What are the best tips for building your personal brand as a blogger through public speaking?

2 Define your purpose

Every presentation should have a clear and specific purpose. What do you want to achieve with your speech? What do you want your audience to learn, feel, or do after listening to you? Your purpose should guide your content creation, structure, and delivery. It should also be aligned with your personal brand as a blogger. For example, if your purpose is to inspire your audience to start their own blog, you might share your vision, mission, and values, as well as the benefits and opportunities of blogging.

3 Craft a catchy title

Your title is the first thing that your audience will see and hear. It should capture their attention, spark their curiosity, and communicate the value of your presentation. A catchy title can also help you stand out from other speakers and bloggers, and reinforce your personal brand. To craft a catchy title, you can use techniques such as asking a question, making a promise, using a metaphor, or adding some humor. For example, if you are speaking about how to write engaging blog posts, you might use a title like "How to Hook Your Readers with Every Word".

4 Structure your speech

A well-structured speech is easier to follow, remember, and act on. It should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and follow a logical flow of ideas. A simple and effective structure is the problem-solution-benefit formula. In this structure, you start by identifying a problem that your audience faces, then you offer a solution that you can provide, and finally you explain the benefits of implementing your solution. For example, if you are speaking about how to grow your blog traffic, you might start by describing the challenges of attracting and retaining readers, then you offer your proven methods and tools, and finally you show the results and outcomes that you and your clients have achieved.

5 Practice and rehearse

Practice makes perfect. The more you practice and rehearse your speech, the more confident and comfortable you will be on stage. Practice will also help you improve your content, timing, voice, body language, and slides. You can practice alone or with a friend, record yourself or use a mirror, and ask for feedback or use a checklist. You can also rehearse in front of a live audience, such as a local Toastmasters club, a meetup group, or a online platform. Rehearsing in front of a live audience will help you test your content, adjust your delivery, and handle questions and comments.

6 Engage your audience

The best presentations are not lectures, but conversations. You want to engage your audience, not bore them. You want to make them feel involved, not ignored. You want to make them think, feel, and act, not just listen. To engage your audience, you can use techniques such as storytelling, humor, questions, polls, quizzes, exercises, or demonstrations. You can also use social media, blogs, or podcasts to interact with your audience before, during, and after your presentation. Engaging your audience will help you build rapport, trust, and loyalty, and grow your personal brand as a blogger.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?