One of the greatest satisfactions that one can ever have comes from the knowledge that he can do some one thing superlatively well.
—HORTENSE ODLUM
There are perhaps 10,000 full- and part-time speakers in America today who speak professionally. Twenty percent of these speakers earn fully 80 percent of the total fees paid in the speaking industry. This means that 2,000 of these speakers earn four times as much as the other 80 percent combined.
The top 20 percent of the top 20 percent of speakers—the top four percent of professional speakers, approximately 400 people—earn 80 percent of the speaking and training fees paid to the best speakers.
The top 20 percent of the top 20 percent of the top 20 percent—approximately 0.8 percent of all speakers or about 80 people—earn $25,000 and more for as little as a 20-minute talk. They are often fully booked and earn more than $1,000,000 per year. Some make even more.
The average full-time speaker-trainer in America earns less than $500 per day, although the best speakers on similar subjects often earn $25,000, $50,000, and even $100,000 per talk.
What are the main differences between the lower-paid speakers and the astronomically paid speakers? This is something I have studied and worked on for more than 25 years.
To begin with, most of the highly paid speakers are “Marquee Speakers.” These are people who are famous and well-known for some accomplishment in politics, sports, or business. Best-selling authors often become highly paid marquee speakers as well, at least for a while.
Most speakers are hired by meeting planners or senior executives to address organizations, associations, or business meetings. The goal of the meeting planner is to attract as many people to the convention or meeting as possible. Annual meetings for organizations are usually important sources of revenue for planners, which use them to underwrite the operations of their organizations during the year. The bigger the name of the speaker, the more people will register, pay the convention fees, and attend the annual meeting.
General Norman Schwarzkopf headed the successful military operation “Desert Storm” in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. When he retired, he immediately became a top speaker on leadership. He began to receive as many as 1,000 invitations per year to speak to business and organizational groups throughout America, Canada, and the rest of the world. His fees were consistently in excess of $100,000 per talk.
When General Schwarzkopf retired from the Army, he walked down the street from his official retirement ceremony in New York and gave his first speech as a civilian. He earned more from that single luncheon talk than he earned in six months as the general in command of 330,000 troops in Desert Storm.
The second level of speakers, well-paid but not necessarily famous, are those who speak very effectively on a subject of considerable importance to many companies and organizations. In many cases, they are industry experts who have been successful in their fields and then turned to professional speaking.
These are the journeyman speakers—those who speak on business, sales, management, leadership, personal and professional development, and the humorists. These people are booked over and over again because they please their audiences consistently, and their reputation spreads.
The best speakers, in either category, marquee or non-marquee, have two important qualities.
Even if you have no intention of ever becoming a professional speaker, knowing what makes these people stand out to audiences is useful for learning how to be a better speaker in your own circles. Here are some of their rules.
In the meetings industry, word of mouth is the single most important determinant of repeat bookings. Before a meeting planner will hire a speaker, especially an expensive speaker, the meeting planner must be convinced that this person will attract a lot of attendees and then please their audiences.
For that reason, in the speaking industry, we often say that the job of the speaker is to make the meeting planner look good. When the meeting planner hires an excellent speaker and the attendees are happy, the attendees compliment the senior executives on their choice of speaker. As a result, the meeting planner looks good and is often promoted or given a bonus. The speaker will usually be used again and be recommended to others.
For example, I once was booked to speak at the annual meeting of a Fortune 1000 corporation. The secretary to the president was a fan of mine and had talked at home about benefiting from my material, so she recommended me to be the keynote speaker at their upcoming meeting. The president had never heard of me and was reluctant to bring in someone he didn’t know for a meeting that was so important. Nonetheless, she convinced him that I would be a good choice.
The talk went extremely well and I received a standing ovation. Some weeks later I received a letter from her telling me that her boss was so happy with my talk that she had been promoted to a managerial job and given a $4,000 raise.
The reputation of a speaker, positive or negative, spreads quickly. The rule is that you are only as good as your last speech. Before someone will book a professional speaker, he or she must be convinced that the boss and the audience will be pleased and satisfied with the result.
