CHAPTER 1
ARE YOU THE NEXT GREAT SPEAKER?
Embarrassingly, I have already accomplished every single thing in this book that I will advise you to avoid. And everything in this book Iām going to encourage you to do, Iāve stubbornly avoided at some point in my career. My writings in this book are from nearly 30 yearsā experience in the business as a professional speaker. Learn from my mistakes and my wins. If I had someone share with me what Iām about to share with you, it would have saved me ten times the frustration, and made me one thousand times the money one hundred times faster than I did over the span of my career.
I canāt tell you how many business owners each month contact me asking for advice on public speaking. Some even wanting to get into the speaking business full time. While the names are different, the scenario is almost always the same.
āI want to inspire people to take their lives to the next level!ā
āI want to help people live their life with passion.ā
āI want to help people tap into their full potential and start living the life of their dreams.ā
āI want to show people how to turn their dreams into realityā
āI feel my experiences could help out a lot of people.ā
The list goes on, and I can predict within remarkable accuracy who they are emulating. By the words they use, I can tell if they want to be like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Oprah Winfrey, or any of the other life-changing celebrated speakers in the market.
Hereās the shocking truth. If you want to be the next Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela, you will never become the next great one if all you do is reiterate the same lines from the people who inspire you.
If you want to be āthe next great speaker,ā (and I mean this with absolute respect and admiration for the people Iāve mentioned above, and even those who Iāve left out) then stop setting your sights so low. Think bigger. Think better. Be willing to say something people havenāt heard before. Stop trying to be the NEXT anyone and instead, focus on being the FIRST of your own. Thatās how those people Iāve mentioned above claimed their legacy. They delivered their knowledge in a fresh new way that nobody had ever heard before.
What Does It Take to be Great?
Being a great speaker in todayās market goes beyond just getting on stage and making people laugh, or smile, or tear up from inspiration. There have never been more people vying for stage timeāor trying to create the next viral video. If you really want to make an impact, you will want to focus on 3 main areas. And this book is broken down into 3 sections, each one reflecting one of these areas:
#1 On StageāDeveloping the best stage persona you can. Trust me, just because youāve been speaking your whole life, it doesnāt qualify you to get on stage and speak. Make no mistake, that ease of dialogue and fluid conversation you see from the greats is all well-timed, rehearsed, and well-thought out. This book will show you the method to their madness.
#2 On CameraāSome of the worldās best speakers on stage choke when they get in front of a camera. Or even worse, they try to use the same stage skills with a camera only to have mediocre results. This book will reveal specific techniques that work only for on-camera presentations so youāll be able to switch between your on-stage persona and on-camera persona for maximum effect to the viewer.
#3 Behind the DeskāThis is actually the biggest part of being a great speaker. The amount of time you spend writing a speech, practicing a speech, and arranging the details of the negotiation for your appearance are all so critical, yet mostly overlooked with many of the speaker training programs you find in the market today. This section, in the end, will be your favorite part, because it will save you tens of thousands of dollars in mistakes, and will give you much more on the plus side when booking your appearances.
How Great Do You Really Need to Be?
There is a strange phenomenon in the speaking world. The overwhelming majority of speakers usually tell their audience the importance of always striving to improve in one form or another. The messages vary, but the underlying tone is all the same. And indeed, most speakers follow their own adviceāin all areas except one: public speaking. They will become a student in every area of their life, but the one area that seems to get neglected is improving the way they communicate their messages. Iāll assume you are one of the exceptions to this rule since you are reading a book right now on public speaking.
So why donāt most speakers try to get better at their presentations? I believe there are two key reasons: #1. Theyāve been speaking their whole life so how hard could it be? They think that itās just like speaking normally so itās no big deal. This makes about as much sense as thinking you can compete in the Olympics just because youāve been running since you were a little child. #2. Theyāve already received so much praise from people, they think theyāve already āmade it.ā After all, why rock the boat? They have so many references for how great of a speaker they already are, why mess with such a proven track record of success?
This is why Iām sharing this insight with you, the exception to this way of thinking. I want to make sure you donāt become one of the many who believe their praise. If you do, then you will plateau very early in your ability to move through the ranks of professional speaking. Yes, I realize Iām switching between the term public speaking and professional speaking. Keep reading; this will be covered in this chapter and itās a very important distinction.
Hereās why being satisfied with your presentation skills creates a stagnant career. Audiences have varying degrees of approval, and even the worst speakers can find audiences that will approve. I feel it should be the goal of a professional speaker to hone their skills to the toughest of audiencesāthe ones that are the most difficult to impress. Once you can please them, you can wow any crowd.
What Iām about to tell you is going to ruffle some feathers. Itās going to downright piss some readers off. If it angers you, then so be it. But if it does, I hope you will put the book down, vent, and then return to read this information as objectively as Iām writing it. I have no hidden agenda; I have no issue nor malice toward any of the groups Iām about to identify. If you have spoken to any of these audiences and received praise from the group, Iām not taking anything away from your accomplishment. Rather, Iām trying to prevent you from falling flat on your face if/when you decide to progress to the next degree of audience approval.
There are certain people in the world who are natural skeptics. You might be one of them. Likewise, there are others who are, by default, more open-minded. You can satisfy an open-minded person far more easily than a skeptic. To impress a skeptic, you have to work much harder. You have to be more convincing, have evidence to back up your claims, and articulate your message far more powerfully with a skeptic than with someone who willingly accepts what you are saying because they are pre-disposed to possibilities.
