Business benefits

If you're involved in business or a profession, or if you represent some organization or cause that values public support or acceptance (And what business or organization doesn't?), you should be aware that public speaking can be a powerful marketing and public relations tool. I have touched on this before, and now I want to discuss it in detail and give you some suggestions about how you can make the most of the marketing and PR opportunities public speaking offers.

Some companies and some individuals aggressively seek speaking invitations with such opportunities in mind. There is nothing crass about this. Look at it this way: Most organizations are on the lookout for guest speakers for their meetings. If you fill a spot, you do the organization a favor. When you make an interesting, informative, and entertaining talk, you do the audience a favor. If your own organization benefits in some way, then everybody wins. Of course, speeches that are blatantly commercial are usually frowned upon. But a speech doesn't have to be blatantly commercial to benefit a company or even a commercial product. Bear in mind also that if a group invites you to speak, they expect you to speak on your specialty, whatever that might be.

Many companies encourage their executives to make speeches. Some even provide speech training conducted either in-house or by outside experts retained by the company. A few operate speakers' bureaus and will furnish an appropriate speaker to almost any group or organization that requests one.

Operating a speakers' bureau and supplying speakers more or less indiscriminately can be expensive for a company and time-consuming for busy executives involved. Many companies that offer speakers prefer to seek speaking engagements before certain target audiences in order to concentrate on particular demographic groups or geographical areas. They're usually interested in audiences that include people who are considered to be opinion leaders. The criteria for selecting these targets are as varied as the interests of the organization that furnishes the speaker.

For example, if your company operates manufacturing plants in several cities and plant-community relations are important, you will certainly want to have speakers appear on the program of service clubs in plant cities. If your company makes a product or provides a service primarily for older people, you should seek speaking invitations from senior citizens' clubs. And so on.