Tips Presenter | Teknik Dasar Presenter

How to Get Paid to Speak

2008-06-30T00:48:00.001-07:00

Now that you have all the contacts you can possibly use, when can you expect to get paid for speaking or other business engagements?

You have done your job and spoken to many non-profits and Chambers, your name is getting well known and you have even been paid to do a couple of speeches at places of business. Now it is time to look further down the road. You can continue to self advocate your speaking but in addition you will need to use other tools to further what you are doing. One tool would be the use of a Speakers Bureau. These bureaus will want a great deal of information from you and they will also want a cut of your speaking engagements, plus they may also want a host of other monetary gains. If you choose a speakers bureau, make sure they will promote you and not take you to the cleaners. There are many very good bureaus, but you must do your research.

Another excellent avenue for speaking engagements is through professional associations. If you belong to the National Speakers Association, The Association of Management Consultants, or any other such trade organization, you will have opportunities to put on a seminar at their conventions. This is another good way to be known for your expertise and another way to network with professionals in your field. Remember that every contact you make should go into your contact list even if you do not use them initially.

Checklists

One of the keys to getting speaking engagements is to make sure you know your own expertise.

List at least 5 areas where you feel you are an expert.

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Take the list you created as your list of expertise and determine which 3 will help your business grow.

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From the list above, determine why anyone would listen to a speaker on that subject - this is a list of benefits of each topic and not a list of features. (use a separate page if you need more room)

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According to the benefits - who will be your target audience?

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Name at least 3 groups that would be an ideal speaking venue for the topic(s) you have selected.

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What publications, articles, or other proof do you have that puts YOU as the expert for these topics?

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List the writing you plan to do in the next 6 months to support YOUR expertise.

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By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

How to Use your Inner Circle

2008-06-30T00:47:00.017-07:00

Who do you know that knows that you speak?

There is a famous saying "It is not who you know but who knows you!" This is so true. Take a look at who you know and also at others at your place of business, or clients that you have worked with or contacted in the past. Do they know who you are? Are they aware of what you do to promote yourself or your business? This is all part of networking and forming business relationships. You need to make sure they remember you, even if they do not buy from you. Make them a part of your inner circle. Each of these people also has an inner circle - they will tell their friends and so on. I remember a hair shampoo commercial a number of years ago that went: "Tell two friends, who will tell two friends, and so on, and so on ?" The image on the screen showed the talking heads multiplying on the television screen. Not only did you get the buzz from the ad, it also encouraged you to pass it along.

You need to use your inner circle. You should list everyone you know (it will likely total well over 100 people). You should then make plans to inform every single one of them of what you are doing and why. Encourage them to tell all their friends (in the case of the shampoo ad, they only need to tell two, who should tell two). Your fame will spread rapidly.

You have likely heard the cliché that there are only six degrees to anyone in the world. I know it is true for me because I moved countries and met people in my new country that knew my grandmother through going to high school together. You can use your inner circle to create excitement and further it by using the web.

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

Internet Marketing and Public Speaking: Seven Steps to a Successful Murder Board

2008-06-30T00:47:00.015-07:00

I recently posted an article providing tips on public speaking for internet marketers, and was bombarded with Emails asking me to expand on one tip in particular-how to conduct a Murder Board, a realistic simulated practice. I did so in a follow-up article providing a more detailed explanation of this practice method, which has its origins in the US military. Now, below, I provide the seven step method to conduct this invaluable practice. This is excerpted from Chapter 14 of my book, The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations.

To have a successful and productive Murder Board enabling you to hone your skills and anticipate the difficult questions and comments requiring a response, I have found seven separate steps must be followed.

1. Recruiting
2. Sharing audience Intelligence
3. Role-playing by participants
4. Video-taping and/or audio-taping
5. Critique of presenter's Style and Substance
6. Recording on cards of all questions asked
7. Revision of the presentation

Let's take a look at each of these steps.

1. Recruiting

In recruiting people to be on your Murder Board, the best place to start is with knowledgeable colleagues. Request no more than four of these colleagues to be your simulated audience.

Keep in mind, however, that if these colleagues think that the objective of the Murder Board is only to help you look good, they probably will not want to give up their valuable time. You must give them an incentive tied to their self-interest.

They will have their own priorities. You should frame your request in such a way that these colleagues see a potential dividend accruing to them by investing their time. Remember from your own experience that "What's in it for me?" is the prime motivator for people to take action. You must find a way to have these colleagues believe they will gain some benefit by being in your simulated audience.

Reciprocity is the key. My advice is to recruit only people who themselves will speak in public.. Then you say, "If you will be on my Murder Board now, I will be on yours when you must make a presentation." Presto. They see a potential benefit in the future by spending some time with you now.

2. Sharing Audience Intelligence

Because the purpose of a Murder Board is to create an environment for the presenter similar to the actual situation to be faced, it is important that those playing the members of the audience be armed with as much information about this audience as possible.

Participants must be steeped in the details of the issue being presented so they can put themselves in the mental framework of the people who will be in your actual audience. Information on the personal styles, idiosyncrasies, temperament, etc. of these audience members provides insight into how they will react to certain comments or proposals. Your colleagues can better role-play if they have this information. The more you know about personalities of audience members, the less surprised you will be in the presentation.

3. Role-playing by participants

The success or failure of a Murder Board ultimately depends on its realism. The closer it is to the real thing, the better prepared will be the presenter. This realism, to a great degree, depends on the ability of your colleagues to get into the heads of the key players in your actual audience.

This does not mean having a great gift for acting or mimicry; but it does mean trying to think like the people in the audience so that statements made by the presenter will provoke questions likely to be asked by the actual audience.

After sharing all the intelligence gained on the audience, and eliciting from participants any insights they have on these people, assign specific roles to participants. If you are presenting to senior executives, you most certainly want a person to play the key decision maker.

4. Video-taping / audio-taping

The actual conduct of the Murder Board is likely to not run smoothly, with various interruptions and discussions. Moreover, the presenter cannot be expected to remember all the comments, bits of advice, and questions asked. Consequently, much of the spontaneous, valuable information could be lost, even if someone is taking careful notes.

It is beneficial to have both a video camera and a tape recorder running, during the practice presentation. This will provide a "game film" enabling you to see and hear yourself as your audience will see and hear you.

Perhaps the fundamental benefit of recording the practice session is that you will have a record of the questions asked in the give-and-take of the presentation, as well as your answers. Without an electronic record, the questions stimulated by your presentation, and your answers, could be lost, thereby negating many of the benefits of the Murder Board.

5. Critique of presenter's Style and Substance

You have now completed your Murder Board, and, in the process, have used the valuable time of your colleagues. Now is the time to ask them for a robust critique of the substance of your presentation and your delivery style.

Keep the video camera and tape recorder rolling. These colleagues may be more expert in certain aspects of your presentation than you are, and you certainly want to tap into this expertise.

Additionally, they have just seen you presenting in a stressful environment - presenting before your colleagues may be more difficult than before potential customers - and their comments on how you looked, how you sounded, and your overall presence can be invaluable. Thank them for giving up their time, and remind them that you are ready to pay back when their time comes to make an important presentation.

6. Recording all questions asked on cards

Now it is just you, a VCR, a tape recorder and a stack of 3x5 cards. Why the cards? Because you are now going to go through the painful process of listening to how you answered the questions posed by your colleagues. Place each question asked on the front side of a 3x5 card. On the back - in pencil - place the answer you gave, or a better one if it occurs to you now, and it probably will. Why pencil? Because you are going to come up with better answers the more you think and research.

When you are at home watching television, have that stack of cards nearby. When a commercial comes on the screen, select a card at random, look at the question, give an answer, and turn the card over. If your new answer is better than the one on the back of the card, make the correction.

Go through this procedure a few times, seeking each time to improve your answer so that you not only address the specifics of the question, but also find ways to reinforce your main points.

Following this procedure will do much to remove the fear of the unanticipated question, which has such a direct influence on fear of public speaking.

7. Revise the presentation

Having completed your Murder Board, you are now faced with a dilemma. What do you do with all the new data generated by this most intense practice session? What if the audience doesn't ask the questions for which you have developed such great answers? Do you just leave this information in your files?

The answer is a resounding NO. Remember, your responsibility as a presenter is to provide maximum relevant information in minimum time in the clearest manner possible.

You must make a judgment as to which information best fits your objective and the informational needs of your audience. Some of the material you had originally had in your presentation may well have to be dropped, replaced by information that surfaced as a result of questions and discussions in the Murder Board.

The bottom line on the Murder Board

You need to conduct a Murder Board for the same reason that professional football teams, despite having injured players who could benefit from a rest, go through physically demanding practice sessions before the next game.

It is foolish to deliver an important presentation without going through an intense Murder Board. The wise presenter realizes that he or she should put as much effort into the presentation as has been put into the product or service being sold.

By Larry Tracy

How to Promote yourself as a Speaker on the Web

2008-06-30T00:47:00.013-07:00

Why use the web for promoting your speaking engagements?

Most people now agree that the web offers a great deal of information, if not too much. Every business should have a website, even if it is only informational as to what you sell and where you are located. You may not want to sell chocolates in the hot summer over the web, but you can tell people where your business is located and what specials you are running. I recently met a fellow that was getting married and he needed to order a cake and find someone to sing at his wedding. Instead of looking in the yellow pages, he opted to do a search for local businesses to provide what he needed. He found only one baker out of 20 in his city that had a site. He could even choose the decorations over the web. He bought from this store because they had provided a convenience for him. He also located a singer in the same manner.

It does not matter what business you are in, the web will provide you with a way to have an electronic brochure and a presence. I find that many of my clients want to know more about me before we meet; they look at my website to determine whether I have the expertise they are looking for. I, in turn, look for the potential clients' site to learn more about what they do. Do not dismiss the web if you are not savvy, there are plenty of designers that will put up a simple site for you in a couple of days. You must, however, provide them with the content.

An important advantage to having your own website is that it will allow you to have your own email address, at your own domain name. Not only does this make you look more professional, you will also never need to change email address again! Think of the savings in printing cards, never mind the consistency of the image you create for yourself.

Once you have a website, try to get links to it everywhere you can. One way is to join an organization that has a member site and will list you in the price of your membership. Chambers of Commerce are a good example of this and a good place to start.

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

Speak in Public! Who Me?

2008-06-30T00:47:00.011-07:00

The first time I had to speak in front of a group was in Air Force boot camp. I had always been very shy, naive, and backward. During Air Force boot camp I was so impressed by my training instructors, I volunteered to be one!

What had I gotten myself into? I observed the other training instructors, and the big day came. One of the instructors got sick. I jumped in with both feet. Yes, I was terrified, shaking in my shoes, but I just kept going and followed the lesson plan by the book. You couldn't let the recruits know you were scared, or they would eat you alive.

It wasn't easy trying to motivate the Air Force recruits. They were exhausted, scared, angry, lonely. You try motivating that kind of an audience! Found out I was a natural and loved it! My supervisor thought I was wasting time going to classes to learn how to teach.

To me there is nothing more thrilling and satisfying than to see the light in their eyes, to see them smiling, learning, questioning. I learned the lesson plans (15 different subjects), and was able to get away from the lectern and connect with my audience. It was what I was born to do.

I excelled, became a Master Training Instructor, and started training the trainers. The oddest thing happened. My Training Instructor from boot camp came back into the program and I got to train her!

Teaching five classes a day, I taught five days a week. In five years I taught over 500,000 students. I still run into recruits I taught!

When I left the Air Force, I didn't want to lose the skills I had learned. It was then I joined Toastmasters International and stayed for 15 years.

I started getting paid speaking engagements. Now I love to teach/train where ever and when ever I can.

If I can do it, so can you. With 20 years of experience under my belt, I put together a very special report for you; "Public Speaking Made Easy". There are four simple steps, and great solutions on dealing with the fear of speaking.

By Kathy Thompson

15 Ways for Speakers to Earn More Profits

2008-06-30T00:47:00.009-07:00

There is huge potential to create additional profits from your speeches by partnering with a professional transcriptionist to convert your audio recordings into text transcripts.

1) Speakers and consultants often deliver their presentations via teleconference calls and record them for sale later. Once transcribed, the transcript can be provided free to paying attendees as a value-added item or formatted into a special report for an additional product to sell.

2) Another valuable service you can provide to your clients is to send them a transcript of your speech ahead of time. Provide a single copy and allow them to make a specific number of copies to distribute. If you give the speech often, the cost of the transcription will pay for itself over time.

3) With your speech transcribed into text on paper, you can easily customize it for new clients, add new material, and delete outdated sections.

4) A certain percentage in an audience will have hearing problems and not be able to understand you clearly. Promise them a transcript of your speech, or one that was transcribed earlier from another time you gave basically the same speech.

5) If a prospective client asks if you've ever talked about a specific topic, you can send an excerpt from a transcribed speech that you gave for another client that addressed that topic.

6) If you originally wrote up a speech you give often, but over time you've ad-libbed, added new material, changed things here and there, and your current, evolved speech is quite different from your original write-up, have a recording transcribed for an up-to-date transcript of your speech as you currently deliver it.

7) Rather than mailing a tape or a video to a prospective client, it's faster to email or fax a transcript, saving time AND money. Even if you still mail a tape or video, this will get your information in text form to your client sooner for review, and they'll be even more certain it's worth taking the time to also review your audio or video.

8) Provide reporters and editors with transcripts of your speeches to make it as easy as possible for them to give you press coverage, making it more likely to create good publicity for yourself and your client.