Audiences are made up of people. Some audiences attract more open-minded people, others attract more skeptical people. Itās important to realize something very important: whether an individual or a group is open-minded or skeptical, it doesnāt determine how good they are as a person. This isnāt a conversation about character, itās a conversation about how easily someone accepts what you tell them.
As a speaker, if you are sharing your thoughts with a group of open-minded people, they will be more likely to compliment you on your performance. It will feel great! They will line up just to have their picture taken with you to post on their Facebook wall. Speak to a group of skeptics and the room will clear out faster than a room full of kids who hear the ice cream truck driving by. And thatās even if you deliver a technically flawless presentation!
So which type of audience do you want to speak to? My advice is to be that speaker who can get the biggest skeptics to sing your praise. Be the speaker who can get a room full of skeptical people to want to know more, want to get to know you more, and want to share with others how great your ideas are. And I recommend this not for ego, but for impact. If you want to make the biggest impact possible, strive to be the best communicator you can.
The following is a list of audiences, as I see it, from the most open-minded, to the most skeptical.
ā¢ Faith-based Groups
ā¢ Multi-Level/Network Marketing Audiences
ā¢ Public, Self-Help Audiences
ā¢ Public, Business Development Audiences
ā¢ In-House, Company Training for Employees
ā¢ Leadership Training for C-Suite Executives
ā¢ Angel Investors
ā¢ Venture Capitalists
Again, this IS NOT a reflection of the quality of the audience. Itās simply a matter of how easily impressed they are by a presentation. Iāve seen some amazing network marketing speakers who can bring the house down at a national direct marketing convention, and when they try to speak to a corporate leadership team, they are met with folded arms and a room full of suits checking their emails on their smartphones.
And I want to be clear: Iām not even remotely implying that spiritual leaders are bad speakers and couldnāt impress a panel of investors. The fact is, there are many who can. They are amazing at what they do, and thatās also why they are at the top of their game in their field. When you look at some of the greatest faith-based speakers like a Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham, or more recently, TD Jakes, Rick Warren, and the Dalai Lama, these speakers are clearly amazing, and could most likely win over the most skeptical people to their cause, and in some cases, have done so. Anthony Robbins, who has generated billions speaking to the public on self-help technologies, is so good at what he does that he can speak to any group of venture capitalists and most likely convince them to invest.
I also want to clarify that open-minded DOES NOT mean stupidānot by a long shot, so donāt treat someone who is open-minded like they are stupid. If you do, they will not respond favorably. And Iām not for a moment saying that all churchgoers, network marketers, and lovers of self-help are open-minded either. I am saying that, by and large, when they gather into a large group, they are easier to persuade than a room full of skeptics. If you donāt believe me, look at how many times the word āfaithā and ābelieveā show up in a spiritually inspired message. Then count how many times āfaithā and ābelieveā come up in a venture capital pitch for a multi-million dollar investment. Venture capitalists care less about what you believe or how much faith you have in your product, and are more focused on what you know for a fact and what the market has already proven.
So how great do you need to be as a speaker? It depends on how far up the scale you want to go from open-minded to skeptical. This book is written for the individual who wants to make an impact at any of those levels. I want you to be prepared for any audience you might face.
All Public Speakers are Broke
Thatās a pretty bold claim, and completely unsubstantiated. In fact, itās downright incorrect, because many public speakers have a day job that they rely on to make their money. But if a public speaker wants to earn a living being paid to speak, then they will need to transition from a public speaker to a professional speaker. Whatās the difference? Quite simply, a public speaker pays for the privilege to speak; a professional speaker gets the privilege of being paid for speaking.
At last count, the most popular public speaking organization is Toastmasters International, and in my opinion, itās the absolute best place to go to overcome your fear as a speaker and learn how to feel comfortable giving presentations. At my last check, they had nearly 250,000 members in more than 12,500 clubs in 106 countries, offering a proven and enjoyable way to practice public speaking.
The one thing missing, however, is a proven and enjoyable way to get paid for it. In fact, itās the oppositeāyou pay them to get up and practice speaking. Toastmasters is a great organization; they have helped hundreds of thousands of people correct bad habits like excessive āummsā and āuhhsā as well as fidgeting, and nervousness. They help you to work on your comedic timing, write speeches, and articulate your message more clearly. They arenāt designed to teach you the business side of professional speaking.
This book is not only intended to share with you the most up-to-date skills for public speaking, itās also intended to help you become a professional speaker. Remember:
Public speakers pay for the privilege to speak.
Professional speakers get paid for the honor of speaking.
As a business owner, with the exception of philanthropy, it does you no good to be a public speaker. Youāre a professional, so Iām going to ask you to respect your value. This book is designed to set the record straight, and share with you some simple steps you can take, as well as alert you to some key errors you want to avoid when transitioning from public speaker to professional speaker.
Many entrepreneurs think they arenāt a professional speaker because they first think of themselves as the person who runs their own non-speaking-related company. Make no mistake: if your ability to speak to the masses will end up in you garnering additional business for that company, regardless of what you think, you are a professional speaker. Embrace this, and present yourself as one.
For public speakers, those who are not paid to speak, the importance of speaking skill or business strategy leans in the direction of skillāabout 85% to 15%. Focus your efforts on your ability to speak clearly, articulate your thoughts, and captivate your audience. This will make those times when you are on stage more enjoyable to you and your audience. It will be more emotionally rewarding and thereās a good chance you will be asked to co...