Public Speaking with Peter George

As a public speaker, whether you are speaking in a meeting or on stage, you, too, need to grab your audience’s attention right at the start. Why? There are several reasons, but the greatest one is that if you don’t grab your listeners’ attention from the beginning, you will have to work especially hard to get them engaged. You might be able to accomplish this, but it is not easy.

Listen in and discover how you can immediately grab your audience's attention.

Leaving a steady, secure job behind and transitioning to being a full-time speaker can be a nerve-racking undertaking, but it's well worth the effort and stress. That ... from someone who has successfully made the move, Clint Pulver.

Known as “The Millennial Speaker,” Clint Pulver helps organizations that want to retain, engage and inspire their people.

As the president and founder of The Center for Employee Retention, Clint has transformed how corporations like Keller Williams, AT&T and Hewlett Packard create lasting loyalty through his work and research as “The Undercover Millennial.”

For over a decade, he has been a self-motivated entrepreneur who is well-versed in business start-up, sales management, management training, and growing multi-million dollar accounts. Clint understands first hand that relationships are based on trust, service, support, connection and consistent follow-through.

A professional drummer for more than 20 years, he has appeared on America’s Got Talent and in several feature films. Being a drummer plays a significant role in his presentations.

Clint has dedicated his heart to helping organizations understand the younger generation and helping the younger generation understand themselves through living a life of significance, instead of just a life of success: “It’s not about being the best in the world ... it’s about being the best FOR the world.”

Join Clint and me as we discuss his journey, how he made the move to being a full-time speaker, and the advice he has for others who want to make the jump.

Topics include:

• what to ask potential clients
• what you should have so make solid decisions
• following up with people who took time with you
• the value of being flexible and offering more than just a keynote
• what Clint sees as a crash course in speaking
• working with corporations
• why you want more than "good job"

Resources in this episode:

- Clint Pulver

You may have noticed how erratic my episodes have been over the past couple of months. I apologize for that, but there is a good reason for it!

In early July, I’m sitting on the sofa, feeling as if I’m getting the flu — sweaty, lethargic, just feeling a bit off. However, within a few minutes, my Apple Watch confirms that I’m experiencing A-Fib and suggests I go to the hospital immediately.

When I arrive, things move quickly. I’m immediately brought into a small room and hooked up to an EKG. In no time at all, the nurse turns to another. “Donna.” Donna takes one look at my EKG and turns to a doctor. “Mike.” Mike doesn’t hesitate, telling them where to bring me and what to do. A team of doctors and nurses are waiting for me. They stabilize me, and several hours later, I’m heading up to a room.

The next day starts with a coronary catheterization. “A 30-year-old would like to have your arteries,” the doctor tells me. “They’re in excellent condition.” “So I’ve got nothing to worry about,” I think. I couldn’t be more wrong.

The next day brings a few more tests, and the doctor shares the results. “You have aortic stenosis. In fact, the valve is barely functioning and must be replaced within the next few days. We don’t do that here, so you have a choice of which hospital to go to.

It doesn’t take long for Jeanne and me to decide on Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston — one of the top cardiac hospitals in the country and only an hour from our home in Rhode Island. The next morning, I am, as the Dropkick Murphy’s song goes, shipping up to Boston ... for open heart surgery. What a way to spend my 65th birthday.

Over the next couple of days, I meet with my surgeon several times. Dr. Kim De la Cruz, the section chief and an aortic specialist, has a wonderful bedside manner and a hearty, reassuring laugh. I am confident and ready.

Everything goes well during the surgery, and it looks like I’ll be home in five or six days. But my heart has other ideas. Liking the attention from the nurses, doctors, and the rest of the staff, it decides to act up so I can continue to enjoy the pampering for a while longer.

Over the next two weeks, I have another operation (although not nearly as invasive) and two procedures, including one where they chemically stop my heart and restart it within seconds ... while I’m awake. The doctor overseeing that procedure said it would be excruciating, and she was not lying!

I spend almost the month of July in the hospital. In some ways, it seems like I was there for several months; in others, it seems to have flown by. Thankfully, other than follow-ups, it’s all in the past.

I realize that I’m extremely fortunate. Dr. De la Cruz said that of the thousands of aortic valves he’s worked on, mine is in the top 10 — if not the top five — of the most calcified. It seems I could have had — and probably should have had — a serious, if not fatal, heart attack.

Now I’m recuperating, and at a faster pace than expected. But it’s still going to be a while before I’m back to my full workload. So something has to give. And since my favorite part of being a speaking coach is working with my clients, then, for now, as much as I enjoy my podcast, I am going to stop it. Someday, it may be back. But in the meantime, I’d like to thank my guests for making this such a helpful, entertaining podcast. And, of course, I’d like to thank you for listening.

If you’d like to check out my multi-award-winning book, The Captivating Speaker, it’s available on Amazon. Just click here. If you want to work directly with me, go to PeterGeorgePublicSpeaking.com and click on the link to schedule a free consultation.

Why do you speak? Is it for the sake of speaking, or do you speak as a means to an end? I often say, don’t speak to inform; speak to transform, while my guest, Roy Osing, puts it a little differently. He suggests you speak not to the logical side of the brain but the emotional side so you can, as he puts it, “light fires in people.”

Takeaways

The value of having an "only" statement

How being different matters

Why you have to know who your customers are

How to get people to join you

The mistake leaders make by delegating speaking

Is speaking a performance?

Resources

BeDifferentOrBeDead.com

You might not be able to define it, but you certainly know when someone has it! What am I talking about? Confidence. Competence. Charisma. Authenticity. That certain something. That je ne sais quoi!

Most of believe that those who have it were born with it. Well, if you believe that, then you want to listen is as my guest, Evelyne Brink, talks about these characteristics and how you can develop them.

Takeaways

Is confidence natural or learned

Charisma vs authenticity... which is more important

How to “just be yourself”

How develop these traits

What to do if you confidence has been beaten up

Being confident on video

Resources

Brink Coaching

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