Chapter 12

The Life of the
Professional Speaker

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Anne’s rules for delivering a great speech
• Set your and your client’s expectations
• Guidance on giving spontaneous speeches

The mind is a wonderful thing. It starts to work the minute you are born and never stops until you get up to speak in public.

—John Mason Brown, Literary Critic

At the start of this book, I told you that this business was often a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. I think it’s important to remind you of that message. Although the road to becoming a professional speaker and trainer may not always be an easy one, I can promise you that it is an adventurous one filled with enormous gratification and personal reward. I have met the most amazing people on my speaking tours. And there simply is nothing more thrilling or exhilarating than standing before an audience and then connecting with that audience. How do you know you’ve made a connection? You feel it. So although it may not get easier, I can promise you that with practice and study you will continue to get better and better at this craft.

I have provided you with many valuable and real-world speaker resources. I hope that you will study them all and use them as tools to start building a profitable speaking career of your own. Plus, there are many great articles and more helpful information available at www.garrettspeakers.com. These helpful insider’s guidelines and articles are include information on working within the meeting industry, the importance of customizing your presentation for all audiences, how to know who makes the best speaker for an event, and how bureaus find the right speaker for the right audience at the best price. Check out these tips and tools and follow the lead of industry pros if you want to join in their ranks.

Another resource is a series of products called The Wealthy Speaker, by Jane Atkinson. I like how Jane started chapter one of her book with the words Reality Bites and then launched into real-world scenarios you can expect to find in this business. The Wealthy Speaker Workbook and Planning Guide and The Wealthy Speaker Audio Book are also good selections for your speaking library.

I have four cardinal rules I follow to ensure that my performance will be top notch. They are simple rules, but for me they set the necessary foundation upon which I can perform at my peak when conducting any event.

1. Eat. Food is fuel. If you don’t eat, you’ll be weak and you may even feel faint. Weak speakers don’t go over well. Speakers who faint are not too popular, either. A dynamic and memorable presentation is going to require all the energy you can muster. A small meal a few hours before you go on is like putting fuel in your car.
2. Sleep. It’s the original sustainable energy. When you sleep, you charge your speaker battery. You’ll look good. You won’t have bags or dark circles under your eyes. You’ll think clearly and you’ll maintain a high level of energy and momentum that will sustain you all day long.
3. Breathe. I’m not being sarcastic. You’ve got to breathe so that you feel it in your belly, not just your chest. I know speakers who get so wound up and nervous, they haven’t drawn a deep breath in years! Do some deep breathing exercises to relax before your presentation. Breathe deeply through your nose and hold it in for five seconds, then exhale and blow it out of your mouth. Do this a few times and guess what happens? You’ll actually deposit more oxygen to your brain and when you do this, you’ll not only think more clearly, you’ll be quicker, sharper, and better able to think on your feet.
4. Get Turned Off! Turn off your cell phone and the switch to your cordless lavaliere microphone or headset. Can you imagine giving a presentation and your cell phone starts ringing? And once you are hooked up with a cordless microphone, be sure the on/off switch is turned off until right before you walk on stage. When that switch is on, everything you say or do will be heard by others, including that last-minute visit to the restroom.
5. Be 100% in the Moment. Pray. Meditate. Be silent before you go on. Ask your higher power to help you to help others. This calibrates your intuition to connect with the audience.

Insider’s Tip

To help ensure that my presentation will be everything the clients expect, I always supply them with a pre-event questionnaire (see Appendix B for a copy of this questionnaire or download a Word version from www.astd.org/speakforaliving that you tailor to your own needs). The questionnaire is several pages long and gives clients the opportunity to tell you exactly what their group wants, what is acceptable or unacceptable, or any sensitive subjects to stay clear of. It also provides you with important terminology you might need to know that relates to the group’s industry. A pre-event questionnaire urges clients to consider ideas and focus on their specific objectives and desired outcomes, and then share those specifics with you. Once you have this information, you can customize your presentation to meet every goal your clients have set. This will result in your speech being a huge hit!

Whoever books you to speak will ask you how you would like your room set up. If you are the keynote in a ballroom, obviously that is going to be set up for a large crowd. But for workshops, training, and executive meeting presentations, you may want tables in the shape of a horseshoe, round tables set for six, half-table set ups, patio arrangement, classroom style, or auditorium set up, and so on. There are many ways in which room settings can be arranged; think about which style would work for your particular presentation.

