You've got something to say - get confident with Public Speaking to build your Personal Brand
If you are serious about building your Brand, then Public Speaking is a Must!
It is the easiest, quickest and most efficient way to:
- raise your profile
- build awareness of who you are, what you do and why you do it
- give you credibility in your area of expertise
- inspire your target audience to engage with you
- make your audience aware of a problem (which they may or may not know)
- get exposure to people you may not have come across otherwise
- expand your network much quicker than by just attending events and
- ultimately get more sales and/or career opportunities.
Enough reasons? Then let’s get into the nitty and gritty to your your communication more confident and convincing.
60% of buying and hiring decisions are made before they get in touch with you.
Think about it:
When you need something or someone, what do you do?
You will ask your network for recommendations and when you have a name, you google the person and/or the problem they are trying to solve.
Having Speaking experience means you have had exposure to audiences previously which immediately gives you credibility and positions yourself as the expert in the field. Otherwise they wouldn’t have given you the speaking gig in the first place.
It doesn’t matter if you are employed, already a business owner or if you are in transition – get as many speaking opportunities as you can so you not only can make a name for yourself but also get a better understanding of the problems your audience has so you can refine/define what you want to offer.
Ok – so far so good. What to do on D-Day?
Keep Calm - We have all been there.
Human’s #1 fear is getting rejected. So it is only natural to be nervous before the presentation.
The key is to be prepared.
Leaving things until the last minute is a recipe for disaster and will make you even more nervous, uneasy and doubt yourself.
Don't forget:
People follow people who are confident as it gives the followers the assurance they know what they do. If you don't believe in yourself and are confident in your approach, how can you expect someone else to follow you?
When you prepare for the presentation, always think of what you want your audience to take out and how your approach/ service/ product can help them.
This way you come across as genuine rather than salesy.
The three CCC's for convincing, catchy and confident Presentations:
1.) Content. Know it and know it well.
If you don’t your content from A-Z, inside and outside, you won’t come across as the expert and with that, not very convincing either.
Base your presentation, the content and the take outs around what you want to be known for and what you want your audience to remember about you when they they leave.
What is your Personal Brand Statement?
2. Connect.
Images are 60,000 times faster processed than text alone.
So make sure you have a compelling presentation with lots of emotional images rather than a heap of written information but also tell a story rather than educate your audience on do’s & don’t’s.
Connect with them through your personal story - tell who are you, what was your situation and problem, how did you solve it and your approach on how you came up with the solution you have to offer.
Be clear with the statement on how your audience will benefit from it too. If you have done your Positioning correct, your audience is you 2 years ago, so they will resonate with your approach and engage with you when they have established enough trust.
3. Concise.
Be clear, short and concise in your message.
These days, our attention span is shorter than a goldfish and you don’t want your audience to walk away thinking they didn’t get anything out of it because it was actually an information overload and they switched off 1/3 into the presentation.
Stick to 1-2 take outs you want your audience to remember and even better - to act on.
Don’t be shy to prepare a one pager, infographic, cheat sheet etc as handout and/or download. This way you are able to generate email addresses (when it is a download) and/or get your contact details out to a large audience when it is a printout. It is about staying top of mind in people's mind when it comes to your area of expertise. That is - Branding.
Everyone loves a good freebie, so make yours worthwhile keeping!
If you are not sure what you can actually speak about or what you want to be known for, check out my upcoming workshops to identify, define and build your Personal Brand!
Last 2 workshops for 2017 - make sure you get a head start and make 2018 bigger and better!
IGNITE YOUR BRAND: 13th November - 9-12pm | BRISBANE
3h Express Workshop to hone in on defining your skills, your uniqueness and tools and tactics to get your thought leadership on Social Media
EMBODY YOUR BRAND 25th November - 9-3pm | BRISBANE
Full Day Workshop to define your Personal Brand and what makes you stand out, identify your Style that embodies your goal the most authentic way and learn how you can use Social Media to establish yourself as the Go-to-Expert in your area of expertise!
PLUS: 3x professional Head Shots included!!