Choosing Your Cruise Ship Speaking Topic

I just got off a coaching call with Vicki. She’s a speaker who wants to present on cruise ships but didn’t think she had a good topic for this market. She’s been speaking to corporate groups about software for the past 20 years and didn’t think that would be a good fit for cruise ships.

She said “we’re not all hypnotists who can talk about hot topics like weight los.s after all”.

So I asked her what her hobbies and areas of interest are. She rattled off a pretty long list. “American history, the American Revolution, self-improvement, genealogy, and motivation for women.”

Hold on, wait a second… genealogy! And you don’t think you’ve got a good topic for cruise ship audiences? Do you know how many elderly people take cruises and would love to learn how to trace their family history or put together a family tree?

That topic’s a real winner. Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees, right?

How about “American history”? Don’t you think you could combine our knowledge of American history with cruise ship destinations in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean?

Again, this is a great topic area.

Think About Your Own Hobbies And Interests

Which of them would appeal to:

• a broad cross section of the population

• or to the elderly

• or to families traveling together

…or can be combined with a knowledge of history or geography to make a compelling cruiseship presentation?

But What If You’re Not An “Expert”?

It doesn’t matter if you’re an “expert” in these areas. You just have to know more than your typical audience members.

During the course of our call, Vicki shared with me that she didn’t think she was qualified to speak in these areas because she didn’t have any credentials in them.

Don’t let a lack of credentials stop you from putting together a talk in an area that interests you. Your own passion for the subject matter will be enough to get through the modest amount of research and organization necessary for putting together a simple cruiseship talk.

This isn’t a dissertation you’re outlining. And it isn’t a closing argument you’re making. It’s just a fun little talk that will be of interest to cruise ship passengers looking for a way to kill 45 minutes during a day at sea.

That’s it. Simple.

Oh, and by the way, whenever you are up in front of a group talking about a subject in an organized and prepared fashion, you are perceived as an expert in that area.

You’re the one with the microphone in your hand. You’re the expert simply by virtue of your position in the room. Sure, you can increase the expert status by having some products prepared on the topic. Even better if you’ve written a book on the subject. But it’s not necessary. You just need to pick a topic and outline a simple talk.

Now Vicki’s well on her way to putting together her first cruise ship enrichment lecture. Pick a topic and you’ll have taken an important first step too.

For more information about becoming a cruise ship speaker watch this video here.

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