One of the primary reasons people enter this occupation is because they wish to earn some life-threatening cash. With aspires to stardom and hopes of owning the Mercedes and the million dollar home, they set off in hunt for getting highly paid gigs only to get knocked down by rejection after rejection. After doing some investigate they discover that virtually all of their starting events will be free speaking events. What?

If “free” is a horrendous four letter word in your livelihood vocabulary, you will need to pick up the importance and value that “free” can really provide. There are wonderful advantages that come with speaking without charge including having the capacity to promote your back of the room products where you can genuinely profit. You’ll be gaining new experiences and building your clientele list.

1. “Free” still gets your name about. The more individuals who hear you speak, the more people you will have to acquire your product and refer you to other people are seeking professional speakers. As an example, speaking at no cost for an organization like a Rotary Club or Elks Club can result in paying jobs because most of the members who owned by this organization have businesses of their own or are in positions in their careers where they’re the decision makers to “hire” speakers.

2. You can nevertheless have the opportunity to sell your products at these free speaking engagements. Statistics show that back of the room products account for over 50% of professional speaking profits. Promote your enterprise and promote your products in the same location! At at minimum, you will be able to refer them to your web site for more info or additionally, to purchase products and books. The more people that hear you, the more opportunities you’ll have.

3. Free speaking opportunities are still opportunities where you are able to establish a video tape of yourself. Many speaker bureaus and meeting planners won’t hire you without seeing a video tape of your presentation. On top of that, many organizations such as the Rotary Club or Elks Club have people who can assist you create your video. Can you trade services?

4. Free speaking engagements are a fantastic place to network. Hopefully by now you realize that you have to get your name out there. As a way to get your name around, you’ll ought to be around. You can nevertheless mingle with your guests as well as network with meeting planners for the function.

5. A totally free speaking happening is still a fantastic reason to send out a press release. If you are looking for a cause to send out press releases about yourself or your livelihood, use free speaking engagements. Submit them to local newspapers and various online sites that have a “to-do in your field” section. This is barely another method to get the word out about your enterprise.

Speaking free of charge has its advantages. What you will have to learn next is how to leverage these free occurrences into referrals and product sales. As you do this, more people will realize you and your company will be well on its way to success!

With all the articles written on nervousness in public speaking, I thought I would approach this topic from a different perspective. Everyone gets nervous in public speaking (or should). There is a reason why it is man’s greatest fear. The question I would like to ask you is what is the one thing that concerns you the most when you are scheduled to speak?

Your answer cannot be dying while public speaking because that has never happened and I don’t think you will be the 1st one to get that title. Yes, every once in a while a performer dies on stage but that is due to old age or heart conditions and is not related to nervousness.

No matter how you answered that question, it all boils down to one thing: you don’t want to make a fool of yourself. Now, the next question is what could happen that you think would make you look foolish?

• Forgetting your material.
• Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
• Your mind going blank.

You may have another answer to add to that list, but those three are probably the most common responses. What is fascinating about the reasons we get nervous is that if you know your material inside and out, the chances of any of them happening are much less likely than if you do not know and have not rehearsed your content well in advance.

Yes, you may forget your material. That, in itself, is not a reason to stop you from public speaking though. If you forget or if your mind goes blank, simply stop, take a breath, admit that you lost your place, and then quickly find a spot to resume. Audiences are most forgiving. (If this is happening frequently in your presentation, however, then you don’t know your material and you have no reason to be speaking to an audience.)

Have you never heard a professional speaker, TV news broadcaster, or radio announcer make a mistake? If you can honestly say No, then you were just not aware of the occurrence because it does happen and it happens more often than you think. If you were aware of a mistake, on the other hand, did it lessen your opinion of the speaker or the announcer? Of course not. There is no such thing as perfection in public speaking or in any other live venue for that matter.

Instead of focusing on your fear of public speaking, why not concentrate on knowing your material by practicing it out loud not once, not twice, but many, many times. Then you can approach the lectern confident that you will do the best job that you can do.

It is amazing what will happen to your fear if you concentrate on the positive and not the negative. In doing so, you will never look foolish even if you do make a mistake.

A workshop is a life-changing opportunity for everyone. Some attendees may learn nothing but may meet someone important to their future. Some attendees may feel they’ve learned nothing but, years later, that workshop information aids them. No matter what we do to help the learning, it is up to attendees whether they take up the opportunity or not.

So, let’s make it as amazing as possible but not get too upset if some attendees don’t see the value that everyone else did – be a little gentle with yourself. Let’s see what we can do to make it an amazing event, anyway!

1. Preparation

Be there early, set up, make sure you have more than you need for attendees (paper, pens, crayons, seats, desks, food and drink) and make sure all the equipment you need works – overhead projector, data-show, whiteboard pens and duster (eraser), microphone, music, wall posters, your advertising material for your next workshops, your business cards, assessment forms.

