?Speaker overwhelm? comes in many forms. Six professional speakers provide insight on exactly what this means for them and their businesses.
Bernadette Boas, professional speaker, brand marketer, consultant and first time author (Shedding the Corporate Bitch; sheddingthebitch.com), shares the following:
?Both fee- and free-based speakers spend a great deal of time researching, prospecting, and arranging speaking engagements ? often times as one of many other tasks that they perform as authors, experts, and business people. The process of researching, then submitting, then closing, preparing, and executing a speaking career is not as easy as just showing up. Even practicing takes time! I struggle currently with managing my speaking activity with my book marketing and with my coaching and training, all of which are tied together in subject, target audience and mission.?
David Powers of Master of the Art of Living is a paid speaker (conferences, training) and a pastor (www.drdavidpowers.com). He experiences the same type of overwhelm with both speaking activities regarding the concept of ?immediate versus non-urgent?:
?Do I continue polishing the speech I?m doing next week or is it okay to work on this new idea? At what point do I make the switch? I have to set clear boundaries in regards to off time and how much time I can commit in any given day.?
Lisa Ryan is Chief Appreciation Strategist at Grategy (www.grategy.com). Her overwhelm comes from multiple aspects of her business:
?I speak on the topic of ?gratitude? and it?s been a challenge to find the right target market. It?s a skill that is underutilized in business and everyone needs, but I?m trying to turn a ?soft? subject into a ?hard? topic. I?m also in the process of writing a book, promoting the two movies that I?m appearing in, and doing training/facilitating for two different companies. Oh, yes ? and I?m trying to keep up with the paperwork as well. Do I feel overwhelmed at times??? YES!?
Susan Bock of SusanBock.com (www.susanbock.com) is a professional speaker, author and coach. She confides:
?In my early days of speaking, my primary source of overwhelm was dealing with the details for each booking ? obtaining the information, following up when info wasn?t received ? etc. My solution was to develop an extensive questionnaire that is emailed to each inquiry. Fine-tuning over the years has resulted in eliminating that aspect of overwhelm. Now, I have to concentrate on not overbooking myself ? and that?s a great problem to have!!?
Tracy O?Brian of O?Brian Prosperity Systems (Web site under construction) is a new speaker who talks candidly about the fact that the responsibilities of running a business can distract a speaker from honing the very skill required to succeed:
?Speakers have much knowledge, or they wouldn?t be out there speaking. They need to realize they can?t know everything, nor should they. We wear hats that don?t fit, and then wonder why we have a headache all the time! To be successful, we need to practice the craft, not spend so much time on other things that we can?t deliver a great talk. I am on a huge learning curve, dealing with internet marketing, blogs, Facebook, etc??
Christine Jenkins is the founder of CJ Sign Language (www.SignLanguageVideo.com). She loves to lecture on ?The Fun and Fascination of Sign Language,? which she finds to be an amazing communication tool. She describes herself as a typical solo entrepreneur, saying that she is always ?stretching every dollar to land the gig, get there, speak, and pay my way until their check comes.? She spends ?lots of money? for her website, postcards, mailers, business cards, and she works hard all day to find and land bookings.
Christine says that some of the persons she contacts to book engagements display disrespect or suspicion if her PR information does not come with the name of a fancy publicist or manager or some employee they can contact. She knows that she needs help but doesn?t earn enough overall to hire an assistant. She has observed that the female speakers that she?s met have a team behind them and also have husbands who take care of all the basics of living.
So, what types of solutions exist for speakers who are looking to ?get over overwhelm??
Bernadette finds that many speakers use support groups and networking groups to get help with the challenges. These may be formal public speaking associations like the National Speaker Association (www.nsaspeaker.org), local groups like Toastmasters (reports.toastmasters.org/findaclub/), or face-to-face and online networking groups that focus on speakers. David uses several networking groups that address different segments of his speaking activities. Susan believes that speakers should use support and networking groups to take advantage of the knowledge that ?the many who have gone before us have much to share.? Lisa says that networking groups like the Cleveland Coach Federation (www.clevelandcoachfederation.org) and her own group called The Positive Thinkers Network (www.positivethinkersnetwork.com) are helpful. She likes to escape for a couple hours to be around positive people and finds that the energy in these groups is ?amazing.?
In contrast to the others, Tracy is not so enamored of networking groups, saying ?Why would I take the long hours needed to listen to other people talk about what they THINK might work when I can listen to experts tell me what WILL work?? She has found group coaching by experts to be indispensable. Bernadette also has a coach that she meets with weekly to keep herself on task. She says this is critical ?when you have a lot of balls in the air.?
Christine is of the opinion that ?[speaker overwhelm] all lies in the finances ? no group can handle that for you.? She says:
?As a professional in the working world for over 30 years, I have attended every type of networking, business, social entrepreneur group that LA and NY had to offer, during my times living in both of those cities. I?ve also applied over and over for small business loans ? never got one. It?s all me, all the time (and the Lord).?
She believes that the most important place to receive support is from home.
David considers that a mix of training and coaching options is a great way for speakers to ?get over overwhelm.? He has used both one-on-one and small group coaching, Webinars, a membership program, and in-person classes to deal with his challenges. Lisa believes that one-on-one coaching is best, but notes that it is also the most expensive option available. She likes Webinars because the recordings can be listened to at the attendee?s convenience.
Regardless of which option(s) you choose to get over ?speaker overwhelm,? these speakers agree that some form of support is crucial. As Susan says, ?We are not on this journey alone nor do we need to discover every solution [on our own].?
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