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.