What Are the Basic Steps to Becoming a Professional Public Speaker?
Public Speaking 101: How to Master the Basics and Own the Stage
Public speaking can feel intimidating, especially when you’re not sure where to start. But here’s a little secret: becoming a powerful speaker doesn’t require magic—it starts with mastering the basics. Whether you’re an aspiring keynote speaker or an entrepreneur looking to build your brand, understanding the fundamentals is your first step to owning the stage.
In this guide, we’ll break down the essentials of public speaking and provide actionable tips to help you begin your journey with confidence.
Clarity Is Key
Before you can captivate an audience, you need clarity on three things: your story, your purpose, and your audience.
Your Story: What experiences shaped you? What lessons can you share? Your story is your secret weapon—it’s what makes you relatable and unforgettable.
Your Purpose: Why are you speaking? Is it to inspire, educate, or drive change? Knowing your purpose grounds your message and gives your talk direction.
Your Audience: Who are they? What do they need? Speak to their challenges, dreams, and desires, and you’ll create a connection that resonates deeply.
Actionable Tip: Write down one key story you want to share and identify how it connects to your purpose and audience.
Master the Fundamentals
Great public speakers aren’t born—they’re made. Developing foundational skills like presence, energy, and storytelling is essential to stand out.
Presence: Own the room by channeling confidence and authenticity. Practicing mindfulness or grounding techniques before stepping on stage can help.
Energy: Engage your audience by bringing your passion and enthusiasm to every talk.
Storytelling: Use narrative frameworks, like the Crisis Story Framework™, to structure your message and make it memorable.
Actionable Tip: Practice telling a short story using the framework. Start with the setting, articulate the challenge, share the resolution, and connect it to your audience’s needs.
Build Your Confidence
Confidence is a muscle, and you strengthen it by using it.
Celebrate your wins, no matter how small.
Practice affirmations like “I am a powerful, authentic speaker” to shift your mindset.
Most importantly, get on stage and start speaking. The more you do it, the more confident you’ll feel.
Actionable Tip: List your top five strengths as a speaker and read them daily.
Take the Next Step
Becoming a professional speaker starts with mastering the basics, but it doesn’t stop there. Dive deeper into storytelling and speaking strategies with Spark the Stage™.
📚 Grab the book: Get it here.
🎤 Join the course: Sign up here.
Your story is waiting to be told—let’s make it unforgettable.
Podcast Episode Overview
Want to become a professional public speaker but don’t know where to start? In this episode of The Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast, Aleya Harris breaks down Public Speaking 101. From finding your purpose to crafting a powerful story, this is your ultimate guide to mastering the fundamentals of professional public speaking.
With her signature sassy and practical approach, Aleya shares personal insights, proven frameworks, and actionable steps to help you start strong and stand out.
Key Takeaways
Define Your Why: Your purpose shapes your speaking journey. Start by uncovering your authentic “why” and let it guide your topics, audience, and goals.
Master the Fundamentals: Build presence and channel energy by letting go of old narratives, practicing forgiveness, and opening yourself to the messages you’re meant to deliver.
Craft and Share Your Story: Use the Crisis Story Framework™ to create a narrative that captivates your audience and showcases your unique value.
Why Listen:
If you’re ready to transform your voice into a tool for connection, inspiration, and transformation, this episode is packed with the insights you need to begin your speaking journey with confidence.
About Aleya Harris
Aleya Harris is the spark for your spark™. A trailblazer in purpose-driven story crafting, she is a marketing executive and ex-Google Vendor Partner who brings her dynamic experience to her role as the CEO of The Evolution Collective Inc. Aleya is an international award-winning speaker, the founder and lead trainer of Spark the Stage ™, and the host of the award-winning Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. She is also the author of the bestselling book Spark the Stage: Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to Captivate, Inspire, and Transform Your Audience. Her unique approach as a Strategic Storytelling Consultant has revolutionized the way businesses communicate, transforming workplace cultures and market positioning. With her dynamic energy and proven methodologies, Aleya guides clients to unlock their potential, articulate their radically authentic stories, and achieve unparalleled success.
