How to become a professional motivational speaker in India?

As a professional keynote speaker I have worked with over 700 plus clients in 12 countries addressing to over a quarter million executives in the last few years. Over the years I have polished the skills of my persuasion skills and podium communication to engage my audience and hold their attention for hours and some times even for few days. Since I receive regular emails from people who seek tips to become a motivational speaker, I thought I would share some professional insights that will perhaps boost your career as well.

1. Start with a bang.

People will not pay attention to the usual stuff. To gain attention, we need to interrupt that pattern. Remember that everyone is in some sort of hypnosis, some kind of preoccupation; you need to wake them up at first. May be you can begin with a statement that will grab the audience attention – something that will violate their conventional knowledge and belief. See how Newspaper articles begin with a headline. News broadcasts begin with a teaser. Your job at the beginning of a talk is to capture attention and convince your audience that it’s in their interest to listen. All’s well that begins well.

2. Connect with your audience

Make sure what you are going to say is important for the audience. It should be about meeting the goals and aspirations of your audience, solving their problems and concerns. The speech should not be about you bragging about yourself.

3. Speak with authority

If you are not an authority on the subject, then don’t bother to take up assignments that known nothing much about. Always speak with conviction and authority, just as to remind the audience that you know what you are talking about. Instead of theorizing your speech, be practical about it and take a common sense approach. To tell a story, you must own the story. Don’t talk about somebody else’s taxy cab experience.

4. Be a storyteller.

Facts tell, but stories sell. Story telling is a great tool to get into your topic. Use anecdotes and personal experiences to build your story. When speaking, your objective should be to give the audience a gift of something that you have learned. If you don’t have many personal experiences relevant to the topic, then give good case studies and stories of people your audience can connect with. Some times great audio visual is good to elaborate a point.

5. Keep the momentum

Make sure that every new bit of information you provide builds on what came before. Each idea should lead to another until you are able present the whole idea in full. You can present a speech like a pitch, when you present the problems first and suggest the solutions last.