Gerald Lombardo Of The Word Counter On The 5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Authenticity is a key characteristic of an effective public speaker. No matter how much you believe in your message or how well you can present your thoughts, if you don’t act like yourself in front of the group, your audience may view your speech as insincere.

At some point in our lives, many of us will have to give a talk to a large group of people. What does it take to be a highly effective public speaker? How can you improve your public speaking skills? How can you overcome a fear of speaking in public? What does it take to give a very interesting and engaging public talk? In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker” we are talking to successful and effective public speakers to share insights and stories from their experience. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Gerald Lombardo.

Gerald Lombardo is Co-Founder of The Word Counter, a dynamic online tool used for counting words, characters, sentences, paragraphs, and pages in real-time, along with spelling and grammar checking. In just over a year, he built his site from 0 to 600,000 visitors a month. Additionally, he is Head of Link Acquisition at GR0, which is an LA-based SEO and Digital Marketing Agency.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I grew up in Jupiter, Florida. Following high school, I attended Florida State University, where I solidified my passion for words and writing. I am a big fan of fiction and non-fiction literature, and enjoy blogging in my free time.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

While still living in Florida, I began working as a digital marketing specialist writing, planning, and editing digital content and client relations for a variety of businesses and industries. After getting a taste for digital marketing, I eventually moved to a different organization, where I was a content coordinator. Between the experience I gained at both companies, I eventually landed my current job, based in LA, with Gr0.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I mentioned that I am a big fan of words. I will say that I never dreamed that I would one stay start a website — The Word Counter — which would be able to help writers like myself not only keep track of their work, but also to learn valuable lessons about grammar, word etymology, and a variety of other topics on our blog.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Because I have a more literary-focused background, I think I was a little unprepared for what it would be like to write in the digital marketing world. I approached my early assignments almost as if I was trying to write the “Great American Novel.” Can you imagine Hemingway trying to write digital content? That was my mentality. However, once I started to get used to the style, I found really enjoyed the process.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I would say that my British Literature professor Candace Newfield was a great source of inspiration to me as a student at FSU. She was extremely knowledgeable about 20th-century fiction and non-fiction. She used to joke that even though she was married, she knew George Orwell so intimately that they could have been lovers had she been born earlier, and in England. Her passion for literature inspired me to care more about my own studies, which ultimately led to me succeeding as a scholar. I still touch base with her from time to time.

You have been blessed with great success in a career path that can be challenging and intimidating. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

You have to keep pressing on, always. What else is there to do? I have always thought that nothing good in life comes easy. If you want to succeed, you are going to have to face some hardship. Pick yourself up when you fall, and try again.

What drives you to get up everyday and give your talks? What is the main empowering message that you aim to share with the world?

I hope that by getting out there, I can be an inspiration for others who might not believe in themselves. In recent years it has been easy to feel low; the entire world is in the same situation. However, if we don’t push ourselves to grow and improve ourselves as people, then this pestilence has won. Yes, we have all been beaten down a bit, but that does not mean that we can’t bounce back.

You have such impressive work. What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Where do you see yourself heading from here?

Between The Word Counter and Gr0, I am just hoping to do more of the same. I have been able to build The Word Counter from 0 to 600,000 visitors a month in just over one year. I want to keep that up. The same goes for Gr0. My team and I want to continue developing the best possible ways of organic growth through content writing, performance PR, and on-page optimization.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.” — Napoleon Hill. My father was in sales for his entire life, so I was never short of inspirational business books. Hill’s Think and Grow Rich is a classic that I hold near and dear to my heart.

Ok, thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Public Speaker?” Please share a story or example for each.

1. Authenticity is a key characteristic of an effective public speaker. No matter how much you believe in your message or how well you can present your thoughts, if you don’t act like yourself in front of the group, your audience may view your speech as insincere.

2. Confidence is a second quality to have to speak well in front of a group. The longer you can rehearse your material, and know it wholeheartedly without it feeling scripted, the better.

3. Organizing your material effectively will help you stay on track. Make sure your material is engaging enough right at the beginning in order to capture your audience’s interest.

4. Using humor is also a great way to help lighten the mood. Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation. It will help you relax, especially if you can get some chuckles out of the crowd.

5. Finally, remember to breathe! This might seem like a no-brainer, but focusing on your breath before, and during, a speech will keep your stress levels low.

As you know, many people are terrified of speaking in public. Can you give some of your advice about how to overcome this fear?

Patience is essential when it comes to public speaking. You need to be patient with yourself. Remember, public speaking can be intimidating for lots of people. Go easy on yourself. If you start beating yourself up about being nervous, you will inevitably do a mediocre job when you actually speak.

You are a person of huge influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

As someone who grew up on the East Coast and now lives on the West Coast, I have always enjoyed spending time near the ocean. I personally feel that humanity could do a better job of taking care of our oceans, in terms of pollution as well as the negative environmental impacts as a result of industrialization across the planet.

Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have lunch with, and why? Maybe we can tag them and see what happens!

Although I will not be able to have lunch with him in this lifetime, I think Burt Reynolds would have been a wonderful individual to have lunch with. I say this because he was our hometown hero in Jupiter. I actually wore a mustache for many years as an ode to his one!

Are you on social media? How can our readers follow you online?

I am indeed. You can find me at these various channels:

https://www.facebook.com/geraldslombardo

https://twitter.com/geraldslombardo

https://www.instagram.com/geraldlombardo/

This was so informative, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!