There are two reasons to record yourself every time you speak, whether you are doing a talk for a local group, presenting to an industry conference, doing a group consultation or presenting a seminar, teleseminar or webinar.
First of all, listening to the recording lets you hear what you did well and where you can do better next time. I know, it is painful to listen to yourself speak. You don’t like the sound of your voice and every mistake leaps out at you. But you need to listen.
Are you using uh, mmm, you know and other fillers too often? Do you talk too fast or too slow? Do you mumble and make it hard for the audience to hear and understand you?
How did the audience react to your talk? Did they laugh at the stuff you think is funny?
Some of the time you will deliver a good talk. Others will be very good. And sometimes you will NAIL IT. You want to make sure that when you deliver that amazing, awesome, personal best speech that you have recorded it.
That talk will be a product you can sell.
How to Record Your Talks
Recording can be simple. If you are presenting a teleseminar or webinar, your provider probably has a system in place to record your presentation. Use it.
When you deliver an in-person speech, there are a few possibilities. One simple way is to get a digital recorder with an external mic. Clip the mic to your lapel, drop the recorder in your pocket and go. Be sure to test before the event to see where to place the mic to get the best sound.
Start recording before you get up to speak. Most digital recorders have a lock or hold button so you can not accidentally turn off the recorder. Use it. Sometime after your talk is over, unlock the recorder and stop recording.
Once you get back to your office, download the recording to your computer. Use audio editing software to edit the recording. Audacity is an excellent audio program. It is easy to use and it is free.
You will want to take out the parts you recorded before you started speaking and after your talk ended. You can also remove things that did not record clearly. For example, if someone in the audience asked a question and they were not recorded, it is annoying to listeners to hear some garbled speech and then you answering a question they didn’t hear. They may have no idea what you are talking about.
There are a couple of ways to handle questions during your speech. If all of the questions come at the end of your talk (as they should) you can just edit out the Q&A. A good practice is to repeat any questions asked for members of the live audience. That will also let anyone listening to the recording know what the question was.
What to Do With the Recording
Once you have the edited recording, you can offer it to customers as a download or on CD. Making CDs of your talk available to the audience when you speak in person can be a great way to monetize your speaking engagements. Online customers may prefer a download, so they can access the product immediately and not have to wait for shipping.
Another way to use the recording is to have it transcribed, then turn the transcription into a booklet, ebook or book. The transcription of a talk will probably need some editing, because we speak differently than we write. However, having a transcription means you are not starting with a blank page—you already have a good draft to work with.
Get in the habit of recording every talk you give and turn the best recordings into products that will generate passive income for you.
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