How to Promote your Small Business with Public Speaking

If you take advantage of all the networking options available to you in your community, you just might be called upon to speak at a public gathering to talk about your small business and what it can offer others.

This is an opportunity to savor, but if the prospect fills you with dread you are not alone. However there are steps you can take to turn the experience into a worthwhile one.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Ask yourself if you would have any trouble standing up in front of the same group of people and telling it that the room is on fire. Why wouldn’t it be a problem? What you’d say would truly matter. That’s the key. Explain why your business matters to the people in the room. If you are good at what you do, speak it out with conviction and give the reasons why.

2. Simplify and clarify your message. You should be able to express your core point in a single sentence. Structure you speech with a strong opening that grabs your audience’s attention. The wrap up should tie everything together neatly.

3. Don’t memorize, but be fully prepared. It’s a good idea to memorize a strong opening, a couple of appropriate jokes and a solid close. Outline your speech in big 16 point font letters. If you lose your place you can look down and pick up. It’s a good idea to rehearse your speech ahead of time, preferably in front of other people.

4. Relax. What’s the worse that could happen? Abject humiliation and social ostracism? Not likely. Get to the venue early and mingle with the audience ahead of time. Don’t drink alcohol or coffee prior to mounting the dais, but have a glass of water handy there if you need it. Start with your prepared opening. Smile. Breathe deeply and slowly. Direct your remarks to individuals in the audience, not to the entire room. Single out people who were receptive when you met them. Speak with authority and soon you might start to enjoy the experience.

5. 

   Remember you can’t hit a homer without striking out now in then. In 1977 on three consecutive swings of his bat in the World Series Reggie Jackson hit three home runs. Jackson finished his career with 563 home runs, tenth on the all time list. Few fans remember that he also led major league baseball with 2,597 strikeouts, the most in the history of the game.