• Speaking is show business. Unless your giving a funeral eulogy, announcing a corporate "downsizing," or presenting at a similar solemn occasion, always make your presentations interesting, lively and entertaining.
• Use the WIIFM principle. Never forget this: Your audience doesn't care about YOU...they care about THEMSELVES! Always, always develop and present your material with that thought in mind.
• You don't have to be great to be successful. Most people go to a presentation (where the speaker is not a "professional") expecting to be bored. Astound them! Believe me, they will be thrilled if you are just not boring! No kidding! If you aren't boring, they'll be happy...if you were actually interesting and entertaining, they'll beg you to come back. It really works. In fact, you'll find that people will be increasingly willing to pay you for your time.

I began my career speaking for free (and still do a lot of that), but discovered that people will actually pay me. I started with a fee of $500 for an all-day seminar and now (as of this writing) charge $2,500 for an entire day or $1,750 for a half-day, with discounts for multi-day presentations or bookings...of course that's negotiable :-).

Copyright 1999-2000 by William C. Wilson, Jr.
All Rights Reserved.