Any questions?

Fellow speaker,

Every story you tell raises questions in your audience's mind about your story. If you don't answer these questions, the audience will feel dissatisfied with your story. Instead, look over your story, practice it out on others and make sure you answer all questions in the audience's mind about your story.

Answering questions,

Tim

Story team

Fellow speaker,

Storytelling is a team activity, with the storyteller and the audience working together to make the story interesting and useful. Make sure in your stories to "help out the team" by making sure your stories are understood.

On the same team,

Tim

Such a character!

Fellow speaker,

Make it character the switch back and forth between characters in a dialogue in your story clear to the audience using:

• Accents
• Mannerisms of character (e.g., fast speaking vs. slower speaking)
• Voice placement in throat (e.g., use a different pitch voice for each speaker)
• Making a slight shift to each side to indicate each side of the conversation
• Using person’s name in dialogue

Use these methods in your next story to help the audience follow along with all the action!

Methodically,

Tim

Tensely present

Fellow speaker,

Use the present tense (e.g., "He says", "She says") in your stories to bring the story alive for the audience!

Facing the audience,

Tim

Picture the audience

Fellow speaker,

Tell your story with the necessary details only, and let the audience fill in the rest in their minds. That way, the audience will put themselves and their lives into the story and the story will become very personal for them.

Personally,

Tim

Factual stories

Fellow speaker,

When giving a speech which contains a lot of factual information, use stories to help the audience better understand the importance of your facts. Stories put facts into context, and are very useful in getting the audience to connect to the facts you give them.

Factually,

Tim

Story parts

Fellow speaker,

There are four parts to a story:

1. Place
2. Person
3. Action
4. Resolution

To tell the best stories, make sure the stories you tell have all four.

Many-storied,

Tim

Let 'em laugh

Fellow speaker,

Let the audience laugh and respond to your speech, pause a little longer while waiting for the laughter to die down, and then go on with the speech.

Leaving 'em laughing,

Tim

Times of funny

Fellow speaker,

Not every time is a "funny time". If you can, limit your funny talks to:

• Late morning
• Right after lunch
• After dinner

These are all great times to let your funniness shine!

A Time for Funny,

Tim

What's so funny?

Fellow speaker,

What makes you laugh? What do YOU find funny? Let your own, personal, funny view on things guide you in all the funniness you create.

Creatively funnifying,

Tim

Funny world

Fellow speaker,

Sometimes creating a funny speech is simply a matter of opening your ears and eyes to what is all around you. What funny things do people do? What funny things do people say? How do people recover with humor from difficult situations? Write down all this and more as you open yourself up to the funny around you!

Funnily worldly,

Tim

Funny talk

Fellow speaker,

You can make a lot of humor around two people who keep misunderstanding each other, or who try to read a lot more into a situation than is there, or who otherwise are confused in their communication.

Confusedly funny,

Tim

Keeping on track

Fellow speaker,

Putting humor into a speech can take you far away from your speech subject. To keep the speech on track and on target, use humor in the speech to make a point.

On track,

Tim

Moving on

Fellow speaker,

When writing a humorous speech, consider your transitions. Transitions are how you move from one point to the next. In order to avoid your humorous speech being just a collection of "one lines", make sure your transitions connect and inter-relate all the different parts of your humorous speech.

Connectedly,

Tim

Funny answer

Fellow speaker,

A funny, unexpected answer to a question can help create humor and comedy in your presentation. In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy is talking to Linus about the problems that face the Earth today and saying to him: "The earth is too overcrowded! We can't feed this many people! What are we going to do?" And Linus answers, "Why don't you leave?" Create funny answers to common questions to liven up your speeches.

Answering funny,

Tim

Strange ideas

Fellow speaker,

To develop humor and comedy in your speech, think of a strange or unusual idea...and take it very seriously. What would happen if animals demanded equal rights with humans...and had a spokesanimal? What would the world be like if every day were Saturday? Invent your own...it's funny!

Strangely,

Tim

Funny way of saying things

Fellow speaker,

Alliteration (using repeated consonant sounds) can be fun if overdone. Fanciful frabjous meanings can come fruitiously from your inner funniness! ;-) So add in a bunch of consonants to just about anything and see how silly you can be! :-)

Sillily,

Tim

Funny words

Fellow speaker,

Words can be funny...if they are strange enough! Take a look at "funnified" from the previous post. Invent your own new crazy words and add "jazzifunnification" to your next speech!

Strangely worded,

Tim

Funny detail

Fellow speaker,

The better we can "see" something funny in our "mind's eye"...the funnier it is! So add in lots of details about the things you talk about: height, weight, eye color...the more the better!

