Getting Yourself Known

What are the 5 best ways of getting known in the speaking industry?

Getting known in the speaking industry does not happen overnight. You need to work at it bit by bit. The first thing to remember is that you are an unknown in the beginning, even if you possess the expertise required for the audience. At first you will need to speak to anyone who will listen. Second, you will need to get feedback on how well you did and what the audience liked and what they thought needed improvement. Third, do not take any of this feedback personally; use it as a tool to advance to the next stage in the speaking portion of your career.

Fourth, constructive feedback will provide the basis for making improvements to your talk. You will need to see where there is conflicting comments and make a judgment as to what should be the correct topic. Fifth, you should have every speaking session video-taped, or at least audio-taped. You will need to review everything you said, even the stories of failures and successes. This tool will enable you to make even further refinements. You can even tape yourself without the audience, but it is the audience reaction that you need to hear.

When you first begin, your audience is not likely to be well targeted. The reason is probably that you need to gain the necessary experience to more finely tune who they are. In the beginning you are after constructive feedback, and when you are able to implement the feedback and fine tune the presentation, you are ready to further define your audience.

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.