In late 2017, I spoke at an event in Cairo. On the day after the event, the organisers kindly arranged for a tour of Cairo and the pyramids for the speakers at the event (a nice touch).

On the way back from the tour, we were sharing advice with our university graduate tour guides. I said to the graduates that mastering public speaking as a skill early on in your career can be the best thing you do.

I am fortunate that I have been able to forge a side-career as a professional public speaker, and practice my craft on a regular basis, all while seeing amazing parts of the world.

If you are reading this and in the early stage of your career, or still studying, think about how you can stand out (literally) by becoming a confident speaker.

It doesn’t matter if you are presenting to a room of 400 or a boardroom of 4, having a commanding presentation style will win you new business, and accelerate your career.

When I speak, I know that 99.97% of people in the room don’t want to be up doing what I am doing.

This means I can stand out and become better known for my transferable skills.

What are you doing to make yourself stand out from the crowd?

I’ve also been working closely with Martin Brooks, an Impacttologist who helps speakers like me provide even greater impact each time I speak. You can read more about Martin’s work here.

You can watch a full replay of Andrew’s talk below.