Introduction
If you’re a coach, consultant, author, online entrepreneur, you have probably considered taking your message on the road and giving talks to an audience. To that end, you might have considered taking a speaker training course or public speaking classes to refine your skills and hone your stage presence. Perhaps you’ve considered a group like Toastmasters. Or maybe you’ve thought about taking a class through your local college or university.
Public speaker trainings vary widely. How can you know which ones will be helpful? Some will help you learn how to give a talk well. Others will give you the tools you need to start a speaking business. In both cases, you can start a little more quickly. That’s because you’re working with an existing formula that they know works for public speaking. But in the latter case, you’re also probably paying a fee.
As you consider these options for public speaker trainings, you may be wondering, “how do I book paid speaking gigs?” or “Will people want to hear me speak even if I have no experience, no audience, and no following?” or even, “how do I market myself as a speaker?”
For answers to these questions and more, read on.
How do public speaker trainings help you?
There are many ways that public speaker trainings can serve as your entree into a public speaking career. Here are four ways in which speaker trainings can help you.
1. Speaker trainings have a variety of levels of expertise
Depending on the type of course, the clientele of a typical public speaker trainings may be very diverse. Maybe you’re a college student interested in learning more about public speaking. Or perhaps you’re an experienced speaker tired of speaking for free. If you want to know how to acquire paid speaking gigs, public speaking trainings can provide valuable lessons. If you need help understanding how to better market yourself as a speaker, or if you’re struggling to find the right audience or problem to solve, you can take part in public speaking classes both to gain skills on stage and knowledge of how to implement those speaking skills in a way that boosts your career.
Maybe you’re someone just breaking into public speaking, something like a community-based free course on public speaking or Toastmasters may be right for you. If you’re just starting out as a paid public speaker, you’re probably trying to find what material works. The stories, jokes, content, openings, closings, and transitions may be easier to practice in a public speaker training. If you’re a little more experienced, an intensive training may be more up your alley. Read on for more information on intensive trainings!
(For more on developing your talk, check out this episode of The Speaker Lab podcast.)
2. There are many low-to-no-cost public speaker trainings
How much does speaker training cost? Well, it depends on the type of course. If you participate in something like Toastmasters, there may be a small fee. According to the Toastmasters website, Members pay international dues of $45 USD every six months, plus a new member fee of $20 USD. (However, attending club meetings as a guest is free!)
TED Masterclass for Individuals or Organizations is TED’s official public speaking course. According to their website, TED Masterclass is a professional development program that helps surface the best ideas within businesses and educational organizations. The course is designed to be self-paced. Each of the 11 lessons takes roughly an hour to complete. Lessons 1-5 are required to complete the course, and lessons 6-11 are electives. (want to know more about TED Talks? check out our blog post here on how to give a TED Talk.)
If you decide to take part in a community-based or college class on public speaking, the cost can be low to no cost. For example, online options such as edX and Coursera offer a class from Harvard on the art of rhetoric and the University of Washington’s Intro to Public Speaking course for free.
3. Public speaking training is a tangible investment in your speaking business
Before founding The Speaker Lab, Grant Baldwin invested tens of thousands of dollars in himself and his speaking business over the years. Investing in coaches, training, conferences, mentorship, etc can be your ultimate fast pass to the front of the line. Sure, you could stumble around the internet trying to cobble together some free resources on a topic and hypothetically save yourself a few bucks (but potentially waste a lot of time) or you could invest in yourself and get quality advice from an expert who will save you the time and cut your learning curve significantly.
An investment in speaker training can also be a chance for you to develop systems for your speaking business. We are huge fans of systems here at TSL because they work. When you first start up your speaking business, you will be sending emails, setting up your online presence, and making financial forecasts all at once. Implement a repeatable system for keeping track of all of these tasks now rather than when you are desperately searching your sent folder to see if you remembered to follow up. There are some great software options for this, but an excel spreadsheet will do just fine.
Speaking can feel very lonely at first. But the industry has an amazingly interconnected ecosystem through which you can connect with other speakers, future clients, and audience members. Figure out which training events, conferences, and associations are frequented by the speakers you admire and start frequenting those “watering holes.”
4. The Speaker Lab offers a free speaking training
If you are interested in learning both how to become a public speaker and how to make money doing it, The Speaker Lab is offering a free training that has helped thousands of students consistently earn anywhere from $500-$50,000, without being a celebrity.
Are you struggling to find the right audience or problem to solve? Or do you need help growing as a speaker while balancing a full time job (in addition to everything else in life)? If you have any questions about speaking, finding gigs, charging more, how to get started, how to find leads, or anything else in your speaking business, you can find answers in this free training.
Based on the system built by Grant Baldwin in his book, The Successful Speaker, you can learn how to build a $2m speaking career increasing your impact, income, and ability to travel.
The Speaker Lab’s free 45 minute LIVE training is a speaker training where you can learn why paid speaking is the perfect way to protect and even grow your business during a recession. You can learn the same 5-step system Grant Baldwin used to grow his speaking business to over $2 million in revenue during the recession of 2008. Furthermore, you can glean tips on how savvy speakers are charging higher fees. There is also an opportunity for a Q&A where you can ask any of your speaking business questions (also known as free consulting).
Benefits of The Speaker Lab’s speaker training
Maybe you’re a brand new speaker, lack direction, and need help creating a clear plan. Or perhaps you’re tired of speaking for free and want to know how to acquire paid speaking gigs. Maybe you just need help understanding how to better market yourself as a speaker. This free training can help you learn how to acquire paid speaking gigs NOW even if you have no experience, no audience, or no following. It can also show you to market yourself as a speaker (without being too salesy).
COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise for many paid speakers. Now may be the best year in history to launch your speaking business. Want to learn how to leverage the industry landscape to grow your speaking business this year? Or how to select your audience and start connecting with people, business, conferences, associations, etc.? This training could be a good place to start.
Interested in signing up? Click here to register for the free live training.
Testimonials
It may be helpful to get opinions from those who have gone through the training before. Perhaps that’s the case for you. See below for some of the past training participants’ testimonials and feedback on their experiences.
“I would recommend The Speaker Lab to people who have a message but need the confidence to know how to share that message with the world.” — Laura B.
“The Speaker Lab is a great opportunity to supplement your income, grow your public image and, most importantly, build a lucrative career.” — Michael R.
“I would recommend The Speaker Lab to anyone who doesn’t want to be in it alone and doesn’t know what you don’t know.” — Chris F.
“The Speaker Lab helped me become more proactive with a systematic approach to getting booked and paid to speak.” — Lisa B.
“I would recommend The Speaker Lab to anyone who knows that they have a message.” — Tina M.
“The Speaker Lab has helped me know how to get a speaking business off the ground.” — Ryan G.
Ready to sign up? Click here to register for the training.
Conclusion
So now you have a sense of what speaker training can do for you. You’ve learned about opportunities for free and low-cost trainings. Do you still want to learn more about starting your public speaker business? If that is you, you can satiate your desire to learn more about public speaking by checking out The Speaker Lab blog here. Want to know more about the Speaker Lab’s programs, such as how much The Speaker Lab’s programs cost? Get started with TSL here. Happy speaking!