Watch the Free Masterclass
Join Aleya's free masterclass "Build Unstoppable Confidence and Book Speaking Gigs Without Feeling Like an Impostor." Discover the proven framework to own your story, captivate audiences, and land speaking gigs—even if you’ve doubted your worth or have no experience on stage.
Register at https://www.aleyaharris.com/masterclass
Buy the Book
Aleya's bestselling book will help you become a more confident and authentic professional public speaker. Buy Spark the Stage: Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to Captivate, Inspire & Transform Your Audience on Amazon or anywhere books are sold.
Buy the Book: https://a.co/d/1T4EoJ7
Sign Up for Spark the Stage™
Spark the Stage™ is an online course and 12-month group coaching program that helps entrepreneurs and executives become radically authentic professional public speakers who can confidently deliver a compelling Radical Spark Signature Talk™ from the stage.
Enroll at https://www.aleyaharris.com/spark
Work with Aleya to Craft a Better Story
An unclear strategy, confusing brand, or undefined workplace culture will repel ideal clients, visibility opportunities, and career-making connections. The Evolution Collective Inc. transforms disconnected teams and overwhelmed leaders into thriving, inclusive cultures through Radically Authentic Strategic Storytelling.
Schedule a call at https://www.evolutioncollective.com/
Book Aleya to Speak
To book Aleya to edutain your audience at your next event as a keynote speaker, please visit www.aleyaharris.com/speaking to check out her speaking topics, reels, and why. Click "Schedule a Call" to secure the speaker with "that something new" you've been looking for.
Connect with Aleya Harris
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleyaharris/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleyaharris/
Links Mentioned on this Podcast
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[00:01] Aleya Harris: Have you ever imagined yourself on stage captivating an audience with your story?
[00:09] What if I told you the tools to get there are simpler than you think? Whether you're starting out or stuck wondering how to break through, today's episode is your roadmap to professional public speaking.
[00:21] We are talking about the basics. What is Public Speaking 101? And what are the fundamental steps to becoming a professional public speaker? All right, let's go.
[00:36] Yuliya Patsay: Welcome to the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast with Alayah Harris.
[00:41] If you're looking for actionable ways to overcome communication and differentiation challenges by sharing radically authentic stories, you are in the right place.
[00:53] Listen in and learn how to stand in the power of your unique narrative to transform your personal life, business and workplace culture. And now, your host, award winning international speaker, strategic storytelling consultant and Japanese whiskey lover, Ruby Coral's mom, Alaia Harris.
[01:26] Aleya Harris: What is Public Speaking 101? What are the basics? What do you need to know? Can someone please just break it down for me?
[01:36] I get it. You're just like, I just need, like, someone to give me some clarity on just like, what are the steps?
[01:44] So I really understand that. And I don't think I, like, I've shared on this podcast before, I kind of took a weird route. Like, I wasn't like, let me go learn how to do this and understand the basics.
[01:55] I kind of just started doing and I think that that made me a great speaker. I was a really great speaker, but not as good as I could be until I went back to understand the basics of professional public speaking.
[02:09] And how do I know that that is true? Well, because the first time I was nominated for a Speaker of the Year award, I lost.
[02:19] I was nominated. So I was good enough to be nominated. But I remember sitting there, I had spoken so much in that conference and I was assisting even with the conference and I felt so good and I looked beautiful, but I lost.
[02:35] I was so dejected. And my friend won. And I was very excited for her. She very much deserved it. But I was left asking myself the question, what do I need to change or better represent about myself to win next year?
[02:50] Because I am anything besides a quitter, I was going to win that one, right? So I went back to the basics. I really started paying attention to myself and I realized that public speaking, one on one, yes, it's getting up, holding the microphone, et cetera, but it's really about being of service, understanding what you're measuring on, like, what are the goals of the audience, what are the goals of the presenter?
[03:13] What are the goals of the Organization. What are the goals of the corporate event planner?
[03:18] And then being authentic and connecting, Those are the basics. And once I was able to pull everything back that I was doing and focus on those things, guess what happened the next year?
