Posts Tagged ‘motivational speaker’
As a motivational speaker and consultant, (during my inspirational speeches) I often ask: How often do you become conscious of the side of your own nose? And, if you wear specs, when was the last time you were distracted by the frames? I would guess that your answer to both questions is “not very often”. Am I correct?
This observation is actually surprising when you consider that both your nose and eyeglasses are within your field of view. (My inspirational and motivational speaker audiences are by and large very taken aback.) Which raises the question, because they impinge upon your visual field, how come your nose and glasses aren’t a visual distraction? Here’s the reason why: It’s because your brain filters them out.
In truth, only a minuscule portion of the vast amount of sensory information detected by your senses ever reaches your awareness. Trying to assimilate all this sensory content would be completely impractical. Filtering out all the ‘unimportant’ sensory information, including your nose and glasses, is a key brain activity.
How come – as a motivational speaker - did I think it was important to bring this freaky visual anomaly to your attention? Answer: Simply because (in basic terms) it raises a fundamental issue. This biological oddity got me thinking, does a limited perspective mean limited success? Bottom line, numerous characteristics of our brain filter have a direct effect on our success. For instance, it directs our attention towards our expectations. In this report I’m going to consider a extremely important element of the brain sieve, how it tends towards the negative.
A Negative Focus
The brain sieve focuses your mind towards the negative elements of your circumstances. Need convincing? Then try this easy experiment. (Incidentally I routinely advocate this exercise in my inspirational healthcare programs.)
Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. Now, for the rest of the day, when you “think positive” sketch a “Smiley Face” on one side of the line. Conversely, every time you have a downbeat notion, mark a cross on the other side. Try this test and note which half of the paper you cover first. Most people cover the negative side of the paper much more rapidly than the other side.
What we require is a wider perspective, the ability to perceive the optimistic aspects of a circumstance so we can counterbalance our natural predisposition to drift towards the pessimistic. Why is this important? For the reason that a positive outlook is predictive of success in many areas from sales to sports.
A Motivational Speaker’s Answer…
If you find a downbeat thought pops into your skull, attempt these straightforward action steps:
Tip 1: Recognize the possibility that you’re not considering an similarly valid, more optimistic outlook.
Tip 2: Then, seek a broader, more neutral perspective.
Tip 3: Ask yourself straightforward questions. For example: How bad is this irritation really? Will I still care about it in three years time?
Finally, being conscious of your brain sieve will help you to seize control of your emotions. Take control of your thinking and keep an eye on what happens. Take it from a motivational speaker, you’ll be shocked!
As an expert professional motivational speaker, I get pleasure from motivational sayings. Warren Buffett (the incredibly wealthy financial investor) declared one time: “Practice makes permanent, not perfect”. Fact is, only proper practice makes perfect. Here are a few concrete (and yet effective) techniques that will stop you wasting a lot of your precious time whenever you prepare a speech (or any other sort of corporate presentation).
A Professional Motivational Speaker’s Five Best Tactics
Tip 1: If you need to rehearse a presentation, get going. If you leave it too late to get started, you’re in the worst of both worlds. You’ll have lost the sparkle of of an orator who “wings” it without acquiring the fluid delivery of the professional motivational speaker. And, as you stretch back into the depths of your memory to bring your presentation to mind, you’ll waver over your words. For this reason begin practicing ASAP. Remember, working on a speech always takes more time than you would suppose. So start without delay, today if you can.
Tip 2: (This next strategy was taught to me by another expert professional motivational speaker.) Start the clock and see how long it takes to speak your first page of material. To be clear, I’m not advocating you present your material as if actually before your colleagues, just speak it and time yourself. This easy exercise will give you a clear sense of approximately how many pages of information you’ll need to rehearse to fill your time slot. For example, if you discover that it takes you four minutes and you’ve been allocated 40 minutes to speak then, plainly, you’re only going to have time to get through about ten pages of subject matter.
Bear this in mind and you won’t make the common error of working on 35 pages of information only to discover (often on the day) that you only have enough time to deliver the first few pages of content you spent hours polishing. This is both a gigantic waste of time and makes you appear to be an amateur. Moreover, when faced with this predicament, some speakers try to cram all their information into the time slot by speaking really fast. Without a doubt, this compounds the problem.
Tip 3: Don’t learn your information like a script. Working off a script in this manner and making it sound fluent takes a ton of work. (And that’s for a true professional motivational speaker who knows how to write a script already.) What’s the solution? Simple, follow the middle ground and memorize the arrangement of your main subject areas (but not the line-by-line detail within each subtopic). While we’re on the subject, one of the greatest aspects of using PowerPoint slides is that your blocks of information are prearranged. For this reason you can rest confident in the realization that you “forget your place”. (If necessary, you can easily peek at the new slide to be instantaneously reminded of your next subtopic.)
Tip 4: Videotape yourself. Have you ever watched yourself on video? Most individuals squirm when they watch themselves in this way. So, if you’re like most people, don’t expect to enjoy it. Nevertheless, it’s crucial for your success. Pay attention for verbal tics (eh, em and repeated phrases: “like I said,” etc). Also pay attention to repetitive gestures such as hand-washing
Tip 5: Remember to complete a technical rehearsal. (According to a professional motivational speaker, this step never fails to differentiate the professionals.) It’s wrong to presuppose that you’ll be able to seamlessly work the audio-visual parts of your presentation. Something that seems really straightforward, like using a hand-held microphone, can appear to be brain surgery when you’re in front of a crowd of people.
Follow these ideas and then, on the day of your program, you’ll be able to concentrate on the most important thing, selling your message to the audience. Your audience will simply assume that you’re a professional motivational speaker. Good luck.