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What are the Different Public Speaking Jobs?

By Erin J. Hill
Updated May 17, 2024
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There are many types of public speaking jobs, although most of them share a few common factors. Most speakers have the goal of inspiring the public to take action in one form or another. This can mean inspiring them to take action, to buy a product, or to follow a specific spiritual belief system.

Most people have listened to some sort of public speaker at one point or another. One of the most common of the public speaking jobs is that of minister or spiritual leader. These people are trained in specialized schools to teach and guide groups of people, or congregations, in the teachings of a particular religious practice. They generally speak in churches, temples, or synagogues to groups of varying sizes to inspire them to join the faith or to inspire current believers to continue on their path.

Other public speaking jobs involve the selling of goods or services. Often, public speakers will rent banquet rooms in hotels or other venues to speak about a particular opportunity or product. Guests are generally invited to come free, and they receive valuable information as well as a sales pitch. Services can include business opportunities, seminar retreats, or vacations.

Public speaking jobs can also involve educating the public about a specific topic. Many of these types of speakers charge a set fee for their services, but offer a wealth of information about their chosen specialty. These seminars generally last several hours and participants are often allowed to ask questions. Most of these speakers teach people to do something, such as build a business or sell products to consumers.

There are also public speaking jobs which involve making citizens aware of specific issues or topics. Professors and other academic professionals are common speakers in this category. Lectures can take place in a college classroom setting, or in other lecture halls. Fees may or may not be required, depending on the topic and setting.

To get one of these public speaking jobs, it is generally required that one have knowledge of a specific subject in order to accurately portray a message to the public. Even more important is the ability to command an audience’s attention with voice and inflection. Other requirements may include college or other schooling, as in the case with a minister or professor. Sales professionals or self-employed speakers may only need to develop a presentation and find market it to consumers or other professionals.

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Discussion Comments

By Armas1313 — On Feb 26, 2011

When people first approach public speaking, they are often nervous about the fact that they will be analyzed by a large group of people. The truth is, a lot of what you say will probably be forgotten at some point, so your main goal should not be impressing them, but helping them out in some way in life.

By hangugeo112 — On Feb 24, 2011

Effective speaking usually includes the usage of props or acts that will stick out in the memory of the audience in the future. Most of the things that people hear from public speakers and preachers gets forgotten in a relatively short amount of time. Sometimes an awkward occurrence or an irregularity is a welcome guest to help the audience remember a point.

By GigaGold — On Feb 21, 2011

Jobs for public speaking include a great variety of different positions which all have the same main goal: connecting with and captivating an audience. Understanding the psychology of the audience and how you can anchor concepts with them is important in order to convince them of any new point. An anchor can often be a simple complaint about everyday life, or something you have in common with people that will resonate with them.

By JavaGhoul — On Feb 18, 2011

Public speakers are required to keep listeners active and interested to the point that the listeners will want to go out and apply what they have learned. There are many different methods for ensuring that people will grab hold of and want to use the things they have learned when being spoken to publicly. When these skills are not learned or applied, the speaker will notice a lot of yawns and distractedness in their audience, which can be quite discouraging.

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