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Inspirational speakers are often confused with motivational speakers. While the motivational speaker generates a call to action and usually provides strategies for self-improvement, the inspirational speaker causes their audiences to be inspired from within. The inspirational speaker will usually be an extremely high achiever, typically in business, adventure, or sport, but they can of course be from any field of human endeavour.

Myth #1: To be a successful speaker you just have to be a good talker

Why it's false: To be a successful speaker you must have earned the right to speak (through exceptional achievement in business, sport, exploration or some other field of human endeavour). Add to that exceptional communication skills, ability to entertain and ability to bond with an audience and you have a rare breed. We receive 20 speaker applications per week and this is a popular myth.

The term 'motivational speaker' is an illusive one. It implies a call to action and an ability to change behaviour. Importantly though, there should be mechanisms provided by the motivational speaker to sustain these changes.

The last generation of motivators were adept at getting an audience to believe that "they can do it"; but they failed to provide the tools and skills to implement their new-found aspirations.

Sustainable motivation is now the key and is facilitated by modern speakers in, broadly speaking, two ways...