Sometimes just one more sale can cover a lot of needs. Give a better presentation and you might get several additional buyers or supporters.
The best speakers and presenters in the world regularly seek coaching. After all, none of us is as good as we could be.
My entire professional career has been in public speaking and making sales presentations. I’ve delivered over 3,500 highly paid convention speeches to millions of people around the world and worked closely with the biggest names in the world of success motivation. So, let me help you give your best presentations ever.
- Not long ago, a billionaire in California retained me to improve his upcoming presentation to a group of cancer researchers. As a major donor of theirs he was assured a good reception, but still he wanted to do his best. We sat together in one of his many restaurants and he delivered his speech to me across the table. He also had a transcript of it handy.
I told him, “That was excellent and you, of course, are brilliant. AND we can make it better without even changing a word!” He leaned in. “How?” I said, “The power in a speech doesn’t come from the content alone. It is also found in the pauses as the ideas sink in. Pauses, like words, can be short or long.” Then I gave him examples of brief pauses, to set up a key thought. Medium pauses to frame a new point. Long pauses to add drama and emphasis…to…your most powerful ideas.”
I delivered parts of his same speech to him with the pauses. He said, “Wow! That is amazing.” Then he delivered the talk back to me using the same pauses and it was a winner! A week later he texted me from his event. “Jim, it worked! The pauses made all the difference. Thank you for your coaching.”
- A Hall of Fame Speaker colleague of mine called me late one night. Really late. I asked her, “What’s up?” She said, “Jim, I need you to talk me down off the ledge. I have a speech here in Dubai in a couple of hours and I’m panicked.” She told me about the group and her message. Then we explored her feelings. I asked her to tell me about the importance of her message from the audience point of view. Then I reviewed how well qualified she was and how comparatively little the audience knew about her topic. I reminded her of some of her past successes and when the fear subsided, I wished her a good morning, and I went back to bed. She nailed the speech. It was a hit, she was a hit, and she didn’t have fear during her talk.
- Recently a high level consultant called me to prep for a workshop he was doing for the Entrepreneurs Organization EO. We did a Zoom call and he told me his stories, showed me his visuals (slides) and described the exercises they’d be doing. I saw a deeper meaning in his content and suggested that he rearrange his points to drive home the bigger message. Then we role played it and made the exercises more impactful. During our session he gained much more enthusiasm for doing this talk and asked for time to revamp it and review again. It made sense for us to do a number of different sessions so we made a three month agreement for upgrading a multiple of his presentations and business strategies. He was such fun to work with, and so eager to follow my suggestions that we became not only business colleagues but also good friends.
- A world leader in the Artificial Intelligence arena called me in prep for a TEDx talk. Her content was insightful and cutting edge, and she had a personal back story that was downright inspiring! Yet, she was nervous and suffering a bit of “imposter syndrome” (aka Self Doubt.) We did a series of sessions by video call over several weeks. Not only working on the TEDx presentation but also refining her signature message for future presentations. As her message became clearer and more focused, her confidence grew and she did a stellar job at the TEDx event. That led to other speaking invitations and some very big opportunities. Now, just a couple of years later, she’s killing it! She is in heavy demand as a speaker and, more importantly, she’s getting invitations to sit on advisory boards, chair huge events and meet with world leaders. She still calls me from time to time for a new event.
I could go on all day with examples like these. Highly competent people who wanted to raise their game for a key presentation and ended up getting even better results than they hoped for.
What about you? Is it time for you to work with a Hall of Fame Speaker, Author of 27 books, and world leader among motivational gurus? I know, that’s really boastful, but it’s also true. I would love to help you do the best you’ve ever done as a speaker. Give me a call and let’s see just how much better you could be.
You can book a couple of one hour sessions or retain me for a month or longer. Put me on your success team. Cathcart.com/speaking
