ABCs of Speaking

Your Building Blocks to Speaking Success

Adryenn Ashley, Bret Ridgway, Caterina Rando

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781683500131
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Réunions et présentations

An A–Z primer for all levels of public speaking, from securing engagements to delivering unforgettable speeches to making money as a speaker. Can you make it as a professional speaker? Knowing how to deliver a great presentation is obviously important, but truly understanding how the speaking industry really works is probably even more important. What do you need to know to deal with event promoters? What can you do to take control of the room and not let the unexpected derail your presentation? Should you pursue the fee or free speaking model? What about technology? What do they mean by 'buying units.' Industry insiders Adryenn Ashley, Bret Ridgway, and Caterina Rando share their combined decades of experience from both the platform and the promoter perspectives. They pull back the curtains and give you a sneak peek into how the speaking world really works. You'll learn how to build a profitable speaking business that allows you to more effectively build your platform and share your powerful message with the world. Even if you already consider yourself a professional speaker, you're guaranteed to pick up a few nuggets that can help you take things to the next level with your speaking. Get more gigs, make more money and impact more lives today!

Chapter I

Impressions

Your presentation starts when you walk into the building.
Even if you have spent a lot of time getting ready for a presentation, are confident about its delivery and excited for the audience you are going to present to, it is still possible to big-time blow it, even before you get on stage.

While attending a conference I saw a speaker screaming at a member of the hotel staff in the lobby while the audience was walking into the ballroom. The speaker did not do well.

Another time while sitting in an audience I heard a speaker being rude to someone offstage. He failed to realize his microphone was on and the whole audience heard his tirade before he stepped on the stage. When the emcee asked the audience to give the speaker a warm welcome with applause—no one clapped. We never want you to be the subject of one of these stories.

Your Speech Starts When You Walk Through the Front Door of the Venue

Recognize that your speech starts when you walk through the front door of the venue. Everyone has their eyes on you - the speaker and everyone’s ears are listening to everything you’re saying. Present yourself as well off the platform as you do on. This goes for before your speech as well as after. Consider yourself “on” from the moment you get there until your car pulls away from the curb after the event.

Sometimes you are stressed or nervous or running behind- it does not matter. You want to be the best YOU off the platform every time. Follow these tips to ensure your success off the platform as well as on.

Get Your Questions Answered Ahead of Time

Take the time to find out all the details in advance of the event. Where do you park, what room are you meeting in, how many handouts should you bring or will they duplicate them for you? Also, of course, find out how much time you have. You do not want any surprises once you get there. Set yourself up for success in advance of leaving for your speech.

Always Arrive Early

Give yourself plenty of time to get to the venue early. This way you will be relaxed, not rushed, and in a good mood. Then you can give yourself plenty of time to park, locate the meeting room, find the meeting planner and get yourself settled.

Connect With Your Contact

As soon as you arrive connect with whoever needs to know you are there. Ask them if they need anything from you and go over the agenda with them to make sure you are both on the same page. Your contact cannot relax until you are there. The sooner you get there and connect with them the more at ease they will be and that impacts how they work with you.

Assess Your Surroundings

Next, you want to take time to survey the room and make sure people seated in any spot can see you and their view is not blocked. When possible, do not hesitate to rearrange the furniture if necessary. It is key that your meeting room is set up well to support a successful speech or event. Obviously, if you are speaking at a promoter’s event the room setup is their choice typically. You can suggest but not dictate the room setup.

Also assess the noise from outside the room. Does a window need to be shut? Does someone need to ask another meeting room to turn down some music? The point of all this is to eliminate all distracting noise. Be quick to close doors and windows if that improves your situation.

Be sure also to ask yourself how is the lighting? Is there enough? Will you or any audience member have glare from a lamp in their eyes? If so, make the necessary adjustments.

If you are using a projector and a screen and slides first make sure it is off to the side so it does not take up the power position for speaking, which is the center of the room. Then pull up your slides and go through them. Be aware that when your slides are on someone else’s computer the words or graphics can sometimes get askew and by going through them ahead of time you can fix any that need adjusting.

Find Your Introducer

Go over your introduction with whoever is introducing you. Have them practice, point out the words people usually mispronounce. By the way, always bring two copies of your introduction to the event. It is amazing how often introducers can loose introductions between the hallway and the podium.

As a side note, if there is someone in the audience who knows you, they are the best person to introduce you. They will do a much better job than someone who has never met you and does not know how fabulous you are.

