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Wendy Buckingham / Creator, Life Coaching Professionally
Becoming a motivational speaker that focusses on coaching related issues can be a real boost to building your life coaching practice. Here's loads of tips for creating an effective, engaging and trouble-free presentation both in person and online.
FYI: I may receive commissions at no cost to you. Please see my affiliate disclosure for more.
There is a certain kudos that comes your way when you take on a stage persona whether it's a face to face live audience, networking group, conference, teleclass or online video platform.
If you get it right you have credibility almost from the moment you start to speak!
Even better, if you deliver an inspiring, engaging presentation, you will soon be recognised as an articulate expert and be in demand as a presenter for all sorts of occasions - as well as attracting committed new clients.
There are numerous opportunities to speak about your life coaching speciality or niche.
Networking functions, community groups, in-house business "lunch time" events and conferences and seminars all are on the look out for coaching presentations.
They may not always be looking for content related to your specific niche or speciality but there is no harm in seeing how you can tailor your talk to the particular audience.
Most of your early coaching related presentations, such as a guest speaker for community groups or networking organisations - even conferences - will inevitably be free. The payoff will be the opportunity to creatively showcase your coaching services.
Once you have really built your confidence and have a few successful events under your belt, you will be able to demand a fee for presentations to company groups or at commercially promoted conferences.
If you want to really start delivering life coaching presentations, practice on any audience that will have you. You may not get clients and you almost certainly won't get paid but these occasions are a great opportunity to hone your speaking skills and have "learning experiences" that don't matter too much.
As you become more confident and known as a great speaker as well as a life coach, you can approach various speaking bureaus so they can check you out and, hopefully, include you in their stable of speaker they recommend.
Don't forget to promote the fact that you are a speaker, with an outline of the presentations you give, to your social media profiles, your website and even your business card. And, if possible, include any testimonials you have from clients that might be relevant to giving a presentations.
When you first begin presenting to groups as you travel the path to become a motivational speaker, it is quite likely that the first groups to engage you will be small business owners in local community and networking organisations. You will want resources or even products to sell.
I suggest you check out the products developed by the Coaching Tools Company because they could be invaluable to adapt as handouts.
You can purchase the whole Small Business Coaching Kit which has 31 helpful tools and templates you can brand to include your business name.
The Coaching Tools Company also has templates and forms for everything from a time saving Welcome Pack to helpful aids for Life, Career and Time Management. Many will be perfect as pre-made handouts at your events and can also be purchased separately.
If you suffer from public speaking panic - it terrifies you - you're not alone! Some studies even report that the fear of public speaking (Glossophobia) is greater than the fear of death!
So, to overcome the fear, your first step is to get some confidence and presentation skills training!
One of the best ways to get good advice and support is to join one of the many Toastmasters speaking courses.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Toastmasters are holding online meetings around the world so it is a great time to explore the opportunities.
In Australia, the local branch of Rostrum also helps an aspiring speaker to develop confidence and skills. It's also worth checking out the National Speakers Association in your country. The National Speakers Association provides a wonderful platform to get known as a motivational speaker and also network among like-minded professionals.
A really good book to explore is The Magic of Public Speaking by Andrii Sedniev.
Written specifically for new speakers I found it a useful reference book with lots of good information on presenting and some great gems to avoid having those "learning experiences".
No matter how you relate your own coaching skills to the audience you are presenting to, it’s important that they understand who you are and what you stand for if you want to incorporate your skills and knowledge as a life coach and promote your services as a motivational speake.
You can achieve this key step by ensuring you have a powerful marketing message to adapt and weave into your presentation. The more congruent you are and the more you relate it to their own lives and work, the more you will successfully reinforce the case for working with you as a life coaching client.
My colleague Cindy Schulson of Marketing From Within has a wonderful free Brand Message Template that will set you on the path of being able to powerfully articulate your branding. Her philosophy on marketing with heart is great for speakers.
Of course on of the most important aspects of becoming an online coach and also giving online presentations is knowing how to get the word out there and attract some clients. In other words - marketing.
Cindy also recently presented a brilliant webinar “3 Ways To Get Clients Online” for the Coaching Tools Company. It’s beautifully put together with no hype or hard selling and lots and lots of great advice. Have a watch! You won’t regret it.
Have a value adding handout for them to take away and remember you by after the presentation has ended.
Make a list of tips or a special offer. Make sure it includes your contact details and website or business FaceBook address. (Obvious I know but you’d be surprised how often it is missed!)
I gave away a simple tips booklet on goal planning which was the foundation for my best seller Ready Set Goal! now, Be Your Own Goals Coach.
One of the first steps to take to become a motivational speaker is to develop two or three presentations that demonstrate the benefits of coaching and get the audience involved.
But don’t just stand up there and waffle on about coaching and how great it is. That is not the way to inspire your audience to work with you.
I usually presented using a theme related to the life skills and goal planning information in my book and, within the time frame given, base the presentation on three to five of the key points.
I recommend you pick a favourite coaching process or two around your niche and build your presentations around them. Include personal stories and relate experiences you have had with clients (anonymously of course) and leave the audience with some valuable tips they can use in their own lives.
One of the best techniques to successfully motivate your audience is to get the them to participate,
even if it is only a show of hands in answer to a question. Or you can ask them to share with the person next to them on a particular topic you have spoken about.
Consider starting your presentation or workshop by telling the audience briefly what you are going to cover so you
get them interested in what is to come. Tell them they can either ask questions as you go or you will take questions at the end of the presentation.
However, a warning: One of the dangers of saying you will take questions during the presentation is that you can get off track and run out of time to get all your message across. So ask for questions with one eye on the clock and be OK about limiting the number of questions and telling the audience you need to move on.
