Public and professional speaking is a learned skill. Anyone can do it provided they are willing to put in the time and effort to learn that skill. You can greatly accelerate that process though mentors -- people who have "been there, done that" and can show you the way.

 

My mentors include World Champion's Edge: a team of past World Champions of Public Speaking "turned professional" who now provide a variety of products and services to Professional Speakers and to those who want to become Professionals.

When was the last time you "caught someone doing something great" and let them know about it? People are starved for attention, for affection, for recognition. What you reward, you get more of.

 

For me, there is true joy in letting people know you recognize and appreciate the great things they've done.

 

There are a lot of ways to do so, here are 7:

People are starved for attention, for recognition, for affection. For me there are few joys greater than catching someone in the act of "doing great" and giving them recognition.

One of my favorite ways to do so is something I call "trolling for accolades".

Trolling is a fishing technique wherein you travel in a boat at slow speed and drag a baited fishing line behind the boat. Hopefully the fish will follow it and nibble at the bait. Metaphorically, I use email as bait to troll for feedback.

What is an elevator speech?

 

Picture this: you just stepped into an elevator, the doors closed, for the next 30-45 seconds you have a captive audience. They are not going anywhere. You could talk to them about Toastmasters!

 

An elevator speech is just a brief table topic that answers some of these questions: