Ep. 99 The 2021 Master of Influence

Hey, Darren lacroix. How are you, my friend?

I am well, Mark Brown. I am well.

Listen, I hear it's piping hot there in Las Vegas with the heat over 110 degrees there. And of course, you had a hot time because last weekend you had the National Speakers Association Influence Conference right there in Vegas. How was that, man?

It was. I can't tell you how cool it was to just reconnect and touch and shake hands and hug and just seeing some of my mentors, it was crazy, Mark, because I got a little choked up, to be honest, when I just got to look them in the eyes and tell them how much they meant to me back in the 90s, you know, I'm Jim Cathcart, Mark Sanborn, Willie Jolly, who we've had on the podcast. Mark Sanborn. And just to reconnect and just look people in the eyes, it was awesome. I felt bad, too, a little, for NSA National Speakers association having to deal with this was booked three years ago and having to. Legally, they could only have 500 people. And then it opened up and all the adjustments and working with a strip property can be a little crazy as well. So I don't envy all they had to jump through. I was thankful I wasn't planning the event, but it was just amazing to connect.

Really glad to hear that. Now, I know the NSA does have an award they give called the Master of Influence. Some great speakers. Darren Hardy has won that. Don Hudson has won that. The great Jeannie Robertson, you know, the grandma gone viral. She's also on our podcast last year. And of course, one of your greatest heroes, Brian Tracy, has won the Master of Influence award. But this year, I understand, was very, very special for this year with the Master of Influence 2021. Why is that, Darren?

It was very hot in many ways. 113 degrees and, well, let's just say we didn't see this one come in.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? Difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations Podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown. Mark Brown.

Your life tells a story, and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation. Ahas. Let's dive right in.

So, Mark. Yeah.

Tell me, man, what's going on? Tell me.

This was different. Usually. Well, when you give an award away, you give it to who you think is most deserving. And you heard some of the legends that have been given this award before. I was surprised and thrilled that the National Speakers association gave the award to Mark Brown. Who do you think it was?

Tell me. Tell us, come on. I can't wait. Tell us.

They gave it to members of Toast, Toastmasters International. What? That's crazy. That's crazy. And Mark, I was so excited because they had the reigning world champion there, Mike Carr. They had Dan Rex, the leader of Toastmasters CEO. Yeah, CEO. They had the president, Richard Peck. Yes, Richard Peck was there because I ran into them having dinner and I was like, wait, why are you here? And they wouldn't say, which was cool. I honored and respected that. But I was thrilled they had Michael on our friend, fellow world champion and NSA member as well. And he did a little video plug. But what was really cool is I think, realizing it's not just, here's nsa, here's Toastmasters, it's for you and I. We wouldn't be who we are. We wouldn't be the speakers we are. And Mark, I'm not gonna put this opinion on you. This is the opinion of Darren Lacroix, not necessarily the opinion, opinion of Mark Brown, but there are a lot of people who are world champions and Toastmasters, there are a lot of members who are paid professional. I ran into Rory Vaden, who is amazing, whose career has gone way past you and me.

Yeah, he's hall of Fame. He was hall of fame 2019 when we got, when we did our program, he became a Hall of Fame member.

Cpae.

Way to go, Rory.

And he grew up in Toastmasters as well. And so people who've experienced it the way it's supposed to be experienced, it's huge. For those of you who are Toastmasters, you get this. But my one challenge, that NSA member who either saw a horrible Toastmaster speaker and then painted everybody in the whole organization by that one experience, or they went to a club and they didn't see. They took that one time club experience and they didn't see the true growth, the true nurturing that Toastmasters does for anyone who plays full out. And so if you've seen somebody, even with letters after their name, you know what I call them? Mark, the check mark. Dtms. They just went through the paces to get the check mark, but they really weren't trying to become a better speaker. And that is horrible because that's one of the reasons sometimes there's a bad reputation in some people's minds. But I thought this would be great to talk about. I was thrilled. You were even more excited than I was to talk about this.

Of course.

