39 Meaningful Reasons to Invest In Your Public Speaking Skills – Toronto, Canada

We used to live in a world where if you were average, you got average results. We do not live in that world anymore. We used to live in a world where if you were good at what you do, you got good results. We do not live in that world anymore. We used to live in a world where if you were great at what you do, you achieved great results. We do not live in that world anymore.

The world that we live in now requires you to be great on top of being great. You need to learn how to be uncommonly great. You need to add 2 mm on top of “great” to become “uncommonly great.” Standing out in today’s competitive marketplace is the “golden key” to personal and professional success.

In my experience nothing works better, faster, or more efficiently in elevating your personal and professional success than public speaking and presenting. In my world it is everything. It has brought me more opportunity, more engagement, more financial reward and more personal fulfillment than I could’ve ever thought possible.

It could take you some time to read this post, so before you do, if this is your first time to our website, or you haven’t been here in a while, then I have a few suggestions for you.

1.       If YOU are a public speaker and would like to enhance your speaking skills far beyond what is possible by reading this post then please register for our upcoming “Train the Trainer”

2.       If YOU are a public speaker and you would like to know more about how to build your audience and increase your exposure then please read this special blog post “Infusionsoft Canada: 8 Reasons to Get Infusionsoft & Have the Canadian Government Pay for It”

3.       If YOU are a public speaker and you are so impatient that you cannot wait to be super successful as an established public speaker then click here to book a 15 min. consultation with our in-house business advisor and learn “how we can help you” establish yourself as a professional speaker.

Now back to the post…

Yes, it is true that I am mostly known as a digital marketing expert. But I can tell you the reason why I am known is that most of my uncommon ability to present my ideas to others. That did not happen by accident. I’ve have had 9 different public speaking trainers and mentors. Somehow I innately knew that it was going to be important and I am super grateful for the opportunity to be able to learn from others and the results have been remarkable.

But it’s of concern to me the number of people who still underestimate how powerful speaking can be to one’s career. I think it’s a case of you just don’t know what you don’t know. So what I’ve decided to do is create this article to shed some light on why you should invest in yourself in this most important area of skills development. Learning to present well or rather learning to present in an “uncommon fashion” is paramount to your success in just about everything you do.

Here are 39 really meaningful reasons to do it. 39 reasons to invest in your ability to present. 39 reasons why you want to take a leadership position. 39 reasons to change your life. 39 reasons to step into it and never look back.

Reason #39 – Because Leaders Are Speakers By Default.

No matter how you slice it, leaders are called upon to speak and when you speak you will be considered a leader. It works both ways. When you stick a microphone on your head or stand behind a podium and there is an audience in front of you, people in that audience cannot help but feel that you are in some way leading. Of course, the information that you share and the way that you deliver it depends on the amount of experience that you have.

However, the opposite is true as well. If you do not speak you will not be considered a leader. Not presenting is basically your way of saying my information is my own and I don’t want to share it with anyone. This is a mistake. All leaders are called upon to speak because they possess experience and information that can empower others. And when you withhold that information you are diminishing the perception of others that you are indeed a leader.

Reason #38 – Because Bored People Don’t Buy Anything.

In almost every conference and tradeshow that I attend, I take the time to be present at other people’s presentations. First and foremost the reason that I do this is because I want to learn something. I am always in learning mode. But in the vast majority of cases, I am disappointed. Not because the presenters do not have experience and certainly not because they don’t have good information. But the main reason that I am not excited is that they don’t excite me.

If you want me to keep from getting bored then you will have to be an exemplary presenter. That means that you have to put more emphasis on the context of your presentation versus the content. In other words, if all you have to rely on is some great PowerPoint slides and a ton of information, that will inevitably bore most people to death. In fact, the number one mistake that most speakers make is they fill their presentations with content only. And they fill it up to the brim. The norm is to pack as much information into a single presentation as you can. What is the reason for this? Most of all I think it is to make you look smart. But how much information can any one person absorb if they are not engaged? Not very much.

Context is far more important than content and I would encourage you to take some serious public speaking training on context. That means finding templates that engage audiences and make people sit up and listen. In most cases, this is not an inherent trait and no matter how funny you think you are or how comfortable you are on stage, the information will never engage people. Only information with great context will engage.

Reason #37 – Because You Will Attract Attention.

It is said that. “Advertising is a tax on the unremarkable.” Being unremarkable means remaining low-key, out of sight, out of mind, and out of touch. And when you remain unremarkable you will always have to spend more money on advertising. But one of the most effective free advertising and promotion strategies you will ever find is to learn how to speak and get more speaking engagements. In most cases, it will be absolutely free promotion for you, your products and your expertise.
Very few things have ever attracted as much attention in my life as the ability to speak and engage an audience. In almost every convention, conference, tradeshow and training session that I speak at I am amazed at the number of people that respond not just with good intentions and comments but with actions. Actions like purchasing books and registering for seminars. People will always be attracted to the person who stands out and nothing stands out more at personal and professional events than speakers. At any conference, you can choose to be the person in the seat or the person on the stage. Which one do you think attracts more attention?

