So, you’re interested in trying your hand at being a motivational speaker? TEDx provides local people with wonderful stories and ideas with a platform to spread awareness, inspire audiences and change lives up and down the country.
TEDx Doncaster works with some of the finest public and motivational speakers in South Yorkshire, combining the knowledge of our illustrious speakers and organisers, we’re delighted to offer tips on how you can become a motivational speaker.
How to Start a Career as a Motivational Speaker
The thought of standing on stage in front of a sea of unfamiliar faces might seem like a daunting task. Fortunately, there are key strategies that you can follow to start, enhance and maintain your public speaking career.
Highlight Your Area of Expertise
What are your strongest areas? Think about what your deepest passions are and create an idea about how you can make them unique. Doing this will help you outline the key factors that you’ll talk about during speeches.
If you’re passionate about your local community and have a deep-rooted personal connection to your hometown then this would be an excellent area of expertise to focus on.
You could even narrow it down further and appeal to a more niche demographic. For example, you could combine your knowledge of local culture with a sector you’ve worked in. You could harness knowledge from both areas and present an elegant speech on industry in your area.
Identify Your Target Audience
Now that figuring out the finer details of your speech are out of the way, you can start to think about your target audience. Asking questions such as what age are the people who need to hear this message, what they do for a living and where they are from are all excellent areas to gather important information.
Once you’ve defined your audience, you’ll feel a lot more confident in delivering a great speech. This derives from our fears of the unknown and once you’ve got some need-to-know information on those sitting in front of you, you’ll know exactly what to say and what not to say.
Gain Some Important Motivational Speaking Skills
So, you know your audience and you’ve got a clear idea of what you’re going to say. But do you know how you’re going to execute your speech?
Practice is essential and teaching yourself how to structure and articulate your speech is even more important.
There are hundreds of TED Talks available to watch online, these are a great source of knowledge and shared learning, and if you pay close attention you can see the characteristics that make a strong public speaker. You can use the techniques featured in these talks to your advantage by adding them to your arsenal of motivational speaking weaponry.
You should consider taking external public speaking classes to improve your skills even further. There are a range of courses available that can help you better understand your communication skills and teach you how to overcome that rush of overwhelming nervousness you may experience before stepping into the spotlight.
