Public Speaking Jobs
Are you laughing and having fun in your public speaking job ? Do you love to make other people laugh? Timing is an indispensable quality of all performances and especially in your public speaking jobs, and is so essential in all the conversational arts. For comedians, timing is the sine qua non (“without which is nothing”), and there is no faster way to build this art than by watching others do it well. I study comedians because we share a similar profession as public speakers- we are entertainers.They say it’s harder to make people laugh than it is to make them cry.
So, whenever I get a chance, I visit the local comedy clubs. My purpose is not so much to steal jokes (though I confess to having “borrowed” a few), or even to have some good laughs (though have them I usually do). I’m there to study how a comedian makes an audience laugh or, if he bombs, to discover why he fails. I want to observe how he develops rapport and how he establishes mood and intimacy with the audience. I’m even interested in what they do after a joke bombs. I think of Rodney Dangerfield’s, “It’s murder up here, I tell ya’.” Special notice is focused on their presentation techniques: hand gestures, facial gestures, volume shifts and, most of all, the timing.
Motivational Speaker Jobs
Motivational speaking jobs are not for everybody. You not only have to have some basic speaking talent but be hardwired like an entrepreneur with the ability to be alone with yourself. That’s right. Spend some time with yourself – alone. I used to think of it as a curse but now I’ve read that many people believe that how you feel about being alone is a direct reflection of your self-esteem. I mean if we really don’t like spending time with ourselves, how can we expect others to love being with us? Can you imagine being successful in a motivational speaker job without high self-esteem. This shift in my thinking has helped me be more powerful as arrive and deliver a keynote message to
people I don’t know and that don’t know me. How do you feel about being alone?
I never spent much time alone, until I moved to California. I found this magical place in Northern Californa called Big Sur. I started going for two- or three-night stays. At first it was so
strange being alone and not speaking in public to others! But I was OK, as long as I had my music with me.
One day my friend Carl Patterson invited me to leave my music at home. He enticed, “Wonderful things may happen when there are fewer distractions.” …Wonderful? This was anything but wonderful. For the first eight hours, I didn’t know what to do with myself. No one to talk to; no TV nor radio or phone, no computer nor e-mail… and no music. Just me!
Thanks, Carl (dripping with sarcasm)!
As evening drew near, it finally happened. A reprieve. Something just clicked, and I actually started enjoying those moments. I attained a deeper level of thinking than I ever had before. When you’re in a still place, and you’re steeped in silence, positive things happen. You get to know yourself. I highly
recommend this adventure, my friends. At first my family didn’t understand it. They thought I was
selfish. “What do you mean, you’re going away alone, Dad?” And my wife was suspicious: “Do you have a woman up there?” No. I was just learning to enjoy my own company.
And the way it recharged my spirit and my attitude was incredible! I now go away for “My Weekend” about once every three months. I love this time; I yearn for it. And by the way, my children and my wife no longer question my going…they urge me! Especially when I’m getting a little stressed or short-tempered, they now say, “Isn’t it about time you take off for one of your weekends?” They know that I need this invaluable time; and I think that maybe we all do. It took me 45 years to understand this. I assure you, it’ll improve your relationships and your outlook – and it’ll add fuel to your fire in your motivational speaking career.