9) Have recordings of your radio and TV interviews transcribed and convert the transcripts into articles, book chapters, or to add to your press kit.

10) When planning to make a video, provide a transcript of your material to your video team to make the planning process easier for them. Also convert the transcript into a workbook to go along with your video.

11) You can build a database of questions that get asked frequently along with your answers in Q&A sessions during your presentations for a valuable collection of information. Once transcribed, the material can be converted into material for your website FAQ's section, or into handouts. NOTE: Make sure the person asking the question has a microphone, OR fully repeat the question before giving your answer.

12) Rather than asking your client to write and mail a referral letter after your speech and the event is all over, catch them while your presentation is fresh in their mind and suggest they tape their recommendation on your recorder, and let them know you'll have it transcribed and submit it to them for approval before using it. You can get other recorded referrals for transcription from attendees at the same time.

13) As you're driving away from giving a speech, record your thoughts that are tumbling through your mind such as things to change next time, things to remember, and stream-of-consciousness ideas that flow freely. Once transcribed, you can form a plan of action based on your own heightened inspiration spurred by the adrenaline of a successful event, and increase your overall success and productivity.

14) Convert recordings of your speeches into material for a book or ebook to help establish your reputation as a credible expert in your field and create additional profits for your business. Edit the transcripts into chapters, add a table of contents, a cover, etc. You can have it bound simply or submit it for professional publication, or convert it into an ebook.

15) Once you have a book, have it professionally recorded by reading it out loud for an audio product to sell.

Partnering with a professional transcriptionist is a solid business strategy that can save you time, increase your creativity, and -- most importantly -- add profits to your bottom line.

By Laurie Kristensen

Feedback

2008-06-30T00:47:00.007-07:00

I believe that asking for and acting on objective feedback is the best way to improve your speaking skills. In our Excellence in Speaking Institute (ESI), we call this 20/20 feedback.

Honest, objective feedback helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses, so that you can enhance the former and repair the latter. Also, looking for the strengths as well as the weaknesses helps make the feedback more balanced and feel less confrontational. You have to use your active listening skills to really hear and internalize the feedback

A course like ESI or ESI-Advanced gives you the best possible feedback. But if you need a quick dose, get a friend with a camcorder to videotape you doing a presentation or two. Then, together go through the videotape to determine your strengths and weaknesses from the checklist below.

- Rambling. Do you have a clear road map of where you are going and do you follow it?

- Monotone. Are you using vocal variety, varying your pitch, tone and volume to keep the presentation interesting?

- Topic Knowledge. Do you have a good grasp of the topic?

- Energy, Passion. Are you pumped up or pooped out?

- Non-Words. Um, do you, uh, throw in a lot of, you know, um, non-words?

- Eye Contact. Do you really look at and connect with the members of the audience?

- Body Language. Do you distract your audience by wandering, fidgeting or pacing?

- Appropriate Material. Do you use profanity or questionable humor?

- Preparation. When it's show time, are you ready for your close-up, or are you winging it?

Get feedback on these items and I guarantee that you will improve your presentation skills. Not only does 20/20 feedback work to help improve speaking skills, it works for companies, too.

By Ty Boyd

How to Become a More Persuasive Speaker: A Systems Approach

2008-06-30T00:47:00.005-07:00

There is no surer way to get ahead in business than to be a persuasive speaker. However, because public speaking is normally found at the top of lists of fears in the United States, many business people, especially engineers and other technical specialists, fail to make the effort to become better speakers, and thus fail to reach their potential.

In my judgment, as one who has delivered hundreds of presentations and trained thousands of business and government executives, there is no skill easier to learn, with greater payoff, than mastering the art of persuasive speaking.

So how can business people and technical specialists add the weapon of persuasive speaking to their business skills arsenal? By developing a systematic, not haphazard, method to plan, practice and present--the same systematic method they use in their day-to-day work.

A systems approach is the ideal way to draft and deliver a presentation or speech.

Surprisingly, however, few people apply the very discipline they use in their business when it comes time to stand and deliver. In this article, I want to share with you the systematic method I teach in my executive workshops and in my book, "The Shortcut to Persuasive Presentations."

Why should engineers, IT specialists and other technical experts bring the same systematic approach to speaking that they bring to their work projects? For the simple reason that being able to express yourself is the best way to stand out from the crowd. The famed management expert Peter Drucker once wrote that

"The ability to express oneself is perhaps the most important of all the skills a person can possess."

Effective, persuasive communication is the transferring of information from your brain to the brains(s) of your audience in such a manner that this audience - one or many - accepts your information as its own, and now realizes the benefits of accepting the information you are presenting.

This requires focus and an in-depth knowledge of what motivates your audience so you can direct your message to hit these hot buttons. It also requires the ability to anticipate objections and questions the audience may have, and the discipline to practice realistically.

An imperative for any oral presentation is structure. The presentation must be logical and easily followed by the audience. Thematic unity, useful in a written essay, is absolutely necessary in an oral presentation. The young Winston Churchill, in his 1897 essay, "The Scaffolding of Rhetoric," emphasized that the audience must know where they were being taken by the speaker on this oratorical journey. His famed speeches in World War ll suggests he followed his own advice.

To be an effective speaker, you must certainly know your stuff. That is almost a truism, although there are many people with more audacity than judgment who stand before a group with far less knowledge than prudence would dictate.

The majority of people who are called on to present, however, are substantive experts, and therein lays an essential problem. They believe that their knowledge is sufficient, and they need not devote any attention to delivery skills. Big mistake

In my "Presentation Skills in Nutshell" workshop for executives, I teach an easy-to-learn-and-internalize system to develop and deliver a coherent and persuasive presentation. I call it the S3P3 System. Turn on you mental PowerPoint and visualize three Pillars supporting a Pyramid. The Pillars are labeled Substance Structure, and Style, and the Pyramid is divided into three parts-Planning, Practicing, and Presenting

Let's first examine the Pillars, and then we'll climbk the Pyramid.

SUBSTANCE
Mastery of the subject is an vital for any speaker. You must have a clearly defined objective and focused research. This does not mean only compilation of factual data. You need an active and comprehensive knowledge of the subject at issue in order to respond to challenges from the audience, especially if the audience may be predisposed to disagree.

Only a solid grasp of the subject matter can save a presenter when confronted with an unexpected question or objection from the audience. However, Substance without Structure or Style can make the presentation an incoherent, boring recitation of data.

STRUCTURE
The human mind possesses a certain data-processing logic. The speaker who is aware of how people process information, and how new data are either accepted or rejected, can learn to structure a presentation so as to facilitate comprehension.

The knowledge of the audience's self-interest, or "What's in it for me?," is an essential tool for structuring a presentation so it hits the target of the collective mind of audience members.

STYLE
This is the most frequently-ignored pillar of the speaking art by substantive experts, possibly because it has the connotation of show business. By Style, I mean word choice, body language, eye contact, movement, and vocal quality.

Style is that almost indefinable quality of a speaker that causes audience members, even those opposed to the issue being "sold," to listen, not be bored, and to open their minds. Another word of caution: Style without Substance can expose the speaker to the charge of being shallow.

Now, let us take a look at the three levels of the Pyramid:

PLANNING
Planning is the wide base required of any stable structure and any good presentation. It is the single most important building element of any presentation. Unfortunately, most presentations are done with an inverted Pyramid as the model, with the narrow base indicating little planning, thus placing all the weight on the presentation. This lack of planning frequently results in poor presentations.

Good business sense dictates that the same effort which goes into the development of a product, policy, or service be devoted to the presentation whose purpose is selling this product, policy, or service. The planning stage is where the presenter develops a game plan and point of view for the presentation.

An important part of the planning process is gathering Audience Intelligence - information about the concerns, problems, attitudes, and expectations of that group of people you are about to face in your presentation.

Because the speaker needs to mesh his or her objective for the presentation with the audience's needs and concerns, the more time spent on strategic planning, the easier will be the actual presentation.

If planning is so important, why is it frequently ignored? Perhaps because time is the enemy of all, and there are such demands on our time that few people are ready to literally sit down and think. If they do so, however, they gain maximum advantage from a minimum investment of time.

PRACTICING
After you have completed the planning stage, you are now ready to start practicing. This is an orderly means to internalize the presentation. You will take some of the apprehension out of the experience by anticipating reactions, comments and questions and developing appropriate responses.

An important tool in practicing is conducting a "Murder Board," a realistic simulation of the presentation in front of a suitable audience, e.g. colleagues, relatives, friends, who can put your knowledge to the test. (I have posted other articles on this extremely important aspect of practicing. I bring it to the field of presentations training from the military, where it is a staple of briefings.) In this simulation,your mistakes won't count because if you fail you can go back to the planning stage and make the necessary corrections.

Your confidence zooms when you have gone through a practice phase that enables you to say: "I know this subject better than anyone in the audience. I want them to take their best shot, because I'll be able to answer any question thrown at me!" That is the attitude you want to carry with you to the presentation.

PRESENTING
Finally, you reach that apex, the actual presentation. This is the payoff for the time you have spent assuring you have included all the required substance, placed within a structure that facilitates audience agreement, and comprehension of the position you are advocating, done with the style most appropriate to make your presentation memorable and successful.

If you have (1) done the planning, to include audience intelligence collection, and developed a focus that meshes with audience members' needs and concerns, (2) then practiced with focus, to include an intensive simulation enabling you to anticipate questions and objections, you are ready for "show-time."

Always keep this model of the three Pillars supporting the Pyramid in mind when drafting a presentation, and you will be able to deliver logically structured substantive knowledge with persuasive power.

By Larry Tracy

A Perfect Meeting: AKA When You Dont Want to Strangle the Speaker

2008-06-30T00:47:00.003-07:00

Have you ever worked for weeks or even months, often far beyond normal office hours on a special meeting event only to have it turn into THE PERFECT STORM. Well, maybe your entire crew didn't perish at sea, but there were those clearly identifiable moments when it looked as if the ship was about to capsize. Although many meeting goblins can contribute to such disasters, sometimes the speaker can be one of the contributing causes. How can such terrors be avoided?

The first preventative measure is to choose your speaker carefully and by this I mean, look a little deeper than usual into his or her modus operendi. Far too often when problems arise, it is because the wrong or at least incomplete criteria were used in selecting the speaker. For instance, it is not uncommon for the only questions to be asked of a professional speaker after viewing their video to be: availability and cost. However, if you want to sleep easier at night, I would suggest that the following issues also be just as carefully considered.

Is the speaker a prima donna? Fortunately there are not too many of these around, but those there are give the rest of us a bad name. Whether a well known professional or a beginner, there is simply no excuse for anyone in or business to be arrogant. We are all there to serve the best interests of our clients and audiences. If not, we do not belong there at all. Any speaker that is arrogant, belligerent or just plain difficult to work with does not belong standing before your audience.

Is this speaker committed to adequately preparing before speaking. More and more meeting planners are asking speakers to truly customize their presentations in order to "reach out and touch" the specific audience where they are at. To do so means that the speaker must be willing to invest into understanding the issues that are at the forefront for each unique audience. This of course is a two way street, in that you must be willing to also take the time to ensure the speaker receives the opportunity to acquire the necessary inputs. However, in the final analysis it is the responsibility of the speaker to only take those engagements that they determine to be a proper fit and customization does not mean merely updating a few old stories and jokes or sprinkling in a few local names.

Coupled with the previous question is whether the speaker, given their good intentions, has the time to invest into your event? It is often possible to squeeze another few hours into an already overloaded schedule for one more "hit and run" engagement, but is that fair to the meeting planner, client and audience. Let's face it, good speakers today are well compensated for what they do. This is fair, but it is also fair that we give a good measure of effort in return and that does not mean racing to yet another engagement dog tired, speaking and running for the airport before the audience is still applauding. Unfortunately, in this day of frequent and lengthy flight delays, there are already enough unexpected delayed arrivals in the wee hours of the morning and their attendant lack of sleep. These may be totally outside of the speaker's control however, if they really want to serve, they will use their best efforts to schedule sufficient time for your engagement so that they have done what was within their power to arrive fresh, relaxed and ready mentally and physically for your event.

Finally, is the speaker's content rich and current. There was a great deal of conversation at the Dallas NSA Annual Convention as to content and I have been hearing the same from speakers' bureaus and meeting planners alike. Today we are living in difficult economic times. Daily the news is rife with stories of corporate cutbacks and layoffs. Few of us are are strictly entertainers, comedians, humorists, etc. Thus as professionals and experts who speak, we owe it to our clients, audiences and ourselves to bring real value in the form of positive solutions to the perplexing problems that they face.

Finally, look for the AAA approval rating: Ability, Authenticity and Attitude. With these three attributes at the forefront, you cannot go wrong in selecting your speaker!

By John Di Frances

Public Speaking - How to Make Your Next Speech Count

2008-06-30T00:47:00.001-07:00

Along with the opening two minutes of a speech, the final part of a speech, known as a 'closer' is equally important. Research shows most people remember the closing remarks most.

Nick Morgan in his book 'Working the Room' believes 'the only reason to give a speech is to change the world'.

He's right as the essence of speech making is to move people to action.

So how can you have a closer that moves people to action?

- Don't summarise. Instead get the audience to do something.

- Something you want them to do as a result of hearing your speech.

- Give the audience a 'call to action'.

- If this is unfamiliar territory for you, model your closer on those that have worked in the past and become part of history.

