Gestures in public speaking out to be natural but there are some natural gestures to avoide.

Sometimes a person, sensing that gestures of any style can enhance his presenting, makes continual pointless motions with his hands. This naturally is annoying for audience members and worse than no gesturing. A speaker need not feel obliged to make overt motions continuously. Frequently his hands ought to hang in a natural way at his / her sides, but always his / her entire body ought to be in a condition of readiness to gesture. Once this condition prevails he will “believe” and respond sensibly with his body.
Any form of doodling, both with or without a pencil, is an irritating behavior that a few speakers have. The speaker who shuffles his paperwork, removes and restores his / her spectacles periodically, rattles the change in their own pocket, scratches his scalp regularly, twirls his / her key chain, drums the stand with his / her fingers, gives his hands dry wipes, paces in a routine as he / she speaks, or even makes any unnecessary motions repeatedly, actually creates needless competition for himself. Clearly such movements shortly attract attention from a crowd and might result in listeners to think only -when is he going to cease that.
Generally, however, whenever a speaker is vitally interested in communicating ideas to an audience he / she will have neither the interest nor time to engage in distracting physical mannerisms. But even a professional speaker may have established a distracting habit so firmly he can continue it while seriously communicating. In such a case his / her coach or someone else should call his attention to the habit. Next, by becoming painfully aware of the mannerism, he / she could defeat it.
Any inclination a speaker might have to wrap himself/herself up should be avoided. Holding a speaker’s lectern and hanging on, for instance, will occupy the hands to such an degree they simply won’t bother to produce any illustrative or emphatic movements. Clasping the hands in front of the body, at the rear of the back, or folding the arms are habits that motivate a presenter to make use of little if any bodily action. A successful speaker isn’t like a soldier at parade rest, or an Indian chief during a peace treaty. However his manner is similar to that of an able boxer in boxing ring that is constantly prepared to move any part of his/her body harmoniously with the particular situation.

Hope you are enjoying these tips on movement in public speaking. If you want to know more check out my weekly newsletter to have the tips delivered direct to your inbox by entering your details on the right.

In a previous post I showed how an illustration can be an effective way to begin a speech but:

Of course, using an illustration is not the only effective way to start a speech. A question which causes an audience to think will get attention.
For example, a student speaker started by asking this question, “Do you know how long it takes a fly to crawl from one end of a seven inch banana to the other?”
This was a simple question but it caused listeners to think and wonder. After asking the question the speaker paused for a few moments, giving listeners time to think. Then he answered his own question, “It takes a fly exactly thirty-six seconds to crawl from one end of a banana to the other, because I watched one do it last week in the L, and L Cafe.”
This was the beginning of a very interesting and helpful talk about keeping food clean.
A housewife started a speech called “How to Stretch the Kitchen Dollar,” by pushing a handful of coins from a table into a metal wastebasket and asking at the same time, “Is this hap¬pening in your kitchen?”
The audience willingly watched and listened. In addition to asking a thought stimulating question this speaker used a visual aid which usually gets undivided attention.
This was an interesting beginning, whereas a dull, trite way to start a speech on saving money in the kitchen could be as follows: “Every day, everywhere, people are wasting money in their kitchens. Considering the high cost of living, this, of course, makes staying on a budget very difficult. But I suppose this is not a new trend. According to psychologists, being careless may be a natural trait of humanity, although there are probably different opinions in this respect.” And so on.
This latter method merely presents general opinions. The ideas are not specific. Nothing happens. This approach is somewhat like the .one a college student actually made when he attempted to answer an examination question: “It is, well, on the other hand it could be, but perhaps usually in most cases, it is strictly an enigma.” What an indirect way to say, “I don’t know.”

Have you ever used a question to start your presentation or a speech? How did you get on? Did it make the audience think?

