Putting a fine point on the speaking industry
Make 2008 the best year of your career!
What separates those
speakers who continually seem to thrive from
those who languish and
hold on by a thread, and eventually
throw in the towel? I attended my first
NSA Convention in 1983 at the ripe
old age of 22. Of course, it was one of
the first turning points in my career.
While I have had my share of ups and
downs, there are no words to describe
how grateful I am that I hung in there.
I have seen literally hundreds, if not
thousands, of good speakers with an
important message throw in the towel
on their careers.
One of our NSA legends, Ira Hayes,
CPAE, spoke in 1983, and I learned
two valuable lessons from his great
presentation. The first was “learn to
observe.” The second was to simply
“keep going.” It was that simple and
these two lessons have guided me
through terrific and terrible times as
I moved in the direction of my dream.
Speakers fail for one of three reasons. They fail due to a lack of clarity,
a lack of congruency, and/or a lack of
consistency. They do not fail because
of a lack of commitment or conviction.
Every single person I have met along
the way has a deep sense of conviction
that he or she inherently has something
important and valuable to share with
audience members.
In 1997, I was invited to become a
part of a mastermind group and over
the last 10 years, we have met every
90 days to share ideas and information
that would enhance our personal and
professional lives. It is a great honor
to learn from Marjorie Brody, CSP,
CPAE; Dr. Alan Zimmerman, CSP,
CPAE; Art Sobczak; Bill Lee, CSP; Jim
Meisenheimer, CSP; Lisa
Ford, CSP, CPAE; and
Kathleen Hessert, CSP.
I have learned many
things from my mastermind partners, as well as
learning from many of you
over the years. Speakers
who set themselves
apart from their competition and thrive
are those who are
clear about what
they speak on—and
who they speak to
best. When you are
clear on those two
issues, your marketing tools and
strategies should
begin to fall
in place.
Speaking of
strategies, successful speakers realize
it’s not only in creating good marketing
tools, but in the consistent
implementation of strate-
gies that ultimately gets their phones
to ring. If your calendar is light and you
are not speaking to the degree you wish,
ask yourself, “What am I specifically
doing to connect with meeting planners
and decision makers for the types of
groups I speak to best?” If you are not
talking with decision makers every week,
it’s unlikely you will get where you
want to go.
The future of the speaking profession
is bright indeed, and belongs to those
who remain committed to touching
hearts, engaging minds, and stirring
souls. Pick any topic or area of
expertise and the need
today is likely greater
than ever before.
Speakers need to
be more creative
and innovative.
Whether you
speak to large,
medium or
small audi-
ences remem-
ber this, the
world needs
to hear you.
You rock!
Mark LeBlanc
2007–2008 President
National Speakers Association
