A couple weeks ago, I went to the National Speakers Association (NSA) annual convention in California (nice to get out of the AZ heat). Two key themes emerged for me:
– Be true to who you are
– Take a stand and don’t be in the “middle” (watch for more on this in the next post)
The most successful speakers are the same on and off of the platform. They are not actors or putting on a show, they are shining brightly as who they are with a message that is so much of their truth that they inspire us into action or even transformation.
Here are just a few of the nuggets that I picked up and links to the sites of a few of the amazing people who spoke at the convention on the first couple days.
Glenna Salsbury had the opening keynote and she kept us mesmerized with her speech about being called to speak your truth. “If someone else can give your message then you are not telling your truth.” She asked, “What would you put on a t-shirt to express the heart of who you are?” She went on to express, “take the long view of your career and purpose, only you can stand in your place.”
Brian Tracy accepted a lifetime achievement award and talked about how it takes seven years to be successful in the speaking business (this was both a relief and scary to me). He said that, “if you expect it to be easy then you will always be frustrated.” Resolve to pay the price and do it.
Tim Gard said, “We need humor more than any other time on the planet.” See the absurdity in things and lighten up.
Lou Heckler gave a great keynote using the comparison of a baseball catcher to a speaker; it was a fun and insightful speech. He quoted Maya Angelou, “You can’t go through life with two catchers’ mitts, you need to be able to throw something back.” And Alan Alda, “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”
Larry Winget talked about personal branding. He has done a masterful job of branding himself as the “pit bull of personal responsibility.” He does not look like the typical professional speaker, go look at his link to see what I mean. He asked a very powerful question, “What do I have to offer that they can’t get from anyone else?”
I know for me, it has been a journey to figure out my truth. It seems much easier to figure out who I am not; discovering my truth is still evolving.
Share a comment if any of these nuggets resonate with you!
photo credit: Flickr creative commons: visual.dichotomy