How To be A Motivational Speaker | Find your Niche Can Make You Rich

A How-To video series about how to be a motivational speaker.   In this very informal video in which Brad Montgomery — a funny motivational speaker — Brad asks fellow motivational speaker and Colorado speaker Elaine Dumler for a killer tip for folks on their way to being a paid professional speaker.    She offers up some excellent advice about being yourself on the platform — something that is very hard to do, but is crucial for your success as a speaker.

Check out the video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:
Blog Posts:
How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor
How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic
How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs
Part 7: How to Be a Motivational Speaker — Find A Niche to Make you Rich
Part 8: Be a Professional Speaker — Be Authentic On the Platform

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)
Part 7: How To be a Speaker — Find a Niche
Part 8: How to be a Motivational Speaker — Be Authentic on the Platform

More interested in reading than going to YouTube?   We’ve got your back!  Check out this transcription….

How to be a Motivational Speaker – Part 8 (Elaine Dumler on Authenticity)

Brad Montgomery:         Hi, this is Brad Montgomery from bradmontgomery.com with the continuing series on how to be a motivational speaker.  As I said before, I don’t know – I don’t have all the expertise, but I know people who do and we’re looking at ****my pal, Elaine Dumler.  Elaine Dumler is a college speaker who speaks nationally to everybody, but specializes in military audiences and today she’s going to tell us at least one tip about how to be a motivational speaker.  Go Elaine!

Elaine Dumler:         I think the best thing that you have to always remember to do when you’re speaking, especially if you’re working to motivate other people, is you’ve got to be real.  I think a lot of times we see speakers on the platform who are not the same person as they are maybe off having a beer, a cup of coffee or something.  You have to be who you are.  You want that type of connection and rapport that comes from just being your true self on the platform and letting you come out in everything that you do.  I think that’s what makes you someone that someone wants to listen to.  And if you’re going to add humor, and kind of make it funny, or you know, work kind of natural humor into it, it has to come from who you are.  And if it doesn’t come from your heart, then I don’t know where it’s coming from.

Brad Montgomery:         I think – thank you, Elaine – being you is important.  That’s why when I’m a motivational speaker, I always strive to be Elaine Dumler.  All right.  More tips on how to be a motivational speaker.  Stay tuned.  Thanks, Elaine.

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How To be A Motivational Speaker | Humor Tips — Give the Audience a Voice

A How-To video series about how to be a motivational speaker. In this very informal video in which Brad Montgomery — a funny motivational speaker — Brad explains the simple technique of Giving the Audience a Voice. It’s a guaranteed humor technique that’s easy to implement.

For those of you checking out hot comedians, Jim Gaffigan is awesome. Check out this funny guy. One of the many techniques he uses is to give the audience a voice. In fact, he opens his album BEYOND THE PALE with a high voice with which he simply gives the audience a voice. He talks about what they must think of his skin, his clothes, etc. Funny opening, and all he does is to say what (he imagines) the audience is thinking. What a crack up. Check him out. Not sure what I’m talking about…..Check out the tips how-to video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:
Blog Posts:
How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor
How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic
How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

For Those of you more interested in reading that looking at the speaker video, here is the transcription about how to be a motivational speaker:

Give the Audience a Voice

One of the techniques that you can use in humor is to take advantage of this rule. If you say what the audience is thinking, they will laugh. So, watch how we set up this joke about parking and then see how I follow up by giving the audience a voice. Now, the one thing you need to know to understand these jokes is just that parking at the Mayo Clinic comes at a premium and pretty much, you got to have a lot of seniority to get a parking place. All right. So, watch what we do after the joke.

I love the parking. So, how many of you had to park like 80 miles away today? Raise your hand if you have parking privileges. Okay, now everyone else, if you had your hand up, notice how everyone else is glaring at you. I hate them. I hate them. Man, if you think you can get a job here today, you got to park in Iowa. Some of you are going, I live in Iowa. Shut up. Shut up. Stop with the Iowa thing.

Did you see how he did that? Did you see how I gave a voice to the audience? If you can voice what the audience is thinking, you will get the laugh. So, how did I do that? The first time I did that was we imagined what the people who don’t have parking spaces think about the people who do have parking spaces. And I just said it. You know, I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. And I even did a little act-out where I had that glowering thing. All right. So, that was just giving them a voice and I got credit for knowing what they were thinking. Then I did it again later on when I talked about the people who drive in from Iowa. I just, you know, I said the joke and then I voiced what they were thinking, which is, shut up, I’m from Iowa, shut up.

