If you wish to become a guest lecturer or full-time lecturer, there are many roads to take. All of these roads do contain a similar theme of expertise, as only those fit to share a wealth of knowledge with an interested audience become lecturers. The routes may be through education, experience, or entrepreneurial success, but all require a vast knowledge of the subject being lectured and a plethora of communicative abilities.
If it is your goal to become a guest lecturer, you may find yourself employed in a variety of capacities. Wherever there is a medium for education, there is a need for lecturers. Education is not limited to traditional schools and universities as learning anywhere at any point in life can be considered educational. Guest lecturers give speeches, talks, or answer questions pertaining to their fields. These people may be Nobel Peace Prize-winning physicists or amateur computer programmers who've developed popular sites.
All you really need to work as a guest lecturer is knowledge and an audience. Acquiring the necessary knowledge can be done in a number of ways. Many people choose conventional education, such as bachelor's degrees followed by graduate degrees. This route is time-consuming but is the most surefire way of learning a particular subject. It can also become rather expensive as educational costs have risen significantly in recent years.
Thankfully, other methods for gaining expertise exist. These include experience, which can be gained professionally through company employment or personal endeavors. A techy, for example, can become a guest lecturer in technology through becoming highly educated, excelling in a corporate facet of technology, or developing a desirable technology product. Once your particular skill or knowledge has been mastered, you need to find a way to share this with an audience, which is the second necessity of being a guest lecturer.
In order to become a guest lecturer, you probably need an invitation. Invitations may come through word of mouth if you have a strong reputation, but for the rest of people who wish to work as a guest lecturer, an effective marketing plan is a must. This plan needs to target those who choose guest speakers and be geared toward showing your expertise to these individuals. This process can be very much like a job application, involving a series of documents or conversations specifically conducted to determine which speakers or lecturers are best. If you become an expert, gain experience, and follow a marketing plan, with a little bit of luck, you could become a guest lecturer in a subject of your choice.