DavidMcCrae

Your voice can be heard above the crowd.

Your stories can connect with the crowd.

Your message can inspire the crowd.

Learning how to speak from a stage is one of the most powerful ways to make a difference to people’s lives and advance an important cause.

The great leaders of history have all found the courage to speak up for what is right, even when they were nervous, insecure and doubted themselves. You can find that courage too.

You can tell stories that have your audience on the edge of their seats, moved to tears or bursting out laughing with equal measure.

You can express yourself in a way that feel natural and authentic to you, whilst still delivering effective speeches that hit home for your audience.

Speeches can be put together in a way that feels creative and fun, and makes you want to jump back on stage again and again.

Speaking helps us to bring our vision for a better world into reality.

The feeling of being on stage, seeing your words landing and hearing the interaction of the audience is intoxicating. It’s an intense sense of connection you will not experience anywhere else in life.

It’s a reward for all the hard work that goes into developing your speaking skills and crafting your speeches.

It’s time to Amplify Your Speeches.

At the moment it feels like no one can hear your voice.

You’re shouting from the sidelines and getting lost in the noise.

As you try harder and harder to get the result you want, you feel your confidence getting knocked with each failed attempt, or perceived failed attempt.

In all the time leading up to the speech, you stress about putting it all together. What should you say? How should you structure it? What should you put on your slides?

You feel the pressure each time you are on stage. Pressure to get it right. Pressure to remember what you are going to say. Pressure to achieve a certain outcome.

You worry about what the audience thinks of you and your speech. You might feel frozen to the spot on stage. Or you wander around it like a nervous animal in a cage.

After your speeches you wonder how it went. Did you get the message across? Did the audience learn anything? Was it even worth bothering?

You’re looking for a Spark for your Speeches.

Growing up, I was always someone who wanted to say a lot more than I did.

I think I’m a naturally extroverted person, but when my parents got divorced at a young age, I went into my shell.

With the right people, in an environment I felt safe in, I was very vocal.

But often I would get lost for words. Other kids would bully me and I’d say nothing. I wanted to ask someone for help but I’d say nothing.

I remember when I was 6, I was scared of my teacher. I wanted to go to the toilet but I was too afraid to go up to the front of the room and ask her, so I just stayed in my chair and wet myself.

As a teenager, I again felt that desire to speak and express myself, but I’d find myself saying the wrong thing to the cool kids, or embarrassing myself in front of a girl I fancied.

At this time, of course, I discovered alcohol and the dutch courage it gives you. But that’s only a plaster over the problem. I was still looking for how I could feel comfortable expressing myself all the time, not just after a game of beer pong.

When I went away to university I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, started to learn more about who I was, and took on the responsibility of leadership positions in student societies. This gave me a big boost in how I saw myself and started considering that I maybe had something of value to say and people were willing to listen.

That’s why I decided in my final year of university that I was going to start a business creating online courses and teaching workshops.

I remember phoning my parents and telling them how excited I was making that decision. I remember my dad saying “This is the type of thing I always thought you’d enjoy doing.”

It wasn’t long after that, Christmas Eve 2014, that Dad was given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He kept it secret until I had finished my final classes. By the time he told me, he didn’t have long left.

Dad died a month after I graduated. I was lucky enough to be there with him for the last 60 minutes of his life and that showed me that we only have a limited amount of time in this life, and we need to make the most of it.

So I threw myself into trying to learn speaking skills. I recorded cringe-worthy videos on my laptop webcam in the bedroom of my apartment. I joined Toastmasters to give myself more exposure to the stage. I started running workshops in any cheap venue I could find: bar basements, coffee shop side rooms and draughty community centres.

It wasn’t glamorous, but I was getting in the game.

In January 2017, I self published my book “The Last 60 Minutes”, a book about the lessons I had learned from being with Dad for the last 60 minutes of his life. It hit #1 in the Death and Grief category on Amazon, and I found myself being asked to share the story on multiple stages, including BBC radio.

In December 2018, I self published a follow up book “Author Your Life”. For this book I organised a book tour around the UK, speaking on stages across the country. The book hit #1 again in one of its categories.

