I would like my advice on how to get your first speaking gig to begin with my oft-repeated trope that you ought not worry about things like this until you’ve gone off and done something interesting first.
But that’s not how I went about it!
My first talk took place a few days before I had anything interesting to talk about. It took place before I had done anything at all!
My Mum assembled her local WI in our living room to hear all about the marvellous bicycle ride around the world that her son had not yet even begun. I was deeply embarrassed and at a loss to think what on earth I could talk about. But I figured that going ahead with the talk would pretty much pay back 24 years of free rent, food, and the joys of childbirth, so I scampered up to my bedroom to take the world map off my wall. I used pins and string to approximate my imagined route around the world, manoeuvred my shiny new bike and panniers in front of the mantlepiece, and began winging it.
LESSON: it helps if you have something interesting to talk about before you decide to become a speaker. But, failing that, there’s nothing you can do about being a beginner except to begin, and make the best of things.
I had no intention of becoming a ‘speaker’ when I set off on my bike. But I did want to raise funds and awareness for charity and therefore needed to tell my story somehow.
When I reached Istanbul, a school invited me to give a talk to the kids in return for a donation to the charity. The idea had never occurred to me. But I said, ‘yes’, and the next ten years of my life began.
How did I get that first talk? The friend of one of my mum’s friends’ daughters lived in Istanbul, let me stay at their home, and had a kid at the school. LESSON: accept whatever opportunities come your way, look for opportunities, personal links (however tenuous) are critical for getting your toe in the door.)
What did I talk about? As with the talk for my mum’s friends in the living room, I didn’t yet have a lot to tell. But at least now I had two months’ of tales from riding across Europe. I made my first ever PowerPoint slideshow, put my tent up for the kids, showed them my tiny camping stove and inflatable mattress, and answered what would become very familiar questions about wild animals, favourite countries, and poo. LESSON: do your first talks for free in order to learn what the audience found interesting, improve, repeat.
I ended up spending several days speaking to all sorts of groups of kids in that school. The talk lengths varied (as they always do) from too short to too long. I once cycled a considerable distance out of my way to speak at a school in Kenya and was given five minutes. More than once a frazzled teacher saw me as light relief and sent me out in front of the lions for 90 minutes or more (whilst they did their marking, no doubt.)
Over time I have settled on preferences of 30 minutes max for young kids, 45 minutes for teenagers, and one hour for adults (each with 25% of the time for questions.)
Before pedalling away from Istanbul I asked the school for a reference. I asked if they could personally connect me with any other international schools on my route. And I spent many a late night emailing loads of other schools which lay on the next leg of my ride.
And that’s it. I simply repeated and polished this whole process for the next 44,000 miles. LESSON: make an effort to secure references and recommendations for future talks. Work really hard to get yourself noticed by other schools / organisations / businesses that might be interested in what you have to say.
This pursuit of references and word of mouth recommendations is critical and continues to this day, almost two decades since my first talk. Whether it’s collecting speaker feedback, asking people to review my books and podcasts or forward my newsletter to a friend (please do!), every aspect of becoming a viable working adventurer depends upon me asking people to take action on my behalf and (hopefully) offering sufficient in return for this to not feel irritating or parasitical. (If it does, you won’t last long.) |
Great summary. And great link on shouldiwork … LOL
sent you a coffee. Cheers
Thank you!