Reason #36 – Because You Will Attract More Money.

Not only do good speakers get paid for their presentations but there is even more money to be made by becoming an exemplary promoter. As mentioned before the attention you will attract and the free advertising that you will gain by speaking will have a tremendous impact on your bottom line. The concept of speak to sell is an important concept that very few speakers actually understand. Without going into too much detail I can tell you that in my professional career nothing has earned nearly as much money as speaking, not necessarily in the sense that I get paid a lot of money to speak, but in the sense that every presentation becomes a promotional springboard for my business and my career.

And while the promotion of your business is an obvious advantage it goes much deeper than that. I’m talking about the world of attraction and universal law. What goes around comes around. What you give out you get back. The more you help others get what they want the more you can have what you want. And if money is one of the things that you want to attract than the more you help others with your presentations the more money will make its way into your life. Many people underestimate the power of helping. Helping is actually way better than selling. And when you present, if you are deep down truly in helping mode, then you will attract situations, circumstances, people and ultimately more money into your life. This is the law of attraction at work. It is the universal law of giving and receiving that is at play. Try to remember however that packing your presentations full of information is not necessarily the best way to help others. If you truly want to help others put a finite amount of information into your presentations but make sure that people are literally on the edge of their seats and willing to absorb it.

Reason #35   – Because You Can Market Your Business.

You don’t even have to market your business to be marketing your business. Speaking is one of those things that has a direct impact on your business and you literally do not even have to mention your business. In fact, the less you mention your business the better it will be. Talk about your successes and the people that you’ve helped and that will go way further to promoting your business than telling people how amazing your business is.

If you do want to talk about your business then talk about it in the context of things that you’ve actually done not the information that you will share. Speak in the form of stories that have a beginning, middle, and end. Stories are memorable and they will have a tremendous impact on your business if people can see that you’ve actually lived your experiences. People can relate far more to a story than they can to a promotion. So don’t go into your next presentation looking to promote go into it with a few stories that illustrate how much your ideas and your training has impacted your business and your life.

Reason #34   – Because Clarity Is Power.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “They took it completely out of context?” What happens when you take something out of context? It means something else than was initially intended. Few things will have a bigger negative impact on your presentations than being unclear. When you are clear you are powerful. When you are unclear you are weak. And when you do not have the context you are unclear and weak. I encourage you to seek out as much information as you can about context. A good context means that you are communicating in the best possible manner. Bad context means that you are boring and unclear.

Creating the perception of power means doing is much as you can to hone your public speaking skills to do one thing: be clear. The only reason that I’ve had 9 different public speaking teachers and mentors is that my main goal is to be as crystal clear as I possibly can. And that means learning as much as I can about the concept of engaging an audience and keeping them focused on a single learning point. Too many learning points and confusion ensues. And there is nothing worse in a presentation than confusion and chaos.

Reason #33   – Because People Buy From People They Like, Know And Trust.

No matter how smart you think you are and how much great information you think you convey to others through your presentations, that doesn’t mean people will like you. If you want people to like you then you will have to learn how to do that. Most people are not likable by default and even less so when they try to speak without any training. You are not likable by default. And it will take a tremendous amount of work and training on your part to get to the point where you can purposefully help other people to like you.

For example; if you want people to like you from the start, do not begin with your presentations with, “Hi my name is Paul and I’m here to talk about… e.g. the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.” In other words, if you want people to like you, it’s not about you, it’s about them. So if you want them to like you start with them. I always start my presentations with a couple of questions that generally engage people and help me get to know people better.

It also helps me learn about them so that I can tailor my presentations to them. When people start to like you they will make a bigger effort to know you. And when they feel that they know you, they will start to trust you. Trust is the number one thing you need to build in order to get people to do what you want them to do e.g. buy a product, a book, a seminar or anything else that you want to sell. No trust, no sales.

Reason #32   – Because You Will Feel Good About Helping Others.

When you feel good you will be in attraction mode. And you will always feel good about helping others. One of the biggest benefits that you will ever find, from learning how to communicate with audiences, is that you will always feel good about your presentations. That’s not to say that you won’t have some hiccups during your presentations that you will try to improve on, that will always be the case. But the universal concept of helping will always be inherent within your presentations.

Knowing that you want to help, will make you feel good. And feeling good is the basis of all good things that you will come to you in your lifetime. Have you ever noticed that when you feel good you start to attract more things that feel good? Have you ever noticed, in contrast, that when you feel bad you attract a never-ending series of problems? You can never ever feel bad about trying to help. So my advice is that you do everything in your power to hone your public speaking skills to the point where you not only feel comfortable about presenting but you feel deep down that you are in service of others. Helping mode will make you and everyone around you feel good. And if you and everyone around you feel good you will attract more than you ever thought possible.

