Proud of your public speaking prowess? If so, it may be time to put it to good use.
See, being able to relax in front of crowds is an increasingly useful skill. These days, it’s estimated that 75% of people suffer from some form of glossophobia. In many situations, this will affect your wages and promotion opportunities.
Of course, being immune to this fear won’t make you rich by itself. To take advantage of your public speaking skills, you’ll need to be in the right field. Here are 5 public speaking careers that may appeal to you.
1. Event Planner
As you may know, organizing an event is a job best left to professionals. For starters, making sure an event goes well requires great conversational chops. Plus, you’ll likely need some experience in the hospitality industry.
What do event planners do? Well, they start by discussing the event details — such as the budget — with the client. They then arrange locations and transportation with the vendors, which involves constant communication.
2. Professor
Being a college professor is a good opportunity to speak in public on a daily basis. Of course, this job comes with its own set of challenges. You’ll have to write your own material, and college-goers can be a demanding audience.
Also, there’s the simple matter of stamina. Other than having to talk for most of the day, you’ll be repeating the same material to different students. As far as speaker jobs go, teaching is not among the easier ones.
3. Trial Attorney
Defending clients in court is another tough task. If you want your clients and witnesses to testify effectively, you’ll need to prepare them for it. That said, you should also be able to think on your feet in response to changing circumstances.
In court, you’ll have to find a way to engage the judge and jury. The best way to do that is to use the powers of empathy and persuasion. This is why many trial lawyers make use of speaker coaching services.
4. Politician
Public speaking has always been a big part of politics. Whether you’re delivering a campaign speech or addressing legislation, you should be able to connect with the crowd. In some cases, a good speech can make your entire career.
Typically, people associate politicians with wanting to change things. In actuality, this field presents a diverse range of opportunities. That said, most of them do involve conversational skills.
5. Speech Writer
Sure, this seems like a bit of a reach on a list of public speaking jobs. Still, consider the previous example. If you want to build a speech that can rouse an audience, you have to know what motivates them.
Keep in mind that most speechwriters work for specific clients. Oftentimes, the writer spends some time with the client to understand how he or she thinks. This helps them re-create the client’s distinct voice within the speech.
More on Public Speaking Careers
As you can see, there are many careers where being a crowd pleaser pays dividends. Like we’ve mentioned above, being able to present your thoughts in concise fashion is a big deal.
Not sure which line of work is the right fit for your sensibilities? Want to find out more about the various public speaking careers? Take a look at the “Job & Career” section on our blog!
