At last, the final Public Speaking Tip of 2020: Tip #52. Judging by the title, you probably can figure out where I’m going to go with this. When I originally thought about releasing weekly Public Speaking Tips this year, the only real goal I had was to provide value. In previous years, I had met so many people all of different ages and from all different backgrounds who, for numerous reasons, had the fear of speaking. Many had the fear of being judged and many feared the simply couldn’t hold an ongoing conversation in front of a room full of people. Some had stuttering problems when they were younger and it took them forever just to manage that. Some had anxiety that was so real that they would literally put more work into avoiding a Public Speaking opportunity rather than prepare for one. I made notes on it all of the years and figured out a way that I could motivate and inspire people to spread whatever message was on their heart. I’ve talked about numerous topics throughout the year and it could be easy to assume that if you were to master all of these tips, you would be without a flaw. But the goal isn’t to be perfect, because in reality, there is no perfect speaker.

I can’t stress this enough, your number one obligation should be to provide value. It shouldn’t be to make a sale. It shouldn’t be to gain a following as quickly as possible. It shouldn’t be to get thousands of dollars per gig. It should be VALUE! But the crazy thing is that the more value you provide, the easier those other things that we all desire start to come. If people resonate with your message, they will want to hear you more. They will want to keep up with you. Eventually they will pay for your time in various ways. But you don’t have to be perfect to get to this point. You just have to constantly improve. Make it a goal to get better every time you get hired for a gig. Make the experience for your audience memorable. You also have to be willing to adapt to whatever your audience needs at any given point in time. You’ll have those go-to things that you talk about, but you need to constantly study the way you relay information. You’ll have to adapt to different people’s learning styles. It can take years to master and you constantly have to put forth the effort. You have to continue to try!

I have some heartbreaking news for you: Your message is not for everyone. You can’t please everyone. There will be audience members out there that will be around just to give you a hard time. You can do nothing right in their eyes. I know, it sucks right? You want everybody to accept you and be inspired by what you have to say. That’s cool and all, but rarely is that the reality. Just like when you are selling a product, you have to find your target audience. Some people won’t be able to relate to what you are saying at all. Some will focus more on what you wear than what you say. Some people will judge you because you are a different race. I can go on and on, but the point is you won’t be enough for someone. You have to be able to live with that. You have to be able to live with the fact that you won’t be accepted by everyone. And that’s ok. No one ever really is. For the multi-million dollar speakers you see, there are tons of people who don’t like them either. So you aren’t beyond judgement. You aren’t beyond negative critique. But if you find your target audience, you’ll mean everything to them. So accept the reality for what it is. You aren’t for everybody!

And that’s pretty much it. I really hope that these tips were of use to you. I sincerely want to thank everybody who supported me. To every single one of you who liked a post, made a comment and even DM’d me,  I truly do thank you for your support. It’s satisfying knowing that I’ve helped some of you manage your fear of Public Speaking and get your message out there. Remember, you won’t have all the answers. You won’t always be comfortable. But don’t be selfish with your message. Go ahead and get started speaking… even if it’s only for a few people. I promise you, the more you do it, the easier it will come to you. Public Speaking may always present a challenge to you, but you’ll also see how fun it can be once you realize your affecting people in a positive way. Be safe, keep grinding and I’ll see you next year.

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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