I got to a point where I’m afraid to say “public speaking” – as well I could say “bird flu” and I’d get the same reaction. I often say “forget ‘public speaking’ – just stand up and tell your story, or share your knowledge with others…”
Regardless how we tweak it, public speaking is the #1 way to get more customers.
!!! Of course, each time you speak, you must make sure to collect your audience’s contact info. You can do that in several ways:
a) have a give-away and do a drawing, where everyone would drop their business card in a “hat”… Tell them to write “NO EMAIL PLEASE” on the back of the card, if they do not wish to get your eZine filled with tips and articles related to “today’s” topic;
b) Mention one or more great “tools” in your speech and at the end ask them to give you their contact info and you’ll send them that tool (or those tools)
c) Mention that the time available to present your topic is limited, but if they share their contact info, you’ll send them access to several hours of audio; or access to specific articles; eZine; eBook; etc.
ALWAYS PUT A PRICE VALUE ON YOUR GIVEAWAY! “Please drop your business card in the “hat” and I’ll send you an eBook valued at $49.00, filled with valuable tips and more than 100 resources…”
FORMS OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
- You can do it live, putting on public workshops & seminars; or speaking at corporate events, conferences, etc. Of course, there is also always the possibility to speak to local groups, such as the Lion’s Club, Rotary, etc. and volunteer – or get paid – to speak for specific company’s employees.
Many companies have a certain # of hours of training they have to provide their employees, and they invite speakers to provide that training. At times, the HR manager – or another employee – provides that monthly training, but they welcome a little relief and will allow you to present…
- Another venue is teleclasses, which has the advantage that you can speak regularly to big crowds with minimal or no investment, and have high returns. Your #1 way to get people to participate in your teleclasses, is to invite the people on your list (remember, you got the contact info of past participants + you have an opt-in system on your website); then there are the teleclass announcing services such as
SeminarAnnouncer.com, TeleclassInternational.com, Teleclass.com (here they need you to get some tele-leader training before you can post), PlanetTeleclass.com, http://www.CCULearning.com, and more (I have a list somewhere with all the teleclass promotion services out there – I’ll post them here once I find it) - Live or recorded videos
If you do a search for “live video,” you’ll get a ton of service providers such as www.LiveVideo.com, www.uStream.TV and many others.
Looking forward to your comments…