Continuing Legal Education Today : MCLE for Attorneys & Legal Professionals : Faith Pincus : Pincus Professional Education : Continuing Legal Education (CLE), Public Speaking

 Earlier this week someone on Twitter asked me a question that I have often liked answering: How can an attorney get started in public speaking?

Below I put together a how-to guide, which I hope can be of use to any new legal speakers out there. For new speakers, I would also check out my Top 10 CLE Speaking Tips.

1. Decide on a specific topic you really like to talk about, and know really well.

This absolutely essential for any public speaker, which is why it’s both worthy of repeating and put at the top of the list. The subject-matter of your speeches will set you apart from so many established public speakers, but you must commit to studying this topic on an ongoing basis.

People attend speeches not just to be entertained, but to be informed on the latest trends and techniques in their industry. If you were to focus on social media in your speeches, for instance, you would be on a never-ending quest for information.

2. Decide which type of speaker you want to be: paid or unpaid.

Speaking engagements can serve different purposes. Some public speakers draw the majority of their income from paid gigs, and have done very well doing so. Many other professionals speak publicly to get referrals and clients, promote a product, raise awareness of a brand or cause.

Plenty of lawyers have transitioned from a career in practice to a career in public speaking, while other lawyers have used public speaking as means for building their firm’s profile.

3. Be prepared to speak for free. For a good long while.

It doesn’t matter if you are planning on being a paid or unpaid speaker. Beyond even honing your craft, building your speaking career can take very long before significant progress is made. By taking free speaking gigs, you can get positive testimonials from an increasing list of satisfied customers.

Speech and meeting planners with paid jobs require speakers with a proven track record of success, and a speech topic that audiences will care about. For some speakers, this process of “courting” with free speaking can take months or years but will hopefully generate long-term business.

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Pincus Professional Education is pleased to offer a 30% discount on our 7th Circuit Boot Camp: A Beginning and Intermediate Guide to 7th Circuit Practice (IL) , valid on all new orders through the day of the program on September 24.* Individuals, for example, will save $113.

This deal is especially valuable to new attorneys or attorneys who aren't experienced with the Federal Court of Appeals, because there is no better way to learn the ins-and-outs of 7th Circuit practice. Pincus Pro Education has gathered together a 7th Circuit judge and a career law clerk at the circuit, the Illinois Solicitor General, and a handful of expert litigators. Unless you are a thirty-year veteran of the dynamic Federal Court of Appeals, you will benefit from this program's panel of experts.

For those of you who need at least 20 hours of CLE training before 2012—and I'm looking at you, Illinois Lawyers—then our 7th Circuit Boot Camp kills two birds with one stone. In addition to your CLE Credit, no other program will better prepare you to practice before the 7th Circuit: what the court expects, oral argument tips, briefing best practices, common pitfalls, and big (but easy to make) mistakes that you want to avoid at the 7th Circuit.

This program has been presented in CA and WA for the 9th Circuit for four years in a row and is a winner - i.e. great evaluations - every time!
 

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*How to register with the discount:

1. Visit www.Pincusproed.com or CLICK HERE to register.
2. While completing your transactions online, enter the following discount code:  7CIRC30

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If you like this discount, later on this month we will also be announcing a deal on our "Bankruptcy Boot Camp" Webinar. As always, we appreciate your comments whether they are discount-related or not.

Please contact info@pincusproed.com or twitter.com/pincusproed for any questions or additional information.

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It's been a while, I know!  I am trying to get the hang of this whole blogging thing and have lots of ideas for the future. 

And while the post below might not start any hot conversation, it will hopefully help a few speakers do a better job, and help a few CLE attendees enjoy a program more (if the speakers do a better job! :-) ). 

So for right now, below is list of my top ten CLE speaking tips that I just emailed a bunch of my speakers who are teaching at my Federal Court Boot Camp in Chicago this friday (sold out!).  I thought I would share it here as well, since it is something I send out to the attorneys and judges who speak at my CLE  programs.