[03:32] Can you guess? Are you gonna guess? Can you guess? I totally won.
[03:37] I totally won. I won speaker of the year that next year, not only did I win, I actually won twice for two different organizations.
[03:45] So I am going to teach you in this episode some of the basics so that you can be, well, anything but basic. You can understand the foundational elements, the how to be a public speaker, one on one.
[03:58] And what are the fundamentals so that you can use them to transcend and be great.
[04:04] The three steps to begin your public speaking journey. Start off with defining your why.
[04:09] You want to know how defining your purpose, like inspiring others or growing your brand, guides your speaking journey. Journey. So for me, my why is to love people into the highest versions of themselves at scale.
[04:22] And I do that through helping them connect with themselves through my frameworks, through storytelling, through showing themselves how they are connected through their stories to other people. But if your why is to help people no longer be victims or feel like they are victims, if your why is to show people that they are valuable, you need to figure out what that is.
[04:46] Because that will define your topics, your niche, your business, your services where you submit to speak, what your pitch looks like, who you're pitching to, all of it. Your why defines it all.
[04:58] And the best way to do that is to excavate your authentic self, to channel the highest version of you for compelling, transformative public speaking. You need to ask yourself, what is the narrative I've been telling myself?
[05:11] And is that narrative going to serve me for where I'm trying to go?
[05:16] Shed those outdated narratives, replenish your spirit, and enable yourself to connect deeply and resonate with your audience. A great place to start with this is with forgiveness.
[05:28] You want to speak forgiveness into your life because the situation, the trauma, whatever happened, has nothing to do with the other person, has everything to do with you because it's still happening with inside of you if you haven't forgiven it.
[05:39] So forgive yourself for judging yourself. Forgive the person or the people of the situation for doing whatever they did, and forgive yourself for judging the situation. Forgive yourself for being in that situation.
[05:56] Forgive your father, forgive your mother. Forgive, forgive, forgive, forgive. If you need some help on doing that, you can look inside of my book at Spark the stage, which is@alayaharris.com
[06:07] spark oh, I'm sorry, no, that's my course alayaharros.com book or on Amazon. The book is called Spark the Stage and there's an entire essence expedition in there all about forgiveness.
[06:17] But that's a place to start because forgiveness is this, in my experience, some of the stickiest judgment and the stickiest weight that pulls you away from your authentic self. And when you start to get a little more forgiveness, you start to get a little bit more freedom and more creativity and your ideas open up around your why.
[06:36] So I encourage you to first start with forgiveness.
[06:40] Then you have to master the fundamentals and those are the essential skills of presence and energy. Channeling from spirit I don't feel pressure. I'm on stage because I channel from spirit.
[06:56] So when you channel from spirit, you allow yourself to understand that your message is greater than you. Your message is coming through you for a purpose. And you just need to keep your channel open by doing things like practicing forgiveness.
[07:17] And then you take the messages, your why and you use storytelling frameworks to put it all together.
[07:25] Story focused and narrative focused. Talks and brand platforms are more successful.
[07:32] So you should create a radical spark signature talk. And that's my outline and I'm going to walk you through what that outline looks like. The first thing you're going to do is you're going to kindle the desire of your audience.
[07:46] Build the audience's emotional and intellectual desire for change or action. And you're going to illuminate the challenge. What is the main problem that you're going to talk about? You then describe the steps of the journey.
[07:56] There should be three you're going to do step one, step two, step three to take them from point A to point B.
[08:02] You're going to articulate a controlling idea so clearly define your talk central message or thesis that guides the narrative. Then you're going to put in a lead magnet. A lead magnet is something that you give away for free in exchange for an email address.
[08:15] It's a tool that supports your talk's message. Then you're going to steam your presentation.
[08:21] Fuel the journey with steam. You're going to steam it three times. And STEAM is an acronym that stands for story, Teach, Experience, Action and main idea. You're going to tell a story that's relevant to illustrate your key points.
[08:33] You're going to teach something. Give actual educational how to tangible content providing an in room experience that doesn't create dead air. Give action steps to direct your audience of what exactly to do next.