Detailing,

Tim

Funny characters

Fellow speaker,

To develop humor and comedy the stories in your speeches, add in all sorts of weird and strange people to your stories. Adding in a few strangely behaving people can make any speech "funnified"!

Funnily enough,

Tim

Tensely funny

Fellow speaker,

Writing humor is a tense business. Or rather, writing humor is a tension business. In order to build humor, build the tension in your story. Build up the tension in your situation and then use humor as a way to release your built-up tension.

Tensely,

Tim

Humor is rewriting

Fellow speaker,

Humorous speeches don't just happen. They take hard work and time. Try out the speech on a few people:

• What part gets laughs?
• What part doesn't get laughs?

Write all the parts that get laughs out. Take out the parts that don't get laughs. Try the speech again on a few people, changing your delivery on the funny parts. How can you get more laughs from the funny parts? A humorous speech takes just as much work as a serious speech.
Funnily enough,

Tim

Funny failures

Fellow speaker,

When trying to get the audience to laugh, just remember that your own failures are funny (but your audience's failures are not funny). So let the audience know about the times things didn't go quite right, and find the funny in those situations.

Finding the funny,

Tim

Speaking contests

Fellow speaker,

If you are ever in a speaking contest, get ahold of the judge's evaluation form and focus your attention on speaking to what the judges are evaluating. Targeting your speeches to the issues on the evaluation form increases your chances of doing well in the speaking contest.

Contested,

Tim

Funny history

Fellow speaker,

If you are stuck for how to develop humor in your presentation, think about rewriting history. Take a well-known historical fact and then completely change it in very obvious ways. Talk about this new "history" with a straight face as you become more and more elaborate in your reinvention of the historical facts.

Reinventing the past,

Tim

Funny life

Fellow speaker,

When you are having a really tough day where everything goes wrong, you can use this experience to develop humor and comedy in your presentation. When telling your story, make sure to exaggerate what went wrong and to make "much ado about nothing" (as someone once said).

Adoing,

Tim

Don't laugh

Fellow speaker,

When you give a funny speech in front of an audience, it is tempting to want to laugh during it. The challenge is not to laugh at your own speech, so the audience can fully enjoy the humor of your speech.

With a straight face,

Tim

Get ready, get set

Fellow speaker,

When you are setting up our speeches with a meeting planner, ask for:

• A meeting agenda
• Agendas of past meetings
• List of those who will speak before us

Once you have these things you are much better prepared to go in front of your audience.

Getting ready,

Tim

Write your own

Fellow speaker,

When starting out in building your business, it can be tempting to want to hire a professional copywriter so every promotional materialyou have will be perfect and wonderful. But even if you have great adcopy, this is no guarantee you will get business. Instead, save your money for the things you have to spend money on and practice writing your own promotional material. Hey...it'll give you a great "leg up"on your speech writing!

Writing it down,

Tim

Emotional story

Fellow speaker,

Ask two questions when writing dialogue for a story:

• What is the emotion of the character in the story?
• Does the emotion of that character change in the story and, if so, how?

Emotionally focused,

Tim

No rhythm

Fellow speaker,

When out dialogue in your stories, remember normal conversation is NOT rhythmic.  Put in interruptions, partial thoughts, etc. to give your stories a "real" feel to them.

Really storytelling,

Tim

You-sing the audience

Fellow speaker,

Your goal is to bring our audience into our speeches before, during, and after our speeches. To do this, before the speech say "You're going to receive/pick up..." or "In the next X minutes,you will receive/pick up..."; during the speech say "As you know..."; and after the speech say, "You have learned...".

You-focused,

Tim

The 10 minute rule

Fellow speaker,

When telling a long story (longer than 20 minutes), make sure there are many points throughout the story. In general, every 10 minutes there should be some type of point made in the story.

Pointedly,

Tim

Reaction time

Fellow speaker,

When telling a story which has more than one person talking, don't forget to include the reaction of the speakers to the story. The reactions each of your speakers has to the OTHER person's story helps the audience to understand how THEY should feel about the story.

Feeling the story,

Tim

Talk the write

Fellow speaker,

Sometimes it is difficult to get your thoughts written down. This is not because you don't have anything to say, but because you don't know what to write. When this happens, talk it out. Speak the speech ideas out loud and write down what you said. This will help you get your speech ideas out and in front of you.

Writing it out,

Tim

Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!

Fellow speaker,

If you stutter while speaking, here are some things that may help:

• Practice "tongue twisters" (a string of words that are difficultto say quickly) such as "Sally sells seashells by the seashore". Work at making every syllable come out clearly and understandably.
• SLOW DOWN. Often stuttering is a sign of speaking (or thinking)too fast. If you are stuttering a lot more in your presentations than you normally do when talking, slow down the pace of your speech, to allow your ideas to catch up with your words.

