In the modern world, a person who challenges or inspires an audience through his/her speeches known as a motivational speaker.
A few years ago, there was no concept of motivational speakers but the increasing stress and anxiety in today’s world are making a way for motivational speakers. It is rapidly becoming a profession and a highly paid one too.
The average salary of a motivational speaker is around $88,000 per year. Today they have a demand in all fields of life from schoolchildren to highly successful businessmen.
But most of them focus on inspiring the younger generation that too because they are more interested in knowing their success stories as it helps them in making their own career choices.
Speakers are usually professionals from different fields of life. Since 2012 sports speakers are becoming more popular especially amongst the youngsters.
A sport speaker is usually a retired sport professional like a cricketer, footballer, wrestler etc.
Young generation gets huge amount of inspiration from them as they share their journeys. How they came to the top level and became a celebrity.
They share what motivational factors they had behind them and how were they able to successfully chase their dreams.
Another type of speakers includes a class of athletes who were given a chance in their relevant fields but failed to capitalize as they choose to do something immoral.
For example, a footballer was accused of match-fixing and was banned to play again. Although he was talented enough and wasted his talent, such a man who is not well reputed amongst the sport icon because of the path he chooses in the past.
Even that man can offer a session to the young guys as he can tell them how he was trapped by bookies and how he fell for it.
By knowing his story and learning from his experience someone who is about to commit the same crime or has intensions of committing it in the future may change his mind as he can see the consequences.
In some cases, some athletes were forced to do such session as a part of their punishment.
Another very popular class of motivational speakers includes after-dinner speakers. They perform on different events and occasions ranging from corporate gatherings to sports dinner to charity fund raisers and much more. The events may vary but the aim is a common one that is to entrain the audience.
Most commonly sports after-dinner speakers are invited to add colors to the evening parties and make them unforgettable.
But here they may not all be successful. The dinner after speaker must have a special skill set which is a combination of entertainment, humor, charisma and intelligence.
You must be familiar with the art of capturing the attention of the audience.
But since motivational speakers are becoming more and more common today, what should a person look for before booking a motivational speaker? The answer is quite obvious.
Firstly, look for the similarities and common interests between you and your speaker. Here are a few tips that will help you in selecting a motivational speaker:
1. Look For The Qualification Of Motivational Speaker
You should look for the qualification of the motivational speaker. Look at his educational background. Look at his experience as a professional.
It has been seen from the results of a study that a person who has worked as a professional in some industry tends to become more successful speaker than someone has who has no experience at all.
Nowadays, to become a motivational speaker you must go through a proper process. There are schools that polish your skills as a motivational speaker.
Therefore, you should research into this matter that has he attended such schools or not?
2. Influence of the Person
You must look at his influence in the market i.e.: How well-rated he is amongst the people? How many people attend his session? What type or professions of people attend his sessions. Is he the best in the business?
3. Expertise of Speaker
You should look at his/her experience in the field. Since how long is he/she doing it? How he start it?
4. Look for a Perfect Agency
Always hire a motivational speaker from a well-reputed agency.
5. Personality
Look at the personality of the speaker. It has a major impact on the session. A person with a strong personality always delivers a breathtaking session.
6. How well can he/she handle the mood of the audiences?
Does he/she deliver boring sessions? Because you may lose interest in a session like this if, the speaker does not know how to build up the session.
He/she should know what to do at the right time. People take more interest when their questions are being answered in the right way.
7. Professional Career
Carefully examine his/her career as an athlete. Make sure that he was not a part of any controversy during his/her tenure.