(Sydney, Australia.)

As a global speaker I want to have a global mindset. Because of that I am a member of numerous speaker associations around the world:

NSA – in the USA – because it is the oldest, biggest and most professional speaker association in the world – by far.
APSS – because it is the local Singaporean organisation and I live in Singapore
NSA(Sweden) – (which i co-founded) – because Sweden has a very high percentage of really good speakers (and because I am Swedish of course)
and
Professional Speakers Australia – because it has a big, organisation and I got my CSP from Australia.

(I am planning to join the speaker associations in the UK and Canada too next year.)

The reason I am a member of so many different organisations is because I do not want to see myself as a speaker from “one” country – I have been invited to speak in 60+ countries and speak in between 20-30 different countries each year – and I think the concept of speaker associations built around countries of residence is too limiting. So to break through from this “country limiting mindset” that many speakers have I am a member of so many different speaker associations.

I think it is very important to have a global mindset as a speaker and being a member of many organisations makes that a little bit easier.

Today I am in Sydney so I used this mindset to catch up with a local Australian speaker (who was actually born in Germany.) when I met up with Peter Strohkorb for a long lunch in a restaurant in Hyde Park.

Peter is a fellow speaker and consultant who’s focus is the intersection between sales and marketing.
His book “The One Team Method” has the subtitle “How Sales+Marketing Collaboration can boost Big Business.”

I like to meet up with speakers to learn more about how they look at speaking.
But I also like to meet up with speakers to learn nothing about speaking.

Today I met with Peter to learn more about the topic he talks on.
To be successful as speakers we need to know a lot about a topic – we need to be thought leaders – so who better to talk to if you want to learn more about a topic than a speaker?

The great part of being a speaker is that it is easy to get access to other speakers and learn from them.

We had a long chat about the importance to integrate your sales and marketing into one combined activity – which was very useful for me as I am a speaker who has not been very good at wither marketing or selling but who has build a career based on word-of-mouth.

After my meeting with Peter I went to the Hotel spa to relax in the sauna for an hour to focus on my own speech later in the night where I had been invited to speak at their event (at the Iconic Sydney Opera House) because they think I would be the best person for the audience to listen to.

Tonight I am the thought leader.
But today I was the one who interviewed the thought leader.

Lesson: Use the fact that speakers and thought leaders like to meet up with each other and try to connect with speakers in cities that you come to and speak to get some new ideas and thoughts into your head.

When is the last time you interviewed another speaker – not about his or her speaking – but about his or her topic or expertise?

(Suggestion: Submit your email address in the form to the right to get a convenient email summary in your inbox every time 10 new posts have been posted.)

Contact Fredrik by clicking on the email symbol below.

(Amsterdam, Holland)

Yesterday speech in Zurich. Tomorrow speech in Amsterdam. But today an off day.

So what does a speaker do on a off-day in a foreign land?

I walked through the inspiring downtown of Amsterdam.

Got inspired (and humbled) by visiting the house of Anne Frank.

Sat in an inspiring hotel-bar and wrote a few blogposts for a new blog I am starting.

Went to see the inspiring movie Blade Runner with some friends.

Ate some inspiring, great food.

In other words: Got inspired.

You know the saying “How do you become interesting? Answer: By being interested.”

Well, I guess it is also true that: “How do you become inspiring? By being inspired?”

I truly believe that one of the most important jobs of a speaker is to inspire. And to keep that fire alive that makes it possible to inspire you need to also need to get inspired yourself.

So I had a good, inspiring day today.

But the most inspiring thing I did today was to coach a woman (Angel) to become a speaker.

That was not the plan. The plan was just to meet up and have a “fika” (A Swedish style coffee break and catch up.

Angel is one of the guests who has stayed on my Ideas Island (www.ideasisland.com)

But in an intense two-hour session I did an condensed speaking coaching session that started with her not even knowing that she wanted to be a speaker (she is a natural and will be a great speaker) to hammering out not only her speaking theme, but her go to market strategy, her positioning, her speaking approach and how she should build up her speech (and book.)

It was great and I think we came up with an awesome approach for her.

I just love how the speaking profession is built around the idea of sharing, coaching and helping each other be better. Today I helped in every such a small way to bring another speaker into our profession. (At least I hope I did 😉

Such fun – and inspiring – thing to do on an off day on the road.

Who have you inspired today? And perhaps even more importantly: How did you get inspired today?

(Suggestion: Submit your email address in the form to the right to get a convenient email summary in your inbox every time 10 new posts have been posted.)

Contact Fredrik by clicking on the email symbol below.