Ram*Blings.

Why Public Speaking Is Good for You & Your Brand

by Tony Bacigalupo

Most freelancers and small business owners are required – like it or not – to spend a substantive amount of time on marketing. To ensure that the jobs and the clients keeping coming, we are constantly hustling – pitching new projects, updating our portfolios and CVs, and taking exploratory meetings. Yet, one of the best ways to build and promote your individual brand or company is one of the most oft overlooked: public speaking.

Though many of us might break into a cold sweat just thinking about it, public speaking can be an exhilarating experience. It can also be a great way to boost your reputation and your business.

Perhaps as a healthy reaction to the increasing amount of time we spend online, more and more offline events and conferences are cropping up – particularly within the creative community. These gatherings offer a significant opportunity for anyone with a niche area of expertise to become a part of the conversation – and not just for self-promotion but for personal growth as well.

Here are a few notes on the benefits of public speaking, and a quick primer on how to get started.

The Benefits of Public Speaking

1. Present yourself as an expert.
If you're highly knowledgeable about something, nobody will know about it unless you demonstrate that knowledge. By speaking publicly on topics within your area of expertise, you can position yourself as an authority within your industry.

2. Build your knowledgebase and connections.
In many cases, a good talk involves a significant amount of participation from the crowd. Attendees might challenge your viewpoints and offer valuable insights that, ultimately, will give you a more well-rounded perspective on the topic at hand. If you go into a talk expecting not just to teach, but to learn, you create an opportunity to really engage with the people at the event in a meaningful way.

3. Increase your visibility online and offline.
When you speak at an event, the content that you prepare is intellectual property with a value that can stretch beyond the roomful of people in attendance. By recording the talk and posting a video online (Vimeo, YouTube) or just sharing the slides (SlideShare.com), you take better advantage of the content you've created for your talk by making it accessible to a wider audience.

Getting Started

But what if no one is begging you to speak at their event yet? There are a number of ways to plant the seeds for public speaking engagements, which also happen to be good marketing tactics in their own right:

1. Identify your passion & what you would want to speak about.
This seems like an obvious prerequisite for public speaking. However, taking a critical look at where your expertise and your passions lie may reveal that what you think you want to talk about and what you're actually equipped to talk about are two different things. Often, it's better to give a talk on a very specific area of expertise than to present a more generic talk about a topic on which you have less to offer.

2. Attend the events that you would like to speak at.
If you want to speak at certain events, you need to do your homework. Pay attention to the kinds of people who speak and get to know the organizers. If you can establish yourself within that group, you'll be more likely to be invited to speak, or at least more likely to be accepted if you ask to speak. People are far more likely to pay attention to someone that they've met before.

3. Blog.
While blogging has taken a backseat to the Twitter and Facebook buzz lately, there are few better tools to establish yourself as an expert than a carefully curated, well-maintained blog. People who write about specific subjects consistently and intelligently will, over time, be increasingly regarded as experts. Once you have established yourself as a unique and vital voice, speaking opportunities will naturally arise.

4. Execute.
Nothing beats action. Do and build things that show you're good at what you do in a real, tangible way, and people will take notice.

But you're already doing that, right?

via the99precent.com

Posted by Ram in News & Information

Jason Randal: Stretching, Rewiring & Growing Geometrically

About This Presentation

If ever there were a man of action, it's expertise theorist Jason Randal, whose boundless passion has led him to develop a jaw-dropping array of specialties. In his kinetic talk, Randal discusses how to use "stretching" to increase memory and focus, the relationship between play and learning, and the transformative power of surrounding yourself with enthusiastic, passionate people.

The Little Rules of Action

Too often we get stuck in inaction — the quagmire of doubt and perfectionism and distractions and planning that stops us from moving forward.

And while I’m no proponent of a whirling buzz of activity, I also believe people get lost in the distractions of the world and lose sight of what’s important, and how to actually accomplish their Something Amazing.

And so today I’d like to humbly present a few little rules of action — just some small reminders, things I’ve found useful but by no means invented, common-sense stuff that is often not common enough.

1. Don’t overthink. Too much thinking often results in getting stuck, in going in circles. Some thinking is good — it’s good to have a clear picture of where you’re going or why you’re doing this — but don’t get stuck thinking. Just do.

2. Just start. All the planning in the world will get you nowhere. You need to take that first step, no matter how small or how shaky. My rule for motivating myself to run is: Just lace up your shoes and get out the door. The rest takes care of itself.

