One way to elevate your brand or build brand visibility for yourself, your business, or your company is by getting attractive speaking engagement opportunities. A public speaking opportunity will help develop your brand and establish you as an authority in your field.
You never know who is listening. You never know where your next million-dollar deal will come from.
That is why it is vital to always strategically position yourself to embrace the next big opportunity. To achieve this, it is essential to look out for speaking opportunities.
Build your Personal Brand
If you want to be a recognized authority in your field, it is essential to build a personal brand. Even if you are the best in your field or the go-to person when people need answers or solutions to difficult situations in your field, you will remain in the background without building or establishing your brand. The importance of personal branding is that it will make you stand out from your competitors and help build trust among potential clients.
Supposing that a brand is looking for an authority to come and speak at their event, they will always look out for somebody that is grounded in the field and has relevant footprints to show for it. Social media has availed us of an easy opportunity to build our brands. Thus, you can accomplish this by talking about trends in your niche often on your social media pages, your website, and by starting a YouTube channel or a podcast. That way, these opportunities can quickly locate you.
Build a Social Capital
Building social capital will involve leveraging your relationship with influential people to increase visibility for your brand. This is a part of building your brand. You can also do this by supporting a social cause you strongly believe in, which will shine a spotlight on your brand.
Find Conferences/ Events related to your niche
Research conferences/events related to your niche. Research their audience and the theme of their conference or event. Contact the organizers and send them a pitch about a topic that will be relevant to the conference theme and why you are the right fit.
Network
Networking with people in your niche is one way of finding speaking engagements. You can do this by attending events and conferences and having face-to-face conversations with thought leaders in the industry. Use the opportunity to tell them about a topic you are passionate about. Build a relationship with them and let them know about your interest in sharing this new knowledge with the community.
You can also network by engaging with them on social media. Once you have a relationship with them, it will be easier for them to always recommend you for such opportunities.
Leverage Social Audio Apps
Social audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces will help you express your ideas effectively to a large audience, especially if you are just starting. You can organize your own spaces and get people in your niche or people that share the same interest to join the conversation. Many people with similar interests usually join these spaces/rooms. When you become well-known for being eloquent and articulate, it will open a new door for you in this career as people will want to invite you to their events or conferences.
How to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills
While looking for speaking engagements, it is also essential to sharpen your speaking skills, and here is how.
Personal Development
So many good speakers exist out there who people are willing to invite for public speaking opportunities, and there is a need for you to stand out. One way of doing so is by developing yourself. New ideas come up daily in every field, and it is crucial to stay ahead of these trends. You can do so by constantly staying up to date on information in your field by reading books, taking courses, listening to podcasts, and interacting with experts in the field.
Also, improve your communication skills by taking courses on effective communication as well as reading books to improve your vocabulary.
Learn How to Tailor Your Message to a Specific Audience
Learning how to tailor your message to a specific audience is an essential skill in public speaking. Doing so will enable you to know how to address them in a way that the things you say will resonate with them.
For instance, if you are to speak at a conference that has professionals in your field in attendance, you will tailor your message in such a way that the language you use will be a language that these professionals are familiar with. But when you have a different audience made up of people outside your niche, you have to modify your message to be beneficial to them.
Practice Public Speaking
Practicing public speaking at any chance you get will help improve your public speaking skills. We learn by doing. You can do so in your church’s small group, your reading club, or any social group you belong to.
Although this may sound funny, you can also practice with the mirror. You can stand before the mirror and present your points while planning to go before an audience. You can take it a notch higher by recording yourself to analyze your body language.
Practicing will help you build confidence. The motivational speaker, Brian Tracy, acknowledges the importance of practicing public speaking by stating that it will help make your speech delivery more effective.
Listen to Other Great Speakers
Listening to other great speakers and learning how they deliver their speeches will improve your public speaking skills. Take note of how they communicate and emotionally connect to their audience.
Finding paid speaking engagement will not be an easy task, but when you improve your skills, apply these secrets and trust the process, the sky will be your starting point.