As you may know, I’m all about doing courageous things. Taking some big leaps in my life has opened up truly wonderful avenues. But it hasn’t always been that way and I also know that the opposite can work too.
It was Lao Tzu, who said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
And I speak to many people who want to step into speaking but the thought of pitching for gigs and standing on big stages feels like a big leap into the choke zone.
Can you relate?
If that’s you then I have some tips on how small steps can lead to big opportunities and expand your comfort zone at a less scary rate!
Here’s how:
Start with what you know
If you want to be a speaker but don’t know where to start, take a few minutes with a blank piece of paper and brain dump all the things you are passionate about. This will help you start to form the topics you can speak on.
Have a think about:
- A journey you have been on and what you have learnt
- Something you are passionate about that you know can help others
- A trend you have noticed from working with your clients
- A method you have developed that can help others
- A problem you can solve
- Something that people might not know about that need to know
- A process that can take someone from A to B (B being a positive outcome)
- Something you could talk all day long about and never get bored
Shape your topic
Once you have settled on one of the above, do another brain dump of all the things you know about this topic that can be shared with an audience to support the point you are making. To do this you can use Bernice Mcarthy’s 4mat method:
- Why do people need to hear about this?
- What exactly is it?
- How does it work?
- What are the questions that might come up about this topic?
Strip it back
You may have a LOAD of info to give on this subject, but when it comes to speaking, less is definitely more. Strip back your content to the essentials. Ask yourself:
- Is this something most people would be able to understand?
- Does it have a purpose?
- What am I leaving people with that is useful?
Reach out
Now you can reach out to friends, business colleagues, connected colleagues, or anyone who may have an audience that you can help with your topic. This can look like:
- Live streams
- Webinars
- Guest expert sessions within their membership communities
- Podcast interviews
- A pre recorded video you share on your socials
These are all fantastic ways to get visible and showcase your expertise. And none of them involve standing on a stage! All of the above have worked wonders for me and my clients. The benefits are huge including:
- Testing out your topics
- Practising communicating your topics in a succinct way
- Getting you in front of fresh people
- Signing new clients
- Building your confidence for bigger audiences
- Opening up opportunities to speak in different places
Sometimes big journeys start with small steps and that’s totally ok.
Want some help?
My Virtual Speaking Pro course guides you through this process by helping you define your hot right now topic, decide on which method of delivery to use (there are 6 in total) and reach out and land the opportunities in a way that doesn’t feel pushy or creepy!
This is your last chance to grab it at the crazy low price of £197 before I put it up.
https://helenpackham.lpages.co/virtual-speaking-pro/
And if you have questions? Just hit reply and ask. I’m here to help.
Much love
Helen x
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