Even if your goal is just to speak effectively in your business or social circle, you should use top professionals as models to learn from. Like they do, you should attend every talk and seminar that you possibly can. Take notes. Observe how speakers interact with the audience before the seminar and how they deliver their speeches when they stand on their feet.
When you attend a speech or seminar of any kind, make every effort to meet and shake hands with the speaker personally. Thank him or her for coming. Tell the speaker that you are looking forward to what he or she has to say. There is something about this kind of personal contact that rubs off on you and helps you to become a better speaker yourself.
There are several rules that marquee speakers and professional business speakers must follow to get to the highest levels of income and acclaim. First, as I have said repeatedly, top professional speakers prepare thoroughly. It is not uncommon for a speaker to spend 10 hours on reading, review, reorganization, and practice to give a one-hour talk.
Top speakers learn everything they can about the audience. They ask about the ages, occupations, and backgrounds of those who will attend. They ask about previous speakers who have addressed this group and what the audience liked or disliked about those speakers. They want to know about the incomes and responsibilities of their audience members.
Professionals study the brochures and other information from the company and review client websites carefully. They study the industry that the company or organization is in, and they familiarize themselves with the major events and trends in that industry.
Like a professional speaker, you want to achieve complete clarity about why the meeting planner hired them in the first place. Remember, the goal is to make the meeting planner look good, and you can only do this if you are absolutely clear about what the meeting planner wants you to accomplish.
I always ask my clients in advance what they would like people to say and do as a result of my talk. Once we are both clear on this subject, I organize my talk so as to achieve that goal. That becomes my measure of effectiveness.
Not long ago, a meeting planner, the president of a large organization, told me, “Your talk was the best I’ve heard in 18 years. You covered every single point we discussed on the telephone, exactly as you promised.”
She went on to say that many other speakers had promised to customize their talks for this specific group, but never did it. There is a belief among many speakers that, “It is easier to get a new audience than it is to develop a new talk.” People with this attitude simply reshuffle the same old ideas over and over, no matter who they are talking to. But they don’t last long in the speaking industry.
Every company and organization has a special language, complete with organizational history, culture, and current events. A good speaker seems so familiar with the company or organization that he or she is addressing that the listeners get the feeling that the speaker works personally in their company or industry.
Professional speakers plan and organize their talks well in advance. They continually write and rewrite their material, moving some remarks and comments forward or backward in the presentation. They are continually looking for ways to make their points in a more enjoyable and effective way.
They review and rehearse their talk over and over, even if they have given this talk many times before. They never trust to memory or experience. Just as a pilot reviews every point on his checklist, every single time, the professional speaker reviews every single point in his talk, and continues doing this, right up to the moment of delivery.
Top professionals arrive early and check out every detail of the room, just as a general would study every detail of the battlefield. They check the three most important factors: the sound, the lighting, and the temperature. On almost every occasion, one of those three critical elements will need to be changed or corrected in some way.
People say video cameras are meant to be focused on a single face. In speaking, the audience comes for one reason: to see the speaker’s face. Everything else they can get by reading a book or listening to an audio program. The face of the speaker is the focal point and center of attention in the presentation.
This is why some room setups make me cringe. For instance, some hotels set up the stage in such a way that the speaker is almost standing in the dark. The lights are focused 10 or 15 feet away. When the president of the company gets up to speak, people in the audience can barely see his face. And often, no one seems to notice or care.
Professionals meet and greet the participants prior to the talk so that they can get to know them a little. They introduce themselves, ask what they do, and make small talk with them. When members of the audience see you mixing and mingling with others prior to the seminar, they automatically like you better and become a more positive and supportive audience. When you stand up, you have already won them over.
One of the most important things a professional does is to learn the names of the key people and then refer to them in the course of the talk. Sometimes, I put words into the mouths of the key people. I will say something like, “Your president, William Henry, is always emphasizing the importance of quality in everything you do or deliver to your customers.”
I will have read this in an annual report, letter, or e-mail from the president, or heard the president mention it in his or her introductory remarks. People are always flattered when you refer to them in a positive way from the stage.
Professionals plan their openings and closings thoroughly and rehearse them over and over. They know exactly how to “get on” and how to “get off.”
