Are you progressing as a professional public speaker?

As a professional public speaker, you’re likely to go through three phases of development. Yes, we’re sorry to be the bearer of the news that it is a process. You didn’t emerge from the womb completely equipped and fully ready to energize and educate an audience. That’s okay. Life is about learning and improving.

Here are the three general stages of professional public speaker development:

  • The beginning speaker is fixated on what he is going to say and whether he remembered to say it all. Don’t stress yourself out too much over occasional omissions. The audience has no idea what you were going to say, so mentally flogging yourself for days afterward accomplishes nothing.
  • The average speaker is the one who has progressed beyond being obsessed with the physical delivery of his remarks and begins to focus on the presentation as a whole. Questions like “How am I doing?” and “What does the audience think of my performance?” are common.
  • The end stage professional public speaker focuses entirely on the audience and whether or not they are receiving the most bang for their buck. He’s comfortable with his delivery and confident he is well received. The question then becomes “Is the audience getting something from the presentation?”

Step back and objectively categorizing which phase you’re in. It will make it easier to figure out where you need to go to step up to the next level.

The Speaking of Wealth Team

Flickr / Chris Walker Innerwealth2