Speaking Season - 21 of 107

A relatively good turnout last night - some folks drove in from up to 2 hours away to discover how to send their kids to China next year as student ambassadors. Even though I was a one-man show again yesterday, hearing how far these folks come to hear about the opportunity, and the students enthusiasm for international travel, inspires me to put on an energetic show.

Energy is a big seller - whether you are selling an actual product, or simply a way of thinking. The more authentic passion you show on stage, the more likely you'll transfer that energy to the audience. Notice the word authentic - people WANT you to be energetic, but they want it to be real.


How do you manufacture energy on the spot? Try these methods that have worked for me:

1. Be passionate about what you're selling. As many a sales and consulting guru are want to say, the first sale is to yourself - if you believe it, your audience is more likely to as well - and the energy will flow from your enthusiasm.

2. Talk to those who are using the product or living the idea. Transfer their success and enthusiasm to you!

3. Focus on original aspects of what you are presenting - Unique Selling Propositions. For me, yes, lots of programs are out there sending kids to other countries, but don't offer self-esteem training, home-stays, meetings with government officials, and service projects designed to give students interaction with the communities they're in. Pumps me up just typing about it.

4. Do new things in your presentation. A few days ago, I started my presentation about Australia in an accent, a last minute choice. Added a lot of energy right up front -  and results are in, its one of my highest enrolling groups of elementary students all season.

5. Psyche yourself up with music and physical movement offstage before you go on. To be honest, I have never done this, but many top speakers swear by it, including Tony Robbins. Someday I'll have to test this one.

6. If all the other aspects are aligned, but you're exhausted from travel, try this last resort - 5 Hour Energy - all the kick of a Monster Drink without the potty breaks. Test it ahead of time to see how it affects your system, results may vary.

Depending on your speaking schedule, energy may or may not be a problem. Being on the road, giving this many presentations over a compressed time schedule, energy is definitely a challenge. Don't let weariness creep up on you, or creep your audience out of buying into your program - be ready to energetically Speak...& Deliver!

Speaking Season - 21 of 107

Last night my Super Deluxe Robot Leg and I got some *star* treatment by the Sound Engineer for Mitchell Auditorium at the College of St. Scholastica - Scott Pike. Scott recently took this job to be home with family after 20 years on the road with rock groups like Toto, Aerosmith, and yes, my favorite, STYX! His adventures took him all over the world, but he said life in Duluth is just as rewarding, now that he finally has more time to spend with his wife of 25 years and four kids.

Many speakers like to say they shared the stage with other top speakers - but how many can say they've shared the same Sound Engineer as Dennis DeYoung? Sound and lights were definitely in good hands last night.

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I started yesterday morning in Marshall, took 5 hours to get to Duluth just in time for my set-up, then another 3 hours to Bemidji, MN, landing me at lakeside hotel at about 12:30 am. One last presentation tonight before the Labor Day weekend - and I'll again be without volunteer help. Likely a small meeting, but as beautiful as Bemidji is, I bet there are still plenty of students who'd love to get the chance to walk on the Great Wall of China next summer - so I'm getting ready to be ready - to Speak & Deliver!

Speaking Season 20 of 107

All By Myself...

Tonight I spoke at Marshall High School to a group of about 130 people - High School and Junior High School families - and I was almost, but not totally, all by myself. No teachers, 1 alumni student, and a principal subbing for the AV guy. 

Despite the overall lack of support, it was a pretty good meeting, I believe. I added a lot of content  of my own in place of the testimonials we normally get from teachers and alumni. I talked about my own summer travels to Europe, and how as a dad of six, I had to check the program out for myself before I'd recommend it to them.

I also threw in the story of my missed opportunity to go to Vienna back in 1989, and how I regretted it, not travelling Internationally until this year. 

Both stories made it more personal, and made a point. Neither is better than actual testimonials, but it was effective enough.

What was really interesting to me was just handling all the setup, the registration, and the Q & A by myself. It was a lot easier than I expected, but I also streamlined quite a bit. Are you ready for the day your volunteers (or even paid folk, like the erstwhile A/V tech, don't show up?