Dave turned and faced the group. As he looked at the 24 people seated in the meeting room, he felt his pulse quicken, his hands grew damp, and his face hot. Remembering an old public speaking trick he read in a magazine, he tried to imagine the group in their underwear. Now his face grew even hotter and he was certain his neck was starting to splotch red. “Good afternoon,” he began. “Today we’re going to talk about the scope of the project and the timeline.” Starting the power point helped calm his nerves somewhat, and he turned and read most of the slides to the group, elaborating a little as necessary. Halfway through the presentation, he gazed again at the audience, who seemed to be caught halfway between nodding off and eager to leave. Looking at their expressionless faces escalated his nervousness. Several people glanced at their phones, “Wondering how much longer I’m going to talk,” he thought nervously. Thirty-five minutes later, he finally ended by saying, “Any questions?” Relieved that not a hand was raised, he closed with, “Okay, that’s all I have.” He watched as people gathered their things and hastily left the room, their silence speaking volumes about the dryness of his public speaking abilities. What he failed to realize was all the time and energy he put into creating interesting power point slides had been wasted. A boring delivery nullifies even the best of graphics and is a complete time waster, not only for the presenter, but for the audience as well. This article provides three simple tips that will increase effectiveness for any speaker or leader of meetings.

Tip #1: Make Them Glad They Came!

Do you have time to spend attending unproductive meetings? Neither do the people with whom you work. Make them 1) thankful they attended, and, 2) willing to attend future meetings, by having an actual opening and closing to your presentation and peppering your talk with little examples. The simplest and most impactful way to do this is to tell a short story. And don’t say, “I’m going to tell you a short story that demonstrates why this topic is important.” Just launch into the story! An example might be: “4:00am Tuesday morning, plant employees walked into our Michigan facility and clocked in for their shift. What happened four minutes later shocked us all and created a public relations nightmare from which our organization is still recovering…”

Tip #2: Don’t Talk To Your Slides!

The verdict is in – slides are nice, but they are not the presentation – you are. The goal is to be perceived as though you are a leader, having a powerful conversation with your audience, as if the group were really a single individual. Turning your back to your audience only creates distance between you and them instead of the connection you both need to make and participate in an effective presentation. Don’t insult your audience’s intelligence by reading to them. Instead, provide a handout when you are going to talk about something specific like a chart or graph, or refer to the specific web page if your presentation is online.

Tip #3: Get Over Yourself!

Most people feel nervous because they worry about evaluation. Their motives are more about what people think about them than helping the individuals whose time they are taking. Being successful in front of a group is all about having your purpose and your motives lined up correctly. If your information is helpful to them or the organization, make sure they know about the connection. Fear is often a reflection of not enough speaking experience, misplaced negative evaluation thoughts, or the wrong motives in delivering the talk. Deal with the root of that nervousness to be effective as a public speaker. Currently, only a very few presentations are considered, “Excellent” or “Memorable,” so with a little training, coaching and enthusiasm, you can go a long way in making yourself stand out amongst the other presentations your audience will endure in their careers.

Bottom Line: Think about your audience first and get training if you need it! The best communicators often have the most influence, so keep improving your public speaking skills. Nick Ruotolo is a trainer with Greater Impact Ministries, Inc. He is filled with enthusiasm about helping younger workers avoid common mistakes while encouraging those in the middle or at the end of their careers discover a new enthusiasm, passion for excellence and purpose in their lives. Nick finds the growth that occurs in others through THE GREATER IMPACT COURSETM invigorating and inspiring and revels in helping others to achieve greater success.

Business speakers are only as good as their ability to communicate effectively. It does not necessarily follow that an expert on business matters has the know-how to engage, educate and entertain an audience.

Some of the world’s greatest business minds can ooze confidence and excel as practitioners of business, yet can become shivering wrecks whilst standing behind a lectern facing an unassuming and docile audience.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear from the outset ~ quality business speakers are not born with a natural ability to captivate and inform an audience. They have learnt the essential skills required for a polished public speaking performance and then practise and perfect their art.

What follows are the basics of giving a public presentation as a business speaker, together with some simple suggestions on how to acquire a noticeable air of confidence whilst presenting in public.

Firstly, as a business speaker you need not only to establish the title of your talk but also the objective of the presentation. e.g. the title may be ‘The Alpha Widget’ and the objective could be ‘To familiarise delegates with the benefits of using the Alpha Widget’.

You can establish the objective as a business speaker by simply asking ‘by the end of my presentation what would you like delegates to do or what would you prefer them to be thinking?’

Establish early how many minutes your business speaker masterpiece is expected to last.

In preparation for the task ahead clear your desk of all clutter and you are already on the road to becoming a polished business speaker admired by many.

