Chapter 11

The Journey to Speaking: From There to Here

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Trade associations beneficial to speakers and trainers
• In-the-trenches advice from speakers who didn’t start out as speakers

Everyone follows a path in life that is just a little different from the one the guy next to them is traveling; speakers are no different. We come from all walks of life, all different points of origin, too. On your own personal yellow brick road to becoming a professional speaker or trainer, you must have come from somewhere, be it chasing tornados in Kansas or teaching tourists how to surf in Waikiki. I’ve asked several speaker friends to share where they came from and what worked for them in becoming and staying successful in this business. Becoming a polished and savvy speaker is a labor of love, one I’m sure you’ll enjoy as you journey out into finding your own Oz.

The first step on your path should be toward the National Speakers Association. NSA was founded in 1973 and provides resources and education to advance value of not only its members but the entire profession as well. I recommend that hopeful speakers check it out at www.nsaspeaker.org. Annual subscriptions to NSA’s popular Speaker magazine are also available online at its website, www.nsaspeaker.org, and you do not have to be a member to subscribe.

The Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation is the speaking profession’s international measure of professional platform skills. The CSP designation is earned through demonstrating competence in a combination of standards:

• professional platform skills
• professional business management
• professional education
• professional association.

CSP certification is not mandatory to have a highly successful speaking career, but it can be extremely helpful to some along the way.

Mark LeBlanc, president of NSA (2007–2008), started his company Small Business Success in 1992. He works with and speaks for groups of business owners and professionals who want to grow their businesses and sell more products and services. His website, www.smallbusinesssuccess.com, contains links to ordering his new book titled Growing Your Business When YOU are the Business, as well as a free e-letter called Businesswise.

Mark suggests two main strategies to grow your business or professional practice. First, stay focused on what you want: “Many in business today either focus on the wrong programs, products, and services, or are unclear on how to get more of what they want. The more focused you are, the easier everything becomes, and you tend to get what you focus on.”

Second, Mark is a firm believer in Dan Janal’s service, PR Leads (www. PRLeads.com; see chapter 4 for more on this service), as am I. This service delivers publicity leads right to your inbox and also offers an article marketing service. “Publicity makes the world go round,” says Mark. “If you want to get the word out about who you are and what you do, these unique and minimal investment offerings can increase the odds of a positive result and increase your visibility.”

Mark offers one bonus piece of advice: “Focus on what you can do, not what you could do!”

A Quick Conversation with Mark

Anne: Why should up-and-coming speakers consider joining the National Speakers Association?

Mark: This is the only association that exists to develop new speakers and help those speakers already in the profession speak more, have more impact from the platform, and put more money in their pocket. The sooner a speaker gets plugged into NSA, the sooner they realize that we help raise the standards of the profession with our emphasis on ethics, education, and our sense of community.

Anne: How long did it take you to go from just having a passion for speaking to making a profitable living doing it?

Mark: Everyone takes a different path with their unique goals and aspirations. I was a part-time speaker for 10 years while I owned another business. I sold that business in 1992 and went full-time as a speaker, author, and business development consultant.

Another pin on your map should be Toastmasters International. What images come to mind when you think of Toastmasters? Perhaps the old-boy network of stodgy old men smoking cigars and giving speeches in dark, wood-paneled meeting rooms? Today’s Toastmasters is a 21st-century speaking organization and is certainly not your grandfather’s Toastmasters club anymore!

Toastmasters is inexpensive, friendly, and supportive. Visit www.toastmasters.org and you’ll find a hip and savvy website with pages of free tips, tools, and techniques that will help you as a speaker or trainer improve your overall skills, become more successful in your career, learn time-tested cutting-edge methods for presentations, increase your self-confidence at the podium, and reach your professional and personal goals.

Surveys continue to show that developing presentation skills, whether or not you speak for a living, is crucial to a person’s success. Lots of people pay a good deal of money for speaking coaches and seminars to hone their presentation skills. Toastmasters offers a way to do this that is less expensive and held in high esteem in business circles worldwide.

Poking fun at itself on its website, www.toastmasters.org, Toastmasters has a section titled What is Toastmasters? No, we don’t make toasters! Dues run an affordable $50 to $100, and most chapters meet once or twice a week. They publish the monthly magazine Toastmaster, and you don’t even have to be a member to subscribe to it. Subscriptions in the United States run $20, and internationally, $30.

Scoop from a Toastmasters Insider

I spoke with Suzanne Frey, Toastmasters International publications manager, at their world headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.

Frey’s advice to emerging speakers is to get involved with their local Toastmasters and experience firsthand all of the available resources and support. Frey also emphasizes that Toastmasters is not just for beginning speakers or business people wanting to sharpen their presentation skills. The organization counts many accomplished speakers among its membership and even offers a speaker bureau featuring top-drawer speakers to help local organizations fill their speaker needs, whether that be for a national meeting, keynote address, or storyteller for schoolchildren.

Frey says that Toastmasters groups are also formed in closed-club environments, like at The White House, in the United States Congress, and in Fortune 500 companies. “Wherever people want to participate in a supportive environment and help each other to be more effective in their jobs and more effective presenters in their community over all, Toastmasters can help,” says Frey.

Debra Bruce is a successful lawyer coach. She practiced law in Houston, Texas, for 18 years, in firms big and small, then took her experience and started coaching other lawyers for a living.

On her powerful and hard-hitting website, www.lawyer-coach.com, Debra speaks directly to the lawyer in need. Navigating a career path in the law is hard enough, says Debra, and preserving a healthy life balance can seem impossible. But it’s not. “I’m a lawyer and I know what you’re going through and how to help.”

Debra represents a growing number of professionals who have used their experience and talents to grow a different kind of practice for a living—professional speaking and coaching.

Anmarie Miller spent six years as an in-house trainer for one of the world’s most popular, financially successful companies—Southwest Airlines. She is the consummate example of someone who transferred her presentation skills into becoming a facilitator for a training department in a large company—Southwest’s University for People.

A Quick Conversation with Anmarie

Anne: What advice would you give aspiring trainers about the many advantages to working with a training department within an organization, big or small?

Anmarie: It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to be in training—jump at it! Some of the best advice I ever got was to choose a work environment that meets your standards. Before making a decision to work for someone, make sure you look into the department and company you’ll be working in. Is it a learning environment? Will you have ongoing opportunities for growth, like learning the development aspect of training?

Anne: What did you learn from being a trainer that continues to serve you and benefit you to this day?

Anmarie: The art of facilitation. I use this skill every day in all aspects of my life. Having been a facilitator helps me in making decisions, building relationships, communicating, and negotiating. I’ve also learned stronger listening skills, which is a key component to becoming an effective facilitator. Working as an in-house trainer is the best way to learn training and development from the ground up. Your opportunities will be endless, and what you learn in the process will change your life forever!

In the field of professional sales, great presentations and speaking skills are a must for you to be successful. Natasha Beach is one such professional; she works for a worldwide performance improvement organization, managing and growing existing and new sales relationships, specifically in the federal government marketplace.

Natasha maintains a positive, highly energetic approach to her career in sales as a strategic account manager. “I work with a large military client, which requires that I kick off high-level sessions on the purpose, process, and payoff to working with my organization. Knowing that I make a difference every day in people’s lives is what motivates me to keep going. Also being able to work in the field of human capital is personally inspiring to me. My goal is to make every place a great place to work,” emphasizes Beach. (See sidebar for her guide to audience-centered presentations.)

So there we have it: you can start off in one career direction and use your knowledge and skills to become a successful speaker. And there are many helpful organizations out there to help point you toward the same compass point: speaking for a living.