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Speaking Season 14-19 - took place over the weekend at Normandale Community College Saturday, and Sauk Rapids Middle School on Sunday. Uneventful, really, except for the Australian accent I used on the elementary school group. It went over pretty well, but I won't be voicing Outback commercials anytime soon....

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Just 60 hours til I'm on a plane home. Speaking & Delivering is great, but hugging the kids and snuggling with the wife still trumps.

Road School: Lessons from the Road #3

Spent 11 hours driving from North Platte, NE to Minneapolis, MN today. As opposed to straining for radio stations, or even taking advantage of the free XM, I chose Road School - listening to CDs and DVDs from Tom Antion, John DiLemme, and Avish Parashar.

Antion's stuff is a bit dated, but that's my fault, not his, really. Listened to several CDs from his "Internet Marketing Butt Camp" from 2005 or so. Still some good info and inspiration.

"Finding Your Why Now!" was the subject of DiLemme's CD, which was recorded in 2008, but I just got in the mail about a month ago. Solid motivational material, delivered with passion. Thought provoking stuff, and exactly what I needed today.

Even better than those was "Improv for Speakers" by Avish Parashar and Fred Gleeck. 3 DVDs that I listened too as opposed to watched. Even audio only, they were packed with great information, exercises, humor, and actionable techniques to help speakers Speak & Deliver with more energy and spontaneity than ever before.

I highly recommend this set from Avish and Fred, even to the point of offering this (affiliate) link for you to check it out for yourself: Improv For Speakers!

In addition to several hours of listening today, I took about two hours to really think about how I'm going to apply some of the concepts I heard today. Just listening to information is no better than just reading it, if no thought is given to it, and no action follows.

Take some time on your next drive to listen and think, so when you arrive at your destination, you are ready to ACT!

Speaking Season 13 of 107

Depending on your equipment,
speaking can seem this dangerous...

North Platte, Nebraska today. Small audience at the local community college. OK video setup, booming audio, overall a positive experience - except for the microphone, which was corded. I've spoken at 100s of venues over the last 22 years, and only used a corded mic, believe it or not, 2 or 3 times. So few I barely remember.

The most unique aspect about using it last night, however, was something new. Normally, you can feel the cord with your leg and brush it out of your way. With the prosthetic on my left side, I didn't feel a thing, and became super-conscious of not tripping over the cord, which actually made me more uncomfortable than if I had just let it go.

I did practice with it beforehand, like a good little speaker, but not enough, apparently. I never fell to ground, but I did stumble once, and dropped the mic at one point. Bending over with a bad back on stage to pick up a microphone is one of the single most embarrassing actions one can perform on stage. With the leg to boot, I was slowly bending over, with nothing to hang on to, working to not lose my balance and end up on the floor next to the erstwhile mic. At least I didn't have my back to the audience! A humbling experience - but the show must go on, despite the creaking of vertebrae.

The crowd was forgiving, and the presentation went well overall. Not sure how many folks in North Platte really intend to travel next fall, but that, again, is now out of my hands.

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One aspect of being a traveling speaker is eating out every day, which I've touched on before. In smaller towns, I'm usually stuck with chain restaurants and mediocre fare. Interesting though, that a year ago this 'mediocre fare' would have seemed pretty good to me. But now, having had the opportunity to eat at some of the nicer, non-chain local cuisine in the bigger places I speak, I have gotten a bit spoiled. But no matter how spoiled I may have become, I do think I found the world's worst Ruby Tuesday's last night....still, a blessing to be able to eat, right?

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10 hour drive ahead of me today to get to Minneapolis. No speaking, so I guess it makes it a 'day off'. Tomorrow is another 4 pak followed by 3 on Sunday. The next three days are going to fun - because I said so...! Time to go drive now, so tomorrow I can Speak...and Deliver!

Speaking Season - 12 of 107

Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you fight...