As you gain experience in this business, you’ll discover that room set ups greatly affect the interaction that takes place—for instance, a classroom workshop, or a class that has a lot of ongoing exercises with people moving about, or a class in which you want to avoid distractions for more intense learning. With experience you’ll get a good feel for what works and what doesn’t regarding your particular style of delivery and facilitation.

You have to be spontaneous to survive in this business. If an out-of-the-blue opportunity presents itself for you to speak, just say yes. Relax. Delivering an off-the-cuff speech can be easier than you think.

Tips for Winging It

1. Trust yourself. You’re the expert. You’ve been doing this a long time. You don’t need notes to practice. You just need you, your mind, and your self-confidence to draw on the information you know so well. Trust your instincts and natural abilities for starters.
2. Think 1-2-3. Take one subject and then focus on three specific points that you want to make. For each point, write down three action steps for accomplishing the goal. Organize these three thoughts on the back of one of your business cards and work them in as you speak. Any presentation outline should fit on the back of a business card.
3. Speak with personal conviction. Believe in what you have to say. Drive home the points you want to make with compelling enthusiasm. Your audience will be riveted.
4. Use a current event or a popular movie scene to make your point. Start out with something everyone can relate to. Connect your subject with something well known and popular. Your audience will get excited if they can easily relate to something timely and topical. This also makes you memorable by association.
5. Use emotion. Relate a personal or emotional story to your subject or a key point you would like to make. Personal stories are remembered long after statistics are forgotten. Did you know people retain information when they are moved to laugh or cry when given an example?
6. Memorize a few unforgettable quotes. Use quotes of famous people for instant credibility and implied endorsement of your topic. Audiences are impressed with speakers who can quickly connect the words of respected experts to their speeches.
7. Speak intelligently. You’ll never be at a loss for words if you stay on top of the latest business and industry trends. Demonstrate your wealth of knowledge on current events.
8. Engage your audience. Don’t just talk. Learn to facilitate responses from people. Ask them questions and then ad lib from their replies. This shows that you can think on your feet and make the experience interactive for audience members.
9. Be honest. Tell your audience you are winging it. Show your human side and you’ll gain their undying support. Remember, audiences want you to be a hit! Be confident in the fact that you look and sound good. Don’t doubt yourself.
10. Pour your energy into it. Speak up. Give it your best shot. Get passionate about the issues and tell it like it is. Enthusiasm makes you a more compelling and desirable speaker.

If you have the chance to wing a speech, you’ll learn a powerful lesson—no one is ever going to know that you don’t know everything they assume you do when you’re doing an impromptu presentation. So just wing it and when needed, use these tips to handle this special communication challenge. The goal is to sound and look polished without warning. It’s easier than you think.

I believe that if you truly want to make it in the business of speaking for a living and possess the talent required, then you can.

If you are passionate about professional speaking, then do it and don’t let anyone talk you out of it. With passion for the business, you can inspire, lead, educate, and bring people to their feet to take some kind of action. And doesn’t the world need more people like that—people who stand for something and take action?

As you grow your business, widen your experience, and gain more professional contacts and knowledge, you will prosper at levels you may never have thought possible—writing books, coaching, creating more products, designing and developing more seminars and workshops, and traveling the world. You will become your own mentor, so to speak.

I happen to believe that all books need companions, just like people, if they are to be more effective and influential. So I am going to recommend a companion book to this one, my book called Be Your Own Mentor.

This book you are reading now will give you the nuts-and-bolts reality of how to build a profitable and successful speaking career and business. On one hand, it’s the professional go-to guide for making this career change happen. Be Your Own Mentor, on the other hand, is the go-to guide for establishing your personal endurance and fortitude for making it in this rough and tumble business. It will not only help you to set your personal course for success, but it will give you the tools you’ll require to tap into your greatest potential as a platform performer, speaker, and trainer. It’s a book that will further ignite your passion for the life-changing experience of building a profitable speaking career.

Years ago there was a famous daredevil circus act known as the Flying Wallendas. Karl Wallenda was one of its leaders and circus tightrope performers. One of his famous quotes is: “Being on the rope is everything. All else is waiting to perform.”

I love this quote because it so accurately describes what it feels like to be a professional speaker. When you get out there on that tightrope—or stage or platform—being in front of the audience is what it’s all about. Everything else leading up to that moment is simply about preparing and waiting to go on.

Welcome to the world of speaking for a living.