What Is the Definition of Public Speaking?

Season 5

Feb 5

Ready to step into the spotlight and share your story?

Have you ever wondered what it truly means to be a public speaker? Sure, it’s about standing in front of an audience and sharing ideas, but if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing the magic. Public speaking isn’t just about communication—it’s about transformation. Whether you’re pitching an idea, sharing a story, or inspiring a crowd, the goal is to catalyze change.

As a professional public speaker and storytelling consultant, I’ve come to redefine public speaking. To me, it’s not just about being heard; it’s about being felt. Here’s what you need to know to get started on your journey toward becoming a powerful speaker.

What Is Public Speaking?

At its most basic, public speaking is the process of communicating information to a live audience. But being a professional public speaker takes this concept further—it’s about connecting, inspiring, and equipping your audience to take action.

As I shared in the first episode of Season 5 of The Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast (click above to listen), I’ve learned that the best speakers go beyond words. They’re catalysts for transformation, using their stories and unique perspectives to motivate and empower their audience.

Why Public Speaking Matters

If you’ve been hesitating to step into the spotlight, here’s why it’s worth it:

Grow Your Business: Public speaking is one of the fastest ways to establish authority and attract clients. In my first six months as a speaker, I generated $250,000 in revenue by sharing my story and expertise on stage.
Build Thought Leadership: Sharing your story allows you to position yourself as a leader in your field, creating opportunities to expand your influence.
Share Your Story: Your experiences—no matter how ordinary they may seem—can inspire and empower others. Someone out there needs to hear your story from you.

The StorySpark Framework™

Great public speakers don’t just talk—they create experiences. My Story Spark Framework™ helps speakers like you craft narratives that captivate and inspire. Here’s how it works:

Get Real: Embrace your authenticity. Share stories that reflect your true self and resonate with your audience.
Get Clear: Develop a narrative that’s aligned, compelling, and easy to follow. Your audience should leave with actionable insights.
Get Connected: Foster a deep emotional connection that inspires trust and accountability.

Take the First Step

Becoming a professional public speaker starts with a single step—believing that your story is worth sharing. So, let’s take that step together.

Download my book: Spark the Stage is your ultimate guide to mastering professional speaking and storytelling. Grab your copy here.
Join the Spark the Stage Program: Ready to turn your story into a thriving speaking career? Sign up today.

Podcast Episode Overview

In this kickoff episode of The Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast Season 5, Aleya Harris dives into the fundamentals of public speaking. But this isn’t your typical definition. Aleya explores how public speaking transforms from simply sharing information to becoming a performance art that catalyzes transformation.

Drawing from personal experiences and the inspiring teachings of Pastor Fred L. Hodge, Aleya redefines what it means to truly connect with an audience.

Key Takeaways:

The True Meaning of Public Speaking: Learn why being a professional public speaker is about more than just delivering information—it’s about inspiring transformation.
Why Public Speaking Matters: Discover how speaking can help you grow your business, build thought leadership, and share your unique story.
The Foundation of Transformative Speaking: Explore Aleya’s Story Spark Framework, which helps speakers get real, get clear, and get connected for maximum impact.

Why Listen: Whether you’re just starting your public speaking journey or looking to elevate your skills, this episode sets the stage for everything you need to know to captivate, inspire, and make a lasting impact.

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.

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/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thealeyaharris

