As you enter the new year and complete another year it is good to reflect. I have a question for you that may help guide you in this exercise. How do you view your life today? Is your life like a candle…or is it a firey torch? How would your partner or close friends describe it? Is it just flickering or is it burning brightly?

Throughout your life, we’ve all had many opportunities and privileges of life in such a free land as America. As a motivational speaker you will experience some of the most rewarding work in speaking to people and helping them find motivation and inspiration in their lives… to help light their flame. In becoming a motivational speaker you get impact the lives of others and share hopes, fears, strategies, laughter, and warmth with your audience. All men and women who enter this profession will not only be a giver but you’ll receive countless, remarkable blessings and you absorb the qualities in others that you meet along the way. Do you make an effort every day to make sure your internal flame is burning brightly? When you do this people take note and it will be the key to your success as a motivational speaker. Olympic flame gets passed on from one person to the next, I, too, in my speaking job want to honor others and hand to them some of the inspiration I’ve been given.

>>Tip 1-It must be your own speech. Don’t ever take anyone else’s material and try to make it yours. You have to speak in public with authenticity. It’s got to be your own stuff to start with.

>>Tip 2-It must get them laughing. You have to thinking in terms of entertaining and funny. In my business we say “funny as money”. That’s what we tell each other all the time. If you can tell the story that can move a heart, awesome. If you can get them laughing at the same time, even better. If they can laugh and turn it into a cry you just hit pay dirt. I don’t care what your material is.

>>Tip-3 It has to crystal clear what you message is. First of all, you got to decide what is my message. A lot of people come up to me and say “James I want to be a speaker like you, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. My friends say I speak well, I want to join so where do I start.” My first question I asked them is, “what’s your message?” People look at me dumbfounded sometimes and say “I don’t even know what you’re asking me?”. What is the message that you need tell everybody? What is this message that is burning on your heart so much the you have to tell everybody? People look at me and say I can speak on anything, whatever they want me to speak on I can speak on. Wrong! This may be the only time they ever hear me and I want them to hear this special message that I have that no one else has. In other words, your speech will be powerful if it is coming from your heart. If it is just a powerpoint information presentation. Cancel the event and just email it to them. Your presentation skills will shine when you put your heart into the message.

>>Tip 4 It must move the company or audience forward. Does the message help them improve as a company or in their personal lives? Don’t let them leave the room after your presentation the same way the came in. You have their attention so go for it!
Give them inspiration and a call to action.

>>Tip 5 It needs to be a signature story. In other words, it is a story you have practiced, rehearsed and tested for impact. You can test it at dinner with family, on video and get feedback. But it needs to be a great story. As a professional speaker, I have several signature stories, as many speakers do. My favorite one is, the Nordstrom Story, so that’s my story about customer service that audiences rave about every time. I use props and get them laughing at my mistake of leaving my dress clothes at home. I talk about a real life drama where Nordstrom opened their doors early to help me buy clothes before my keynote speech. (Listen to part of it by clicking here) These are just some quick tips to consider as you first write out your speech. In my workshops I spend 3 hours just talking about how to tell a story so you can see there is much more to learn about making great speeches.

Presentation Fire School-Training Course for Speakers  will help you maximize your presentation skills and will take you to another level. Click Here.

I’ve recently attempted something radically different in my reading, just to see where it would lead.  I started reading ten different books simultaneously.  This synchronicity has led to several new ideas, both personal and entrepreneurial, as well as to a little shifting and realigning in the good old gestalt. You might give this a try and see what happens to speaking and writing.

Here’s a list that was helpful for me starting out as a presentation skill trainer.

1- Taking Center Stage- Masterful Public Speaking Using Acting Skills, by Deb Gottesman and Buzz Mauro

2- Adaptation to Life, by George Vaillant

3- Simple Abundance, by Sarah Breathnach

4- Access to Inner Worlds, by Colin Wilson

5- The Transparent Self, by Sidney Jourard (one of my favorite books)

6- Hidden Power:  How to Unleash the Power of Your Subconscious Mind, by James K. Van Fleet

7- The Speaking Industry Report, by Lily Walters

8- A Whack on the Side of the Head, by Roger von Oech

9- The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, by Debbie Ford

10- The Pre-Publishing Handbook, by Patricia Bell

We often think of the comic who can’t get a laugh a performance that bombs. Did you know that in your public speaking jobs that going past your allotted time can turn a good speech into a bomb? It is called Overtime public speaking.”Stand up so you’ll be seen. Speak up so you’ll be heard. And then
sit down so you’ll be appreciated.”–John Davies, Business Speaker and Trainer