Reason #31   – Because People Talk.

People will talk a lot about your poor presentation. But they will talk even more if it’s great. In the context of presentations, people are your greatest promoters. It’s one thing for you to promote yourself it’s another thing entirely for others to promote you. In fact when others promote you it is seen as 10 times more powerful than you promoting yourself. And these days people don’t only talk amongst themselves they talk on social media as well.

I will talk more about this later but for now, it suffices to say that when your presentation enrolls and engages 100% of the audience, and people leave the room with a good feeling, they will talk about you. What would you want them to say? Would you want them to say that they had an okay time or they had a great time? Would you want them to say that they learned very little or they learned a ton?

Would you want them to say that they were bored or that they were on the edge of their seats? The choice is yours. You can continue to do things the way you’ve always done them and get average results or you can do everything in your power to learn some new context and strategies for engaging audiences. You either stand out or you get lost in the shuffle.

Reason #30   – Because The Media Notices Speakers.

Few things have an impact on your career and your business as much as media attention. It’s one thing for you to say you’re good at something it’s another thing for the media to say it. When you get media exposure, whether it’s radio, television, newsprint or even social media, it can go a long way to springboarding you into the public eye. And depending on your speaking ability and the context and content of your presentations, it could have the possibility of attracting a lot of media attention. In almost every conference that I speak at there is media in the building. And sometimes all you have to do is seek them out and let them know that you are speaking at the event and ask if they would be interested in doing an interview.

I was once at the National Publicity Summit run by a gentleman by the name of Steve Harrison. It is an event to put authors, speakers and subject matter experts together with media outlets. And I remember very clearly Mr. Harrison said, “If you put yourself in a position to be famous you can have anything you want.” Without media attention, you can never create the perception that you are a famous leader. Therefore make it your plan to speak more and put yourself more in front of the media. Any publicity is good publicity and speakers get noticed.

Reason #29   – Because Trade Shows And Conferences Need You More Than You Need Them.

The level of presentation skills that I see at most trade shows and conferences is extremely weak. In fact, most if not all of the presenters have very little in the way of public speaking training. Most feel that if they are comfortable on stage and they have good PowerPoint slides that it makes a compelling presentation. Of course, this is a “beginner” mentality. If you want to hone your public speaking skills then you’ll have to do everything in your power to take courses and find mentors to help you. When you do this you’ll notice that your skills will be augmented significantly especially in comparison to everyone else at the conference. Therefore, I can assure you with utmost certainty that these trade shows and conferences need you more than they need average presenters. And they certainly need you more than you need them.

When you negotiate your tradeshow package and your booth, make sure that you ask for a speaking spot. Sometimes it will cost you money to do this. But you can always pay less than most people by letting them know that you are a trained professional. And of course, if you have a great press kit, one-sheet, and video, this can go a long way to showing your professionalism. It’s actually not that hard to get a speaking spot at many conferences. You just have to know how to approach them.

Reason #28   – Because It Will Help You Focus Your Thoughts.

Most success coaches and mentors talk about focus being the one element that can truly make things happen. What you focus on tends to expand into your life. Putting together a powerful presentation is an activity that requires focus. And when you are focused you will attract. It’s as simple as that.

Unfortunately, most people create their lives by default rather than by design and they take whatever comes along. Their focus is distracted. They focus on daily activities and other distractions which will always maintain status quo. But if you want to grow you will have to learn how to focus on the things that you want versus the things that you do not want. Of course, you actually have to know what you really want. Funnily enough, most people do not know.  They know what they don’t want but very few can state with certainty what it is that they actually want.

Most people put up with the things they do not want thinking that that’s what they have to do. This is far from what is actually reality. In my reality, everything that I focus on makes its way eventually into my life. It may not happen immediately, but I have the patience and the self-discipline to make it happen in the time that it takes. As a professional speaker and trainer, I am completely self-disciplined in the art of putting together and presenting presentations that enroll and engage audiences 100% of the time. My focus is nothing less than 100%. Anything less than 100% is less than good enough.

Reason #27   – Because People Will Admire You.

Your goal should not be to have people admire you. Most people can only put their focus on you for a small period of time before they move on to the next thing or person that they put their focus on. You cannot hold people’s focus on you for significant periods of time. However, when you present in an enrolling and engaging manner people will naturally admire and respect you. When they do, it makes it easier for you to reach them in more ways than one. One way is that you’ll reach their subconscious mind.

And subliminally and subconsciously they will buy into what you’re saying. And when people buy into what you’re saying they will buy what you’re selling. Another way is that when people admire you they will talk about you in a positive manner to others who could also become admirers. Be careful though. As I mentioned before your goal should not be to have people admire you. It will happen on its own if you are professional and powerful. Leaders get noticed and when they get noticed they will be admired. This is the natural order of things.

