My wife, Elaine, and I recently moved from Northern Virginia to the Charleston, South Carolina, area. To say our move was chaotic is an understatement. The packing, moving, and unpacking (which is still ongoing) were and are stressful.

This chaos of moving to another state got me thinking about the chaos that speakers have to deal with.

This article offers valuable tips for speakers to navigate the challenges posed by travel and logistics, content juggling, and the emotional strain of balancing their speaking commitments with personal responsibilities.

Travel and Logistics Chaos

Use packing and preparation templates to avoid last-minute scrambles. There is an old saying: Preplanning prevents poor performance.

There have been studies showing you save up to ten times the amount of time by planning rather than reacting during a project.

Allow for buffer time before and after events to accommodate delays and decompress. If you plan your schedule too tightly, you will likely find that your stress level increases and your speaking quality decreases.

Plan to relax by reading a book, enjoying your favorite music, or socializing with friends. You will find that your life becomes more balanced.

There are several apps, such as TripIt, Flighty, and Google Calendar, that you can use to streamline logistics. Use these tools to simplify your life.

Like most speakers, you prefer to speak rather than spend time on your business. There is nothing wrong with this. However, there are numerous business tasks to be accomplished. You will be your best when you spend time on the tasks you enjoy and leave the mundane business tasks to others.

hiring a virtual assistant to manage business tasks.

So, one area in which you can take steps to reduce chaos is travel and logistics.

Another area is content juggling.

Content Juggling

Use the concept of repurposing the speaking material you have already created. Chances are, you speak on a specific topic that has applicability to a wide range of audiences.

Think of your presentations as being built from different speaking modules, each one covering a specific subtopic of your main topic.

You can then insert or remove the various speaking modules to create a body of your presentation tailored to your audience.

Keep updated slides, stories, stats, and visuals in categorized folders (e.g., by theme or audience). In this way, depending on your audience, you can mix and match the information in the categorized folders to create a rough draft of your presentation body.

Develop a repeatable core message structure to save time when customizing talks. You can then tailor your delivery of your core message to suit the audience.

Schedule focused blocks for content refreshes rather than last-minute updates. Therefore, you will continually update the focused blocks of content to keep them fresh and relevant to your audience.

So, two areas in which you can take steps to reduce chaos are travel and logistics and content juggling.

A third area is the emotional toll and personal challenges.

Emotional Toll & Personal Challenges

Accept that fear, exhaustion, and overwhelm are part of your speaking life and not a sign of failure.

Brian Tracy says there are no failures, just practice shots. However, you still need to take the practice shots. You have no chance to win the “game” unless you are in the “game.” Fight discouragement.

Fear, exhaustion, and overwhelm will cause two reactions in you – flee or fight. If you are still fighting, you still have a chance to win.

Journal, rest, meditate, or debrief with a coach or peer.

Ken Blanchard says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Feedback from others is essential, but feedback from ourselves may be the most important.

Journaling immediately after delivering a presentation documents what went right and what you need to work on while the details are still fresh in your mind. A delay of a day or two in journaling will help clarify important points to improve fuzzy thinking.

Say no to engagements that overstretch your calendar or compromise your well-being.

You are human like the rest of us. Overloading your schedule is a great way to increase your stress and lower the quality of your speaking.

Avoid speaking engagements that are too tangential to your main speaking topic. If you accept these tangential speaking opportunities, your confidence will take a hit, and you may experience impostor syndrome.

Surround yourself with trusted peers or mentors who understand the emotional demands of speaking.

In 2017, after laboring for a decade as a public speaker, I finally realized that if I wanted to succeed as a professional speaker, I would have to associate with other professional speakers. That is when I joined the National Speakers Association. This organization provides several opportunities to learn from professional speakers.

Birds of a feather do flock together. Join a group related to your topic of interest. Take advantage of the Mastermind concept.

Public speakers don’t need to eliminate chaos—they need to build resilience, routines, and support systems to navigate it.

Resilience is needed in any complex endeavor. Public speaking is no different.

There is a learning curve in public speaking as there is in any worthwhile effort. Building routines in your speaking work makes the work easier as you do it more and more.

Use support systems, whether they are human or business software, to make your life easier, more efficient, and more effective.

This article provides valuable advice for speakers to navigate the challenges of travel and logistics, managing content, and the emotional strain of balancing speaking commitments with personal responsibilities.

My dear mom used to say, “When you feel like you are at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”

Call to Action

• Use travel packing and preparation templates to avoid last-minute scrambles.

• Build your presentations from different speaking modules, each one covering a specific subtopic of your main topic

• Accept that fear, exhaustion, and overwhelm are part of your speaking life and not a sign of failure.

References

• Brown, Brené (2012). Daring Greatly. Gotham Books.– On embracing vulnerability and managing the emotional cost of visibility.

• Duarte, Nancy (2010). Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences. Wiley. – On modular content creation and the structure of compelling presentations.

• Morgan, Nick (2011). Give Your Speech, Change the World. Harvard Business Press – On message frameworks and speaker adaptability.

• Port, Michael (2015). Steal the Show. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. – On the systems, preparation, and performance mindset required for speaking.

• Hyatt, Michael (2019). Free to Focus. Baker Books.– On productivity, routines, and systems that reduce chaos.

• Sinek, Simon (2009). Start With Why. Portfolio.– On creating clarity and intentionality in your speaking purpose and process.

• Loehr, Jim & Schwartz, Tony (2001). The Making of a Corporate Athlete. Harvard Business Review.– On the importance of emotional and physical recovery in high-performance roles.

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks