How Will My Public Speaking Business Survive If Public Speaking Is Dead?

I just released a report called "Public Speaking (*as you know it) Is Dead!" that states my view of the last couple of years of the public speaking industry.

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.

Well-known speaker and author, Jim Cathart, CPAE, a Past President of the National Speakers Association, recently commented that:"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 is this all about and if the old way of doing things in the speaking business is dead - what can you, as a public speaker do to survive? Here are my top three tips for public speaking success in 2010 and beyond.

1) Since we've moved from a time when speakers delivered their message in meetings and conventions and commanded high fees to do so, to one where meetings that require a speaker are reduced, we all have to respect and adapt to the new rules.

Even though meetings and conventions are less plentiful the audiences you served are still hungry for information on your topic and want to gain access to your knowledge, so be sure to provide it to them. The new rules state that you must move beyond thinking like a speaker and instead think like a publisher of content and information.

2) Seek to find out what the audience loved about you and about your information. Then build relationships with only those individuals who are passionate about your topic.

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.

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