Speak to Win

CHAPTER 9

Tricks of the Trade: Techniques of Master Speakers

One of the greatest satisfactions that one can ever have comes from the knowledge that he can do some one thing superlatively well.

—HORTENSE ODLUM

There are perhaps 10,000 full- and part-time speakers in America today who speak professionally. Twenty percent of these speakers earn fully 80 percent of the total fees paid in the speaking industry. This means that 2,000 of these speakers earn four times as much as the other 80 percent combined.

The top 20 percent of the top 20 percent of speakers—the top four percent of professional speakers, approximately 400 people—earn 80 percent of the speaking and training fees paid to the best speakers.

The top 20 percent of the top 20 percent of ...