Breaking into the Professional Speaking Business

The most difficult part of the professional speaking business is getting started. Everyone and their brother wants to sell you a program or a product on how to get started, the problem is almost none of them are professional speakers! Some are Toastmasters, others are college professors and a few are former speakers who found it easier to sell to speakers than to speak! I know something about this, because back in 1996 I think I hired everyone of these people to coach and consult me! As a speaker trying to break onto the national circuit, I didn't know the difference between these people and real experts. Than I got the break of a lifetime. The President of the United States Water Fitness Association( Mr. John Spannuth) www.uswfa.org introduced me to the father of professional speaking, Mr. Bill Gove, who was 84 years old. I attended his private, 2-day speech workshop and I showed him all the people I had hired to coach me in speaking and consult me on the business side of speaking. He told me the first thing I should do is fire all of them, becuase none of them understood the business. Bill said, " I'll teach you the speaking skills, and I'll introduce you to the best marketer in the speaking business. His name is Larry Wilson." Of course I had heard of the great Larry Wilson, founder of multi-national Wilson Learning and co-author of the One Minute Salesperson. Bill promised that if I listened to everything him and Larry taught me and followed their advice to the letter, I would be delivering speeches around the world for handsome fees in less than 5 years. Long story short, I followed the Bill Gove system and it worked. The moral of the story is simple: If your goal is the same as mine was back in 1996, stop listening to anyone earning less than a million dollars per year in this business. Anything less than that tells you they don't really understand this profession. The main reason I continue (along with me wife and business partner, Dawn) to conduct the Bill Gove Speech Workshop www.speechworkshop.com is because Dawn and I promised Bill Gove, before he passed away at age 89, that we would carry on his legacy. The Bill Gove Workshop is one the only places you can go to get the level of training necessary to become a 6-7 figure professional speaker. It's a 60-year old system that has produced more million dollar professional speakers than any program in history. I feel like I can brag about it because it's not mine! It's 100% Bill Gove, and it's the best there is. People raz me sometimes and say, " Bill Gove made your entire career by teaching you that system" I always respond the same way: You bet he did! And I'm proud of it! More on breaking into the biz later...

The Foundation of Professional Speaking

Make a Point-Tell a Story
The content of your speech is very important. It needs to be delivered in a form that your audience will remember. Great stories have been proven to be the most effective way to accomplish this. The best speakers in the world tell the most exciting stories. These stories work best when they are personal events and situations that have experienced. Your stories should include people doing exciting things in exciting places. Be sure that the story you tell is tied directly to the point you wish to make - and remind the audience of your point when you finish the story.

Bill Gove Speakers Network

Welcome to the Official Blog for the Graduates of the Bill Gove Speech Workshop, the members of the Bill Gove Speech Clubs, as well as friends and fans of the father of professional speaking, the late-great Mr. Bill Gove.