- Don't try and mimic others. Work out what techniques you find effective.

- Avoid finishing with a Q & A session because you have no control over the questions and there is a serious risk of it being hijacked or just petering out.

To help you get started here are my Top 5 'Closers' from US history and Culture that Inspire Others To Take Action.

1. JOHN F. KENNEDY, INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

2. MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. "I HAVE A DREAM" SPEECH.

"Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

3. RICHARD NIXON, "AU REVOIR" SPEECH

"But the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain."

4. EDWARD KENNEDY, WITHDRAWAL SPEECH AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.

"For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."

5. HOPPERS SPEECH TO HIS GRASSHOPPER SWARM IN THE DISNEY/PIXAR CLASSIC "A BUG'S LIFE".

"You let one ant stand up to us - then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us a 100 to one. And if they ever figure that out, they're goes our way of life. It's not about food, it's about keeping those ants in line. That's why we're going back - does anyone want to stay? Let's ride."

Thomas Murrell MBA

The Ps and Qs of Public Speaking

2008-06-16T05:20:00.001-07:00

Avoid the pain

Which would you prefer - root canal dental surgery without an anaesthetic or a bit of public speaking? According to the people who research these things, most of us would prefer the former.

Public speaking is still one of our greatest fears and it turns grown men and women into nervous wrecks. The mere thought of it turns our tongue to cotton wool, causes our internal plumbing to act up and our kneecaps to start knocking lumps out of each other.

The problem is that Public Speaking catches up with many of us at some time both in our business and personal life. You're asked to do a short talk at Fred's "leaving do". The organisers of your business club want fifteen minutes on why you make "kafuffle" valves. A potential client wants a presentation on why they should give you the contract. Of course there's always the confident people who think "I'm real good at this, lead me to the podium." The only thing is that some of these people could bore your socks off and do more for insomniacs than the strongest sleeping pills. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be sent on a Public Speaking course by your enlightened employer. But more likely, when asked to make a presentation you'll get hold of a book on speaking, start writing the speech and lose sleep until the event.

Well, there's no need for all of this because help is at hand. All you need to remember are your P's and Q's. Let's start with the P's

Preparation -

When you sit down to write what you're going to say, bear in mind who you'll be speaking to. Will they understand what you're talking about; will they understand the technical stuff and the jargon? If in doubt remember the old saying "Keep It Simple Stupid". To quote Aristotle - "Think as the wise men do, but speak as the common man".

Make sure that what you say has a beginning, a middle and an end. Think of some anecdotes that help reinforce your story.

People think visually so paint verbal pictures for your audience. And always remember, people want to know what's in it for them - so make sure you tell them!

Place -

Have a look at the venue before the event if you can. It's not always possible, however, even if you get there half an hour before, you can check out where you'll be speaking. Stand at the point where you will deliver from, imagine where the audience will be and check that they can see and hear you. You may even wish to place a glass of water where you'll be able to find it.

Personal Preparation -

Before any speaking event, think about what you are going to wear; when in doubt dress up rather than down. You can always take things off for a more casual look. Men could remove their jacket and their tie. Women could remove items of jewellery.

Part of your personal preparation should include some mouth and breathing exercises. Practise saying some tongue twisters to give your speaking muscles a good work out. Take a deep breath and expand your diaphragm. Then breathe out, counting at the same time, try and get up to fifty and not pass out.

As part of your personal preparation, write your own introduction. Write out exactly what you want someone to say about you, large font, double-spaced and ask the person introducing you to read it. Believe me they won't object and will probably be pleased and impressed.

Poise and Posture -

Whenever you're called to speak, stand up or walk to the front quickly and purposefully. Pull yourself up to your full height, stand tall and look like you own the place. Before you start to speak, pause, look round your audience and smile. You may even have to wait until the applause dies down. Remember, you want the audience to like you, so look likeable. Practise this in front of a mirror or your family; I've heard that children make pretty good critics.

Pretend -

I'm suggesting you pretend you're not nervous because no doubt you will be. Nervousness is vital for speaking in public, it boosts your adrenaline, which makes your mind sharper and gives you energy. It also has the slight side effect of making you lighter through loss of body waste materials. The trick is to keep your nerves to yourself. On no account tell your audience your nervous, you'll only scare the living daylights out of them if they think you're going to faint. Some of the tricks for dealing with nerves are:

Get lots of oxygen into your system, run on the spot and wave your arms about like a lunatic. It burns off the stress chemicals. Speak to members of your audience as they come in or at some time before you stand up. That tricks your brain into thinking you're talking to some friends. Have a glass of water handy for that dry mouth. Stick cotton wool on your kneecaps so people won't hear them knocking. One word of warning - do not drink alcohol. It might give you Dutch courage but your audience will end up thinking you're speaking Dutch.

The Presentation -

This is it, the big moment when you tell your audience what a clever person you are and have them leap to their feet in thunderous applause. Okay, let's step back a bit - if you want their applause then you're going to have to work for it. Right from the start your delivery needs to grab their attention.

Don't start by saying - "Good morning, my name is Fred Bloggs and I'm from Bloggs and Company." Even if your name is Bloggs, it's a dead boring way to start a presentation. Far better to start with some interesting facts or an anecdote that is relevant to your presentation. Look at the audience as individuals; I appreciate that this can be difficult when some of them are downright ugly. However it grabs their attention if they think you're talking to them individually.

Talk louder than you would normally do, it keeps the people in the front row awake and makes sure those at the back get the message. Funnily enough, it's also good for your nerves.

PowerPoint -

And for those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a software programme that's used to design stunning graphics and text for projection onto a screen. As a professional speaker, I'm not that struck on PowerPoint. I feel that too many speakers rely on it and it takes over the presentation. After all, you're the important factor here. If an audience is going to accept what you say then they need to see the whites of your eyes. There needs to be a big focus on you, not on the technology.

Use PowerPoint if you want but keep it to a minimum and make sure you're not just the person pushing the buttons. Why not get a bit clever at using the faithful old Flip Chart, lots of professionals do.

Passion -

This is what stops the audience in their tracks. This is what makes them want to employ you; to accept what you're proposing and make them want you to marry their son or daughter. Couple this with some energy, enthusiasm and emotion and you have the makings of a great public speaker. Just think of our old friend Adolph Hitler, boy could he move an audience to action. It's just too bad he was selling something that wasn't to everyone's liking. Give your presentation a bit of oomph and don't start telling me - "I'm not that kind of person." There's no need to go over the top but you're doing a presentation to move people to action, not having a cosy little chat in your front room.

That's the P's finished with so let's look at the Q's.

Questions -

Decide when you're going to take them and tell people at the start. In a short speech it's best to take questions at the end. If you take them as you go then you may get waylaid and your timing will get knocked out.

Never - never - never finish with questions; far better to ask for questions five or ten minutes before the end. Deal with the questions and then summarise for a strong finish. Too many presentations finish on questions and the whole thing goes a bit flat.

When you're asked a question, repeat it to the whole audience and thank the questioner. It keeps everyone involved, it gives you time to think and it makes you look so clever and in control.

Quit -

Quit when you're ahead. Stick to the agreed time; if you're asked to speak for twenty minutes, speak for nineteen and the audience will love you for it. Remember, quality is not quantity.

One of the most famous speeches ever - "The Gettysburg Address", by President Lincoln, was just over two minutes long.

Right, that's my cue to quit when I'm ahead. Public Speaking will never be easy for most of us but we can all do it a whole lot better.

By Alan Fairweather

Does Uptalk Make you Upchuck?

2008-06-16T05:19:00.013-07:00

Uptalk is invading the work place and is reaching epidemic proportions. It's that singsong speech pattern that has a rising inflection at the end of sentence. It sounds like the speaker is asking a question instead of making a declaration.

Once the exclusive domain of teens, it is now a regular part of the adult world. And I don't mean Generation X. It's everywhere. It can be heard even at management levels and it's destroying their credibility.

Uptalk renders the speaker weak, tentative, lacking conviction and authority.
How can a person influence, lead, or command respect if they can't take a stand and sound like they mean it?

I've even heard it at networking meetings. It sounds like this: "Good morning. My name is Jane Doe? " Well is that your name or isn't it?
It takes seven seconds or less to make a first impression. Would you do business with someone who isn't sure of his/her own name?

According to one study, the voice is nearly 40% of the message. You can convey a message through your intonation alone! Next time someone asks a question, respond with a yes or no with only your tone. They will understand what you meant.

If you ask for a raise using uptalk you will remain at your present salary. If you try to sell a product, you will fail. If you direct your staff, they won't follow. Why? Because uptalk makes you sound like there are other options!

What causes a communicator to choose this pattern of speaking?

Habit. We don't always hear the way we speak and the affect it has on others. When I was invited to do a chat on ivillage.com, I posted my article, Ten Ways Women Sabotage Their Communication in the Workplace. Thinking these tips did not apply to her personally, a woman emailed the tips to her friend Her friend sent them back to her saying, "You have uptalk."

Foreign/Regional Accent.
If you are from the Southern United States or from a country like Canada, India or China, you may have a rising inflection as part of your cultural speech pattern. This is more difficult to change but can be conquered with ear training, practice, and professional coaching.

Peer Identity. This is most often the case with teens and children. They tend to identify with the group and will adapt the speech patterns they hear on television as in the case of the show Clueless. Many parents are frustrated by their attempts to teach their children to speak correctly. Uptalk is a way of sounding like their peers and not like their family.

Insecurity. The voice is the greatest barometer of emotions. When you lack confidence it will show up in the voice. In our politically correct environment people are becoming less willing to take a stand. By using "safe words" and a rising inflection, the speaker can easily back petal or soften the real intent of the message. In selling, a fear of rejection may show up in the form of uptalk.

There is no value in using uptalk. When you bring your voice down at the end of a sentence, you will automatically sound more authoritative and confident. People will hear the conviction in your voice and will take you seriously. Your credibility will improve and you'll be more persuasive.

By Diane DiResta

How to Give a Speech Without Dying

2008-06-16T05:19:00.011-07:00

Two of the top fears of most people are dying and giving a speech. In fact, there is so much fear of public speaking, you might think that people regularly die while giving speeches. Fortunately, that is not the case. Here are some tips that will help you overcome your fears and give a great speech.

Be prepared. Know what you are going to say. Prepare an outline of your main points and put them on index cards or a sheet of paper. Don't write out your whole speech and read it. There is nothing that will put an audience to sleep faster.

Write your own introduction. Don't rely on the person who will introduce you to come up with a good introduction. Write it yourself. Your introduction should include your credentials and other important points from your bio. Also include a call to action for the audience, such as the fact that you will be selling and autographing your book after the presentation, or a reason for them to visit your web site. Print out the introduction, double-spaced in large type, so it is easy to read. Send it before the event to the person who will introduce you, and take two copies with you on the day of the speech. Your introduction will get your speech off to a good start.

Dress comfortably. If your clothes are too tight, too short or riding up your . . . uh, you don't want to dress in a way that will interfere with movement or breathing.

Check out the room. Arrive a little early so you can become familiar with the layout of the room. Where will you stand while you speak? Is there a microphone? How will the audience be seated? If you are using equipment, such as a projector, try it out to make sure everything is working properly.

Get to know the audience. As audience members arrive, introduce yourself and chat with them. It will reduce your nervousness later. After all, you won't be speaking to a bunch of nameless strangers, you will be speaking to Jeff, Laura, Steve, Diane, and all the other nice people you shook hands with earlier.

Breathe. When you first step up to the podium, take a deep breath then start speaking. If you find yourself speaking too quickly, or inserting fillers such as uh, um, like, you know, slow down and take another breath before you continue.

Remember that the audience is on your side. They came to hear what you have to say. They are spending their time (and perhaps money) to be there, and they are predisposed to like you. Don't assume they are waiting for you to fail. They aren't.

With practice, you can become a confident, polished speaker. Take advantage of opportunities to hone your skills. Join Toastmasters or other organizations that give you the chance to speak in a supportive environment. After you survive your first speeches, you may find yourself looking forward to speaking and even enjoying it. Really.

By Cathy Stucker

Will Speak for Food - Using Free Speeches to Attract Customers

2008-06-16T05:19:00.009-07:00

If you want to get in front of prospective customers, and be viewed as an expert in your industry, become a speaker. Being at the front of the room gives you credibility. And you might be surprised how easy it is to get to the front of the room.

Every day, there are meetings of networking groups, professional associations and community organizations all over town. Many of those meetings need speakers. Most won't pay you, but they will give you exposure, and usually lunch, too. While the Chicken ala King may not be anything special, the opportunity to reach an audience will build your reputation and cause customers to seek you out.

Many people, perhaps including you, are afraid to speak in public. Studies have reported that public speaking is the #1 fear of most people, even ahead of death. (Or, as Jerry Seinfeld put it, at the average funeral more people would rather be in the coffin than delivering the eulogy.) The best way to overcome your fear is to start speaking. It gets easier with experience.

To get practice in a supportive environment, join Toastmasters. Members give prepared and impromptu speeches and receive feedback on their strengths and how to improve their skills. To find a chapter near you, go to www.Toastmasters.org.

What should your talk be about? It is not a commercial for your business. Give good information to help your audience solve a problem. Show your expertise, so that people who hear you will look to you as the authority on your subject. Most groups will want you to speak for 20 to 30 minutes. Structure your talk around a list of principles or tips, or talk about solving one particular problem. Don't try to cram everything you know into 20 minutes.

