Here's how you can achieve success as a motivational speaker through strategic thinking.

Achieving success as a motivational speaker through strategic thinking involves defining your purpose clearly and tailoring messages to resonate with your audience's needs. Develop actionable and inspirational content, build a strong personal brand through networking and social media, and stay updated with industry trends. Solicit feedback, set measurable goals for each engagement, and approach presentations with thorough preparation and professionalism. Measure impact through audience feedback and engagement metrics to continually improve and maximize effectiveness.

Achieving success as a motivational speaker through strategic thinking involves clear goal-setting, continuous learning, and authentic connection with your audience. Begin by defining your niche and understanding your unique value proposition. Consistently refine your content and delivery based on feedback and industry trends. Networking with other professionals and leveraging social media can amplify your reach. Most importantly, stay genuine and passionate about your message, as authenticity resonates deeply and builds trust with your audience. By thinking strategically, you can create a lasting impact and sustain your career's momentum.

Whether to be or not to be a motivational speaker is your choice. If you go for it - you need to know why you do it. As I have around 10 years already of experience in university lecturing, I remember my first years. I was so embarrassed and unsure, spending a lot of time for preparation - what, how, why to share to them as students can be very demanding. What helped me a lot was really to self-reflect - what it is there for me. And my immediate answer was - I like it. And second - how to transfer my energy and enthusiasm into doing it. So I would say there are 3 simple rules: Define the content; Define the format: Define how you want to present it. And rehearse as many times as you need. 10 years later I am much more confident :)

The strategy of motivational speeches is to present a general but flexible structure with the current conditions of the listeners to attract them by injecting positive energy.

Success is measured by those who have been audience members, putting what they have learned from me into practise, infiltrating it into their lifestyle to the point where they notice and feel the positive impact!

To succeed as a motivational speaker, set clear goals, know your audience, craft a compelling message, and deliver it confidently. Use feedback to improve, network effectively, and stay updated with industry trends. Continuous learning and strategic thinking will help you inspire and leave a lasting impact.

Understanding your audience is key to crafting an impactful talk. One new practice that has helped me is to lean into AI for valuable information about the needs of my avatar. I'll tell the AI what I'm crafting my talk about, and then share who my avatar is. Then I'll ask AI what their biggest pain points are and what points are important for me to share with this particular audience.

You may always want to say one and the same thing but even proving that 2 2 is 4 you will give different examples of the different audiences - so to understand. A 3-year old want so see yummy ice-creams, an engineer - the electricity lines, the shop man - the items he sold, etc. To win the audience you need to become one of it - understand how they think, how they act, what they like and what is their value added. And adapt each time to the new audience you meet.

The opportunity to listen to their challenges, not only in their business life but also in their personal life allows me the scope to help them to extend beyond their comfort zone in these areas and instigate change.

You may say nothing in 500 words and stuck everyone with 3 simple words. The question is what do you want to say and what do you expect to happen after that? One of my favorite quotes is this one from Rene Descartes: Cogito, ergo sum. Short and clear - if I think I do exist. Not much to think about it. The same is when you go in front of an audience - use their language, keep it simple and straight forwarded, state your position and experience, leaves pace for discussion. Show you engagement and openness for collaboration.

Openness and honesty on my part allows others to relate to how I have overcome life’s obstacles. Being present as my authentic self and sharing my experiences with a degree of humility helps the audience to be receptive and understand from your level of perception.

When you lead by example with your beliefs and anecdotes, with real life examples and scenarios as to how it changed your life, it is impossible to not be excited about it when sharing it with your audience! That natural energy and enlightenment exudes from you. You don’t need to overemphasise it - it is clear on your face, in your tone of voice, your body language, your facial expressions. This type of energy is infectious. It is living proof!

What you say is one thing. How you say it is another one. Tone of voice, look and feel, confidence, expertise, passion, energy. verbal and non-verbal signals should be aligned always. I would say that even the non-verbal part can be even stronger because it is really you. we can somehow re-phrase, be politically correct but our nerves and muscles react faster than our thoughts. And this we can self-reflect on and control but to some extend. To do so we need to re-hearse ourselves as much as possible and play with a small group of close ones - how we would deliver a message and how this would be understood.

The best way to improve yourself is to self-reflect by asking constantly for a feedback - don't be afraid to turn even to people who you think may criticize you or be negative. Read between the lines and take the best out of it. You may over or under-estimate how you did it. Then ask - how was this performance seen from the sideways. This will help you be better next time.

To much strategic thinking muddies up the waters of the message. Keep your head down and focus on your message and your honesty and the rest will follow. I truly believe that. Yes you have to be smart and think ahead. But success can not be the sole focus.