I am sure that if you are reading this you have either been sat in an audience listening to a publicised or self-proclaimed Inspirational Or Motivational Speaker (IOMS).
Perhaps you are reading this because you were on the stage as the Inspirational Or Motivational Speaker (IOMS).
Maybe you are reading this as research as you are considering becoming an Inspirational Or Motivational Speaker (IOMS).
Feeling motivated or inspired yet?
First of all, let me say that I have no problems or issues with IOMS themselves. I have IOMS who are my friends – they may not be when I have finished this but at this juncture, they are. I also hold my hands up here and now in a “I am Spartacus” type of way and admit to being introduced, promoted and paid for as an IOMS myself. Yes they pay me.
Now one thing you should know if you are NOT an IOMS is that it is really flattering to be asked to speak about yourself. And of course it can be quite lucrative; check out the speaking agent’s sites for the top speakers. Even on a regional basis here in Yorkshire you can run around with your IOMS story and your laptop earning several thousands of pounds for 45 mins which is a lovely way to make a living.
ooh look Mum I'm on telly!
But over many years, especially the last two years, I have, and continue to sit as a member of the AUDIENCE at many networking and business events. I have seen and enjoyed many, many IOMS and they seem to fall into the following categories. These are my own definitions you understand – you may have your own. If you are an IOMS or wannabee IOMS you may find one to suit you but not like my names or definitions – bear with me!
Do you feel Inspired or Motivated when they have finished or simply entertained?
Started with LESS than fk all! Have usually overcome a personal or family tragedy. May have walked a darker path than most of us or suffered more than any of us could easily bear. Their story being one of not giving in, where most of us would simply have curled up and given up they said ‘no’ and went on to make a positive difference to their lives or those of others.
Always inspiring I find, but not always appropriate.
Says it all. “I am an IOMS because I have an Amazon account” and “I have read the books so now you don’t have to”. Neither Inspirational or Motivational in my opinion – however they can be ‘educational’.
Not only “have I read the books”, but “I have letters after my name to prove I spent a weekend in a hotel doing a course and now I am a level ten PNL wizard” or some such thing. Should be great presenters!
My opinion? See 4.
6. Personal Goal – IOMS
A perfectly nice and ordinary person who has done something they consider ‘extra-ordinary’.
“I was fat, but now say no to chips”,
“I walked up a mountain… yes there is a road and cable car up the other side but that’s not the point” ,
” I ran a marathon…Eddie Izzard did what? oh fk”.
There are thousands of members of Weight Watchers and around 35,000 people ran the London marathon in 2009, in that same year 25,000 people set off to climb Kilimanjaro. All great, personal goals but thankfully they don’t all consider themselves to be IOMS and bore the rest of us with it while we are all sat there thinking; “I’ve taken time out of the office for this, I could have seen this on his Facebook site. I knew I should have signed up for the ‘Accounting for Idiots’ session”.
However there are some who do believe their personal achievement, as fabulous as it may be, should rightfully spawn a career of being an IOMS. Some have gone on to do number 4 and even number 5 as they know that simply doing 52 lengths of the local pool may not convince some business audiences of their credibility… or justify their fee.
Lots of arm waving - that might inspire someone?
Still with me?
If you are NOT smiling then you are are probably a 1, 4, 5, or 6 – or a combination.
Thinking of this now I wonder if we could create a score card when listening to an IOMS? We could sit there and think ‘oh, they are a 6 and a 1‘ or “he’s good, he is a 2 and a 3“ or “she’s rubbish, she’s a 4 and a 5“?
If there was an International Standard it would be a lot easier to sort out who to listen to at the next conference you attend – could be an idea?
The problem I have with IOMS regardless of my definition is simply one of RELEVANCE. You see I have a mantra (I have many) but one that I bang on about and I consider all the time is the following; AUDIENCE, OFFER and BRAND, I will come back to this mantra.
But in their defence (and my own) you should know that some IOMS do not publiscise themselves as IOMS (me for instance) however the organisations that book them DO publiscise them as IOMS – it sells tickets. The IOMS do not get to edit the publicity material before or after the event. If that were the case after one event I would have asked the organiser not to print an article about me as CAROL Hopkins – I kid you not, but that’s another story for another day.
It was after this event that I became 'Carol'!
I have sat and listened to lots of IOMS from 1 to 6, often a mixture. I have thought ‘is it just me that leaves a bit disappointed or confused that I didn’t hear what I expected?’ So I have then spoken to people in the audience, all as part of my own research to make sure it isn’t just me – and it isn’t. It’s obvious that on the whole the speakers are good speakers and have a story to tell. The issue is they are telling it to the WRONG audience. This can be their fault as may be the IOMS are simply accepting every booking without questioning ‘who is in the audience’ or ‘what is the context of the day’s presentations’. It can equally be the organiser’s fault by not knowing the IOMS story and simply getting in the last IOMS they saw or heard about to speak at their event – remember, they need to sell tickets, get bums on seats etc.
So in summary;
If you are an IOMS, consider how relevant you are to your audience.
If you are booking an IOMS consider how relevant they are to your audience, brief the IOMS and manage the expectation’s of your audience.
And if you are looking to be in the audience manage your own expectations, what do you want from your time there? Do you want to be entertained, educated, motivated or inspired? It’s unlikely that you will experience all from one speaker.
In the end I guess we all find Inspiration and Motivation in different places and through different stories. So if you are an IOMS, carry on telling your stories, if you are an event organiser carry on booking the various IOMS (I’m available) and if you are looking to be inspired and motivated, go listen to an IOMS.
Who knows, I may see you there. However, I may not be on stage as I doubt I will ever get booked again after this and expect to be generally shunned by IOMS the world, well perhaps the region, over. See you in the audience next time.
