How to get paid for speaking courses are a dime a dozen. Each week I get an email or two that tells me that if I send them a hundred or a thousand bucks I will get all the information that I need to get paid as a speaker. Well I have yet to fine one that tells the truth about what it takes to actually succeed.
I have been speaking in public for most of my life, mainly it is because I HAVE to tell people how to do things. In grade school I was in the class play, in high school I was a cheerleader and in my grown-up life I am public speaker. Here are my top ten rules for getting paid to speak publicly, in no particular order…
- Is public speaking in your blood? If you are shy, public speaking may not be for you unless you have a driving passion for it. I have a friend who speaks but who is almost sick before every event. Because she LOVES the result it is worth it for her to get up there and do it. Every time I “get” to speak, I wake up a with a little jingle in my step and can not wait for the day to get started!
- Do you rely on powerpoint? Almost every speaker that I have ever seen who agonizes over whether their Powerpoint is just right is bland, dry and structured. If you are going to use a Powerpoint, make sure to read Seth Godin’s Really Bad Powerpoint first!
- Do you have something to say? If you are buying programs to learn how to get paid for speaking and you do not have a topic you are already passionate about, heaven help us! I once listened to a fellow talk about musical instruments in a library. Now I am NOT a musical instrument fan, BUT he was so excited about them that he was interesting. If you do not know WHAT you are going to talk about yet, stop trying to figure out how to speak and figure out what to say!
- Dressing up is not THAT important! One of the first things that “those people” will tell you is that you have to dress a certain way. Suits or jackets for the men, skirts or suits for the women. One of the best speakers I ever heard was Gary Vaynerchuk of Crush It fame. He wore blue jeans, a hoodie and had tattoos. With all of the great information that he gave, I would not have cared if he wore his birthday suit! Dress in what makes you comfortable instead of dressing like a mannequin. If your content is great they will overlook anything else.
- Record or listen to yourself I have LOTS of tapes of my talks and I HATE watching them, but I do. I look funny, I sound funny BUT most important I say um a lot! Or at least I used to. It was not because I did not have something else to say, it was a habit. Another lady I saw speak said “actually” so much that I could not follow what she was saying.
- There is a LOT of schlepping One of the main things I think they leave out of how to get paid for speaking classes is that there is A LOT of free speaking before anyone will ever consider hiring you to speak. This is a good thing! If you got paid a bunch right off the bat you would not have the practice of speaking to the Kiwanas or the Rotary gang or even to your church group. You would not learn how early to get there or how to adapt to different microphone setups. You would not know how to hook up your laptop or how to call ahead and make sure the venue is set up right.
- $20,000 keynotes are a ways away When you start speaking, do not think you are going to get a pile of money. You need to talk to speakers in your area and find out what the current rates are. If you get paid ANYTHING at the start, count your blessings. I get between $150-200 an hour to give speeches and make about $250 an hour when I am doing a training.
- It is easy to get speaking engagements I know, you want there to be some magic secret as to how to get speaking engagements. I have found that telling every human you meet that you are speaker works. As does having a page on your website that says that. Not rocket science people, just hard work. Get out there to networking events, be interested and interesting and offer your services.
- Check your teeth and zipper before you go on stage Nuff said!
- There are tons of ways to get paid for speaking Even if you do not have people banging down your door to pay you to speak, you can use your speaking gigs to make money. One way is to “sell from the stage” – have something for sale that they can buy after hearing you speak. Add everyone at your events to your mailing lists and sell to them that way. Sell books, DVDs or other information products afterwards. In general, always know how you are going to monetize your speaking event!
Well there you have it! If you do these things you will be well on your way to being a successful speaker. If you REALLY feel like you have to pay $100 or $1,000 to learn this, feel free to make out the check to Tara L. Jacobsen, PA…:)
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After more than 2600 presentations and more than 65,000 participants since 1989, you had me nodding with you until the last point. If you are paid to speak or train, chance of being approved to sell from the podium these days are slim to none. If you don’t ask and do it anyway, or are previously admonished not to do it and do it anyway, the social network gods will get you and get the word out pronto.
These days, most organizations include a provision in their speaker engagement agreements that forbid “selling from the podium”. Furthermore, the audience knows they are being sold and some despise it so much that they find it impossible to find anything worth listening to throughout the speech.
Second slide bio, last side contact info. Have a landing slide on your website that is trackable from your contact slide (use bitly.com) and have your product and referral bonuses there.
Maria K Todd, MHA PhD
AskMariaToddâ„¢
@Maria – Thanks for reading! LOVE the idea of putting a bitly or specific page for that venue as a last page on your slideshow. (I do that frequently when I speak too!)
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