This very first post of Professional Speaking for 2020 will have me focus on my own speaking year of 2019, and what you can learn about your own speaking year of 2020.

In 2019 I was invited to speak in 24 countries on 5 continents. From top Swiss bankers meeting in a private hotel in the Swiss alps (my first speech of 2019) to all the top leaders of the TATA companies in India (my last speech of the year). From speaking to business people in North Korea to an HR conference in the Maldives and so many more amazing speaking opportunities.

I envisioned a global speaking year 2019. And it happened.

In 2020 envision a year of learning more about human creativity on a both deeper and broader level.

I am telling you this for three reasons:

a) To exemplify that when I share on how to build a global speaking career on ProfessionalSpeaking.com I am actually “walking the talk” – ie you really do get to learn from a speaker who actually speaks globally. (In total I have spoken in 69 countries over a 20+ year speaking career.)

b) To remind you that what we envision will happen.

What do you envision for your professional speaking career for 2020? What are you going to do to make it happen?

c) To remember that as important vision boards are for the future, “hindsight boards” (ie stopping to evaluate your year in a visual way to remind you of all the things you have done is equally important. It builds confidence, appreciation and helps you see who you are.

So do not just do a vision board for 2020. Make a “hindsight board” for 2019 too.

A tale of feeling like a failing speaker.

A while back I did a speech that I personally did not rank as one of my best ones.
It was for a big crowd (more than 1000 people in the audience) and for a conference that books some of the best speakers in the world.

I was so happy to have been booked at this prestigious and well organised event – but after the speech I called my wife and told her: “I fucked it up.”

A few days ago I got the evaluation that the speaker had sent to the speaker bureau. It read:

“Fredrik was amazing. He was well prepared and his presentation style was outstanding. A true professional. One of the best speakers I have dealt with.”
So did I screw up the speech or did I nail it?

The answer is both.

As a professional speaker we have to think like a gymnast: Only a perfect 10 is acceptable. We have to aim for that. If people do not say: “This was the best speech I have heard in my life” you still have work to do.

But at the same time we need to be able to make peace with the fact that even when you do not deliver that perfect speech, it can still have been acceptable.

Someone at a speaker bureau once said: “The best speakers are the speakers with a highest level of low level.” In other words: The speakers who have the ability to deliver quality content every time, even when they do not feel that they nailed it.

My lesson from this speech is that we constantly need to analyse every single aspect of our speeches to figure out what can be improved on every single delivery. But that we – at the same time – need to do that without beating ourselves up to the degree that we start to question our ability to do what we do.

Great feedback does not mean you could not have been much, much better.
Aiming at becoming better does not mean you are terrible.

So look yourself in the mirror after every speech and honestly ask yourself: What worked? What could I have done better? How can this speech make me a better speaker for the rest of my life?
Then get back up on that horse/stage and try to be even better next time.

ps. I hope 2019 was a great year for your professional speaking career. Follow ProfessionalSpeaking.com in 2020 for more free, professional advise on professional speaker by a professional speaker with 20+ years experience of speaking more than 2000 times in 70 different counties.

If you want to become a global keynote speaker this post is for you.

I am honoured and humbled to have been selected as the Opening Keynote speaker at the Global Speakers Summit to speak on the topic of “The Global Keynote Speaker Mindset”.

The Global Speakers Summit (GSS) is the conference of The Global Speakers Federation happening in amazing country of Namibia in 21-24 February 2020.

This is the third time in a row I have been selected as a speaker for the GSS. Second time in a row as the Opening Speaker.

Join me in Namibia in February and learn from me and many others how you too can become a global keynote speaker! Sign up at www.GSS2020.com

 

ps. In 2019 alone I was invited to speak in 24 countries on 5 continents and in total I have spoken in 70 countries – so I do think I will have some insights to share on how you can become a global keynote speaker. 😉

Normally  on this blog I share about what I learn about being a professional speaker by sharing my experiences of speaking. But this week I wanted to share about an event where you can learn from me live in person.