Are you great at your job? Then you must, even if it feels difficult or daunting, share that knowledge with others by speaking about your work and ideas internally and externally.
In the world outside of your office, people need to hear from you. It’s time we saw more professional women being recognised and speaking at conferences and events and in the media.
Why? Because, we’re half of the population. If we’re not being heard, then a whole raft of innovative ideas and insights are falling by the wayside.
Becoming a conference speaker or volunteering to address your work teams could be the best decision you make this year. Speaking gives you a fantastic and unique platform to promote your skills. It is an avenue to spread your ideas.
I train women to speak at conferences and events because many of us feel nervous about putting ourselves forward. But the truth is, that while we have the professional skills to do our job, we at times lack the communications skills and confidence to tell others about it.
The good news is that all that’s really required is training and practice. At WomenSpeaking workshops, we help you write and present your speech. This is ‘hands-on’ training where you come away with a fantastic 3-minute speech that you have developed, practised and refined during the day.
Here is just one reason to speak at a conference that you may not have thought of: professional recruiters attend conferences and hunt out conference lists to see who the new emerging professionals and sector leaders are that they need to connect with.
It is the proven avenue they use to keep refreshing their contact list. They connect with those people and put them forward for jobs.
Sydney based recruiter Louise Edwards from Edwards Consulting Partnership confirms this.
“I recruit in financial services so any conference in that space is interesting to me. I attend financial services conferences, and I recruit from that. Every conference has a speaker list and biographies. I think that is really important,” she says.
“I am always saying to candidates get out to conferences get visible and network because sitting in your office interacting internally will not progress your career.”
The goal of the WomenSpeaking workshops is to get more women speaking at conferences, events, workplace meetings and in the media.
I established this business after 30 years as a national and international reporter for ABC and SBS television because in my new career as a strategic event consultant and speaker I did not see nearly enough women at conferences or on event panels.
WomenSpeaking workshops started in April this year and so far we have trained 120 women in Sydney and Canberra. In October we will be holding courses in Melbourne and Sydney, and in November we will be back in Canberra.
We believe in individual attention. The workshops have a maximum of 15-20 people.
Every time we take a WomenSpeaking workshop we see speaking skills explode and transform.
This is what our participants say about the WomenSpeaking workshops:
“I have never felt so safe, encouraged & supported to speak and to speak in front of others. I would highly recommend this program for any woman who wants to improve their speaking skills & confidence.”
“Thank you for the great course, it has helped me so much in the past month as I have had to present a few times, including addressing 300 people at an international conference in Hawaii!”
“This is the most practical and skills-based workshop I have ever attended.”
“Expertly facilitated. Packed with lashings of tips, tools and tricks. This has bolstered my confidence exponentially. Thank you for the great day.”
Get in touch, and speak up. We want to hear from you!