One of the the things they concluded was that “NSA speakers are involved in many types of speaking engagements” including: Seminars, Training Events, Breakout sessions, Keynotes, Consulting

The top two audience types for their work was corporations and associations.

Then in a “perfect storm” of circumstances, the economy tanked and wiped out all of the reliable business models in the public speaking industry. The reason for that, in my view, is that professional public speakers ignored the new rules.

Back when the economy was strong, speakers main focus was to pursue speaking engagements, then they would show up and deliver their talk to whomever was in attendance. Some made extra income from the sale of books or other products while others offered consulting or training services to the companies in attendance.

Because of the success of that model, they invested little time on building relationships with those attendees who were passionate for the topic being presented. Most speakers were focused instead on the companies in attendance and on gaining more speaking engagements. They never imagined companies or associations cutting their budgets and significantly reducing speaking opportunities causing them to need another way to sell their products and services.

Adhering to the new rules may have been a major help to those speakers who have really struggled in the last year or so.

The new rules tell us that we’re publishers first and foremost. Speaking is just another way of distributing our content to the people that are seeking information on our topic.

Because of the power of the Internet, we can market to a targeted audience in countries all over the world. While we’re not likely to speak in all of these countries, we can still serve our followers and fans everywhere who’ll read our information, hire us to deliver our services and buy our products.

Since the market for speaking engagements is significantly reduced, the time is now to realize that the hunger for information on every imaginable niche topic is stronger than ever before. As a publisher your job is to seek and build relationships with people who are passionate about your topic and offer them your unique information in multi-media formats.

The first step is to have a video of your presentation made, then re purpose the video into an audio, transcribed into a book, distributed as a series of articles, some blog posts and more. If you’d like some help getting started, let me know. My new professional speaker training program will make it easy for you to do.

Professional Speaking Mentor Scott A Dennison is discussing the future of Professional Speaker Training at his website. You are also welcome to claim a copy of his newest report “Public Speaking is Dead!” and a series of Public Speaking Tips for free. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

A link providing you with a free copy of my report can be found in the resource box at the bottom of this article.

While this view is strictly my opinion, it is supported by the facts and is now being validated by speakers in high places.

I recently received a comment from well-known speaker and author, Jim Cathart, CPAE and Past President of the National Speakers Association, who said this: “Scott Dennison has nailed it. The problem in our business is that it’s not there anymore. The needs are still there and our skills are still valuable, but the ways in which people buy our services has permanently moved. It’s time to go where the buying is happening.”

So what can public speakers do to survive in 2010 and beyond if the old model of public speaking is dead? Here are three tips that will help you.

1) Since we’ve moved from a time when speakers delivered their message in meetings and conventions and commanded high fees to do so, to one where meetings that require a speaker are reduced, we all have to respect and adapt to the new rules.

What this means is that you need to think like a publisher or content provider. You’re not just a speaker anymore. The audiences who once attended your speeches are still hungry for information on your area of expertise and want to gain access to your knowledge. They are seeking content and the new rules state you must give it to them.

2) Try to find out what audience members loved about your presentation. Was it the information itself? Was it your unique view on your topic? When you understand that, you can attract those who get excited about your topic and build relationships with them.

With the power of the Internet, your audience does not consist only of those who could or would travel to the meeting where you were speaking, but to individuals all over the world. If you can fill a need in someone’s life with your information (content), it does not matter where they live provided they are connected to the world wide web.

Provide content for your users in multi-media formats for them to consume. When you offer your information in video, audio and text based formats you meet the needs of everyone and do it in a way that allows them access in the learning style which they most prefer.

It is not uncommon to see a presentation that was recorded in video, later made available as an audio CD, as a book, offered in a series of articles or blog posts and many other forms of distribution. While that may seem like a lot of work it’s actually quite easy and very profitable to do so.

Where perhaps you once needed many many thousands of people to hear you speak to make a nice living, what if you only built relationships with 1000 who each were so passionate about your work that they’d be happy to invest $100 per month each to learn your information? Once you do the math, you’ll quickly conclude that mourning the death of public speaking makes no sense at all.

Professional speaker training expert, Scott A. Dennison is discussing the future of the public speaking business and offering you his FREE report Public Speaking (*as you know it) IS DEAD along with his top ten free Public Speaking Tips when you visit his site. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service