Become a Motivational Speaker in 2009
January 12th, 2009I want to introduce you to a speaker who, in his time, set a standard for presentations unapproached by his peers. Several years ago, while living in
South London, I discovered the fascinating story of Charles Spurgeon, and, from the heart of his story, both the theme and title for this book.
I feel connected to this reverend for the following reasons:
• Our fathers were both Baptist preachers.
• We both preached in London, England.
• On a personal note, we’ve both been described as portly, and have relished a fine cigar.
The dynamic Charles Spurgeon was a minister in the Elephant and Castle district of South London in the latter nineteenth century. While researching this “man of the cloth,” I learned some disturbing statistics describing church attendance. During his lifetime, attendance was at an historical low in churches of all faiths throughout England. The average attendance ranged from between five and seven people per service, per church! The notable exception was the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the largest independent congregation in the world, where Spurgeon had a regular attendance of five to seven thousand every Sunday morning!
What really compelled me to study this man’s speaking skills was not just this astounding attendance. It was the appeal he made to his congregation on Sunday mornings at the end of his sermons. He would ask those in attendance to not return that evening so that others would have an opportunity to get in, who that morning had been turned away!
I’d never heard of a minister having to make that kind of announcement. What made Charles Spurgeon so popular? What about him appealed so powerfully to others? In my research, I uncovered an interview with Spurgeon that provided, with the brilliance of a few searing words, the answers I sought. When asked why so many people were coming to his church when other churches were nearly empty, Spurgeon’s response was:
I am on fire for God. And when I preach, people come to watch me burn. His words are worth repeating…”I am on fire for God. And when I preach, people come to watch me burn.”
Here we need to concentrate only on the fire, not the fuel. I don’t want you to be put off by the particulars of our good minister’s flame, nor distracted from the general truth of his message. Regardless of the source that fueled his fire, he WAS on fire, and people came to experience his heat, to watch him burn in his public speaking!
I’m sure that there were other ministers in Spurgeon’s time that were more learned and better scholars, but they lacked his speaking skills.
Spurgeon commanded an intense and authoritative passion during the presentation of his sermons, and this filled his church. (And though I can’t prove it, I feel certain that most of his congregation didn’t arrive early to fight for the pews at the back of the room.) Likewise, we need that passion in order to burn. If we have intensity in our presentations, it will show, and it will have that same kind of appeal and attraction. And there’s something I want you to keep in mind, something that I cannot emphasize enough:
The fire you want burning during your motivational speaking doesn’t start by accident.
It has to be carefully, methodically built, and every time in your motivational speaking career, people will be not only captivated, but also grateful, firewatchers.
If you’re still wondering just how important it is to add that extra element of passion in your motivational speaking, please allow me to offer you several striking examples—
I conducted a motivational speaker training for a Fortune 400 insurance company. I was in a meeting with one of the company executives who asked if I would be willing to help one of the managers (let’s call him John) with a presentation he was to do in seven days for senior executives. I said of course I’d be happy to do that, as long as John was willing. This executive went on to explain to me that this would be a very important presentation and that John was an excellent manager who probably deserved to be a director. It turned out that the only thing keeping John from being promoted was his lack of presentation skills. I was then told that if John did an exceptional job speaking, he would receive that promotion to director. And I was left with these final words: “Oh yeah, and you can’t tell him about this.”
So, the next day, I met with John. He already had the content that he was speaking on written because it was one he’d spoken on several times. To be honest, he didn’t seem that excited about it. I said to John, “Why don’t we really go after it this time and make this presentation better than it’s ever been?” “I know, John, but for this Monday night, why don’t we go for it? Let’s put in some good humor, create a very captivating introduction, and initiate a call to action?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about doing that much.”
“John, we have six more days. We can practice it, we can rework it, we can really spice it up and make sure it’s fantastic! What do you think?” That’s when he blurted, “Here’s what I think- I think you are more excited about my presentation than I am!”
“No offense, James, but I’m not very interested in putting too much time into this. I already pretty much have my thoughts together and I know what I want to say.”
By now, I was really biting my tongue. I pressed on.
“I know, John, but for this Monday night, why don’t we go for it? Let’s put in some good humor, create a very captivating introduction, and initiate a call to action?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about doing that much.”
“John, we have six more days. We can practice it, we can rework it, we can really spice it up and make sure it’s fantastic! What do you think?” We laughed about it a bit. Of course, I couldn’t tell him what was riding on it, but he did practice, and he did rehearse, and he did a truly wonderful job on the presentation. As a result, he was promoted to director and is probably now on his way to vice-president. I often wonder if there are not hundreds, even thousands, of stories like John’s. Are you ready to make 2009 the year you become a motivational speaker? Let’s go.