They review their introductions with the introducers so that they are clear. The way that an introducer brings a speaker onto the stage sets the tone for the speaker. It cannot be left to chance. This is why a good introduction is carefully written out so that it raises interest and expectancy when it is read.
Top speakers engage the audience from the first words. They may start with silence to center the audience or with an opening remark to grab attention. Often, I will move to the stage, stand silently for a few seconds, and then say warmly, “Thank you for being here. I promise you that you will really enjoy what I’ve got to say.”
This opening answers the unspoken question of the audience, “I wonder if this is going to be a good presentation?” It is an immediate crowd pleaser. Everyone smiles and relaxes. With the first few words, their key question has been answered.
Top professionals keep the audience members on the edge of their seats. They achieve this by asking questions, pausing, and then delivering the answers. They make points and emphasize key ideas. They tell stories to illustrate their messages.
Top professionals treat the audience as friends. They smile as if they are glad to see the audience members and as if it is a real pleasure to have a chance to share ideas with them. The audience members know instantly if you like them and feel positively toward them. You achieve this feeling by being charming and by smiling warmly before you even open your mouth.
When they begin, the top speakers promise that what they are about to say will be really interesting and helpful. They often tell a story about someone who heard these same ideas and who made a major positive change in his or her life. Top speakers use a series of rhetorical devices and other methods that have been developed and used on the stage or in movies for many years.
They use silence to center the audience and to give the audience time to settle down, or to digest key points. They use pauses prior to key points or immediately afterward, to punctuate their delivery and emphasize key ideas. They ask questions continually. Because people are conditioned to answer questions, when the speaker asks a question, the audience members answer it, if only to themselves.
There is a saying in selling and speaking that the person who asks questions has control. When you ask a question, you grab the total attention of the audience members for the length of time it takes them to answer the question. Their minds lean into the question, especially if it is one that can have different answers.
Telling is not selling. Keep shifting gears by asking questions and then by delivering answers. Use dramatic pauses and extended silences before or after key points. Use a dramatic pause in the middle of a sentence before you drive the main idea home.
Top professionals are masters of timing. They tell a story in parts, with pauses and drama, sometimes digressing to mention another idea, and then coming back to the story. They tell jokes the same way. The following story is an example of what I mean.
Many people refuse to accept responsibility for the situation they are in. It reminds me of the story of Ole and Sven, who were coming over from Sweden many years ago on an old freighter. The freighter ran into a heavy storm in the North Atlantic.
Ole runs to Sven and says, “Sven, Sven, the ship, she’s breaking up, she’s going down!”
Ole says, “What do we care? It’s not our ship.”
Well, everything that happens in this company is your ship.
Professionals tell stories that make a dramatic and thoughtful point, and they allow the story to sink in. They allow people to process the point they have made. They give people time. They watch their faces until it is clear that they understand you.
Similarly, when you tell a joke, it is very important that you do not “step on your lines.” When the audience laughs, let them laugh until the laughter starts to die down. Only then do you continue on with your talk.
Audiences like to be entertained by a speaker. They enjoy laughing. Don’t deprive them of the time they need to take for thought and introspection, or of the time that they laugh after you have said something funny.
Professionals speak a little louder. This demonstrates confidence in what they are saying. They use their bodies more, moving their arms, nodding their heads, smiling, and being more animated.
For example, when you want to make an important point, expand your arms wide or increase your volume. When you want to suggest intimacy, hold your fingers and your hands together gently as you lean toward the audience.
Let your arms drop. When you are speaking, your natural stance should be with your arms at your sides, rather than raised in the “Tyrannosaurus Rex” position.
You can touch your fingertips together lightly to emphasize key ideas. Keep your head and your chin up, signifying confidence in your words.
Especially, smile warmly at the audience. Twinkle like Santa Claus. Enjoy yourself. Have fun. Be happy. Speak as though this is a wonderful experience for you and that you are enjoying every minute.
In the final analysis, the only way to learn to speak is to speak and speak and speak and speak. When you prepare, practice, and rehearse over and over again, incorporating more and more of these professional speaking devices into your performance, you will soon become a spellbinding speaker who is invited back again and again and who will make more and more money for each appearance.