Public Speaking: How to get Started Speaking.

Now that you have decided to get in front of an audience and speak, the first obstacle that comes up is:

“How do I choose what to speak about?”

If you are like most industry experts – there is simply SO much that you could talk about. How do you narrow it down? How do you make it interesting and leave room for future speeches to the same audience?

Below is one technique for deciding what to speak about – using a few simple questions.

1. What is it that you find exciting about your topic?
2. What is it that you are most passionate about?
3. What do you think people need to know about your topic or area of expertise?

Pick one of the questions above and use it to get your creative juices flowing. Come up with an initial list of ideas. It is important at this stage not to censor yourself and worry about “how” you could present it or even “if” there is enough information for a talk. Just jot down ideas as they come to you.

Next run each idea through a filter. Take each idea in turn and see which one o combination of ideas fit into the sentence below.

“My name is X, and I’m passionate about XYZ because ………..”

Once you find the one that “fits” easily into that sentence BINGO! You will have your very first topic for your very first speech!

You will find that “coming up with your topic” is actually the hard part of the process. Once that is done then the rest of your talk should fall into place quite easily.

The benefit of using this technique in the beginning is that you are building the talk around your passion. As you start to talk people will see your passion and enthusiasm shine through. So – even if your speech is not the best speech in the world …… even if in the beginning you are not even a great public speaker ……. the fact that you are authentic and speaking with passion you will carry your audience along with you.

Your results may even surprise you!