Speaking tips

Build Your Speaking Platform in 3 Easy Steps

Wouldn’t it be great to begin 2018 knowing exactly what to do to grow your speaking platform?

As a heart centered visionary, I know you’re here to do big work in the world. And you feel called to speak to make a greater impact.

Speaking is a great way to connect with clients, establish your thought leadership and grow your business.

While there’s no formula for success, there are a few key ingredients that will build a foundation and make your visibility soar.

Find Your Voice

We all have a voice. Yet, finding your voice is one of the greatest struggles for many entrepreneurs. Once discovered, it can also be the key to standing out from the noise.

To help define your voice here are a few questions to get started:

What 3 words would you use to describe yourself? Is this how you would describe your speaking voice?

There are others who do the work that you do, but what do you do differently?

What are your strong opinions or beliefs?

A second way to define your voice is to think of a story you want to share with your audience. Now, pretend you are telling the same story to a friend. Do the styles match up? Do they sound the same?

Finding your voice is the first step to being visible. It’s also the way to engage your audience and developing a following.

Define Your Story

What is the message you were born to share? One of the concerns I hear most often from clients is that they don’t have a story to share. Or that their story isn’t compelling, special or unique.

Everyone has a story to tell – even YOU.

Like finding your voice, your story will take time to develop. Dig beneath the surface to uncover gems – the experiences, challenges and adventures you’ve forgotten about.

Here’s an exercise you can try: draw a line on a sheet of paper. The line represents your life with one end representing the day you were born; the other, the present day. Begin to fill in all the key milestones in between – graduations, marriage, moving, career changes, children, writing a book, traveling, and so on.

You’ll remember events and achievements you’ve forgotten about, which may spark your signature story.

Build a Platform

Your speaking platform is the foundation that will get you to the next level. That means, getting speaking experience under your belt. If you’re new to speaking, start small. There are numerous opportunities available in your local community from Meet Up groups to associations to the Chamber of Commerce. You can also be a guest for online podcasts, livestreams and webinars.

When you have a track record it makes it easier to book larger speaking opportunities.

In addition to your experience, building a foundation includes growing your community (online and off), perfecting your story, creating speaker materials and having a strategy to set you up for success..

When all of those pieces come together you’ve build a platform that will launch you to the next level. Continue to build the momentum and raise your visibility. Beforeyou know it you won’t have to seek out speaking opportunities. They will come to you!

Ready to take your speaking to the next level in 2018? Reserve your complimentary session and watch your visibility soar!

5 Reasons You Need to Add Speaking to Your Marketing Strategy

Have you ever felt called to grace the stage and share your message with the masses, but wondered about the benefits? Building a speaking platform requires time and energy, so you want to get results, right?

Sure, it’s a great feeling to engage with an audience and see an instant response to your message and gifts. However, there are so many other ways to market your services from networking to advertising to social media. The online world makes it so easy to connect with others services from the comfort of your own home office, why would you want to leave?

The benefits of speaking live and connecting with others in person cannot be measured. If you’re considering speaking as part of your marketing strategy, the shift you will see is invaluable. Here are the top five reasons to take the plunge:

Connect with more clients

Tired of exchanging business cards at networking events or posting on social media waiting for someone to hire you? When you hung out your shingle you thought the clients would immediately line up outside your door (or website). If you build it, they will come, right? While networking and social media and important parts of any marketing strategy, speaking is one of the fastest ways to connect with new clients – often the same day.

When you give a talk in front of a room filled with your ideal prospects, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise, inspire through your words and offer solutions to their biggest challenges.

The audience gets an opportunity to know you and experience what it’s like to work with you.

Speaking in front of an audience creates connection. When an audience feels connected to you it builds trust and people are more likely to work with someone they know and trust.

Establish Your Thought Leadership

Tired of being the best kept secret in your industry? Speaking is the path to becoming visible, establishing your credibility and make you the go-to expert in your field. Sharing your ideas with others through storytelling and an engaging presentation, you’ll find the audience will be open to and inspired by your point of view. Speaking helps to build your confidence and make you magnetic when on stage or in regular conversations.