Reason #26   – Because The World Needs More Leaders.

If you are not familiar with what a lemming is, it is a small rodent with a very small brain. And lemmings are born followers. They do not have leaders. Leaders lead by accident and the other lemmings follow along. If the lead lemming falls off the side of a cliff, all the other lemmings will follow. Humans are very much like this. People like to belong to something. A friend and fellow speaker once said, “people have a longing for belonging.” This is a great thing to be part of a tribe and a community. However every tribe and community needs a leader, unlike lemmings, they need someone with vision and focus. Why can’t that be you? Leaders are not chosen, you must choose. Success is not for the chosen few, but for the few who choose it.

You must make a conscious choice to be a leader. And when you make that choice you will begin to realize that leaders present their ideas and thoughts to other people in a cohesive manner. You must make the choice to be a speaker and a leader. Speakers are leaders. If the world did not have leaders most people would not know what to do. And I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you make the choice to be a leader the world needs more of that type of focus than it needs the focus of followers. Followers do not have much focus. They are willing to support and promote but do not want to make hard decisions. Most people do not want to take the responsibility of making the decision for fear of making mistakes.

However, leaders inherently know that, without mistakes, growth cannot occur. So be willing to make many mistakes as a speaker and a leader. Why? Because leaders and speakers are people who think they know where they’re going. And when you think you know, others will follow. And when they follow, your company, your career, and your reputation grows.

Reason #25   – Because You Will Sell More Books.

Would you rather be a best-writing author or a best-selling author? I think most people would say the latter. Therefore, if you want to sell more books, then you must speak. In my experience, unless you are a famous author, you will sell way more books from the stage than you will ever sell on your website or even on Amazon. There are of course certain exceptions to this rule, especially if you understand how Amazon marketing really works. But if you want to sell physical books, then speaking is one great way to do it.

I would highly recommend that you print your books on demand, 100 or 200 at a time, and have a table at the back of the room or in the hallway just outside your presentation room. Seed your book several times during your presentation by making reference to the content in the book. Don’t forget to hold it up when you talk about it. And you can also make a cash offer for your book which is more attractive and much more convenient for the people in the audience to pick it up. In most cases, you will find that you will actually sell most of the books that you bring with you. In many cases, people will not even read the book, but that doesn’t matter, at least you will have the revenue. The perception of people that you are an author will also earn you more admiration and respect.

Reason #24   – Because Your Business Will Grow.

Most people do not get into business just to get by. They get into business to grow something of value for their future, the future of their family and the future of the people that they hire. If your business is not growing, it’s dying. And if you truly want to grow your business to the capacity that you’re able to, then improve your speaking skills. As a leader and a speaker, you will attract the attention of others.

And when you attract attention all of that energy and focus will go into helping you grow your business. In my experience, business growth is directly proportional to the amount of time and energy that you put into making my presentations powerful. Weak presentations will attract weak results. Powerful presentations will attract powerful people, situations and circumstances, which will aid in the growth of your business.

Reason #23   – Because You’ll Be Happier.

It is said that many people fear public speaking more than they fear death. I have no idea whether that’s actually true or not but what I can tell you is that when you start to hone your public speaking skills and you make powerful presentations you will be happier. Why is that? Because when you put energy and focus into something as important as public speaking, any positive outcome will make you feel good. Happiness is a state of being. And in my experience happiness is something that you work at, it’s not something that happens on its own.

In other words, you cannot be happy by default. We desire what we desire and when we manifest our desires we are happier. Many people do not believe this. Many people believe that happiness is a result of things that happen to you, not things that you make happen. This is incorrect. Bad things happen to good people when you expect them to happen. If you want more happiness in your life create a desire and fulfill it. So if public speaking is the one thing in life that you fear the most, then create a desire to overcome that fear. When you overcome any fear you will be happier.

Reason #22 – Because You Desire To Be Noticed.

Most people do not want to feel insignificant. The fact that they do, is a strong testament to the fact that they do not do anything to change that. You must make the choice to be noticed. So if it is your desire to be noticed then take up public speaking. Very few things can get you noticed as much as that. For example; I have a strong desire to help others. And I realized that if I am not noticed it is impossible to attract people to help. Therefore I must create a series of imaginative events that attract people to me. And many of the imaginative events that we create in our office focus on presentations.

Those presentations are through live events, live stream presentations, webinars, videos and even conferences. Every single one of these requires speaking experience. No amount of lighting, camera equipment or staging can make a bad presentation a good one. Therefore if you truly have a desire to be noticed, which I do believe that you have, if you are truly honest with yourself, then I would recommend that you do more speaking. It is a sure bet that if you do, you will be noticed.

Reason #21   – Because What You Focus On Expands.

