

Investing in Your Event

There is an initial investment you will make upfront before sales start coming in. It’s important to understand you will be spending money upfront. If you plan wisely, you will make back the money you invested plus more at the end with people signing up and buying programs and products.

Some of the upfront costs are paying for the room, creating the program and product materials, administrative assistance, outsourcing, etc. If you hire an event planner, he or she will be able to provide you with all the costs. If you’re planning your event yourself, look at all the costs involved so you’re completely clear on what your investment is.

Questions for Designing a Powerful Event

As you begin to create your event, there are questions to ask yourself that will help you design a powerful event.

They are…

• What is the topic?
• What is the information you want to teach?
• Who is your target audience? How will you find them?
• Where, when, and how long do you want the event to be?
• How much do you want to charge?
• What special bonuses will you offer?
• What Early Bird Specials will you offer?
• Do you want to have guest speakers?
• Do you have programs and/or products to sell at the event?
• Do you want to hire an event planner?
• Do you need to outsource more of the planning and to whom?

Create a Blueprint Plan for Your Event

Once you have created a vision for your event and have made the commitment, now it’s time to create the blueprint plan. A blueprint plan is the #1 key to planning an event that’s successful.

Your blueprint plan includes the following and much more…

• Where the event will be held.
• How many people you want to attend.
• Hours of the event.
• What the attendees will walk away with.
• What bonuses you will offer.
• How you will market it and to whom you will market it to.

There are many parts to creating an event. By creating a blueprint plan, it keeps you organized as you have all the details on paper.

Watch Your Body Language

What gets in the way for many new speakers is nervousness — and there is nothing wrong with that. Almost every speaker has to deal with being nervous; the trick is not to let it get the better of you. Nervousness keeps us alert and energized. But when you’re extremely nervous and you have trouble controlling it, you will tend to spend more time in your head concerned with how you’re doing than being present in the moment and unfortunately, the audience will pick up on that.

Your nervousness can affect your energy, your pace, eye contact, your volume, your gestures, and your self-expression. You’ll appear stiff and disconnected from the audience and they won’t feel confident about you, which in turn, will affect your ability to sell yourself, your products, and services.

Your goal is to connect with the audience right from the moment you go onstage. What attracts people to you instantly is your enthusiasm, energy, and authenticity in speaking. You can learn how to overcome nervousness simply by:

• Preparing and rehearsing your talk over and over again until it’s second nature.
• Visualize seeing yourself delivering an amazing presentation and the audience applauding you as you finish your talk.
• Before you give your talk, walk around and introduce yourself to the people as they arrive to hear you speak.

The Power of Telling Your Personal Story

When crafting your signature talk, I encourage you to start off by sharing your personal story with the audience. Your personal story is what will have the audience instantly connect with you.

Here are (4) tips to help you craft your personal story:

1. Show Your Vulnerability: Be willing to open your heart to the audience and be authentic. This shows the audience you’re just like them. They will quickly connect to you as they will see themselves in you.
2. Share Your Journey: Let the audience know what it took for you to become the person you are today. Your journey will inspire them to follow their dream.
3. Tell Your Story Vividly: As you share your story, share it with enthusiasm and emotion. Be as specific as you can as you tell your story. Speak as if it’s happening as you speak.
4. Be Present: Look out at the people in the audience as you share your story. Be right there with them in the moment and not in your head.

Are You Filling the Seats?

The biggest undertaking and most critical part to having a successful event, is filling the seats. It takes the most time, so a step-by-step marketing plan is critical. You need to start promoting your event several months in advance, depending on the size and cost. There will be bumps along the way, so don’t expect smooth sailing all the way through. This is where the answer to the question, “How badly do I want this?” comes into play.

The number one key is having a solid blueprint and a multilevel marketing strategy in place. If people hear the same message over and over again, they will stop listening. You have to come up with creative ways to get people interested in your offer.

Many workshops don’t fill up until close to the deadline, so it’s important to come up with creative ways to entice people to sign up.

2 Key Steps to Create a Successful Event

As you’re planning your live event, you may go through a series of different emotions. It’s to be expected if you’ve never done this before.
Whenever you step into something bigger than you’ve ever done before, it’s normal to experience fear, doubts, and anxiety. There is a way to diminish these feelings. Here are two key steps that will make the biggest difference for you as you create your live event.

1. Create Your Vision: Before you start planning your event, take some time to write your vision for your event. Your vision should describe your event as vividly and specifically as possible. It should inspire you, excite you, and guide you through the journey you’re about to take. Then read it each day to remind yourself of why you’re doing this event.
2. Ask Yourself This Question: “How badly do I want to do this?” Write down the answer to that question. Getting clear for yourself as to why you’re doing the event, will keep you moving forward even when you have those doubts. Whenever we take on something bigger than we’ve ever taken on before, it’s not unusual for those doubts to fill our heads. Answer that question honestly as there will be times where you will be tested.