Non-stuttering,

Tim

Tell them about it

Fellow speaker,

Sometimes things can go a little strange on stage! You arrive andthings aren't quite set up the right way, or there are some delays in getting our handouts passed out, or something else goes wrong. Instead of trying to ignore these things, mention them to the audience, fill the audience in on what the issues are, and then move on. This takes the questions the audience has off the surroundings and focuses them onto your speech!

Refocusing,

Tim

150

Fellow speaker,

150 words a minute. That's how fast most people talk. This makes it easy to figure out how much time a written speech will take to say. Take the total number of words in your speech and divide by 150. The result is the time it takes to say your speech.

Timely,

Tim

Prop it up

Fellow speaker,

Visual aids and props don't need to be complex. Some of the most powerful props can be some of the simplest, everyday objects. For example, a chair can be a powerful prop if you set it up with an interesting, exciting presentation.

Propping simply,

Tim

3-storied

Fellow speaker,

Stories come in three kinds:

• Happened to someone else
• Personal
• In between happened to someone else and personal

The stories that happened to someone else are the most distant kind of stories and most useful for quick examples. Personal stories that happened to you get the audience's attention and interest. If you don't have any personal stories, tell stories about what you felt or learned when you heard about another person's story. This isn't as strong a story as the personal story, but it is stronger than telling a story which happened to someone else.

Many storied,

Tim

Get personal

Fellow speaker,

Study up on the audience's background, their industry, specialty, etc. and create stories and examples that are focused on them. This will get them personally involved in what your speech.

Personally,

Tim

That's another way to look at it

Fellow speaker,

You can use the same story in a speech to tell different points.  For example, look at the story from the point of view of the customer, the buyer, or the seller. And with each new point you sharpen your overall message to the audience.

Looking both ways,

Tim

KISS your audience

Fellow speaker,

Keep your audience participation simple, with easy to say/remember phrases so everyone in the audience finds it easy and fun to join in.

Joining in,

Tim

Belt it out!

Fellow speaker,

Don't be quiet when testing the microphone. Use your full speaking volume to make sure the mike is up to the challenge!

Testing,

Tim

Now hear this!

Fellow speaker,

Test your microphone, adjusting volume, listening for any hiss when using"s" sounds, and making sure "p" and "b" sounds are smooth to your ear.

Testing,

Tim

Unwanted feedback

Fellow speaker,

Test out your microphone in various places on and off the stage to see if there are places where there is microphone feedback. Then avoid those places during your speech.

Feeding back,

Tim

Testing 1 2 3

Fellow speaker,

Come to the speaking session a little early to test your microphone before the audience gets in.  Make sure everything is set up and operating the way it should.

Testing,

Tim

Reserved seating

Fellow speaker,

Put out fewer chairs than there are people in order to fill up all the chairs and then get out extra chairs when needed. Or, if the chairs can't be moved, tape off the back rows to force people to sit in front.  This ensures your audience is grouped closely together and will help you create an effective "audience connection".

Reservedly,

Tim

Meating

Fellow speaker,

Cut some of your examples when you are in danger of going overtime.  This will allow you to keep the "meat"of our presentation.

Meatily,

Tim

I am pleased to present...

Fellow speaker,

Keep the focus on the audience: say what the audience benefit is upfront and use credentials that are relevant to your speech topic.  This way the audience knows what it will get.

Introducing,

Tim

Naming names

Fellow speaker,

Find out the names of people in the audience and refer to them by name. This draws a closer link between your speeches and your audience.

Linking up,

Tim

Web enabled

Fellow speaker,

Post your handouts on the web, let people know the web address where the handouts are, and let them print out and bind the handouts themselves!  This saves you time and paper, and gives the audience an easy way to take home your message.

Reducing costs,

Tim

Shake it up, baby!

Fellow speaker,

Make changes to the:

• Rate
• Rhythm
• Volume

in your speech to keep your audience awake and interested in your message.

Variably,

Tim

Get it in writing

Fellow speaker,

Offer to speak in exchange for a testimonial letter on company letterhead. This will give you speaking credentials.

Credentialed,

Tim

Close-ly

Fellow speaker,

Close the speech focused on your main points. Leave out anything which is new material.

Full Closure,

Tim

'Tis a Gift to be Simple

Fellow speaker,

Use large gestures to emphasize your main points. When coming to a point that is not key to your message, using smaller gestures, which minimizes that point.

Pointedly,

Tim

Take one, pass it down

Fellow speaker,

If you have handouts which highlight the main points of your speech, give those handouts at the end of the meeting.  That way the audience focuses their entire attention on you and your speech, and afterwards can refer to the handout to remind themselves of what they learned. Mention that handouts will be available at the end of your speech, for those who want one.

With a handout,

Tim

Give me five!

