Public Speaker: How to Start a Successful Career

A public speaker earns their living by engaging others in a specific region of competence. Public speakers may have a broad professional background, such as a doctor who specializes in a rare disease. A public speaker may also inspire others by sharing a lifetime experience, such as overcoming addiction.

Public speakers must be able to communicate these details in ways that are both simple to comprehend and engaging.

The employment of public speakers at any given moment depends heavily on the speaker’s expertise and interest in the sector. As a consequence, bookings can fluctuate as a speaker. If you’re interested in making a career in public speaking, read on to learn more about the profession.

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Types of Public Speakers

The sort of speech to be given when it comes to being a public speaker relies on what you are attempting to achieve. The various kinds of public speakers are listed below.

  • Informative Public Speaker
  • Motivational Public Speaker
  • Entertaining Public Speaker

Informative Public Speaker

When the public speaker is presenting interesting facts or lessons to the audience, or when they’re explaining how to go about doing something, he or she is an informative speaker. These types of speakers could be a teacher lecturing about health, home, lifestyle, or any other topic.

Motivational Public Speaker

This type of public speaker is when the presenter somehow tries to influence the crowd. The speaker may attempt to alter your mind about something, convince you to change your mind, or motivate you to modify your behavior or act.

Entertaining Public Speaker

This type of public speaker is often discovered at activities such as banquets, weddings, or dinners. Usually, the presenter shares a humorous tale or other data about anecdotes. Some instances of this would be the best man speech at a wedding or a speech after dinner provided by a party host to thank customers for coming.

Public Speakers’ Average Pay

Being paid to speak is not a hard thing to do, especially when you know a lot of people. There is always the opportunity to go and speak and not sell. You may be approached by some event organizers and promoters who will invite you to talk, but there is no chance to sell. That’s when you charge the full rate, so you have your speaker rate for 90 minutes or 60 minutes or 30 minutes.

When charging a full rate, this depends on the events you have committed to or the type of speech you were asked to do.

However, according to Payscale, a public speaker typically charges at least $180 per hour.

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A public speaker may charge hourly depending on the event. Photo credits to: https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/public-speaking-course.

Where to Find Public Speaking Gigs

Looking for a speaking engagement may be tough at first. However, there are ways to get an invite to speak at events.

Research for events. The people who hold events, who are promoters, organize for at least twelve months in advance, sometimes even two years out.

Look at the events that are going on now and investigate the next time they’re going to happen. The key is to work in advance. A lot of people are calling up event organizers a few months out when they already have the speakers lined up.

Moreover, you can also apply for public speaking-related jobs online. Follow these links for job openings on search engines that let you filter by job location.

  1. Upwork – Upwork is a freelancer job search and posting platform where you can easily apply for jobs.
  2. CareerBuilder – CareerBuilder is a great “find a job” website with features perfect for job seekers.
  3. Seek – With Seek, you can create your own job-seeking profile.

How to Apply for Jobs as a Public Speaker

  1. Change your social media profile, saying that you are a speaker. Claim that you are a speaker no matter how many invites you have had before. People must see you as someone who is an expert in a topic, so when they have events to run that match your expertise, you will be the first one on their list.
  2. Talk to everyone that you know. Think of all the people who are holding their events. You can suggest that it might be a good idea for you to come along and add value to their audiences even if it’s not a multi-speaker event. They may speak for the whole event, but if you suggest that you come along and add value, they’ll say yes.
  3. Hold your own events. You can also get credibility as a speaker by organizing your own activities. You can also get video footage and pictures by holding your event. After that, by posting these as promo videos, you can create your social media presence.

Conclusion

By taking small initiatives, your journey as a public speaker can begin. Increasing the number of talks and gigs not only helps you become well-known but also gives you the chance to travel.

Public speakers meet and help more individuals in line with your expertise. If you love helping others by teaching, click here for more information.

Also read – 5 Steps Required to Join the Social Work Profession