Have promotional materials and business cards available for the audience. Make sure everyone gets a handout to take with them. Your handout can simply be tips and resources copied on an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. Include lots of useful information (so they keep it), as well as your contact information and a little about you.

You can find groups to speak to by watching for meeting notices in newspapers and newsletters, and asking local chambers of commerce for directories of organizations. Identify the groups that include members of your target market. Then, call the contact for each group. Tell them what your topic is and that you would like to present to an upcoming meeting. It shouldn't take many calls until you've booked a speech or two. (The first time I tried this, I succeeded on my second call.) Program chairs often have a hard time filling speaking slots, so they are happy to hear from someone interested in presenting to their organization.

Speaking for free may even open up a brand new profit center for you-speaking for "fee." You will know you are ready to join the ranks of professional speakers when audience members start asking how much you would charge to speak to their group.

By Cathy Stucker

Speech Writing Tips: The 14 Speech Writing Secrets of President Bill Clinton

2008-06-16T05:19:00.007-07:00

Speaking in public can be a powerful way to build a business. It can help raise the profile of your business, generate new leads and create greater profits. But speaking in public can be nerve wracking and seriously stressful for first timers. Writing a speech can be a major challenge, especially for technical writers.

We can all learn from watching professional speakers.

I have achieved a long held ambition to hear Bill Clinton - in Perth on Saturday February 23, 2002. It was a fantastic event!

My motivation? Anyone who earns $300,000 for a 50 minute keynote presentation must be good. As a professional speaker, I wanted to see Clinton in action. I didn't want to only hear what he said, but how he said it.

Here's my analysis of what I learnt from hearing Bill Clinton in person and noting how he was presented. You should be able to adapt at least some of these points to fit your own circumstances.

1. The marketing strategy

In previous years a big advertising blitz brought audiences to see speakers such as former Soviet leader Gorbachov and others. Their marketing approach was very commercially focused with a massive advertising budget. The Clinton event had a more humanitarian angle with funds being raised for a good cause, namely sick kids through The Princess Margaret Hospital for Children Foundation. This was a better match with Clinton's core values of building community and having an empathy with the concerns of ordinary people. The marketing campaign relied heavily on positive media coverage to create awareness of the event.

2. A memorable entry

Clinton's entry to the ballroom was brilliantly stage-managed. Everyone was asked to stand and then he walked into the room to his US Presidential election theme song 'Happy Days are here again'. The emotion in the room was electric and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

3. Personal presentation

His dress and presentation was absolutely immaculate. (Maybe the $500 haircuts help.) Many women at my table commented that Clinton was far better looking in the flesh than on TV.

4. The Power of Presence

There was a buzz about being in the same room as President Clinton. His body language, smile and confident hand shake exuded charisma. His considerable charm reminded me of that high school science experiment when you tip iron filings onto a white sheet of paper covering a strong magnet. People were attracted to Clinton like metal filings to a powerful magnetic field.

5. Warm-up

Alan Jones was MC and the warm-up included a short film taking a light hearted look at Clinton's last days in office. Scenes included Clinton washing the Presidential car, clipping the hedges and playing switchboard operator in the Oval Room. A great scene from a press conference showed Clinton waking a single sleeping journalist.

6. Introduction

A well constructed introduction helped build empathy and highlighted that Clinton's life had not all been plain sailing. The fact that his father died when he was young, his mother was a nursing assistant and he was born in Hope, a town of 10,000 people, helped put his success and achievements in context.

7. Building on the sense of destiny

A strong personal brand is built on stories. The story of Clinton meeting President Kennedy when on a youth leadership camp was used to great effect. Not only was it mentioned in the introduction but that famous photo of Clinton shaking JFK's hand was also used in the marketing materials. Other brand building shots included an intimate moment with Hilary, a shot of him playing the saxophone, a jogging photo, one with Chelsea and one featuring Clinton lined up with 3 past Presidents. They all helped to define Clinton the man.

8. Customising the message

Clinton's speech in Perth was customised to include stories relevant to a Perth market, including his memories of Perth switching on its lights at night for a US space mission re-entry and comments on a former US President's career as a mining engineer in Kalgoorlie.

9. Using humour

Clinton had some great lines about how he could have helped previous Presidents in dealing with the media in tricky situations.

10. Memorable one liners using opposites

This can be very effective. When talking about possible solutions to the war against terrorism, Clinton said "most of the big things in life are simple".

11. Repetition

Clinton used this proven speechwriting technique to great effect.

12. Using metaphors

Clinton used the metaphor of the gap between the invention of the club and the shield to describe the present situation in the war against terrorism. He said "this gap needs to closed". Metaphors can give intangible concepts more impact with an audience.

13. Develop empathy with the audience

Clinton told the story of how he was in Australia at Port Douglas on September 11th and how his daughter Chelsea was in downtown New York. He connected with every parent in the room when he talked about his feelings when he couldn't contact his daughter for three hours on that day.

14. A call to action

The aim of the event was to raise money for a Children's hospital. Clinton's final words were "I want you to help". Simple, direct and powerful.

I hope you have enjoyed this analysis. I certainly learnt a lot by seeing one of the world's great communicators in action. Whatever your personal views on Clinton are ... his personal warmth, ability to connect with an audience and presentation skills are outstanding.

By Thomas Murrell MBA CSP

A Quick Tip for Delivering a Great Speech

2008-06-16T05:19:00.005-07:00

Does speaking in public leave you tongue-tied? Do you stumble over your words? Do you want to learn how to speak more eloquently in front of a crowed?

Here's a simple tip for getting started: Talk about something that you're passionate about.

Have you ever noticed how people sound more eloquent when they're talking about something that's dear to their heart? They speak more fluidly, and they're less likely to grasp for the right words. They also speak with more confidence, emotion and conviction. And why not? They've probably delivered great orations to themselves many times before, in the privacy of their own minds.

Speak about what matters to you. Speak about what's dear to your heart.

Of course, this isn't a magic formula for becoming a great speaker. That sort of thing must come with experience. However, if you start out by speaking about things for which you feel passion, that can help you refine your technique and develop confidence.

As with most skills, the secret is to practice, practice and practice. If you speak from the heart, then practicing becomes easier and more effective-and a lot more enjoyable to boot.

About the Author:

By V. Berba Velasco Jr.

Ten Steps to Fearless Public Speaking

2008-06-16T05:19:00.003-07:00

There is plenty of dubious material which suggests you can combat public speaking fear. Much of it includes fancy techniques such as 'visualisation' or 'breathing techniques'. Well, they might work. But this ten step system is GUARANTEED TO WORK. That's because instead of fancy tricks and techniques, this system of dealing with public speaking fear uses your body's natural defences against fear.

STEP ONE
Prepare well. Naturally enough, the more prepared you are the more likely you are to feel in control, which will NATURALLY help your nervousness reduce.

STEP TWO
Practice, practice, practice. You can't do too much practice. Don't listen to those people who say you can over-practice. Tell that to circus artists who practice day in day out for decades, just to get their act right. You don't hear actors and musicians complaining they had 'too much' rehearsal time. The more your rehearse, the better.

STEP THREE
Say your speech OUT LOUD. Whether you are in the car, the bath, or going for a walk with the dog, say it out loud. Going through your talk 'in your head' means you don't benefit from something called 'psychomotor memory' - whereby the memory for what you need to say is partly embedded in the muscles of your mouth.

STEP FOUR
Get to the venue early. Get a feel for the room. Sit where the audience will sit so you can see it from their perspective. Walk around the auditorium. Practice your speech on the stage itself. The more comfortable you are with the room, the less your nerves will be.

STEP FIVE
Get some exercise. A walk, a swim, a session in the gym, it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you get some exercise in the couple of hours before your talk. That way you'll change the chemistry of your blood supply in your own favour. Exercise is essential in reducing nerves. Do not skimp on this.

STEP SIX
Chew some mints or sweets. While waiting to go on stage, chew something. This will produce saliva which also helps reduce nerves. If you drink water your saliva production will go down and your nervousness will rise. Avoid water when presenting.

STEP SEVEN
When you go up on stage, smile. No matter how false it feels to you, the audience won't notice. Just smile. It helps produce hormones that lead to a more relaxed feeling.

STEP EIGHT
Be active on the stage. Move around, use big gestures and get as much body movement as you can. The more you move the more relaxed you will feel.

STEP NINE
Look people in the eye. Make as much eye contact as you can. The more the better. Eye contact is essential in helping you feel good and reducing your nerves.

STEP TEN
Use feedback. Always gain feedback on your speeches. You'll soon discover you are a lot better than you think you are, which is bound to help boost your confidence.

By Graham Jones

The Best Practical Tips for Overcoming Stage Fright

2008-06-16T05:19:00.001-07:00

As one who does some speech coaching, I have heard all of the crazy ideas on how to conquer stage fright, but I think in more basic ideas. Actually, just a few.

Here they are:

1. Know your stuff! The best thing you can do is to be overwhelmingly, thoroughly, and completely prepared and in mastery of your material. Much of the fear comes from wondering if you will make a mistake, or if the audience will know more than you. There is one sure way to beat that and that is by knowing your material inside and out.

2. Focus on getting through the first five minutes. That is where the problem lies. Rarely do you see someone who seems fearful all the way through his or her presentation, do you? No, they settle in and get comfortable after a while. Don't look at it as a fifty-minute speech. Look at it as a five-minute speech.

3. Breathe! Fear is a bodily reflex and one that you can overcome. When you get afraid, you start to breathe in short, fast breaths. Before you speak, or while you are being introduced, you should sit quietly and breathe slow, deep breaths.

4. Tell yourself that the world won't fall apart if you do a rotten job. Face it; unless you are delivering the State of the Union Address, the world will keep right on revolving if you don't do well. Even as a professional speaker there are times when I don't do as well as I want to (Very, very rarely though - keep those bookings coming!). People usually appreciate it anyway and you'll keep right on going.

5. Understand that you are your own worst critic. I had some friends who used to play in all the hot clubs in New York City and I would occasionally go with them to watch them perform. Afterwards they would say, "Oh man, we were terrible tonight!" I hadn't thought so. The audience hadn't thought so either. Most people aren't going to come to your presentation with the goal of picking you apart. So you shouldn't pick you apart either. Obviously, this is mainly for the one giving the occasional talk, not the professional speaker.

6. Understand that most of the people in the audience would be scared to death to give a speech too, and are glad that it is you and not them! For the occasional speaker, it is okay to say, "Excuse my nerves, I am not used to this." When I hear that, I root for the guy, not cut him apart (Unless I paid big bucks to be there.)

7. Make 'em laugh. That is the best way to start with a crowd. I have a joke that I start 95% of all of my speeches with. It is a guaranteed laugh and always settles the crowd in. Sometimes it has nothing to do with my topic and I just say, "What does that have to do with my topic? Nothing, but I just love that joke!" Then I go into my speech, and we are all a little more relaxed because we have laughed together.

By Chris Widener

10 Worst Tips To Give A Speaker

2008-06-16T05:18:00.021-07:00

1. Learn the speech by heart or read it from a script.

This is meant to be a way of making sure you don't forget what you're going to say. Instead, it's usually a way of making sure you don't connect with your audience.

Most people who use a script end up reading it out and, unless you're a professional actor or a very experienced speaker, this will come across as unnatural and stilted and it will stop you looking at your audience.

If you try to memorise a script, you may find you are under even more pressure to remember what you want to say because, if you go off the script, there's no way back.

It's better to prepare some notes which can be a guide should you need one. By the time you've prepared the speech, you will know the main areas you want to cover. Put these down as headings on paper or cards in LARGE PRINT so you can see them when you're standing up. You may then only need a couple of key words to add to these to remind you of the main points you want to make in each area.

If you need more than this, you may be trying to cover too much information. You may also think of a couple of really good ways of saying something, or a good story to use to illustrate a point. Jot these down so you don't forget.

2. Rehearse in front of a mirror.

This may be a bit controversial because I know several books and trainers give this tip. All I can say is I have never found I could do this.

I do rehearse ( sometimes ) and sometimes I tape myself to hear what it sounds like. But I can't watch myself in a mirror and think about what I'm saying, it's just too distracting. If you want to see what you look like, ask someone to watch you or use a video camera. However, don't get bogged down with worrying about how you look.

The main purpose of rehearsing is to reinforce the talk in your memory, check how long it takes and help you spot those areas where what you want to say doesn't sound right or where you might get confused. Then you can think of some effective phrases to use to help get your point across. You can do this without a mirror.

3. Use plenty of slides.

This is sometimes offered as a ' tip ' for taking attention from yourself. Give the audience something else to look at. Another tip is to give them a hefty handout at the start so they have something to read.

The problem is - YOU should be the centre of attention. People want to hear what you've got to say and the best way to communicate your message is by speaking effectively. By all means use visual aids if they will help but they should complement what you're saying, not just reproduce your own notes.

Similarly with handouts, they can be very helpful but you need to know why you are using them. If they have backup information, give them out at the end. If they contain some key ideas you want to refer to as you go along, give them out at the start, but make sure they don't distract people from what you are saying.

Let's be honest - if you're that concerned about getting out of the spotlight, you shouldn't be doing this in the first place.

4. Wear a cartoon tie to show you have a sense of humour.

This is linked to a couple of the other ' tips ' which are meant to give you a helping hand in getting the audience on your side. Wearing a funny tie is saying " Look, I'm really a nice guy. Give me a chance. "

I won't go into detail here for fear of alienating all of you who might, even now, be wearing such attire, but I have to say, that's NOT what most people think when they see someone wearing a cartoon tie.

