How Will You Stand Out from the Hordes as a Speaker?
To keep from drowning in the sea of sameness and have your message resonate in your audience’s ears long after the lights have dimmed and the mics are packed away, you must do one thing: Be different.
As Sally Hogshead said, “Different is better than better.”
It won’t matter how much you prepare, practice and calm your nerves before you take your place behind the podium; if you fail to define what makes you and your message different from your competition then you won’t be heard, won’t leave an impression, won’t make an impact.
You could be the best professional with the highest credentials, the best speaker and the best prepared, but if you deliver the same message, in the same package as every other speaker in your field, then you become merely a commodity. Just one brand in a shelf full of ’em. Just. Like. Milk.
Whoa! Milk is bland and boring. I know you’re not milk!
When people don’t see a difference between what you offer and your competition, they will select you based on your price alone. If you don’t have the lowest fees. . .well, you get the picture.
To stand out you must embrace your inner rebel or in other words. . .
In a Eugene World, Be a Daryl
In the television series The Walking Dead, Daryl Dixon is a rebel—he uses a bow and arrow to fend off the threat from zombies while others use guns, he rides a motorcycle rather than drive a car. Since the series premiere in 2010, he’s grown from a loner to a respected member of the tribe because he embraced his rebel side and acted in a way that made him stand out. He wasn’t afraid to take risks, and as a result he gained the ultimate reward—he’s still alive—and is also a trusted leader among the group.
Poor Eugene (you know the guy with the mullet), on the other hand, has done nothing for the majority of the series to differentiate himself from the pack except for one notable exception—he’s the one the zombie herd sees as the most likely next meal. Don’t be a zombie meal.
Instead, identify what makes you unique, package it in a way that tells your audience what’s in it for them and become a category of one with no equal.
How can you become a category of one?
Defeat the 3 Main Threats to Fascinating your Audience
Did you know you have a mere 9 seconds to fascinate your audience according to a study by IBM? Nine flippin’ seconds! There’s no time to waste! Channel your inner Daryl to quickly annihilate the threats to your success.
In her book “How the World Sees You”, Sally Hogshead writes about the 3 threats to capturing people’s attention (the reason behind those 9 seconds):
- Distraction: Your presentation competes with the cacophony of activity in the minds of your audience. Endless to-do lists, worries and responsibilities don’t disappear the moment your audience enters a room. If you fail to captivate them immediately, “front load your value,” you have lost them to distractions. From the first words of your presentation, you must make them realize your added value.
- Competition: I’m going to go out on a limb to say you probably aren’t drawn to this information because you have achieved the pinnacle of success in your speaking career. You have faced the competition and want to up your game. I get that. The market is saturated. Stretch yourself to offer unique viewpoints, challenge the status quo, stand out. Your goal as a speaker is to be a category of ONE.
- Commoditization: Don’t allow yourself to be replaceable. You need to figure out how to position yourself in the marketplace so that what you deliver is do different, so intriguing and so valuable, that nothing else will do—even the lowest price replacement. They want ONLY YOU!
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To slay those threats like an oncoming zombie horde, it’s time to tap into your unfair speaking advantage. Your unfair speaking advantage is what makes you different from all other speakers in your industry and is the key that makes you the go-to, must-book speaker in your field. This is what will consistently get you the coveted speaking spot you seek.
Ask yourself, “How can I push myself to be remarkable?” Think about, “What do you want to be known for?”
I can help. Download my free resource, Discover Your Unfair Speaking Advantage, the model I created after OBSESSING about what makes some speakers thrive while others barely survive.
It’s all about being like Daryl (that strong silent rebel). You too can be a Daryl. Remember, “Different is better than better.”
