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Author:
Burt Dubin

If you would converse with me, said Francois Voltaire, first define your terms.

master n. (1.) a revered leader, (2.) an artist or performer of consummate skill
(3.) One whose work serves as a model or ideal.

speaker n. (1.) one who speaks, educates, or trains.

Many people stand before audiences and speak, educate, or train. What qualities set the master speaker apart? What aspects of character, what business practices, what habits, what attitudes, what stance, cause a speaker to be recognized as a master?

This pastiche is keyed in with no notes, no references. Just my gut. That's where my views are born. That's where your views are born. From your core, from your essence, from your deepest feelings. Let's see if you're able to agree with my gut convictions. The qualities and aspects of a master speaker are these:

1. Integrity: Without this sterling quality, nothing else matters. I mean being more than as good as your word. I mean living and breathing with bone-deep resolve that if you say it, you live it-regardless of the cost.

This includes your accountabilities to each of your constituencies: the decision-maker who hires you, the client paying your fee, the audience before which you're privileged to stand. Each expects value in return for their investment of faith or money or time in you.

2. In-depth research: Do you show up and deliver a standard shtick...the same piece you rolled out last week? The same piece you'll present next week somewhere else? If so, you're an actor, a performer, yes. Well and good. the world needs you. And you're not a master speaker! The master speaker does adequate research. Every time.

The master speaker customizes, creates a program for each audience. The master speaker bestows a one-time experience on each audience-delivers wisdom born for the time and place, for the company, for the association or group in their here and now moment. The master speaker takes into account the needs, wants, hungers, attitudes, biases, perceptions, challenges, conditions, stated and unstated, of each constituent.

3. Passion: The master speaker is fully involved, totally present-with the audience, the topic or issue, the circumstances, the mood, the environment, with everything affecting the unforgettable experience shaped and molded for this audience and only this audience.

The master speaker shares far more than words and concepts, ideas and recommendations. The master speaker shares values and principles, standards and personal philosophy, from his core, essence, deepest beliefs and ideals.

The master speaker delivers more, far more, than a program. The master speaker creates an experience, a memory, an indelible impression that audience members cannot possibly forget. Like a virus the master speaker invades the deepest recesses of the consciousness of the audience, causes neuron firings, synapses, in the brains-and positive changes in the minds and hearts of everyone present.

The master speaker, with vast empathy for the human condition, intensely aware of the effect of her presence and words, speaks from the soul level. The audience perceives much of the real communication subliminally. The array of impressions released is conveyed by the master speaker's stance, movements, by the look in his eyes, by the pregnant pause at just the right times. The master speaker engraves memories that cannot ever be erased.

The outcome, when you make yourself a master speaker: Long after audience members forget every word you uttered, every story you told, every one-liner with which you regaled them, every point you made, they cannot forget you.

About the Author
Burt Dubin, a 20 year veteran of the business of speaking, coaches and mentors speakers and wanna-be's world-wide. For samples of his wisdom, simply go to his web-site, . Down-load some of the 20 FREE articles and 26 FREE newsletters.
1 Speaking Success Road, Kingman, Arizona 86402-6543, USA. Phone 1-800-321-1225. Fax 928-753-7554.
E-mail Burt at:

© Copyright Burt Dubin

| Article Keywords: Professional Speaker

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Professional Speaker... Public Speaking Skills Those courses taught us some of the basic principles of public speaking. We studied them, memorized them for testing, tried to make an effort at putting them to use during our unbearable classroom presentations and then moved on at term’s end, happy to be free of public speaking again! As working adults, however, we are beginning to realize that those skills we were supposed to learn might actually be valuable to us now. We can see that those who are able to make a favorable impression with their public speaking skills have greater opportunity for job advancement. We realize that great presenters have a wonderful marketing tool at their disposal. Many of us admire those who are able to stand up and eloquently present a viewpoint or idea in other non-business aspects of life. Unfortunately, our skills remain limited. That brief bit of study did not really stick as much as we might now wish it had. Additionally, the course itself was probably limited in the first place. Let’s be honest, classroom speeches in front of a bunch of terrified and frustrated kids really isn’t the greatest laboratory for testing the principles of public speaking. Besides, the speeches themselves were probably quite a bit different from what we would be doing today if we had the skills. So, here we are. We are wishing we would have taken more classes on public speaking and wishing we had paid more attention in the ones we did attend. We recognize that our skills are limited and that improving them would really offer an opportunity to improve the quality of our own life. However, reality is going to stop us from going back to school. We do not have the time. Spending for the tuition seems outrageous. Studying for the coursework around the rest of busy lives does not seem...