In terms of dress, wear something you feel comfortable in and which seems appropriate. That's a bit vague, but it depends on your audience. The usual approach is to dress slightly smarter than you expect the audience to dress. Too much of a difference between you and them can cause problems with credibility. Just think about the impression you want to give and, in general, avoid anything which could be a distraction.

Incidentally, I really don't know what the female equivalent of the cartoon tie would be. Any suggestions?

5. Start off with a joke.

This is a bit like the previous ' tip '. Break the ice, show what a good sense of humour you have, get them on your side.

Please don't do this. Not unless you're a good joke - teller and this joke is absolutely guaranteed to get a laugh. And, even then, only if it's appropriate in some way. One of the best ways to kill your chances from the start is to begin with a joke which has nothing to do with your subject and watch it flop. Believe me, you'll wish you were somewhere else and your audience will too.

Use humour if you can. It will help get your message across and it will get the audience on your side, but be careful with it. You can use stories, things that have happened to you or to other people which relate to your talk. Being a bit self - deprecating can be a good way to gain an audience's trust but don't overdo it. If in doubt, leave it out.

6. Tell them you're nervous to get them on your side.

Like some of the others, this is a plea for support to the audience. You know most people hate the idea of speaking in public, so you appeal to their sympathy by telling them how bad you feel. Another approach is to apologise - " I don't know why I was asked to do this. I've never done this sort of thing before. "

This NEVER works.

One thing you can generally be sure of is that, at the start of a talk, your audience will want you to succeed. You should remember this when you feel nervous. They will give you a chance to do well and they will mainly be prepared to listen ( and they will probably be really glad it's not them doing it ).

But they are also expecting something in return for the time they are giving up. If you start suggesting that, in some way, this is going to be a lousy speech, they'll believe you. And they'll switch off. You will have lost any sympathy they had.

To get over your nerves at the start, have a clear and positive opening worked out. This is one part of the speech you can memorise to get you through the first few moments. Just tell them who you are, what you are talking about and what they will gain from listening. Then get on with it.

7. Stand still and don't move your hands about.

A lot of people who are inexperienced at public speaking try their utmost to stop themselves moving about. They seem to have some fear that their bodies will go out of control and they'll do something totally ridiculous or embarrassing. So they try to keep absolutely still, often by holding onto a lectern like the survivor of a shipwreck clinging to a piece of driftwood on the ocean.

The best way to make contact with an audience and to keep their attention is to behave as if you are speaking to them in a normal conversation. So you move about, you use gestures, you look at them. When speakers try to stop themselves doing these things, they become unnatural, distant from the audience.

So don't get too hung up about any mannerisms you think you may have. It's usually better to look natural than to try to deliver a talk as though from a straightjacket. Just avoid some obvious distractions, like playing with something in your hands, pushing your hands in your pockets and juggling your change( a male thing ), shifting back and forth on one leg. But, if what you are saying is interesting, people will listen.

8. Stare over the heads of the audience.

This is a way of pretending to establish eye contact without really doing so, because some people feel awkward about it. They don't really want to look at the audience. The idea is that, if you look out over their heads, they will think you are looking at them.

Actually, they won't. They'll think " Why is this person looking over my head? ".

To my mind, the key factor in gaining an audience's attention and keeping it ( apart from the fascinating content of your talk ) is eye contact. If you were talking to someone who never looked at you, what would you think?

Chances are you'd think " This person isn't interested in me. He's not listening. " Or, if the person was speaking but not looking at you, you may think they were a bit shifty, perhaps dishonest. In any event, you wouldn't find it a pleasant experience.

The same goes for speaking in public. If I am in an audience and the speaker doesn't look at me, I can't feel that person is interested in me or whether I am listening. So I stop listening. On the other hand, if the speaker makes a point of keeping eye contact with me, it gives me the feeling that he cares about making some connection with me and I'll feel less inclined to switch off.

So look at them while you speak, keep your eyes moving around the room so you engage everyone there. If it's a very big audience, you can look at a section at a time but, with a small audience, you will need to look at individuals. Not for too long, but glance at everyone as you speak so no - one feels left out.

9. Imagine the audience naked.

This is supposed to be another way to deal with nerves. I have actually seen it in guides to presentations.

The best answer to this is one I found in the book " Successful Presentations for Dummies " by Malcolm Kushner: IDG Books. He says there is probably half the audience who you wouldn't mind seeing naked. The other half you certainly would never want to see naked. Either way, it's not a calming thought.

Another ' tip ' I have come across is to pretend the audience isn't there. This probably works in a way because I can guarantee, if you pretend the audience isn't there, pretty soon it won't be.

I mentioned eye contact above. You can't just ignore the people out there and expect your talk to have any impact. There are lots of ways to tackle nerves but they come under 3 categories:

preparation, think through what could go wrong and prepare for it, know your subject and be clear about why you are giving the talk, also keep things in perspective - what's the worst than can happen? You're not performing brain surgery.

relaxation or deep breathing exercises.

positive self - talk, visualise the talk going really well, tell yourself it will be a success, know that you have prepared and that you can do this and stop yourself when you start to think it will all be a disaster.

Above all, remember that everyone gets nervous when they have to speak in public. If you don't feel nervous, you should ask someone to check your pulse. The nerves themselves are not the problem. You can carry on and give a great talk even though you feel nervous at the start.

10. Have a drink beforehand to calm your nerves.

No, no, no. Alcohol and nerves are a lethal combination. Have you ever sat through a Best Man's speech at a wedding? Then you'll know what I mean. Don't do it.

Incidentally, if you want to have a glass of water at hand in case your mouth gets dry - use still not sparkling. Belching into a microphone is not to be recommended.

There you are - the top 10 things to avoid when speaking in public. Keep away from these, follow my simple rules, and you won't go far wrong.

Good luck.

Alan Matthews

Speaker Partnership Offers Trade Show Value

2008-06-16T05:18:00.019-07:00

Want to gain added exposure at a trade show? Consider sponsoring a professional speaker at the attendees meeting. But don't just settle for a banner on the stage with your company name. There's much more leverage you can get from a top flight professional speaker.

Having been the sponsored keynoter at major conferences, I am amazed how many sponsors respond with astonishment when I suggest ways they can use me. Consider these additions:

(1) Make sure the speaker is versed in your product or service. If possible and appropriate, the speaker might be able to use your company as an example during the presentation. For example, in addressing the administrators of law firms, I spoke about the importance of strategic alliances so the right work is done by the right people. The sponsor, Pitney Bowes, handled printing, mail room services, etc. in a manner that was be both efficient and cost-effective for the firm. Pitney Bowes served as a great example of a strategic alliance!

(2) Use the speaker for both a keynote and a break-out. Many speakers offer a daily fee which means you can use them for more then one session in a day. This strategy ensures that every attendee, no matter what their schedule, will have the opportunity to see the speaker in action.

(3) Ask the speaker to write an article that can be reprinted with your company logo and given away free at the booth. The speaker can be in the booth, autographing the article. Print the article in your company newsletter or magazine for those who could not attend.

(4) Ask the speaker to sign books in your booth and greet people. Give away the speaker's book at your booth for the first 100 people. You'll be amazed at how much traffic will instantly show up. A variation on this theme is to split the give-away into morning and afternoon, thus generating traffic at different times of the day

(5) If possible, work with the speaker to use either her core message or the speech title as part of the background in the booth. This not only reinforces a learning point, but identified your company to all attendees and not just the ones who attended a session.

(6) Print up a postcard with your company information AND the speakers key learning points. Mail it after the trade show to everyone who attended the conference. In fact, a really classy gesture is to write a cover letter about your company and WHY you sponsored the speaker. Mail it in a hand-addressed envelope and enclose a wallet-size card with the speaker's main points.

(7) Consider hiring the speaker to follow-up with attendees by sending out a regular article or newsletter by e-mail sponsored by your organization. This reinforces the speaker's message for long term results and provides additional exposure for your organization.

(8) If the fit is a good one, consider sponsoring the same speaker within your organization. So often, rank-and-file employees do not get to attend conferences. The prevailing view that "sales and marketing have all the fun" can be countered if you bring what your learned back to the corporation. And continuing education is one of the top three retention factors.

To sponsor a speaker for a one-hour session leaves value and opportunity on the table. When you match the association's needs with your business objectives and strategically avail yourself of whatever services a professional speaker can offer, everyone becomes a winner!

By Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE

What Makes A Great Presenter?

2008-06-16T05:18:00.017-07:00

Every day millions of people around the world make a presentation. Yet most of us who have been to meetings know that very few of those people are truly great. At each meeting there is usually only one person who stands out head and shoulders above the rest as someone who really connects with us in the audience. The truth is, most presenters are just plain average - and quite a few are simply dreadful. So, how can you move from being a run of the mill presenter to being fantastic?

Every one of us has the ability to be truly great as a presenter. There is nothing particularly special about the people who stand out as brilliant. However, the average presenter is usually holding themselves back, doing things which prevent them from being good.

At every training course run by The Presentation Business we spend some time debating what makes a great presenter. This inevitably leads to a discussion of what the bad presenters do wrong. Having kept a record of what these sessions considered I have been able to produce a definitive list of what to do to make your presentations great.

The overwhelming conclusion of all these discussions is: content is NOT important. Of the hundreds of people who have debated what makes a great presenter not a single person has mentioned the value of the content. Your audiences are likely to think in just the same way. They are NOT interested in what you are saying, but the way you are saying it. If you say it well, that appears to make the content interesting. But what this means is, if you concentrate your planning and preparation on content, you are likely only to be average.

The most important factor for great presenters according to our discussions is that they make a personal connection to every member of the audience. This means lots of eye contact, liberal use of the words 'I' and 'you, and that everything you deliver is done form the audience's perspective. This means you need to know a great deal about your audience in advance so you can do this.

The connection you make between yourself and your audience seems to be enhanced by the widespread use of examples. Our discussions at training courses show that your audience expects you to 'show' rather than 'tell'. In other words, you don't need to give them 'messages' and 'content'; instead you need to give them lots of examples and they will work out the message for themselves.

A further element of this aspect of being a great presenter is that these examples should always include you. Your audience wants to know about your thoughts, your feelings and your opinions. They want to share your experiences. If all you deliver is content, this does not help your audience. They could get your content from a book, a web site or some other non human contact. The fact that you are presenting to them means your audience wants to hear from you personally.

Your audience also wants you to be a living person. They don't want to hear from a statue. In other words you need to be active. The discussions held at our training courses show time and time again that presenters who move are the one who gain the most attention. If you think about this, it is quite understandable. In social situations we are active - we use gestures, we move our bodies and change posture. To avoid doing so when presenting makes you look abnormal and this serves to disconnect you. There is also a big advantage to moving - it helps reduce nerves when presenting.

As well as moving to be natural, our discussions show that great presenters are interactive. They ask questions, they involve the audience and essentially they treat the presentation as a conversation. This helps boost the connection between themselves and the audience. That's because for the audience the interactivity appears normal, whereas being spoken at for a great length of time does not.

Another important aspect of making your presentation appear normal is that your audience expects you to deliver your material without any prompts. Conversations do not need notes! Hence your presentation will benefit from appearing normal if you do not use notes or any prompts of any kind - including bullet points on slides. Discussions at our training sessions show time and time again that audiences do not like presenters who use notes, prompt cards, bullet point slides or any other form of memory jogger. Audiences expect presenters to know their stuff. Great presenters never use notes.

An extension of the lack of notes concept is that great presenters talk from the heart. They are passionate about their subject and they are emotional. The dispassionate, business-like presenter is one of the most disliked, according to our discussions. What this means is that you should talk less about your subject and much more about your experiences as this will help boost your passion.

Our training sessions also reveal that audiences want to have fun. They want to see you enjoying yourself and they want to have a laugh. This does not mean you need to tell jokes, but it does mean your audiences expect you to be light. Even for serious subjects it seems that audiences expect some kind of lightness. They want humour and they want you to smile. Straight faced, dry presenters are particularly disliked by audiences.

One final aspect that is revealed by the discussions at our training sessions and that is everyone in your audience expects the presenter to motivate them. This does not mean you need to be a motivational speaker. Rather what it means is that your audience is expecting you to tell them what to do. Your audience does not expect a presenter simply to deliver information - they can get that from a book or a web site. Instead great presenters give audiences some action to take.

All of these discussion points suggest that those presenters who treat their presentation as a conversation - who just have a chat with the audience - are the ones marked out as truly great. People who give presentations by delivering content are seen as boring and uninteresting. This also means their messages are not conveyed, so they may as well not be presenting in the first place.

Oh, and one final thing. Our discussions show that audiences simply detest the use of computerised slides. They just want to hear from you. Truly great presenters therefore do one other vital thing - they switch off the projector!

By Graham Jones

The Ten Ps of Dealing with Questions

2008-06-16T05:18:00.015-07:00

Presenters and those making speeches will frequently be faced with having to answer questions. Sometimes these will be simple questions asked at the end of your talk and lasting only a minute or two. At other times you may be involved in lengthy panel discussions that take place after a series of presentations. In any situation, though, you will want to answer questions well. Here is a ten point plan for dealing with questions and answers when you speak. I call it the Ten Ps of Question Handling.