Mistakes to Avoid When Planning Your Event

Planning your first event can be very exciting and overwhelming at the same time. There are many facets to planning a successful event. You don’t want to rush into it without a clear plan in place.
Here are four mistakes to avoid when planning your event:

1. Not planning far enough in advance. If you’re planning for 25-40 to attend, give yourself about 60 days to plan. For larger events, give yourself 3-4 months to plan.
2. Doing it all yourself. It’s impossible to do it yourself, especially a live event. Write down everything that needs to be done and hire people to do some of the tasks.
3. Ineffective social media. The key to success is to make sure you are marketing and promoting on the right social medial platforms. Don’t promote just to promote.
4. Not creating a sense of urgency in your marketing. It’s not enough to ask people to register. You have to entice them to do so. The best way to do this is to offer discounted registration prices, also known as Early Bird Specials.

Do You Know Your Audience?

When you’re creating your presentation, it’s important to know your audience. You want to do as much research as you can on the people who will be attending your presentation in advance, so the presentation addresses their needs. Here are some questions to help you design an effective presentation:

1. What is the profile of the people attending?
2. How many people will be attending?
3. How does their knowledge of your subject matter match yours?
4. How much time do you have? How will you manage the way questions and discussion fit into your time allotment?
5. How might your age, gender, background, appearance, or other factors affect your credibility? What can you do to establish credibility?
6. What are the actions steps you want the audience to take at the end of the presentation?

Create Urgency to Buy NOW

At the end of your talk you have the opportunity to promote your products or services. If you’ve delivered a powerful presentation and given great content, your audience will be interested in what you have to offer.

To create urgency for people to buy your product or service at the end of your talk, have a special offer with a deadline that you can present. The special offer can be a dollar amount savings if they buy now. Make it clear it’s for a limited time only and to take action to buy now.

When people walk out the door, the chances of them buying your product or service drops dramatically. You want them to buy immediately—at the moment when they’re excited about what they’ve just heard.

An example of a special offer with a deadline is “Save $200 (this is the amount they save) if you sign up by February 28th (this is the specific date).”

Follow Up is Key to Getting the Business as a Speaker

The gold is in the follow-up. Follow-up is the key to getting business and making money as a speaker. Studies have shown that 80% of sales are lost due to the lack of follow up. And, the sale is made between the 5th and the 12th contact with a prospect. So it’s important to stay in touch with the people who came to hear you speak.

Always remember every person in the audience, whether or not they purchase your product, program, or service, is a potential client and you don’t want to let them slip away.

Here are 5 steps to following up for the business:

1. Always follow up with attendees within 24-48 hours of an event.
2. Send them a “Thank You for Attending” email.
3. Repeat the special offer you made at the end of your talk.
4. Let them know you’re gifting them a free online newsletter.
5. Continue to stay in touch with them via email until the “special offer” ends.

Collect Their Business Cards When You Speak

A golden opportunity as a speaker is collecting business cards from the people attending your talk. You want their cards so you can stay in touch with them over time. One of the ways to stay in touch over time is doing a weekly online newsletter. So when they’re ready to hire you, you’ll be in the forefront of their minds. Here are three valuable tips to help you collect those cards…

• Sign Up Sheet: Pass around a “Sign Up” sheet for them to sign to receive your free weekly online newsletter as a gift. If the group is larger, pass around two “Sign Up” sheets to ensure you gather everyone’s card.
• Free Drawing: At the beginning of your talk, tell them about the free drawing and that everyone’s going to receive a free gift, so they will want to stay to the end to receive it. Have a small dish or basket for them to drop their business cards in as they enter the room.
• Copy of Your Presentation: Offer to send them a copy of your presentation if they give you their business card.

Present Yourself with Impact

How you look and sound matters most. Studies have shown that 93% of the impact you make on your audience comes across in the way you look and sound. They only remember 77% of the words. Although it’s important to deliver valuable content, it’s even more important to present with impact. This means sharpening your physical skills is a priority.

When you walk to the front of the room, from the moment you speak do the following:

• Convey enthusiasm, confidence and authenticity.
• Look directly at people when you speak (not buried in your notes).
• Maintain energy and volume.
• Use gestures.

Finding Places to Speak

One of the most common questions that comes up for new speakers is where can I speak? Here are six steps I recommend to help you find places to speak and get those speaking engagements.