Grand Island, NE last night. Great turnout, great presentation, low return.

What do you do when you know you spoke well, yet didn't yield the results you wanted? There's a lot that goes into the success of any presentation, beyond the success of the presentation itself. That is, you can speak well, but there are many other factors at work.

Let's assume (despite the fact that that is one of the biggest mistakes to make) that you were brilliant. The sound and video were perfect. The room was full and you have a great product, service, idea or inspirational perspective to offer the audience.What can go wrong?

1) People Have a Life....and sometimes it doesn't go well. Bad days don't mix well with evening sales presentations - motivational/inspirational speakers have a better shot to turn bad days around than sales folk do, but it's still an uphill battle.

2) People Have Finances...and they can't always buy, no matter how much they want to. Are you in a financially depressed area with an audience to match? I can't control who comes to my presentations, but if you work for yourself, be sure to manage your marketing to an audience who can afford you and your solutions.

3) People Have Priorities...and if your offering doesn't shift them, you're out of luck.

4) People Like to Wait...particularly here in the Great Midwest, where the 'sleep on it' mantra is nearly a biblical commandment. Be patient, results can improve with time.

5) People Don't Like Your Offer...not everything is for everyone, everywhere. No matter how great it is. If you don't like carrots, and all I've got is carrots, you'll go buy your peas elsewhere. Even if I tell you my carrots taste like peas if you close your eyes and see your goal of eating peas.

6) People Don't Like You...yeah it happens. You can't be everyone's favorite flavor. Maybe it was your suit, your accent, or just the fact you reminded them of someone that used to beat them up in the third grade. Get over it, make sure you didn't have ketchup on your tie or toilet paper flowing from the back of your shoes, and move on with life.

If you think of more - please add some below.

The bottom line is to remember that you can only control what you can control. That's not an excuse, that's a fact. Control your attitude, you interactions, your dress, your delivery, your equipment, your stage environment, all to the best of your ability at the time. Take a moment after each presentation and do a self-inventory, and adjust for next time. As long as you know you are putting forth the best effort you can, let the result chips fall where they may. If you're not doing the best you can...well, that's an issue for a different post :)


Tonight's a new night. Time to get ready to Speak...& Deliver!

Speaking Season 11 of 107

Wow, I got to spend two whole nights in one hotel....

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Took an hour at lunchtime to visit a Toastmasters club in South Sioux City, NE - a short drive over the bridge once I correctly identified NE as the state, instead of IA, for the GPS. When I contacted them to see if they were having a meeting, I left off any signatures and such that would identify me as a TM, but was told she Googled me, and hence asked if I'd give a speech. I always carry a speech about my journey through public speaking, and my plea to Toastmasters to give speeches that matter in my 'back pocket', so I was happy to oblige. Great club, wonderful people, and a nice diversion from the stresses of the day job.

Thank you for having me Southland Ciceros Club #2670

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Tonight the sound issues we had yesterday were completely fixed. They set up speakers and replaced a few sound cords, and it was like a concert in that room. In fact, the room was overfilled - 320 people in a room that had chairs added as they were coming in - we only fit 310 chairs - standing room only!

Not quite THIS many....

These families came out in force, not just a parent and student, but both parents, siblings, and grandma for good measure. It created some wonderful energy, and I'm anxious to see how many students sign up for the program next year.

Packed up and got out of there by 9:15, and had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of me to Grand Island, NE. Didn't stop to eat - just went through Arby's - I know, a horrible choice! Still, just needed to get SOMETHING, and fast. Filling up the truck added to my time, and when I found myself weaving, I pulled over and slept for about 30 minutes. So much for the effects of 5 Hour Energy.

Made it safely, obviously, and even maintained enough energy to do my online report in order to make the home office happy with me. Even found time to watch the new SpeakEasy Trailer - but then crash - I was down for the count.
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And to think - I'm not even 10 percent done with the season yet. More later - time for me to prepare for tonight's event. No rest for the weary - just another opportunity to Speak & Deliver!