Write the title of your talk and speech objective as a business speaker onto separate Post-its (or scrap papers), and then place them in the centre of your now cleared desk.

Carry out a brainstorming session by writing anything that comes to mind that is connected to your title or business speaker objectives onto additional Post-its and place them around your title and defined objective.

Once you have covered your desk you will then need to cull. Get rid of anything that is not central to the objectives of your presentation as a business speaker.

Take into account the amount of time that that the event organisers have set aside for your speech, and the time allocated to you, the business speaker, at the end of your talk to take questions from the audience etc.

Consider each Post-it as no more then two to three minutes in time and this will help you improve your time management skills as a business speaker.

Establish order in your business speaker presentation by separating the Post-its and creating a beginning, middle and end in your speech. The beginning might be related to what existed prior to the production of the Alpha Widget, the middle a reference to the main advantages of the new product, and the end perhaps some reference to the future benefits the delegates will achieve when they use the fantastic Alpha Widget.

Now add a Post-it or two to the very beginning of your speech introducing yourself – the business speaker to the audience, together with a brief overview of the content of your talk. (Known as the gestalt).

Add one or two Post-its thoughts at the end of your talk to act as a finale. The conclusion provided by a business speaker usually consists of little more than a brief summary of the presentation and an equally short ‘thank you for listening’ comment or an ‘any questions in the time remaining?’ type statement.

Look again at your timings as a business speaker. If you anticipate one particular Post-it needs to be allocated more than a few minutes this may mean some other Post-it(s) will need to be cut.

When you are totally satisfied and confident about the content and likely duration of your presentation produce an aide-mémoire.

The best business speakers don’t normally use notes but it is perfectly acceptable for a less experienced business speakers to use one or two index cards showing a few words, usually written in very large letter with varying colours, to act as a prompt and assist in the quick retrieval of information, if required.

Even the top, experienced business speakers rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again. Check your talk timings carefully, and know your material well.

On the day of the event, a good business speaker will arrive at the venue very early to check everything is set up and ready. If you are using slides with PowerPoint make sure they are loaded onto a computer and you understand the workings of other people’s remote devices that are used to forward and reverse a slide during the speeches.

To be effective as a business speaker don’t use more than ten words per slide. Audiences quickly get bored with too many words and always prefer meaningful pictures and illustrations to emphasis a point.

Direct your business speaker presentation to the whole audience and yet try to make each and every delegate feel as if you are addressing them as individuals. The best way to do this is by randomly looking at different sections of an audience and establishing the briefest of eye contacts with as many delegates as possible.

Build rapport as a business speaker by sharing humorous observations and create audience participation by asking the odd open question e.g. ‘Anyone been in a situation where they wished they had something like an Alpha Widget to help them out of a tricky situation?’

Talk as if people in the audience are your best friend of many years standing and they will quickly warm to you and make your job as the impressive business speaker that much easier.

Whatever you do as a business speaker don’t read, especially from your slides. Remember notes are an aide-mémoire; nothing more, and the top, very best business speakers don’t use them at all.

Don’t detract from your performance as a business speaker by trying too hard. If you have purposefully prepared, know your material, and rehearsed as I advised, you will appear that much more confidant to a grateful audience who has a thirst for knowledge.

Stop hiding behind a lectern. Stand near the front of the stage, with your legs slightly apart, displaying open arm gestures, and you will appear honest and genuine as a business speaker. (Check out short videos of quality business speakers on the Internet to better understand why I recommended this style of deportment).

If you intend to move away from the lectern make sure you are fitted with a radio mike and the lighting engineers are expecting you to move.

Vary the tone and speed of your delivery as a business speaker, and carefully watch the energy levels of your audiences, injecting humour, witty observations and the like to regain full audience attention if required.

Whatever you do, don’t get too carried away when the audience look as if they are really enjoying your skills and expert knowledge as a business speaker. When you get to the end of your allotted time say something along the lines of ‘in conclusion’ or ‘finally’ and know that, at best, you have no more than two minutes to stop and humbly accept the applause.

So in conclusion, from one business speaker to another, I wish you every success with your presentation. Business speaker John Bell has been educating and entertaining audiences for over 26 years.