You can use this technique, too. Imagine or find out what your audience is thinking and then give them a voice, either literally by making up a funny voice and saying it as though you were them, just like I did, or a little safer way to do it would be to back up a little bit and just say, you know, I can imagine what you’re thinking. What you’re probably thinking is. You know what? There’s a video with two Brads, with two pictures of Brad. What, is that crazy? See what I did? I just gave you a voice. Give the audience a voice. Let them understand that you know what they’re thinking and you will get the laugh.

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

Be A Motivational Speaker!

How to be funny on the platform:   a specific technique

Here is Part 6 of the continuing series about how to be a motivational speaker. In this video, Brad Montgomery discusses adding humor to your presentation. (And if you want to be a paid professional speaker, you’ll need to be funny — if you want to get hired.)

No, you don’t HAVE to be funny or to use humor if you want to be a motivational speaker.  But boring speakers never get hired back.   You MUST have some sort of humor, lightheartedness, or levity in your program.  You don’t have to be a stand-up comedian, but you definitely want to invest some time and energy in learning how to work the crowd their happy place.

But adding humor isn’t easy.   Yet there ARE some specific ideas that are easy to learn and easy to implement.

This video covers the specific topic of the Act Out.   Check out the video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:

Blog Posts:

How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor

How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic

How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!

Adding Humor (1) The Act Out

Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice

Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

For Those Of You Who Prefer to Read, here is the transcription:

What To Do When Your Humor Bombs

All right.  I want you to watch these series of jokes that bombed for me at the Mayo Clinic.  But then watch what I do about it.  So, check it out.

It’s just cool to be at the world-famous Mayo Clinic and its sister organization, the Mustard Infirmary.  I’m staying at the Relish Inn.  So, I have a condiment theme here in Rochester.  I bank at the First Bank of Ketchup.  Okay, condiment humor, not big in Rochester.  We can see that.  Did you see what the building next door, right next to the main Mayo building, the little deli?  They’re going to call it Mayo on the Side.  Free condiment jokes.  Yeah!  I mean, how cool is it you guys work for the Mayo Clinic?  It was so much fun for me when, you know, where you going this time, Brad?  I’m going to the Mayo Clinic.  Oh, I’m sorry.  No, I’m healthy!  I’m healthy!  We’re going to laugh.  A little mayo on the side.  Four condiment jokes.

I didn’t totally bomb those jokes, but clearly they didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I used a couple of techniques that you can use as well.  First, whether you’re telling stories or relating an anecdote or telling jokes, when things aren’t going as well as you hoped or horrible, let the audience know that you’ve noticed.  Acknowledge it.  There’s nothing weirder than watching a speaker that acts like everything’s going great when it’s clear to the audience that things aren’t going great.  So, don’t do that.  It’s too weird.  But the second part is equally important which is that it’s your responsibility to take care of the audience.  It’s your responsibility to let them know that you’re fine.  So, when things don’t go well, they start to worry about us and they start to fret for us and get stressed and you got to let them know that you’re fine.  So, you notice, I did just that.  First, I acknowledged the condiment jokes failed, or at least weren’t doing that great.  I even started counting the goofy, failed condiment jokes.  But, more important than that, with my body language and with my words, I let them know, hey, don’t worry about me, I’m having a good time still.  You’re going to have a good time still.  We’ve got lots of program left and things are great.  So, the audience will admire you and love you for trying humor, even if it doesn’t go as well as you had hoped.

Just remember the two rules.  One, acknowledge it, let them know.  And second, take responsibility to bring them with you and let them know that you’re totally fine.

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On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

How To be A Motivational Speaker | Template for a Keynote Speech

A How-To video series about how to be a motivational speaker.   In this very informal video in which Brad Montgomery — a funny motivational speaker — Brad explains the simple format (or template) for creating a motivational keynote speech.      Interested in exactly how you can create your own speech?  No sweat…here are the details.

