On Stage – How To Be The Ultimate Professional
I have just had the privilege of attending my third ‘Global Training Conference’ in the USA for my health and wellness business. I saw a number of International guest speakers, both male and female, from Gen Y to Baby Boomer, present to a packed arena of over 18,000 people.
The calibre of speakers was outstanding, especially given that most presenters are company business representatives rather than dedicated public speakers. They’re business leaders who have achieved significant leadership positions, whilst developing personally and professionally along the way.
This was clearly evident by the fact that many of the conference speakers were very confident using the numerous TelePrompters placed around them on the Grand Arena stage. Some chose to use their own notes, with no TelePrompTer support, whilst others simply spoke with no notes or TelePrompter.
The keynote platform speaker for this year’s conference was John O’Leary. He’s a professional speaker, who received burns at the age of just nine, to 100% of his body. He was given a 1% chance of survival. Amazingly, John spoke with no notes and shared PowerPoint slides with visuals rather than words to enhance his presentation.
My take home message from the conference speakers is that if you know your topic, are prepared, have developed personally and professionally, are passionate and willing to share, then you can be centre stage and speak confidently in front of thousands of people!
I can’t say there was any one single stand out speaker, as each and every speaker had great gold nuggets pertinent to their nominated topic.
However, it was pretty special when John, with no fingers (only stumps) played Amazing Grace on the piano.
If you want to be a great speaker, know ‘your story’, practice, be confident and willing to share with and impact others lives.
Everybody has a story. Go tell yours. The world awaits you.