1. Prepare
To be sure you will answer all questions well, you need to prepare as fully as possible for any potential question and answer session. Lack of preparation for dealing with questions will make you nervous and this will come across when you answer questions.

2. Predict
Try and predict all the questions you might get asked. In preparing your talk get friends and colleagues to ask you questions. In this way you will be in a more comfortable position when you face your real audience.

3. Practice
In the same way that you would practice your presentation, you should also practice a question and answer session. Practice will alert you to any problem areas and will increase your confidence.

4. Probe
Find out about your audience and the kind of things that interest them. This will enable you to work out the likely questions they may ask.

5. Prevent
Ensure your presentation answers the likely questions in advance. In this way you will actually prevent questions from being asked as your audience will already have had their points answered.

6. Pause
When you get a question, repeat it back to confirm you have understood what you are being asked. This also gives you a bit of thinking time and ensures the rest of the audience knows what you will be answering as they may not have heard the original question.

7. Paraphrase
If a question is vague or unclear paraphrase the question and turn it into one that you want to be asked and then answer your chosen question.

8. Pass the buck
If you get a persistent questioner, check with the audience whether or not they are happy for you to answer the questions. Otherwise you will alienate them. Usually your audience wants you to shut the awkward individual up!

9. Pathway
Use techniques to get the question back to your chosen subject. Remember your presentation's key message and wherever possible use questions to help you repeat that. Always beat a pathway back to your subject.

10. Part company
If in doubt, take questions 'off line' by agreeing to see the questioner at the next break. That way you get a chance to think.

By Graham Jones

How To Use Microphones

2008-06-16T05:18:00.013-07:00

Microphones are designed to help your voice, not replace it. No matter how good the microphone, without effective vocal technique, your voice could remain unheard. Proper breathing, plenty of lubrication and vocal exercises are needed to ensure your voice remains in tip top shape. With a good voice, even poor microphones can be effective.

Microphone basics

A microphone is a simple device that converts your voice into electrical signals. There are two main types, condenser and dynamic. If you are given a choice, go for condenser.

Microphones can pick up sounds from one direction (unidirectional) or all around (omnidirectional). If given a choice, go for omnidirectional.

Microphones are fragile. Treat them with care.

Wherever possible, use radio mikes; sound degrades when using long cables.

Microphone tips

1. Preparation is the key - always practice with the microphone before using it 'live'. Conduct a sound check in the conference room.

2. When using handhelds, hold them firmly in your non dominant hand, about 20cm from your mouth.

3. When using clip on mikes (also known as lapel mikes, lavalieres or tie mikes), clip them on to your clothing on the side closest to the audience (preferably also the side that is opposite your dominant hand).

4. Don't shout; talk at your normal level.

5. Always assume the microphone is on?! But check it is on before speaking?!

These tips are provided for speakers and presenters by Graham Jones.

Ten Tips on Speaking with Authority and Power

2008-06-16T05:18:00.011-07:00

No matter how good you are as a presenter, there will be times when you need to make sure you exude power and authority. If you are 'the boss' and want to be certain the staff will do your bidding you will need to come across with power and authority. You will also have to come across authoritatively when presenting at a large conference when your competitors will also be present. Equally you will need to be seen as powerful if you are wishing to make a name for yourself within your industry. However, even though you may want power and authority in these settings, you will not wish to appear arrogant or bossy. Using these ten tips you'll achieve the right balance.

1. Think the part!
If you believe you have the power and authority to say what you are saying this will help tremendously. You really need to see yourself as brimming with power, authority and gravitas.

2. Dress the part!
Powerful people wear powerful clothes. They appear smart, even in casual wear. They take care of their appearance and generally look good. Purple and blue are seen as powerful colours by an audience.

3. Speak the part!
Use power language. Don't say 'perhaps' or 'maybe' be certain. Powerful and authoritative people speak with absolute certainty - even if they are not really sure.

4. Act the part!
When you are on stage stand up straight, look people in the eye and dominate your stage with definite and decisive gestures.

5. Move
Move around your stage. Start off in the centre front and then move so you cover a lot of ground. Static presenters are not seen as authoritative.

6. Create powerful associations.
Link yourself to other powerful and authoritative people by agreeing with what they say. Use quotations if necessary.

7. Be short and sweet
Speak with short sentences and leave pauses for people to absorb what you have said. Long, convoluted language makes you appear unintelligible and therefore you have no power or influence.

8. Have a stunning opening
Start with a dynamic and interesting opening that connects with your audience immediately. Mention them, use a personal anecdote or ask a question.

9. Power pack your ending
Make sure your ending is power-packed. Like a great overture you need to end with a rousing crash! To do this, summarise what you have said and then give your audience an action you need them to take.

10. Stand still at the end
When you have delivered your final words - stand still, centre stage looking your audience in the eye. Stay there and pause for several seconds before leaving the stage.

By Graham Jones

How To Dramatically Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

2008-06-16T05:18:00.009-07:00

This Article Is For Those Who Understand How Persuasive Communication, Public Speaking, And The Ability To Connect With And Influence Others? Deeply Impacts?

· Your Career, Your Income, And Your Financial Future

· Your Relationships, Your Family, Your Marriage

· Your Health, Your Fitness And Your Well-Being

· Your Enjoyment of Life And Your Ability To Have Fun

· Your Overall Sense Of Self and Your Self-Regard

And This Article Is For Those Who Want To Learn The Conscious and Unconscious Communication Strategies, Beliefs and Skills Of Legends Like Elvis Presley, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King and Rudy Giullani.

Hello,

There are defining moments in the history of every nation?and there are defining moments in the course of the life of every human being. Your life and mine are no exceptions. So, I am writing you with the belief that this might be one of the most important letters you will ever read in your life. As for why, I'll get back to that.

For now, when you think of, say, extraordinary communication, public speaking or charisma, what comes to your mind? And by the way, what is "public speaking" really? Is it perhaps something much different than most people think of it as? And how important is it for you to improve your skills to influence individuals and groups of people?

The Stage Presence of Elvis Presley

Now, when you think of "speaking publicly," whom do you think of? Sometimes I think of Elvis Presley, often referred to simply as "The King." Elvis Presley was much more than a Rock and Roll legend. "The King" was one of the most charismatic and memorable personalities to ever take the stage and own it! And for over twenty-five years after his death, he still captivates millions upon millions!

I Have A Dream!

Or how about Martin Luther King, defying the current conditions of his time and declaring to the world, "I Have A Dream." King met race, religion and raging emotions with his passion to communicate one on one or to the audiences he held spellbound, in whatever manner that was useful for his desired outcomes.

Teach Me To Communicate? And I'll Own My World

And what about the extraordinary Helen Keller? Someone whose ability to communicate early on was in such stark contrast with the level of communication skills she demonstrated, after being taught by the great Anne Sullivan. Helen Keller stands out as a monument to every human being's ability to learn how to communicate on genius levels. And did you know that even in the early 1800's, Helen Keller was commanding fees up to $2,000 per week because she developed her speaking skills to the level that warranted such earnings?

Mayor To An Entire Nation

More recently, many think of former New York City Mayor, Rudy Giullani. Named as Time Magazines 2001 Person of the Year, Giulani marshaled all of his resources to respond to the September 11th crisis. He literally not only had New York City, but an entire nation following his lead. What mastery of communication and interpersonal skills! Beginning with how he internally responded to the challenges at hand (self-communication) and moving into speaking with and communicating with others, Giullani took charge and produced a masterpiece that will forever be a cornerstone of the legacy he leaves behind.

What About You?

Now, how do you rate your communication skills, whether speaking to one person, to a small group, or to a vast audience? More importantly, much more importantly, where would you like your skills to be? What do you believe yourself to be capable of in this regard?

The fact is, that your life and what you get out of your life, hinges upon your ability to have rapport with yourself and those you desire to influence, moment by moment. Are you in a useful state mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually?useful for the context of the moment? How clear are you with yourself in regards to the outcome or outcomes you are going for? How important is it to your future to master all this?

Can you get "instant rapport" with yourself and whomever you desire? Can you maintain that rapport as you move fluidly towards your desired outcome? How well can you calibrate each person or the entire group, as you unconsciously take in thousands and thousands of bits of vital information?

What are your beliefs and values regarding yourself and your ability to communicate with a specific person (even if that person is you!) or a group? How will your beliefs affect your performance in that interview? For that job you want? For that promotion you deserve? For that pivotal sales presentation?

Your Beliefs And Your Communication Effectiveness

And even more importantly, for connecting with your loved ones on an ongoing basis? How do your current beliefs affect your ability to lead your children to useful and healthy places? Do not let anyone kid you?your beliefs and values matter. How will you build your relationship with your life partner to the place that reflects higher levels of health, fulfillment and happiness?

Flexibility Is Key

How flexible can you be, on conscious and unconscious levels, verbal and otherwise, as you continue to elicit a response from those you are communicating with? Children are the most flexible of all, are they not? The most resolute in reaching their desired outcome...because when they know what they want, nothing will stop them! Now, what useful skills, beliefs, values, and behaviors are they modeling for us?

Sometimes I ask others the question, "why not have it all?" And most often, the initial response I get is that of cynicism, disbelief and even fear! Not once, not once, has anyone ever asked me what I mean by the question.

In case you are wondering, here is part of what I mean?since we do not know what we are truly capable of, why not go for all that we desire! Why not? Why not test our self and push the envelope, so to speak? Why not become and achieve all that we are capable of becoming and achieving?

And now we are back to how to "speak publicly and enjoy!" Because it all begins?and ends? with or ability to speak effectively, first with ourselves, and then with others. No matter the size or occasion of the "group.

Now, if boosting and accelerating your skills to reach and move others is important to you, you can find someone to model...someone that has the skill set, beliefs and values that you desire to acquire.

A number of years ago I began to model Carmine Baffa, Ph.D, someone who has literally mastered the art of communicating with integrity, wisdom and effectiveness. And mastered it on levels that will shock you. I have seen Carmine Baffa, Ph.D, creator of Human Performance Engineering ? hold individuals and groups, small and large, in the palm of his hand, time after time after time?simply put, when Carmine enters a room, everything changes.

Why? In part, because Carmine has the ability to have rapport with anyone he desires to have rapport with. Children, adolescents, adults, it does not matter. Female, male, it does not matter. C.E.O, parent, gang member, millionaire, penniless and homeless, it does not matter. Why not give yourself the opportunity to model someone who does this on a routine basis?

The fact is that Carmine operates from a place of deep caring and respect for each person that comes into his space. And when they are in his space, he exists for them, and them alone. He marshals his vast experience, his skill, his genius, to give to that person or group what they are most needing at the time. And nothing will stop him from doing just that. Just ask me sometime about what I have witnessed to this effect. But that's Carmine.

What about you?

Begin today! Take a step in the direction of your dreams. Why? Because you can.

All the best!

Alan Allard

P.S. Get started today. Do something, anything...because doing something is more useful than not doing something.

By Alan Allard

Make The Most of Examples and Stories

2008-06-16T05:18:00.007-07:00

Examples and stories can bring your presentations alive. They can transform a dull, dry subject into something which is interesting and alive. When presenters give examples, it helps explain what they are saying in a way that the audience can understand. Examples make the material you deliver less 'information' or and more 'entertainment'.

If you can give your examples in the form of stories, you will be using a format that everyone can understand. We were all brought up on stories and some of the greatest influencers in history gave their messages as stories - remember Aesop and his fables!

So, to make the most of the examples you could use you need to have a strategy to include them in all of your talks. There are several ways you can do this. For instance, for each of your main points try to think of at least one example that backs up what you are saying. You may not use each example, but you should have them in mind so you can introduce them if necessary. Keep a list of these examples handy, so that when you put your final presentation together you can choose the most interesting and relevant ones.

Make your examples include human beings, preferably real people. Examples that include people are much more powerful than abstract examples. If your examples include you in them, they will be much more attractive to the audience. Research shows us that audiences expect speakers to talk about their own experiences and find it immensely valuable.

Try to paint vivid pictures in the mind of your audience with your examples. If your audience can mentally see what you are describing they are much more likely to remember it. Psychologists have demonstrated that much of our thinking is visually-based. Hence, if you talk in word pictures you will make it easy for your audience to understand what you are saying.

Make your examples relevant to the audience. Find out in advance the kind of examples that are likely to interest them; do some audience research to help boost your examples.

Choose examples that are current. Do not use examples from the distant past as they have less impact than examples set in the present.

Always announce your examples with words like 'here's a story that shows what I mean'. Announcements like this will alert your audience to pay close attention.

Wherever possible make your examples light or humorous. Avoid being serious or stuffy with your examples. Tell your stories in the same way as you would in a social situation, such as a dinner party or in a bar. The more natural they sound, the greater their impact.

Always be on the lookout for new examples and stories that can back up your points. The more examples you have 'in stock' the more you will be able to choose one relevant to a particular audience.

By Graham Jones

Moving Key Audiences to Take Action?

2008-06-16T05:18:00.005-07:00

You know, those really important outside groups of people whose behaviors can help or hinder any business, non-profit or association manager in achieving his or her objectives? Are you persuading those key stakeholders - especially those whose behaviors affect your unit the MOST - to your way of thinking, then moving them to take actions that help your department, division or subsidiary succeed?

Oh, as a manager, you say you're covered in that regard - your public relations team is racking up some juicy print and broadcast placements, and you say those kinds of exposures are what your PR program is all about?

