As I’ve posted here, I had gastric bypass surgery in November, 2004. My surgeon has me speaking at his pre-op seminars, and uses my story on his website. I enjoy speaking very much and seem to be well-received.
I’ve received an invitation to speak about obesity at a local high school. I’m thrilled. It’s in the very preliminary stages, but I am curious about how I go about setting a fee. Does anyone have any suggestions or experiences? To be honest, I’m not even sure if they expect the speech to be gratis; I have no problem doing a few for free to get my foot in the door, but if I can make some extra money doing so, that would be great as well.
In my job, I have to speak to large groups quite frequently.
I’ve found with school-aged kids the best thing to do is speak in a conversational, chatty tone. Throw in a couple of self-depricating jokes. Try to appear relaxed, not formal.
Don’t use formal language-- talk like a kid, using words like “stuff” and “cool”, but don’t try to be ultra-current with your slang. You’ll appear uncomfortable if you’re not used to using those words, and kids can smell that a mile away.
Be prepared for sarcastic or snide questions, and don’t let the kids see them upset you or throw you off track. If you can answer them with a touch of sarcasm yourself, the kids will respect you more. (Don’t be insulting, of course, because the school won’t appreciate that.)
I was scanning the topic list and had just passed the one about the employee spanking case. So I read this title as, Help getting into public spanking. It amused me.
Anyway, if there’s a local speakers bureau or some such they should be able to guide you. You might also check with a Toastmasters group, someone there certainly has experience with paid public speaking. (spanking hehe) Congrats on the weight loss and good luck with your speaking!
