Pro Speakers

Hello Speakers, Business Owners, Future Entrepreneurs and Big Dreamers,  

 In this months article I would like to discuss Pro Speakers, which is an organization that is very near and dear to my heart. Pro Speakers is an advanced Toastmasters Club. The Club organized back in 2007 and that is when I joined as a Charter Member. There are two other Charter Members that are still active. When I first joined this club in 2007, I had made it through most of the Toastmasters manuals and achieved ATM-G as it was classified back then. I made a goal that year to stretch my speaking skills by either joining a National Speaking Firm or Hiring a Professional Speaker as a coach. In June of 2007, I was invited to a meeting where the Pro Speakers concept was introduced. The concept was to bring in members that were focused on speaking professionally for a fee or to accentuate their speaking skills to help move them further along in their career. For me, It boiled it down to this: "We were out to find uncommon speakers with incredible desire to push the envelope of greatness and deliver extraordinary presentations that will propel them onto their ultimate goal in speaking."

The entry to the club has a couple of prerequisites. If you were a Toastmaster you were welcomed to join as long as you completed your first 10 speeches out of the Competent Communicator Manual and secondly, you had to have a passion to be hired as a Professional Speaker for a decent speaking fee,. From my stand point I was rubbing elbows with the best, this was exhilarating. 

The first years membership held at least 12 members and most of them highly polished  and motivated speakers. At least six of the members drove 60-90 minutes one way to attend these meetings. That along intrigued me. The meetings consisted of 2-3 speeches that averaged 7-10 minutes long. You were then strictly critiqued for 2 minutes by each member with succinct purpose, advice and what you needed to do to improve. When you were about present a speech to grammatical experts and professional speakers you knew you had to be prepared and on your game. The critiquing absolutely made you better.The term "Shark Tank" was eventually coined for our club. In the eight years that have since passed, many of the original charter members have moved on, most of them achieved the goals and their purpose from this club. There are many great stories of success! I could cover another page of the successes that have been spawned because of Pro Speakers but I will save that for my Demo Speeches that I am giving for the Club this year. Pro Speakers is searching for new members that would want to push the envelope with speaking skills, being hired as a Professional Speaker, or moving up in your particular firm to do training and other skill set meetings. If your club or organization would like me to do an introductory presentation about the group please get in touch with me to schedule a presentation. If you have that inner passion to stretch your abilities in speaking come and visit us. 

Next blog: February 25, 2016

Contact Information:

PROSPEAKERS

Club Number:1029995, District 53, Area F61

Location: Agawam Senior Center
954 Main Street Agawam, Massachusetts 01001 United States 

Meeting Times: 1st & 3rd Thursday 7:00 pm 

http://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/01029995-prospeakers




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The Best Kept Secret for Becoming a Sought-After Speaker

I’m going to give you that secret in a minute. Some of you will skim down this post to find it and some of you will take the time to avoid doing that. But I want to bring attention to two of the words in the title of this post; SOUGHT-AFTER. I didn’t title this THE BEST KEPT SECRET FOR BECOMING A SPEAKER or even a GOOD SPEAKER.

What does SOUGHT-AFTER mean? It refers to speakers who get invited to speak at events numerous times, and are usually paid the fee they ask for. Conference and meeting planners love when they have the name of a speaker who performed really well and one who wowed the audience. These are the kinds of speakers who get invited back, over and over again.

I meet people everyday who desire to be one of these speakers, but they’re not. They get hired to speak to groups but then wonder months and years later, why they never got hired to do it again. And unfortunately, many of these folks never take measures to find out why.

So what does it take to become one of these speakers? You must have awesome stage presence and a high level of professional skills. And what can you do to develop these things? Are you ready… here’s the best kept secret… find and join your local Toastmasters chapter.

Toastmasters is an international nonprofit organization that fosters the development of

communication and leadership skills, using a “learn and then practice” model. You learn by attending business meetings, reading materials, selecting mentors, watching others, being open to evaluation, and then getting up in front of your peers to do it.

I joined over 20 years ago and have been a member since. Participating in the meetings is what really helped me to develop the skills I needed to get noticed, get hired and get invited back again and again.

So why do I refer to this as a best kept secret? Because Toastmasters chapters don’t usually have a marketing and advertising budget so very few people know they exist. And the professionals who do know about the chapters, don’t take measures to join the organization and participate.

So if you want to be one of those busy, highly paid, and much sought after speakers, go find your local Toastmasters chapter, join and participate. The kind of speaking skills that get people hired quickly and invited back again require regular learning and regular practice.

Just because you speak for a living doesn’t make you a good speaker. Stop whining about not getting opportunities and stop blaming your lack of success on someone else. After you join a chapter, LEARN, PRACTICE, PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR EVALUATIONS, MAKE CORRECTIONS, and REPEAT. Eventually the invitations to speak will increase.

Have questions about Toastmasters International? I don't benefit financially in any way, so I invite you to ask me.

Bill Corbett is the founder and director of the Hartford Springfield Speakers Network and the author of the book, From the Soapbox to the Stage: How to Use Your Passion to Start a Speaking Business. He has started or mentored numerous Toastmasters chapters in Nashville, TN and New England. Bill has been speaking professional for nearly 20 years and will deliver the keynote at a national conference in Holland in September 2015. You can learn more about Bill at http://www.BillCorbett.com.