According to Abraham Hicks, every subject is actually two subjects. There’s the thing that you desire and there’s the absence of it in your life. These are actually two very different vibrational frequencies. Just because you talk about something a lot doesn’t mean that you’re actually focused on achieving it or acquiring it. In fact, very often this is not the case. Let’s take money for example.

Just because you frequently talk about wanting to have more money in your life doesn’t mean that it will actually happen. Because more often than not, your worries surrounding money will keep it from you. Just because you say wouldn’t it be nice to have this or wouldn’t it be nice to experience that, It doesn’t mean that your focus is on the desire of it.

In most cases, you are focused on what you do not have in your life even though you talk about it. One of the strongest ways to create more focus in your life is to take your experiences and package them up for the benefit of others. When you are focused on helping others then the universe will send you more people to help. This is one of the strongest ways to create desire – just by helping. If you have a strong desire to help others then that focus will expand into your life and manifest in the things that you want. For example, if you help others get what they want first, then your focus is aligned with the highest possible vibrational frequency.

That is the vibrational frequency of attraction. You must put a consistent focus on the things that you desire. Anything less than consistency will allow the negative thought of not having it, to take precedence. All negative thoughts are resistance to what is. And whatever you resist will persist in your life. Public speaking is something that will create a tremendous amount of focus in your life because it is based on the premise that you are helping. And that is a vibrational frequency which cannot help but attract the life you want.

Reason #20   – Because Speakers Are Constantly Learning.

Do you know the difference between a know-it-all and a learn-it-all? A know-it-all is someone who claims to know everything, but most of what they know is based on something they’ve heard about, read about, or talked about. Unfortunately, however, a know-it-all can never grow because they already know everything. The learn-it-all on the other hand will always grow and experience new successes. When you stop learning you start dying. A learn-it-all knows this.

The learn-it-all is prepared to learn everything in their power that they can to achieve a specific outcome. They also realize that you can never learn enough. When you create presentations and do public speaking you are in learn-it-all mode. You are learning to package your presentations with a good context. You are learning to enroll and engage an audience. You are self-disciplined and focused. When you are self-disciplined and focused you are in learn-it-all mode. In learn-it-all mode, you will be emanating a high vibrational frequency and therefore will attract all of your desires. Never stop learning.

Reason #19   – Because Other Speakers Will Give You Gigs.

When you are a speaker you will network with other speakers. Depending on who they are they may have opportunities for you. For example; we host a three-day conference every year called “Ultimate Wealth Weekend.” Even though I am the main speaker and host of the event, we have an additional 20 to 30 speaking spots to fill. Who do you think we fill those spots with?

Do you think we fill those spots with people we don’t know and people we’ve never met? Probably not. Speakers hang out together in the green room and they talk amongst each other. It is in those places that I learn a lot. But I also network with other speakers so I can leverage their knowledge and experience at our events. When you become a professional presenter these opportunities will present themselves.

Reason #18   – Because Your Conference Badge Will Say “SPEAKER.”

This may not seem like a big deal to you but when your conference badge says “Speaker” it is a great conversation starter and will elevate your status and the perception that others have of you. It’s such a simple thing, but a very powerful one. The reason why people wear conference badges is mainly that it lets other people know what your name is. So picture someone looking at your name and just below that is a big red ribbon that says, “Speaker.” What do you think will be the outcome of that perception? What do you think the conversation will start with?

In most cases, I can tell you it starts with something like this, “I see that you are a speaker what are you speaking about?” “Oh I see that you are a speaker, when is your presentation?” “I noticed you’re wearing a speaking badge how long have you been speaking?” This is probably the first thing that people want to talk about. You obviously have to do quite a bit of listening at that point but that is a good thing. Most of the best speakers make the best listeners.

Reason #17   – Because You Get To Hang Out In The Green Room.

Lots of things go on in the green room. If you do not know what the green room is, it is the staging area for speakers and performers. It is the place backstage, which of course is not always painted green, where leaders and presenters congregate, even if their speaking presentation is not for several hours. It’s the place where they like to hang out and learn things. As a learn-it-all, it is a great opportunity for you to network and learn from other leaders in other fields.

It is not the place for you to promote yourself. It is a place to meet other influential leaders and elevate your status. First and foremost in the green room, you must learn to be a good listener. Let others take the floor. Be polite and respond to questions but never try to control the situation. Many speakers have big egos, let them. That’s not your stuff. Please don’t fall prey to the egoic mind. Your egoic mind wants to control every situation, don’t let it.

Reason #16   – Because You Get To Pick The Brains Of Other Speakers.

When you shift your focus from audience members to presenters, you will begin to attract the attention and interest of other presenters. They will want to help you. They will want to give you advice. Take it. Of course, you do not want to take advice from people who do not walk their talk, but in most cases, if you are backstage with other professional speakers, there is plenty to learn. Keep an open mind, and ask a lot of questions. Almost every speaker that I’ve ever talked to is amazing at responding to questions. What they do not respond to, is you telling them how great you are and what you know.