Fellow speaker,

A handy rule to follow for visuals is the "five by five" rule: keep visuals to five words per line and five lines for every page. This ensures everyone can see and understand what you present to them.

High fives,

Tim

Sharpen the saw

Fellow speaker,

Make sure to give the audience the tools to make the changes or to let them know where they can get the tools they need. Providing the tools will ensure the audience goes out and "do what needs to be done".

Sharply,

Tim

Thinking it over

Fellow speaker,

Finish with a question at the end of your speech. This is useful in call to action speeches: question the audience at the end of the speech whether they are going to take the action. This gets the audience thinking about your speech long after the speech is over

Asking questions,

Tim

Wonderous Stories

Fellow speaker,

Make sure when speaking about amazing situations to focus on how the audience can be part of that amazing situation. Remember to include the audience in your speeches.

Including,

Tim

What do you want?

Fellow speaker,

Your introduction sets up what the audience wants to hear. If you have an introduction that doesn't match your speech, your speech begins "off step".  Design our introduction so that it creates the audience reaction you want. A funny introduction sets up a funny speech, a serious introduction sets up a serious speech, etc. Match the introduction to your speech, and set your speech up right.

Setting up the speech,

Tim

Affective speaking

Fellow speaker,

Effective speaking has an affect on the audience. So watch the audience after your speech, and see if the message has "sunk in".

Affectively,

Tim

Great Expectations

Fellow speaker,

When you give your speech make sure it matches the what your audience expects. For example, if the audience comes to the event for funny stories and you tell them about shocking events...the people will be annoyed. Find out what the audience is looking for and make sure your speech delivers!

Special delivery,

Tim

The big three

Fellow speaker,

A speech is made up of:

• Content
• Presentation
• Environment

Be aware how your presentation comes across to the audience and the environment where you are speaking This will ensure you deliver your content in the best, most effective way.

Three dimensionally,

Tim

A friendly face

Fellow speaker,

Find a few friendly faces in the audience and look at those people when you get nervous. You can also make your points to them or look directly at to increase your confidence onstage.

Looking at the audience,

Tim

Got the time?

Fellow speaker,

Bring a small travel clock to every speaking event. If there is no clock there at the event, the small travel clock will help you block out your speaking time and keep you on time, every time.

Keeping time,

Tim

All you had to do was ask

Fellow speaker,

Create a feedback form that captures audience member's opinions on:

• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• How can you improve?

Getting the audience to answer these three questions will help you continually develop, build, and challenge ourselves in your speaking.

Asking for and giving feedback,

Tim

Dressing up

Fellow speaker,

Dress slightly better than the audience. Ask the meeting planner what people will be wearing and use that as a guide. And, if you feel too over-dressed, it is easy to take something off before going onstage.

Dressing,

Tim

Let 'em laugh!

Fellow speaker,

Let the people in your audience laugh as long as they want at your speech. Once the audience is quiet again, go on with the rest of your speech.

Waiting for the laughs,
Tim

What should I do?

Fellow speaker,

Give the audience clear next steps you want them to follow (e.g., buy our book/DVD/CD, write your congressman about this issue, take the following steps, etc.). Make sure you give your audience clear, easily followable action steps.

Actively,

Tim

Getting a word in

Fellow speaker,

Use:

• Alliteration - words have the same sound (e.g., "simple saying")
• Repetition - words repeat (e.g., "we will fight them in the streets, we will fight them in the courts, we will fight them in their work")
• Rhyme - words rhyme (e.g., "rhyme time")

to interest the audience in your speech.

Wordily,

Tim

Heckel and Jeckel

Fellow speaker,

If someone heckles you, pay attention to what the person says. If their idea is on target with your speech, repeat what they said, thank them for the idea, and then physically turn your back to them or turn away from them to indicate that they have had their "stage time" and now it is time to return to your presentation. If their comments are NOT on target with your speech, thank them for the idea, mention it is not what you are focusing on now, and say you can discuss this with them AFTER the presentation.

Deheckelfying,

Tim

See me, feel me, touch me, heal me

Fellow speaker,

Different people communicate different ways:

• Hearing - some people focus on hearing in their understanding
• Seeing - some people need to actually see something in order to understand it
• Doing - other people need to get involved and become active in order for the message to sink in

Use all three in your speech to make sure you are connecting with your audience.

Multi-sensed,

Tim

Pleased to meet you!

Fellow speaker,

Meet the audience before you get onstage.  Talk with people and get to understand their interests and thoughts. For example, you could stand at the door of the room where you are speaking and shake the hand of everyone who comes in the door.

Getting to know you,

Tim

Having it THEIR way

Fellow speaker,

Do a little pre-speech research to make sure your message reaches the audience in the way that works best for them. Ask a few questions of the meeting planner or organizer about the audience so you don't lose your audience during your speech.