A common assumption when you first become a motivational speaker is that you will be clearly heard. However, as I learnt the hard way, the PA systems provided by venues can be notoriously poor and unreliable - no matter how many assurances the organisers give you.
When we aren't used to presenting to a group we tend to assume that the sound is OK. But when it's not, it can throw you off course very quickly. A poor sound system will destroy your brilliant presentation and deflate your confidence in a flash. But it does not need to be that way.
The Hissonic (or similar system) will save you a lot of annoying moments for both you and your audience if the room PA is poor.
If you use PowerPoint (and personally I never have), don’t just stand there and read off your PowerPoint slides - that is absolutely not the way to engage and motivate your audience.
Make sure your PowerPoint presentation is used just as a prompt, an anchor or a summary and is interesting to look at, with graphics or pictures rather than just words.
One of my most successful presentations was at the end of the first day of a conference in Melbourne, late in the afternoon, when the audience was tired and literally suffering “death by PowerPoint”, after numerous informative but boring presentations.
I had been invited to talk about networking (I had framed it up as
"Networking as a Tool to Achieving Your Goals"), and got the audience to get up, move around and interaction with each other.
Even thought my information was pretty basic, and not even that much on topic, I got the highest speaker rating in the feedback forms. And if got me new clients!
Feedback is an essential ingredient on your journey to become a great motivational speaker.
When you first become a motivational speaker your grassroots relationships are the building blocks of your future speaking career. Wherever you can, build a contact list.
You will obviously have the contact details of the person who organised you to speak but you may also want to add the members of a networking group or community function to your mailing list so you can keep in touch.
One way to do this is to offer a prize such as a book or a free session and draw the winner from business cards you have collected. I'd do this pretty close to the beginning of your presentation so you don't forget. After the presentation you can send out an email saying how great it was to have them as an audience and inviting them to join your mailing list/newsletter.
And always remember to always write and thank the organiser for inviting you!
I have observed many great speakers doing this. If you have the opportunity, mingle and chat with the audience before you speak. This has two advantages.
Ask any speaker how their presentation went and, in many cases the “glitches” were not caused by their content or delivery, but by peripheral things that went wrong in the room and could have been avoided.
Often these glitches are invisible until they occur. Seemingly insignificant things such as how room is set up and how handouts will be distributed, will greatly affect how the audience receives you and how you profit from your speaking efforts.
Here are five seminar preparation tips that can save the day on your way to become a motivational speaker, specifically for live, face to face events.
List everything you need to be provided for you or to take with you. Things like flip-charts, screens, microphones, Wifi, products to sell, handouts, spare pens, business cards, microphones, parking - yes parking and so on. Never assume what will be provided - including parking. Always check with the organiser. Avoid the "Oh I thought you were bringing your own." scenario.
Confirm the expected number attending the day before so you have enough handouts. Always take a few extra handouts just in case.
Arrive early so you can check on things like the position of the lectern, glare on a screen and the seating configuration. Make sure you will be visible from all seats. Don't be afraid to ask for things to be changed.
If possible, visit the venue in advance and test-run your equipment, microphone, audience microphones, screens etc. And, maybe more importantly, if you are relying on the equipment being offered by the venue, make sure that is working properly.
If possible, have someone come with you as a support. This person can:
Becoming a motivational speaker to promote your life coaching business is not confined to face to face presentations. Video, Zoom and Skype have opened up a world of opportunity, enabling you to reach an audience anywhere and even interact with them almost as you would from the physical stage.
The general principles of putting together your online webinar or conference call are the same as my tips above. But, of course, there are some distinctions and techniques you will need to master.
Remember, a physical audience won’t usually be rude enough to walk out if they are bored or you are not giving them what they expect. However, all an online audience member has to do is click and you won’t even know you have lost them.
I have dedicated pages for online life coaching and group coaching and both have some good tips that also apply to becoming an online presenter. I particularly recommend the sections: Looking And Sounding Good and Remote Group Coaching
Nevertheless, there are particular distinctions to know when speaking to an online group. So if that is how you are going to motivate and inspire your audience about your life coaching, here are 7 tips to make sure they stay with you and don’t click away after few minutes.
An online audience wants you to quickly get down to the value you are offering. You can tell ALL about you in any promotional emails you send out or provide a link to the “about” page on your website or other online profile. So don't waste time and lose your audience by telling your life story. What they want to know is how you can help them.
In other words future pace the group so they will stay engaged.
This is even more useful than in face to face presentations because there are not always other visual cues to keep them engaged.
Let them know there will be time for questions and some special offers at the end of your talk, such as a big discount on one of your coaching services or a giveaway of your book. In other words, continue to give them a reason for staying with you all the way through your presentation.
This may not always be possible with Privacy Laws if you are a guest speaker presenting to an online group. However, it's worth a try to ask if you can have a list of those who have signed up so you can do a follow up email.
If you can't get a list, make an offer during the call that specifically needs them that to take advantage of the offer will have to provide an email address. For example, they need to go to a landing or website page and enter their name and email to download the item.
There is nothing more annoying to your audience than having a host fiddle with camera and sound when you are waiting for them to get on with it. Do a test run before you start with a trusted support person and check it again shortly before you begin.
If you have say more than 10 people participating in your online presentation, have a helper who can send you the questions that are appearing in the chat box. This is invaluable as a good person can only sent you the best questions to answer at the time and send those you don't have time to answer to specific website or Facebook pages, or get email addresses for later follow up This enables you to give your full attention on the presentation without having to fiddle with the chat box..
Make sure you audience is not looking up your nose - seriously
Take the time to test the position of the camera on your mobile or computer to make sure you are seen as you want to be seen and don't have people looking up your nose or can't see you at all because you are in front of a window or some other distraction such as a plant growing out of your head.