If the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Can Make Money Just by Giving Speeches, Maybe You Can, Too! Even During a Pandemic

Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are reported to be asking for a cool one-million-dollar fee for speaking engagements. Although that seems a little steep, I wouldn’t rule it out. People like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Theresa May routinely collect six-figure speaking fees.

What about the rest of us? The midst of a worldwide pandemic is not the best time to gather huge audiences of people who want to pay hundreds of dollars each for a hotel buffet and the chance to hear someone give a speech, but opportunities to speak can arise in the most surprising ways.

Mere commoners are not going to collect million-dollar fees, but it is not unusual for professional public speakers to charge fees in the range of $2000 to $20,000, plus expenses, to give a major speech at a business or professional conference. Topics vary: people speak about how to overcome stage fright, how to close a sale, better ways to organize a hospital, and any number of other topics. Universities that I worked at often hired outside consultants to give major presentations plus all-day seminars in return for generous fees.

And as people get used to online meeting technology, organizations will continue to hire specialized experts to share their expertise, knowledge, or humor with their members.

How to get started? I am assuming that you are qualified to speak about some specialized topic that will interest the commercial world. Are you in real estate? Politics? Sales? Health care? Are you skilled in a trade?

First, speakers need to start by getting practical experience. No matter how well you did in your public speaking class, start by giving out several weeks or even months of freebies: speak to churches, synagogues and temples, youth groups, and Rotary Clubs. Even with these groups are close, many of them are eager for someone to present online content. Or offer to give lunchtime seminars at your place of employment. Even people who are working from home need to eat lunch. This gives you two benefits. First, practice makes perfect and your speaking will improve. You can never be too good! Second, you never know who will be listening. The more presentations you make, the more chances you give program planners to hear how good you are.

Second, speakers need to work up their publicity materials. Inexpensive business cards, one-sheets, or trifolds are basic. Maybe you'll write up brief free articles about your topic, format them attractively, and distribute them (with your contact information prominently displayed, of course). Give your publicity materials to anyone and everyone. If you’ve written a book, congratulations, and of course you should have copies for your assistant, spouse, or friend to sell on the spot. During the pandemic, the sales table is not a place to ignore social distancing. If you are speaking on line, you can provide clickable links to your sales page. (This might require you to have a business license, which you should have anyway, and to pay sales tax, but it's worth it.)

If you have not written a book, and if you’re a good writer, well, write one. It doesn’t have to be huge. Make sure it includes lots of inspiring stories. If you can't find a commercial publisher, you can hire a contract editor and self-publish. Sell it at your presentations.

Third, an online presence is essential. Twitter and Facebook are basic. Celebrities put their selfies on Instagram, so you should, too. Break out your camera and take a lot of pictures. Make sure they are captioned and include your contact information. Don’t forget about Flickr and Tumblr. If you’re young and know the latest dances, swallow your pride and get on Tik Tok. (Please don’t look for me on Tik Tok. LOL.) Most important, start a blog and post at least once a week. Blogger, WordPress, and Weebly are among the web hosts that make things easy for amateurs.

Your online presence will also need to include short  examples of you speaking on YouTube and Vimeo. Make sure that you’re energetic, because YouTube is what Marshall McLuhan called a hot medium. If possible, include audience reactions. For best sound quality, make sure to use an external microphone.

Link: Tips for Videoconference Speakers

Fourth, obviously, master every online meeting software. Learn everything, and I mean everything, about using Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, and any other platform that emerges. Know all of them. You want to be so skilled with meeting software that you never need to ask for tech support. In fact, make sure that you know enough that you can provide technical support to anyone else who needs it. If someone is giving you money to speak online, you’d better know how to do it. If you’re speaking online, be sure to obtain quality camera and sound equipment. With modern technology, that’s much less expensive than you might think. You can spend $100 or less and get a good USB microphone with the mounts and accessories. Never use the tiny microphone built into your laptop. Practice with the equipment until you can use it comfortably.

Fifth, professional speakers almost always work with speakers bureaus. You will need to send them samples of your work, including audio and video, and they will want you to have the kinds of experiences that I list above.

Sixth, if you are speaking professionally, you need to be 100% reliable. You need to be on time for your in-person engagements – and when I say on time, I mean an hour early – impeccably dressed, and completely prepared. A delayed airline flight, heavy traffic, or Internet glitch is not an excuse to be late. Your computer and visual aids absolutely must work. Have a backup and contingency plan for anything that might go wrong. If you are speaking in person during the pandemic, practice social distancing without compromise and wear a suitable mask even when you are speaking. Do not let anyone intimidate you into being careless with your health. Contrary to what politicians say on television, a mask does not noticeably obstruct your voice.

