MethodSpeaking Blog

If you want to improve your skills in public speaking, in sales or in business, then you must read this interview I’ve conducted with Scott Ginsberg, AKA the Nametage guy.

Scott is a popular engaging speaker, author of ten books, and has a blog which was voted to be one of the best 100 business blogs in the world by Alexa and Technorat.

Scott is an expert on approachability, public speaking and sales.

Enjoy!

Public Speaking Skills

Peter: Are you ever nervous when speaking in public? How do you deal with the nervousness?

Scott: I don’t get nervous. Nervous = Unprepared. I get EXCITED. And I channel that into my performance.

What is the best state of mind for a speaker? Is it confident? Creative? Congruent? Humble? How do you get into that frame of mind before speaking?

Relaxed is the secret. I get that way by doing breathing exercises and meditating and, of course, knowing my material cold.

Is it important is it to be real and authentic when speaking in public? Why?

It’s not important – it’s ESSENTIAL. People can smell BS in about four seconds.

Are you a naturally good speaker? If not, how do you make yourself more interesting as a speaker?

Yes, I am a natural speaker. Won an award when I was 19 as “Speaker You Could Listen to For Hours.”

More Interesting Person = More Interesting Speaker. Boring is the enemy.

Do you have a specific way to organize the content of your speeches?

It’s not a way – it’s a system. I’m building software around it and I teach other people how to do it. I can’t explain it unless we have four days, which we done. Let me just say this: Think Modular.

Have you ever had a bad public speaking experiences? Tell us about one and what you’ve learned from it?

Slept through a speech once. That was pretty stupid. Lesson Learned: Set two alarms.

Do you memorize your speeches? Do you script them? How do you remember them?

No script. No memorization. My life is my preparation. Not to mention, everything I know is written down somewhere and, therefore, etched upon my consciousness.

How did you practice your skills as a public speaker? Where and how often? (Any acting training? Any voice lessons? Any story telling lessons?)

No lessons, no training. Just a lot of speeches. (Peter: Check out the article: How To Learn Public Speaking Fast)

Business and Career

Peter: What was your biggest fear when you started your career as a speaker?

Scott: That my age would destroy my credibility.

Could you talk a little more about how you started your business and what helped you stick to your business idea?

My parents’ “donation” helped start it, and my parents’ believing in me helped it stick.

I know your first book was “Hello My Name is Scott”. What inspired you to write that book and how is it related to your public speaking career?

I wrote the book because I thought, “How can I NOT write a book about this?!”

It started my speaking career because, apparently, if you have a book, you are smart, and people like to hear smart people give speeches. Hooray!

Is writing a book an essential part of becoming a successful speaking career?

The myth is “you gotta have a book” as a speaker. That’s a lie. The REAL secret is “You need to be constantly writing.” Writing is the basis of all wealth. And if you don’t write it down, it never happened.

When is the right time to start branding yourself as a speaker? Do you need to know all the details before you start or is it an evolution approach?

You started branding yourself when you were about 7 years old. Go back and figure out what your brand already IS, then shout it from the rooftops.

If you can start over: What would you do different in your career?

Nothing. No regrets. Everything that happened to me has made me who I am.

How do you become an expert on any given topic?

Read 500 books about, write 1000 articles about it and publish 8 books about it. That’s what I did.

Personality

You are 28 years old, and most of your audience members are above 35. Is the age difference an advantage or disadvantage? Do you ever think “WOW I am too young to do this”? How do you think your audience feels when they are older than you are? Has there ever been an issue with the age difference?

29 years old.

Youth is an advantage because you’re fresh.

Age is nothing but a number.

My audience likes that I’m young because it challenges them to think differently.

Who are the top three people you admire, love or like?

Gitomer and Godin (Peter: These are two of my favorits as well)

If you have to complete the following sentences what would you say:

Public speaking is__________ FUN

To me personally, public speaking is __________ EUPHORIC

I speak to ____________ VALIDATE MY EXISTENCE

Are you the Name Tag Guy all the time even with your friends, or is it a speaking identity?

24-7 baby.

Do you believe in personal coaching? Did you ever work with a personal coach about your business? your goals? your public speaking?

Coaches are great. Just make sure the coach you hire is preaching a message that is the dominant reality of his life. Everyone else is a hack. “Those who can’t do, teach,” applies to coaching. If you meet someone like that, run.

Give us your favorite quote:

“L.U.C.K. is an acronym for “Working Your Ass Off.” –Scott Ginsberg

Any question you wish I would have asked but did not?

You didn’t ask what I do when I’m not working. Answer: Playing music.

Anything else you would like to say to me and to our audience?

The hardest reality for a speaker is to realize, “Nobody cares about you.”

*****

Peter Khoury

Speaker, Trainer, Coach
MethodSpeaking Group

peter@methodspeaking.com

Develop Your Public-Speaking Skills By Ten Folds in an Only-One-Day Boot Camp! Be more confident Be more authentic Practice, Practice, Practice Find out and sign up for the next one (click here)

Filed under: Communication, public speaking by Peter Khoury
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