Here's How to Become a Professional Speaker

Speaking in front of an audience can be an intimidating experience, but it can also be exhilarating and rewarding. If you’re ready to take the plunge and become a professional speaker, here are five steps we encourage you to explore to help you get started.

5 Steps to Starting Your Speaking Career

Step 1: Know Your Niche & Pick Your Topic

The first step to becoming a professional speaker is to choose a niche. Thankfully, when it comes to being a professional speaker in agriculture, most of what we speak about is niche already so this step should be pretty easy for you. In case you are brand new to picking a niche, then you should consider your interests, experience, and passions when it comes to selecting a specific area to focus on. Selecting a specific niche will help you narrow down the topics you’ll be talking about and the audiences you’ll be targeting. 

Picking a topic for your speech is a whole process on its own, but if you’ve gone through the process of developing your ag story like we lay out in our E-Course then, it should be pretty simple to narrow down a list. One thing we like to consider when making a final decision is what we want our audience to take away from our speech. Is it information? Is there a specific call to action they need to make? Determining the end goal should help nail down your topic. 

Step 2: Develop Your Message

You have picked your topic, now the second step is to develop your message. In addition to getting your main message across, you should paint a story that will not only captivate but also inform your audience. Your presentation should be tailored to the specific audience you’ll be speaking to and include stories, examples, and statistics to help illustrate your points. Tara also likes to use props in her speeches, so we encourage you to find a flow that feels best to you and your own personal style. 

Step 3: Develop Your Brand

This step ties back to your Ag Story as far as developing your brand. Creating a personal brand for yourself is essential to become a professional speaker. This includes having a professional website, a social media presence, and a portfolio of past speaking engagements. You should also create a personal brand statement (your ag why) that outlines the value you bring to any speaking engagement. This isn’t to say that you need these things to get started, but they are most definitely things you want to keep in mind as you book more and more events. Event coordinators want to be able to see and experience who they are booking before they make a final decision, so if you have a sample of you speaking on stage, then the better your chances are at getting booked. 

Step 4: Market Yourself

No one likes to promote themselves, but the fourth step is to market yourself. There are a lot of different ways to do this, so we encourage you to find a way that feels best to you. The goal should be to develop relationships with organizations in your niche, reach out to organizations and event planners, and create an online presence through social media and your website. It wouldn’t be a bad idea either to attend networking events and join professional organizations to help build your platform. 

At the end of the day, we always like to say that if you treat something like a business, you will get paid like a business. While it may feel uncomfortable to start, people won’t know that you’re open to speaking unless you put it out there that you are available to book. 

Step 5: Practice, Practice, Practice

The fifth and final step is to practice. You should practice your speech multiple times to ensure that it flows smoothly and that you’re comfortable delivering it. Practicing will also help you become more comfortable and confident with your material and make it easier to connect with an audience.

Becoming a professional speaker takes time, effort, and dedication, but in the end, it’s going to be incredibly rewarding. By following these five steps, you can get started on your journey to becoming a professional speaker and making an impact with your message. If you’re looking for more support and a complete guide on how to book your first speaking event, then we encourage you to check out our recently released Speaking Mini-Course created with the sole purpose of helping you book your first speaking opportunity.