Since 1997, Steve Siebold, CSP, CFEd has helped Fortune 100 companies increase sales by $1.3 billion USD through his flagship training program, Mental Toughness University.
Siebold has delivered $16 million in keynote speeches at National and International Conventions for companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Ingersoll-Rand, Caterpillar, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Toyota, Chrysler-Fiat, Transamerica and hundreds of others. Siebold’s 12 books have sold over 1.6 million copies, including the #1 selling book of 2020 on Personal Finance, How Money Works, with co-author Tom Mathews. Siebold’s books have been translated into 7 languages.
He’s a former professional tennis player and national coach. His sports clients include Andre Agassi, the Boston Celtics, Miami Marlins and Ohio State Buckeyes.
As the CEO of Siebold Success Network, Steve oversees a team of 118 inside and outside salespeople, which gives him unique insights on how to build a mentally tough sales team.
Steve’s work has been featured on every major television network in the United States and Canada, and his interviews and articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, USA Today and hundreds of other publications around the world.
As a professional speaker, Steve ranks among the top 1% of income earners worldwide. He is the former chairman of the National Speakers Association’s Million-Dollar Speaker Group.
As a professional speaker, Steve ranks among the top 1% of income earners worldwide.
Steve,
You’re absolutely right! This goes for entertainers as well as speakers. When you’re watching someone speak, perform comedy, a hypnosis show or anywhere they’re in front of an audience, if the person on stage doesn’t have the energy the audience is bored, even when the content is fantastic. A bored audience stops paying attention. Energy engages them and keeps them wanting more.
Colin
Steve,
very timely post. With the new format of the seminars, creating the energy will make all the difference between success and failure, getting people to stay through the end and eager to come back. Speaking about money, which is a form of energy, but often perceived as a negative energy, requires enthusiastic presentation of the World Class viewpoint. The high energy is needed to break through their resistance to change their mind. At least they need to become open minded about these ideas and give it some serious consideration.
Giving these seminars is great fun and rewarding.
My guess was to be able to make a connection with the audience. I think the way to do that is with exactly as you said. with high energy. Thanks for the reminder!
I agree 100%. I can be an pretty even keel speaker and boring. I’ve had times when I’ve not been energetic and other times when I’ve had a lot of energy. My best times speaking is when I’ve had a lot of energy because people feed off of it. I’m always tired but pumped up after an energetic speaking engagement.
If you have a lack of energy, you drain your audience. Not good at any time but especially if you are speaking after lunch or even worse, at the end of the day!
I’m continuing to work on balancing my energy level with my authenticity so I don’t sound like a motivational speaker or too artificial on the stage. Lots of work but definitely fun and worth the effort!
Energy is imperative but its twin is a beautiful speaking voice to sway your audiences and have them literally hanging on your every word and wanting more, even when you’re done! Content, of course, is the final ingredient, as important as the first two, to propel you to the top of the grade.
Steve,
Excellent content. I should also add (for the benefit of your readers) that I have seen you in person (at the NYC NSA meeting) and you certainly practice what you preach! Great energy on stage.
If I can offer one suggestion for your videos… consider the lighting. The location for this video seems to be chosen because of the great background but the viewers would like to see your face too! It almost looks like one of those backlit interviews of someone going into the witness protection program!
Since I know you “travel light” equipment-wise, I would suggest a camera-mounted LED light. A small reflector might work too since many of your videos are outside and you can get a one on eBay that folds up smaller than a frisbee. Either light source could greatly improve the image quality of your videos.
I appreciate your words of wisdom and I look forward to future videos !
Dave Wheeler
Founder, http://www.Pro-Speaker-Review.com
Hi Steve,
As always, great content. And, I’ll respectfully disagree and it was you who introduced me to this. Connection with the audience is the most important.
If you connect with your audience and bring high energy, you’ll light them on fire. If you don’t connect and bring high energy they will build an emotional wall that will block your energy and your message.
Hey Steve:
I totally agree with you. Energy is the most important factor.
I know speakers that literally suck the energy from the room when they talk. They light up the room……. when they leave it.
Tip: I love the location you’re in but just jump into the point of the story. Skip the “it’s nice to be here today etc and give us the gist of your message.” (Get to the point as Darren LaCroix says.)
Thank you for your tremendous message. I know speaker friends who are comfortable speaking before an audience but they’ve been “innoculated for charisma!” They kill any energy or enthusiamthat may have already been inthe room. It’s brutal.
Please keep the tips coming.
Reg
I am not so certain the answer is clear cut….yes, energy is important. However, without the complete package, energy is not enough. Passion, riveting stories, confidence, unbelievable content, engagement, in other words, HIGH ROV!! ROV might be the single biggest secret because it brings together more than just energy.
Go increase your ROV, with great content…and I believe you have “THE” secret.
Energy is the difference between the “i wanna be there” and the speakers who “are there.”
Period.
I see confident speakers who couldn’t hold my attention (or a group of 3 or 300) for more than 8 seconds because there is no charisma, no energy, no pitch or enthusiasm.
They look alive, but they’re dead.
People have said to me, “turn it down a little bit.”
Sorry folks, you can turn your delivery down, but I’m going to continue delivering my speeches the way I wrote, designed and want to deliver them.
I agree 100%. Ive heard some people say if You can’t put fire in your speech, put your speech in the fire. I have heard 2 people say the same thing, one with energy one without. It is not necessarily the content. I say if you can’t put fire in your speech, put fire in the speaker.