3 Powerful Benefits of Public Speaking

Where did I go? LinkedIn of course! It’s my first choice for checking someone out. (It’s the first choice for a lot of people though, including event planners… which is one of the reasons I never miss an opportunity to remind you of the importance of having a great profile that includes speaker in your description!) Their profile didn’t say they were a speaker, but it provided me with enough information to inspire me to reach out to them directly.

We had a great conversation. I learned more about their expertise, and how they might be able to help me finally solve my business problem with a solution that could meet my needs.

If you know me, then you can probably guess that our conversation gradually led to a point where I asked them where they find their clients. Their answer was arranging follow-up phone calls and coffee chats with people they meet at networking events.

Naturally, my next question was, have you ever considered sharing your expertise by becoming a public speaker? They said, “No. I hadn’t really thought of that. Please tell me more.” Awwwwe… music to my ears!

Here are the three top-of-mind reasons I shared:

#1 Visibility: While anyone can attend a networking event, an association meeting, etc., only a few people will have the opportunity to stand at the front of the room and speak about their expertise. And yes, in the short term, it might feel like it takes a lot of courage and confidence to take this step. But if you think long term, it’s pretty easy to understand how this step will translate to new clients. Public speaking is like anything else you’d invest in for your business. Take the necessary steps to educate yourself in the right “how-to’s,” and public speaking can certainly begin returning dividends to your business.

#2 Credibility: When you build a presentation that “speaks” to your audience’s desire for information that makes sense, and provide tips they can take action on right away, you’re demonstrating your credibility in real time. This means that when they reach out to you to learn more, they’ve already pre-qualified themselves as a potential client. That… is a solid plan for business growth.

#3 Branding: Speaking helps establish your professional reputation. A properly constructed presentation, delivered to the right audiences, helps solidify you as the subject-matter expert you claim to be. The more often you speak, the sooner you’ll earn the brand recognition of being the go-to expert whose name gets mentioned when your topic comes up.

By the end of the conversation I had with my new friend, we’d each learned a lot about our respective expertise. But now I’m thinking about one thing I might not have reminded you of lately.

There’s no doubt about the power of public speaking, or the need for experts willing to share their expertise via both physical and virtual stages. But that doesn’t mean public speaking is a replacement for networking. It isn’t. In a way, public speaking is simply an extension of networking. The difference is that when you’re speaking, everybody in your audience is there to network with you!