The Motivational Speaker Business
Starting a career in the speaker business is like building a big fire. The bigger the fire the greater your income and impact in this analogy.
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
Become a Motivational Speaker
There’s something dignifying and honoring about being introduced as the motivational speaker. It also presents several advantages. Your introducer can “sing your praises,” and this is the best opportunity to have your accomplishments mentioned without.
Most speakers in their motivational speaking career, including myself, have typewritten large print introductions (our “matches”) that they can hand to the introducer to read about our speaking career.
I have different ones, depending upon my topic and my audience. I suggest sending your “Intro” to your “Introducer” to give them time to review it, insert their own comments, and practice it. I usually jokingly warn them against reading what I sent, and beg them not to say, “James has asked that I read this to introduce him.” If that happens, we have essentially just boasted about ourselves. Do that and we’ve just doused the kindling we are attempting to light. Theoretically, wet wood can burn, but it takes a long, long time to ignite.
You only have a brief window of opportunity to “light the fire” and capture the attention of your audience that you are speaking to. The first thirty seconds will determine whether your audience is going to fully listen and participate with you, or tune out the motivational speaker.
Think of the television industry. They understand that they have half a minute to capture your attention, or you’ll start channel surfing. Millions of dollars are invested to maximize the impact of those opening moments. Pay attention to the “tease” of television shows, and you’ll see countless examples of “lighting up.” One question I ask in my training workshops is, “Can you envision every
member of the audience you are speaking to holding remote controls in their hands and pointing them at
you as the motivational speaker?” I picture this and I’m determined to remove any of their temptations to change channels or hit the mute button.
Today’s audiences expect much more than did audiences in the past. They are
ready and willing channel surfers. So we had better ignite a bright fire, and ignite it
quickly. It is critical to grab their attention immediately. Notice how the best motivational speakers are able to employ humor right in the intro. You’ve heard the old maxim, “always open with a joke.” I would suggest, whenever possible, to use humor because there’s nothing like laughter to loosen up people. Moreover, all three of these examples demonstrate a keen awareness of the audience. Phil Town is a great speaker and is purposeful, humorous and captivating. In short, they showcase the art of a motivational speaking job.
