 How To Become A Successful Motivational Speaker Brendan Bouchard, an American author and the world's leading high-performance coach, once said that we all have a life story and a message that can inspire others to live a better life or run a better business. Why not use that story and message to serve others and grow a real business doing it? Guess what? This is what motivational speaking is all about. Helping people realize that like everyone else who has succeeded in doing something, they can too. A motivational speaker is someone who delivers speeches intending to motivate or inspire the people in the audience. Here's the thing, to be an excellent motivational speaker, you equally have to be an excellent public speaker as well. So learning how to motivate people and address an audience is essential because as a speaker, you will spend most of your time discussing people. Whether you are given a heads up or suddenly called on to do it, it will be up to you to wow your audience or make a mess of yourself. If you're going to be able to pass across your message effectively, sell an idea or paint a vision to a particular set of people or audience without boring them, then public speaking is something you'll have to learn. You see, everyone has a message and everyone has an audience, but not everyone's message is special or unique. However, if you think you have a special message for your audience, what better way to pass it across than to communicate appropriately? This makes you an excellent motivational speaker. Yes, we get it. You get nervous on stage, it's understandable, it's normal because we all feel that way. Marjorie L North, a speech pathologist and lecturer at Harvard University who has been teaching public speaking courses for more than 35 years, says, when your heart starts pounding, you're sweating, your hands are shaking, your knees are shaking, and you feel like you're going to pass out, that's the way everybody feels. So how can you overcome your nervousness and become a great public speaker and motivational speaker in turn? In this video, I'll share with you how to become a successful motivational speaker. If you're new here, consider subscribing so you won't miss other exciting videos like this. Number one, start strong. You only have the first few minutes to get your audience attention. If you succeed, you can bet they'll be attentive the whole time. But if you don't, you'll have to work harder to get them to listen to you, which is why it is important to standardize your introduction. Prepare your introduction and rehearse it word for word until you can deliver it in your sleep. According to a top TED Talks research done by Vanessa Van Edwards and her team at Science of People, the team reported that the ratings overall, who people liked overall and who they didn't like, matched whether they'd watched the first seven seconds or the full talk. We think that the brain decides as soon as that person takes the stage and begins speaking, you know what, I'm going to like this talk. Ever heard the phrase knowledge conquers fear? When you take time out to know precisely what you are going to say within the first three to five minutes of your talk, you push nervousness away. Your audience sees your confidence and they'll become attentive to the things you have to say. Number two, memorize concepts, not your content. Everyone knows that no one is perfect, so don't try to be. Often we think that the best way to give a flawless speech is to memorize our speech word for word. When you do that, you sound artificial, which is the opposite of what we want to achieve. Besides, when you memorize your script word for word, your mind can go blank at any point, resulting in awkward silences and nervousness once again. It can destabilize you and ruin your presentation. A good idea will be to outline your points rather than writing it all down and reading word for word. It allows the language you use to be more natural. It allows your voice to be more natural and eye contact is better, North says. You're speaking to them about it. I could get up there and read a script from a paper without knowing anything about it, she added. Number three, tell your audience what they stand to gain. When people attend conferences, seminars and other talk events, they do so intending to learn something new and get inspired by the speaker. Hence the need to announce to your audience what they stand to gain. Doing this will get their attention and get them interested in your speech because they know you've got a message for them indeed. Remember, the essence of giving a talk is to pass a message across to your audience. So do not get so carried away with your speech that you forget to pay attention to your audience and offer valuable solutions to their needs. Number four, engage with your audience. To engage with your audience, you should take the time to study them. For instance, you can ask questions or have them ask you questions at intervals. It makes you feel less isolated as a speaker and keeps everyone involved with your message. Number five, use experimental and participative training. Public speaker, Michael Port, from time to time makes his audience repeat critical messages back to him, especially take away points of his speech. It keeps the audience involved, but even more brilliantly, it gives them devices to remember the material. You see, the more your audience do, the more they understand, and the more they engage. When you plan your speech, think about how you can involve your audience, so that at the end of the day, you're talking with them and making sense, not just talking to them. Thank you very much for watching our videos. If you like this video, watch more videos on our channel and subscribe. We love you.