So You Think You Can Speak?

Have you ever watched that reality show
‘So You Think You Can Dance’?  I have
only seen it a few times but what
occured to me while watching was that
the speaking industry isn’t all that
different.

Many times a dancer would be under the
impression that they were incredibly
talented when in fact, they might have
been just average. Sometimes….they
were downright bad.

Which category would you put yourself
into?
__Incredibly talented
__Above Average
__Average
__Downright bad

Seriously, I’m sure none of you would
say downright bad, but the reality of
this industry is that you need to
constantly sharpen your skills.

Some speakers who are booked 100 times
per year at $10,000 per gig still get
help with their content and presentation
skills.

Even Joe Calloway, who many of you
admire, continues to learn and grow
every day of his career.

Because Joe is so talented, he was
chosen to be the 1st subject of my new
DVD series entitled:  The Killer Keynote
Diaries:  How to Develop and Deliver a
Keynote that Blows Them Away.

If you were at the National Speakers
Association Convention in Phoenix, you
might remember Joe’s ‘Let it Go’ speech.
That speech has had resounding impact.

On the DVD, you get the live
presentation as well as an interview
with Joe on what made it so powerful.

We’ll talk about…. opening, stories,
humor, timing, engaging the audience,
corporate clients, taking risks and much
much more.

You’ll be inspired to take your speech
to a new place and perhaps the next
survey you take about talent, you’ll
move up a rung.

This DVD is available starting today.
Click here to get your copy.

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html

(You may have to cut and paste this
link).

In the speaking industry, we can’t just
hope that we might have talent.  We have
to move towards greatness every single
day and this is a step in the right
direction.

Happy Speaking!

ps:  If you’ve already purchased any
Wealthy Speaker product – check out the
special pricing available to you.

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/killerkeynoteDVD.html

Are there any fresh ideas out there?

I was asked to be interviewed this past January
for the Voices of Experience CD series for
National Speakers Association.

During the interview, I talked about a couple of
my clients who were doing some fresh things in
their speech and in their marketing. (Like Scott
Klososky who bought the cow on stage and Steve
Little who has a cool, interactive website).

From this conversation, ‘The Fresh Idea
Challenge’ was born.

I was actually nervous to announce the contest
because I thought so many ideas would come pouring
in that I’d have a hard time handling them. Not!

Let’s just say I was underwhelmed by the
response and it got me thinking…..

1. Either people are afraid to share their fresh
ideas (perhaps others might ‘adopt’ them) or….

2. There are no fresh ideas.

I cannot imagine that it’s #2. In fact, I know
that speakers are some of the most creative people
on the planet so I’m putting out the challenge
again and the winning ideas will be posted on my
website and broadcast on the summer edition of
Voices of Experience.

Here’s what you should do if you have a fresh idea
in the area of marketing (things that worked to
get you booked with clients) or platform (things
that worked from the stage that the audience and
client loved).

Write a 1 paragraph description of the idea and
a 1 paragraph description of the results and
send it to jane@speakerlauncher.com

We know that in our industry ideas are shared and
recycled and reworked – that’s part of the
industry. What we are seeking here is something
that we may not have heard before or new twists on
old ideas.

Your name will be used along with the idea but if
you got the idea from someone else (even if you
put your own spin on it) please credit them as
well.

We’ll keep you posted.

ps: My book ‘The Wealthy Speaker’ was a
complilation of ideas that I gathered from my 18
years with the National Speakers Association.
From the minute I arrived at my first convention
in Washington DC, to last month in Denver, I’ve
been learning. I owe everything I know to NSA’ers
including the likes of Thom Winninger, Mark
Sanborn, Joe Calloway, Kris Young, Mark
LeBlanc…. I could go on for hours. The
spirit of sharing is NSA. Let’s not let fear get
in our way.

Laptop Dies, But Speaker Doesn’t

Imagine it’s three minutes until you go on stage
and your brand new laptop dies and takes your
slide show and presentation with it.

Then, you are introduced.

You walk onto the stage, close the laptop lid, and
say ‘apparently, we’ll be doing something
different today’.

