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Become a Motivational Speaker

I want to introduce you to a speaker who, in his time, set a standardfor presentations unapproached by his peers. Several years ago,while living in South London, I discovered the fascinating story of Charles Spurgeon, and, from the heart of his story, both the themeand title for this book.

I feel connected to this reverend for the following reasons:

• Our fathers were both Baptist preachers.• We both preached in London, England.

• On a personal note, we've both been described as portly, andhave relished a fine cigar.The dynamic Charles Spurgeon was a minister in the Elephant andCastle district of South London in the latter nineteenth century. Whileresearching this "man of the cloth," I learned some disturbing statisticsdescribing church attendance. During his lifetime, attendance was atan historical low in churches of all faiths throughout England. Theaverage attendance ranged from between five and seven people per service, per church! The notable exception was the MetropolitanTabernacle, the largest independent congregation in the world, whereSpurgeon had a regular attendance of five to seven thousand everySunday morning!

What really compelled me to study this man'spresentation skillswasnot just this astounding attendance. It was the appeal he made to hiscongregation on Sunday mornings at the end of his sermons. Hewould ask those in attendance to

not return

that evening so that otherswould have an opportunity to get in, who that morning had beenturned away!

I'd never heard of a minister having to make that kind of announcement. What made Charles Spurgeon so popular? Whatabout him appealed so powerfully to others? In my research, Iuncovered an interview with Spurgeon that provided, with the

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brilliance of a few searing words, the answers I sought. When askedwhy so many people were coming to his church when other churcheswere nearly empty, Spurgeon's response was:

I am on fire for God. And when I preach, peoplecome to watch me burn.

Here we need to concentrate only on the fire,not the fuel. I don't want you to be put off by the particulars of our good minister's flame, nor distracted from the general truth of hismessage. Regardless of the source that fueled his fire, he WAS onfire, and people came to experience his heat, to watch him burn in hiskeynote speaking!

I'm sure that there were other ministers in Spurgeon's time that weremore learned and better scholars, but they lacked his speaking skills.

Spurgeon commanded an intense and authoritative passion during thepresentation of his messages, and this filled his church. (And though Ican't prove it, I feel certain that most of his congregation didn't arriveearly to fight for the pews at the

back

of the room.) Likewise, we needthat passion in order to burn. If we have intensity in our presentations,it will show, and it will have that same kind of appeal and attraction.And there's something I want you to keep in mind, something that Icannot emphasize enough:

The fire you want burning during your motivational speakingdoesn'tstart by accident.

It has to be carefully, methodically built, and every time in your motivational speaking career , people will be not only captivated, butalso grateful, firewatchers.

If you're still wondering just how important it is to add that extraelement of passion in your motivational speaking, please allow me tooffer you several striking examples---

I conducted a motivational speaker training for a Fortune 400insurance company. I was in a meeting with one of the company

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executives who asked if I would be willing to help one of the managers(let's call him John) with a presentation he was to do in seven days for senior executives. I said of course I'd be happy to do that, as long asJohn was willing. This executive went on to explain to me that thiswould be a very important presentation and that John was anexcellent manager who probably deserved to be a director. It turnedout that the only thing keeping John from being promoted was his lackof presentation skills. I was then told that if John did an exceptional jobspeaking, he would receive that promotion to director. And I was leftwith these final words: "Oh yeah, and you can't tell him about this."

So, the next day, I met with John. He already had the content that hewas speaking on written because it was one he'd spoken on severaltimes. To be honest, he didn't seem that excited about it. I said toJohn, "Why don't we really go after it this time and make thispresentation better than it's ever been?" "I know, John, but for thisMonday night, why don't we go for it? Let's put in some good humor,create a very captivating introduction, and initiate a call to action?"

"I don't know. I hadn't thought about doing that much."

"John, we have six more days. We can practice it, we can rework it,we can really spice it up and make sure it's fantastic! What do youthink?" That's when he blurted, "Here's what I think- I think

you

aremore excited about my presentation than

am!"

"No offense, James, but I'm not very interested in putting too muchtime into this. I already pretty much have my thoughts together and Iknow what I want to say."

By now, I was really biting my tongue. I pressed on.

"I know, John, but for this Monday night, why don't we go for it? Let'sput in some good humor, create a very captivating introduction, andinitiate a call to action?"

"I don't know. I hadn't thought about doing that much."

"John, we have six more days. We can practice it, we can rework it,

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Becoming a Motivational Speaker

My Presentation Fire School-Training Course for Motivational Speakers is a full training course that will help you maximize your speaking skills and will take your speaking care... (More)

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