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Nov 26

3 Ways to Make a Thanksgiving Toast People Will Remember

By Ryan Avery Motivation One Comment

It’s time for the holidays and being a true Toastmaster I had to give you three ways to make a Thanksgiving toast people will remember! If you want to make an impression on those you are spending time with this holiday season try one of these three ideas:

1) Share a time your family (or those you are eating with) helped you this year: Most likely people around you have helped you accomplish something in your life this year! Let them know how much you appreciate them and what you learned along the way as they supported you! Relive an up or down moment but make sure to end with a positive story or inspirational thought that will leave everyone happy and thankful that you are in their life!

2) Put a note under everyone’s chair: Before everyone comes over, you can write a letter of thanks to each person who is coming over for dinner. Tape it under their chair if they have assigned seats or pass them out at dinner, but ask them to read it when they get home! Make a short toast to give thanks and remind them why they mean so much to you.

3) Initiate A “One Word” Toast: Start by sharing the power of one word and let everyone go around the room to say in one word what are they thankful for (some people will say things like family, health, love, house, kids or friends). Take photos throughout the night and remember their one word. The next morning in a subject line write their one word and then attach the photos with a message that says, “Me, too!”

Happy Thanksgiving Todayers! I am so thankful I have you in my life. You give me an outlet to share my voice, you have helped me learn so much along the way, and have truly made me into the speaker I am today! I would not be here without all of you, and I am so lucky to be able to do what I do! If I can remind you to do one thing today and forever it would always be…

Dream BIG,
Ryan

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Aug 27

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5 Reasons Why You Should Start a Competitive Speakers Club

By Ryan Avery Motivation One Comment

Last month I, along with 22 other Toastmasters, created a club in Portland, OR, dedicated to helping speakers improve the way they speak competitively at all levels.

Whether you are a Toastmaster or not, you should consider starting one of these clubs in your city.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1) To surround yourself with those who are better than you

2) To improve the way you develop and deliver your message so any audience would want to hear it

3) To improve the quality and quantity of those who compete at all levels

4) To improve the quality and quantity of those who are judges at all levels

5) To receive expert feedback that executives would pay for

Our goal is to start a Competitive Speakers Club in every Toastmasters District around the world.

So far, we have started five. We have 86 more to go! We want to improve the quality and quantity of competitive speakers around the world and want you to join us!

If you are in Toastmasters, or want to join Toastmasters and would like to start a club, we have ambassadors ready to help you get your club started.

Email me at ryan@averytoday.com, and I will connect you with someone who can help get your club up and running!

Together, let’s improve the quality and quantity of competitive speakers around the world by creating a community of those interested in being better speakers! As always…

Dream BIG,
Ryan

Aug 18

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5 Lessons Learned Being a World Champion

By Ryan Avery World Records 6 Comments

Two years ago today, with help from my mentors, coach, family and friends, I became the youngest World Champion of Public Speaking in history.

I have since learned that being a full-time speaker is the best job in the world. You get to travel, make a difference, and earn an income doing something you love.

During these past 730 days I have learned a lot of lessons through many mistakes, trials and error. Five lessons, which include:

1) You are as good as your last accomplishment: What are you doing today, to be better tomorrow?

2) You can’t make everyone happy: No matter how good you are, there will always be people who do not like you and people who will. Whom do you want to invest your energy towards?

3) You have the power to empower people: Your voice carries weight! What you choose to say or not say can make a difference in someone’s life. What are you doing to make sure you are using your voice to empower those around you?

4) You have a lot more to learn and do: Once you start thinking you are good, you aren’t even close to being great. What can you learn, what can you do, and whom can you meet to help you reach new heights?

5) What you do with your achievements are up to you: Can you name the last five winners of American Idol? They each had 10,000,000+ people a night watching them sing. Where are they now? The only excuse we have is ourselves!

Remember: You are not successful when you become a world champion; you are successful when every day you train like one.

What are you doing to be the best at what you do? It doesn’t mean you have to be the best today–it means you are working towards being the best one day! Let’s keep making things happen and learn more, do more, and always…

Dream BIG,
Ryan

Jul 23

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Strategies of a Successful Book Launch

By Ryan Avery Motivation, Writing No Comments

Today’s question comes from Shruti Sharma from San Jose, CA when she asks, “What advice do you have for making your book a success once it is written?”

