Art Of Great Speaking

Public speaking jobs are one kind of the top paying careers as it is outlined in the famous book”top 1000 paying jobs”.the pay could go anywhere between 1000 $ to 50.000 $ or more depending on the duration as well as the amount of work put into the process of the preparation of a given speaking event.It depends also on the importance of the content of the presentation itself. Because I know the reason why you are here,I’m writing this article to help you to get yourself into the right track in your mission of finding lucrative public speaking jobs.The first thing to consider is to identify the field or the niche you are into and then look at related organizations,companies,associations…etc.Do your homework by contacting each one of the organizations that you found and see if they are looking for public speakers.Here’s a little secret of mine:Start with volunteer works with small businesses,non profit organization,universities and even libraries.The point here is to get noticed,Proclaim your expertise as a brilliant public speaker.Believe me,you will get an unbelievable exposure.Just start small and with determination and good faith,you will get the job of your dreams. Another place to look for public speaking jobs is the internet,as you may notice,the internet now is playing an integral part in finding and location jobs online,so a quick search is sufficient to find great jobs opportunities.Try typing something like”speaker wanted+your niche” or something similar.You should find what you want.for example,contact information of organizations,conferences…etc. Last and not least,and actually the most important places to go are directories.There are basically three main directories that will incredibly facilitate your research:The directory of association meeting planners,the directory of corporate meeting planners and the national trade and professional association directory. These are the quickest and the most cost effective ways to locate great public speaking jobs.So far,I hope that you found something that interested you in this little article.Good luck and thank you for taking time to read this piece of information.

SIMON GARMAH is an executive Communications Consultant and Coach. He is president of Lifestyles Communications, Inc. His public speaking jobs blog.So take the first step toward conquering your public speaking jobs.

Having read Jane Andrew’s article entitled Public Speaking is Acting, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you why the best public speakers are not acting: they are communicating.

Acting requires memorization of a script that has been marked by the actor; i.e., pause here, smile there, increase your volume, etc. In teaching public speaking, I emphasize not marking the script because I don’t want a rote delivery.

The beauty of public speaking is that your audience often determines how your material will flow; and, good public speakers know how to work with good audiences. Anecdotes or jokes may be added on the spur if the audience is highly receptive; whereas, if the audience is unresponsive, many speakers will drop some material and move in a different direction.

In that respect, good public speakers are thinking throughout their entire delivery because they are communicating. They are not trying to be someone other than themselves. They understand and value their own individuality. And, they talk to their audience just as if they were having a conversation in their living room.

Actors, on the other hand, are portraying a character other than themselves with material that is memorized. Whether their audience is laughing, smiling, or hissing, their lines will not change.

My advice?

1. Never mark your script and forget the smiley faces. While I advocate smiling during a presentation, I want you to smile because of the moment. Let it come naturally.

2. Do not memorize your presentation. Should you forget where you are, you are lost.

3. Do not read your presentation. You’re not at Barnes and Noble giving a reading. Your audience came to hear you speak to them, not read.

4. Practice your presentation OUT LOUD in the days before you are scheduled to speak so that you know, and are comfortable with, your material.

Actors are on stage for the purpose of entertaining an audience; and, while it is hopeful that good presentations are entertaining, the focus of public speaking should always be communication. The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels provides private, group and corporate training throughout the United States and Canada as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement and presentation skills. Visit her website at: http://www.voicedynamic.com For more information on Public Speaking, click the following link to gain special access to watch Nancy’s 8 minute video presentation at: http://www.voicedynamic.com/specialaccess1.htm

Your hands are shaking, your heart is racing. Your knees are jittery and there seems to be about a million butterflies in your stomach. The notes in front of you are starting to blur and the audience is getting restless – why, oh why, you think by yourself, did the boss ask me to do this presentation?

Sound familiar?

It’s one thing freaking out during an oral exam at school. It’s quite another when the success of a project, or your career, depends on your ability to speak in front of an audience.