With audience in view,

Tim

Can we talk?

Fellow speaker,

A speech is a conversation with the audience, where the audience gets a chance to have their part "speaking" with you, while you are talking personally to everyone in the room. This relaxes the audience and makes them more open to your message.

Talking it out,

Tim

Stay tuned!

Fellow speaker,

Drop hints about the things that are coming up later in your presentation (e.g., "and later we will be discussing the three most important things you have to do to prevent costly misinvestment"). Dropping hints about upcoming things in your presentation keeps the audience's attention focused on your speech and listening closely to find out more about what you hinted at.

Dropping hints,

Tim

Whoops!

Fellow speaker,

Have a sense of humor when things go wrong. For example, if the microphone isn't turned on when you start your speech, say to the people in the front row, "Is that loud enough for you?" Whatever goes wrong, make a joke about it and move on with your speech.

Moving on,

Tim

Feel the fear

Fellow speaker,

To connect with your audience, start talking about the fears the audience has. This can be done humorously by making a big deal about the fear and so making it look silly. This encourages the audience to laugh at their own fears as well.  Or it can be done seriously, to scare the audience into paying attention to your speech.

Fearfully,

Tim

May I have your attention please!

Fellow speaker,

When you give a long speech, the audience may lose their focus or even take a little nap during your speech! To wake them up you can make some kind of loud noise that gets their attention back on you and your speech. It could be a hand clap, finger snap, or some other loud noise that forces their attention back to you and what you are saying.

At attention,

Tim

Overdoing it

Fellow speaker,

One way to develop humor in your speech is to take an extreme position on something and talk about it. The more everyday and uninteresting the "something" is, the funnier the possibilities.Try it out and see which "somethings" are funniest!

Doing over,

Tim

Heeding the call

Fellow speaker,

A "callback" is when you use something in your speech that occurred previously, either in your speech or outside of your speech.  A callback to something outside your speech lets the audience experience a speech customized just for them. So now and then use a call back in your speech to an outside event.  For example, if the speaker before you was telling about the importance of a story and you are talking about stories, you could say, "As you have already heard, stories are very important in your speech."

Calling,

Tim

How's that again?

Fellow speaker,

Be consistent in your message: know what it is you are trying to get across to your audience and why. Your speeches (and your audience) will be better off.

Consistently,

Tim

Try before you buy

Fellow speaker,

Buying into a speech is an emotional reaction: no emotion, no buy-in. There is a place for logic...after the speech is over. The audience buys in with emotion and justifies that buy-in with logic. Hook 'em emotionally...and you've made the sale!

Up for sale,

Tim

You think you're so funny!

Fellow speaker,

A good speech performance is about writing, rewriting...and praying. You see what happened there? The first two ideas set up a chain of expectations in your mind, so you think the next word will have something to do with "writing". Instead, you see the word "praying", something completely different from "writing", and there is some humor. So use the 1-2-funny approach in your next speech and get on the funny side of life!

Cracking wise,

Tim

Do you have the time?

Fellow speaker,

Take time to tell your message, not only in words, but in actions, movements, gestures, etc. to fully get your message over to our audience. The audience hearing AND seeing your message makes your message powerful.

Powerfully,

Tim

Night and day

Fellow speaker,

If you turn all the lights off during your slide presentation, your audience feels like it's "night time" and pretty soon they are dozing off. Keep the lights on so no one can use your speech as an excuse to catch a quick nap!

Wide awake,

Tim

Simple Simon

Fellow speaker,

You get one shot at making your point. Big words may impress the audience, but they make you difficult to understand. Use simple, easy to follow language. Keep the words simple and your audience will easily be able to follow you and your speech.

Simply,

Tim

A do-over

Fellow speaker,

Great speeches take time...and practice. Repeatedly practice your speech until they flow easily and smoothly when you give them. This will help if you forget what you were going to say during your presentation. Knowing you know your speech will give you the confidence to quickly remember what you briefly forgot.

Doing over,

Tim

It goes without saying

Fellow speaker,

If your mind goes blank onstage, keep calm. KEEP QUIET until you remember what you are going to stay. Stay calm, look from person to person in the audience, review in your head where you were in your speech, think about what logically comes next...and eventually you will pick up the "thread" of your speech again. It takes a little while, but all you have to do is...wait it out!

Waiting it out,

Tim

The neverending story

Fellow speaker,

Tell part of a story at the beginning of your speech...and make the audience wait until the end of the speech to tell the end of the story.  This keeps the audience hanging on to our speech, waiting to hear how the story turned out. Use the neverending story to create a neverending interest in your next speech!

Neverendingly,

Tim

Don't be a flamer!