Here are my top ten CLE public speaking tips to help you be a hit with the audience:

1)     Spend the 20 – 30 minutes before your program starts mingling with the audience members (instead of sitting on the dias).

• Introduce yourself to at least 10 different people (more if possible). 
• Get their names.  Jot their names down if you can on a note pad/seating chart, so you can remember during the program and mention them by name (or call on them by name).
• Find out why they are there and about what they hope to learn.  I usually ask, literally, “so.. .why are you here?... what are one or two things you would really like to learn about in this program.”
• Why do all this?  It helps make you more approachable, will endear you to the audience, will give you a small representative idea of what some folks want to hear about, and if you are a practitioner, it is an excellent networking tool (even if they are associates) with people who may, down the road, refer you business.  Remember, some of these folks will also be experienced practitioners who are just new to federal court.

 

2)    Don’t read off  your outline.  Use your speaking outline to prompt your memory about what you wish to teach (have keywords/phrases about your teaching topics). 

Make sure you are prepared re: what you wish to teach, i.e. have multiple points and stories/examples written in your outline to cover re: each subject matter/topic, as appropriate. 

3)     If you are going to cite a case for any reason, cite it slowly and repeat it.  If you plan to cite more than one case and they are not in the outline, please bring enough copies of a case cite list to handout to everyone, so they have the resource and don’t have to rely on getting it down properly (think of them as court reporters).

4)     Try to know your stories/examples in advance – it is always hard to come up with them on the fly when speaking in public.  Stories and examples are great teaching techniques, as are metaphors.  Just make sure your stories are not super lengthy.

5)     Don’t let any one audience member hijack the program with questions that are off topic, too detailed/particular to their case, or too many questions about a particular case. 

The best way to handle this as soon as it starts is to tell them some version of the following, “It looks like you have a lot of questions about a particular issue/case, or it looks like you know a lot about this specific issue, can you write down your questions and see me on the break? I’d really like to discuss this further with you, but we need to move on right now.  Thanks!” 

And of course, answer their questions at the break of possible and if not, get their email to answer them later.

 

 

 

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In the spirit of David Letterman's Top Ten... here are the top10 ways to ensure you are not invited back to speak at an event:

10.   Spend the entire time you are on the panel eating snacks.

9.     Interrupt the other speakers and monopolize the program (when on a panel).

8.    Spend so much time reminiscing with your war stories you don't cover all, or even most, of your topics.

7.    Come unprepared and wing it.

6.    Bow out of an event after committing to the program, without providing a replacement speaker of equal credentials and quality.

5.     Present a canned Power Point that you use all the time, but doesnt really fit your topic.

4.     Arrive at the event a few minutes before you present with a Power Point presentation without having made any Power Point arrangements in advance.

3.     Read your outline or Power Point to the audience.

2.     Present on a topic other than what was agreed upon.

And the number one way......

1.     Show up late.

 

 

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I'm excited to announce that I have recently added Finz Advance Tapes to the Pincus CLE line up. 

Brought to you by Pincus Legal Education, Inc., I will continue to deliver the excellent, informative and fun audio summaries and analysis of Torts and Civ Pro/Evidence cases in CA that Professor Steven Finz was known for these past 18 years.

In the tradition of Professor Steven Finz, Professor Pat Cain and other well respected law professors will continue to analyze and summarize the latest case law in CA related to the two available series topics: Torts and Civ Pro/Evidence.  

I have already listened to one of Pat's Cd's and her humor and tone is as charming and easy to listen to as Steve's was.  The next monthly CD release will include Professor John Diamond from UC Hastings and Professor Pat Cain discussing the latest torts cases.

We will announce the Civil Procedure/Evidence professors to take over in a bit.

Please see www.advancecollege.org or www.pincuslegaled.com for more information.

 

 

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