Monday, August 19, 2013
Motivational Speaking ? Capturing Your Audience
Motivational speaking is an art form, and one that is difficult at best to master. So how to you master the art of ?Motivational Speaking?? The first step is to listen to the greats! Who is the
motivational speaker that speaks to the largest audiences in your field that you admire? Who has inspired (motivated) YOU in the past as you listen to them speak? What motivational speaker do you know of that has a style similar to yours that you would like to emulate?
Borrow from the best! Take what you are hearing from some of the greatest motivational speakers around, and re-write their presentation ? simply say it a different way. I guarantee you, this is what they did. Psychology has discovered that only about .5% of thinking or less is original, most of what we share with others as wisdom is ?condensed wisdom? ? wisdom we learned from others over time and simple condense into simpler forms. Why not just do this process on purpose? Why not say it and add some additional value as you do?
Speak from the heart. Speaking from the heart, making that personal human connection, is the greatest
motivational speaking skill there is. People will focus on your every word when they feel the emotion and sincerity in your heart.
Speak to your audience about what THEY want to hear! This sounds like commonsense, but I assure you it is NOT! Most speakers, when creating their presentation, focus on what THEY want to say, not on what YOU want to hear. They may even think they are doing it for you but they are rarely placing themselves in your shoes as they write or review their speeches. If you really want to connect with your audiences, at the deepest levels, you must write for them from THEIR viewpoint. Think about what they want most, how they feel about things, what pains them, what they are proud of, the struggles they go through, what their secret fears and hopes are, what they wish for most, etc. One of my favorite quotes is ?The head never hears ?. until the heart has listened.? Touch their hearts ? and they will let you put your message into their minds.
Finally, remember that to motivate means to create ACTION. No one is truly motivated unless action flows from it! Be sure to have a strong call to action in your presentation ? tell them clearly what to do. And be sure to give them LOTS of EMOTIONAL reasons to take action. People are driven by emotion, not logic, to take action ? so provide them with lots of emotional reasons to take massive action. Always remember that the word ?Motivate? comes from the root word ?Motive? which means REASON. Be sure to give them lots of emotional reasons to take action, and YOU will be a great ?Motivational Speaker!?
Contributor:
Paul J. Cline
http://theforextech.com