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation?   Check out Brad’s Got Mirth:  Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:
Blog Posts:
How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1)  | Get a Mentor
How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic
How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote.  A Template!
Adding Humor (1)   The Act Out
Adding Humor (2):   Give the Audience a Voice
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1)   The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2):   Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

For those of you who prefer to read the text of the video, here it is:

Template for keynote motivational speech.

How to Be a Speaker:  FORMAT OF A KEYNOTE
This is Brad Montgomery from Brad Montgomery.com with a continuing series in how to be a motivational speaker and how to be a paid professional speaker.  All right so one of the things we never talked about is exactly what is a motivational speech?  I know, you got some ideas about what you’re going to do and what you’re going to talk about and I know you have some ideas about your message for when you become a motivational speaker but you’re still struggling with how does it work, what’s the form, what’s the format, how do you put together a motivational speech.  Well good news – I’m about to tell you.

All right so it’s really not as hard as you think because there’s a formula.  Now you’ll notice that almost every good motivational speaker follows the formula and deviates from it but at least let me give you the formula because you’ll be shocked how easy it is.  First, you’ve got to have an opening so the opening’s going to be: My name is.  Here’s what we’re going to talk about.  Here’s my background is and here’s what you are going to get out today’s program.  So you’re just going to tell them what to expect.  So I’m a funny motivational speaker and I talk to businesses about lightening up so I start, as you might guess, with some jokes and I tell them today we’re going to talk about lightening it up and how that’s going to be related to your business.  Get it?  That’s the intro – that’s it.  That’s all the intro is.  Now the intro can be very short or you know like even a minute or two or it can be as long as you know five or ten sometimes fifteen minutes.  Because I’m funny I use a lot of humor but I think if you’re a high content motivational speaker you’re going to cut right to it.  So for example you might say, I’ve had an incredible car accident and I learned a lot from it and in today’s program we’re going to go through my story and how the lessons I learned relate to you.  All right so there’s the introduction.

Then you’re basically going to have three points – three points and each point is going to be supported by at least one story.  So let’s say for example your motivational speech is to be in you know you want to inspire people somehow.  All right so then I’m assuming that you have three techniques to inspire people.  So let’s say your techniques are to you know have good relationships and lead others in inspiration and to always nurture yourself – take care of yourself.  All right so those are the three points.  Write them down; bam, bam, bam.

So the first one is, my first point of the day is blah, blah, blah, blah.  Get it?  You tell them what your point is but they don’t care what your point is unless you have a story.  So if your first point is nurturing relationships that’s where you’re going to want to launch into one of your stories about how you nurture relationships or how you learned from this or how something happened to you that is relevant to them.  The main part of the story is to hold their interest, to teach the lesson and then really to let them learn from it.  How can we learn from your experience without having to go through the pain and trouble that you’ve done.  So for example let’s say you’ve climbed Mt. Everest and you want to talk about you know all the fabulous thing you learned about Mt. Everest.  What I really want out of that as an audience member is how can I learn all the things you know without having to climb Mt. Everest.  So you’re telling us the story of Mt. Everest and then you’re giving us the first point.  Got it?  So, now we’ve got the introduction, first point and the story to support that point.  Then you lead right into the second point and the transition can be as simple as that brings us to our second point.  The second point is you need to nurture relationships – I can’t remember what the three points are – but you know the second point is you’ve got to eat a lot of pineapple.  You see it doesn’t really matter what the point is and then you’ve got to support that.  So, how are you going to support that?  With another story so that’s when you need to launch in to another personal story, something that really happened to you and then relate what you learned out of that story and how we can apply those lessons to our lives.  Do you get the running theme?  Because if you’re a motivational speaker it really isn’t about you and how fabulous you are and how fabulous your stories are or how funny you are; what really is important is how you can get some information and inspiration into us as the audience.

All right and then the third point repeat as needed.  That leads us to our third point or our third point is to be a leader of inspiration and you know being a leader of inspiration is important because blah, blah, blah, blah and here comes the story to support that point.  Got it?  So now you’ve just told the introduction, you’ve had three points each one supported by at least one story – by the way if you know you want to do two short stories, go for it; three really short stories, go for it; whatever it doesn’t matter – and then finally is the conclusion and the conclusion really needs to be a summary of what you’ve just done but then most importantly you really need to make sure the audience understands that it’s about them.  So even though all the stories are about you and your own life experience the message is about them.  So in the conclusion you need to really make sure that they walk out of there knowing that I want to be like that speaker I just heard or at least I want to apply the lessons that that speaker taught because it makes sense to me because after hearing those stories and hearing all the reasons behind it and hearing the original thought there’s no way in the world I can’t you know, I can’t leave as a better person after hearing that speaker.  Got it?