First you have to be passionate about making your book a success (more than just making money). No one cares more about your book than you. The harder and smarter you work, the more books get sold.

Second, define what success looks like to you! Is it the amount of books you sell, the places you get to travel, the people you help or the speeches you get from those who read the book? What does a successful book look like? Only the author can answer that.

After you define your answer above, here is what I used to make our book a success:

Write it Down: You have to put a strategy on paper to know what it looks like. Then post it up in your office and look at it everyday. I broke my written strategy into three categories (Social, Educational and Business). What can you do to be social around your book, educate people with content from your book and make money from it? I focused 50% of my efforts on social, 30% on educational and 20% on business. List, outline and brainstorm ways you can address these areas with your book.

Podcasts Interviews: Reach out to as many podcasters as you can. Let them know you have a book coming out and you can add value to their listeners. Podcasters are all looking for new content, energetic people to interview and value to add to their subscribers. Make sure to ask them to launch your episode during a week before, the day of or a week after your launch. This will drive more traffic to your site, your book and you as an author because instead of a trickle of interviews happening throughout several months, you get a big serge of name recognition in the launch window.

Social Media Team: Put together a team of people who can help promote the book on various social media sites. I would recommend a minimum of 30 people on your team. The more you get, the more your book gets out there! What can you do to entice them to share your book and get them to join your team?

Book Signing Events: You don’t have to do a big book tour. You can do three cities, shoot you can even do one! Make sure you set up at least one book signing event and invite your friends, family, co-workers and your target market for the book. This is great PR! Take photos, videos and post all over social media! You can host it at your local book store, church, coffee shop, anywhere that will let you. Get your hand ready to sign some books!

Reviews on Amazon: This is an area I lacked in for this launch. Reviews matter on Amazon and will help you sell more over time (in fact, if you have purchased Speaker Leader Champion, I could really use your help with a review on Amazon). Reviews gives the author social proof that their book is valuable and people purchase books depending on the reviews. So the quality and quantity of reviews matter!

Valuable Giveaways: What giveaways can you do to lead up to and follow up with your book launch? Giveaway gift cards or signed copies of your book. Giveaway a free hour of coaching or the first chapter away if they sign up for your newsletter. Offer valuable giveaways to make your following happy and to also interest them in getting a copy or sharing it with their friends.

I am happy with the success of Speaker Leader Champion. The book has been translated into 3 languages and my goal is to have translated into 10. I still have more copies to sell and I enjoy getting emails that readers are getting value from the book.

I have learned an immense amount this first go around and will know how to make my second launch even stronger. You have to try these things now in order to make your next one even better. When Frank Llyod Wright was asked which house was the best he’d ever built, he said “my next one.”

You have everything you need to make your book a success and now it’s up to you to put in the work. Go out there and make it happen! You are part of 1% of the population who has written a book now be 1% of authors who make their book a success! Looking forward to seeing your name on the shelf! As always…

Dream BIG,
Ryan

Authors, what other advice do you have for those looking to make their book a success?

Mar 17

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One Month Countdown

By Ryan Avery Motivation, World Records No Comments

We are less than one month away from the World Record for the largest book signing in history! Ahhhh yea!

The website, marketing materials and announcement will go out next week but wanted to give you a sneak peek into what the website looks like, allow you to be one of the first to register for the event (We have some fun giveaways for the first 100 people who register) and share in the excitement that on Wednesday April 16, 2014 you and I will break a World Record and be part of history!

Three things to do for the one month countdown:

1) Register: For the onsite or online event and reserve your spot in history now! If you can’t make the onsite event, you can still participate by getting a book online on April 16th through the CSUworldrecord.com website.

2) Share the website: Let your network know you are going to be part of a world record on April 16th and they should join in on the action!

3) Get ready to break history: Get ready to tell everyone you know that you created history on April 16th and broke a world record! No big deal!

Three reasons why you should be a part of this event:

1) All profits go towards supporting CSU scholarship funds for first generation students.

2) You become part of a Guinness World Record and create history.

3) You receive a book that will help you become more successful, more employable and a better speaker.

I am excited to be doing this with you and will need your help to make this happen. We need to sell and sign 5,000 books on Wednesday April 16th in order to break the World Record and I know together we can make this happen. Share with your fiends, family and co-workers and let’s get our name in the history books. As always…

Dream BIG,
Ryan