Best Novel for Public Speakers

Og Mandino, one of the most popular authors of all-time, wrote one of his last books about a fictional thought-leader/public speaker. Bill Gove, Og Mandino’s speaking coach and mentor, told me back in 1996 that I had to read this book. As usual, Bill was right. I’ve never forgotten this book. It’s a must-read for...

Keynote Speakers Become Rockstars

One of the most misunderstood aspects of professional speaking is the power of the keynote speech. Teachers and trainers call our office every day and ask why they should focus on becoming a keynote speaker. Many people believe it’s because of the fee’s keynoters receive, but the truth is that’s only the beginning of why...

Bob Proctor’s Advice to Speakers

Bob Proctor is one of the most successful professional speakers of all-time. I’ve had the honor of speaking at dozens of conventions with Bob all over the world. I can tell you from first hand experience why he’s so successful: he’s really good. More specifically, he’s a very exciting, content rich, entertaining performer. Millions of...

Professional Speakers Beware: End of an Era

The great recession/correction of 2008-2010 marks the end of an era for professional speakers. The days of thousands of motivational speakers regurgitating think and grow rich are over. Thousands of speakers have been forced out the business in the last two years because companies are demanding tens time the value they were 24 months ago....

PLEASE DON’T Write a Book in 30 Days

The average best-selling author spends 12-24 months writing their books, yet there’s a bunch of people promising new speakers they can do it in 30 days. These are the same people claiming the speaking business is easy and you can throw a speech together overnight and you don’t even have to be a good speaker...

Should speakers thank the audience?

Seems like a pretty easy question to answer, but speakers have different beliefs about this. We get this question at every session of the Bill Gove Speech Workshop, and we give the workshop philosophy to the participants. Bill Gove, the father of professional speaking, felt very strongly about this. Listen to this 2-minute audio post...

Audience “Shocked and Stunned” by Senior Executives Comments on Speaking Business

I interviewed a senior executive last weekend in Atlanta at the Siebold Success Network meeting for almost 2 hours onstage, and the audience of speakers was shocked at what she had to say. This executive hires some of the biggest speakers in the business, and she told the truth about what it takes to get...

Is Your Speech Good Enough To Survive The Great Correction of 2009?

Back in 2001-2002, post 9/11, over 1200 professional speakers went broke when corporate training and travel budgets were frozen after the terrorist attacks on New York City. This represented the professional speaking industry’s first major economic correction. The middle class of the speaking business went belly up, and almost everyone I knew in NSA thought...