Being a Speaker of Value

Roundtable with Andrew Bryant CSP 2009

As a new or experienced speaker we usually focus most of our efforts on the ‘outer game’ of skills, such as platform mechanics, marketing and writing that bestseller. In my round table session I made the point that you will gain as much, if not more, traction by reflecting on’ your inner game’.

Each person who attended my session received a worksheet to help them identify:

1. Who they are as opposed to what they do?
2. What their top 3 values are?
3. What their top 3 strengths are?
4. What they are afraid of?
5. What is their greatest life struggle that they have overcome?

I shared some examples about how you can answer these questions from my own life and examples from other successful speakers including Rebecca Morgan from whom we had just heard.

In my journey to CSP and beyond, I have learned that just being a speaker is not enough; we have to be a person of value who gives value to our clients.

Round table participants were then asked to consider what value they added to a client, whether that is through speaking, training or coaching. They were then challenged to list what is important to the client and to find the intersection between their value and the client’s; because this is where the money is.

Questions from participants were around how I discover the client’s values. I share my techniques for research as well as a question I ask at every client meeting. The question is,
“Mr/Miss Prospect, when you people leave my session, how will you know it has been of value?”

If you can get an answer to this question and can deliver what they want, you will be a speaker of value.