In April 2019, I won my first national public speaking contest in Toastmasters. Since then I have won 6 more.

During COVID I leveraged virtual speaking methods to promote two more books “Rise and Inspire” in 2021 and “The Virtual Speakers Revolution” in 2022, both of them getting to #1 in the public speaking category on Amazon.

Public Speaking has given me the means to express myself that I was always looking for as a child.

I’ve been able to pass those learnings onto coaching clients from over 10 countries, helping them to deliver speeches for national health services, government departments, prisons, schools and universities, the TEDx stage and a host of worthwhile non-profits.

There is one thing I have learned that turns people into great speakers.

That there is no “one thing” when it comes to public speaking.

There are a host of different factors to work on, and the most important thing is to learn how to bring that together in your own style.

I never prescribe a “correct” way of speaking. It’s about exploring and experimenting with the options to find the combination that works best for you.

Once you’ve learned the foundational skills, you choose how to build on those foundations.

There is a science and an art to speaking. Once you learn the science, the rest is creating your own art with how you deliver your speeches.

In this twelve month program, you are going to learn how to build these foundational skills and discover your signature style in the process.

You are going to learn how to tap into your courage consistently, so that you can push through the self doubts, channel the nerves to energise your speaking, take on challenges that help you grow and speak up about important issues.

You are going to learn how to craft great stories so that you can bring your content to life, enhance your audience’s understanding, build fast rapport and connection with them and make your speeches live long in their memory.

You are going to learn how to prepare your speeches so that you minimise the stress leading up to a speech, can bring together your content quickly and every time you walk onto stage, you trust your ability and know what you are going to say.

You are going to learn how to communicate through your body language so that you can make your stories more engaging and entertaining, emphasise your key points more clearly and feel more comfortable and relaxed when on stage.

You are going to learn to nail the message of your speech so that your audience are clear on what you want to take away from your speech, how they can change their lives for the better, with clear steps and strategies on how they do so.

You can going to learn how to find your voice to feel more bold and confident expressing yourself, capture and hold your audience’s attention, create a deep emotional connection with your audience and even make them laugh!

You are going to learn how to structure your content so that you grab people’s attention from your very first word, can effectively package your content into the small time window you are given to speak and finish your speeches with a flourish that sends your audience away on an energetic high.

You are going to learn how to effectively interact with your audience so that they come to like and trust you in a short period of time and every speech they hear feels tailor-made for them.

You are going to learn how to use effective language to help you explain difficult concepts, make your information more memorable and be able to connect with international audiences more easily.

You are going to learn how to use the stage to bring more energy into your speeches, make all of your audience feel included in your speech and feel comfortable no matter what venue you are delivering in.

You are going to learn how to use visuals and props so that you don’t bore your audience to death with powerpoint, make abstract concepts understandable and spark your audience’s creativity and imagination.

Before starting the program, participants ranked themselves on a scale of 1-10 on three questions.

1. How confident do you feel speaking?
2. How well do you think you can prepare the content of your speeches?
3. How well do you think the audience resonates with your speeches?

They were then asked to rank themselves on a scale of 1-10 after completing the 12 sessions of the program.

Before the program, participants average score on the question “How confident do you feel speaking?” was 7.5 (lowest score 4, highest score 9). After the program, the average score rose to 8.3 (lowest score 7, highest score 10). As well as this rise in the average score of 0.8 on the 10 point scale, here’s what participants said about their confidence:

“My confidence has dramatically increased.”

“I was taught in a manner that resonated and stuck with me and what I set out to accomplish I now have much confidence that I can!”

“(I’m) Much more prepared overall. I feel more at ease when preparing for a presentation.”

When participants were asked “How well do you think you can prepare the content of your speeches?” their average score before the program was 6.8 (lowest score 4, highest score 9). After the program, the average score rose to 8.25 (lowest score 7, highest score 9). This was a rise of 1.45 in the average score and participants added these comments:

“(I’ve gotten better at) storytelling, and how to write and present better speeches. This morning I watched your video on writing speeches. It was great.”

“I've learnt to evaluate my own content and improve with the plenty of tools and techniques discussed during the course.”