Links Mentioned on this Podcast

[00:01] Aleya Harris: When you assume, it makes an *** out of you and me. And I want to stop assuming because I'm not an ***. So I am going to start in this episode with some of the most basics that I can think of, which is the answer to the question, what is the definition of public speaking?
[00:28] That is the question that is kicking off our brain. Brand new season on the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast. We are officially in season five. Thank you so much for coming along the ride and let's break down that question and give you a little bit more of what to look forward to in season five in this episode.
[00:49] All right, let's go.
[00:54] Yuliya Patsay: Welcome to the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast with Alayah Harris.
[01:00] If you're looking for actionable ways to overcome communication and differentiation challenges by sharing radically authentic stories, you are in the right place. Listen in and learn how to stand in the power of your unique narrative to transform your personal life, business and workplace culture.
[01:20] And now your host, award winning international speaker, strategic storytelling consultant and and Japanese whiskey lover, Ruby Coral's mom, Alaia Harris.
[01:44] Aleya Harris: As promised, we are now in season five. Season five of the Flourishing Entrepreneur Podcast is all about stories and storytelling and doing it from the stage. So public speaking, how to become a professional public speaker, plus using the power of story to do that so that you're actually like a good professional public speaker and not just any old public speaker.
[02:15] That's the goal for this season.
[02:18] I'm keeping these episodes short or at least I'm going to try my darnedest because I like to talk. But they're going to be 15 minute episodes. Each solo episode episode is going to have an in depth answer to a key question and we are going to have guests on as well, offering tangible, hard hitting advice to one question or topic as well.
[02:38] Everything of course is going to have some actionable takeaways as usual. And if you listen, I'm going to take you from the very, very basics to some advanced ideas about professional public speaking.
[02:50] The pathway, at least right now, that I'm going to follow for my solo episodes with guest episodes sprinkled in is we're going to go over basic public speaking fundamentals and then I'm going to help you tackle fear and anxiety from public speaking like stage fright, building confidence and skill.
[03:08] Then we're going to move into more practical tips and strategies. What to do from the stage, what to do as a beginner, what do I do with my hands? We're going to move forward then with some more advanced speaking techniques.
[03:19] Talk about professional growth opportunities, how to engage your audience how to handle challenges as a professional public speaker, because it's not always a smooth road. We're going to then move into leveraging technology, talking about ethics and professionalism, and then creative and unconventional speaking, and then how to protect your mental state, your health, your body, your mind, your energy, all of that.
[03:45] And of course, throughout it all, we'll be talking about the fundamentals of radically authentic strategic storytelling. What I just told you is like a year or so's worth of content.
[03:55] So knowing me, if it changes somewhere in the middle, don't be alarmed, but it will only change because I think that I can be of better service to you. With some additional topics thrown in.
[04:06] However, today we are going to start with the very most basic question that I could come up with about professional public speaking, which is, what is it?
[04:19] What is the definition of public speaking?
[04:23] When I think of that, and what public speaking and professional public speaking truly means, the best example I can come up with. And one of my favorite public speaking moments was not at a conference or a corporate event, but it was actually at church.
[04:40] Living Praise Christian center, to be exact.
[04:44] I remember one day when I was sitting there in the congregation and. And I had this moment where I'm like, my butt is on the chair, my body's in the chair, but my mind, my soul, my emotions are swirling.
[04:55] They're activated. I'm fully engaged in what is happening in this room. And I felt like I was being beckoned to a higher state, to transformation, to something more and something more worthy of my efforts by Pastor Fred L.
[05:12] Hodge. It was 2014ish or so. I remember being super dressed up because it's a black church and I was feeling lost spiritually and in life. I was at a job where I cried every day at work.
[05:27] I remember one time at the job, I was so kind of sad and depressed about stuff that I was sitting on the bathroom floor in, like, the handicap stall and somebody, like, called security because I thought somebody had passed out.
[05:41] I quickly got up off the floor. I was just, like, sitting there crying. It was horrible. I felt alone. I was in a sucky relationship, and I didn't know what to do.
[05:51] I thought I was doing everything that I could and I was going to church, was kind of going through the motions. This is when I was, like, super hyper Christian.
[05:59] And in the room, people were doing things that I could tell were performative, running around, hooting, hollering, pretending to speak in tongues, which is always interesting to me. That's a.
[06:13] That's a totally different podcast but not Pastor Hodge. Pastor Hodge, regardless of what everybody else's energy was doing in the room, knew that his job was to educate, inspire, and equip everyone who was truly listening.
[06:31] Yes, he used the Bible as a foundation for his message, but being a powerful professional public speaker is all about just that. Educating, inspiring, and equipping your audience.
[06:45] I don't remember all of the words and the verses he used, but I remember how he made me feel powerful, connected, protected, capable of changing my life.
