There are several reasons why someone would want to transition into public speaking. Maybe it’s dissatisfaction with your current job or perhaps you’re attracted to certain elements of a career in public speaking.
Either way, it probably feels like an impossible goal, and even knowing where to start can be daunting. Putting together a substantive plan can give you clarity about the steps you need to take to make your transition successful. In his book The Successful Speaker, Grant Baldwin outlines what he calls the S.P.E.A.K. Framework:
- Select a problem to solve
- Prepare and deliver your talk
- Establish your expertise
- Acquire paid speaking gigs
- Know when to scale
- The first and most important step to starting a successful speaking business is selecting a problem to solve. Regardless of how engaging your talk may be, you can’t just give a speech on a topic that interests you; to get consistently booked, you need to solve a problem that your audience has. Have a clear idea of what your audience gets for themselves by listening to you.
Secondly, prepare and deliver your talk. Decide what kind of talk you want to give and come up with variations of it that can cater to different formats and audiences. Have a detailed outline and know which jokes or stories you’re going to use to get your points across.
Next, rehearse the talk while timing yourself to make sure it fits within any potential time limits. Practice giving the talk as you would to an actual audience. Part of this process is learning to memorize your speech to prepare for situations when you don’t have access to detailed notes or slides.
The next step is to establish your expertise. To be consistently booked, you need to establish yourself as an authority on the problem your talk aims at solving. A big part of that is looking and acting like one.
Create a website and demo video. Make sure they look professional, even if they aren’t perfect yet. If you have the knowledge or ability to learn, make them yourself. If that isn’t a reasonable possibility, consider asking an experienced friend or hiring someone who is more capable.
Having laid a solid foundation in the first three steps, you can move on to the next stage – acquiring paid speaking gigs. This part can be challenging; just because you’ve prepared a speech and created a website doesn’t mean you’ll get booked without actively working for it.
First, find upcoming events either in your area or an area you’re willing to travel to. Make sure the event is at least a few months out and narrow the list down to events that fit your chosen topic. Find out who decides which speakers to book and get their email from the company website. Send them a personalized email with a short pitch. If they show interest, call them (or schedule a call) to discuss it in further detail.
Obviously in such conversations, one of the main topics is going to be about your fee. When you’re new to the industry, setting a fee can be confusing and intimidating. It’s important to be reasonable about your level of experience and the budgets of event planners, but it’s equally important to not undersell yourself.
When you first start out, you may have to charge less than what you’d like, but the experience can be just as valuable as the money if it helps you land future gigs. While the typical fee for new speakers is generally $1000, there are factors that can make it reasonable to charge either more or less than that. In any case, make sure you have a good idea of what you’ll be charging and how flexible your price is before you pick up the phone.
The final step is knowing when to scale. While speaking gigs are incredibly fun and rewarding, they are also extremely time consuming. The actual speech is only a tiny fraction of the time investment required to acquire gigs and keep your business running.
At a certain point, it becomes necessary to develop your business in diverse ways that move beyond just the stage. This can look different for everyone, but there are endless possibilities for diversifying your business.
Some of the most common options include writing a book or developing a paid course, but it doesn’t even have to be a product you’re selling. Scaling your business could be as simple as hiring someone to manage the business aspects while you focus on delivering an incredible speech.
Whatever the case, it’s important to personalize this step to your individual situation and determine what fits best. Pay attention to the questions your audience asks and what their interests seem to be.
Although transitioning to speaking can seem extremely challenging, having a plan to follow can help immensely. By following the steps outlined above, you’ll ensure that your transition is set up for success. If you’re ready to get started, check out the resources available at thespeakerlab.com
