Believe it or not, people will pay you to teach them the life lessons you've learned.The price tag will depend largely on your reputation, material, and promotional skills.

First of all, public speaking is a business.It involves lots of marketing and the product you're selling is your knowledge and skills. In other words, you are the merchandise! And you will promote yourself to the fullest.

A product is judged by its quality and a high-quality product will always be a...

Essentially, public speakers make money out of their skill to deliver topics at events such as conferences and seminars. These events can be quite lucrative for many speaking professionals.

However, speakers do not earn on platform fees alone. Some speakers get rich giving free speeches. Keep this acronym in mind. B.O.R.S. This stands for 'Back Of the Room Sales'. Using this, you can speak for free but still earn lots of money from the sale of your products.

While speaking...

The Corporate Motivator

This type of motivational speaker basically specializes in leadership motivation. Speakers in this category usually have a background in business or are significant members of prominent organizations. This leadership motivator has been responsible for managing companies and/or teams.

Corporate motivational speakers are more business savvy compared to other types of speakers. They know the ins and outs of the big business industry. They not only know...

In professional speaking, the youth market is a very profitable niche. Still, the market is broad and relatively general. Colleges and universities are the major buyers and speaking at high schools is close behind. High schools today are in dire need of guidance and motivation. From time to time, they will need a wake up call and professional speakers are just what they want.

First and foremost, as a speaker, you must recognize the prevalent needs and desires of the youth market,...

RESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE It amazes me how some speakers will show up for a speaking engagement and really not know anything about the audience they are speaking to. Many speakers just get lazy and feel that their message is so important that anyone would want to hear it. They couldn't be more wrong. Your core message may be about the same for everyone, but knowing your audience will allow you to slant the information so that the audience feels it was prepared just for them. They will...

If you are looking for stories and humor in a specific industry, you must work a little harder than you would have to find general humor. Certain professions like medicine and law have many individual books, newsletters, and articles written about them. But if you are a plumbing executive, or you are speaking to the plumbing industry it is unlikely you could go down to your local public bookstore and find a plumbing joke book.

Start a file right away for industry-specific...

Simile is a comparison of two things which, however different in other respects, have some strong point or points in common. The words 'like' and 'as' will normally be used when making the comparison.

You might say, 'Getting this contract signed is as impossible as trying to smuggle daybreak past a rooster.' Contracts and roosters don't have much in common (which is funny), but in this case, the presenter is telling you what they do have in common. Getting the contract signed and...

A bit is a section of public speaking material that is so related that it makes it easy for you to memorize. Each point flows naturally from one to the next so you can deliver the information without notes (if you know your material).

Until I learned about bits, I never thought I could be that great at speaking because I'm not great at memorizing long talks. I discovered that no one memorizes long talks. They have a mental or written outline consisting of key words that trigger...

As a very outgoing, energetic, and talkative woman, I have many times spoken out of turn, and spoken without thinking. I became very proficient in apologizing. I would keep talking until I either embarrassed my listener, or hurt the feelings of my listener.

I would then lapse into,"I am so sorry. I didn't mean that how it sounded. I apologize. I was so insensitive..."

Shaking my head, I would try to remain quiet for the rest of the...

Audience gags are offbeat jokes that occur unexpectedly during a presentation. Dr. Joel Goodman, from the Humor Project, does one where a telephone rings during his presentation. He answers the phone that was hidden in the lectern and pretends to talk to his mother. The same joke would be called a running gag if the phone rang at several other times during the program.

Ten Wanted Men

I staged a gag at a seminar one time that was loads of fun and took less than one minute to...