A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to

motivate Motivation is an internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. It i ...

or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers can deliver speeches at schools, colleges, places of worship, companies, corporations, government agencies, conferences, trade shows, summits, community organizations, and similar environments.

Early motivational speakers

One of the earliest known motivational speakers credited for what was considered his revolutionary work was

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

(1803–1882), an American essayist, poet, and philosopher.

Techniques and theories

The two main theories for why motivational speakers may need to be externally searched out is to fill the need of content theory or the process theories. The content theories were created by different philosophers, such as

Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow ( ; April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actua ...

Clayton Alderfer Clayton Paul Alderfer (September 1, 1940 - October 30, 2015) was an American psychologist and consultant known for developing Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs into a framework of three essential categories: existence, relatedness, and growth. ...

Frederick Herzberg Frederick Irving Herzberg (April 18, 1923 – January 19, 2000) was an American psychologist who became one of the most influential names in business management. He is most famous for introducing job enrichment and the motivator–hygiene theor ...

, and

David McClelland David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation need theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the ...

. They focus on the inner workings and think of an individual and what will energize, stop behaviors, and keep it sustainable for long-term needs. These theories acknowledge that every individual is unique and has different needs in order to motivate them. The process theories focus on the explanation and analysis of different people and what will energize, stop behaviors, and keep it sustainable for long-term needs. Brought into perspective by Victor Vroom, B.F Skinner, Ruth Kanfer, and

Albert Bandura Albert Bandura (4 December 1925 – 26 July 2021) was a Canadian-American psychologist and professor of social science in psychology at Stanford University, who contributed to the fields of education and to the fields of psychology, e.g. social ...

, it addresses the needs of learning and expectancy and realizes that individuals will make choices based on reward and compensation. Speakers try to show their audience about the positive outcomes that can happen in life and focus on the possible opportunities rather than the limits that people set for themselves.Hussain, R., Alam, Y., & Zahid, M. S. (2022). ‘Awaken the Giant Within’: Linguistic Explorations into the Art of Delivering Motivational Talks. ''Jahan-e-Tahqeeq'', ''5''(1), 60-70. Using positively-connotative words rather than negative ones and gives charismatic verbal and non-verbal social cues. Using their posture, eye contact, body language, facial expressions, and by dressing appropriately they can engage with the audience in a non-verbal way. They can change the tone of their voice, speech pattern, accent, and pitch to emphasize and show emotion behind what they are saying. TED Conferences, LLC posts the popular "Ted Talks" series online, frequently featuring motivational speakers such as Tony Robbins,

Simon Sinek Simon Oliver Sinek (born 9 October 1973) is an American author and inspirational speaker on business leadership. His books include '' Start with Why'' (2009) and '' The Infinite Game'' (2019). Early life and education Sinek was born in Wimble ...

, and Shawn Achor.

References

{{reflist Popular psychology