POSTED: June 26, 2020, by Towan Isom
The first time I spoke to an audience my palms were sweaty and my voice was cracking, so of course it was not my best, but the content was stellar and on-point. It was the first of what would be more than 100 presentations, talks, and keynotes that I would make on entrepreneurship, women-empowerment, business scaling, business strategy, and managing millennials in the workplace. Empowering people through speaking is best when you have a real story to tell, including the things you have learned. The best motivational speakers are visual storytellers who expertly weave a story of inspiration, education, and motivation to their listeners.
A search of Amazon will find over 8,000 books on Public Speaking, and while many people practice how to speak, many miss the golden rule: have something to say. I have attended many ‘snooze fest’ presentations at conferences, workshops, etc., where a speaker was engaging but offered no information of value.
Speaking should be an opportunity to brand yourself as a thought-leader on a subject. Sometimes you are a thought-leader because you are the only current speaker on a subject matter, perhaps (hypothetically) like a nuclear scientist or applied mathematician. At other times, it is your perspective on a subject matter (e.g., my perspective on branding in my workshop called The Brand Experience). The Brand Experience is a dive into what makes a great brand. During the workshop I talk about how brands are a combination of great design and positive and negative media, but that a great brand can change a culture (e.g., Apple), inspire change (e.g., President Obama and President Trump), and change communities (e.g., Under Armour). After the workshop, I outline key takeaways, for example: Creating a Brand Experience; Brand Evolution and Impact; Customer Memory; and Design/Creativity.
Early on, my best friend suggested Toastmasters and it changed my life. It enabled me to build confidence by building practice speeches. Toastmasters is a great way to practice your speaking and give a variety of speeches, such as informational, humorous, technical, motivational, etc. Most Toastmasters speeches are only 10-minutes, but that is enough to build a speaking reel with a variety of speeches. Classes are usually 60-90 minutes and allow you to work out your speaking kinks, including your ums and ahs. It is good to record yourself during the workshops, as an opportunity to build your speaking clips for your speaking reel. I require all my millennial employees to experience Toastmasters. I pay for it to help them build confidence and be in position for upward mobility at my firm.
I started my motivational speaking journey with 15 years of marketing expertise, but I lacked confidence. I built my speaking confidence by imagining myself as a powerful, amazing, and a bad-ass speaking chick. I imagined myself Angelina Jolie, and during my speeches I was powerful and dynamic. As time passed I retired Jolie and fully embraced TowanIsomCEO, a powerful and amazing expert on marketing, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. After much practice, and with strong knowledge and confidence, I now own the speaking stage.
If you are going into motivational speaking for large payouts, that ship has sailed. Large speaking fees are a thing of the past due to too many available speakers, or speaker saturation. Unless you are someone like Tyler Perry, Oprah, or Barack Obama you can keynote, and expect up to $2,500 for a workshop if you are lucky. Even these fees are reserved for speakers with more than 10 years’ experience and expertise in a subject. Simply put, the market is saturated with speakers. Speaking at larger national conferences will most certainly leverage your profile, but you must have a profile to start.
I always recommend speakers have a goal. Key questions include: are you trying to launch a coaching program, increase social media followers, or brand yourself as a thought-leader, and/or is this the audience for your business? Knowing your speaking goal(s) helps you build a stronger and more intentional presentation. However, never use the speaking stage to pitch, because it is tacky and will reflect in your speaker evaluation reviews.
A smart speaker uses their evaluation reviews to prepare and promote their next speaking opportunity. Leveraging post-presentation evaluations gives planners an opportunity to decide if your presentation will be well-received by attendees. Plus, you can use evaluation results throughout your marketing, such as: 90% of attendees said they would attend another speaking opportunity by Towan Isom; 79% said the information was something they had never heard; 82% said they will use this information in their jobs. Leveraging speaker evaluations is excellent for your speaker marketing efforts. So, essentially, I am saying…
Set your speaking goal(s)–is this the audience that you want to be in front of to generate business, and are you trying to:
launch a coaching program?
increase social media followers?
brand yourself as a thought-leader?
enhance some other element of your business/career?
Say something that only you know. I hate when people speak at events and only offer recycled information. What do you offer that is unique that only you can present because of your knowledge and experience? If you do not have this unique speaking proposition, it is not your time to build your experience and speaking proposition and be ready for the stage.
Use creative, dynamic, and eye-catching slides and interesting videos during your presentation. For an example, see my slides from the National Association of Home Builders Conference (link).
Find your comfort zone. For me, standing behind a podium with a microphone is best for confidence, while not having a podium gives me a little discomfort and uneasiness. Know your quirks: flats, heels, suit, no tie or tie, t-shirt to keep you from sweating in public.
Create at least five speaking topics that you can use and easily send for potential speaking opportunities. Having diverse speaking topics with catchy titles allows you to respond quickly to speaker requests.
Create a list of 10 target organizations, conferences, and markets that you want to pitch for speaking. Track these opportunities by search request for speakers. Attend the target conferences before you submit your speaking requests, to see know how to present your speaker response.
For a nominal fee you can use the new website http://www.bookspeakerleads.com/ to find speaking leads. That way you do not have to search for speaking leads, they come to you and it saves you a lot of time.
Create a media kit with key information about your speaker value proposition, including your bio and resume. For reference, mine is at https://towanisom.com/downloads/Towan-Isom-Media-Kit.pdf.
When presidential candidate Kamala Harris tweeted her 'that little girl was me' childhood photo after her busing brawl with Joe Biden the timing was Fiyah (fire) as today’s kids say. The timing of your social media can be a perfect way to build your speaking profile and social media followers.
You should post information on your LinkedIn profile about your speaking opportunities so others know that you are available. Before you speak, say something like: Company A engaged me to speak at their annual conference. The day before you speak, post to social media and tag the organization where you are speaking. On the day of the speaking opportunity post to your social media something like I am about to take the stage at the XXX conference, and post photos with attendees. Afterward, post highlights and your speaker evaluations on social media and LinkedIn with a 30-second speaking clip. Repeat this process for every speaking event, and wait for all the speaking opportunities to roll in.
The resources above are my most valuable tools and tactics in my Motivational Speaker journey, but marketing myself after the speaking opportunity and having something unique and powerful is my magic mix. For more speaking tips follow me @TowanIsomCEO.
