John Gravitt
The National Speakers Association cut years off my learning curve. NSA is the place to be if you are a thought leader who wants to want get into or stay in the speaking profession.
There’s a great, inexpensive Toastmasters chapter in your own back yard. Many of the companies where I’ve spoken, in-house chapters for their employees to improve their speaking skills including: Allstate, Boeing, and Microsoft. Join, start practicing, and attend regularly. It's not just about the great feedback you'll get - you'll meet ambitious movers-and-shakers who are improving their communication skills.
ASTD is the world's largest association dedicated to training and development professionals. ASTD members empower organizations through workplace learning and performance.
I got involved with ASTD when I primarily identified myself as a trainer. The meetings in Atlanta exposed me to legends like Bob Pike, Thiagi, and Elliot Masie. I can say that the speakers I saw through ASTD inspired me to become a speaker myself.
You are already on LinkedIn, no doubt. Have you considered listing some of your speaking engagements as a "position" or "project?" Have you listed your position as speaker for the various companies where you've worked as a full-timer. As a product manager, trainer, brand advocate, or spokesperson, you have already done speaking. List this on LinkedIn and you'll be easier to find.
Let's connect professionally on LinkedIn.
Scrivener is not just a "word processor." It's an organizer, a corkboard, a research tool, an outliner, and more. It also makes it easy for you to re-use your stories and illustrations for an upcoming speech. You can use it to leave comments about your last presentation for a group so that you can ask if you should use the same stories next time or you can leave them out if most of your last audience will attend your new presentation.
Scrivener is available for Windows and OS/X. You can download a 30-day trial of the software.
The TripIt trip planner keeps all of your travel plans in one spot. Create a master travel itinerary, and access your itinerary planner online or on your mobile phone.
Expensify makes expense reports that don't suck! The tool can even use GPS to automatically track mileage as you drive around town.
Discover, Share, and Present presentations and infographics with the world's largest professional content sharing community.
JG: You may be inspired by the slides at Slideshare.net. Don't use someone's deck as your presentation.
When your friends & colleagues make the news, we make sure you know. Never miss an article about someone who matters to you.
JG: It's a great bonus to your presentation if you know that one of your social contacts has been in the news recently. This could be the meeting planner, your sponsor, or one of the people you contacted prior to your speech to learn more about the needs of your audience.
Meet Haiku Deck, a completely new kind of presentation software. We make telling your story simple, beautiful, and fun.
JG: Try Haiku Deck if you haven't. You can access Haiku Deck on the web and you can access it trough an app.