Meet Your Audience

When the first guest arrives or the first person walks into the room, you always want to be set up for your presentation and 100% ready to go. You have checked your microphone, your product table is all set and, if you are using handouts, you know where they are and how they will be distributed. Get everything related to your presentation out of the way so you can put all your attention on greeting and getting to know the audience members before your speech and put all your attention on them.

Some speakers do not do this—big mistake. By taking time to get to know your audience they are going to be much more open to your message and much more engaged in your talk.

Mingle and Mix Before Your Presentation

Introduce yourself to as many members of the audience as time allows. In a small audience, if possible, meet everyone before the presentation begins.

Ask people questions about themselves, what they do and what do they want to get out of the presentation. Get to know your audience as much as possible. The more you have connected with the audience the more they will support you during your presentation.

Smile and Be Approachable

Sometimes when we are a little nervous before a talk we look really serious. Even though you may be nervous before a presentation, you want to appear calm and prepared. Remind yourself to smile, be friendly, make eye contact and be approachable.

Have a firm handshake. Be the kind of person that leans in, makes eye contact and extends your hand first with a big smile. Being friendly off the platform will have you be perceived as an even better speaker on the platform.

Don’t Get Stuck with the Other Speakers

Sometimes there is a tendency to stay with your peers. Oftentimes at conferences they have a VIP lounge just for the speakers. Other times there are reserved luncheon tables just for the speakers. Do not connect only with the speakers. There are probably no new clients there. Instead, connect with the audience members, have lunch with the audience members and stay long after your speech to connect with the audience members.

Alright, it is time to apply what you have learned. Look on your calendar- when is your next speech? Did you get all your questions answered and get all the details? Good if you did. If not, do it now and follow the tips for success provided until it becomes second nature and you will be everyone’s favorite speaker in no time.

Chapter J

Joint Ventures

Joint Ventures, or JVs for short, is a well-known term within the Internet marketing industry and is traditionally used in the context of two or more marketers doing cross promotion of each other’s products.

So Marketer “A” has a list and he promotes Marketer “B’s” product to his list. And then Marketer “B” reciprocates at some later point in time. Then Marketer “C” gets involved in the loop and so on and so forth.

Joint ventures done in this way can be very lucrative. You can build a list quickly by being able to piggyback on another marketer’s large email list and also generate significant amounts of revenue during a new product launch if you are able to work with some powerful joint venture partners.

But there is a downside to the use of joint ventures strictly for cross-promotional purposes. The downside is if marketers continually promote new products to each others’ lists then eventually all the lists overlap so much that the effectiveness of the promotions over time decreases dramatically.

It can become a type of vicious circle where you are obligated to promote the product of another person to your list because they promoted your product to their list in the past. So, just be aware of both the pros and the cons if you look at joint ventures strictly for cross promotional purposes.

At its root, however, JVs can refer to much more then just the cross promotion of products between two or more marketers. Any type of collaboration between two or more parties for business purposes can be considered a joint venture. And collaboration can mean many different things.

Take Advantage of Opportunities to Borrow Credibility From Other, More Well-Known Speakers

For up-and-coming speakers it is important to take advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves to borrow credibility from other, more well-known speakers. This can really move your speaking career ahead more quickly. When you are first starting out and you speak at an event that features one or more well-known speakers you should certainly leverage that. In your marketing materials and on your website do not be shy about stating that you have shared the stage with Speaker A, Speaker B or whoever it might be.

There are some events where you can even buy a speaking slot on their platform by becoming an event sponsor. And, if you have the ability to get yourself equal billing with big name speakers for an upcoming event by helping the event promoter publicize the event then take advantage of that opportunity. Put your efforts behind their efforts and maybe you can be one of the headliners also.

You can also associate yourself with more well-known people by possibly collaborating with them in other ways. One colleague of ours wanted to establish herself in a new niche and did it by interviewing the leading experts in that particular niche.

She essentially took the “reporter” role and borrowed the credibility of the experts she was interviewing by being the interviewer.

Others have joined together to create a product that both persons then marketed independently. Again, by tying your name with other more well-known personalities you can “borrow” their credibility to help establish yourself within the marketplace.

We will talk elsewhere in this book about the importance of having one or more of your own books. But, if you are just starting out it may make sense initially to do a collaborative book where multiple authors each submit a chapter to a book. This makes you a co-author hopefully with other known and respected people within your area of expertise.

Our own Caterina Rando offers a kick butt collaborative book publishing program that you should check out if you are not yet ready f...