Motivational Speakers have a tough job. They have to take a room filled with sourpusses and turn them into smiling jacks. Easier said than done. Especially if the Speaker is a survivor of some nightmare experience and has to revisit that event every speech just to collect a speaking stipend. If not, they have to find something interesting, funny or stirring to say that will move a crowd.
I have presented over 1200 live speeches or programs over the years. Not an easy thing to do, but it has taught me some important lessons. What I have learned will help any newbie break out from the multitude of Motivational Speakers to become a highly-paid speaking superstar. Considering most of competition, it isn't that hard.
The Professional Speaker Community can be a scary place. It's filled with screamers, actors, story tellers, sellers and people trying to do bad impressions of Elvis, Dracula, the Beverly Hillbillies and Mike Wallace. Most of these types come, go and have a speaking shelf life of about two to five years (thank goodness). The last thing you want to be is some flash in the pan and people forget about the next day.
While times, technologies and audiences change, a Speaker's appeal should not. Long-term popularity is not based on a spur of the moment topic or the Speaker's ability to drown out noise from a 747 taking off with the volume of their voice. It's about reaching out and touching an audience in a way that makes you memorable.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an average Speaker for his venue, but what he had to say was well above average and set him apart from other preachers. He had an important, inspiring and informative message that caught the attention of everyone. Love or hate what he had to say, you still listened and some of us were inspired enough to learn. The same can be said of the Reverend Jonathan Edwards.
Born in 1703, he attended Yale and challenged most of the popular thought and philosophy of his day. Despite having a squeaky voice and bad eyesight that made him hold written sermons close to his face while speaking, his words hit like thunderbolts. It is said that when he presented his sermon "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" for the first time in July of 1741, people grabbed on to support beams and hold on tight to their pews for fear of being instantly pulled into hell.
Two memorable, talented and completely difference examples of great modern motivational speakers are Zig Ziglar and Curtis Sliwa. "I'll see you at the top" is an expression most Zig Fans know well. He has inspired and influenced the field of motivational speaking by combining home-spun stories with sound principles that encourage people to positively market themselves and move forward in their careers.
As a founder of the Guardian Angels and urban recovery pioneer, Curtis has been essential in teaching people how to take back their streets from gangs and drug dealers. These guys are in it for the long haul. There are tons of speakers that deserve honorable mention, but most of them come and go, are better known as writers or find a more comfortable fit in other speaking categories.
The toughest job for someone new to speaking is the development of their presentation. Most audiences have an attention span of 5-10 minutes. That means you have to make a list of about 8 topics or subtopics an hour. For the most part it's about honesty. People love honest, passionate speakers that believe in a topic and have great stories to tell. They can spot a phony a mile off.
If you were born installed with a microchip processor installed in your brain, make use of the wonderful tools available through PowerPoint. These presentations can easily be loaded on to a disc for presentation almost anywhere. Some speakers still use slide projectors, but those are quickly going out of style.
Apart from the bells and whistles of impressive graphics, music and video, it's still what you say that will get you noticed. That makes the development of your speech the most important part of the presentation.
Here are some basics to creating a good Speech:
1. When creating your message, make it yours. Don't listen to or compare yourself with any other speaker.
2. Don't whine. Too many speakers spend audience time trying to settle old scores or target enemies.
3. Always leave them wanting more. Never try and tell your life story in one speech. Less is always more.
4. Speak to satisfy your audience, not yourself. They want to be emotionally moved, lifted and satisfied. If they just wanted information, they have the internet for that.
5. Be constantly aware of your timing. Find transition areas in your speech that will allow you to smoothly move to the next point without sounding like you're working off a bullet list.
6. Be honest and unafraid to share your deepest thoughts, most private experiences and lessons learned. No one likes to revisit bad or soul-testing experiences, but they make us who we are just as much as the good ones do. A good speaker can turn these kinds of experiences into an object lesson for an audience.