Ready for a stiff motivational speaker to motivational speaker challenge? I submit there is a direct correlation between the overtime minutes of a speech and the Motivational speaker’s ego! If you just had a distinctly negative reaction to this theory, the red warning ego light may be flashing– Ego! Ego! Addressing an audience is a blessing; not stopping in time is a curse. “Leave ‘em wanting more” is an adage most business speakers can quote, but few can follow. Even when we know that it is always advantageous to cease while the fire is still hot, the dreaded ego too often has the last word (or words). While I was visiting a friend in Texas, a motivational speaker I know invited me to sit in on his Saturday morning class. This presentation skills workshop was scheduled from 11 to noon. The class was fantastic, and we were all involved and learning a great deal. However, high noon was approaching quickly, and I noticed that people were getting just a little bit antsy. The bell to end class rang at noon, and the teacher went on as if he hadn’t even heard it. Students still listened to him, but I could sense a significant energy change. A few of them began gathering their books together and looking at their watches as polite signals to the teacher that it was time to go. He continued to speak. Ten minutes later the late-bell sounded. He responded that he had one more thing to say regarding this…and another regarding that… He talked on until about twelve-twenty, when all of a sudden he paused and said, “How’s everybody feeling right now?” There wasn’t a word in response. “Please be honest,” he said. “How is everybody feeling right now about the fact that this class went twenty minutes late?”
Finally, it began to come out. “Well, I’ll be honest with you. I really like your class and always look forward to it, but this is kind of an inconvenience for me. I had a twelve o’clock appointment with
someone.” Someone else added, “My wife has been upstairs for twenty minutes! She always picks me up at twelve, and we go out and have lunch together.”

Similar comments were also made. The teacher then surprised us all by informing us that he had held us overtime on purpose, adding that he would never again hold us past twelve o’clock. “But as future preachers and teachers,” he concluded, “I want you to remember how this feels. I want you to remember how important it is not to keep people overtime.” This was a major motivational speaker training lesson for me because, even though he had one of the most enthralling motivational speaking careers speaker business I knew, people resented even him for going overtime. Just don’t do it.

First you have to start the fire by gathering twigs of skill in Motivational Speaking. This first one may be for pay or “no fee” but you prepare for it as if it is paying $100,000 for a keynote speech. Twigs simply refuse to stack themselves. Carelessly tossing a handful of kindling into the fire pit yields nothing but wasted time and wasted matches. “Stacking twigs” for a public speaking presentation requires meticulous attention as well. It includes such things as arriving early at the site of the event – not ten minutes or half an hour early, but early enough to check, recheck, and connect. Other “twigs” to “stack”:
• Has the room been set up properly?
• Are there enough chairs?
• Does the lighting suit our purposes?
• Have we completed a sound check?
• Did we make sure the lavaliere would be effective while roaming the stage?
• What if we roam the room?

• Is the battery in the mike system fresh?
• Where is the thermostat?
• Who do we contact for technical problems?
• Has a glass of water been poured?
• Are we recording this presentation?
• Is our system ready?
• Are the batteries fresh?
• Is that smoke alarm too close for that special pyrotechnic effect?
• What if the “fireball” is tossed in that direction instead?
• Are the chairs in the audience too close together to permit “intimate” roaming?
• Where are the exits, in case of an emergency? (“fireball”)
• That group singing and shouting next door could be a problem!
• When does their meeting end?

And on and on — twig by twig, we stack for success as a Motivational Speaker. Assuming all of this is done, the next phase of “stacking” is greeting and meeting people as they come in, being sure to give each person you meet your full attention. Sometimes you’ll get some great material for your speech just doing this. One time I was asked to do a public keynote speech at a school.
My motivational speech was prepared beforehand, but I’d never spoken to this group before since I had become a speaker. There
was a dinner before the speech (and may I just mention that they served the finest tri-tip he audience members were parents of children attending this school. Again,
my speech was prepared, but I didn’t think I had enough of the personal touch. When
the call came to get in line, I took my notepad with me, and started meeting people in
line. I’d introduce myself as the evening’s Motivational Speaker and began asking them questions:
“Can you tell me what you like about this school?”
“Why do you have your child attend this school?”
“Who is your favorite teacher here and why?”
I “stacked” some very humorous and heartwarming quotes. Every time I got to the head of the line, I’d excuse myself, and go to the back of the line, still meeting people, interviewing and taking notes. After an hour of doing this, I was extremely hungry, but I had ten excellent interviews, of which I used the top five in my speech. Mentioning their names, their children’s names, quoting their statements, praising the school and its teachers—it made all the difference. I believe it is important to note that I had my speech fully ready and practiced beforehand. I had gathered my wood. Consequently, I had time to further personalize and customize it with these “twigs” in the final hour before “showtime.”
Too many Motivational Speakers spend that hour putting the final touches on their basic
keynote speech and, unfortunately, miss an opportunity to better connect with their listeners. I’ve been blessed to attend an international customer service seminar for the
past few years and heard lots of great Motivational Speakers. But I’ve noticed only one speaker has ever come out prior to his or her speech to meet audience members. That was Dr. Stephen Covey.
Turns out he is one of the most in demand Motivational Speakers