If your answer to the title question is yes, please read on. If the answer is no, skip the below article and save time. However, if you want to take action to improve your public speaking skills, read on.

Plenty of people in our world have big dreams but don’t ever make plans to fulfill them. They remain just that – dreams. Since you are reading this article, I guess you are not one of these people.

If you are a regular reader of my articles, you are likely a doer, not just a thinker. You make things happen. If you are, you stand on the shoulders of giants like Thomas Edison, Guillermo Marconi, and Elon Musk.

Again, if you are a regular reader of these articles, I guess you want to improve your public speaking skills not just marginally but significantly. You’ve come to the right place.

Below are three sure-fire ways to put you on the fast track to public speaking skills mastery:

You Must Have a Message

If you are like most people, you tend to sell yourself short. You may think that no one would be willing to hear what you say. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Whether you are 25 or 65, college-educated or not, in a trade or a profession, you have experience in life that can help others. The real question is not whether but how you can translate your experience into a honed message others would want to hear. What is your message?

If you have an idea of your message, it is a matter of putting it down on paper and constructing an exciting presentation to share with others. But, of course, personal computers make this much easier these days.

Start listing all the points about your message in bullet form. Using bullets is very important. If you start writing sentences and paragraphs, you will get bogged down in how it looks. Instead, you should focus on recording your message points and not worry about how they look. Bullet points can do this for you.

When you have your bullet points the way you want them, start talking according to the order of the bullet points focusing on speaking ideas, and not worry if what you are saying strictly conforms to the bulleted points. After practicing, you will gain confidence that you have a message others want to hear.

If you have no idea what your message is, use what Brian Tracy calls mind storming.

To start mind storming, you take a blank sheet of lined paper and, in one minute, write twenty ideas of what appeals to you. It is essential to limit the listing period to one minute. In one minute, the most critical things on your mind will appear.

These ideas must appeal to you because to convince others to adopt your message; you have to be passionate about it.

What you are left with are twenty probably disjointed ideas. So first, select the one idea about which you are most passionate. Then take another blank sheet of lined paper and write twenty ideas about that passionate idea.

Regardless of how you develop your message ideas, use the Cards on the Wall method as outlined in the third main section of my previous article entitled, “How to Reduce Your Speaking Preparation Stress” to develop the main points and sub-points of your message.

If you are a visual person, you can also use Mind Mapping, as I talk about in my article entitled, “Prepare And Reap Your Speaking Opportunities,” to construct your presentation

You have a message from which others can benefit. Discover it, hone it, and find venues in which to share it.

Seek Out Speaking Venues Often

To improve your public speaking skills, you must have venues to speak.

You may think, “I know I have to speak more often to improve my public speaking skills. How do I find venues in which to speak?” You may not believe this, but every day there is a myriad of organizations looking for speakers for their meetings, events, and special programs.

Organizations such as the Rotary Club, Lions Club, and the Chamber of Commerce always look for speakers. So how do you get connected with these organizations?

Before the Internet, this required a trip to your local library to research these organizations. However, since the advent of the Internet, finding who to reach out to in these organizations has become much more accessible, all in the privacy of your home on your personal computer.

All organizations with regular meetings have a person who is usually called the program chair or a similar title. The primary responsibility of this person is to, of course, plan the program of meetings for the organization. These meetings usually have a business part and an invited speaker part. This is where you come in.

Credibility is critical for speaking to these organizations. If you are an engineer, seek out engineering organizations. If you are an attorney, seek out organizations catering to attorneys. If you are a nurse, seek out nursing organizations. I think you get the idea. Audiences that believe you are one of them are most easily engaged.

Before you contact a community organization, ensure you have researched them to discover the answers to the following questions: (1) What are the main concerns of the organization’s members? (2) What are the organization’s demographics, (3) What are the organization’s members’ aspirations for their career futures? Most, if not all, of the answers to these questions can usually be obtained through the Program Chair.

So, you must have a message from which others can benefit and venues to speak your message.

The Dale Carnegie Public Speaking Course is renowned worldwide. I have not taken the course, but I’ve been told by those who have taken it, in the end, that the instructors say that regular speaking is the only way to maintain the public speaking skills they have learned in the course. They recommend joining a Toastmasters International Club.

Join a Toastmasters International Club

There is no free lunch in this world, but being a Toastmasters International Club member may be the closest you will ever come.

From the Toastmasters International website:

“Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., the organization’s membership exceeds 280,000 in more than 14,700 clubs in 144 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.”

The average Toastmasters Club meets twenty-four times a year. Some meet more often. That means, as a Toastmasters Club member, you have at least twenty-four speaking opportunities every year.

The return on your monetary investment is spectacular. Club dues are usually around $100.00 per year. That’s roughly $4.00 per meeting. Name another organization that allows you to speak twenty-four times a year for $4.00 per meeting.

As if these two items are not enough, after every one of your speeches, you will receive an oral and written evaluation using criteria focused on the particular speech project you selected. Your job is to determine what you will implement from your speech evaluation to improve your following speech – continuous improvement.

Toastmasters uses a system called Pathways, each of which has four to five different levels of increasing difficulty and three to four speech projects within each level of increasing difficulty. These projects will match your ability at the time you present.

There are eleven Pathways to choose from, which will undoubtedly cover your speaking goals. The eleven Pathways are:

• Dynamic Leadership

• Effective Coaching

• Engaging Humor

• Innovative Planning

• Leadership Development

• Motivational Strategies

• Persuasive Influence

• Presentation Mastery

• Strategic Relationships

• Team Collaborations

• Visionary Communication

Join a Toastmasters Club. It works!

If you are truly serious about improving your public speaking ability, develop a message from which others can benefit, seek out venues to speak your message, and join a Toastmasters Club this coming week.

Three practical steps for you to continually improve your public speaking skills!

Call to Action

• After you have investigated the wants and needs of your audience, develop a clear, concise, and relevant message for your presentation

• Make and implement a plan to speak at various community and company organizations every month

• Find a Toastmasters Club” that fits in your schedule and plan to attend in the next two weeks

Frank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.

Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals through improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Reach Frank at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.

Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!

“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”

Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com