Fellow speaker,

If you aren't ready with a "short form" of your speech, you could be caught stammering onstage as you try to slim down your presentation at the last minute to fit the request of the meeting planner. To prevent this from occurring, always have two or even three versions of your speech. One version, the long one and a second version of the "high points" of your speech. If you can, have an "in between" version that is a little shorter than your full version. So, if someone cuts your speech down at the last moment, you won't go down in flames onstage!

Cutting it down to size,

Tim

Get it in writing

Fellow speaker,

If you don't write down your good ideas, those ideas are gone forever. Write down that great idea you suddenly have, or get an electronic organizer and take a "memo", or get an electronic digital recorder and start rambling into it. However you do it, do it! Get those ideas down out of the fragile air and onto something that you can lookat/hear. You'll be amazed at how bright you are...and at how much better your speeches become.

Writing it out,

Tim

Eyes on the prize

Fellow speaker,

When you get focused in on writing your speech, it is easy to get caught up in the words you are writing. But if you don't think about the EFFECT you want those words to have, all your hard work is wasted. Focus on the RESULT of the speech and what "take aways" you want the audience to have. Once you know where  you are going in your speech it is MUCH easier to map out your path to get there!

Mapping it out,

Tim

You must remember this

Fellow speaker,

Using famous quotes well-matched to a speech gives the audience a "handle" on your points and the audience then associates that quote with your points.

Grabbing things by the smooth handle,

Tim

This says it all

Fellow speaker,

Summing up the point of your speech into one well thought out sentence, helps the audience quickly understand. Otherwise, your audience guesses at what your point is, and they may guess wrong. Think about what you have to say and say it in one sentence that clearly and powerfully sums up your message to make sure your audience "gets it".

Getting it,

Tim

And in conclusion...

Fellow speaker,

When you have given the signal that you will end our speech...end it. Giving a few more ideas and thoughts that just came to you after you have signaled an ending makes your speech longer, not better. And it can REALLY annoy the audience. Remember your goal is to build your audience's trust, and nothing builds audience trust like ending when you say you will! ;-)

Making an end,

Tim

In a timely manner

Fellow speaker,

Stay on time in your speech. Break that contract and the audience won't hire a lawyer, they will just stop listening to you. For example, if you are doing a ten minute speech, your audience will listen to you for ten minutes...and not one minute more. So stay on time...and stay with your audience.

Timely,

Tim

It's alive!

Fellow speaker,

Bring your speech to life! If you give a "just the facts" speech you lose your audience. Create living speeches by involving the five senses.  Use descriptive words about how the things look, touch, feel, sound, and taste. The more sensual you are in your speech the more sensitive the audience will be to your message.

Making sense,

Tim

We have assumed control...

Fellow speaker,

If you don't control the Question and Answer session, you could lose your audience. Limit the time of the Question and Answer session and let the audience know that limited time. Once you have reached that limit, stop answering questions and repeat the point you were making in your speech, so the last words the audience hears...are your words.

Controlling,

Tim

One more time!

Fellow speaker,

You only get one chance with your audience to get your point across. If you only say your point once, it is likely the audience will miss it. Say your point many times will emphasize it to the audience. That way your audience is certain to "get it" and understand your speech.

Making points,

Tim

Facing it

Fellow speaker,

Don't forget your face! If your face does not go with the emotions and feelings of your speech, your speech will not connect with the audience. Make sure your face matches your speech to make sure your message gets to your audience.

Prima facie,

Tim

You had a question?

Fellow speaker,

During the Question and Answer session, repeat each person's question before answering it. It is possible people in the audience didn't hear or understand the person's question, so repeating it or saying it in different words helps your audience both understand the question and your answer to the question.

Questioning and answering,

Tim

Writing is rewriting

Fellow speaker,

Instead of creating a speech quickly, using your first, rough ideas, work and rework these thoughts and ideas so they best work with our audience. Think about each and every word in the speech and use the best words possible.

(Re)Writing it out,

Tim

Without a word

Fellow speaker,

You can learn from speakers who are not great speakers. Find out WHY the speaker had the problems they did.  For example, explore what issues the speaker had in connecting with their audience and what they should have done instead. Every time you are at a speech is a learning opportunity. Use the opportunity to grow yourspeaking skills...without saying a word!

Learning all the time,

Tim

Got to have heart

Fellow speaker,

When you go onstage, commit to your speech. It is not just enough to say the words, make the audience feel the passion, the excitement, you have about those words. "Having heart" makes your speech "heavy hitting" for our audience.

Heavily,

Tim

Risking it all

Fellow speaker,

It is tempting to go with the "tried and true" that has always worked. However, if you don't take any chances, you don't grow. So take a chance! Do something different, unusual, or simply unexpected and see what happens. If it doesn't work you can always go back to the "tried and true". But if it does work, you have another tool in your "speaker's belt."

