FORT LAUDERDALE – International renowned motivational speaker and best selling author James Amps, III rose to national prominence by conveying his message of action to more than 550 worldwide corporate and professional audiences, inspiring them to accept responsibility, and unleash the greatness within.
Amps shares a glimpse into his world.
Q: What do you love about the art of public speaking?
Amps: The ability to conduct research on the company or organization I’m about to speak to and gather information that I know can help them with their everyday lives. There is power being on the podium and I take that seriously.
Q: What sorts of topics do you explore via motivational speaking?
Amps: The Challenges of Life is a major topic of mine because everyone goes through some type of challenge in their life and the more people hear about those challenges the better it helps others overcome theirs.
Part of helping organizations and individuals overcome their challenges, is helping them understand if they can solve issues instead of point fingers and blame, others the better they will become.
Part of overcoming challenges is understanding your individual part in creating the challenge. This is part of Personal Accountability. I sometimes use the topic “Personal Accountability and the Challenges of Life”
Q: What is the key to giving a good motivational speech?
Amps: I have made a living and am well known for the expert research I do on organizations before I speak. The number one key for me is my research. I might not be the best speaker in the world but I can out research any speaker in the world and I know that is the key to longevity in this speaking and training industry.
Q: What do you fear most about giving a presentation?
Amps: Starting the presentation – at the beginning of any of my presentations the biggest hurdle for me is when I am being introduced. My mind is running and my heart is pounding and the excitement is at full force. I hate to call it a fear I really believe it’s an excitement and adrenalin that is at its highest right at the beginning of my presentation.
Q: How do you divide your time between delivering ideas and creating them?
Amps: I spend much more time creating ideas from the research I gather from the organization I’m about ready to speak to. I might spend 8-12 hours on gathering information and then I have to put it into some type of order and then into a story line that everyone will understand. Delivering is the easy part. It’s the creation of the information that takes much more time.
Q: At what point to you come alive on stage-before you walk on, when you walk on, or three minutes after you start?
Amps: I’m alive as soon as I see the first person when I get to my venue. I never know who I’m about ready to meet so anyone that I come across becomes a friend to me. However, Once I am introduced there is no time to be shy. I get the audience involved right at the start. Once I am introduced I usually have the audience stand and give each other hugs or high fives. Most of the time they think it’s for them, however this 1-2 minute drill is the time I need to calm down and gather myself and get ready to deliver.
Q: What do you want the audience to be saying about you afterwards?
Amps: There is only one thing I want them to say “Does he work for us? Because he knows a lot about us.”
To hire James Amps, III as a keynote speaker, click here