Rest assured ­- you are not alone. Research has shown that there are many people out there who fear public speaking more than they do death!

Regardless of the career you’ve chosen, there will most likely come a time when you will be required to get up and say your piece in front of a crowd. When that time comes, you will need to speak with confidence and conviction.

With this in mind, we’ve taken a look at some tips to help you overcome your fears in order to make a killer speech, and win some praise and recognition that will benefit your career.

Practice makes perfect

This may be stating the obvious, but there is no better way to overcome your fears than by practicing your presentation beforehand.

This applies to both the content of your speech and your body language while delivering it. The former speaks for itself – be sure to know your information like the back of your hand.

The latter also makes sense, once you think about it. Simply stand in front of a mirror and practice your posture and movements. Think about how you want to come across and then rehearse this vision of yourself until you feel comfortable with it. For example – you want to:

Practice these behaviours until they start to come naturally, until they are imbedded in your subconscious, and you should have no trouble performing them on stage.

When it comes to behaviours, a lot of people find it difficult to keep their hands steady while speaking. If you are worried about what to do with your hands, and if you know from previous experience that you tend to fidget when you get nervous, find something to keep them busy.

For instance, it might help to select a smart pen to keep your hands occupied. You can shift the pen from hand to hand if you feel you have to move, and use it to gesture at some points in your presentation, and still maintain a professional image.

Visualise your success

Some experts recommend visualisation techniques to gain confidence in speaking.

Picture in your mind your audience, then visualise their positive reactions towards your message. See them listening attentively.

Now focus on yourself – picture yourself on the podium. See how relaxed and confident you are. You are making eye contact; you are full of enthusiasm and energy. What’s more, you are moving naturally and are perfectly in control.

Just breathe

Utilise the power of some simple breathing exercises before getting on stage. Breathing deeply sends more oxygen to your brain, which will help you to calm down.

Sit down for a minute and breathe in slowly and deeply five times in a row, then another five times. Concentrate only on your breathing, on the sound of the air leaving your body, on the feeling of your lungs expanding. Think of nothing else. You should start to feel more relaxed in minutes.

Give your audience some credit

Why are we afraid of speaking in public? We are afraid we will mess it up, and that we will be laughed at.

But have you ever given thought to the fact that your audience is not actually rooting for you to fail? Most people are somewhat afraid of speaking in front of an audience, and have empathy with the poor guy on stage.

Also, just because you are painfully aware of your every stutter and hesitation, don’t think that your listeners are paying such close attention. To them a pause is just a pause – they will hardly notice the fact that, for five excruciating seconds, you forgot the next point on your agenda.

View more career-related articles at Careers24.com

Changing Careers
Developing Your Career
Finding the Perfect Career
Marketing Yourself
Jeanne Calitz is the staff writer for Careers24. Careers24 is a South Africa based job and recruitment portal. Career seekers can search thousands of jobs and apply online. Recruiters can advertise jobs and search thousands of resumes to find the perfect candidate for the job.

The Top 10 PowerPoint Shortcuts You Should Know

Author: David Tracy

In my opinion, there are 4 key contributing factors to building presentations with incredible speed and efficiency. These are:

1. Practice.
2. Having a robust inventory of slides and diagrams./li>
3. Button shortcuts. This is why I still prefer 2003, because it reduces the extra step of toggling among ribbons.
4. Keyboard shortcuts.

In this article, I will list the 10 keyboard shortcuts that I use most often and that are not immediately obvious. In other words, I won’t include any shortcuts that everyone knows (e.g. Page Up, Ctrl+C).

Alright, here they are, in no particular order.

