Update: On Halloween day I'll be watching Craig Valentine give a training on "How to Keep an Audience on the Edge of Their Seats." Craig is an award-winning speaker and was crowned the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International. He will take three volunteers from the audience and transform portions of their speech right on the spot.

If you are selected it's like being on a hotseat where the coach lets you know what you're doing right, or wrong, and then makes a suggestion for you to work on. You then come back on stage to give your revised version. The audience compares the before and after versions and gets an "aha" moment.

Feature Article: Speaking Authentically

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Power of Suggestion?

Out of the clear blue my friend left a box of Kleenex in my car. I don't know what for. I didn't ask why. I wasn't suffering from allergies. Yet I thought it could come in handy some day.

About two weeks later I get sick. I now know what to do with that Kleenex.

The surface questions I asked myself were, "How did he know I was going to get sick? Does he have a crystal ball? Could he read into my future?"

But then I became psychoanalytical and asked the deeper questions like, "Did the Kleenex have anything to do with me getting sick? Was my mind/body affirming that since I now have the Kleenex, why not create an opportunity for me to use it? Could this somehow be connected with the power of suggestion?"

I don't know. Maybe we'll explore this on a future issue.

Speaking Authentically

Dear Associate,

I'm sitting in the audience of about sixty. The speaker is announced and confidently makes his way onto the stage. He shakes the announcer's hand and proceeds to look at the eager crowd.

He is poised and ready. He is all jazzed up. He is dressed quite appropriately. He beams a huge smile. He inhales a deep breath. He is revving up to speak.

His voice is strong. His message is bold. His style is powerful. He moves across the stage like an experienced pro. This guy has all the goods of a motivational speaker.

But after studying him for about thirty seconds I thought, "Oh, no. Not another Zig Ziglar."

I'm not kidding. He was good. Quite good. The audience was rather engaged.

If you're not familiar with Zig, he's a dynamo speaker and trainer. At times he can be clocked speaking at gusts of 100 miles per hour. He is well known in corporate circles and headlines numerous speaking events. In fact, I own one of his earlier tape albums.

There are many self-development students, sales experts, and big-name consultants who have benefited from his programs. He is a big influence on many motivational speakers. There are many newbie speakers who adopt his speaking style.

Some become his copycats...

They copy his delivery, gestures and content. They mirror him in every way, shape and form. They may even duplicate some of his humor with a twist.

It's a form of hero worship. I've seen one fellow from India do this on the same program with Zig. He probably promotes himself as the Indian version of Zig.

But to me, they're nothing more than a bunch of lost actors. They imitate someone else's voice, lines and stage presence. There's very little new material. Most of their content has been reworked and reworded, but it did not originate from them.

If an audience member tells you, "He sounds just like so-and-so," she's probably right. Then she begins comparing him to so-and-so. Then she thinks, "If I wanted to see so-and-so, I would have. But I came to see this guy and I didn't get anything new to take home with me. I've heard this stuff before."

That's the faux pas of being labeled a copycat. People become aware of the differences right up front. Later in the program, for various reasons, some begin to discount the copycat.

With this in mind — why would any speaker begin their career on the coattails of another?

As a speaker you have an authentic voice. You are unique and so are your personal stories. You don't sell more books, get more notoriety or grab more bookings being a clone. (Unless you're a celebrity imitator.)

Imitators offer some value, but you offer a distinct value no one on the planet can duplicate. Be your unique you and the world will know who you are by your distinct value. Make your value count even more by being authentic.

Warm regards,