Who Knows?

Who knows you want to speak? Who knows the desire of your heart is to be on stage in front of men and women who need the information or encouragement you have to share? If your wife, husband, close friends, parents or children are not booking agents or event planners how will anyone know your desire?

Spread the word! Blog about it (http://JDtheSpeaker.blogspot.com), tweet about it (@JDtheSpeaker), get Linked In (www.LinkedIn/in/WalkerJerry). Join organizations which can educate you about the profession, instruct you in the art of speaking (Toastmasters, Dale Carnegie), or otherwise further your ambition. Are you a member of a church, temple, mosque, or synagogue? Get involved and volunteer to lead. Sooner or later you will be given a ‘voice’ in that setting. Volunteering to serve as an officer or other leadership role in an organization is a terrific way to ultimately get the microphone.

Are you writing? Oftentimes it is important to establish your particular expertise by writing about it. I have been recognized as a thought leader in the area of turning negative situations into positive outcomes, and part of that recognition has come through my willingness to study and write about the results. What is your message? Have you written about it?

My D.E.E.D.S.© presentation is all about helping men, women, and teens live a life of purpose and destiny. I now get paid to present D.E.E.D.S.©, and have recorded a live DVD and CD presenting the topic in short-form to a gathering of business professionals.

Much of my current success is directly attributable to joining Toastmasters. I took advantage of my membership to not only hone the craft of speaking, but to serve as an officer, to participate in the various speaking contests, to volunteer to serve in Area and Division speaking contests, and to visit other clubs. I have been given speaking opportunities as a Target Speaker in an Area Evaluation Contest, and as the Sample Speaker in front of a Demo Club Meeting.

By virtue of immersing myself in Toastmasters I got my first paid speaking gig, which prompted me to begin defining my central message for public presentation.

This passion to speak that you possess will go nowhere until you elevate speaking to a life priority, as I did. As a practical matter it means you will spend time each day furthering your passion, believing you are going to become what you seek. It also means you are going to educate yourself about the art of speaking, which for me meant becoming even more well read than I was, joining Toastmasters, studying the craft of speaking, and studying my central message (do you have a central message?).

As soon as you have a forum to speak, no matter the size of your audience, by all means Speak! This will happen most quickly at Toastmasters, but as soon as possible demonstrate this passion of yours. What you will find is that your love of life increases as you become the person you wish to be. This will not go unnoticed by your family, friends, and co-workers who will likewise appreciate the joy they see in you. You are now sharing your passion, and it’s a blessing. I know because I began this journey in 2008.

Fearlessly,
JD

The Performance Method - Cocktail Speeches

In The Performance Method, we conceive and perform the entire speech in our mind before we begin actual rehearsal. We rehearse multiple times before we ever commit a word to paper. This is my speech discipline, and I heartily recommend it. What I call ‘Cocktail Speeches’ are those sub-ten minute speeches which are somewhat personal in nature. The information disseminated tends to be derived from our life experience or from knowledge we already possess and need not research.

I have found the concept of writing a speech to be particularly bothersome in the realm of Cocktail Speeches. I say this because we are speaking from our own lives, and/or from our own personal interaction with the information we are to provide. So to say ‘we lived it’ is to accurately portray our relationship to the material. That being the case, I can see the need to jot down a note or two if recollection of a sequence of events is necessary, but let that be the last time you count on the paper to remind you of what you have lived (and learned).

The first time I gave a speech in Toastmasters (Ice Breaker, 4-6 min.) I stepped to the Lectern without notes and delivered it. One of my new, fellow Toastmasters marveled that I had spoken without the benefit of notes. My response was, I lived it; I know it. This was not an arrogant response but simply the truth borne out in The Performance Method. For a short speech which draws upon personal experience or knowledge, committing anything to paper for the purpose of memorization is to succumb to fear and laziness.

Give your brain a good workout! Push it to perform! Force it to remember key details; to forge links and transitions in your short speech; to commit to organization; and to supply you with information on demand, when you need it. It takes effort, requires discipline, and no small measure of fearlessness the first time you do it. But on the other side is a level of confidence in your own abilities that is worth far more than the paper you saved.

Fearlessly,

JD