You can learn more about business speaker John Bell and watch videos of him performing at his website www.johnbellspeaker.com

By visiting his site www.johnbellspeaker.com you will also have the opportunity to read some of the many testimonials he has received from delighted meeting organisers together with a ‘no obligation’ option to temporarily hold his services for your meeting.

We all know that a picture is worth 1000 words.But, do we really convert a picture into 1000 words? Do we pick up the right picture that equals this number of words? Studies conducted all over the world show that integrating visual aids into presentations can dramatically enhance the effectiveness and the efficiency of a given presentation by up to 50%. So you can see the unfair advantage that a presenter who uses visual aids over the one who does not. Massive difference, right? With all that being said, we must bring into the table the fact that most of today’s presenters misuse these graphics; therefore, screw everything up and consequently, instead of boosting up their presentation’s effectiveness, they reduce it to the nadir, by getting less or no impact on the audience.

The above reason brings us to what this little article is written for? Simply put, to help get the most out of your presentation using visual aids as the experts in this game do. So the followings are some tips that if put into practice can produce the desired outcomes.

-Create visuals that help them understand better what you utter. What you say should align what is in the graphics.

-Make sure that each visual communicates only one idea. Do not puzzle them with too much ideas conveyed within one graphic.

-Choose the best visuals that suit your audience, objectives and environment. Too many complications won’t serve your expectations.

-Bear in mind that the most important element in the presentation is YOU. Do not let the graphics to take the focus away foam you. They may be the most important tools, but what you say must be more important than your tools.

-And finally, make sure that your visuals are working before you enter the presentation room.Otherwise; you know what going to happen.

In summary, The are just aids. no more, no less.undoubtedly,good visuals are able to determine the final results of your presentation.So,use them smartly. And remember, visuals are to add, not to block, communication. SIMON GARMAH is an executive Communications Consultant and Coach. He is president of Lifestyles Communications, Inc. which helps individuals communicate in the new global and virtual world. His fear public speaking blog.So take the first step toward conquering your fear of public speaking

Public speaking ranks right up there with death in terms of the things we are terribly afraid to do. Whether it’s the fear of being watched closely by others, or the insecurity and self-conscious feeling of slipping up during the presentation, these six tips will help you give a polished, professional speech that you (and your audience) can be proud of!

1. Know your audience. This is the single best piece of advice for delivering a presentation that really hits home. What are their interests? Their backgrounds? Why are they coming to hear you speak or present? What ideas do you have to share with them? Approaching your speech as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast will make it more manageable (and less stressful) and easier on you.

2. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your speech? What’s really at the heart of your presentation? By concentrating on the end result rather than slogging through the beginning, you can create a powerful punch that drives home your message instead of rambling on and losing your audience’s interest (or missing the point entirely!)

3. Share a story. In public speaking circles, this is called a “hook” �” something that gets your audience’s attention and makes them sit up and listen. Start off by asking questions or sharing an experience you had. People like to be active, rather than passive listeners. By giving them something that they can identify with, you’ll find that these people are, in essence �” just like you! And that makes giving a presentation a whole lot easier. Just be sure your story has a beginning, a point, and an ending. There’s nothing quite as bad as telling a story to an engaged audience and then forgetting why you told it!

4. If you’re selling a product, focus on the benefits instead of the features. People would much rather hear WHAT a product can do for them than HOW it does it. Narrow down your product’s features until you get to the core of how it solves a problem. If you need help with figuring out the difference between a feature and a benefit, ask yourself “So What?” For example, if you’re selling a vacuum cleaner that has a hypoallergenic filter, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself “so what?” The answer would be something like, “It picks up dust, mold and pet dander”. Again, so what? Answer, You’ll feel relief from runny nose and sneezing plus itchy, water eyes. Now THATs a benefit!

5. Don’t lean too heavily on media to make your message clear. PowerPoint presentations are great for making specific points, but they can be overwhelming �” or downright boring. Instead, give your audience something to DO by providing them with fill-in-the-blank flip charts or “team activities”. These help reinforce and emphasize your message in ways that a computer presentation simply cannot.

6. Above all, make sure your speech ends in a way that reiterates the beginning. Too often, speakers get carried away with the details and leave their audiences asking, “What was the point of all that?” People naturally digest information in “chunks”, so focus on the big picture rather than all the pieces. If the details are just as important, save it for an after-speech handout that the audience can take with them and read over at their leisure.

