Rich Speaker, Poor Speaker

Happy New Year. It’s time to step up and take massive action toward growing your business through public speaking.

This year resolve to become a rich speaker! A rich speaker gets their message out to the world, creates change and really makes a difference. A poor speaker–well, a poor speaker stays poor and makes no difference at all.

Here are 10 great tips on how to become a rich speaker.

1. A rich speaker prepares ahead of time. A poor speaker wings it.

As far as I’m concerned, you can never be too prepared. Outline your speech and then practice it. Speak it out loud. Speaker’s speak and writer’s write, so speak your speech!

Do anything and everything to prepare ahead of time. The day before I give a speech, I have the directions confirmed, know what suit I’m going to wear, have my bag packed, and I even have my introduction prepared to give to the host who will introduce me. All I have to worry about that day is the presentation itself.

A poor speaker tries to wing it. Oh sure, you can write down a couple notes, not practice, and just talk; but what would be the result? Whose lives will you touch? Probably nobody if you do it that way.

In order to change people’s lives and businesses, you need to be really prepared, really connected to the material and deliver it in such a way that it speaks volumes to the audience.

2. A rich speaker builds rapport. A poor speaker is full of themselves.

Building rapport with your audience is easy. The best way is to be prepared. They will know as soon as you open your mouth if you are or not. Look each person in the eyes. And smile! Genuinely share your love with them. Let them know you care.

Asking questions will build rapport. Call people by name, if they have name tags. If they don’t, the events I’ve attended (nearly 2000) always have a networking time before the speaker speaks. Get there early and meet people. Start building rapport the moment you get there–even in the parking lot. The people you meet in the parking lot might be going to the same place as you. Even if they aren’t, you’ve made a new contact.

Poor speakers are full of themselves. They will not even bother to build rapport. They don’t make eye contact. They look up at the ceiling or above the crowd. They are in their own mind. They don’t even know that they have an audience.

3. A rich speaker shows appreciation. A poor speaker is unappreciative.

Showing appreciation happens in many ways. Thank your audience for attending. Listen to them and, if you can, take their questions instead of blowing them off. If not, let them know that you appreciate them asking or for being curious, and ask them to hold their questions until later.

Say thank you, hand out gifts, and ask your audience questions in a loving way–whatever you can do that fits your topic. Always show appreciation for them being there, for their attention and time. There is so much that competes for our time, our attention, and energy. So thank them. Never forget this.

A poor speaker won’t even think of thanking the audience. And if they do, they’ll say, “hey, thanks for being here,” without any emotion or heart behind it.

4. A rich speaker captivates with stories. A poor speaker just brags.

Captivate your audience with real stories. I listened to one speaker whose entire presentation was story, after story, after story. I was enthralled. He had me on the edge of my seat. His name is Ben Gay III.

He told a story about how he had taught at a leadership seminar in a prison where Charles Manson was incarcerated. When Manson heard that he was going to be there, he asked to see him. Believe me, I was captivated. I wanted to know the result of that encounter. When he saw Charles Manson he made him feel so significant, so important, that it was like he was under a spell. I tell this story not to honor Charles Manson, but to demonstrate a great story that captivates, one that shows what it means to make your audience feel significant.

Imagine that you’re on the stage and you make people feel really significant, that they matter, feel empowered. Don’t you think they will get up and buy your product or service? Yes, they will.

A poor speaker just brags about what they’ve done and name drops. Their stories don’t captivate the audience, they just make the speaker feel important.

5. A rich speaker gives an experience.  A poor speaker just talks.

Several years ago, I went to see Tony Robbins at his “Unleash the Power Within” seminar. I paid extra so I could have a seat up front. I was writing down things, and then I got sucked up into the whole experience. Tony knows how to give his audience an experience. He uses everything. Everyone gets involved. It’s an amazing experience.

A poor speaker just loves to hear themselves talk. They don’t care about their audience or know what their audience is doing. They are just going blah, blah, blah. . .

Before I went to speak to this one group, I went a month ahead of time to learn more about what they were about. I knew we were all in trouble when the speaker spoke on “101 Ways to Market Your Business.” This is a perfect example of an individual not caring about his audience. He had too many points to make. He just shot them off like a machine gun. He was so into himself that his audience tuned him out. I felt cheated.