When you are asked a question politely respond from experience alone. Your experience comes first and so does the experience of other people. Tap into that experience when you can and learn as much as you can in the time that you have. I can remember several high-level conversations with other speakers and people that I admire. I once spent two entire days one-on-one with Brian Klemmer, one of the most influential speakers of our time. And while he was just as curious as I was, I let him do most of the talking. Why? Because I’d rather learn than teach, especially when you are in the presence of someone you admire and respect.

Reason #15   – Because Your Audience Will Grow.

If you continue to hone your public speaking and presentation skills it will cause others to pay attention, and that energy will expand into larger audiences. You must do your part by collecting as much customer data as you can and communicating with your audiences on a regular basis. If all you do is speak at conferences and get paid for it that will only take you so far. If you collect customer data and you continuously communicate with your audience, it will grow far beyond your expectations. Of course, you must have a system to do this.

In our office, we use sophisticated tools such as Infusionsoft, which is an advanced CRM and automated marketing system. Do everything in your power to collect the contact data of your audiences. One of the best ways to do this is to make a lead magnet offer from the stage. For example, you could give them a webpage to visit, which has an opt-in form. When they opt-in they will receive a free informational product; a video, white paper, online course, checklist, or anything else that has value. If you jump from the presentation room to the presentation room you will never assemble a customer list. Therefore you can only build a “part-time” audience. In order to build a “full-time” audience, you will have to make use of every marketing strategy at your fingertips. Simply being a speaker will not create an audience, not a long-term full-time audience. That’s up to you.

Reason #14   – Because You Will Learn What You Need To Learn To Fill A Room.

In alignment with your learn-it-all mentality, you cannot help but learn, on your public speaking journey, exactly how to fill a room. Of course, it really helps to work with other seminar promoters to learn their secrets and methodology. For me, it was a combination of experience and training with other like-minded speakers. There are many ways to promote seminars and speaking engagements.

Some of the most successful room-filling strategies that I’ve seen don’t require much investment other than time. However, one thing that all of these strategies have in common is that they all have a formal registration process. It is important to create a digital landing page that allows people to register electronically. Once registered, a series of personalized e-mails will be sent to the registrant to remind them of the content of the seminar, the time, date, and location.

Recently I received an e-mail from one of my online digital marketing members. They had never really had much success at filling rooms before, but recently had done a couple of test campaigns using Facebook advertising. It was actually incredible the response rate. In fact, they had a 19.8% registration rate. When you learn from people who have paved the road before you, you may make mistakes but you’ll make a lot less if you follow their systems and processes first.

Reason #13   – Because You Can Write Off Your Expenses.

There are a lot of expenses that you can write off as a professional speaker. Some of those things include; microphones, markers, flipchart paper, software, travel expenses, gas, clothes, marketing, advertising, book printing, promotional material etc. Being a speaker is just like any other business. Whatever you need to spend in expenses to promote and carry out your business practices are deductible against your revenue. Even if you are only a part-time speaker you can still write off all of those expenses and even an office in your home. Please refer to the CRA rules or if you’re in America the IRS.

Reason #12   – Because Your Engaging Presentations Will Amaze Others.

What is the difference between an information presentation and an engaging presentation? An engaging presentation contains great information but does so in an enrolling, engaging, and high-energy way. If you truly want your presentations to be memorable and amazing then you must learn how to engage people. Here are 10 ways to engage and amaze:

1.       ask a lot of questions
2.       get people to repeat keywords and phrases
3.       tell stories because stories are memorable
4.       use state changes to get your audience to participate
5.       master the world’s greatest introduction template which will earn you the right to deliver your engaging presentation
6.       get others to finish your sentences
7.       set the rules and drop the gates
8.       promote partner and group shares
9.       learn the advanced Q&A template
10.   ditch the PowerPoint and use flip charts combined with the write and reveal strategy

Reason #11   – Because In Time You Will Learn To Shed Your Shy And Nervous Personality

One of the things that cannot help but happen, when you practice and hone your public speaking skills, is you will eventually shed all of your shy and nervous personality. When you engage with others, especially in a speaker audience environment, your focus will shift from worrying about what you say and how you say it, to helping others. When you are in service mode you cannot be shy or nervous. When you truly honor the personal and professional growth of others and you come from a place of service, you cannot be nervous or shy about that.

This will happen gradually and naturally. You do not have to force confidence. Confidence will grow within you and only through experience. Many people who try to display confidence before they are, will appear as arrogant. Overconfidence means that you try to state things that are untrue about your abilities and your experience. Overconfidence always comes off as arrogant. My recommendation to you is that you speak and practice speaking as much as you can, especially in front of live audiences. Yes most of us want to get paid for our speaking, but that will come in time. Many people never get past the free presentation mode but if you continue to work at it and you are truly in learning mode and in service mode it will come. And one more thing before you move onto the next benefit; no matter how nervous you are you, will never look as nervous as you feel.

