It Shouldn't Happen To A Speaker

Hi there!

You’ve probably here because, like me, you have seen quite a few speakers who you knew could have done a better job, or could have enhanced what they did, if only they had done this, that or the other. In fact, if you’re like me you have probably had something not go quite as planned whilst you were on stage in the past. For me, even though I have spoken professionally close to 600 times now, I am still surprised by what takes place, either when I am speaking at an event or if I am attending an event as a delegate. Whatever the reason for deciding to read this I hope that there might be something in there that will help you at some point in the future.

This is not an attempt to cover everything that a speaker might encounter, as it will only be those things that I’ve witnessed myself, and over time I will add my observations, confessions and suggestions to the next thrilling installment.

1) I’m not selling anything, promise

First up is not too bad, but it happened yesterday, so whilst it’s fresh in my mind I will get it down on paper (well on screen, but you get my drift). I was closing a conference for a Police Force and one of the speakers was covering personality types in his seminar. It was all very interesting, but when it came to one particular slide, which had a list of bullet points featuring what the outcomes could be when taking into account another’s personality type, the speaker read from the slide ‘Increased Sales’. There was no one in the audience that sold as they were members of the police force or support staff. The speaker did make an attempt at dealing with this by stating this could be replaced with ‘Better Communication’. It would not have taken him long to have replaced that bullet point to the one he spoke about. We must do all we can to keep as many audience members with us and a slight adjustment to the wording here would have stopped anyone thinking of anything other than what he wanted them to think about.

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What can we all learn from fish?

Fish: I love them and my wife does the most delicious fish pie too. Now, anyone with children might have the odd goldfish or two in the family home and we are no exception. We have two in our house and they go by the name of Wilma & John and they can eat for England. This morning was one of the days where I was not working in the morning so I could take it easy as I got myself ready. So there I was going through my usual routine of brushing my teeth first and through the mirror was Wilma and John trying to get my attention. There they were staring at me and moving both their noses (do fish have noses?) frantically in my direction. I ignored them. I went back into our bedroom and shortly after this I returned to get a shave, which I did in the sink. The same thing happened but I wasn’t having a pair of fishes (how many do you need to call it a school of fish) telling me what to do. As I had more time than I usually did this morning I decided on a bath rather than a shower. It was superb as I lay there, nice and relaxed, teeth cleaned, face shaved and……….hang on. There they were again. Wilma and John jumping about as though someone had dropped an electric iron into the bowl and were being electrocuted. I could take no more. I got out of the hot bath and reached over to where we kept the fish food, took some out and sprinkled some into the bowl. Peace at last.

Now I don’t know what it is you do or where you are in life, maybe you work for someone else, have your own business or its possible you are still at school. Whoever we are we need to get the attention of others. If we are in business we have to stand out from the competition. At work we have to be the one who goes the extra mile so when a promotion arises then you will be more highly thought of. If you are a young person then take a leaf (or possible a weed) out of Wilma’s and John’s book (bowl): get noticed.

As a motivational Speaker i'm constantly thinking about how iCan stand out and get the attention of those who might book me which is why I have recently had a new look to my website and a new speaker showreel.

Do have a great week and go on, get noticed.