How Public Speaking Instantly Increases Your Personal Brand and Value and Influence
POSTED BY MANOJ VASUDEVAN · THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2019
One day, my wife and I went to consult a specialist doctor for her nose ailment. The doctor was well-qualified. He gave her advice, solace, and medicine.
The consulting charge was $350. (Higher than we expected.)
The next time we visited, the doctor was absent and we had to consult another specialist in the same clinic. This doctor was brilliant and gave her even better advice, solace, and medicine. We looked at the profile of the doctors and found that both of them had similar qualifications, experience, and expertise.
This time the consulting charge was $175.
Out of shock and curiosity, we asked the cashier. “How come the first doctor is more expensive? Both doctors have similar qualifications and experience.”
She said “Oh, he is more popular. He always gets invites to speak at medical conferences.” How does speaking at a conference increase the perception about you? How does it increase your brand value?
Warren Buffet once said he would give an instant increment of 50% more for a new recruit, if he or she also knows public speaking. Why is that so?
Speaking is the most cost-effective marketing tool you can find to increase your personal brand value. The return on investment is unbelievable.
At a recent conference, I was the only keynote speaker. I arrived early in the hope of meeting new people, but to my dismay, not many people were eager to speak to me. Before the conference started, seven people out of a crowd of 200, took the initiative to chat with me. For the rest, I was like another unknown face in the crowd, much like a wall fly.
After I spoke for an hour, I got mobbed by people who wanted to speak to me, wanted to book my time, purchase our company products or just to take selfies with me. It is as if by magic, the world’s perception of a quiet bald man changed.
I was like “ Hello, I have been here the whole time! What changed in 1 hour?”
The magic is the power of public speaking. Those who embrace that power have a definite edge. This is why corporate leaders, politicians, and social media celebrities get people on their sides. In democracies, if you convince enough people, you get to be the leader. In a corporate setting, public speaking gets you noticed and some get kicked up the corporate ladder.
Author Scott Adams says “If you have speaking skills and the ability to use powerpoint slides, you can be the CEO of many companies.” {Notice he didn’t mention degrees from top universities or years of experience.}
Is that fair? Is that unethical? The question to ask is why does the demand exceeds supply?
There is no better tool for personal marketing than speaking. Competency in public speaking can turbo-charge your career. In my experience, this is a skill anyone can learn, but most people won’t even try. Do you know why?
For the longest time in my professional life, I didn’t think I should develop my public speaking skills. I used to believe good communicators are born that way. Initially, I used to have what is now known as a “Fixed Mindset” instead of a “Growth Mindset”. I felt unlike others, I am not a born communicator, so why should I bother to try. In the meantime, good communicators took away good jobs, good roles and good perks (They easily found good partners too).
When I started to notice that I am losing out professionally, public speaking was one of the key skills I was determined to master. I did everything from attending workshops, training, coaching, emceeing, TM speech contests, international standup-comedy and most importantly professional speaking. Once I acquired the skill, the whole game changed for me. It is as if perceptions about me were erased universally. Not only did others perception of me changed, my own perception of myself changed.
I started to find value in what I know, dared to speak up when it mattered the most and easily got people on my side when I needed their help. In the meantime, many smart people are underemployed, due to lack of knowledge, lack of belief or lack of initiative, often languishing in dead-end jobs — while outspoken colleagues steadily climb the corporate ladder. Why don’t they embrace the power of public speaking?
I often get enquiries from many well-meaning friends and clients to help them improve their leadership and public speaking skills. Yes, I used the word “skill” — meaning it is something you can pick up. Even if you do not aim for mastery, if you are better than most, you have an edge.
Interestingly, the only certificate Warren Buffet displays in his office is the certificate from his public speaking course because that’s what led him to become an influencer among investors and the Oracle of Omaha.
Then, Why don’t more people pick up this skill?
Here are three reasons I find
(1) Many realise the power of public speaking only after they have had a major embarrassment or career setback. Among those who realise, only a few seek help. I too didn’t realise this for the longest time. Only a few realise the importance early and take proactive steps to increase their visibility and influence.
(2) Many don’t believe they can become good speakers. Warren Buffet had a morbid fear of public speaking. He enrolled for a public speaking course and due to fear, he initially backed out. Still, he persisted and became a confident speaker. He often says his best investment was in public speaking. Based on my experience coaching people around the world, I believe that with belief and commitment you can become a fabulous speaker and leader no matter where you start. Without belief and action, there is no relief. The people who transform the best are those who are convinced that public speaking can help them and then take immediate action to bridge the skill gap. Those who keep waiting see self-doubt creeping in again.