Serve more people

You provide a powerful service that transforms lives. Ready to reach more people in a shorter amount of time?

Imagine having the opportunity to share your message and demonstrate your experience standing in front of a room of hundreds or thousands of people at once. What impact would that have on the audience? Or on you and your business?

Visibility and New Opportunities

New opportunities such as media interviews, business partnerships or other speaking engagements could come your way as a result of speaking. Speaking is a great way to demonstrate your expertise as well as your ability to engage an audience. And you never know who could be in that audience – reporters looking for sources; talent bookers who want to book you for an interview/segment on your topic; potential clients who need your services or business partners who want to collaborate with you.

Your next opportunity could be sitting in the audience waiting for you. Why wouldn’t you want to step on stage?

Overcome Your Fears and Get to the Next Level

Perhaps the greatest benefit of speaking is that it will help you build confidence both on and off the stage. Speaking requires you to get out of your comfort zone. When you are able to take a risk in one area, and be successful, you’re more likely to take risks in other areas of life.

Are you ready to overcome your fears and take your speaking to the next level? Begin by booking your complimentary session today.

3 Ways We Can Work Together in 2018

With the New Year fast approaching, you may be busy planning new adventures you’d like to create in 2018.

There are so many opportunities, ideas and experiences to develop like booking a national speaking opportunity, hosting an event, getting media coverage or simply getting started. The biggest challenge is wanting to do everything all at once!

To help you achieve your speaking goals, and set you up for success, here are 3 ways we can work together.

No need to wait until January. Sign up for these opportunities today and we’ll get started right away!

Wouldn’t it be great to start 2018 knowing exactly what you needed to do to secure speaking engagements, build your platform and increase your visibility?

Jump Start Your Speaking Strategy

What do you want to create in 2018? Is there a speaking goal you’ve been thinking about, but need more clarity to get started?

The Jump Start Your Speaking Strategy experience is a 60-minute session to help you:

  • Get clear on the message you are here to share
  • Discover how to find speaking opportunities
  • Learn how to tap into your ideal market with your story
  • Craft a powerful pitch speaking engagements
  • Find the best speaking opportunities that get you in front of your ideal clients
  • And much more

Reserve your session here

2018 Speaking Strategy Intensive

If you’re looking for a deeper dive to bring your speaking goals to life in 2018, you’ll love the Speaking Strategy Intensive. Spend a half-day with me and get input and support to fast track your speaking goals by developing a powerful talk, finding ideal speaking engagements, and building a platform to share your message with the masses. You’ll leave with a solid plan that will keep you excited and motivated as you ramp up your speaking goals in 2018!

Sign up for 2018 Speaking Strategy Intensive here

Amplify – Bring Your Speaking Goals to Life in 2018

Are you ready to share your unique message and voice? And build a platform that allows you to make a greater impact? Now is the time to expand your reach and take your speaking goals to the next level.

Amplify is a one-to-one coaching experience designed to help you build your speaking platform so you can increase your visibility. Whether you have speaking experience, or are just getting started, you’ll get the support you need to craft a powerful talk, get booked to speak, connect with your audience, find media opportunities and so much more.

Begin the New Year with the clarity, support and action plan you need to bring your speaking goals to life! Let 2018 be the year you step into the spotlight!.

Grab your spot for Amplify here.

Questions?

Have questions about which opportunity is right for you? Or do you want to create a custom experience? Schedule a complimentary call and we’ll chat about the best option to meet your goals.

May 2018 be your best year yet!

3 Keys to Uncovering Your Signature Story

Do you have the desire to be a speaker, but worry you don’t have a story to tell?

You are not alone. I hear this comment a lot when speaking to entrepreneurs who feel called to share their message in a bigger way, but don’t think they have a powerful story.

Have you ever looked at the pros – those speakers who have built a big platform, deliver amazing TED talks, and grace the stage at national events – and think, “I could never be like them because I don’t have a story.”