Motivational adj, from the noun Motivation
a. The act or process of motivating.
b. The state of being motivated.
Something that motivates; an inducement or incentive.
Inspirational adj, from the noun inspiration
a. Of or relating to inspiration.
b. Providing or intended to convey inspiration.
c. Resulting from inspiration.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent blog Carl – although I would say that many if not MOST IOMS don’t walk the walk – but they do talk big – done very little, read many motivational books and been on a Tony Robbins weekend – they are tired, old and have nothing new to say – they talk AT the audience and pace the stage like Sergeant Major barking at people – I don’t think that is what people like you and me want to hear these days. Sharing experiences and talking with audiences rather thanTELLING people and talking AT them – may be the way forward – but sadly EGOs get in the way and you can tell these old style IOMs anywhere – but you can’t tell ‘em much sadly.
Hi Carl!
A great article that I think all speakers should read. Knowing whtehr you are right for an audience is one of the key questions for anyone, but the lure of a fat fee may cloud people judgement. Thats why we need peple to challenge us not just say “well done”!
Lee Jackson
(IOMS who works in education mainly!)
You and I share the personality traits of the little boy in TENC.
It often gets me into trouble, but I don’t care. If it needs saying – it needs saying. I wholeheartedly concur with your observations.
I have been to so many IoM ‘presentations’ that I can’t remember any good ones and am now totally averse (unless someone else is picking up the tab and there’s booze and / or grub involved). They rarely live up to the hype.
I’m sure there are some good ones, but being quite a self motivated and competent speaker means that I judge too harshly.
Maybe for people (know you’re audience!) that are unmotivated it works for them. I guess the fact that the IoMS carry on / make money either means they get positive feedback (& bookings), have skins thicker than Rhinos or are sociopaths!. Infact I think some are mildly disturbed / deluded.
With Twitter I now get access to more IoMS than is healthy but as it’s free and I can unfollow the bad’uns at the same time as I can top up ‘right thinking’ as I go by following good’uns. All without leaving my seat / car / office / bath.
For your next blog can you do the same for ‘Social Media Experts’ please. It seems to me anyone who knows of Twitter or Facebook is one.
E.g. There’s a guy with 150 followers doing a seminar to businesses in York and charging £25 per. It’s outrageous. It should be £125 (joke!)
In the words of BB’s Nicky Graham, “Who are they, who are these people?”!
Of course Carl ….I get your drift …. I think as a potential audienc member we have to cut the IOMS a bit of slack because of the different personalities in the audience – what ever the main driver was for putting the presentation together in the first place. I know!! …… what we could also do is rank our position as an audience member, dependent upon the speaker we are going to see, hence;
1) He was good in Emmerdale so I think I will go and see if he’s any good in real life.
2) I really like the sound of her – wonder if she’s got anything good to say.
3) She’s an oik! I am going to go and ask some blinkin difficult questions.
4) Not really interested in the speaker at all but will network like the clappers
5) He’s a millionaire I wonder if I could learn something about making my business earn more
6) He’s a millionaire I wonder if he’s got any single friends who are millionaires (I kid not …. I actually heard this at a conference)
7) He’s a millionaire I wonder if he’ll lend me a couple of quid.
…. you get my drift.
I take my hat off to anyone willing to get up and speak to a crowd and depending on the event/company I’m with/subject matter will have a level of expectation and will also try to interact with the speaker (either by asking questions or one to one after the main event). I guess I am pretty open to all 1-6′s depending on my mood but the things that REALLY gets my goat are firstly the speaker who gives EXACTLY the same presentation year on year and secondly the organiser that promises a specific individual and they don’t show ( and you never get to know why) or the organiser that uses completly different images of the guests you are expecting to see. But hey …… don’t get me started on that ….
Thanks for sharing inspiring thoughts.
Funny how you have dig at people who have read a few books off Amazon….
Yet you have a banner advert alongside for……..Amazon Motivational books…
Interesting blog.
Thats true. but i never said anyone type of speaker was bad, just often not well targetted. Plus I read these books myself – i just dont get paid to then talk other people through them in place of real experience. thanks for visitng the blog and for your comments.
Some very good points Carl, very interesting.
I’d add that we all take different different “things” from different people at different stages of our lives (in support of Lynne) and whilst some speakers don’t quite cut it for a whole host of reasons there just may be one person in that audience who takes something from them – we all have different “teachers” who can connect with us and many who don’t/won’t.
Your post grabbed my attention as I’ve been asked to speak at another business event and aside from being terrified (again) I once again have to draw upon why I have earned the right to speak – am I credible enough, can I truly inspire? (is that the aim etc) Credibility before visibility is the term I refer to.. for those who’s egos force them (or do they force their ego?) onto the stage I suspect it’s a doddle – for the rest of us and I may include you in this – the message is not “us” as such but the lessons that we want to convey – the “us” bit is our sparkling personality that our “success” was built upon – character /charisma / resilience is what I love to see in a speaker.. mmm back to my powerpoint.
Phil
Judging by your comments and well balanced opinion I think you are going to be a very effective speaker as you are thinking about the audience and ‘whats in it for them’. A few speakers I have come across really are ‘its all about me!’ and you walk away thinking well that was nice but what did i learn. I agree with your point about ‘inspirational’ speaker. It takes a ballsy person than me to market themselves as ‘inspirational, leave that label to your audience to decide. Good luck with the presentation. Back to my powerpoint workshop too. Adios thanks for the comments
c
I agree with Lynne – public speaking is incredibly hard, and I have a lot of respect for anyone with the guts to stand up in front of a crowd, regardless of how good they are.