“Public Speaking for Editing Professionals” (Editors Toronto November 2025 Program Recap)

by Ruth E. Thaler-Carter

Editors might have the reputation and self-image of being introverts, but many of us could become presenters despite that stereotype. Whether you’re working in-house or freelance, you’ve developed experience, knowledge, and a strong skill set; perhaps as a businessperson as well. It might be time to consider becoming a presenter of conference speeches, workshops, webinars, or classes. As support for that goal, here are highlights of my recent Editors Toronto program, “Public Speaking for Editing Professionals.”

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Being a presenter has benefits for you as speaker and the profession as a whole. 

You can get paid for sharing your insights and experience. By becoming visible as a speaker, you could increase your client base if you’re a freelancer or hiring potential if seeking an in-house job. Public speaking enhances your reputation and makes you appear more important and respected.

Every time you present a talk, you give colleagues and peers a share of your wisdom. Not only is that generous of you, but it helps make our profession better by contributing knowledge and experience.

Preparing to present your knowledge as a speaker does not involve a lot of out-of-pocket cost, but primarily involves time and effort. You already have the information in your head; it’s just a matter of transferring it to a script, talking points, or a PowerPoint presentation.

Speaking for free?

Be prepared for being asked to present for free. While some professional associations do pay their speakers, many do not. Some pay honoraria, some cover travel and/or accommodations, but some don’t offer anything in return for benefiting from your insights. Some even expect their speakers to pay for being at the event!

An unpaid speaking engagement has a number of possible advantages: 

• Genuinely useful visibility. The audience might include people who would hire or refer you once they meet and hear you.
• Other speaking opportunities. You might be able to arrange another presentation for which you will be paid as part of the same trip.
• Sales opportunities. If you have published a book or have other resources to sell, you can usually piggyback selling those items onto the speaking engagement.
• Organizational support. Depending on the host organization’s tax status, you can often use the cost of speaking at an event (travel, accommodations, meals) as a charitable deduction or a business expense (disclaimer: I’m neither an accountant nor a tax expert, so rather check with your tax expert).
• Personal. If the destination is where friends or family live, it may be worth making the trip to see them.
• Pleasure. For many of us, public speaking is just plain fun. I enjoy the change of pace from writing, editing, and proofreading, and the opportunities to meet colleagues in person. Of course, I’m the poster child for extroverts, but even introverted colleagues have found that doing presentations can become enjoyable.

Getting gigs

Once you decide to try speaking, you have to find opportunities.

Start with associations you belong to, where you are likely to be known and respected for your skills. Look at current and recently offered programs. Tailor your ideas, along with why you would be the ideal person to present those ideas, to an organization’s mission and whatever gaps you notice in its current offerings.

Some organizations have formal proposal submission processes for interested speakers to follow; others are open to informal messages with your ideas and credentials.

You don’t always have to speak in person. Teleconferences and webinars make it easy to present without ever leaving your home or office. You also don’t necessarily need a host. You can learn to use software such as Zoom to host online presentations yourself and receive all the fees you might want to charge, rather than sharing them with a host organization.

Once you have a speaking engagement in place, be sure to help promote the event. Post about it on your website and social media accounts; through any professional organizations you belong to; in your local press and that of the event location; and inform your friends, colleagues, and family in the case of in-person events.

Prepping for the presentation

Public speaking is said to be one of the most nerve-racking activities we can experience. It might be easier to start locally, perhaps by offering a class at a local writer’s centre, book club, or adult education program.

No matter how skilled you are as an editor, you probably need some training in public speaking. Consider joining a local Toastmasters club to get a sense of how to structure a presentation and practise actually making speeches.

The most important element of speaking success is to rehearse and time yourself. Ask friends, family, or colleagues to critique a planned presentation. Use Zoom or a similar platform to practise and critique yourself.

Learn what to do – and not to do – from other presenters. Watch and listen for what makes the speaker effective (or ineffective), especially body language such as gestures and facial expressions. Look at their graphics or displays to see whether they enhance or detract from the presentation – less is usually more in slides, especially with text.

Take a few deep breaths before you start talking and pause at certain points in your speech. Have a glass of water at hand and take a few sips every so often to slow yourself down. Consider putting notes in your script or talking points as a reminder of where to breathe.

Don’t wing it for your first few speaking engagements: Practise to develop your timing and get a good sense of how much material you need for a given time slot (the rule of thumb seems to be 145 to 160 words per minute for a presentation vs. 110 to 150 words per minute for casual conversation).

You can speak “to” a mirror or your computer screen, or ask a family member or friend to be your guinea pig audience. Some webinars make it possible for both speaker and audience to see each other, but sometimes all you see is yourself. I still find that helpful as a form of audience to direct my attention to. It’s also instructive in becoming aware of making distracting gestures or saying “like,” “um,” and “you know” too often.

If you find that you wrap up with time left but nothing more to say, train yourself to slow down. If you tend to have more to say when the clock winds down, offer to respond to questions by email after the event.

Be prepared to handle the occasional heckler or person who asks long-winded questions. A session moderator might handle those situations, but the speaker often has to manage them. Don’t be afraid to tactfully cut someone short.

For webinars, ask listeners to put their questions in the chat or Q&A area of the platform and say you’ll respond at the end of your presentation. For in-person sessions, say there will be time for questions at the end of the session (and be sure to leave a few minutes for that).

One old saying about public speaking remains useful: “Tell ’em what you’re going to say, say it, tell ’em what you said.” In other words, have an introduction, then a narrative, then a conclusion. It isn’t necessary to open with a joke or include jokes in your presentation.

Find a couple of people with whom to make eye contact. Be sure to make eye contact with several audience members rather than only interacting with one person for the whole talk.

PowerPoint displays might not be necessary, but there is a role for them: to repeat and reinforce your verbal points, as well as to illustrate complex ideas graphically. If you do use slides, do some research on what makes them attractive, readable, and useful.

The look

What to wear, what to wear? It’s usually better to dress more on the formal side than informal – that makes the speaker look professional and shows respect for the audience. If you’re doing a webinar (or TV presentation), a solid grey, beige, or blue outfit will look better than the glare of a bright-white one. Large or loud-coloured patterns take attention away from you and can look clown-like. Of course, sometimes a themed outfit is fun and makes sense: I always get compliments when I wear my sentence-diagramming dress at editing events, or my cat-themed outfits at Cat Writers’ Association programs.

The bottom line

Editors can overcome that assumption of being introverted, and actually succeed in engaging with colleagues as public speakers. Keep your eyes peeled for speaking opportunities and let us hear from you!

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Ruth E. Thaler-Carter is an award-winning freelance writer, editor, proofreader and speaker; the owner/editor-in-chief of An American Editor; and secretary of Editors Toronto and co-editor-in-chief of BoldFace.