Few speakers know this. Fewer act on it. They want to know you. They want to know what makes you tick. What makes you so smart. How you got to be up here at the head of the room.

What matters to you. Why it matters. What deep beliefs you cherish. What crucibles youve endured. How you survived. The lessons you learned. How they can steer clear of such crucibles while learning these life lessons from you.

The challenges you've faced. How you overcame these challenges. Your strategies and tactics. The pratfalls and pitfalls youve endured. They long to laugh with you as you recount the red-faced moments of your life.

Your survival strategies, how you finally got it together and how they can get theirs together too. How you healed yourself from lifes wounds. How you shield yourself from the malevolent forces abiding on this planet. How they can do so, too.

Your principles, your North Star, how you decide what you will and will not do as you move through this one-way ticket to life. And where you got those principles and why you made them yours. They might even welcome a word or two from your mouth regarding ideal principles they might engage and live by.

Your values and where they came from. Why they are your values and how clinging to these values adds value to your personal life experience. And what exactly are ideal values anyway and what makes them ideal.

Your standards, and how they became your standards. The rationale for your standards. And the significance of setting standards for yourself. And what are desirable standards and who says so.

The crucial questions of your life and how you choose to respond to them. This leads to the crucial questions of all lives and the outcomes of different responses.

Your purpose in doing what you do. And what makes purpose so important and why.

Your philosophy (You didnt think Id miss that one did you?). And from whence it came. And why it matters.

OK, OK, I know what youre thinking. What happened to my topic, Burt, what happened to why the client pays me to be here?

You deliver your topic insights 100%. All the rest is the counterpoint. Its the obligato. Its the white space. Master speakers deliver a cornucopia of this relief in between the lines.

This means you actually deliver 2 programs in 1: The program they pay you for and the program sharing the essential you. All of the second program is shared as asides, off the cuff words, counterpoint, obligato, and white space.

Finally, you dont have to do this all in one program. You share some here, some there. Some now, some the next time. What matters most: Be the authentic you as you reveal yourself to each audience.