Speaking to Authors

This week I’m speaking to a group of authors in Milpitas. I always strive to provide more content than anyone will ever expect.

Authors need to learn to get over their fear of speaking and get out into the community and start earning what they deserve.

Getting Speaking Engagements is a topic I have developed over the years and it teaches a simple formula to get everyone out and in front of their target audience.

I always suggest people start out by speaking at their local service organizations like the Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis groups. By the time you’ve been able to speak at more than 50 groups, you will be comfortable enough to speak anywhere with any type of audience.

While speaking at the service organizations, I recommend you record your presentations. If you’re pleased with the recording, edit the audio, add an music intro and tail, and you’ll have the material to burn a CD and now you have a product to sell at your next engagement.

Most authors truly believe their job is over when they’ve finished their books. But the truth is, that is when their job begins. Speaking is one of the easiest methods of increasing your income with the least amount of effort.

Speaking to the Masses

It is every professional speaker’s dream to speak to a large audience. Whether large to you is 100 or 100,000, it requires a different skill set from when you speak to smaller groups.

The first time I spoke on a cruise ship I had an audience of 2,500 and felt real moments of panic. I had to tell myself it was no different than speaking to a group of 100, except they were in multiple groups of 100. I left the stage and came up to the first row in the theatre and began to ask questions of the audience, I knew if I could get them involved I would be able to make myself comfortable enough to create the required rapport. with them.

The presentation was on communication skills focusing n marriages and couples. I asked the audience how many people had been married more than 10 years and about 30 hands went up, Then 15 years and about 20 hands remained. By the tine I got to 30 years, there was one couple remained with their raised hands.

I went into the audience and asked him what the secret was. His answer “I’m deaf!”

Of course that received a great round of laughter and I slipped into my comfort zone.

Laughter is the fastest and easiest method of gaining an audience’s attention and trust. I even took a class many years ago from John Cantou who owned the Holy City Zoo where Robin Williams and many comedians got their start. There is an art to creating laughter and often, the more practiced it is, the less rehearsed it seems.

You should always strive to build rapport with your audience and the way you engage them in laughter will help you accomplish it faster than any other method I’ve known.