How to Become a Professional Speaker? No Ego
Filed under: Become Professional Speaker, How to Become Professional Speaker
How To Become A Professional Speaker
Professional Speaker, Dale Carnegie, once said: ““You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” With a wince, I confess I chose the less noble option for many years in my speaking career. As a minister, I allowed my ego to run rampant. Of course I would have never uttered the words, “Well, here I am.” But, sadly, that was my attitude. Thankfully, I have repented, and I now work hard to honor others. It is my theory that the first moment of interaction in speech and with a person says it all. Think about it: in just one second, the audience to whom we are professional speaking is able to perceive how excited we are. What tone of voice are we using? What about our body language? I am especially challenged with this concept as I walk into my home after a day at work, sometimes half expecting a welcome home party. It is so easy to enter with an attitude of, “Well, here I am.” Thankfully, I have a friend whose example I strive to emulate – my dog, Phoebe. She is a beautiful golden longhair Chihuahua. Although she is housebroken, Phoebe has a “tiny accident” while greeting me every day at the front door. I don’t scold her because she can’t help it. She is just so excited to see me, she loses her control. What an example! What if we all greeted one another the same way? (Occasionally my analogies go a bit too far.) However, in my motivational speaking job I make it a priority to arrive early and stay late in getting to know those who were in the audience. In professional public speaking it is my honor to be able to speak to them.
Business Speaker
A business speaker needs to do his/her homework before delivering a business keynote speech. This requires more work on the part of the business speaker but shouldn’t you expect that of every business speaker that you hire? The best speakers send out a questionnaire which starts the research process and fact gathering on a particular business. Some business speakers deliver the same keynote year after year with little or no
redesign. A professional business speaker gets to know not just about the company but the people in the company before they arrive. Let me ask you a question about your last business keynote speaker?
Did they ask permission to call some of your managers to briefly interview and ask profound questions in order to customize their keynote speech? Did they arrive 45 minutes to an hour before their scheduled speech to meet and greet the audience and then integrate those interactions into the business keynote speech? If not then make the choice to hire someone who will be that tuned in to your company so that it is not only a customized keynote but in the end you’ll say you hired a personalized business speaker.