Cruise Ship Speaking: Lessons From An Actual Cruise (Pre-Cruise Preparation)

Note to reader: This series is derived from the program notes of a video production intended for my current Med cruise. The article presumes that you are already approved with cruise line enrichment programs and you are in the process of developing at least one new destination driven program. Such is my experience this cruise.

Cruise ship speaking is hugely rewarding. Not only can you get free luxury travel but it is also a great way to promote you and your business ashore. To really do it well and succeed there are some things that need to be done beforehand. This article covers some of those details you’ll need to prepare for pre-cruise.

If you are cruising to a new destination and need to develop a brand new destination driven program specifically for the new itinerary consider:

1. Before you start work in earnest make sure that you have ran your new program idea by your contact at the cruise line. No sense putting any effort into the topic if it is a flop before you start. Important note: If you want to know why destination programs are so important and how you can put them together even if you are not an expert in the destination then check out my program Speak on Cruise Ships: 8 Easy Steps to a Lifetime of FREE Luxury Cruises at http://www.speakerscruisefree.com/

2. Make sure to give yourself plenty of preparation time. To pitch the cruise lines on your new destination topic all you need is a catchy title and bullet points written in the specific way I outline in Speak on Cruise Ships. But once you have the go-ahead with your topic you’ll need to finish any research you may need to really make your destination topic shine. There is no substitute for good preparation which can take some time. Give it to yourself.

3. Now research to your heart’s content. When I first started it usually took me two to three days to complete the research for a brand new destination talk; now it takes me about 90 minutes.

4. Once I have my research completed I then craft my presentation into the finished product that I deliver onboard. If the presentation lends itself I usually use PowerPoint for my presentations but only following these guidelines.

a. Words only appear in the title (three words max.).
b. There’s an appropriate picture on every page that conveys the message for the main points I wish to communicate.

c. I don’t read from PowerPoint I only use it to augment what I am doing from the stage and I keep the focus on me as the speaker.

d. Generally speaking 22-24 PowerPoint slides gives me enough material to cover 45 minutes. Note: There is usually an additional 15 minute question and answer period after your program.

5. On every new program I do I practice at least once before I deliver it onboard. Even if I’m very familiar with the content I’ll still gather up my family members and do the presentation for them. This is a good way to work out any bugs and also test-drive the time it takes you to do the program. Time onboard (or with any speaking gig) is crucial. If you are given an hour you take at max 60 minutes and not a minute over. Using these tips will make you pre-cruise activities more effective and drastically increase the probabilities that you will succeed once you climb aboard.