[06:58] When I left that sermon, I applied for other jobs. I broke it with my no good Nick boyfriend, and I started the journey of owning my gifts. Pastor Hodge created from that stage a catalyst for my transformation.
[07:15] And I didn't realize it, but for many years it was his version of public speaking, that transformative public speaking that I emulated, one that actually helped people. It wasn't about him and being great and wonderful.
[07:29] It wasn't about the money he could get for the church. It wasn't about the hoot and hollering and the speaking in the tongues.
[07:35] It was about helping people. When they stood up and walked out of the church building, they were different. Of course, it's also aligns with what my astrologer told me. My chart basically is that of a business pastor.
[07:49] So this makes perfect sense.
[07:51] So I then want to teach you today how to go beyond just communicating, but to helping people transform like I do now from the stage, like Pastor Hodge taught me how to do.
[08:07] The basic definition, the basic, basic answer of what is public speaking is. Public speaking is the process of communicating information to a live audience. But I don't know about you.
[08:20] I don't like to be basic. And if all you're wanting to do is to communicate information, you're missing it. You're missing it. My definition of a professional public speaker is a performance artist who makes money by clearly communicating helpful ideas from the stage.
[08:41] I should add in that definition that they're also catalysts for transformation. They love people into the highest versions of themselves. But all of that is in how I teach people how to be that performance artist.
[08:51] Because art truly should be that catalyst for change.
[08:55] What you are not is a blog post reader. What you are not is a slide reader. What you are not is a bullet point reader. I could do that on my own time by myself.
[09:09] You are someone who helps create a feeling that motivates people to participate in their own transformation. That is what a professional public speaker does.
[09:22] But it's not altruistic.
[09:25] I know I'm. I am a very loving human I am. But I also like to make money. So why should you become a professional public speaker? You can grow your business.
[09:37] This is how you make money. When I first incorporated my business in September 2020, the six months that followed that, in that six month period, I made $250,000, a quarter million dollars in six months.
[09:50] How did I do that? By getting on stage and speaking. It was speaking that helped me grow my business and it's speaking that helps me grow my business. Now you also can build a thought leadership platform.
[10:02] You want to be known for the ideas and the impact that you leave on the world. You need a platform to be able to do that. You don't want to be a best kept secret.
[10:10] You won't want to be the thing that's hidden away. You don't want to be the thing that when people are like your grandkids are reading your journals after you're long gone that they discover this wealth of experience that the world could have have benefited from if you had just gotten on stage.
[10:25] You want to build a thought leadership platform that is of service. Now you also want to share your story. But Aleyah, is my story worth sharing?
[10:36] That is the question.
[10:38] Then everyone asked me my definitive answer. Yes. Doesn't matter if it's a divorce story. You're like, ah, everybody's getting divorced. Doesn't matter if it's a molestation story. Doesn't matter if it's a I've been laid off story.
[10:50] Someone out there and probably many, many, many people need to hear that story, your story, and they need to hear it from you. You also should become a public speaker.
[11:01] Because my goal and my purpose in life is to love people into the highest versions of themselves at scale. And I offer that to you as a way for you to discover your purpose is to start there.
[11:12] Because by loving and connecting other people, you end up being more loved and connected to yourself and, and to the greater self, that is the universe and spirit.
[11:23] However, there are reasons not to become a public speaker. If you like just want to talk about yourself or you think that this is a get rich quick scheme.
[11:32] Yeah, that's not, that's not what's happening here. Nobody likes to listen to people talk about themselves and you are the first gig that you get as a professional public speaker, most likely you not going to be paying nothing.
[11:44] Now we can talk about how to make money regardless if the organizer pays you or not.
[11:49] But most likely right about now, if you started, you're getting paid 0.99. So you want to really Think about your why become becoming a public speaker? If you have a desire to help others, if you want to share an impactful message, if you want to work with your natural communication style, if you're a natural speaker like I am, then those are great reasons to show up.
[12:11] But just because you're on the stage doesn't mean that you'll reap the benefits automatically. Like, you're not just going to make a quarter of a million dollars by like opening your mouth and letting words stumble out.
[12:21] You have to be good. You can't just be a public speaker. You have to be a good public speaker. And for that you need to understand yourself. You need to use tried and true frameworks to communicate your stories effectively.
[12:34] And you need to engage the audience with confidence. I offer up to you one of my patented frameworks, which is the Story Spark framework, which empowers leaders and teams to use storytelling as a tool for authentic connection, alignment and growth.
[12:50] It's not really about generic strategies like I really don't want you to speak like me because that's weird.
[12:56] It's about using you, your stories, your authentic self, crafting personal and organizational narratives that inspire trust and drive results in your audience. Your audience will uncover their unique leadership voice, as will you, and learn how to leverage storytelling to overcome challenges, foster connection, and achieve meaningful success using the Story Spark framework.