But I hate seeing some NSA members poo poo Toastmasters like, oh, those are the little wannabes. Well, I would challenge any speaker to a speak with any one of the world champions. And again, I don't say that because we're better. I say that because, look, we are who we are because of our Toastmaster background. And even when I'm speaking at NSA chapters, I make sure I've spoken, I think almost all of them, some international as well. But I say, look, I am who I am because of Toastmasters. If you're not getting paid what you want as often as you want. Heard a few people say that. But if you don't get paid what you want as often as you want, the problem is your speech. And why would you not embrace a place where you could actually work on it when you're not in front of a paid client, when you could get feedback from real live people? And back in the day I had to go from one Toastmasters club in the morning, go to a breakfast club, then I would drive across town, go to my day job, then take an extended lunch, go to another Toastmasters club working on my winning speech and then go back to my day job, work all day. And then in the evening I went to another Toastmasters Club. Now all they gotta do is push a few buttons and they can travel. You know, you and I have done conferences internationally where we're in two or three countries in a weekend, which is crazy. So virtual is actually given more of an opportunity. But we really gotta look at what the value is. You know my mantra, Mark? Stage time. Stage time. Stage time. So why would anyone give you stage time if it's not ready yet? So Toastmasters gives that opportunity and my last thought when I, when I'm speaking to other NSA chapters, I say, look, I'm just a guy who used the tool of Toastmasters better than most. When I talk to Toastmaster districts, I'm not special. I just use the tool of Toastmasters better than most. That's it Darren.

You're singing my song again. I was an 18 year old, skinny knotley buckties Jamaican kid with a strong accent who didn't even know what ToastMasters was till 1992 when I first got exposed to it. And it has transformed my life. Now I do know there some individuals who hold onto the old mantra. Well, Toastmaster will teach you how to speak and NSA will teach you how to get paid. Yeah, but you won't get paid if you don't know how to speak.

Duh.

And the Toastmaster is a wonderful laboratory in much the same way you talk about this down in stand up comedy, how some of the best comedians in the world will go to a little comedy club someplace and they'll try something out. You would go to four Toastmasters clubs to work on your NSA speech to make it better. And maybe there are those who don't realize that through Toastmasters you're able to improve your stories, improve your speaking, to raise your fee and become more well known as a professional speaker in the nsa. And you don't always talk about this, but you are the only human being on the planet who holds Pro Designation and Toastmasters as accredited, as well as being a world champion. You've done everything in both realms and you've done it very, very well. I myself grew up on Toastmasters. Continue to learn through Toastmasters, give back much to Toastmasters. But chapters around the country are asking me to come and instruct them and teach them how to be better presenters using what skills? The ones I learned in Toastmasters. We need to create a wonderful symbiotic. Sorry, Darren, big word relationship here, a collaborative relationship. And I am so grateful, I am so thankful that the National Speakers association at the high level is recognizing the impact and the influence that Toastmasters has on so many professional speakers around the country and around the world. There are individuals in professional speakers groups in Canada, in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in Australia. And many of them I know personally because they are Toastmasters. And you know, Darren, there in Las Vegas, you have NSA members who are professional speakers who are also members of Toastmasters. We need to understand the power, the beauty and the glory of both organizations and how being a member of both and maximizing your membership, as you said, Darren, using the tools to the best of your ability can elevate your skill and proficiency and then your professionalism together. So both organizations can serve you and I and our listeners and our viewers very well if we use them effectively. Darren?

Yeah, I've heard the old adage growing up in both organizations. I joined both organizations in 1994 and pretty much been a member ever since. And I heard in NSA, the National Speakers Association, 80% of paid speeches come as a result of someone who's seen you speak. But you have to be good enough to be able to get that rebooking, to get that referral. You have to be good enough. So our best marketing tool is how good we are on the stage. So why would you not Constantly be honing it. Why would you not try new material outside of a paid environment in order to truly test it? I mean, if you want to be unforgettable, that's what we're here talking about. I think Toastmasters is such a powerful tool to do just that. And I love it. I've been a part of both. I've heard some people say that they've graduated from Toastmasters. I don't think you graduate from Toastmasters, but maybe you get to a point where you've done leadership and you've done speaking, you want to focus on your marketing. So I would say, go good, do that. But you still want that place that you can work out a new story that you could. As I said early on, realizing stage time, I could get from Toastmasters where I would go to a Toastmasters Club during the the day and a comedy club at night. So I would be on stage twice a day. I would fail twice a day. But it was that mindset that brought me. But it was the tool of Toastmasters that gave me the opportunity to nurture that.