7. Whenever possible, keep it upbeat. People's lives are filled with bad news and aggravation. They look to a motivational speaker to say something that will give them enough inspiration to get up in the morning.
8. Allow for changes. Speaking is a learning process. After a few speeches, it's going to be obvious what works and what does not. Get rid of what doesn't no matter how you feel about it.
9. Entertain, inspire and inform. Most speakers get it backwards. They try to inform, inspire and entertain. Motivational Speaking is very different from teaching, giving a how-to speech or presenting a sales seminar. People are not going to associate a topic with you; they will associate you with a topic. YOU are the attraction. Anyone can talk about chickens, but when Frank Perdue and Colonel Harland Saunders were alive, they were the ones we expected to talk about them.
10. Treat your audience with tough love when necessary. People listen to Dr Phil (God help us all) because they like what he says and the way he says it. He tells people what they want and need to hear, even though it sometimes seems insulting and degrading. Many of his colleagues say he gets it wrong sometimes and a few have tried to have his license to practice yanked, but people love him.
10. Speak with your audience, not to them. Think of your speech as a comfortable one-sided conversation. It's like going to a party, get together or meet up. There are always a few people everyone likes listening to. They have a way of smoothly communicating wonderful ideas or tidbits of information without hitting you over the head. They are polite, courteous, tolerant, intelligent and well-informed.
11. Learn from Oprah: Create a target audience. Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential people in the world, especially with working women. That was no accident. Some years ago she decided to break out of the standard daytime talk show model of hosting fights between feuding lovers and exposing the fathers of babies live on the air through DNA tests. Instead, she took the high road and began to cover topics that were important to working and professional women. That change lead to a higher value audience, books, book clubs and you know the rest. If you really want to stand out as a Speaker, find and feed your target audience.
12. Test drive your talent. It might be a good idea to try out your speech a couple of times on a local level before seeking representation or trying to land high-paying gigs yourself. I started speaking as a young teen and, believe me, there is nothing more frightening than a local Rotary Club, Lions Club, Jaycees, the Shriners or Masons. Women's Groups, Senior Centers and Church Clubs also present a challenge for Speakers; but all these are nothing compared to presenting material at university student activity events, private corporate functions, conventions or reunions. Big time paid gigs are the wrong places to try material out or test your speaking abilities.
Once you get your presentation together, call some of the not-for-profit groups and offer to present a free program for their organization. Rotary Clubs make a good starting point because you'll be speaking to professionals and business people. If nothing else, you'll end up with some nice certificates honoring you for your speaking efforts. They always look good on any speaking resume and I've got a drawer full. Speaking for local clubs, groups and churches will give you a chance to get your act together.
High Schools are next. High Schools can sometimes give you a taste of what speaking before college students is like and help you develop a thick skin. You'll need it. Many colleges offer speaking conditions that range from primitive and annoying to dangerous. Problems can include no heat or air, bad information and directions, contact people that could care less, zero promotion of your event and hostile audiences that don't like your topic. But that's where the speaking fees can be lucrative, so learn to deal with it.
Public Libraries are normally wonderful places to speak and provide a good opportunity to gage audience reactions to your presentation. Most Library Program Coordinators care, promote an event to the best of their ability and provide a reasonably comfortable setting for speakers and audiences alike. The audiences represent all ages and backgrounds giving you a chance to find out who your topic and presentation appeals to the most. Some libraries offer small stipends for speaking, so you'll also get some gas money out of the deal in most cases.
Speaking for local groups, schools and libraries gives you the opportunity to shake down your presentation until it best serves you and your audience. It will also get you in shape for the rigors of extensive public speaking. Anyone who thinks that it's an easy job should try it sometime. I can recall presenting five programs over seven days in four different cities on several occasions and remember how completely exhausting that was.
When it comes to motivational speaking, it's going to be just you and the audience. Make sure you have something of value to say and that you say it well. Turn those sourpusses into smiling jacks and give your audiences a reason to remember your name.
Read more at http://www.BillKnell.com
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