Another Tony Robbins story is about how he makes you feel so significant. He was on this big stage, and at one point people were rushing up and touching him. I was in the front row, so I ran up, too. I reached up and touched his thumb (he had hands all over him from people trying to touch him). He turned and looked at me–right in the eyes. He was so sensitive that he could tell I had touched him. I felt so significant in that moment. That’s a rich speaker — one that gives the audience an experience.

6. A rich speaker speaks from the heart and soul. A poor speaker speaks from the head.

Maybe you think you don’t know how to speak from the heart and soul. I didn’t either. It takes time to learn how to do this. Beginners must first speak from their head, to get their speech down, get their rhythm down, then eventually they can add heart into their speech. Speaking soul to soul takes even longer.

The only way to learn how to speak from the heart is to get out there and speak! First, you’ll speak from your head. You’ll need to give at least 200 speeches before you start worrying about selling from the platform or speaking from the heart.

Poor speakers never speak from the heart. They continue to speak from their head.

7. A rich speaker gives overwhelming value. A poor speaker gives hot air.

Rich speakers are not afraid to give of themselves; share their stories, their losses, their triumphs, their failures, their secrets, or their values. They believe they can help you immediately. If you give your audience something of value, they will want more.

Don’t ever be afraid that your audience will steal your material or do what you do. They can’t–not in 30 minutes. So don’t worry about it. I’m not saying give away your formulas or your system, but give them enough value that they feel like they’ve had enough and want more. Have you ever opened up a box of chocolate and eaten only one piece? Make sure you give them something so delicious that they will want more.

A poor speaker gives the audience nothing but a lot of hot air. Smoke and mirrors. I’ve heard speakers where you’ve been waiting for that “ah-hah” moment and it never comes. You wonder what it was all about.

8. A rich speaker listens and watches the audience. A poor speaker doesn’t.

Listen and watch your audience when you’re speaking. Watch their body language. Your audience will let you know if they are bored. You need to be sensitive. Rich speakers look at their audience and know.

At one of my big events, “Market Your Way to Wealth,” one of the speakers was Matt Bacak, promoter, internet marketer and multi-millionaire, who was going to speak on continuity programs. He noticed on the agenda board that someone else was speaking on continuity programs, so he switched his topic. He was such a pro he was able to switch immediately.

He went on stage and gave a fantastic presentation. At the end, he hesitated, and then he changed his offer. When I took him to dinner afterwards, he told me that when he put his offer out, nobody moved. So he changed his offer and went down. He would have kept going down until somebody moved.

That’s a pro; that’s a rich speaker. If he hadn’t changed his offer, he wouldn’t have gotten one person up. The minute he got someone up, more followed. He watched his audience, he was sensitive to them, and he changed to meet his audience’s needs. That’s what a rich speaker does. A poor speaker doesn’t even notice.

9. A rich speaker sells properly. A poor speaker makes you feel slimed.

Rich speakers learn how to speak from the platform without being too “sales-y” or slimy. Rich speakers give a lot of value when they sell their products or services. They have learned how to do it right.  They give a lot of bonuses to take action.

A poor speaker either makes you feel slimed from over-selling or instead of selling from the platform ends by saying, “Thank You” and walks off the stage.

10. A rich speaker invests in themselves. A poor speaker invests in things.

A rich speaker invests in improving themselves. They will get more training and more training. To be a rich speaker invest in yourself! Invest. Invest. Invest! Rich speakers invest in the things that will help them make money.

Poor speakers invest in gadgets and gizmos–things that aren’t going to make them money or improve their business.

So invest in yourself and have a great year speaking your way to wealth.

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Arvee Robinson is a Master speaker trainer, international speaker, and author. She teaches business owners, service professionals, and entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a marketing strategy so they can attract more clients, generate unlimited leads and grow their businesses, effortlessly. She teaches a proven speaker system for delivering persuasive presentations, and easy formulas for creating killer elevator speeches and magnetic self-introductions. Arvee has helped hundreds of individuals to win clients and close more sales every time they speak. As a high-energy motivational speaker, Arvee has shared the stage with speaking giants such as Mark Victor Hansen, Joel Bauer, Loral Langemeier, Chris Howard, Dave Lakhani, and many more. Arvee offers private coaching, workshops, home study courses and weekly tele-classes. Her persuasive speaker training programs transform ordinary business owners into superstars in their industry.

For more speaking tips go to http://www.instantprospeaker.com