So the main format is introduction, point supported by a story, second point supported by a story, third point supported by a story, and then a conclusion which all along you’re going to be talking about your audience but especially at the conclusion you’re going to make sure that the speech is not about you it’s about them.

All right so becoming a motivational speaker is a blast of it’s fun and it’s not as hard as you think.  My name’s Brad Montgomery from Brad Montgomery.com; really happy to be part of it.  If you like this video click over here or okay – I’m not really sure where the links are but there’s a couple of links.  I’ve got a couple programs out about how to be a motivational speaker and another program about how to be a funny speaker and trust me being a motivational speaker is cool but being a funny motivational speaker means you get hired.  So adding humor is really crucial no matter what your topic is.  Thanks for your time.  Look for more videos from me soon.  Glad to be aboard.  Cheers.

Technorati Tags: How To Be A Motivational Speaker, Be a Speaker, Be a Comedian Del.icio.us Tags: How To Be A Motivational Speaker, Be a Speaker, Be a Comedian

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Got_mirth_case_art.jpg”><img class=”size-full wp-image-2246  alignleft” title=”How To Be a Comedian” src=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Got_mirth_case_art.jpg” alt=”How to be a Comedian” width=”126″ height=”120″ /></a>

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation?   Check out Brad’s <a href=”http://www.humorjumpstart.com/got-mirth-info.html”>Got Mirth:  Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth</a>.

Learn more about <strong><a href=”http://www.bradmontgomery.com/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker”>how to be a motivational speaker</a></strong> with my how-to <a href=”http://www.bradmontgomery.com/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker/”>audio here</a>.<a href=”http://www.bradmontgomery.com/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker/”><img class=”size-full wp-image-2203 alignright” title=”How to Be A Motivational Speaker” src=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/be-a-speaker-labelweb.jpg” alt=”be-a-speaker-labelweb” width=”136″ height=”136″ /></a>

<strong>Related</strong>:<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gz0Sso29Q”>

</a>Blog Posts:

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2009/11/20/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-2/”>How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1)  | Get a Mentor</a>

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2009/12/15/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-3/”>How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) </a>Choose the Right Topic

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2010/01/12/be-a-motivational-speaker/”>How To Be Speaker (3)</a> Format of a Keynote.  A Template!

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2009/11/20/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-2/”>Adding Humor (1)   The Act Out</a>

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2010/01/15/how-to-be-a-mo…onal-speaker-5/”>Adding Humor</a> (2):   Give the Audience a Voice

<a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2010/01/15/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-part-6″>Adding Humor</a> (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

Part 7:  <a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2010/01/16/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-7/”>How to Be a Motivational Speaker — Find A Niche to Make you Rich</a>

Part 8: <a href=”http://www.bradlaughs.com/2010/01/16/how-to-be-a-motivational-speaker-8/”> Be a Professional Speaker — Be Authentic On the Platform</a>

<em>On YouTube</em>

Part 1. <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6kYnZagTp0″>Find a Speaker Mentor</a>

Part 2. <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGVc35ej6SY”>Choose a Correct Motivational Topic </a>(on YouTube)<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gz0Sso29Q”>

How to be a Motivational Speaker</a> (3) on YouTube

<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gz0Sso29Q”>Adding Humor</a> (1)   The Act Out (On YouTube)

<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snvaHeXZa5M”>Adding Humor</a> (2):   Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)

<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK_gvdJz0kY”>Adding Humor</a> (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

Part 7:  <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjJEDSUjSf0″>How To be a Speaker</a> — Find a Niche

Part 8:  <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvSplClTa_Q”>How to be a Motivational Speaker — Be Authentic on the Platform</a>

How to Be a Motivational Speaker Article

How To Be A Motivational Speaker Tips   Choosing a Topic

Here’s another one of my tips on how to be a motivational speaker. Today I talk about how to choose your topic. Questions? Leave them in a comment below and I’ll answer them in a video.

