As a professional speaker, everything you do the minute you walk into the room sets the tone for your message. Without even speaking one word, you can determine just how many people you will reach because their engagement to your message depends on you; not on them. You can have a great topic to speak on and great presentation skills, but without communication the passion you have about your topic, none of it really matters!

Go before your audience expecting to make an impact! People aren’t interested in what you know. They want your information for themselves and passion is like the “grease” that lubricates that passage of information! Do you expect that your audience will receive what you have to say? Do you communicate that you’re excited to be there and you’re also excited that they are there as well?

Be mindful of the needs of your audience. As a professional speaker, we can get caught up with our message because you know it’s what your audience needs. The problem with that train of thought is that it leaves one key person out of the equation – your audience member. Prepare yourself beforehand to figure out what your audience may want to know or needs to know and then deliver that message. Read the rest of this entry