And it's funny. I gotta agree with Darren, because right now, my most recent keynote speech, I got it through an agency and I tracked back. How do they even find me? How did the client find me? And it's a large national franchise. One of the key leaders in the franchise is married to a Toastmaster who was competing in a contest. I was the keynote speaker for this virtual conference. They heard me, they said, this guy is really good. He'd be great for our leaders, for our organization. I get a fully keynote for a national franchise because of my involvement in Toastmasters. It really can be a relationship that gets is advantageous to you. But I go back to the point you made earlier. The individual who got hold of me to speak for their franchise said, he is good. They saw the skills I had, the experience I had having grown up in Toastmasters and saw the value to their professional organization and got a hold of me. I was hired. And it's a wonderful experience, but it goes back to the expertise you gain from honing craft in the Toastmasters Club. I understand, Darren, when people say, well, you know, I've kind of outgrown Toastmasters, my club isn't helping me as much on a professional level as I'd like. And clubs are different. They're all over the world. You said, Darren, in 21st century, we can now visit clubs all over the world. Virtually, as a matter of fact, President Richard Peck from Toastmasters, who was on stage at the NSA convention, has had this plan during his presidential year, which ends this month, that he would Visit, I think, 140 countries he's visited virtually throughout the year. He made that his goal. Now think about it for a second. The exposure you can get as a presenter, the opportunities that you can get to present to not only Toastmasters, but to professionals, you and I. And Patricia Frick, one of our mentors, the first female National Speakers association president. We're all on the same virtual Toastmasters conference a couple of weeks ago, and they told us they want to get experienced Toastmasters, but also professionals who would bring a level of excellence to the organization, to the event, chose you and I, who are both professionals and Toastmasters, and they were seeing, in their opinion, the best of both worlds in individuals like us. And we give credit to both Toastmasters and the National Speakers association to be able to serve in that way.

It's not one or the other. It's. Yes, there you go.

There you go. So for anybody who's listening to this, who was thinking, I'm more person and I'm more Toastmasters person, as Darren says, it is not either or. It is, yes. And Darren and I both will tell you right now, we have reached and been blessed by the rewards and the benefits of being active members of both organizations throughout our careers.

They have influence. They've grown up many of the great keynote speakers. And it doesn't mean it was essential. It's not like every one of them had to grow up through Toastmasters. Look, if you're getting paid what you want as often as you want, good, keep going, keep being a sponge, keep learning. But if you're not, hey, maybe you consider that this master of influence, Mark and I, if you've been listening to our podcast, well, you've been influenced from Toastmasters because Mark and I were both, both influenced from Toastmasters. So it's just coming through us. And for those of you are Toastmasters, it's also what we do with it. It's what we've been doing with it. Mark. Yeah, There are some crazy stories we could tell that we won't tell at the moment, but just in terms of. It's what I did when I won the World Championship. It wasn't just winning. Nobody hired me for the trophy. You mentioned the accredited speaker. Accredited speaker, world champion in C. You and I are both csp. Ed Tate is a csp. Ryan Avery, at this conference became a csp, which is awesome. So it's. We've earned it in both. But I Didn't go for the accreditation to get necessarily the accreditation. It wasn't going to get me more bookings. If that was the case, I would have more bookings than anybody. But that's not the case. But I love the quote by Jim Rohn. And this is kind of my mindset. This is why I went for the accredited speaker after I had the csp. So CSP is a National Speakers Association. Accredited speaker is Toastmasters. It's kind of like their simplified version of the CSP. If I could. That way the CSP, you have to have $50,000 a year for five years in a row. The accredited speaker is a little easier to get at the beginning, but both matter. But I love this quote by Jim Rohn. He said, make it your goal to be a millionaire. Not for the money, but for the person. It makes you the person. It makes you the speaker. It makes you mark. When I went for my accredited speaker, one of the things they required you to do was reach back out to old clients and get them to fill out a survey that goes directly to Toastmasters, not us. I can't touch it, I can't tweak it, which is perfect. Well, when I reached out to these past clients, some of them said, oh, we haven't had you in five years. We're gonna bring you back.

Oh, nice.

Duh. So going through those hoops reminded me of some of the business disciplines that I need to get back to that I didn't do. So it actually brought me some work because it showed me the disciplines that I should have been doing. So it's not those accreditations. Yes, it's an accomplishment, but nobody hired me because of that. They might disqualify me if I don't have one. Like if in the NSA and you're being considered by a speaker bureau, they might look, look for okay, CSPs. So you might be disqualified if you're not a CSP. Doesn't mean you will be. I'm just saying this is a possibility. Look, if you market yourself, if you got smoking material, world class material, world class demo, and the event planners know about you, cool, that's great. But guess what? Last year it didn't matter because no one was getting, you know, the big fee gigs. And some of the speakers, you know, people talked about, I mean, that's one of the things I love about NSA is it's this big speakers Anonymous meeting where we all just encourage and help each other and remind each other that, hey, you're not alone. You are not alone. I talked to one of my friends, Mark, that, you know, but I won't mention his name that said he was really depressed. And I was like, dude, why didn't you reach out? But when you're depressed, you don't want to reach out, you know? So I felt guilty for not knowing, but how would I have known? So I think think it's just that reminder that, look, if you're serious, you need that community, whether it's NSA Toastmasters, both Stage Time. I loved Mark being there with our Stage Time members. Don was there. Claudette Paulette.

Oh, nice.