How To Be a Motivational Speaker

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my audio here.

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Prefer to read the text?

Hey, this is Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com.  Alright, so here’s the continuing saga, “How to Be a Motivational Speaker.”  I promised you some tips, here comes another one.

One of the big questions I get all the time is what am I going to talk about, what could I possibly talk about?  Well, when you are picking the topic for your keynote, there’s a couple of things I want you to consider.

First, if you’re going to be a professional speaker, not only do you have to be good, but you have to be passionate about something.  So what is it that you are passionate about?  You’re going to be talking and researching and marketing and everything, make sure it’s a topic that you actually love, which is my way of saying, if you think you want to speak on leadership or change or some whatever, I’m saying that’s fine, unless you don’t have passion for it.  So, if you don’t, skip it, right now.

The other thing too is make sure it’s something you’re an expert in.  So, as you’re choosing your topic, what are you good at, what are you already an expert in right now?  So for example, if you work in a hospital and you’re a genius about what’s going on with healthcare, maybe that’s your niche.  Or if you know everything there is about energy or whatever or in my case, if you happen to know everything there is about humor at work, bingo, I’m your guy.  See, I have passion about that; I’m an expert in it, that’s why it’s good for me. What are you going to find that’s good for you?

So, to sum it up, when you’re becoming a motivational speaker, if you’re asking yourself how to be a motivational speaker and you’re wondering about your topic, first, find something you have passion in, second, find somewhere where you have some expertise.

Alright, Brad Montgomery, BradMontgomery.com.   More tips on how to be a motivational speaker soon.  Thanks.

I’m psyched to be visiting the fine folks of the National Speakers Association Houston Chapter on Nov. 8th and wanted to invite you all.  This event is open to the public, so if you have a hankering to learn more about the world of professional speakers, here’s your chance.

I’ll be covering two topics.

1)  How to Be Funny.   Every speaker needs to add humor.  That old joke is true:

One speaker asks another, “Do you need to be funny as a speaker?”

Answer:  “Only if you want to get hired.”

Do you have questions YOU want answered? Leave them as comments and he’ll cover your questions on Thursday.

Check out this video I prepared just for you!

First, at 4 pm, I’ll be teaching my program Got Mirth?  Milking Your Program for All The Humor it is Worth.  (Catchy, huh!) I’ll give some big-time strategies for becoming funnier.  I’ll also give you some tricks and jokes that you can incorporate TOMORROW to get laughs.  Yes, they are THAT easy.   (Not all of ‘em, but I’ll be giving away some cool, easy, funny stuff.)

Second, I’ll be doing a program about how to stay upbeat in this speaking business (at a time where that is harder than ever.)  We all know in our hearts that if we are able to use levity, lightheartedness, and even humor as motivational speakers, we’ll do better — both on the platform and in the business of speaking.     And lucky you, I’ll be teaching a few specific techniques that you can incorporate right away. Oh, and by the way, it’ll be funny. If you are looking for that speakers program that your spouse is interested in…this is the one.

I’m coming to Texas, baby!  On the 8th I’ll be teaching Texas speakers how to strut their stuff and get to that holy ground:  “The next level.” (Nope, I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds good to me. Let’s go there together.)

See ya there!

Brad Montgomery
Texas Motivational Speaker (for a day!), Fan of NSA Houston, Teacher of Funny-ness

PS. Here is the handout. (Think of all the trees we saved by me not sending this to Kinkos!)

PPS. For those of you who asked about coaching, here are the details.

Questions? Leave them in a comment below. Or contact me here.

Technorati Tags: How to be a comedian, how to be a motivational speaker, comedians, humor college, how to Del.icio.us Tags: How to be a comedian, how to be a motivational speaker, comedians, humor college, how to

Powerpoint has to be one of the most overused and abused tool ever invented.  Lousy, uncreative and lazy  presenters mistake good slides for a good speech or presentation.  My point?  Even though you have a “professional” Powerpoint presentation, you still are a mediocre (at best!) speaker.
 
Ok, maybe not you.  But everybody else reading this blog.

Remember this speaking tip:  every moment your audience is looking at your slides they are not looking at you.  That’s fine if you’re selling your slides.  But professional speakers need to sell themselves and their messages, so this PowerPoint-as-the-Center-Of-A-Program phenomenon is a disaster.