If you keep these six tips in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time overcoming your fear of public speaking, but you’ll have a very appreciative audience who will in turn be more receptive and eager to try your product or service. Go get ‘em! All Managers Are Customers Too Whatever business you are in, you will find that there is one key cause of your success.

How your customers experience your business and service.

Many departments and companies have processes in place for assessing their services to their customers. However very often the measures in place don’t reflect what the customer perceives to be important. They don’t reflect the true benefit and often processes which suit the business, are not customer-friendly, however much they suit the internal needs. What has the customer experienced? In addition, the key for an excellent customer experience is in the relationship between person/department/company and their customer. I had a new washing machine delivered recently. It arrived the day and time slot the company stated. Great! If the company measures ‘did they deliver when they stated they would’ they would have a 100% service. The managers will be proud of themselves!! However, what they didn’t measure was my satisfaction. The delivery driver was the most miserable person I had met in ages. He obviously wasn’t passionate about his job. He left muddy footprints on my carpet. So was I happy? No! They may have delivered on the right day/time but my overall experience was poor. Will I be using the same company again? I doubt it. Do the managers of the company know? No! They think they are providing a fantastic service because they are only measuring their processes, which suit them internally. One of the keys to creating an excellent customer relationship is the interface between the customer and their point of contact within the company. One way to avoid this issue is to ask your employees what gets in the way of making the very best of relationships with their customers. What do they need more of (as well as less of) to deliver exemplary customer service?

Another valuable way to approach this is to ask your people what they find works well for them when they themselves are customers, as we all are, elsewhere. What was good about it and what did they think could have been done better. Also, ask the customer! What was the experience like for them? You could ask them to complete a questionnaire. However, a great way would be to ring them a few days later. Finally, experiencing the customer journey through their experience is probably one of the most value-creating actions that can be taken.

For employees to watch, listen and even act out the experience of one of the customers they would normally be serving, is a very enlightening role they can play.

This can be achieved by taking them out of their usual working role, for a while, and getting them to watch or listen to what happens when their customer starts the interaction. They then really share the experience and start to notice how things could be different.

If that can then be brought into a discussion forum where several share their experiences and propose changes, there are the ingredients for continuing progress and change.

Most employees want to do a great job. They want their customers to leave satisfied, thrilled even, wanting to do business again in the future.

Enabling your people to spend time getting all the pieces in place for their customer, really understanding how to meet their needs fully and even exceptionally is a way to get them motivated and excited to be part of your team. It builds team spirit and morale.

Using the capabilities of your own people, to give better service through sharing their thoughts and ideas, is a valuable exercise – and one, which creates untold value in your business for the future. It is easy to establish such a way of working. Be the person to instigate such an activity. Make sure you implement some of the ideas suggested. Track the benefits as a result. You will be seen as the manager who ‘makes things happen’.

Andrew Rondeau transformed himself from a $4 an-hour petrol-pump attendant to a highly successful Senior Manager earning $500k every year. Discover How to Maximize Your Income and Minimize Your Effort by receiving Andrew’s free e-Course and report: http://www.greatmanagement.org/

Have you always dreamed of being a successful inspirational speaker on professional development? There are a large number of people who have had this dream and succeeded at it. Individuals like John C. Maxwell, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, and Jim Rohn are all motivational speakers on professional development. These individuals, and others in the industry, engage in a number of activities like authoring books, holding conventions, and similar events in order to share their insight as a leader and expert in the field of professional development. If they can do it, so can you! Here, I will share some secrets on how to be a successful inspirational speaker on professional development.

If we have to become a successful inspirational speaker on professional development, then we must see to that we have some information that has value, the information we convey must motivate others so that other’s benefit from your message. No one is a born a inspirational speaker, it is only some who are lucky to be gifted with this quality can become. Your speech must encourage and revitalize every individual to reach out to success and not holdback anyone from reaching their goal.

Having a special niche to become an inspirational speaker is the next step to ensure success towards becoming successful inspiration speaker. Every one of us are interested towards something that is more exciting to us. Your interest becomes a passion and this passion may be generally by different activities that we do like books that we read, people we meet, conferences or seminars that we attend. There are varieties of topics one can begin with to increase their public speaking but choosing a special niche is important. It is sure that one can become a successful inspirational speaker and reach crossroads in life if he puts all his efforts in the initial stage.

