City to host first summit on global speaking business

I was shocked to learn that there are people whose full-time and only profession is to deliver keynote speeches in conferences. They are paid tens and thousands of dollars for 10-20-minute talks because companies value their inputs,” he says.

India, however, doesn’t hold the same value for professional speaking, he remarks. Since there was an apparent lack of associations or societies to turn this situation around, it motivated him to begin the Professional Speakers Association of India (PSAI). Kiruba explains, “The fundamental objective is to help speakers become better in the ‘business’ of speaking and enable them to travel the world for speaking gigs by developing a global mindset.”

For instance, experts will be invited to hold sessions on stage presence, how to craft a speech, monetising the opportunities by associating with better organisations and more. He tells us that screening processes to determine if the applicants are subject matter experts and possess basic oratory skills will be carried out by the members of the PSAI.

“Secondly, we want to educate the market that CEOs and leaders should know the importance of being good communicators. When anyone climbs the hierarchy, that person should know how to narrate to capture the audience’s attention. At the same time, all talk and no substance won’t work. So, while story-telling and oratory skills matter, the content of the speech is important too,” he explains.

The PSAI is hosting an event called the Public Speaking Professional Speaks Summit on January 26 and 27 in the city. Kiruba elucidates, “We’ve invited speakers from different countries with the belief that it’ll help attendees gain a global understanding of professional speaking.” Topics such as how becoming an author can help one get more speaking gigs, how to turn keynote speech into a book and vice-versa, how to gain and retain attention of the listeners, and so on will be discussed. For further details about the summit, visit www.indianspeakers.org/summit.