Champions never turn down stage time.

I repeat, champions never turn down stage time.

Dave Fitzgerald, one of the funniest comedians in America worked his routine in three clubs a night for the entire week, just so he can perfect the 5 - 7 minutes that he has on Tonight’s Show, a national TV program watched by millions of Americans.

Brad Montgomery, a highly paid professional speaker, clocks 190 shows - each 40 mins long - in just two and a half months.

Darren La Croix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking, visited three Toastmasters club a day for two whole weeks, so that he can perfect his 7 minutes contest speech. What Darren does in a day is equivalent to what an active Toastmasters will do for three months.

Now tell me, is there any surprise at all why they are phenomenal at their craft?

Here’s a story that Darren shared at the interview he did with Brad (this interview is part of the Humor College program)

One time at a comedy club, a friend of Darren approached Jay Leno. Now, Jay Leno is a BIG thing in the comedy world. He is an Emmy winning comedian and also the host of a long running talk show “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on NBC. So this guy went up to Jay and said “Ok Jay, I want to be a comedian like you and trust me I have been working really hard at it. Can you give me some advice?”

And Jay asked “How often do you get up to speak?”

The guy replied “Urm… about once or twice a month when I have the time…”

Here’s what Jay said “That’s good. Give or take 5 to 6 years and you will have 5 to 6 minutes of good material.”

Make no mistake about this… what separates the common from the champions is simply this - champions never turn down stage time.

No matter how gruelling the experience can be…
No matter how busy or tired you are…
No matter how diastrous the outcome may be…

You have to find time to get up on stage to do your thing, because that’s the only way you can get better. Now I know you are busy people, so get creative when it comes to stage time.

Incorporate your stories in your everyday conversations. Test them out during lunch time with your colleagues. Volunteer to host for your company’s event. Call a friend on the phone and run through part of your speech with them. Whatever it is, make sure you get up in front of an audience as often as you can.

Remember, it is not about how good you are today… it is about stage time. If you get up in front of your audience today, you will get better tomorrow, as a result of that experience.

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Speech Coach

P.S: I was so inspired after listening to Darren that I sent a couple of emails to my Toastmasters friends and past clients, asking for opportunities to speak this coming Dec. And guess what, after a day’s of work, I have got myself 10 speaking engagements (average of 2 hours) with 4 paid. How about you? How are you going to clock your stage time?

P.P.S: If you are looking to build humor confidence, you got to check out the Humor College Program.

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