Take online speaking seriously. Dress professionally, and be set up and ready to go well before your scheduled time. Be ready to receive last-minute phone calls and emails.

Link: More About Professional Public Speaking

Professional public speaking is a highly competitive enterprise, but there is money to be made, and program planners are always interested in energetic, interesting, witty, and informative speakers. Professional public speaking is a tough business and not without financial risk. Still, if the Duke and Duchess can give it a try, maybe you can too.

Finally, in all seriousness, please follow all pandemic safety rules. No point in making a lot of money if you end up in the hospital.

If you have been speaking to groups, please post a comment to tell my readers about it. Happy speaking!

How Can You Look Good When You Present at a Videoconference?

I have given dozens of presentations at in-person conferences over the years, but now everything needs to be online. That means, at least for now, no more uninspiring talks in a crowded, musty room with dim lighting. No more trying to show PowerPoint on a conference center projector that doesn’t work. Professional life, however, still requires us to attend conferences, so now we are going on Zoom (or whatever software your organization uses).

I’ll skip the technical stuff – thousands of people know more about that than I do – and just talk about making a good visual impression. I will write about vocal delivery and visual aids sometime later.

First, how should you dress? Suggestion: dress the way you think your boss will dress. How will the top people at the conference dress? Follow their lead. You don’t want to look like an also-ran; you want to look like someone who could lead the conference yourself in a few years. What counts as dressy casual for your group? For men, maybe a nice, long-sleeved dress shirt and a jacket with an open collar. That worked for former President Obama in his May 2020 commencement speech. For women, consider wearing a nice blouse and jacket. Is there a tropical vibe? A tasteful aloha shirt could be fine. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with full business attire, but, then, I’m a bit old-fashioned.

If you are a main presenter, and not a mere conference attendee, then please dress the part. If you want people to think that you're important, you need to look important.

For everybody, watch out for wrinkles. Avoid stripes and vibrant colors. Cameras love to show every wrinkle and they hate stripes. Solid colors are safest. In pre-pandemic days, I usually wore a white dress shirt at live conferences, but, on-camera, that's risky unless you are a lighting expert. Consider light blue or beige.

Unless this is a hiking and camping conference, absolutely avoid T-shirts, jeans, and anything that a teenager would wear to a picnic

In any case, never underestimate how important it is to project a professional appearance. Should people judge you by how you dress? Of course not. Do they judge you by how you dress? Yes, all the time. Deal with it.

Next, watch your background! Dr. Anthony Fauci set the Internet on fire when he testified online from his book-littered home office. His role was to be an academic expert, and the massive book pile established his ambiance. I’m sure he didn’t think about it for a minute, but it was a terrific look – for him. That same look would not work for a company CEO. Obama gave his graduation speech in front of neutral, neatly-arranged shelving. Most of us will want to keep the background simple.

Please, please, make sure there’s nothing embarrassing behind you. If you’re trying to show people that you're professional, you don’t want to get 10,000 views on YouTube of your overflowing trash can. 

If you're speaking from your home office, use a critical eye to check behind you while you are setting up. Imagine that your worst office enemy will pour over your background looking for a way to criticize you behind your back (so to speak). Or, if you want to invest a few bucks, would you like to use plain photographic background paper (not white)? It's boring, but how can you go wrong? If you wish, you can backlight it softly and gently.

Finally, use a zoom lens, if you have one, to focus on your head and shoulders. If your image is just going to be a tiny square on a computer screen (or, worse, on someone's 6-inch cell phone), you want people to see your face. That makes it easier for you to maintain eye contact with the camera and interact with your audience. And, yes, even if you don’t see them, they can see you! Why a zoom lens? If you get a close-up with a wide-angle lens, your nose and mouth will look too big. Not even Katy Perry can look good that way. Most of us look our best if the camera points directly to the face, and maybe just a tiny, tiny bit to the top and side. A high angle can make you look weak, while a low angle reminds people of Boris Karloff.

In other words, you want people to notice you, but you want them to notice you in a good way. Just because many people are quarantined does not mean that conferences aren’t important. We still need to make that human connection, no matter what profession or walk of life happens to be. We need to learn from other people; we need to stay in touch; we need to share what we know with others. How else can we grow?

We will still need to talk about PowerPoint, vocal presentation, microphone use, and so forth. Maybe later . . . keep an eye on my blog.  

Follow-up Post: How Can You Sound Good at a Video Conference?

P.S. Yes, they do make zoom webcams. They are expensive. I can’t afford one myself but, if you can, good for you. Check any photo or electronics store website.

P.P.S. You are using a computer or tablet with a webcam, aren't you? Surely you're not using a cell phone to attend a professional online conference, are you? Don't all of my readers know better than that?