At the risk of becoming a skunk at this picnic, I suggest you consider broadening your public relations field-of-fire to where it best belongs, on your unit's key external stakeholder behaviors rather than the occasional publicity placement.

Here's why. The people you deal with behave like everyone else - they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions (and their follow on behaviors) by doing what is necessary to reach and move those key external audiences to action.

And that means using a workable PR blueprint to do the job. For example, people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to- desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Consider for a moment what the results of this approach to PR could be. Customers starting to make repeat purchases, and even prospects starting to do business with you; fresh proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; welcome bounces in show room visits; rising membership applications, and community leaders beginning to seek you out; new approaches by capital givers and specifying sources not to mention politicians and legislators viewing you as a key member of the business, non-profit or association communities.

So who's going to do the work? Your own full-time public relations staff? A few folks assigned by Corporate to your unit? An outside PR agency team? Regardless where they come from, they need to be committed to you, to the PR blueprint and to its implementation, starting with key audience perception monitoring.

A word of caution. Just because someone describes him/herself as a public relations person doesn't guarantee they've bought the whole meatloaf. Make certain the public relations people assigned to your unit really believe - deep down -- why it's SO important to know how your most important outside audiences perceive your operations, products or services. Make sure they accept the reality that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Layout the PR blueprint for them, especially your plan for monitoring and gathering perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our chief executive? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with the interchange? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?

If your budget will bear the considerable expense of professional survey firms, by all means use them in the perception monitoring phases of your program. However, keep in mind that your PR people are also in the perception and behavior business and can pursue the same objective supported by survey counsel input: identify untruths, false assumptions, unfounded rumors, inaccuracies, misconceptions and any other negative perception that might translate into hurtful behaviors.

Time to set your PR goal, one that stands a good chance of doing something about the most serious distortions you discovered during your key audience perception monitoring. It could be to straighten out that dangerous misconception, or correct that gross inaccuracy, or stop that potentially fatal rumor dead in its tracks.

Next step is the right strategy, one that tells you how to proceed. And keep in mind that there are only three strategic options available to you when it comes to handling a perception and opinion challenge. Change existing perception, create perception where there may be none, or reinforce it. Since the wrong strategy pick will taste like marinara sauce on your key lime pie, be certain the new strategy fits comfortably with your new public relations goal. You don't want to select "change" when the facts dictate a "reinforce" strategy.

Time for some hard work. Write a moving message and aim it at members of your target audience. As always, crafting action-forcing language to persuade an audience to your way of thinking is tough work. Which is why you need your first-string varsity writer because s/he must create some very special, corrective language. Words that are not only compelling, persuasive and believable, but clear and factual if they are to correct something and shift perception/opinion towards your point of view leading to the behaviors you are targeting.

I'd try it out on my PR colleagues for impact and persuasiveness. Then, select the communications tactics most likely to carry your message to the attention of your target audience. You can pick from dozens that are available. From speeches, facility tours, emails and brochures to consumer briefings, media interviews, newsletters, personal meetings and many others. But be sure that the tactics you pick are known to reach folks just like your audience members.

Because the credibility of a message is often dependent on the means used to deliver it, you may decide to unveil it before smaller meetings and presentations rather than using higher- profile news releases. Calls for progress reports will soon be heard, which signals to you and your PR team to get busy on a second perception monitoring session with members of your external audience. You'll want to use many of the same questions used in the first benchmark session. Difference this time is that you will be watching very carefully for signs that the bad news perception is being altered in your direction.

By the way, aren't we fortunate that, if things ever slow down, we can simply accelerate matters by adding more communications tactics as well as increasing their frequencies?

So, what you really want the new PR plan to accomplish is to persuade your most important outside stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to behave in a way that leads to the success of your department, division or subsidiary.

Yes, powerful is a strong word but certainly not too strong when the people you deal with do, in fact, behave like everyone else - they act upon their perceptions of the facts they hear about you and your operation. Leaving you little choice but to deal promptly and effectively with those perceptions by doing what is necessary to reach and move your key external audiences to actions you desire.

end

By Bob Kelly

Getting Yourself Known

2008-06-16T05:18:00.003-07:00

What are the 5 best ways of getting known in the speaking industry?

Getting known in the speaking industry does not happen overnight. You need to work at it bit by bit. The first thing to remember is that you are an unknown in the beginning, even if you possess the expertise required for the audience. At first you will need to speak to anyone who will listen. Second, you will need to get feedback on how well you did and what the audience liked and what they thought needed improvement. Third, do not take any of this feedback personally; use it as a tool to advance to the next stage in the speaking portion of your career.

Fourth, constructive feedback will provide the basis for making improvements to your talk. You will need to see where there is conflicting comments and make a judgment as to what should be the correct topic. Fifth, you should have every speaking session video-taped, or at least audio-taped. You will need to review everything you said, even the stories of failures and successes. This tool will enable you to make even further refinements. You can even tape yourself without the audience, but it is the audience reaction that you need to hear.

When you first begin, your audience is not likely to be well targeted. The reason is probably that you need to gain the necessary experience to more finely tune who they are. In the beginning you are after constructive feedback, and when you are able to implement the feedback and fine tune the presentation, you are ready to further define your audience.

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

Getting on the Speakers List

2008-06-16T05:18:00.001-07:00

How do you get your name on a speakers list?

Speaking experience is usually required before you will be placed on the speakers list. Groups often want to know where you have spoken and will want to have a referral from a couple of the groups you already spoke to. If you are just starting out, you will not have a list, but you must start somewhere. You can explain to the group that you have not given any talks to their organization but you have trained others in your expertise. You may get a chance to fill a spot that is empty when they have no other experienced person to fill in. Your topic, however, must fit their values; if it does not, you will not likely get on the list.

I have found that the list is somewhat sacred, and breaking into it is more difficult than it should be. A good way to circumvent this issue is to put on a couple of seminars with a small audience at your own expense. This will give you the practice required and also give you an audience that can provide you with some referrals for additional speeches in the community. You can be creative in how you gain your experience, but the important thing to remember is that the letter of reference is what will make an impression and give you the chance to speak and be placed on the list. You should not give up if you are not accepted at first. Make plans to fulfill the criteria and try again.

Even if you belong to an organization, you may not readily get on the speakers list. I have run into this problem many times but managed to get the experience they required and then went to other clubs within my organization to get on their list.

By Bette Daoust, Ph.D.

