Is speaking part of your business plan? Or are you one of the many people who put “fear of speaking” ahead of dying as your most terrifying fear?

If you have read any of my previous entries, you’ll know that I recommend getting out to events so that you get a chance to meet people and get involved in your community (whatever that is). I’ve also talked in the past about going to Mark’s events and recommended them as a way to get some great training while you meet others.

This particular event is even closer to my heart, as I used to be a corporate speaker in my previous IT life and I’ve discovered, (to my cost), just how much I loved that part of my old career. I’ve looked at ways to get back on stage a few times, but this is the first time I’ve attended a “soup to nuts” course on the subject. The weirdest thing about this one is that I am sat in the audience learning how to sell from stage at a venue that I have spoken at myself in that last career. Moments of deja vu keep jumping out at me!

Mark spent some time up front, going into the reasons to be in the speaking business and how it adds immeasurably to any other part of a business. He gave a lot of examples both famous and less-so, of people who have gone on to be very successful speakers on the conference circuit and he also talked briefly about how a speaking career can lead into things like book publishing very easily.

I’m a big fan of Mark’s speaking style and he comes across as a very relaxed presenter – he made the clear point that being a sole presenters (for a weekend, say) is more profitable than sharing the stage with others – but this weekend is all about sharing with a group of great presenters to get the audience presenting effectively as fast as possible. Mark’s plans are ambitious, he wants to grow his seminar business dramatically this year and is looking for presenters to help run sessions for him…..join the queue, I’m looking for it already 🙂

John Lee and his Ultimate Conference Speaker Training.

John Lee took over the podium for most of the rest of the day, giving a series of fantastic talks on the mechanics of preparing and giving a sales oriented talk. John flew in from Kuala Lumpur where he is currently running his own seminar and timed the overnight flights to and from London to fit into gaps in his speaking over there!

It would be unfair on John to give away too many of the nuggets he shared, but he worked through 7 stages of a successful sales talk and then went into 31 different kinds of closing techniques as well as covering many small tricks and tips of actually delivering your talk.

John is a genuine, inspiring and extremely knowledgeable speaker and it’s been a pleasure listening to him today. Finding out that he puts aside a chunk of cash just to give away each month just boosted my already high opinion of him.

I didn’t sign up to his final training offer, but it was nothing short of stunning and I may yet crack and get involved. If you want to  get into professional speaking, you should definitely check him out. A first port of call would be his YouTube Channel and search from there. I can’t recommend him enough.

I’m afraid that I missed the final speaker of the day – Mindy Gibbins-Klein – who spoke about building a personal brand. Her expertise lies in publishing and I was disappointed to miss her talk, but I will see if I can get some feedback to put in tomorrow’s report.

In the meantime, if you are UK based and can make this event (even for just the weekend), I’d really recommend getting here as the quality of the speaker line-up is great and they seem to be really delivering good content. You can find the details at http://millionairesummitforspeakers.com (and no, that’s not an affiliate link).

 

About Martin Percival

Martin Percival is an Internet Marketer with 28 years of experience in the IT world. He uses his technical skills to help others gain a foothold on the internet. You can track him around the internet on Google Facebook and Twitter