October 31, 2009

Flattery will get you everywhere

Fellow speaker,

To get people to pay attention promise that you will help them get noticed.  Suggest that if they follow along with your presentation and do what you suggest, others will look up to and respect them.

Respectfully,

Tim

October 30, 2009

Feel the burn

Fellow speaker,

Understand the audience's pain and increase the audience's awareness of their pain.  Make it very clear to them exactly how painful their pain is.  Offer your speech as a "cure" to their pain.

Curing,

Tim

October 29, 2009

The story before the story

Fellow speaker,

Before you tell your story in your presentation, get your audience in the right "frame of mind".  Set up the story with a question that relates to the story:  "Have you ever been scared?  I mean REALLY scared so you didn't know what to do?  How did you feel?  What thoughts came to your mind?" and then, once you have them thinking about those questions, move into your story:  "I remember when I felt that type of fear.  I was..."

Setting it up,

Tim

October 28, 2009

Hold your head up

Fellow speaker,

Hold your head up when you are speaking!  This will make you look confident and well-informed onstage.

Heads up,

Tim

October 27, 2009

Power up!

Fellow speaker,

Use short, to the point sentences to build your speaking power.

Powerfully,

Tim

October 26, 2009

Ahs and Ums

Fellow speaker,

Eliminate the "ahs" and "ums" in your speech.  Every word you give in your presentation should give information to the audience.

Avoiding the fillers,

Tim

The higher they go

Fellow speaker,

Keep this in mind during your next executive speech:  the higher they go, the less they want to know.  So when you are talking to people who are on the "lower rungs" of the ladder, give them plenty of detail.  But as you start to talk to people further "up the rungs" use less and less detail and focus more and more on the "big picture".

Moving on up,

Tim

Emotional connection

Fellow speaker,

To connect emotionally with your audience, get into their imagination.  Paint the pictures in your story so it actively involves the listener.

Involved,

Tim

Situational success

Fellow speaker,

When presenting a story to executives professional speaker Patricia Fripp recommends "Situation, Solution, Success":
  1. Describe the situation and the problems
  2. Present a solution that satisfies the problem
  3. Show the success of the solution is
Successfully,

Tim

October 22, 2009

Management presentations

Fellow speaker,

When giving a speech to management, professional speaker Patricia Fripp suggests you ask:
  • What is the topic or subject you are reporting on?
  • Why is your topic important enough to be on the busy agenda of senior level
    managers?
  • What questions will your audience ask? How will you answer them early in
    your presentation?
 Questioning,

Tim

October 21, 2009

One sentence wonder

Fellow speaker,

Put your entire speech into one clearly understandable sentence describing it.  If you can't clearly explain your speech, you may actually have two or more speeches instead of one focused speech.  Take content out of your speech until the speech is clearly focused on one purpose and you can describe it in one sentence.

Simply,

Tim

Open and shut

Fellow speaker,

Memorize the opening and the conclusion of every presentation you give.  Don't memorize what you are going to say for every point in the middle of the speech.  Focus on the key points and use lots of examples and stories.

Semi-memorized,

Tim

October 19, 2009

What's the hold up?

Fellow speaker,

To make your speeches more interesting tell a "suspended story".   Tell part of a story at the beginning of your speech and then finish the story at the end of your speech.  Make the story:
  • Suspenseful - people should want to know what is going to happen next
  • Brief - the story should be short and to the point
  • Simple  - people should be able to easily follow the story
Suspended,

Tim

October 18, 2009

Purpose of presenting

Fellow speaker,

World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix says presenters are there to:
  • Educate
  • Inspire
  • Persuade
When doing your post-speech self-evaluation, rate yourself on how well you did each of these three things.

