Introduction
I think we are very blessed in a world where there is such a great balance of men and women famous public speakers out there coming from so many different backgrounds with such incredible messages.
It is really hard to differentiate between who is considered to be the best because I think every speaker comes to the table with a different message.
One thing I’ve learned over the years when it comes to communicating with impact and sending a message out there is: You don’t have to be anybody else.
That’s something I learned early on, you can take elements of different speakers and people that inspire you and take a little bit of their style and approach.
But you will have your own core message.
A message that comes through you and the more natural it feels, the more authentic it feels to you from a personal perspective, the more impact it’s going to have on your audience.
How Public Speakers have Changed
If you said to me, who are the most famous public speakers out there at the moment and why do you think they’re like that?
I think the truth is that for the most inspirational speakers, the change that has happened in my lifetime is that there’s been a shift from those big powerful motivational type talks.
Which in the 80s particularly was a really big thing.
People wanted to go to events just to be pumped up, inspired and leave to now a much different type of presentation.
People that come from a really deep sense of authenticity where their experience of – life, vulnerability and pain.
The experiences they’ve gone through are literally laid out in front of the audience to the point where people just relate to it.
They’re not inspired by the impact of power and energy of it, but actually by the truth of what that message is.
Without the need to have anything carved out of it to grab your attention, it’s just authenticity.
Dr Ro’s Favourite 6 Speakers
To try and narrow this down to the top public speakers is really difficult so I’ve put what I believe to be my favourite six and there is no order here; the list could just go on and on.
You could take it back to Zig Ziglar for example, another classic speaker there, then you’ve got the likes of Deepak Chopra and I could go on and on but I wanted to pick out these six.
Nick Vujicic (Most inspirational Famous Public Speaker)
If you haven’t come across Nick Vujicic he is absolutely inspirational, he was born into this world with all four limbs missing.
It is absolutely inspiring to see this.
Anyone that has got a grumbling in life, frustrated right now with an issue just watch one of his videos it absolutely inspires you.
He is one of the top speakers in the world right now. He’s profoundly inspiring.
Mel Robbins
Another one is Mel Robbins, who created the five-second rule and her story is really powerful.
Two or three years ago she was the most booked public speaker in the world. She is phenomenal in her style.
I love her authenticity.
No bullshit approach tells it how it is and she talks about closing the gap between fear and action.
Certainly, someone that is engaging and has a great feminine flow about her as well. She has well and truly put herself on the list of famous public speakers.
Dr Wayne Dyer (My personal favourite Public Speaker)
Dr Wayne Dyer sadly has passed away now but he was somebody who for me was a real inspiration for many years and still is, his legacy lives on through books, audio and video.
He has assented spiritual nature about him.
One of the first books I read from him was the power of intention.
It really struck a chord with me. He’s got those lovely voices like hot chocolate; he takes you down this path of being so relaxed and incredibly inspirational.
As famous public speakers go, Wayne Dyer is magical, because even beyond his passing, he continues to spread his message.
Brené Brown
Then you’ve got Brené Brown and the power is in her authenticity and vulnerability.
Interestingly enough she became very famous through things like the TED talk she did on vulnerability.
She talked about how it’s okay to experience being vulnerable in any situation and actually that vulnerability, that authenticity of who you are as a person where you feel vulnerable is actually a power, not a weakness.
She’s funny, she just grabs your attention in such a real way that you’re hooked by her.
She’s a great famous public speaker and I do encourage you to go and watch her as well.
Les Brown
Then we’ve got Les Brown, whose old school and I put them in there because I’ve actually shared the stage with Les Brown.
I got time to spend time with Les some years ago now we were in India together and we were travelling at different events.
He is a lovely gentleman.
He’s probably in his late 70s now and he wrote a book called live Your dreams, and I was listening to Les Brown when I was in my 20s, which is over 30 years ago.
He is a powerful, inspirational, successful motivational speaker. There are stats that show he’s one of the highest-paid public speakers in history.
His whole message is you’ve got to be hungry in order to pursue your passion, your dreams. You have got to be fearless. He just grabs your attention, even at the age right now he has always had this way of mesmerising the audience.
He has a powerful spiritual voice and is well worth listening to.
Tony Robbins (Most known Famous Public Speaker)
Finally, Tony Robbins isn’t necessarily a public speaker but he is a great speaker.
I’ve been blessed to be a part of his journey and followed him for many years at the point where I actually got invited to two events with 5,000+ people, where he was one of the speakers and so was I.
So for me, it was a real privilege to be in that same stage environment with somebody with this capacity and the ability to change and impact people’s lives.
He is an incredible coach, interventionist and world leader.
60 years of age now and he’s been doing this for 40 years and he’s a great person, inspiring people to develop systems and tools and models for being successful in so many different areas of your life.
He has a deep, powerful sense of the way of engaging an audience and he uses a power-based strategy, whereas Wayne Dyer is softer, gentler, more spiritual.
When I think of the biggest and best famous public speakers of all time – Tony Robbins will likely sit at number one on that list.
In Summary
There is no right or wrong, you just tune into different people and pick up some great messages from each of them.
I could carry on with so many other people, so look at some great speakers out there and just have them there in the background when you need to be inspired and also to help you get some tools and tips and techniques.
Observe the way they carry themselves as professional public speakers.
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