That’s exactly what my client June Cline did last
week when her technology failed.

And you know what else happened? She changed up
her program on the fly and delivered an
awesome keynote.

What would you have done?

How much are you relying on technology or props in
your presentations?

This past weekend in Vancouver, the caliber of
keynote talent at the Canadian Speakers convention
was really high. But several speakers shone through
for me and for the most part they used two tools -
their voice and their bodies.

Now I’m not saying that anyone using technology
should stop. But I would ask ‘if the electricity
went off would you still be an effective speaker’?

How much of your presentation stays inside a
comfort zone?

And really the bottom line question is, ‘are you
getting all the work that you desire’? If so,
these questions may not be necessary.

If you aren’t 100% happy with your bookings, then
this exercise is for you:

1. List 3 things that you will do in 2007 to help
move your presentation to new heights.

2. Define 2 risks that you could take to move out
of your comfort zone.

3. Send 1 e-mail to a colleague or friend and ask
them to support you in your goals.

And if you’d like to work on your business over
the holidays, I’ve got a special holiday reading
offer just for you. Check it out.
http://www.thewealthyspeaker.com/system2.html

What do cows have to do with risks in speaking?

A few weeks ago one of my clients, a technology
futurist named Scott Klososky took a risk during
his presentation.

While speaking to a group of CEO’s, he was making
the point that we all need to do more to give back
to the world and that technology makes it easier
than ever.

He then went on to purchase a cow live during his
presentation from a charity called
http://www.heifer.org. Heiffer provides a
pregnant cow to a family in an impoverished
country and the family that receives the cow (for
daily milk, etc.) gives the calf to another
family. The lives of 2 families were changed with
one click of his mouse.

The risk for Scott wasn’t buying the cow for $500
in front of the group, it was challenging his
audience to do more.

This holiday, I would like to take a risk.

Normally, I would purchase a gift of some sort for
my coaching clients. Sometimes a Starbuck’s gift
card, or personalized stationery. But this year,
I’d like to buy my clients a cow to say the
following….

Thank you for your business this year. I
appreciate you and want to demonstrate this
by paying it forward to a family who needs us
both.

I think my clients will appreciate the intention.

So how can you take a risk this holiday season?

What could you give your clients that would have
meaning?

How can you think outside of your usual routine to
do something different?

What’s your cow?

Perhaps you’ll give an entrepreneur some seed
money through http://www.kiva.org

Maybe there is something closer to home, like the
NSA Foundation’s Katrina Fund? Or a fellow
speaker who could use a helping hand?

If we all took just one risk, something that we
wouldn’t normally do, what would the results be?

Incidentally, Scott’s presentation resulted in
donations pouring in to http://www.heifer.org and
started a wave of something positive. Families
received cows, chickens and a host of animals that
would change their lives, possibly forever.

His risk paid off.

I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

A keynote is just a workshop on steroids, isn’t it?

A keynote is just a workshop on steroids, isn’t it?

The answer to that question is a resounding, ‘NO’!

A keynote has completely different elements than a
workshop (or training or seminar).

Many trainers would like to make the transition
and earn more as a keynote speaker. Many keynoters
would like to make their speech better so that
they get booked more!

Join myself and Patricia Fripp on:
Wednesday, September 27th at 3pm Eastern
for the career catapulting teleclass:

TURN YOUR TRAINING TREASURES INTO KEYNOTE GOLD
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.fripp.html

You will learn:

- the distinct differences between keynoting and
training and why you MUST know them

- the quickest, most effective way to design your
keynote

- how to have the audience captivated from the
first 5 minutes

- the inside secrets of awesome story-telling

- the absolutely, undisputed, guaranteed way to
get booked again…and….and again….

http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.fripp.html

Hold your spot now, we are already 50% full.

Jane Atkinson
Speaker Launcher
519-951-6934

http://www.SpeakerLauncher.com

ps: This class is FREE for Wealthy Speaker book
purchasers, click here to find out how to get your
copy today and join the class for free.
http://www.speakerlauncher.com/teleclass.fripp.html

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