Reason #10   – Because You Will Get A Promotion.

People who learn to present well will stand out. If your goal is to move up the corporate ladder or ascend to corporate greatness then learn how to present. Whether it’s a sales presentation, an annual meeting, an information session or you’re simply presenting new ideas, then learning context over content, is a brilliant idea. Powerful presentations are not an accident and they are certainly not based on content. Learn as much as you can about how to give a powerful presentation and you will attract the attention of your superiors in the company. And before you know it you will get a raise and a promotion.

Reason #9   – Because It Feels Good To Show Up

T Harv Eker once said, in a course that I attended, that 80% of success is just showing up. When you show up on time and with 100% of your energy for a presentation you will feel powerful. And of course, when you feel powerful you will attract. Showing up for other people and being in service of them will exponentially magnify how good you feel. I can think of numerous occasions when I haven’t been feeling all that well because of situations and circumstances surrounding business, finance, family, and other concerns. However, the minute I take the stage and put myself in service mode, I immediately feel better.

It is a privilege to guide others on their journey and that’s the way I look at it and feel about it. And when you learn to look at it as a privilege and you take some responsibility for the personal and professional outcomes of others, you cannot help but feel good about that.

Reason #8   – Because You Will Manifest Your Desires Quicker.

Every human has desires. Whatever you want to do, be or have in your life that you do not have right now, you will have to learn how to manifest that. Many people know this. Many people believe that you have to take action in order to create an outcome. While that is true, there are ways to accelerate the process. And one of the ways that I have learned to manifest my desires quicker than other people, is to help other people get what they want before me.

If you help enough people get what they want, you can have whatever you want. And funnily enough, people do not even need to get what they want it for you to get what you want and all you have to do is your part. Your leadership, guidance, and experiential training are intended to help others. Universal law will notice this. And even if the outcome of your leadership and guidance does not help an individual that doesn’t mean you will not get what you want. All you have to do is engage in that action. Typically what happens when you engage in the act of helping others, the universe will immediately start sending you more people to help. However, let’s not forget that this is not about you getting what you want first. But just knowing and expecting that you will get what you want is a really great feeling to carry with you into your next speaking engagement.

Reason #7   – Because Your Back-End Will Motivate People To Take Action

Learning to make an offer from the stage is paramount to your success as a presenter. Not only will this help you earn more sales, but it is actually honoring the people in your room by giving them an opportunity to learn more. A backend offer means exactly that, it is an offer on the back of your presentation. In other words, it’s at the end. Few presenters have been trained in this art form. Make it part of the development of your professional skills to learn how to do this. The goal will be to motivate people to take action on your offer. Nobody will take action on your offer if they do not feel motivated to do so. So the offer is not so much about what they will learn, how much it costs, or even what gives you the right to teach them. It’s really about; do they know, like and trust you and are they motivated by you to go with you and learn from you.

In many cases, the maximum amount of time that I am given to present at conferences is an hour, and in most cases, it’s as little as 45 min. However, I’m sure you’d be interested to know, that my closing rate for the first level of our live and online training, is around 20 to 30% of the room. And that’s for an offer around the $2000 mark. If you think about it, you could potentially earn as much as $30,000 on the back end of a 50 person room. And if you’re really good at it, even more.

Now, this may not happen right away because you have to earn it first. I have learned over the years several different backend closing offers and I can state with relative assuredness that there are ways to motivate people on purpose to do what you want them to do. Make it your mission as a presenter to learn how to do that for yourself.

Reason #6   – Because Your Generosity Will Shine

Never forget that you must always over-deliver on the expectations of others. If you always under promise and over deliver you will build a personal and professional brand. Your brand will shine because your generosity for giving value to others will also shine. And you do not have to be singularly generous with your information, you can also be generous with your time and your money. In almost every presentation, I give away at least a couple of books. I spend time answering questions during breaks.

I am often invited to lunch by participants and I, without them even noticing, get up and pay the bill. I consider myself a very generous person. Why do I do that? Because there is enough. I make it my duty and responsibility to take the extra and spread it around. And every time I do that the universe always kicks back an opportunity to do more, earn more, give more and share more. This will not go unnoticed. It will not go unnoticed by the universe and it will not go unnoticed by your participants.

People who hoard information, share little, and are stingy with their time, will never win. Be the most generous person in the room even when you feel you have nothing to give.  This may take some getting used to because most of us have been programmed by our environment to guard what we have. This is a mistake. You absolutely need to learn how to practice wealth and generosity before you are wealthy.