Belted up,

Tim

See it and be it

Fellow speaker,

What do you want your audience to come away with after your speech? What value does your audience take away after your talk is over. Focus on that value during your speech, design your speech around getting that lesson across. Make sure your audience "gets it" when you get done!

Valuing others,

Tim

Conflicting stories

Fellow speaker,

Make sure your story goes somewhere and has some sort of problem to be overcome or conquered. Story + conflict = interested audience.

Doing the math,

Tim

Four out of five dentists

Fellow speaker,

If you use statistics in your speech, show the audience what those statistics mean. Break the statistic down into a fraction (e.g., "one out of ten", "two out of five", etc.) and then compare this statistic to something familiar to the audience (e.g., "that's 37 million people", etc.) Follow this up with what it means to the audience.

For example, "Only 3% of the people who buy a self-help CD actually listen to it.  So we have about a hundred people here today...you three please stand up.  That's how few people actually listen to the CDs they buy.  Thank you, you may sit down.  Now think about how much ahead of the pack you can be...if you will only listen to those self-help CDs you buy instead of shelving them away without hearing them."

Statistically speaking,

Tim

Direct marketing

Fellow speaker,

Abandon passive speaking! If your speech has something like, "Changes need to be put in place", or "An error was made," or "The action will be taken," etc., wake up our speech. Instead say, "I am making changes," or "I made an error," or "I will take action," etc. depending on who did what and what type of speech it is. Be direct with your audience and they will respect you and what you have to say.

Directly,

Tim

The "Show Me" state

Fellow speaker,

Adding in visual aids bumps up your presentation power! If you just go out onstage and speak, you can lose your audience in the details. However if you show the audience your idea, they can quickly catch on. So for your next "complex" presentation, think about what it is you are talking about to your audience, then find something that symbolizes what you are talking about. Refer to it (and show it) often in your speech and you'll keep your audience involved and interested.

Showing off,

Tim

Push 'em out

Fellow speaker,

When you speak, make it clear WHY the audience should listen to you. Let them know about all the nasty things that can happen if they don't pay attention to your message (this is called a "push")! Sweetness and light benefits are great, but unless there are consequences...your audience doesn't care what you have to say. So ask yourself why your message is SO important...and then tell your audience!

Pulling them in,

Tim

Ooh, I'm so scared!

Fellow speaker,

Fear of speaking is normal and expected. If you get out in front of the audience and you don't have some fear about giving your speech...it could indicates you don't care that much about the subject. So go ahead! Be afraid of giving a bad speech! And then go out there, USE your fear to help you give your BEST speech. Fear is a motivator. Use it.

Fearfully,

Tim

Mind reading

Fellow speaker,

When you "get inside the head" of your audience, you understand what they want...before they know it themselves! You can "mind read" your audience: you say something, the audience thinks something, and you tell the audience what they are thinking about! This lets the audience know that you "get" them, and they will  pay more attention to what you say.

"Getting" it,

Tim

Learn from your successes

Fellow speaker,

Ever have a great moment in your speech, where your words worked right and the audience responded the way you dreamed they would respond? Make sure that great moment doesn't get away: after the speech write down what you did and how you did it so you can duplicate that speech experience with any audience at any time!

Successfully yours,

Tim

Just one chance

Fellow speaker,

The audience can't reread your speech: you only get one chance to get your message through to them. Make sure your messages are clear and consistent inyour speech, and repeat the main points several times so your audience is sure to "get" your speech.

Chancily,

Tim

Presenting...

Fellow speaker,

It can be tempting to want to turn your presentation over to the computer-projector and simply read everything that is on the slide to your audience. This makes it easy to present...and a very boring to the audience. Instead, take advantage of your stage time, keep the slide presentations to a minimum, and sell yourself. Let the audience get to know you (not Mr. or Ms. Powerpoint! ;-) ) is presenting the speech.

Presentably,

Tim

Slow it down

Fellow speaker,

In the excitement of giving your speech, it is easy to talk very quickly. But if you talk too quickly, the audience won't understand what you are saying. Slowing down your speech gives the audience the chance to hear all you are saying. Drive your speech under the speed limit, slow down...and save an audience! ;-)

A little slow,

Tim

Entitlement

Fellow speaker,

Sometimes you CAN tell a book by its cover. Giving your speeches interesting, eye-catching titles can get the audience interested before you give our speech! For example, if you are giving a humorous speech, a funny title gets the audience laughing before you speak.

Entitled,

Tim

Respond to your audience

Fellow speaker,

It is tempting to get up in front of an audience and to read from a prepared script. However the audience can clue you in on what is working...and what is not. When you see the audience is not responding to you...try something different! Back off your topic and approach it from a different way. Good public speaking is about the INTERaction between speaker and audience.