[08:47] And then provide that main idea again, that controlling idea for each section.
[08:51] Then after you steam your presentation three times or the three main sections of your presentation, you're going to reiterate. Reiterate the overall controlling idea by reminding the audience of the core message and its relevance.
[09:04] Have a closing thought or activity.
[09:06] Then you're going to encourage them to share the spark. Encourage the audience to spread the insights they've gained, engage with you. You then reiterate your lead magnet and you provide them a call to action with with your contact details with some clear next steps.
[09:21] That is a storytelling framework for a presentation.
[09:25] So when you are moving through how do I become a pre speaker? One on one, you need a good presentation. So that is the bare bones of how to do that.
[09:36] Then you need to build your confidence. I have four ways for you to do that. These are not by far exhaustive, but there are four things you could do to start now.
[09:45] One, list your top five strengths and read them to yourself daily. You are really amazing and you need to believe that.
[09:52] Next, you can write a letter to your future self about your personal growth. Right? What have you accomplished? What have you attained? Who are you?
[10:01] Third, you can create a confidence mantra for yourself and repeat it daily. I am powerful. I am strong. I am a great communicator. Right? Just have it. Make sure it's about yourself and not controlling other people.
[10:14] And the fourth thing is just do it. Get on stage, start speaking. That's the best way to build confidence is to just do the thing.
[10:21] Right now. I want you to take a moment, take a breath in, hold it and out.
[10:29] One more in, hold it at the top and out.
[10:37] And I want you to imagine yourself on stage just very quickly speaking confidently.
[10:43] And I want you to say out loud right now, I am a powerful, authentic speaker.
[10:50] Feel how your body responds. Are you like, oh yeah, that feels great or oh no, that's a lie.
[10:56] I want you to say it until your whole body is buzzing.
[11:00] I am a powerful, authentic speaker. I am a powerful, authentic speaker. I am a powerful, authentic speaker. I am a powerful, authentic speaker.
[11:14] Whoa.
[11:17] Now that we've done that, take a moment, write a paragraph using my crisis story framework, which I'm going to tell you about in a second. And practice saying your story out loud.
[11:26] Start telling your story. It's the first step to owning yourself on stage. You can tell it on social, you can tell it in email. First thing you do in your story is set the time and place.
[11:35] It was a cold night in 2024, but my hands were hot. As I felt the warmth spread through my face and my body it was the most embarrassed I've ever been in my entire life.
[11:46] That's the beginning of an opening of a great story. What is that going to be like? Second, I want you to articulate the problem that caused the crisis. Third, I want you to outline three steps on how you resolve the problem and how what came of it, the outcome and the moral.
[11:59] And the fourth thing I want you to relate to the broader context. The main idea here is that public speaking begins with clarity of your story, your purpose, and your audience.
[12:10] I want you to master these fundamentals and then the stage is yours to get a jumpstart and dive more in depth. Purchase my book Spark the Stage Master the Art of Professional Speaking and Authentic Storytelling to captivate, inspire and transform your audience on Amazon@aleyaharris.com
[12:27] book if you're ready to get started with your journey to becoming a professional public speaker, sign up at First Spark the Stage. I will help you know that you are 100% doing it right.
[12:36] You can sign up@aleyaharris.com Spark I also will walk you through that crisis story framework that I just gave you really quickly, but I'll go through more in depth in my free yes, FREE Masterclass.
[12:49] Build unstoppable confidence and book speaking gigs without feeling like an imposter. You can watch the masterclass@aleyaharris.com Masterclass your Spark steps. Your homework for this episode is to build your crisis story and say it in front of a mirror or record yourself.
[13:07] You are going to be surprised at how powerful you truly are. Thank you so much for joining us here on this episode of the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast. My name is Alayah Harris and today and every day I wish you lots of love, light and abundance.
[13:23] Bye for now.
[13:25] Yuliya Patsay: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast with Alaia Harris. Vibing with what you hear. Leave a five star review to spread the love and be sure to click subscribe.
[13:37] We wish you love, light and abundance. See you next time.