Reason #5   – Because You Will Enjoy The Challenge

If public speaking, presenting, and training were easy everyone would do it. The reality is, it’s not so easy to do. You must go through a transformation in mindset to achieve greatness as a presenter. You must go through a metamorphosis of believing that you know everything to becoming a learn-it-all. You must invest each and every year in your personal and professional success, not just in time, but in money as well. Learn to invest 3% of what you want to earn next year in yourself. You are the greatest natural resource on planet Earth. You have complete control over your personal and professional outcomes. An investment in yourself is the best investment you can make.

Set yourself huge goals and challenges. Set the bar higher than anyone else you know. Nothing ever big got created with a small idea. The challenge of setting the bar high is far more enjoyable than setting it low and expecting average results. You will never regret the risks you take, you will only regret the ones you do not. This is what life is about. It is about challenging yourself to be the greatest speaker the world has ever known. Whether you achieve that or not is irrelevant. The fact that you have challenged yourself to do so, is everything.

Reason #4   – Because Deep Down You Know You Want To

You know deep down that you want to stand out. You know in your heart that you were meant for greatness. You know that you were given gifts to share with others. What you may not realize is that if you do not utilize those gifts for the benefit of mankind then you are not living up to your full potential. Seek out responsibility. Seek out challenges. Be a leader and guide.

Hold high energy frequencies in the palm of your hand and in your heart and use them for the benefit of all. You know you want this. You know you can do this. What you are still unsure of is how. That’s the easy part. The how is always information that you can get from others. I would consider it a very great privilege to guide you to how. Keep in mind that you should never take advice from people who do not have what you want. So, if in any way, I have helped you see that this is something that you want, that you want to be a speaker, trainer and leader, then please allow me the opportunity to help you with that. I have learned thousands of systems and processes that can make it easier for you. Whatever you desire in this field I can help you based on my own personal journey and experience. Of course, I do not know everything.

In fact there’s a lot more things I don’t know anything about than the things I actually know and have experienced. The good news is I don’t teach those things and I don’t give opinions on those things. I only share and help you learn based on my own personal and professional experience. But if I have achieved some of the things that you want to achieve, then why not utilize me as a shortcut to achieve those things. If you know deep down that you have not lived up to your potential, then allow me the opportunity to help you live up to it.

Reason #3   – Because Someone Else Will Do It If you Don’t

Every void in the universe is eventually filled. If there is a group of people or individuals that needs help, the universe looks around for someone willing to help and sends them the opportunity. If you want the opportunity, then you have to state it. And sometimes you have to stand up on a soapbox and state it very loud. All you need to say is, “I want to help.” Put it on your website. Say it in your presentations. Bring it up in every single conversation. Desire it and it will come to you. If you do not state it out loud and you do not let others know that you’re willing to help then someone else will get the opportunity. Every void must be filled.

There are enough speaking engagements for everyone. There are enough training opportunities for everyone. There are millions of presentations still waiting to be presented. You have to make the choice to be the person to fill those opportunities. If you do not make the choice, and you do not state it aloud, you will not be chosen to fill those opportunities. Opportunities are in abundance.  People to seize them are not. So just become the right person in the right place at the right time.

It’s not about being in the right place at the right time it’s about being the right person when those opportunities appear. They are everywhere. You only have to be awake enough and willing enough to see them.

Reason #2   – Because The Audience Will Promote You On Social Media.

When you think about the world of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest, what do you think of? Do you think of the opportunity to reach out to others from a helping and responsibility standpoint? Or do you think that social media is overwhelming? One thing is for certain, you cannot social shout with your opinions and ideas and expect to get anywhere. It is one thing for you to state on social media that you are good at something it is another thing entirely for others to do it for you. So think about that the next time you do a presentation and seed the opportunity for others to talk about you on social media channels. Give people a #hashtag or an @handle to work with.

Give them soundbites that they can Tweet or Facebook. Give them a shortened URL or a free product URL to promote. There are many things that you can do to leverage the power of social media by leveraging the multiple participants in your rooms. There are multiple specific strategies that you can use, but you must choose to seek them out and use them to your advantage. There’s nothing more powerful than a Twitter feed lighting up 2 min. after you hit the stage. And it can catch on like wildfire. However, most presenters do not know these formulas. Make it your mission to seek them out. The power of social media, especially these days, is extensive and reaches far beyond what you believe is even possible. The concept of you tell two friends and they tell two friends is magnified when you start with 100 participants in the audience. But you must be fully aware of that power and responsibility. And you must be fully aware of the context through which that all takes place.

Reason #1   – Because Your Family Matters.

Why do you do what you do? Why do you desire to share information with other people? Why do you consistently put yourself out there in front of others? Why do you bare your soul at the risk of being judged? Might I suggest that you do it because you are the leader, not just of a community but a leader of your family? Your family unit is of utmost importance to your personal and professional success. They will help you make decisions. They will help guide you on your journey.

So you owe it to them to be the most successful person that you can be. You are the public face of your family. You are a shining example of what can happen when family and community come together. You are a living example of what most people desire out of life. Do not take that responsibility lightly. Be well on your journey.