Another way of becoming a successful inspiration speaker on professional development is to make sure that you prepare yourself as preparation is very much necessary especially if you want to make your speech a motivating and inspire others. Don’t forget that Preparation is the key to success to become a inspirational speaker. This will not only build your confidence but also establish you as a successful speaker. Turn your speech into a motivational message by creating an outline of all your ideas.

If you want to be an inspirational speaker on professional development, there are many things that should be kept in mind. The items mentioned in this article are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your own professional development.

Remember no one who is a successful inspirational speaker was born that way; it’s your turn to become a successful inspirational speaker now just visit the website http://www.newonlinelife.net and become a successful inspirational speaker now!

Dr. Richard Baiz has nearly 34 years experience as educational administrator, governmental lobbyist, official entrepreneur and corporate consultant. He loves to share his comprehensive plan to become a successful inspirational speaker. Do you want to become an Inspirational speaker the visit the website http://www.newonlinelife.net now!

Know that public speaking is the number one human fear. So if you have ever been or are a bit nervous about giving presentations in public, realize you are not alone. Most people have the same problem. Continued below is our Top 10 tips to making presenting easy and comfortable for both you and the audience.

Tip No. 6: Delivering visuals

So now you have a nice, clearly designed visual. How do you mechanically deal with that visual? What do you do physically to present it to the audience? Should you look at the visual? Should you talk to the screen? Should you not talk to the screen?

We suggest that you keep the following things in mind when it comes to delivery with visuals: As soon as your visual is presented on the screen, whether it be from a laptop, or from a slide projector, or even from an overhead projector, your audience will immediately focus one hundred per cent of their attention on the screen.

So you effectively disappear from the room. You vaporize. You could drop your pants, you can blow your nose – it doesn’t matter, because until everyone in the audience has figured out for themselves exactly what all that information means, you’re effectively not there.

Tip No. 7: Effects

Keep in mind: if there are too many bells and whistles, if there is too much movement, if there are too many sounds, if there are too many things going on, people will be more interested in figuring out how to do that with their own presentations then they will be in the actual knowledge you are presenting.

And that’s if your dramatic appliqués are good. Most of the time, effects just add confusion, or worse yet, disconnection. Make sure that your message is more important and of value to the audience than the design features of your presentation.

Tip No. 8: Pointers

We still see some people using the old wooden pointer. We have seen people actually snap that wooden pointer in half. We have also seen people play collapsible pointers like an accordion. The point is, you don’t need a pointer.

An effectively designed and delivered presentation eliminates the need for pointers of any kind. Your data should call attention to themselves. Laser pointers seem to be very popular these days, but very rarely does anybody in the audience like them. In fact, they are pretty annoying to most people and even a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon can’t hold those things still.

Tip No. 9: Hardware

One of the things that you definitely want to make sure is that you show up early to your presentation. Make sure all of the equipment is in working order, the overhead projector, the laptop whatever it is you are using. Check everything out yourself. Just because the banquet manager came in ten minutes ago and told you everything was working last night doesn’t mean it is actually going to work.

We can’t tell you how many times, and we’ve traveled everywhere from India to Indiana teaching seminars, somebody told us something was working, and it did not.

So for that reason you have to show up early and make sure everything is working. Make sure that you can actually work it. Make sure that you actually see it working. It is up to you and it is your responsibility because when you start your presentation you can’t say say, “Well you know, somebody in the banquet department told me just a few minutes ago that this was working.” Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be caught off guard.

Tip No. 10: The Q&A process

This process can be very, very difficult because when you are making a presentation, you are in essence in control. You have designed that presentation. You have created some excellent visuals. You know your presentation well enough to know what’s coming next.

The problem with Q&A is that it is the unknown. You don’t know what is going to happen. Somebody can throw you a question out of left field. Perhaps someone can make you look bad. There is so many unknowns that we need a system to be able to deal with that unknown, and be sure that you look good in the process.

One of the first things you need to know is what to do when somebody asks you a negative question. Many of us were taught to repeat the question back to the questioner. Do you suppose there might be something else we could do other then repeat a negative question? If you repeat that negative question, what are you doing? You are in essence confirming that it might be true.

