“Have you ever been in prison?....I have”.
That was the opening line of W. Mitchell’s talk to the National Speakers Association of New Zealand last night. The audience was on the edge of their seats. He had the 'sheep in the paddock' as he said, and now the key is to 'never let them out.'
W. Mitchell, a successful professional speaker, charging $32,000NZ ($16,000US) for his one hour keynote speeches, spoke about the keys to giving a memorable speech and becoming a successful speaker.
After he opened with his provocative question, he debriefed us on what he'd done. It's all about changing the state or mood of the audience, interrupting their mind chatter about the bills, the kids, the partner and other personal issues. By beginning with a period of silence followed by his prison question, he had us hooked. He had successfully changed our state and we were ready to listen.
Mitchell later explained that the prison he was talking about was not literal.
He was talking about mental prison. For him, his wheelchair had once been a prison. Other mental prisons could be such things as a job, a relationship, or any other self-imposed limitation.
Mitchell discouraged us from beginning a speech with such 'normal' or mundane openings such as thanking the organiser of the event or commenting on how lovely the venue is. That's what everyone expects, and the expected does not wake up the audience.
Mitchell emphasized that as speakers we must always realise that it's about what's in it for the audience. What message do we want our audience to go away with? The message is the most important part of the speech. Also, he feels that the most important moment of any speech is the last phrase - which should always be a reiteration of the message. Mitchell's speeches always end with is overriding message which is also the title of his book: "It's not what happens to you - it's what you do with it." That message hit home particularly deeply with one young man who came up to Mitchell to thank him after one of his talks. The young man told Mitchell he'd tried to commit suicide three times before and that he would always remember Mitchell's message if he ever gets close again.
Mitchell outlined three keys to becoming a successful speaker:
1. have a wonderful message
2. become a wonderful messenger
3. become a good marketer
In terms of marketing, Mitchell said that rather than focusing so much on giving out our own business cards when we network, we should focus on getting other people's cards. In that way, we take responsibility to follow up on leads ourselves, not leaving it up to others to call us. He also suggested putting a valuable tip or message on our cards which will give people a reason to keep them or at least hold onto them a bit longer before tossing them in the bin.
Mitchell also recommended that professional speakers never talk for free. Rather, we should donate our fee or that portion of our fee that an organization cannot provide us. Also, if we do donate a talk, we ask for a favour in return, such as phone calls and introductions to the board of trustees who could possibly hire us as speakers in the future for their own businesses.
After Mitchell's talk to the speaker's group he went on to give his popular keynote speech at a dinner hosted by the Tight Five Speakers.
I did not attend the dinner event myself so will be interested to read an article from one of my fellow NSANZ members who did!
As Mitchell's talk about his secrets to his speaking business was so inspiring, I imagine his keynote was amazing! Here's to all of us aspiring to be the best we can be in 2009. Here's to our striving to serve in the best way we can and to becoming successful examples to others as Mitchell so beautifully was to us last night. Thank you, Mitchell :-)
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