[13:20] The Story Spark framework has three parts. First, you get real. So transformative storytelling begins with authenticity. You have to be real, the real version of you. Not trauma dumping, which is gross, but you have to come across as a real human by sharing, by being vulnerable and courageous.
[13:39] And you're tap into your true essence. Identify your limiting beliefs, to remove them or talk through them and share how you've gotten through them from the stage. And embrace vulnerability to forge those genuine connections.
[13:52] The second part of the Story Spark framework is getting clear.
[13:56] You're going to craft clear, compelling narratives that align your audience's personal and organizational values with a shared vision. You're going to get so clear that it's it can live without you, the idea can live beyond you.
[14:11] You don't have to be the one to say it. It is such a clear concept that everyone can grab onto it. And then you're going to get connected. Because connection is the key to influence.
[14:22] Connection is the key to transformation. Connection is the key to all that money you're looking for. You're going to create an on stage, engaging group experience. That's what it means to be a professional public speaker that that performance artist piece is creating A group experience that inspires trust and fosters accountability for them so they understand, hey, I have something to do now.
[14:43] And I'm holding myself accountable for my own transformation. And it builds thriving teams, cultures and individuals.
[14:51] That is how to become a professional public speaker. That's what it means to be a professional public speaker. And it's kind of a lot, which is why I have this whole series, this whole season where we're going to dive into it more in depth.
[15:04] But for right now, I want you to take a deep breath and say aloud, I am a professional public speaker.
[15:15] I am a catalyst for transformation. Say it with me.
[15:21] I am a professional, professional public speaker. I am a catalyst for transformation. I invite you to say that so many times until you start to get ideas that you jot down.
[15:35] You start to have ideas on the shower, you start to see and envision yourself on that stage, helping, being of service and building a platform for yourself that will live way beyond when you're gone.
[15:46] You are turning yourself into a legend, my friend.
[15:49] In this new season, season five of the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast, we are going to dive into exactly how to become a radically authentic professional speaker who understands how to confidently shine in any spotlight.
[16:02] If you want to get a jump start, you don't want to wait for me to do all these episodes, which is a lot of episodes. I mapped it out. It's a lot of episodes.
[16:09] But like, I got a lot to say and I have a course on it and we can walk through, but I kind of just want to, like talk to you about it.
[16:16] So there's a lot of episodes. So if you want to get a jump start, I encourage you to buy my book. You can get it on Amazon. It's called Spark the Stage Master the art of professional speaking and authentic storytelling to captivate, inspire and transform your audience.
[16:28] You can get it on Amazon or you can go to alayaharris.com book a L E Y-A H-A R R I S.com book if you're really ready and you're like, not only do I want the content, but I want to know if I'm doing it right, I want you, Aleyah Harris, to tell me that I am doing this right and to like look at my ideas and give me feedback, then you can sign up for Spark the Stage.
[16:52] Spark the Stage is my on demand program. That's a 12 month group coaching program with an on demand course that will walk you through your journey of becoming a professional public speaker.
[17:04] Step by step by step.
[17:06] You don't have to do it alone. Professional public speakers are change makers. We are people lovers even when the people don't know how to love themselves. We are clarity catalysts so people can move forward on their hero's journey of transformation.
[17:20] Whether you're speaking from a pulpit, a podium, or podcast, I encourage you to use your voice for good.
[17:27] As with every episode in this season, I'm going to give you some homework so you're not just listening to my melodious voice, you're actually doing something about it. So spark steps.
[17:38] Spark steps are your homework. The first thing I want you to do is to journal about this question.
[17:44] What would my life and business be like if I were a successful professional public speaker? Again, what would my life and business be like if I were a successful professional public speaker?
[17:59] I also want you to meditate. And it doesn't have to be like some home.
[18:06] Don't be like run around speaking in tongues and fake, fake, fake tongues. Right? What I want you to do is to just breathe in and say to yourself as you breathe in, I deserve to be heard.
[18:20] And breathe out any resistance that came up in your body. You don't have to name it, you don't have to pay attention to it. Just if it, if you feel it in your heart or your chest or your feet or your stomach, breathe it in, breathe it out and repeat.
[18:33] Breathe in. I deserve to be heard. Breathe out resistance.
[18:37] Because this, today, right now, this instant, this moment could be your first moment of your journey to becoming a professional public speaker and getting on stage, making the money, making a change if you let it be.
[18:54] All right, thank you for joining for me for this episode. My name is Alayah Harris. This is the Flourishing Entrepreneur podcast and until next time, next time, I'm sending you lots of love, light and abundance.
[19:05] Bye for now.
[19:08] 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.
[19:20] We wish you love, light and abundance. See you next time.

Aleya Harris