With the pivot to predominately virtual speaking this year, it’s easy to be overwhelmed as an aspiring or established professional speaker. Most of us are in a foreign environment that we simply aren’t use to. Some have gone from speaking in-person for decades, to speaking virtually overnight. If established speakers are having to adjust, imagine what it’s like for a person just starting out. In my previous tips, I talked about the speaking game being a revolving process. From the early stages of writing your ideas down on paper, to coordinating with event planners and then the later stages of practicing your talk and finally delivering it, you are bound to go through a roller coaster of emotions. While many of us aim to be perfect, the reality is that we’ll fall short. It doesn’t mean that we won’t get the job done and that doesn’t mean that we won’t look good while doing it. It simply means that everything might not go your way and we’re bound to run into some surprises. But no matter what, you have to keep pushing forward.

As a professional speaker you are constantly under pressure, from a performance perspective, to the entertainment factor. Don’t forget about quality. Are you just providing fluff or are you providing your audience with useful and potential life-changing content. A proper mixture will require you to constantly think ahead at all times. Not to mention, you are in competition with other speakers. There will be nights where you will knock the ball out of the park. Your content will land perfectly and the crowd is constantly engaging with you. It will feel like you are on cloud-9 and you can’t be touched. And then the very next gig can bring you back down to earth. It’s an off night, and you feel like everything has gone wrong. But you don’t even have to totally bomb. It could be that your energy just wasn’t there. Maybe you were sick. Maybe you simply didn’t want to do a gig. But then again, you could totally bomb. You could forget what to say. You could have a tough question and answer session. The just weren’t in favorite. The thing is, you never really know until you are fully in the moment.

If you see yourself being a successful professional speaker, you have to put the work in. You have to be consistent. You have to constantly deliver. And even if you get all of these things right, you will make mistakes. So that means you have to remain even kill. Remember, you are human. You weren’t meant to be perfect. None of us are meant to be perfect. But we were all built to constantly improve. Don’t let a bad day persuade you to quit before you even get started. Just imagine if Walt Disney gave up in the beginning. Our childhoods would be absent of some of really good memories. No Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or even Disneyland. What I’m really trying to say is that for any successful person that you may look up to, imagine if they would have quit before they finally made it. If that was the case, you wouldn’t be looking up to them would you? And besides, everybody is somebody’s hero. The way you embrace the good times and the bad times can truly inspire someone that you never knew were watching you.

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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