(3) Many people foolishly believe that more practice is what they need. This is a myth to say practice makes perfect! If you have been practicing the wrong things, you are only getting better in getting worse faster. I have seen many who claim to be speakers but have no tangible results to show. Overcoming your fear is not enough. At a minimum, pick up shortcuts and techniques that help you to — craft a persuasive presentation, structure your conference keynote of 60 to 90 minute duration, learn to organise your ideas for each speech purpose, tell stories effectively to sustain attention and recollection, effectively persuade listeners to think differently, inspire them to take the action you want them to take and always be open to feedback from your audience. That puts you on the fast track to success.
How long would it take to master public speaking?
The exact duration will vary depending on your interest, commitment, and prior experience. It also varies based on whether you are learning in a group environment or you getting personalised 1-on-1 coaching intervention. Based on our research and statistics at Thought Expressions, here are some guidelines.
If you are totally new to public speaking, you would take about 3 to 8 hours of training time to overcome your fear of public speaking and speak confidently. You would take another 4 to 8 hours of training time to master storytelling and deliver masterful sales presentations. If you like to deliver killer keynotes at conferences that last 90 minutes, you will need an additional 6 hours to 12 hours of training time to learn to craft an impactful keynote presentation. If you are planning to speak professionally for an income, you are looking at another 6 to 8 hours of training time, as you need to also learn techniques of branding, marketing and profiting from the platform. Overall, if you are receiving targetted coaching, you will take a maximum of 18 hours to take your skills from Nervous to Fabulous. Once you pick up the requisite skills, you need to put it into use. To make speaking a habit and to perfect your speaking style, you need to put into practice what you learn and target to speak or present at least two times a month. This is the easier part, there is always a demand for good speakers.
Where do I speak in my industry?
Volunteer to take up presentation opportunities at work. Seize opportunities. Your organisation likely runs events or they sponsor conferences which in turn gives them few speaking slots. Volunteer to speak. You can also speak at associations, rotary, toastmasters, community events and business events. At Thought Expressions, our clients get to rehearse their real-life high-stakes presentations in front of master coaches, who help them to perfect it. This helps them to relax knowing that they will rock during the real presentations. Rehearsal is a great investment of your time.
Steve Jobs was known to perfect his presentations by targetted rehearsals and feedback. His iPod and iPhone presentations looks perfect because they are well crafted and well delivered
Once you build up your reputation as a good speaker, opportunities start to chase you. For me, my speaking invites almost always come from someone who has seen me speak somewhere. Therefore, all I need to do is to make sure I speak well at each opportunity.
Speaking is the best marketing tool you have that will instantly increases your personal brand. When it comes to good public speakers, there is much more demand than there is supply.
Call to Action: Last year, you probably upgraded your phone, gadget, flight, car, or wardrobe. But, did you upgrade yourself? Make plans to get to the next level this year. It’s never too late. It doesn’t matter where you start. It does matter whether you start.
5 Ways in which Thought Expressions can help you master public speaking
If you are interested to join our 1-on-1 or group coaching programs, check out the following links or send me a private message so that my team can get in touch with you. We also run these programs as corporate in-house programs.
- If your speaking skills are at beginner or intermediate level, join the Confident Speaker Program. This program is open to public registrations.
- If you have prior speaking experience and would like to speak at your industry conferences, or gets invites for paid keynote speaking or build your brand as a speaker with professional-level competency, apply to join, Professional Speaking Program. This is a rarely run small-group, focussed and intensive coaching program. If you already have a professional keynote and need help to take it to the next level, you can register for the Keynote Clinic.
- If you are a busy executive or would like to receive private and personalised coaching to enhance your executive presence, influence or need expert help in crafting your high-stakes presentations, apply to join 1-on-1 Coaching and Mentoring Program. We only take 10 candidates a year.
- Increase awareness and competency in your organisation by organising an In-house Presentations Master Class or Internal Training for Senior Executives or team members. You can request it here.
- Attend FREE Public Speaking Master Class in your city. If you can’t find the Master Class in your city, partner with us to organise a Master Class.
Always remember to grab opportunities to speak. Speak more, speak often and look for bigger stages — you never know who is in your audience!
