Leadership
The Value of Public Speaking S
peaking is a natural way to assert your position as an authority on your topic. It never ceases to amaze me how some business leaders are excited about it and want to speak to as many audiences as possible, the larger the better, while others are dragged on to the platform kicking and screaming by their shareholders, communication department or PR agency. I have many friends in the professional speaking world who do it because they love it. If you watch someone who loves to perform you tend to think of them as a ‘good speaker’. However, there are some other underlying qualities which are equally important.
The most important ingredients for success as a speaker are a clear message and an absolute passion and conviction for getting that message across to audiences that need to hear it.
When you develop your message, how clearly are you communicating it to your audiences? How about your
56 entrepreneurcountry
“When you develop your message, how clearly are you
communicating it to your audiences?”
passion and conviction? How high are they, on a scale of one to ten? Go on, give yourself a mental score before we move on.
The less than enthusiastic would-
be speakers I meet generally have a lower passion or conviction around their subject. I will never forget an executive I used to work with who kept coming up with multiple excuses and reasons for not doing speaking engagements. I was one of the corporate communications ‘nags’
at
the time, so my main objective was to get him in front of customers and
sharing the company’s leading-edge thinking and philosophy. It turned out that he was not one hundred percent convinced about the company’s position as a leader in the industry; therefore his own role was not attached to a solid enough foundation.
The best speakers I see, be they corporate executives or entrepreneurs, have a rock solid belief in themselves, their organisations and their key messages. If you want to do more speaking and be successful, check your foundations first: the message and your belief and passion around that message. Then make a plan to speak more so that you get more visibility and improve your performance. You would also be more than welcome to visit me and the London Chapter of the Professional Speaking Association. See
www.professionalspeaking.biz
Mindy Gibbins-Klein, better known as The Book Midwife®, has helped hundreds of experts improve their businesses by delivering high impact presentations and key note speeches.
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