Any successful motivational speaker, an inspirational speaker, professional speaker or keynote speaker on the speaking circuit will tell you that they get inundated with the question of how one becomes a professional speaker. If we can create a complete checklist of crucial things to complete against which you can check your progress, that list will be very long. Probably the most important ammunition to collect for a speaking career is practical experience. How do you speak about leadership if you have never led a corporate team? How do you write a book about teamwork, if you have never led a team? Building experience takes years. This is why the workplace is sceptical to listen to a motivational speaker, an inspirational speaker, professional speaker or keynote speaker that has never been in the corporate trenches.