Just because you can speak doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to capture your audience’s attention and drive the response you want. Would you like to know why? Thinking you are a good or great speaker simply isn’t enough anymore.
If you are going to put yourself out there as a speaker, you need to respect speaking like any other profession. To succeed with speaking, you need to respect it and include it as a part of your ongoing professional development plan.
When you get trained as a professional in any respected industry, you continue to get trained to keep up with trends, new information and keep your skills sharp. Speaking is the same. The speaking industry has massively changed over the decades. And at the start of the 2020’s we’ve seen the shift to the virtual global stages.
What Has Changed in the Speaking Industry Over the Decades
In case you are wondering how the speaking industry has morphed, here is a glimpse of it’s evolution. In the 70’s, speakers were lecturers. People came to hear about topics and gather information. In the 80’s audiences wanted presentations. Presenters started to become actors and entertain their audience. In the 90’s audiences wanted more of a conversation. Speakers were called to speak from their heart. Those who also thought they didn’t have to practice because they were speaking from their heart, started rambling and wearing out their audiences. Then, in the early 2000’s, event manufacturers like T. Harv Eker began captivating audiences with commands that were experiential and interactive. These commands to engage from stage spread like wildfire and became overused. Many of these exist today and when you see an untrained speaker use them, you’ll see they start losing credibility with their audience. Today, you need to provide an experience that is authentic to you and compelling to your audience so you can connect with them. You need to find your own styles and be careful not to abuse someone else’s technique and your audience.
Your audience wants an experience that YOU provide. They want to be part of your wisdom journey and presentation. So stop asking them to “give a high-five” or to say, “Yes” after you say, “Yes” unless you want to get some eyeballs rolling in your audience. Get the training that emerges your authentic experiential style – don’t use someone else’s, otherwise it comes across as a gimmick.
The Exciting World of Speaking in the 2020’s
Where we are going in the speaking industry is very interesting. We are now diving into “naked authenticity” where you create unique (to you) an experiential engagement. Audiences want you to get real and demonstrate your core values. Own who you are and what you like. Your authentic voice is more important than political correctness. You want to be careful not to preach. Rather you need to resonate more deeply with your audience. Transparency, more than ever, is critical to your success on stage. There is significant work that you will need to do to integrate your values and resonate with your audience. If you are going to speak today, you must get more training.
Start here
Work on your authenticity. This may require personal introspection, transformation, and evolution on your part. If you think you’ve arrived, you’re not even close. You can model others, but you need you’re own naked authentic moves that align with you and not be weird and turn off your audience.
Current Speaking Trends
By now you may realize how important it is to know the current speaker trends (which continue to evolve) and be willing to step into some continuous improvement. These will be introduced and explained at my Million Dollar Speaker Summit.
Bravo! Looking forward to see you there.
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Watch this short video and learn more:
Continuous Speaking Improvement starts here:
