The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Being a Professional Speaker with Nathan Wray

The Speaker Lab Podcast

"There is so much value in saying no because not every event is the right event for you."

This week, Brittany Richmond sat down with Nathan Wray, an inspirational speaker who speaks on teen mental health and substance misuse prevention. Together, Brittany and Nathan dig into dozens of practical topics including recovering from rough feedback, showing up for and supporting event planners, finding direction in your career as a speaker, and more!

"So I'm going to go as far as I can go to help an event organizer to make sure that they're successful. And if that includes setting up 300 chairs at 01:00 in the morning, then I'm gonna do it."

In this episode, Brittany and Nathan get into:

• 04:49 Who does Nathan serve and what’s his message?
• 08:00 How do you take feedback on your message and build something better?
• 10:58 Nathan’s turning point for storytelling.
• 15:41 The importance of community in the speaking world.
• 16:58 Why you should say no to some events
• 20:05 What to focus on as a speaker?
• 24:32 Why your superpower matters and will shape the way you show up.
• 26:59 The importance of pre-event meetings.
• 30:20 Why making the whole event a success matters.
• 35:09 How to support decision makers and event planners.
• 37:01 Why showing support and value changes things.
• 42:53 What the speaking community is like.
• 44:10 How the audience impacts us as speakers.
• 49:52 Where to find Nathan and our hope for every aspiring speaker out there!

“I reshaped the whole thing, and then I went and delivered it at a school, and it was the first time that kids came up to me afterwards and were like, can I take a picture with you? Can I tell you what happened to me? Can I tell you my story? Can I ask you a question? And that's when I knew, like, okay, I don't have it where I want it, but I'm on the right path."

Episode Resources:

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