Interactively,

Tim

Be quick about it!

Fellow speaker,

30 seconds. That's all the time you have to capture our audience's attention. If you don't get them in the first 30 seconds...you've lost them. Make sure your speeches hook your audience at the beginning and get them interested in what you have to say.

Hooking,

Tim

That reminds me of a story...

Fellow speaker,

Stories make your speeches come alive to our audience. Giving speeches on results and outcomes and sticking to "just the facts" is boring. Instead, tell a story about how the outcome improved someone's life or helped someone.

Telling the story,

Tim

Please allow me to introduce myself...

Fellow speaker,

To make sure you are introduced in a way that helps your speech, write your own introduction. If you leave the introduction up to the meeting organizers you will get a confusing or, at best, uninteresting introduction to your speech.Write your own intro, target it at the interests of the audience, and get the audience excited about your speech...before you say a word!

Introducing,

Tim

What, me worry?

Fellow speaker,

When you go out on stage to speak, you get excited, revved up...and a little nervous! ;) But if you have been practicing your speech just once every day...no worries mate! ;) When you are uncertain what will happen next you worry...and when you focus on yourself you worry even more.When you have done your homework and concentrate on your AUDIENCE...worry disappears! Do the work, be on-message, and watch your worry float away while you speak!

Worry-free,

Tim

Who cares?

Fellow speaker,

When giving a speech, make sure the audience cares about your speech. This means looking at your speech from your audience's point of view. Why should the audience care about your speech? Highlight that point upfront, and you'll keep your audience throughout your speech.

Caring,

Tim

Being a looker

Fellow speaker,

When you go out on stage, are you looking at your audience? Or do you look just above, just below, or to the side of your audience? Do you "scan" our audience instead of looking at them. Look directly at your audience and you will have a much better chance of "connecting in" with them.

Looking and talking,

Tim

Stack your speeches

Fellow speaker,

The longer the speech, the more content you need. This is easy if you think of every speech in 5-7 minute "chunks". So, for a 10 minute speech you use 2 chunks. For a 15 minute speech you use 3 chunks. And so on.

Chunking,

Tim

Write it out

Fellow speaker,

To make sure you are using the right words on stage, write out your entire speech. While you won't give the speech exactly as you wrote it out, writing it out lets you have a very good idea what you are going to say when you get on stage.

Writing it out,

Tim

What's your point?

Fellow speaker,

When you go out on stage and talk to the audience, have some point in mind you are trying to get across to the audience. If you don't know what your point is...you are just talking to hear yourself talk! Know the point of your speech before going onstage and you'll keep your audience interested in what you have to say!

Pointedly,

Tim

Who do you love?

Fellow speaker,

While you can fall in love with your speech, it's your audience who needs your attention! "Show your love" to your audience (keeping it within acceptable standards! ;-) ) in your speeches. Remember the audience is tuned into their favorite radio station, WIIFM (What's In It For Me) and won't turn the dial just because you get up to talk to them. Broadcast on their bandwidth and watch your speaker ratings go through the roof!

WIIFMing,

Tim

Learn from others

Fellow speaker,

In order to be a better speaker, listen to great speakers! The web is filled with downloads of great speeches by great speakers, and there may be speakers you have heard of whom you admire. Listen to them "early and often," and practice speaking in their speaking style. Becoming familiar with the speaking style of others will help you on the road to developing your own, unique, personal speakingstyle.

Stylishly speaking,

Tim

Life is funny

Fellow speaker,

Life is funny...if you see it from a "funny" point of view. Take a look at the events that happen around you and try to see the humor in them. Then take that humor and use it in your speech.

A little "funny",

Tim

Tell a story

Fellow speaker,

In speaking, there is nothing so powerful as a story. A well-told story can make your speech come alive in your audience's mind...and in their hearts. Tell stories in your next speech and make your speech come alive!

Storyteller,

Tim

Putting the moves on our audience

Fellow speaker,

When you go out on stage, be aware of your voice AND our body. Focusing only on your speech will not help you when the audience is staring at YOU onstage. Think about what movements you will make onstage BEFORE you get onstage.

Moving,

Tim

Get to the point

Fellow speaker,

If you give a speech and do not know the point of your speech...you need a new speech! Make sure you know the point of your speech before you give it, so you audience has a reason to pay attention to what youare saying.

Pointedly,

Tim

Why you?

Fellow speaker,

When you go out on stage our audience only has one question..."Why am I listening to you?" If you don't answer that question quickly...you will lose our audience. So ask, "Why me?" BEFORE you go onstage so theaudience's only question is, "When will this guy/gal be speaking again? They're great!"

Talking about speaking,

Tim Wilson