Maybe the question shouldn’t be do you need a motivational speaker, but rather could you benefit from one, since obviously one won’t make the difference between life and death. Certainly, nobody really needs a motivational speaker, but most people will find they can benefit in one way or another from hiring one. Everybody, regardless of age, occupation or personality will have a time when they aren’t trying their hardest or achieving everything they can be. In times like this, a motivational speaker can help.

Many of the best motivational speakers work solely as speakers and tour venues on invites from various organisations. Generally, there is a fee. A motivational speaker will produce positive results, so they are almost certainly worth the outlay of their fee.

Many schools hire a motivational speaker to drive home certain messages to students. Interesting personalities and quirky presentations are the norm amongst the speakers. A lot of the time the motivational speaker works to make students question their beliefs and perceptions about themselves and others and challenge prejudice.

Other times, the motivational speaker helps to raise achievement in an educational context. In these situations the prevailing message of the speech is that each individual has to take control over their own future.

In large companies, managers occasionally hire a motivational speaker. Whilst this isn’t a frequent thing, it does happen at training days and large conferences.When personnel in a company are flagging and productivity is low, a motivational speaker can help. He or she will try to instil a shared goal and vision in staff.When a group of people shares an aim and strongly believes that it is achievable through hard work, there is an increased sense of camaraderie.In turn this almost always leads to better results and happier staff.

Not everyone can comfortably speak or perform in front of a lot of people. Some may find it quite a frightening experience that they want to avoid at all costs. Stage fright or performance anxiety affects a lot of people and some of the symptoms include anxiety and paranoia before, during and after a performance.

Even professional and experienced speakers can suffer from anxiety including business speakers and motivational speakers. Some find it easier to remain calm even when they are stressed however most of us will fall into a state of panic as we think about the negative aspects of public speaking.

The fear that people feel before a performance may rely on the context of the speaking role. The size of the audience, being alone on stage, the importance of the evaluation; all these factors can change the level of anxiety experienced by the speaker. The larger the number of people watching you, the more nervous you may become. The demographic also influences like you would be more nervous speaking to the manager of the company rather than the receptionist.

Anxiety And Its Manifestations.

1. Commonly experienced by most people is intense, but transient anxious, fluttery sensations, that typically precede a performance, but disappear shortly after the performance begins. This indicates a readiness to perform; and becomes a source of energy that improves the performance.

2. “Reactive anxiety” occurs as a result of insufficient preparation, lack of performance skills or experience on the part of the presenter. This will go away with practise and experience and of course, more public speaking. This is how business speakers get to the top; practise, practise, practise.

3. The hallmark of performance anxiety is usually associated with signs of physical and emotional discomfort such as sweating, shaking, voice quivering, rapid heart beating, feelings of fear, and panic. The thought that you will be unsuccessful at the speech is what causes these reactions.

Believing that your speech or performance will be a success is a way to alleviate these symptoms. Typically this is done by asking the performer to accept the fear and come up with ways to get round it such as breathing exercises, audience relation and practise. You may even start to enjoy public speaking as the fear gradually erodes away.