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If you read Part 1 of this article, you learned how rehearsal leads to higher fees. Here, let’s look at some specific ways to manage your rehearsal habit with multiple speeches. 

More rehearsal means higher fees.  

That’s because rehearsal makes your speech delivery more reliable… which makes you earn more referrals and stageside leads… which makes your demand higher… which means you can set higher fees.

See?  In math terms, this is the transitive property in action!  🤓 

Remember the Speaker Value Spiral?

I’m a big fan of rehearsal.  You’ve probably figured that out by now.

Why You Need a Rehearsal “Habit” to Break Through to the Next Level (1 of 2)
Speakers who earn the highest fees put in the daily effort to improve their delivery, refine their stories, and strengthen their message. For them, rehearsal isn’t just a task for a checklist. It’s a HABIT with a permanent spot on the calendar.
SpeakingGigs.ProAndrew Davis

But today, we'll look at how to manage your rehearsal schedule when you have multiple speeches ready for gigs.

Really, it’s a hard thing to balance.

… your new speech needs lots of rehearsal so it can gain momentum and earn leads…

… your older speech needs smoother transitions and tighter stories…

… and your even older-most-reliable-most-referred speech needs customization and updates to stay relevant.

This topic was inspired by a question from subscriber Amanda Lea Kaiser who asked about my rehearsal process for a specific speech.  

Juggling all of this rehearsal for speeches – old and new – can sometimes result in something I call the Speaker Rehearsal Dilemma.

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You’re constantly juggling multiple speeches with different rehearsal needs. Newer speeches need daily attention to reach their full potential while older (high fee) speeches need regular fine tuning so they can stay strong.

For example, last year my new speech was about digital doppelgangers.  It required daily rehearsal so I could get it to the point at which I could earn higher and higher fees consistently.  It needed lots of work until it could reliably generate stageside leads.

Meanwhile, I had three other speeches that were consistently being referred for gigs.  These were my tried-and-true speeches that earned stageside leads and higher fees.  Still, they needed to be refreshed and refined to stay relevant to my new audiences.

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The key to a successful speaking career is to figure out how to maintain, evolve, and ultimately perfect each of these speeches while you respect their individual needs in your business.

The 5-Minute Rehearsal Method for Newer Speeches

If you have a new speech you are still developing, then you’ll want to use something like my Five-Minute Rehearsal Method.  This strategy will help you systematically improve every single section of your speech, just five-minutes at a time.  

How the “5-Minute Method” Will Make Your Speech Better, Faster (2 of 2)
The “5-Minute Method for Rehearsing” is a strategy that helps speakers systematically improve every single section of their speech – fixing just five minutes at a time.
SpeakingGigs.ProAndrew Davis

(Before you get excited, this method takes about one hour each day to complete.  Don’t be confused by the name.)

With a new speech, you’ll focus on incremental improvements so the speech can mature to the fee that you want to quote.  You’ll have to dedicate one hour every day to refine and rehearse that new speech so it gets tighter, the transitions get better, and your confidence gets stronger.

Your goal is to build that consistent, reliable delivery through regular rehearsal.  

Your new speech won’t earn high fees right out of the gate, but if you keep refining it daily, you’ll gain traction faster and help you earn the breakthroughs you need to get to those higher fees.

Reliable Speeches Have Different Rehearsal Needs

On the other side of the equation, you probably have some older speeches that have reliably served you over the last several years.  But just because these speeches are well-known and referred often, it doesn’t mean they're perfect as is.

You’ll want to keep them fresh so they can evolve with the times.  This requires different rehearsal needs.

Unlike the new speech you’re working on, the older reliable speech has already been very well rehearsed.  You could probably give that speech blindfolded with your arms tied behind your back and still make people burst into applause.

But it’s not perfect, right?  It could still be improved.

For instance, my Loyalty Loop speech is one I’ve delivered many, many, many times.  It’s still my second-most booked speech and I’ve been giving it for seven or eight years now.

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The challenge for this type of speech is no longer building momentum. Instead, you’ll want to maintain the speech and make sure it doesn’t get stale. It needs to continue to resonate so you don’t fall into the trap of delivering old (boring) stuff.

Reliable speeches need a different kind of preparation in the days and weeks before a gig.  You’ll need to stay sharp while customizing the speech for an upcoming audience.

With that in mind, here’s my four-part strategy for delivering those reliable speeches…

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