How To Write Powerful Presentations, Speeches And Talks

2008-06-06T06:10:00.001-07:00

Most of us get nervous about making a speech, whether it's to 2000 convention delegates or a PTA meeting at our child's school. Often, though, people find that's the worst part of the whole process - the anticipation. The reality is often a lot easier to handle and can even be quite enjoyable, provided that you take the necessary precaution of doing your homework beforehand - preparation.
There are very, very few people who can get up at a moment's notice and give a good speech totally impromptu and on the spur of the moment. There are plenty of people who think they can and/or who will tell you they can, but the truth is most of them are deluding themselves and boring their audiences to tears.
There are also plenty of speakers who get up and present and make it look easy, as though they hadn't prepared anything beforehand. These are the real experts who, despite having years of speaking experience under their belts, if anything put more effort into preparation than people who speak for ten minutes once a year at the Golf Club dinner dance.
So, what about that preparation? Really, it's about remembering those key golden rules that apply to all good business writing and they are:
1.Define exactly not so much what you want to say, as what you want your speech or talk to achieve - ask yourself, "what do I want the audience to be thinking as I come to the end of my speech?"
2.Find out as much as you can about your audience and ensure your content is very, very relevant to them and their needs.
3.Use language and tone of voice that the audience will understand and identify with - and blend that in with your own natural style of speaking.
4.By all means use a bit of jargon and a few "in" phrases as long as you're certain the audience understands them, but never use jargon others may not know.
The only extra point I would make here is, remember that people can't rewind/replay or re-read you. For that reason you can't expect them to absorb as much detailed information as they would if you were to write it in a document or CD-ROM, which allow them to refer back to details as often as they want.
Knowing your audience is also unusually important here - you'll find out very quickly if you've got it wrong, because you'll see it in their faces and their body language.
Cut the clutter
Depending on the nature of the presentation you're making, sometimes you will be giving out delegate packs or some other form of permanent record of your material, so details, expansions, etc can go in there. Whether you're doing this or not, though, what you say must be clear and uncluttered.
With live speeches, your success is almost entirely dependent on what your audience remembers of what you say. People have very bad memories, and if a speech has been boring or complicated or both, they will remember even less of its content and only recall how terrible it was.
Often senior managers are called upon to give speeches - usually to internal audiences - which cover a wide range of topics, for example a review of the company's performance over the past year, announcements about new developments, etc. These presentations sometimes last for nearly an hour and attempt to cover more topics than a fat Sunday newspaper. At the end of it the audiences have absorbed very little, having been mesmerized by the drone of the boss's voice and an increasingly urgent desire to leave the meeting and go to the washroom.
Yet, argue the senior managers, we have to get all this information over to them at our conference. The answer? Split a one-hour speech down into four fifteen-minuters, interspersed with the other presentations throughout the day or half-day session. (Or if you can't do that, split the one-hour presentation across four different speakers.) Fifteen minutes is much more comfortable for the audience's attention span. And the fact that there are more, shorter presentations creates variety which, to totally misquote an old saying is the spice of live communication.
Start by writing yourself a list of points - a structure. This should cover the usual story-telling technique of a beginning, a middle and an end, although the old soap-box principle of "tell 'em what you're going to say, say it, then tell 'em what you just said" is a bit repetitive. Try if you can to keep the main issues in your presentation to fewer than five, no matter how long your speech is. If you can't actually put it together as a traditional story, what you must do is ensure that one topic leads logically on to the next using some good, workable links.
The right order
It is possible to change direction abruptly in a presentation, but you need to be a practised speaker to pull it off and know how to use your stage body language as well as that other wonderful presenter's tool, silence. Nothing gets an audience's attention faster than a few seconds of total silence when they're expecting a stream of words. All of this carried out by a novice speaker who can't quite get the nuances right, however, can be a disaster.
Links are actually quite useful even if they are a little abrupt, because they act as punctuation to your material. They also tell the audience that we're now moving on to something new. Your links can be as simple as a few words ("now that we're all familiar with the financial background of the new project, let's see how its implementation will affect the company's turnover in the next 12 months.") They can also be several sentences long, but shouldn't be any longer than that otherwise they cease to be links and become short topics in their own right.
Openers and closers
Many people will tell you that a powerful opening and close of a speech are terribly important and in fact as long as those are good you can say pretty well what you like in between. I don't necessarily agree. I've seen (and written for) many speakers who have agonized during several sleepless nights over how to start their speech with a big bang at the company sales conference, when all the time a simple, sometimes gently humorous opening is far easier - and more effective.
It helps here if we re-examine just why openers and closers are important in the first place. To put it politely, they help to locate the audience, to act as a signal that you're about to start talking to them about something interesting or that you've just finished telling them something interesting.
To put it crudely, sometimes the opener at least has to act as an alarm clock - waking the audience up after a narcolepsy-inducing previous speaker - or as air-raid siren, warning the audience to settle down, shut up and pay attention.
But even if the speaker prior to you has been intensely boring and has had the whole audience shifting from one numb seatbone to the other for 45 minutes, you don't necessarily have to go out there in a top hat and false nose riding a unicycle and playing a trombone at the same time. What will get the audience's attention is for you to go out there and be yourself.
Say something amusing, heart-warming, witty, whatever, as long as it's something you would say in "real life." You probably don't want to say something rude about the previous speaker, although it will be tempting, but an in-company joke if it's an in-company audience, or even a relevant quote by a famous person (there are numerous books and websites where you can find quotes) will instantly signal a major change and have the audience looking forward to what you have to say.
The opener and closer don't have to be earth-shattering, but they do have to be part of you and your material. If you're naturally a quiet, private sort of person there's no way you should struggle with a passionate, emotive ending to your speech, even if others think you should be able to carry it off. One very important rule about giving speeches is if you don't think something will work for you on the night, you're right - it won't. Don't be talked into retaining anything you're not comfortable with, because something that's a small hiccup in rehearsals will become a major stumbling block on show day.
On-stage nervousness greatly magnifies any little glitch. If a few, self-effacing words of "thanks for listening" are all you think you will feel comfortable with at the end of your speech then that's what you say, even if you use a speechwriter who tells you otherwise (and some of my colleagues would.)
Spoken speech
Once you have created your structure and decided how best to open and close your speech, the best way to ensure it sounds natural is to switch on an audio recorder, talk through the structure to yourself, and transcribe the recording. (It's a terrible job, but worth it.) Now, edit that transcript and tidy it up a bit, but don't take out the commas and the periods. Long sentences in speeches can leave you gasping for breath and losing the plot. And don't add in anything you wouldn't say in real life.
Spoken speech is simply, only, what it says it is. It is monologue or dialogue as you would speak, not as you would write the same information or thoughts down on paper or screen. All you have to do is forget trying to write out your speech material (or your drama dialogue or narration) and merely say it out loud or in your mind. Then commit those words to paper or screen, a few at a time or in short phrases and sentences. If it sounds right, it is right, and if it sounds wrong it is wrong even though it may look right on paper or screen.
Even great playwrights interpret spoken speech in exactly the same, uncomplicated way. Where you see their tremendous talent and creative genius is in how they use that simple technique to capture the uniqueness of the characters and scenarios they create. Think Molière, Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, Tennessee Williams, Jack Rosenthal, Alan Bennett and many more. Their characters' dialogue may seem unnatural to us when we hear it but that's because the character is surreal and extraordinary - and the dialogue is, in fact, perfectly natural for that character.
I've lost count of the number of speeches I've listened to (not written by me I hasten to add) that came over as completely different from the personality of the speaker. This happens because many people believe that giving business presentations is a serious artform where the grander the verbiage and more ostentatious and self-important the oratory the more points they'll score with their audience. It also happens because people write bad speeches so they are virtually indistinguishable from bad brochure copy or website text or any other manifestation of overstuffed corporate-babble.
Either way, it's wrong. If you write stuff for yourself to say that reads like it was written for some pontificating old codger or worse still, for some formal brochure copy, you will come across as very two-dimensional, shallow, and dishonest. You will also make yourself very uncomfortable and stumble over the words and phrases, which adds "incompetent" to the list in the previous sentence.
Okay, you shouldn't give a speech in the same ribald style you might use to tell a joke to your friends in the changing rooms at the gym or the 19th hole at the Golf Club. But you must ALWAYS be, and write for, yourself and your own personality. Unless you're a trained actor, the only way you're going to come over well is if you are as at ease as possible with your material. This won't happen if you write words and phrases that may look very eloquent on paper, but which are lumpy mouthfuls to say.
The right style is always conversational. The best speakers always talk to audiences as if they were talking to a friend over a cup of coffee - a natural, friendly, personal style. Gone are the days when being in a business environment meant that you should never use a short word where a long one would do. Only lawyers and doctors do this nowadays and that's largely because of their respective jargon which they're stuck with. (Can you think of a short way of saying "antitrypanosomiasis?" In fact it might be "drugs to cure sleeping sickness," but even that's pretty long.)
Here are some of my own tips on writing full scripts for spoken speech:
Basic spoken speech writing skills
*To get a true idea of your own natural speech style, tape record yourself talking to someone in a business context and then transcribe it
*Write in the style of the transcribed text (or that feels comfortable for you to say) - not how some people think "public speaking" should be phrased
*Even if you want to make a formal impression on the audience, avoid long words - especially unfamiliar ones you could trip over when your stage nerves are making you edgy
*Don't use jargon or clichés, and especially not as crutches to prop up weak ideas or to cushion unpleasant news - that doesn't fool anyone
*Always write shorter sentences than you do for text, vary the length of them, and never follow one longish sentence with another
*When in doubt, read it aloud - if there's anything awkward you'll feel yourself tripping over it
*Don't use long or even short qualifying clauses - they work on paper or screen but not in spoken speech. Try reading this aloud: "the way forward, although not necessarily what was intended by our parent company, is to buy more components from Thailand" ? sounds odd, doesn't it? Turn it around instead: "this is not necessarily what was intended by our parent company, but the way forward is to buy more components from Thailand."
*If you list a number of items, reprise your initial thought about them afterwards or there'll be an awkward jump. Try reading this aloud: "It's taken 3 months of co-ordinated effort by HR, marketing, sales, distribution, logistics, warehousing, finance and customer service to achieve our objectives" ... falls off a cliff, doesn't it? Now add a reprise: "It's taken 3 months of co-ordinated effort by HR, marketing, sales, distribution, logistics, warehousing, finance and customer service - all these, working together to achieve our objectives."
Why a full script?
You notice that I say you must write your speech, even though I know you may deliver it from bullet points or entirely from memory. Highly experienced public speakers often do not write their speeches but work only from a memorized opening and close. This is fine if you're a very experienced public speaker. If you're not, don't risk it.
A full script offers a number of advantages:¨It provides a detailed framework if you're an inexperienced speaker¨It allows you to develop and balance your content more easily¨It means you don't have to make anything up as you go along¨It acts as a safety net if you do speak from memory then forget something¨It keeps you to your allotted time (most speakers present at an average of 120 words per minute, so divide the total wordcount of your written speech by 120 to get its rough presentation length in minutes.)¨It allows others to cue your visual support accurately (if relevant)
The downside of creating a full script is that other people in your organization can tinker with it, if they know it exists. However this is a small price to pay for the reassurance and confidence a full script can give you. As you get more practised at speaking you will probably find that you become less dependent on the script and may work off bullet points or notes, but I still think it's worth writing the whole thing out initially.
Anecdotes and humor
Unless your presentation is an information-heavy financial report or other totally factual speech, a few anecdotes (preferably personal ones) are highly effective in helping to illustrate the points you make. Especially in England where self-deprecation and extreme modesty are the required penances to be paid by the successful, audiences warm to speakers who tell stories against themselves. That's probably because your admission of being human brings you closer to them and therefore you seem more approachable and believable.
It's also because audiences are naturally voyeuristic and love to feel they're getting an inside glimpse of the real you. Whatever the reason, though, anecdotes work, as long as they're short, to the point, and totally relevant to your other material.
Humor is something to be approached with caution, although used wisely it works superbly well. There is a big difference between being witty and telling jokes, and unless you are a first-class raconteur you must avoid the latter in your speeches, even if they're for "after-dinner" or other social purposes.
If you're not a naturally "funny" person you won't suddenly transform yourself into one just because you're standing up in front of a group of people. If anything that tends to make you less, not more funny. So whatever happens don't be persuaded to tell a few jokes if that's something you would never dream of doing informally at a social gathering.
If you do feel comfortable telling jokes, then use them sparingly, as punctuation - unless you're to be "best man" at a wedding or the entertainment after a social dinner, wall-to-wall jokes are usually inappropriate. Jokes in a speech should always be tailored to the audience and material. Gag writing is a specialized writing technique and there are quite a few good books around on comedy writing, if you're interested in learning how to do it.
Over the years I have collected a database of thousands of jokes which I use to "switch" for clients' speeches, presentations, cabarets and business theatre. Basically what you do is take the hub or kernel of a joke and build up the surrounding story in line with your subject matter. For example:
OriginalThe food in this hotel is disgusting. What could I do about it?You'd better bring it up at the New Guests' Welcome Meeting.
AdaptationI was in the powder room after lunch and overheard two other ladies talking. Well, I thought the lunch today was absolutely delicious, but one of these women really didn't like that crab dish we had. The other one was horrified and said she should bring it up at the next management meeting.
OriginalIt's nice to be addressing a live audience today. Yesterday I gave a talk to a budget committee.
Adaptation I must say I'm so pleased to be talking to a live audience today. Yesterday I presented my new business plan to the loans panel at XXXXXXX Bank.
Original A little boy and his mother were walking through a cemetery one afternoon and the little boy stopped to look at the epitaph on a headstone. It said, "Here lies a good lawyer and an honest man." The little boy read it carefully then turned to his mother and said, "Mum, why did they bury two people in the same grave?
Adaptation(Replace "good lawyer" with relevant adjective and occupation, e.g. "car salesman," "clever accountant," "loans officer," "financial director," "tech support consultant," or whatever.)
Another way you can adapt existing jokes for good use within in-company speeches, is to make them about your colleagues. There are very few organizations' workforces who won't get a huge laugh out of a light-hearted speech that pokes fun at their bosses and, given at the right time and in the right place, such a speech works wonders for in-company relationships.
I'm often called upon to write speeches like this, and sometimes I even create entire cabarets based on in-company jokes performed either by staff or by professional actors. Although I wouldn't recommend that you try to do a cabaret - that takes experience and knowledge of stagecraft and dramatization as well as joke writing - you can easily make a few jokes about other senior people in your organization.
A good place to find base material is within their hobbies, provided that the majority of the audience knows what their hobbies are. There are hundreds of jokes about golf, sailing, horse riding, skiing and nearly every other activity which you can adapt so it appears to be about the person concerned. Hobbies also offer the advantage of being distanced from the work persona of the "victim," which helps minimize embarrassment while still being funny.
Lastly, if you are to deliver an after-dinner or other speech that is purely for entertainment value rather than information content, you can create a storyline which is loosely based on fact, on which you hang various adapted or original jokes.
An example of that is a speech I once wrote for my Dad, a retired newspaper publisher, when he had to talk about his career to his local Probus Club (for retired business people) after one of their monthly lunches. He loves telling jokes so I used his work as a newspaper editor as the storyline and included numerous gags in among the true anecdotes. The speech was a great success, if only because nobody fell asleep - their normal tally is about 50% of them already snoring by the time the speaker's been up for five minutes, and as my Dad's voice isn't very loud it had to be his material that kept them awake!
If you're looking for jokes to adapt there are some good joke books available in bookstores (including one or two written by yours truly...) and of course you can find them online via the usual big sites - try keying in +JOKES+(YOUR SUBJECT). If you key the same thing into a search engine you'll also come across jokes archived on websites devoted to the subject concerned.
Something you need to be mindful of is copyright and legally you may not have the right to use a joke as it appears in a book or on a website, because when you give the speech that could constitute public broadcast. Obviously I can't be more specific about this because the circumstances vary from country to country. If you're at all concerned about the copyright implications of using jokes in your speeches you should ask your legal advisers for guidance.
Visuals
One issue which isn't strictly about writing but certainly is about content, is visual support. There is nothing, but nothing, worse than a speaker who gets up and gives a long, droning talk around a set of hideously complicated slides full of figures and charts that no-one understands and only half the audience can see, because the words and numbers are very small and crowded together. These are the same people who will start each link with "and on the next slide you'll see..." and at the time I'm writing this, these people often refuse electronic speaker support and cause previously normal conference producers to froth at the mouth, because they insist on using overhead projector slides.
Because their visual quality is so poor, overhead projectors are the curse of the conference production industry and although they were probably invented before the Industrial Revolution they are still worshipped by many speakers, particularly academics who love to slap blank slides on the lightbox and scribble things on them with marker pens.
There are a few other useful points to remember about support material too. You should use slides as a complement to, not a repetition of, what you say.
The right visual support can increase the audience's retention of your content by at least 50%, so what's the point of using slides that say exactly the same thing as you do?
Word slides are useful to summarize the points you are making, and also to add information to your points. Column, bar and pie charts do not have to contain lots of figures and so are useful to illustrate quantities and proportion. Written figures tend to break up on even the best quality screens and are hard to see from the back rows. The columns, bars or pieces of pie, however, serve to give a tangible dimension to the figures you're talking about.
Long sequences of similar slides become mesmerising and lose the audience's attention. If you absolutely have to go through a large number of figures or computations then it's best to break the sequence up every few slides with something different, even if it's only a plain company logo.
Try not to refer to your slides in your speech, because it looks amateurish and in any case should be unnecessary. The slides should speak for themselves. Also, you should try to avoid looking at the slides for the same reason, but that can be tricky sometimes when you're cueing them yourself, or if you're not using a script.
Rehearse, rehearse
I don't want to be depressing, but once you've finished all the hard work of preparing your material, writing your speech and (if relevant) organising your visual support, you then get down to the really hard work - rehearsing. You've got to practise, practise, practise.
Not too soon before the event, or you'll be so stale and fed up with the speech you'll lose interest. But don't wait until the night before, either. Memorize the speech as well as you can, but don't worry if you forget the odd "and" or "but." If you say "er" and hesitate slightly now and again, it will make your speech sound more natural. What you must memorize perfectly is the content, and the order.
Then on the day, you will use your script or bullet points as a reminder - not as an essential element that you would be desperate without. All that rehearsal - in the shower, in the car, to your family or if they don't appreciate your oratory, even to your dog - will pay off because you will be confident a) that your material is good and b) that you know it well.
If you're giving your presentation in a large conference environment you may find yourself working with a show crew and a very sophisticated set and equipment. Novice speakers can feel daunted by all this stuff but what you must always remember is that it's there to make your job easier, not harder.
Many times my elbows have been clutched nervously by speakers who've just caught their first glimpse of a teleprompting device, only to find that the next day when they've used it they wonder how they ever managed without one. I won't go into how to use a teleprompter here because it's a bit complex and in any case, when you rehearse your presentation one of the show crew will teach you how it works.
All I will say is that teleprompters are wonderful, because they free you to deliver your performance without having to worry about anything at all - your whole speech, or your bullet points, are always in the right place without you having to do anything. And provided that you don't wander "off script" and start ad libbing with no warning, your visual support material will be cued by someone else too. All you do, is be the star.
Any further tips? Oh yes, cue cards.
I know they're low tech, but the places where you may have to speak are not always going to be state-of-the-art theatres, so they're useful. Two very, very important things to remember. One, always get two sets made, not just one. Keep them in separate places - e.g. one in your pocket and one in your car - so if one set gets lost you know you've got another handy.
And two, ensure that both sets are irrevocably tied together in correct order via a securing device looped through a hole in the corner of each card. That way you can turn the cards over as they're used, but should you drop them you won't have to fumble around trying to pick them up and re-order them. The securing device does not have to be sophisticated, as long as it's strong.
I once confounded the CEO of a major European telecomms company who, fortunately for me, was an engineer by trade, when I showed him the high-tech fasteners I'd used on his cue cards. "Good stuff," he said, "they work well. Can my secretary get these at a stationery store?"
"No," I replied, "from your local car dealer's workshop. They're wiring loom clips."
Canadian-born Suzan St Maur is an international business writer and author based in the United Kingdom. In addition to her consultancy work for clients in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, she contributes articles to more than 150 business websites and publications worldwide, and has written eleven published books. Her latest eBooks, "The MAMBA Way To Make Your Words Sell" and "Get Yourself Published" and available as PDF downloads from BookShaker.com.
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(c) Suzan St Maur 2003 - 2005