If Public Speaking Is Dead – How Can My Speaking Business Survive?

In a report I just published, I discussed my view of the last 2 years of the public speaking business. The report is called “Public Speaking (*as you know it) Is Dead!”

If you have not read the report and want to get a free copy, see the resource box at the bottom of this article.

While this view is strictly my opinion, it is supported by the facts and is now being validated by speakers in high places.

I recently received a comment from well-known speaker and author, Jim Cathart, CPAE and Past President of the National Speakers Association, who said this: “Scott Dennison has nailed it. The problem in our business is that it’s not there anymore. The needs are still there and our skills are still valuable, but the ways in which people buy our services has permanently moved. It’s time to go where the buying is happening.”

So what can public speakers do to survive in 2010 and beyond if the old model of public speaking is dead? Here are three tips that will help you.

1) Understand that the new rules apply to every speaker. We’re no longer living in a world when speakers could just present their message, collect a high fee and go home. Since the meetings that require a speaker have been reduced, we all need to have a different approach.

What this means is that you need to think like a publisher or content provider. You’re not just a speaker anymore. The audiences who once attended your speeches are still hungry for information on your area of expertise and want to gain access to your knowledge. They are seeking content and the new rules state you must give it to them.

2) Understand what your audience members loved about your information, seek out those who are passionate about your topic and build relationships with them.

With the power of the Internet, your audience does not consist only of those who could or would travel to the meeting where you were speaking, but to individuals all over the world. If you can fill a need in someone’s life with your information (content), it does not matter where they live provided they are connected to the world wide web.

Provide content for your users in multi-media formats for them to consume. When you offer your information in video, audio and text based formats you meet the needs of everyone and do it in a way that allows them access in the learning style which they most prefer.

More and more these days a speech is recorded in high-quality video and is then repurposed into audio CDs, turned into a book, distributed as a series of articles or even as blog posts. While that might sound difficult and possibly a lot of work, its very easy and can be quite profitable to do.

Where perhaps you once needed many many thousands of people to hear you speak to make a nice living, what if you only built relationships with 1000 who each were so passionate about your work that they’d be happy to invest $100 per month each to learn your information? Once you do the math, you’ll quickly conclude that mourning the death of public speaking makes no sense at all.

Professional speaker training expert, Scott A. Dennison is discussing the future of the public speaking business and offering you his FREE report Public Speaking (*as you know it) IS DEAD along with his top ten free Public Speaking Tips when you visit his site.