Great Speeches: Doctor Marketing to Enhance Your Reputation and Credibility
To be candid, few people make a bucket of money from being a public speaker. Still, developing your presentation skills definitely belongs in your doctor marketing plan. Healthcare practitioners who take to the stage find a significant—usually indirect—payback for their invested time and effort.
Countless venues, both large and small, are commonly available. It’s easy to find events, meetings, conferences, trade shows, and other audience opportunities. As a result, the individuals who are willing to make the effort, develop the skills--and sometimes, the courage to face an audience--the benefits can include:
- Enhanced critical thinking and persuasion skills
- Ability to inspire, convince and persuade
- Improved skills to inform and educate
- Extended social media and online presence
Doctor marketing, professional credibility and reputation…
Furthermore, an important element of every successful doctor marketing effort is personal branding. That is, being recognized as the professional—with the respected reputation—that fuels the service organization.
Public speaking is a powerful means to extend individual recognition and professional credibility. Over time, frequent speakers become recognized as leaders. Engaging an audience is an opportunity for personal and professional networking. In short, it is a banner opportunity for reputation building.
The well-known TED organization is devoted to spreading ideas, via brief, powerful presentations about nearly any topic. TED Talks have become a fountain for education and sharing. TED is also an open book of examples of effective public speaking.
If you have not already done so, take a seat in the TED Talks classroom, study the techniques of the best presentations, and make a list of tips that you can adopt. Here are several ideas from the how-to book of world class speakers.
Tips from the best of TED Talks and others…
Don’t “give a speech.” Instead, share a story. The human brain is hardwired to organize thoughts and understanding in a storytelling format. Therefore, it isn’t easy for an audience to digest facts, figures and data. With a beginning-middle-end, listeners relate to the emotions and feelings in a well-told story (or stories).
Know what you’ll give to the audience. The best speaker always gives the audience something special. It will be a useful “big idea” with take-home value or importance.
The audience wants you to win. Recognize that nearly every audience is on your side at the start. They may or may not agree with your ideas, but they want to hear what you have to say.
Speaking (slightly) faster is a good thing. The “right pace” for speaking is more rapid than the average speaking rate (at 150 words per minute). And it’s closer to the brain’s processing rate (of 500 words per minute). Therefore, step up your verbal presentation rate to about 250 words per minute.
Package and deliver an “Ah-ha” idea. A completely unique or startling fact—something that nobody knew—will mentally stick with an audience.
Watch the top speakers…
And a final tip: Study with the masters. Fortunately, there’s a guide titled TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking. What’s more, the author is Chris Anderson, curator of TED.
Speaking of speaking, give us a call anytime. With more than 20 years experience in healthcare and doctor marketing, our senior management provides thought-leader talks for organizations and major events. For more information, reach out to us today: 800-656-0907.
