Sandcurves

Speeches stretch from very embarrassingly terrible to jaw droopingly awesome.  Blogging may have some similarities to building and delivering a public speech. 

The analogy of blogging as public speaking is a useful way of taking a new, fresh look at how you write your blog posts.  It might be just the thing you need to step it up a notch. 

There are differences and similarities, of course.  For one, I sure hope you don't get as nervous blogging as one does before a speech. 

Blogging is normally done alone, with time to think and put it together. 

The differences are obvious but there may be some value to looking at the similarities. 

Why Is Blogging A Little Like Public Speaking

Are you saying "I just don't see it, Vernon, how is blogging anything like public speaking"?

Perhaps I am way off the mark, but some aspects of public speaking are very similar to blogging. 

Arguably the most obvious similarity is the rapid feedback loop.  User comments, Facebook page updates and tweets all provide you with fairly rapid feedback to your post.  Thanks web 2.0.

Another close similarity is that the audience is very easy to loose, just like when you are public speaking. 

Some Actionables Based On This Analogy

Lets look at some of the ways you could refresh your blogging by viewing it as public speaking. 

1. You need to adapt to your audience.  The interactivity of the web gives you a chance to see what interests you readers and to do more of it.  Not only from comments, but also looking at your website analytics. 

   On Google Analytics (or whatever tracking tools you use), see which blogs posts people spent time on and which ones simply had the highest number of visitors.  I always believe it's these simple statistics that have the most to tell you about your blog. 

2. The opposite to the previous point; you need to go and find the right audience for you.  In public speaking this is obvious, but isn't always like that online. 

   If you were planning to give a speech about, say, Python programming, you'd be waisting your time if the audience weren't computer literate. 

   With your blogging you need to do this interacting with your niche on the web through forums, commenting on relevant blogs and connecting to others with the right kind of social media. 

3. Leave some gaps.  You remember the nervous as hell presentation at school, collage or a disastrous best man's speech!  Perhaps it was you? 

   What's the natural reaction?  You started talking too fast. 

   The same goes for your blogging.  Limit each paragraph to one point or idea, and use a maximum of three or four sentences. 

4. Like the fear, I'm sure you remember daydreaming through other people's talks.  They were just plain boring and as I said before, on the web you're dealing with a short attention span.  You have to make sure when you write for the web, that every bit counts. 

5. That penetrating fear many feel about public speaking is really just a fear of public humiliation.  I most certainly don't wish that on you for your blogging (or your speeches). 

   If you write badly on your blog, you may really embarrass yourself.  Write well enough to avoid that. 

6. The feedback cycle is alive.  You'll need to plug into your comments and other social sites where you share stuff.  Learn from what people are saying and adapt. 

7. You can use a lot of media, such as video or slide-shows in blogging.  When you give a speech much of this stuff is available to you as well. 

   As a blogger the challenge is to stay relevant.  Don't just stick a video in unless you think it adds value to your message. 

8. When writing your blog post, try to stick to a few of the main points.  Yeah, not like this post??? 

9. Use stories.  Stories act not only to illustrate your point, but used well they can enhance your website. 

I hope this slightly different way of approaching blogging gives you some new insight and challenges.  Do you have any thoughts on the topic?  Any neat tricks that you use to write your posts or prepare speeches.  Or even better, did you ever embarrass yourself while making a public speech… and was it uploaded to Youtube?? 

On Thursday I'll write something of a summary of writing content for a blog. 

References Not Linked To In The Text:

• http://northxeast.com/like-it-or-not-blogging-is-public-speaking/
• http://www.bloggingtips.com/2010/04/30/public-speaking-tips-to-improve-your-blog/
• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/how_to_get_a_st.html#axzz13MJBe3Pk
• http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/07/15/is-your-blog-a-networking-tool/

Cheers.

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