CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP AUGUST 10, 2021
START YOUR OWN PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER (PT.3)
When I design a speech, I think about a problem that my audience experiences. Then, I come up with an audience-focused title, three to five concepts/steps that will help the audience solve that problem, and lots of proof (stories, analogies, examples, quotes, data, etc.) for each concept.
When I write a blog post… Well… I think about a problem that my audience has, I come up with an audience-focused title, I identify three to five concepts or steps that will help the audience solve that problem, and then I identify lots of proof (stories, analogies, examples, quotes, data, etc.) for each concept.
(A blog post is just a speech that is written on a WordPress website.)
Make your blog posts range between 1000 and 2500 words. This part is critical to helping you clarify the wants and needs of your audience. The process also helps you constantly refresh and redesign your ideas and beliefs.
If you sit down and write at least a single 1000-word blog post every week, for 10 weeks, by the time that you complete the 10th post, your understanding of your topic will have become more precise and more clear. The reason this occurs is that you stop relying on your past beliefs, and you focus more on new research from outside sources.
Every time I write a new blog post, I increase my expertise in my topic exponentially. I’m constantly growing and learning. You have to constantly grow and learn as well.
- Compile Your Posts into a Book.
Once you have at least 10 well researched and well written blog posts with at least 1000 words in each, you have the makings of a pretty good book. You will have anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 words already laid out in an easy to read format. The titles become chapters of your book. By the way, Amazon has two ways to self-publish these books for free.
You will always have more credibility as a speaker if you are a published author. You also have an additional revenue stream. In some cases, an audience may only be able to pay you a small honorarium to speak.
However, you can offer to give one of your books to each person in attendance. The group may not have fees to pay the speakers, but they will often add $10 or $20 to the fee for attending if the attendees will receive a book for that value.
So, instead of getting $200 or $500 as an honorarium to speak to 100 people, adding a $20 book will increase your fee by $2000. If the group can’t agree to paying for a book for everyone, you might still be able to set up a table at the back of the room to sell copies of your book.
By the way, once you have the 10 posts and one book completed, don’t stop. There are 52 weeks in a year. If you just continue the same process, you can write four or five books every year.