2. Welcome

Introduce yourself to every attendee as they come in (or have someone in your team do this) as they’re coming into your space, your “home”. As guests, they’re unsure, fearful even. Start relaxing them before the workshop starts and they’ll participate earlier on. This makes it easier for you… and them!

Start with an ice-breaker (see my article called Running Workshops – Great Ice-Breakers) so they can feel more comfortable with you, the other attendees and the venue.

3. Learning styles

They say that we all learn via one of seven ways. You will have a learning style and if it’s, say, talking, you’ll prefer standing and talking. Those who do not learn best that way (six sevenths of your group) will find it difficult to keep focused if that’s all you do. Try to have as many different styles catered for by having:

1. Auditory – facilitator talks.
2. Visual – whiteboard, powerpoint or some visual presentation.
3. Music – soft, background music playing at the start and during breaks.
4. Kinesthetic – action activities.
5. Group – small-group discussions.
6. Meditative – time for quiet, solo consideration.
7. Verbal – opportunity for them to address the group.

It may be hard to incorporate all these learning styles but the more you have interspersed throughout, the more they will get from your presentation.

4. Ending

Have a way for people to acknowledge each other – maybe they each write their name on a piece of paper and it gets passed around for everyone else to write a positive comment (anonymous or otherwise) on.

5. Assessments

Don’t forget to have assessments forms completed – how else will you know how to improve next time? See my article Running Workshops – How to Get the Right Feedback and What to Do With it.

Public Speaking at Any Time

Why do you need to practice impromptu speaking? So you can speak quickly and professionally without prior rehearsal. In short, practice will position you to be able to extemporize. How many times have you wished that you could easily voice your opinions on the spur-of-the-moment without feeling like we you were choking on your words and couldn’t seem to get anything out your mouth that was coherent?

Impromptu speaking skills improve oral expression of thought, creativity in voicing your opinion, and enhance your confidence in public speaking situations. The benefits are numerous; being able to think quickly on your feet and verbalize in an articulate manner greatly improves leadership and communication skills.

The more often you allow yourself to be exposed to unexpected questions, the more readily you can relax in social situations, the interviewing process, and just defending your position on whatever topic is presented to you. When you realize you have the ability to deal with the unexpected, the surprise question won’t leave you quaking in your boots.

As you develop the process to put yourself through a regimen of learning for impromptu speaking, make it fun and use the tips below to make it effective:

o Set aside a time every week to practice with a friend or several friends. You can do it by yourself with questions on cards that you randomly draw, but it will be more interesting when you get together with a buddy to learn.
o Be creative – think out of the box.
o Choose topics that range from humorous to serious themes.
o Arrange the topics to center around one subject until you become more confident, than start to mix them up on various topics.
o Use positive words when you create topics – even if it is a controversial issue.
o If you use a closed ended question (answer is yes or no), make certain that the response is backed up with reasons to support the point of view. It is much more effective to use “news reporters questions that begins with how, when, what, where, or why.

Investing time in practicing impromptu speaking is a plus for everyone. You develop skills that will serve you well in every area of your life, and help make the people around you more comfortable in their conversations with you. Go ahead, take a chance! By the way, could you tell us about the first time you went out on a date?

First of all, recognize your audience. Thus, you should know your role as the speaker. Is your role to entertain the audience, teach a training, or other? By acknowledging your role, you can know what you should talk and what you should not talk easily.

Secondly, list the main points of your public speaking. This step will strengthen your idea and thought, help you deliver your message appropriately, and avoid you from speechless.

Thirdly, afford not to look nervous. It is because the audiences can see your anxiety. Even, the popular and experienced presenters might be nervous when they start to open their speech. In this case, the way they calm down is different one another. The aspect that makes a difference is their experience, so they can find the best way to handle the problem.

One of the ways that is often done to handle anxiety problem is by regulating breath. Another way is by talking to other people. Do not worry too much and do not be afraid of misspeaking or doing the stupid things. Just relax because most people will excuse you. So, try to consider the audiences as your close friends that will accept you what looked like.

Fourthly, make a relationship with audiences. It is known that it is important for audiences to keep on being interested in your speech. Thus, you can put the sense of humor into your speech and use statistic as minimal as possible if you have to use it.

Visual presentation also can help the audiences to focus more. Also, pay attention to your intonation and body movement. Avoid the repeated movement in a long time and flat intonation that can stimulate people to be sleepy.

Fifthly, be yourself. Indeed, using hand movement and gesture might be done occasionally to avoid the boredom. But, do not do that too much. Give priority in your speech point and move your body naturally, so the audiences will be comfortable looking at you.