The Public Speaker: How to Get Paid As a Professional Speaker

You can become a professional public speaker as a lucrative sideline to your current business or you can make professional speaking the entire focus of your career. It’s up to you!

Professional speaking is a flexible and lucrative enterprise. The best public speakers earn all or most of their money from public speaking, and they make very good livings indeed. Fees for public speaking can range from the low hundreds, for those just starting out, all the way up to six figures, for those who have impressive credentials and experience.

What are some types of public speaking you may want to practice? Many speakers enjoy giving workshops, seminars, or keynote speeches. A speech will usually run a half-hour to an hour, depending on the time of day. Lunch speeches, for instance, will be shorter than a keynote speech at a banquet. You may be booked as the highlight or draw of a conference, or be asked to speak to a lunchtime networking meeting.