1. Be clear on who your ideal audience is. Ask yourself, “Who are the people that are interested in my topic and where do they hang out?”
2. Research local places and events that may be looking for speakers. Some popular places that look for speakers are rotary clubs, your local chamber of commerce, and Meetup groups.
3. Visit first. Before you ask to speak, visit these places to get a sense of the group size and profile of the members. You want to be speaking to your ideal audience.
4. Introduce yourself to the event coordinator. There is always a person who is in charge of bringing in speakers. When you visit the group, introduce yourself to this person and let them know you’d like to speak and what your topic is.
5. Speaker sheet. Create your own speaker sheet with your background, testimonials, and topics you speak on. Be ready to send or give to the person in charge of bringing in speakers.
6. Follow-up. This is the most important step to do. Often they may not be ready to hire you as a speaker but may be interested in the future. The person who follows up on a regular basis will be the one who gets the speaking gig!

Are You Present When You’re Speaking?

It’s pretty common to be nervous when you’re speaking to a group. Thoughts like, “Am I doing a good job? Do they like me?” are very familiar to many new speakers.

Keep in mind the audience came to hear what you have to say. So when those thoughts come up, remember to focus on being present in the moment. Look out and connect with audience. Be out there with them and not buried in your notes. Remind yourself that you have a valuable message to deliver that will make a difference for those who have come to hear you speak.

Sprinkle Seeds of Interest

There is a subtle, proven way to sell your products or services when you’re giving a talk that doesn’t come across as “salesy.” It’s called “sprinkling seeds of interest.”

Right from the beginning of your talk and during your talk, let the audience know that although you only have limited time with them, you do have other resources they may be interested in, which you’ll share with them at the end of the talk. So when you come to the end of your talk and share with them your other offerings, they’re curious and ready to hear what you have to offer.

Ways to Start Your Talk

There are many ways to start your talk that will engage the audience right from the start. I always recommend starting off with your personal story about how you got to be who you are today. Other ways to start your talk are sharing a story about a client, asking a question to engage the audience, sharing some current news story that would be of interest to the audience, or some startling statistic that relates to your talk.

For example, I sometimes start a talk about speaking by saying, “Did you know most people would rather be the person being eulogized than the person giving the eulogy?” I usually get a few chuckles and people nod their heads in agreement.

Tell Your Story Vividly and Specifically

As you tell your story, speak in the present tense. Share your story as if it’s happening right now in the present moment. Convey excitement and enthusiasm using gestures, facial expressions, and inflection as you describe your story. What leaves the strongest impression on the audience is how you look and sound. People walk away from a presentation remembering what they’ve seen and heard. The words alone are quickly forgotten, so be sure to convey excitement and enthusiasm in your speaking.

5 Ice-Breaking Strategies for Speaking Powerfully

1. Visualize your success as a speaker. Spend a few minutes daily, several days before you deliver your talk, visualizing yourself giving a great presentation. Imagine the audience smiling as you speak and applauding at the end of your presentation.
2. Know the first 3 minutes of your talk. Most speakers are most nervous at the beginning of their talk. Make sure to be well prepared by rehearsing those first three minutes several times over so you know your material well.
3. Connect with the audience. Look directly at people as you speak for no more than 4-5 seconds. You want to feel the energy of the audience and they want to feel your energy too.
4. Meet with the audience before your talk. An easy way to break the ice with the audience is to arrive and mingle before your talk. Understand the audience is on your side. They came to hear what you have to say and want you to win!
5. Focus on the audience. With the initial nervousness that many new speakers experience, it's easy to have thoughts like "Will they like me? Am I doing a good job?" Put these thoughts aside and focus on the difference you're there to make for them!

How to Instantly Connect with the Audience

We all have a personal story to tell about our journey through life. Many of us had to deal with challenges at different times in our lives. Your personal story has made you who you are today. The people who inspire me the most are the ones who authentically share their personal story of struggle and victory with us.

When you're willing to open up your heart and reveal who you really are, people feel instantly connected to you.

They listen to your story and what you've overcome, and say to themselves, "If she or he did that, so can I!" I've had many people come up to me after I've shared my personal story of overcoming breast cancer and how it changed my life, and tell me how it's inspired them.

Tell your story vividly and specifically. Speak in the present tense. Share your story as if it's happening right now in the present moment. Convey excitement and enthusiasm using gestures, facial expressions, and inflection as you describe your story. What leaves the strongest impression is how you look and sound.

Five Surefire Ways to Draw the Audience to You Like a Magnet

The goal of every speaker is to hold the audience’s attention right from the start and all the way to the end. If you accomplish this, you’ll have people lining up wanting to work with you. Here are five ways to draw the audience to you like a magnet…

1. Engage with the audience right from the start by asking questions, sharing a story, or giving factual information.
2. Have them stand up and introduce themselves, their businesses, and what they want to get out of the event.
3. Learn their names, so you can refer back to them when speaking. This will keep them keenly listening to what you say. They also feel important because you’ve remembered their names.
4. Make it interactive by having them do exercises and then have them share in pairs or groups.
5. As you give your talk, speak directly to the audience members. This quickly connects you with the audience and them to you.