• Ctrl + arrow key Move objects pixel by pixel. You may notice, if you just select an object (e.g. shape, group, table) and hit the arrow key, the object will jump by a number of pixels.
• Ctrl + [ Decrease font size.
• Ctrl + ] And, likewise, increase font size.
• Shift + F5 Go to presentation mode on current slide.
• Shift + changing size of object Maintain ratio of object’s dimensions-i.e. a square will remain a square and not turn into a rectangle when you resize.
• Ctrl + Shift + G Group objects together (in PowerPoint 2003).
• Ctrl + Shift + H Ungroup a group objects (in PowerPoint 2003).
• Ctrl + click object with mouse Creates a duplicate copy of the object.
• Shift + changing length of line Ensures straightness of line.
• Shift + Alt + right arrow Increase indent of a bullet one level deeper.

Here is an extra bonus. Useful shortcut number 11:

• Ctrl + Shift + P Jump to the font size dropdown toolbar.

At the beginning of our discussion, I mentioned having a large inventory of created slides is instrumental in whipping together slides quickly. This, of course, takes time to collect and/or create such slides.

To speed things along, I have put together a Basic PowerPoint Toolkit, which you can freely download: http://www.learnppt.com/downloads/basictoolkit/.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/presentation-articles/the-top-10-powerpoint-shortcuts-you-should-know-2732005.html

About the Author

My name is David Tracy. For the better part of my career, I worked as a management consultant, where I focused largely on corporate strategy and M&A. In 2010, I decided to wrote an eBook called “Become a PowerPoint Guru.” You can find it at my site: http://learnppt.com.

Most of my articles here are excerpts from my eBook. You can also browse and download PowerPoint Diagram Packs from my site: http://learnppt.com/powerpoint/.

Have you ever listened to a speaker who used so many ahs or ums that you started counting them? When that happens, you then lose the ability to concentrate on what the speaker is saying. Suffice it to say that the ums or ahs become the message.

Um, ah, uh and you know are verbal tics usually heard from inexperienced speakers although I have certainly had occasion to hear them from well-known presenters too. Generally, these verbal tics are found at the end of a sentence or a paragraph but they can also be heard in the midst of a sentence as well. (If you are um-ing or ah-ing every 4-5 words however, either you really do not know your material or you need to work on your communication skills.) An occasional um or ah is not the problem. The problem occurs when we hear these interruptions in a constant or repeated pattern. This is where the counting begins.

I once had a client, a young college student, who was taking my course along with several other telesales colleagues I would video the participants on the phone in real conversation with perspective clients and then play it back. When this young man heard the number of uhs he used, (he couldn’t even say the name of the company for which he worked without an uh!), he got up, left the room, and did not return to class that evening. A basketball player with amazing drive and determination, this fellow came back the next week and surprised us all when he was able to speak on the phone with nary an um an ah! What an incredible change we witnessed.

Some presenters are afraid of silence. Admittedly, in conversation, there is always the possibility that your listener may interrupt you; but, on the podium, chances are not likely that someone will try to take over your speech or presentation. [Seminars are a bit different, however, because of the more relaxed nature of the medium in which questions are often asked during the presentation. Should you wish not to be interrupted, inform your audience that you will take questions at the end of the session.]

In public speaking, silence is known as the pause and it is a very effective means of keeping your audience’s attention. It is short, sweet and to the point, but it is there. It allows you to breathe as well as your listeners – to be bombarded with constant verbiage is tiring for your audience. While the pause can nicely fill the gap for the um or the ah, that does not mean pausing every 4-5 words because that type of rhythmic delivery will put your audience to sleep faster than your ums.

If you have a problem with a verbal tic, record yourself delivering part of your presentation. Play it back and listen for the ums. Practice your presentation again, concentrating on your words and the tics. This will take some effort because you will have to train yourself to be more cognizant of the occurrences. When you feel the need to ah, for example, just pause momentarily and then continue.

With a little determination and practice, you can rid yourself of these annoying tics. The notion that ‘silence is golden’ is truer in public speaking than you may have thought. The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels president of Voice Dynamic offers private, corporate and group session in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. For more information visit: http://www.voicedynamic.com/specialaccessvoice.htm