According to Sammy Zherka, every motivational speaker should have a singular goal, which is to make those who listen to them feel better. In fact, uplifting the spirit is the exact goal of all motivational speeches. A lot of people think it is about manipulating behaviors and thoughts, but the reality is that it is about making people feel enthusiastic, positive, and inspired about who they are and what they are doing. Achieving this is quite difficult, but there are three key elements to keep in mind if you want to be a successful motivational speaker.
Sammy Zherka’s Three Key Motivational Speaking Techniques
- Make sure that you know what your audience’s values are, and that you know their goals.
You cannot motivate people if you don’t know what their personal goals and values are. It is critical to understand this, in fact. This is a mistake that many managers make when they try to speak in a motivational way in an effort to make people more productive. They think that their team members all have the same values and goals as the manager themselves. The team members probably all want to do their job properly, but they probably do this because they have bills to pay and not because they genuinely care about the company. To make a motivational speech successful in this case, you must demonstrate that you understand your staff’s feelings and that you respect this, while at the same time showing them that they will be better able to reach their own goals if they become more productive.
- You must tell stories that inspire.
Story telling is an art, but one that can be mastered. And if you want to be a good motivational speaker, you should try to master it. Learn to tell short stories about people overcoming difficult events, achieving the very success that your audience is after. For instance, in a motivational speech to a sports team, you could talk about someone who had a serious injury but then helped their team win the series. Should you hold a speech for a business club, you could talk about all those local mom and pop stores that withered out the difficult economy. Tell these stories properly, and they become inspirational, showing people that they can achieve anything.
- You must use energy and a lot of power.
Last but not least, you must make sure that you are filled with positive energy and that you look impressively powerful. You have to use body language with a lot of empathy and strong gestures, which is how you tell your stories and messages. You need to connect with your audience physically, walking among them, touching them, shaking their hands, and making eye contact. By the end of your speech, people should not just feel good, they should know they are good, that they can be anything they want to be, and they should be ready to act on your message immediately.