Self-rating,

Tim

October 17, 2009

Four questions

Fellow speaker,

To better able to understand what works and doesn't work ask:
  1. What is your goal in giving your presentation?
  2. What is working in getting you towards your goal?
  3. What is not working in getting you towards your goal?
  4. What did you learn from this performance that can take you closer to your goal?
Reviewing,

Tim

October 16, 2009

Quotes close to the source

Fellow speaker,

Quote people you know, quotes you have heard people say, or quotes that you have read recently.  This will give your speech a sense of being in the "here and now".

Recently,

Tim

Once upon a time...

Fellow speaker,

To get focused on your life story think of it as a fairy tale.  Start out saying, "Once upon a time" and fill in the rest of the story with real events from your life.

Telling the tale,

Tim

Get quizzical

Fellow speaker,

To get ideas for speeches find out more about people...ask them!  Ask them about themselves, how they decided to do what they now do, major events in their life, etc.  Ask as many questions as you can to find out more about the people who may be similar to the one's in your next audience!

Asking questions,

Tim

Idea creator

Fellow speaker,

To come up with original speech ideas:
  1. Write out a list of everyone you have worked for or been around in your life
  2. Write down what you have learned from them
  3. Write down the "turning points" in your life: a time when you made major life decisions
Thinking it up,

Tim

October 12, 2009

Question the speech

Fellow speaker,

When creating a speech which is about the someone else (i.e., not about you).  Meet with the person the speech is about and ask them questions.  Then take the answers to those questions and build them into a speech.

From the outside in,

Tim

Get it at the source

Fellow speaker,

Talk to people who are working "on the inside".  Interview clients, friends, and family members and find their great stories.

Interviewing,

Tim

October 10, 2009

First things last

Fellow speaker,

Put the most important word in your sentence last, and stress that word more than the other words in the sentence.  For example, "Put first things LAST."

Lastingly,

Tim

October 9, 2009

Roast the host

Fellow speaker,

The "roast" is a speech where you poke good-natured fun at someone in front of an audience:
  • Kid the speaker about things that are obvious lies or generally untrue
  • Make fun of the things the person you are roasting normally makes fun of
  • Only poke fun at the things that are unimportant to the person being roasted (no personal attacks)
Well roasted,

Tim

Proper props

Fellow speaker,

When using props:
  • Support the speech - only use props that relate directly to the speech
  • Timing - exactly time the prop so it is only visible when it relates directly to the speech
  • Few props - only use the props you need to make your point to keep the audience focused on the speech
  • Clean up - clean up as necessary after you use your prop
Propped,

Tim

October 7, 2009

Take a load off

Fellow speaker,

Only tell stories relevant to your speech's point.  Loading up your speech with a lot of stories with off-topic points makes it difficult for the audience to keep on track with your speech.

Unloading,

Tim

October 6, 2009

Send in reinforcements

Fellow speaker,

Use quotations to reinforce your speech's point.  A few quotations here and there in the speech are all that is needed to quickly connect with your audience.

Quotatively,

Tim

October 5, 2009

Tie back

Fellow speaker,

After you have been introduced, refer back to your introduction in your speech.  Make the introduction relevant to the speech itself.

Introducing,

Tim

October 4, 2009

If it fits...

Fellow speaker,

If something isn't relevant to your speech, leave it out, even if it is interesting information.  For example, if you are giving a speech on how to sell you don't need to mention that you were a former varsity football college champion, since that is not relevant to your talk.

Keeping it on subject,

Tim

October 3, 2009

I promise...

Fellow speaker,

When being introduced, make sure your introductions promise what the audience will learn.  For example, your introduction might start with, "Today you will learn five sure-fire ways to get your customers to buy what you are selling, every time."

Promising,

Tim

October 2, 2009

All about them

Fellow speaker,

Start out your speech introduction (the one the used to announce you to the stage) focused on the audience's needs and interests.

All about the audience,

Tim

Does that make sense?

Fellow speaker,

When doing a question and answer session, every now and then ask the person you are answering, "Does that make sense?" to make sure that they are getting your point.  Don't overdo it, but if they look puzzled or confused, follow up to make sure they are getting the answers they need.

Answering clearly,

Tim