Speech Tips

How to Market Your Speech for Maximum Impact
Sheila Allee

For those who want to make the most of public speaking opportunities, writing and giving a speech are only the beginning. Now that After you've made an impact on your audience, it's time to give your speech greater exposure. And that's where marketing comes in.

There are many ways to let a broader audience know what you've just said. Here are a few tips for getting the word out:

Post your speech on your website and advertise its presence through e-mailings, e-newsletters and direct mail. If you work for a your company or organization has an intranet, post your speech on it on your intranet or boil it down to a short article for the in-house newsletter.

Rewrite it into an article for an appropriate trade publication. You've already done all the research for your topic and organized your thoughts. Make the most of your efforts and distribute it to your professional colleagues.

Write a press release about your speech and distribute it to the local news media. Issue the release after you speak. (Detailed guidelines on how to do this are in my new book Seven Steps to the Podium.)

Offer to do interviews with the local news media. Send out an advisory to the news media a week prior to the speech, inviting coverage of your remarks. Be sure to mention that you will be available for interviews afterward. Note: Your topic MUST be of interest to the media – e.g. a timely topic or an announcement of something new and unique. A public relations expert can advise you on whether your topic meets the news media's litmus test.

Distribute copies of your speech to the audience AFTER you speak. You don't want the audience reading along with you as you talk (because you may make alterations as you go along.)

BONUS TIP OF THE MONTH: Here's a (need an adjective here, like "cardinal" or "essential" or delete the sentence) rule. Never read your speech to the audience. IT WILL PUT THEM TO SLEEP! Know your speech so well that you can deliver it with minimal prompting from notes or text. This kind of preparation will free you to concentrate on gestures, vocal variety and eye contact.

Next month: Delivery Techniques that Bring Your Words to Life

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