Here’s the moment you know your speaking career is going down the drain: somebody asks you for a copy of your slides.   If your slides can stand on their own without you to make sense out of them, you’ve designed your slides and your presentation wrong.

And here’s another hint:  if you feel the need to both project your slides and print them out as a handout, then you have truly hit a new low.  Printed Powerpoint presentations do not equal “valuable handout.”

Advice:  hire a pro.   (Hey, here’s a better idea:  hire me!*)

Contact me here.

Yours,

Brad Montgomery
Professional Keynote Speaker, Excellent User of LIMITED Powerpoint

*  I know, I know.  You saw that shameless self-promotion coming, right? Hey, what can I say.  The kids need new shoes.)

Check out this hilarious video about lousy Power Point.   This guy is right on.

This cartoon cracked me up — and makes a legitimate point about comedians.

Sure, to be a great comedian or comedian speaker you have to have:

• Great Material
• Great Timing
• Appropriate Topis for Any Given Audience.

But most of all, you have to have confidence.  Audiences know right away when we are psyched-out and insecure.   It makes them feel uncomfortable, and really brings down our performance and ratings.

The hard part is that this confidence is nearly impossible to teach.  In my opinion, it just comes after years of experience and thousands — yes, thousands — of performances.

New to comedy? Just keep it up!   

Looking for a comedian speaker for your meeting or convention?  Consider me.*

Brad Montgomery
Comedian, Business Speaker, and Hyena-fobe  (“Hey mom, I made up a word again!”) 

* Unless your audience is comprised of hyenas.  In which case I’ll pass.

Folks, I’ve been speaking and performing for a long time. A very long time. Guess what: I actually:

1. Am not burnt out.

2. Still have family members that talk to me.

3. Still have that vest (I think – - or is that what I saw the kids lining the doghouse with?).

4. Still have my dignity. A little. Ok, not much.

5. I’m still learning. 

See, my first full-time performing gig involved the Colorado Renaissance Festival. I was fresh-faced, on-stage, making people laugh and getting PAID! I made a whopping $30 bucks a day, plus tips, which mostly totaled to about $35/day. (OK, I didn’t say I was good, just that I got paid). Although I didn’t get rich, it was an awesome learning experience.   Although working at the Renaissance Festival was often hard on my self confidence, (I considered quitting about 5 times a day) but with hindsight it was a killer experience every speaker or entertainer should have.  (Though for your sake I hope you don’t have to wear the vest.)

The festival attracted people from all over Colorado, of course, but also from places all over the country. Being on stage and in front of audiences at a young age allowed me to really, really hone my craft in those early years, and it has paid off. A lot of times, when we’re young we don’t realize that what we do then can affect us 10 to 20 years down the line.  I was performing and doing what I LOVE(D) to do and making money at it. (Barely…. can you say, “Brad lived with his parents!“)  And doesn’t it look like I’m having a great time?

It was a tough job — 6 shows a day in 95 degree heat for the TOUGHEST audience Colorado had to offer. I was horrible, but luckily, despite all the evidence to the contrary, I didn’t understand how truly horrible I was.  I can tell you this:  there are techniques I use in my current comedy and humor that I KNOW were influenced by those early years working outside.

The best part of this job was that it provided instant feedback:  the amount of tip money in our hat was evidence enough of our success — or in my case, failure.   I knew the instant I looked in my hat after my comedy and magic show and saw 59¢ and a piece of gum that I wasn’t getting the big tips that good performers earned.  I new I sucked.  I knew that I had to improve fast.  (Because that gum just wasn’t that filling.)  Again, I knew I was weaker than the other performers, but luckily I just thought I needed to get a bit better.  I don’t think my ego could have taken the real truth that I was absolutely horrible.  But I did know I was bad.   And that (limited) self knowledge and a desire to get better created a pretty steep learning curve.

I see WAY too many speakers, comedians and magicians who would never last in an environment like that because they have no idea about how weak their product is;  they don’t know how much they suck.  One show at the Renaissance Festival where 1/2 of your audience leaves and the other 1/2 gives you a 25¢ would give them the slap in the face they deserve.

