How to Speak Like A Top 1% CEO

About this video

Filmed around a keynote in Kansas City for Advisors Excel, Martell gives five principles of top speakers, citing the $100,000 keynotes he says he gives around the world. Principle 1: embrace the nerves — anxiety and excitement are the same emotion, so reframe nerves as caring and gratitude, noting fear as false evidence appearing real. Principle 2: know your material — he says he would never keynote on something he has not put 10,000 hours into, and he prepares a visual outline of story beats, the opening, the ending and the call to action, using friends to flashcard him. Principle 3: tell stories, not facts — stories position you as an expert, glue learning, and fill time, as when he stretched a talk at a Tony Robbins stage to 90 minutes by telling longer stories. Principle 4: make it about them — know the room, lock eyes one person at a time, and ask questions. Principle 5: have a primary question to center yourself on serving the audience.

Key takeaways

• Reframe nerves as excitement and gratitude: nerves mean you care, and there is no motion without emotion
• Only present on topics you have deep experience in, and prepare start, end, story beats and call to action rather than winging it
• Use stories instead of facts alone: they establish expertise, make actions memorable, and flex to fill extra time
• Make it about the audience: know the room, make eye contact one person at a time, and ask them questions to ponder
• Center with a primary serving question before speaking, aiming for intention rather than tension

Episode details: published May 20, 2025 · 10:01 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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