A version of this article appeared on Orbit Media a while back. The truths in it are as relevant as ever and I wanted to share it. You can find the original here. Before my career took me to the stage as a professional speaker, I spent years behind a drumkit for a ska/funk band in Chicago. What started as a college band would be a big part of my life for almost a decade, and I'm still pulling ideas and concepts from the experience that I use to this day. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was also learning a perspective that would profoundly influence how I approached being a speaker. When people ask me for advice on how to … [Read more...]
Being a RockStar Public Speaker
Being a public speaker is as close as you can get to being a RockStar during the daytime. And, it involves pretty much the same steps too: develop material over weeks and months, make a ton of phone calls trying to get booked, spend a solid amount of time getting to the venue hours early so you can do a 5-minute sound check, wait until it's your turn, worry about how many people are in the audience, deliver what you hope is a great presentation, try to minimize your mistakes, collect your applause and only sometimes a check, go back home and try to get another gig. Now, I love speaking just like I loved playing in a band (although it is … [Read more...]