Amanda May, Tom Pfeiffer. It was great just seeing each other, helping each other, and getting to know each other face to face. So I was super psyched for Stagetime members who were there, but also seeing. So, for example, Amanda May, she was there. We were at the podcast thing, sitting together, and she saw. They asked. Jeffrey Hazlett had asked the question, who already has a podcast? And she looked around, there's about 80 people in the room, and about a third of them raised their hand that they didn't even have one yet. And it's like, I could see her sit up a little straighter because she's new at it, but she could see, look, she's already at Mark. When I joined NSA first convention in 96, I literally thought I was the only guy in the room who wasn't getting paid. I was afraid I would be found out. It took me two or three years to realize half the people weren't getting paid very much. But you come from your own world. So for me, I just thought I was the only wannabe. And then I was a wannabe. I'll say it. You know, that's why you come. That's why you get to know people. But, Mark, for me, it was at this conference. It was truly seeing the people that I've known for years and who knew me. And I had asked some of them if they would give me a testimonial of my new 17 minutes book. And some of them were, oh, great.

Yeah.

They instantly said yes. They're like, I didn't even finish the sentence. Like, what do you want? Yes. And I realized it was the relationship. They knew who I was. They knew my integrity. And so it was just really cool. And I never knew what relationship marketing was. I was like, I don't need that early on. But I realized because of mentors like you and the people that were mentors in my NSA chapter who literally carried me along at the beginning and showed me the way. And then I became, as Patricia says, the favorite. I just wanted to be the favorite person for them to know, to help as much as I could. And it kind of came back to me. So it was just a cool feeling being there at the conference. But I was thrilled to see Toastmasters members got the Influence award. Because if you think about it for you and me, the people who use Toastmasters to grow up in ToastMasters and then NSA Marketing, so then it kind of took us to another level and getting out there. But truly, if it wasn't for that foundation, the the building would have collapsed.

I totally agree, Darren. And again, I'm really thankful that the NSA was able to recognize the impact of Toastmasters. And for anyone who's brand new, when you hear Darren mention csp, that certified speaking professional that you have to earn with the National Speaking association with the nsa, here's my thought for you. If you are a former Toastmaster, you're being a pro now. You want to be the NSA member, you want to earn the big bucks. Don't forget a Toastmasters Club is the perfect place to practice your speech, especially with an unfamiliar audience. You get a real feel for what to expect in a life scenario with a paid engagement. And do not discount the value of Toastmasters membership. And Toastmasters do not think that because you aren't NSA professional, you are inferior or anything less than my wish, my utopian Pollyanna wish is for every Toastmaster, Toastmaster and every NSA member to see value in both organizations. For NSA members to join Toastmasters as a place to practice and hone your speeches, to build your network and to collaborate, teach each other, encourage each other, lift each other. I am proud to be a dues paying, card carrying member of both Toastmasters International and the National Speakers Association. And I for one, I am so thrilled and so proud that the NSA has chosen to confer the award of the 2021 Master of Influence to Toastmasters International. I'm a juice paying, card carrying member of both and I am just thrilled. I encourage everyone, if you're a Toastmaster, see the value of being in the NSA and vice versa. Look at each other in a way. You can be collaborative and can grow through both organizations. I have, Darren has and I hope you will too. Darren.

Yeah. My last thought is the fact that Mark, if you remember in 2002 they had done this where they were bringing them the organizations together. It's not competition, it's brother sister, it's helping each other. And there's so many who are overlapped so in 2002, I was asked to do Ouch. My championship speech when I had won in 2001, to do or deliver that speech at NSA in 2002. You know the famous horse joke? Yes. But it was because they had recognized it back then and they wanted to bridge that gap. So they thought, how cool. Bring over the current world champion at that time to bridge the gap. And I was thrilled to do it. And that's where my, you know, getting my dander up. When I see people in nsa, just a few too, I don't want to make it sound like it's not, but a few turn their nose up and it's like, dude, you're not that good. You could probably use it. But you know, that's the problem is sometimes when ego gets in the way and I'm getting paid and they're just wannabes, I think that is the challenge when. No, it's both. It's both. And if it doesn't serve you, that's fine. But encourage other people that, hey, what a great place to get started. So truly a fan of Toastmasters and we wanted to dedicate one episode to just realizing for those of you who are professional speakers and want to be unforgettable, what a great place to work out your stories before you bring it in front of the paid client.

Definitely. Once again, a thrill for Toastmasters. Congrats to my fellow Toastmasters worldwide. And listen, I cannot believe Darren, we're just finishing episode number nine which means that next week will be episode number 100. If you're a Toastmaster, please consider joining NSA. And my fellow NSAers, please join your fellow Toastmasters. Let's work together. Let's grow together and learn how to be truly unforgettable.

We'll see you next week.

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