“STORYTELLING!! (Was my biggest takeaway) Just because I love it but I learned something from each session :)”

Finally the average score on the question “How well do you think the audience resonates with your speeches?” was 7.3 before the program ((lowest score 4, highest score 10). After the program, the average score rose to 8.3 (lowest score 7, highest score 10). The average score rose by 1.0 and participants reported after the program: 

“I really like how each session had time at the end blocked to "put into practice" -- I've seen this before but it's not typically built in.

“Seriously, there are ads on YouTube by some very energetic coaches, but I prefer your way”

"I loved the theming your presentation (sic) and using that familiar language to explain a complex concept.”

In this course, you are getting the distilled wisdom of a decade of speaking on stages.

It’s hard to envision exactly what that looks like, so let’s break it down.

I have delivered at least two in-person workshops per month, for at least two hours each time. Across 120 months that’s 480 hours of workshops.

Since COVID hit in 2020, I have delivered at least two 90 minute webinars and at least two 2 hour workshops each month. In those 48 months that’s 336 hours of online training.

I have filmed at least one longer form video a week, rarely less than 10 minutes long. Over 520 weeks that’s 86 hours of pre-recorded video.

Next is live video, an average of an hour per month, that’s 520 hours.

Add to that 60 second short form videos, an average of three per week. That’s another 26 hours.

The conservative estimate for my time speaking in front of audiences is therefore 1,448 hours, and to be honest I have lost track of how many keynotes I have delivered, or times I’ve been asked to “say a few words” at an event. To put that into perspective, if you deliver a speech for an hour a day, every day, it’s going to take you almost four years to reach that total.

If I’m losing count of my hours speaking, I am definitely losing track of how many people I have spoken in front of. It is certainly thousands I’ve spoken to live and maybe tens of thousands including video content. Thanks to online speaking I have managed to speak to audiences on every continent (apart from Antarctica!) in approximately 50 countries. If your daily speech of one hour is delivered to an audience of ten unique people each day, it’s going to take you over three months to hit your first thousand.

I have won 7 national public speaking competitions but I have been agonisingly second in 11 contests, off the pace in third on 3 occasions and have failed to place 5 times. I have learned just as much from the 19 times I didn’t win as the 7 times I did.

I have invested thousands flying to the USA to get training for speaking, I have paid my monthly membership to Toastmasters since 2016. I have travelled to gigs out of my own pocket when I was trying to establish myself as a speaker. The money I’ve invested in speaking could’ve bought me a Starbucks a day for the rest of my life (with the extra sprinkles!).

Breaking down these numbers gives you a clearer idea of what you are getting in this course. 

The journey isn’t going to be thousands of hours. This course needs just 24 hours of your time (not counting the great bonus content admittedly!).

It’s not going to cost you thousands. You can get it for a single upfront payment of $297, or 12 monthly payments of $29.

This is the only investment required to grow and develop your speaking over the next twelve months.

I did mention some bonuses didn’t I?

The twelve monthly workshops in this course break everything down into a straightforward process for you. But if you are anything like as eager as I was starting out, you want a little more right?

That’s why I am including twelve additional bonus sessions in this course. These are recordings of other online workshops and coaching sessions that I have run. These workshops were sessions that attendees and clients had to pay for individually to be a part of, and you get them as a free bonus on top of the regular course content.

These bonuses feed into each of the regular monthly modules, giving you deeper and more advanced ideas to take your progression further.

As you can see from the numbers I shared earlier, the journey of becoming a great public speaker is not a short one.

Even after ten years, I still don’t consider myself a great speaker. The more you learn, the more you realise you have to learn.

What I do believe is that you can become a good speaker in a year of hard work, but you have to get started.

You don’t build the hours if you don’t start with hour one.

You don’t inspire hundreds or thousands from stage until you inspire one person.

You have the roadmap, but you don’t reach the destination if you don’t set off.

There are stages you could be standing on now, but aren’t.

There could be audiences hearing your message right now, who aren’t.

How long are you going to make them wait?

Let’s plug you in and charge you up.

Let’s Amplify Your Speeches.