Perhaps you think your story isn’t compelling or “BIG” enough.

When I hear these comments from entrepreneurs, I will ask a few questions to dig a big deeper. And then I strike story GOLD.

I hear stories of overcoming great odds like changing careers, starting a business or overcoming health issues.

Compelling stories. Engaging stories. Inspiring stories from the same people who believe they don’t have a story to tell!

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t have a story, I’m here to tell you:

Everyone has a story – even YOU – and the world needs your voice!

If you’ve ever felt unclear about the story you’re here to tell, here are three ways to help you get clear:

What’s the Journey?

What is the transformation you help your clients achieve? For example, if you’re a health and wellness coach, you help your clients shift by improving their nutrition and fitness levels.

If you’re a business coach, perhaps you help your clients transition from being in debt to increase their profitability and bring in more revenue.

Or perhaps you help empower your clients to silence their inner critic so they can reach the next level in their life and business.

Whatever the service you provide, you’ve most likely walked a similar path in your own journey. That transformation plays a key role in the signature story you’re here to tell.

Play Detective

Time to channel Sherlock Holmes and play detective by identifying the pivot points in your life. Looking back, what are the major turning points you’ve experienced? Think about the milestones like career changes, relationships or moving. What inspired the change? What did the experience teach you? Look for the common themes and you will find your story.

Get Angry!

The third way to uncover your story is to think about what makes you angry.  I don’t mean annoyances like someone cutting you off when driving on the highway or your spouse putting the toilet paper roll face up when you prefer it face down.

Think about the bigger picture. What gets under your skin? What are the injustices you see in the world that you would like to fix, if you had the power to change them. That is a key piece of your story.

These are a few ways to identify your signature story. Now it’s time to take action! Spend a half hour today thinking about your journey, the service you provide others and what really gets under your skin. A quick brainstorming session and you’ll be on your way to developing your signature story!

If you’d like support with crafting your powerful story, I’d love to help. Reserve your complimentary session, so you can take the first step towards the spotlight!

How to keep your speaking engagements organized

Good news! You’ve lined up ten speaking engagements over the next few months.

You did the hard work – researching speaking opportunities, submitting a solid proposal, connecting with meeting organizers and finally securing the gig. You’re primed to increase your visibility, connect with hundreds or thousands of people and perhaps, sell a few books.

Now, it’s time to kick back and relax, right?

Not so fast.

If speaking is not your full-time profession, managing your speaking schedule in addition to running your business or career, can get overwhelming rather quickly.

Here are a few tips to keep you streamline the process and stay organized:

Create a form on your website

Set up a Google document or contact form directly on your website to manage incoming speaking requests. Include questions about details for the speaking engagement and event such as:

Name of organization

Contact person

Date and location of the event

Length and format of presentation

Fee or budget for the speaking engagement

Having this form in place will reduce time emailing or calling the meeting organizers to get the information. With all the requests in one place (as opposed to sifting through emails) you can review them at once and respond accordingly.

Create a calendar just for your speaking engagements

Mark the dates of each speaking event on the calendar so you can see everything in one place. Additionally, map out any planning meetings with the event organizers, deadlines to submit slides or materials, promotional or marketing campaigns and most importantly when you will write and rehearse each talk.

Create a file for each event

Create a paper or digital folder with important details for each event including: date, location, on-site contact person, time of the talk, transportation and travel details. This will save you time and energy in the days before a speaking engagement, so you can focus on the content of the presentation.

Plan your follow-up strategy

There are always details to take care of once the talk is over. Have a system set up for invoicing and collecting payments for any speaking fees or travel reimbursements. Also, plan to follow up with the audience by sending a survey or email to thank the audience for attending and share any resources you may have mentioned during your talk.

Creating these systems may take some time in the beginning. However, once they are in place you’ll be able to accept requests and manage speaking engagements more efficiently. That way you direct your attention where it really matters – creating and delivering a powerful talk that makes an impact.

 Ready to ramp-up your speaking strategy? Book your complimentary 30-minute strategy session.