Let’s admit it:  most audiences today are formal enough that it feels awkward getting up as a group and leaving shouting, “You stink.”   They stay in the audience whether or not the speaker is mediocre.   Even in a comedy club, the audience will put up with some pretty poor comedy.  That’s why that Renaissance Festival  job was so great for me;  it was great precisely because it was so hard and because it created that instant and negative feedback.

After performing and speaking for twenty years some of what I do feels pretty easy and natural.   I’d love to tell you that my current ease with audiences is a natural extension of my “gifts.”   Ha! It isn’t.  It’s the product of a gazillion shows, a shocking number of were horrible failures, hundreds of embarrassing on stage disasters, and well… twenty years of getting it right.  

My point:  If you want to be a motivational speaker, remember to give yourself time to develop, and find a place where you can develop your material safely.   And if you are looking to hire a motivational speaker, make sure your speaker has years and years and years of experience under his … er … vest.

What was your first job? Has it helped you in the profession you’re in today? Do you have an ugly vest in your closet too?  Share your stories!

Are you looking for a comedian speaker for your event?  Pick somebody with years of experience.  Pick me.  Contact my office here.

Technorati Tags: Colorado, Renaissance Festival, magicians, speakers, comedians Del.icio.us Tags: Colorado, Renaissance Festival, magicians, speakers, comedians

Do you want to learn How To Be A Motivational Speaker? I can help.
I have had several hundreds of people call and ask me to “Pick my brain” or “Ask me for some tips on speaking” or … you get the drill. After years of answering the same questions to hundreds of people, I finally figured out the answer.  So what’s the answer? This recording of all of my best ideas, tips and the benefit of 20 years experience of a motivational speaker all in one product.

In this recording (professional CD delivered to your door) you’ll get the best of my experience in how to get started. This isn’t fluff. This isn’t just another “You can get rich if you take my speaker course.” Nope…it’s just the straight stuff from a guy who as done it.

You’ll Learn:

• What a keynote speech really is? What is the template you can use to “plug” your information into to get started quickly.

• How to pick (and fine tune) your topic? And how to make sure your topic is marketable and will serve you in the long term.

• How to get practice in front of real audiences quickly. This may seem like a small point, but it isn’t. You need LOTS of time speaking in front of real people to ramp up your speaking skills. I spend a bunch of time on the recording on this topic, and you’ll get the real stuff. Details. Specific workable ideas. Exacting techniques. Getting yourself “stagetime” is easier than you think… but there are some secrets that can save hours / weeks / years of frustration by just giving you the best stuff free.

• How to break down a speech into easily to manage — and learn — “chunks” that take the fear out of the process.

• How to book 50 speeches in your first year. (Don’t get excited…I’m not saying you’ll get rich… I’m saying that I’ll show you the easy way to get your keynote speech finished, practiced and polished in front of real audiences.

• The skinny on using material from other speakers. (When should you “steal” stories and material from other motivational speakers. And why?)

• How to practice. Sure, you know you SHOULD practice… but in recording I’ll tell you how.

• What you MUST know about memorizing your keynote speech verses using notes. The answer will surprise — and thrill — you!

• Marketing! I will tell you how much time/energy/money to invest in your marketing and when. Again, the answer will surprise and delight you. Seriously, you’re gonna love this section.

• How to get testimonials that will lead to more invitations to present your keynote.

• How to get referrals from other (more established) speakers.

• What organizations you should join and why. Is Toastmasters really worth it? How about the National Speakers Association? I’ll give you my best advice on both.

If You Read One Thing, Read This: I earn my living by being a motivational speaker. Not by selling these type of products. Sure, I’d love to make you a happy customer. But I’m a speaker first. Can the other people offering you products on how to “Get Rich Quick” through professional speaking claim the same thing? I doubt it. Just Google me and you’ll find that I’m the real deal.

Click here for the details on this CD:  So You Want To Be A Motivational Speaker

Technorati Tags: How to be a motivational speaker, how to be a professional speaker

When I coach others about how to be funny, I teach saver lines. Basically, these are jokes that you tell after a joke goes bad to “save” the situation.

Johnny Carson was the king of savers. I just found this video….check out the master.

If you are a comedian or speaker and are looking for presentation and humor tips, this is a guy to learn from. Looking for more tips? Try BradMart.