being a good speaker

Here are three tips to help you go from being a good speaker who is not getting booked as often as you’d like,

to being an amazing speaker and having a full calendar.

1.  Make a Heart Connection

Have you even been to a big event where a nationally recognized guru spoke and you felt totally underwhelmed?  It’s not a lack of expertise—it’s a lack of connection.

Often, they are relying on their best-seller status, name recognition, and guru reputation.  They’re not engaging deeply with the audience.  They’re not connecting. They are not demonstrating emotional intelligence.

Your audience needs to feel your heartfelt desire to connect with and serve them. They need to have an experience of you. They want to know you care about them.

When they know you’re committed to them, that you’ve crafted a presentation just for them, and that you have a strong desire to help them solve their problems—the audience will love you.

2.  Leave them Thinking, Saying, and Doing Something Different

Plying your audience with information won’t cut it.  They don’t need you for that.  They have computers, tablets, and phones.

What they need from you is a way to make sense of all of the information.  A way to apply what they’re learning to overcome the obstacles they’re facing.  A way to make their lives better.

Before you design your talk, know what you want them to think, say, or do differently.  Then, design an experience that will help them make use of the information and perspective you are sharing with them. Help them take positive action.

3.  Solve Challenging Problems

Your audience is struggling with something.  It’s your job to know what that is.

How do you find that out?  You do research. 

You have conversations with the meeting planner, send a pre-program questionnaire, do on-line research, have conversations with audience members. These things will give you a good idea of what their biggest challenges are.

Give them hope. Give them a path.  Give them next steps. Take them from problem to solution.

This will differentiate you in the marketplace.

Ava Diamond