Public speaking is an important skill for salespeople, managers, politicians, clergymen and essentially everyone! Every conference you will attend, the meetings you attend every day, all rely on the idea of, communication and good public speaking. Entrepreneur and Keynote Speaker True Tamplin said in a recent interview, “Strong speaking and presentation skills are no longer optional in today’s world no matter what industry you’re in. It opens a world of opportunity to get ahead and differentiate yourself in a saturated workplace.“ Essentially, learning how to become a keynote speaker will be a significant career booster and will also help to improve your interpersonal skills. In this article, we feature the 9 steps you need to take to becoming a successful keynote speaker.
Sounds good? Let’s dive right in
- Change Your Perspective on Public Speaking
- Enroll for Public Speaking Lessons
Public speaking is an art that you can always learn and perfect. Checking out this page could be a good starting point. You can enroll in online public speaking classes to commence your journey to becoming the greatest keynote speaker of all time. The online classes are becoming popular nowadays and will train students how to give an effective speech or presentation. Some trainers will also offer long-distance public speaking classes and cover different topics. The hybrid public speaking lessons will also include the in-person meetings well spaced throughout the course. Public speaking classes can also be carried out through online teleconferencing or webinars.
- Avoid Limiting yourself
When most trainees start off the journey to becoming great public speakers, they tend to focus on a particular niche. For instance, John is a successful salesperson who wants to learn how to be a motivational speaker. It is not advisable for John to pigeonhole himself by learning sales related topics exclusively. There is still so much more and several other topics that he can study and earn a decent pay covering. Again, that is to emphasize that you don’t know how much potential lies in you until you have tried out different topics.
- Come up with an Effective Content Strategy
Before speaking at any event, it is important that you craft a content strategy. What are your goals? By having your goals clear, you know where to focus your efforts and eventually, you can develop and define the content delivery process. Lastly, your content strategy is never complete without measuring the success rate. Keynote speakers will make some impact the first time they speak. Through consistently polishing the content delivery strategy, the impact will eventually grow.
- Understand that Becoming a Keynote Speaker Takes Time
Confidence is very important when practicing the art of public speaking. However, whereas you believe that you are a great speaker, not everyone else around you shares this confidence. Be ready for criticism that will nearly “kill” your confidence. Through constructive feedback, you will eventually develop the muscle to work on your skills and over time become the keynote speaker you have always wanted to be. In that regard, when you receive criticism, take it as a blessing and an opportunity to sharpen your public speaking skills.
- Practice to Perfect the new Skill
When you have learned a new skill, practice it to make sure that it sticks in your mind. The worst mistakes that public speaking trainees make is failing to practice what they have learned over time and so they end up repeating the old mistakes. Keep practicing whenever you get an opportunity even if there is no reward for appealing at the event. You can also record yourself in various events and playback the recording identifying room for improvement. Ensure that you watch the body movements and how you use gestures while addressing the audience.
- Get to Know Your Audience
What type of audience will you address? When you know your audience, you get an opportunity to tailor your speech and ensure that it revolves around the interests of your audience. This helps to ensure that you will have an impact on your target audience. In addition, you will be able to gauge your skills and identify your potential improvements.
- Hook the Attention of your Audience
Capturing the attention of your audience is a very important step in public speaking. This can be achieved by presenting the big idea or the big proposition during the first five minutes of your speech. Ideally, this will act as the audience hook and will help to capture their attention throughout the session. In fact, this also ensures audience engagement throughout the session and will help you to achieve a high-level impact on the target audience.
- Your Body Language Matters in Public Speaking
How you present yourself in any public speaking event really matters. Basically, it is important that you establish authority and show a high level of confidence when delivering a keynote speech. This can easily be determined by how composed you are when speaking to your audience. In addition, move around the stage. This will help to ensure that your audience is engaged.
Wrapping up
Public speaking requires composure and self-confidence. The aspiring public speakers should understand the topic well to ensure that the content is delivered effectively. Most importantly, to capture the attention of your audience, ensure that you tailor the content to meet their interests. Utilize the stage to your advantage and remember that your body posture is important in showing your authority as a top mind on the topic you are speaking about.