3. Forget perfection. Perfectionism is the enemy of action. Kill it, immediately. You can’t let perfect stop you from doing. You can turn a bad draft into a good one, but you can’t turn no draft into a good draft. So get going.

4. Don’t mistake motion for action. A common mistake. A fury of activity doesn’t mean you’re doing anything. When you find yourself moving too quickly, doing too many things at once, this is a good reminder to stop. Slow down. Focus.

5. Focus on the important actions. Clear the distractions. Pick the one most important thing you must do today, and focus on that. Exclusively. When you’re done with that, repeat the process.

6. Move slowly, consciously. Be deliberate. Action doesn’t need to be done fast. In fact, that often leads to mistakes, and while perfection isn’t at all necessary, neither is making a ridiculous amount of mistakes that could be avoided with a bit of consciousness.

7. Take small steps. Biting off more than you can chew will kill the action. Maybe because of choking, I dunno. But small steps always works. Little tiny blows that will eventually break down that mountain. And each step is a victory, that will compel you to further victories.

8. Negative thinking gets you nowhere. Seriously, stop doing that. Self doubt? The urge to quit? Telling yourself that it’s OK to be distracted and that you can always get to it later? Squash those thoughts. Well, OK, you can be distracted for a little bit, but you get the idea. Positive thinking, as corny as it sounds, really works. It’s self-talk, and what we tell ourselves has a funny habit of turning into reality.

9. Meetings aren’t action. This is a common mistake in management. They hold meetings to get things done. Meetings, unfortunately, almost always get in the way of actual doing. Stop holding those meetings!

10. Talking (usually) isn’t action. Well, unless the action you need to take is a presentation or speech or something. Or you’re a television broadcaster. But usually, talking is just talking. Communication is necessary, but don’t mistake it for actual action.

11. Planning isn’t action. Sure, you need to plan. Do it, so you’re clear about what you’re doing. Just do it quickly, and get to the actual action as quickly as you can.

12. Reading about it isn’t action. You’re reading an article about action. Ironic, I know. But let this be the last one. Now get to work!

13. Sometimes, inaction is better. This might be the most ironic thing on the list, but really, if you find yourself spinning your wheels, or you find you’re doing more harm than good, rethink whether the action is even necessary. Or better yet, do this from the beginning — is it necessary? Only do the action if it is.

Become a Famous Graphic Designer

1. Do Online Interviews

There are plenty of design blogs, sites and magazines looking for potential people to interview. Why wait for them to come to you? There are tens of thousands of designers and if you want those interview spots, you better start contacting sites! The key to a successful interview is to be honest and think about how you can help other designers with each question. The more interview you do the more recognition you will get and sometimes when one site interviews you, others will follow, meaning it can become viral and spiral into even more press for you.

2. Get Featured in Magazines

Being featured in magazines is a bit harder, but there is no reason you can’t pitch yourself to magazines as well. For magazines you may need to try and come up with an interesting pitch, such as having a cool new design style or an interesting background story. Getting yourself in magazines is one of the best things you can do because people tend to take things in print more seriously and the few design magazines out there are read by a large part of the design community and by this I mean designers of all skill levels.

3. Write an eBook

Graphic Designers are always on the prowl for helpful tips, so why not share your experience in the form of a free eBook? Free eBooks can go viral very quickly and if your name is attached to it it can help your personal branding efforts a lot. Make sure you create an opt-in email list using software such as MailChimp to give away the free download so you can build up a large email list.

Then when you release other stuff or new news such as an interview you just did you can send a newsletter out to all your subscribers. Just try not to abuse the list and keep your emails to a minimum, maybe one or two a month max.

4. Publish a Design Book

Publishing a book is going to be more difficult than getting an eBook out, but if your book becomes popular it can work wonders. Your book could be on a lot of topics such as a collection of your work or studio’s work, design theory, design resources, tutorials and so on. Getting published by a large publishing company might be difficult, but Self Publishing is always an option.

5. Create a Design Related Web site

New design blog's, galleries and other types of sites are being created every week. If you can create a new popular design site you will be able to gain massive exposure. A simple about page that talks about who you are on a popular site can skyrocket you in the online design community.

When creating a new design site try to think of something that has never been done, but also be sure to factor in the price and time it will cost you to create and market such a site. If you are lucky you should even be able to make a profit from your online investment!