Now actually repeating a question is not always a bad idea. It gives you time to think. It gives the rest of the audience a chance to hear what the question is. But if the question imparts a negative, there is another way.

Instead of repeating the question verbatim, try this: Listen closely to the question so that you are hearing not just the words, but the essence of the question. Ask yourself what is at the kernel of the question when all the negative, inaccurate, untrue or personal agenda items are stripped away. Then rephrase the question around that kernel, signaling to the audience that you are actually searching deeper into the topic that the questioner did!

Because Q&A typically is the last thing that happens in a presentation, it is so important and vital you end on a positive note. We can’t tell you how many times a presentation which started off well didn’t end that way, because it all fell apart in Q&A.

About the Author

J. Douglas Jefferys is a principal at PublicSpeakingSkills.com, an international consulting firm specializing in training businesses of all sizes to communicate for maximum efficiency. The firm spreads its unique knowledge through on-site classes, public seminars, and high-impact videos, and can be reached through the Internet or at 888-663-7711.

Know that public speaking is the number one human fear. So if you have ever been or are a bit nervous about giving presentations in public, realize you are not alone. Most people have the same problem.

In a survey from the Book of Lists, people were asked, “What are you most afraid of?” Public speaking was the number one answer. In fact, fear of death was sixth on the list. In other words, you are not alone.

So we congratulate you on taking the first step to improving yourself in this area. Let’s talk about the Ten Tips and how they can begin to help you right away.

Tip No. 1: Eye contact.

When the majority of people are up in front of a group they start their physical activity by rapidly scanning the room with their eyes. They spray the audience with their vision. Look: adrenaline is already shooting through your body, you’re anxious and nervous. Spraying the room with your “aerosol eyes” simply compounds the problem. It makes it worse. Very quickly your brain becomes overwhelmed with all of this visual input: different faces, different colors, different clothes, different countenances.

What you need to do is find an anchor and to lock in on one individuals eyes. You need to slow down, get your bearings. You will then have a chance to channel your nervous energy.

In other words: look at just one person, look at their eyes, speak to one person at a time. Then pause, and find the next individual. Instead of speaking to a group… have a series of one-on-one conversations with the individual members of the audience. And if your eyes aren’t locked, your jaw must be!

Tip No. 2: Gesturing:

What do you do with your arms, your hands or your feet and the rest of you body? Typically men put their hands in their pockets. We often see the fig leaf position, or the ‘phone booth’, in which presenters hug themselves with both arms.

You will also see people do all kinds of nervous fidgeting with their hands, with their arms. They really don’t know what to do. What we suggest is that you do use your arms and hands, but that you use gestures to specifically emphasize the things that you are talking about.

If you are speaking about a big opportunity, let’s see how big that opportunity is. If you are speaking about an increase, let’s make sure that your gesture reflects that specific increase by its altitude from the floor.

Use emphatic gestures and use gestures to describe things. Then when you are not using your arms or there is no need to, simply allow them to drop naturally to the side into what we term the neutral position.

Tip No. 3: Inflection and volume

Have you ever been to presentation where the presenter spoke in a monotone, “It’s- great-to-see-everybody-Thank-you-very-much-for-coming-today-I-have-some-exciting-news-for-you.” BOOOORING!

You want to increase your volume, and increase your voice inflection, which means the variance in the pitch or the tone of your voice. It is more interesting, more exciting to listen to a presenter that has passion and feeling in their voice. Speak to your audience with belief and you will soon see they will share that belief.

Tip No. 4: Humor and jokes

We receive a lot of questions about this. “Should I start with a joke?” Should I loosen things up with some humor in the beginning?”

Let me ask you…How many people do you know who can actually come into a room full of strangers and pull off a joke? It is what we call a Break Even / Lose proposition. If it works you haven’t gained much: if it doesn’t work you can lose your audience for the entire presentation. It’s risky business.

It’s a high stakes gamble. We suggest if you like using humor, feel out your audience first. If you feel humor might be appropriate, use humor. But using humor up front can be very, very difficult. You are at your highest state of nervousness, your audience is sizing you up and remember first impressions last forever. Many audiences feel that using humor or jokes in business signals you are not taking them seriously.

The type of humor that is most effective is self deprecation. Make fun of yourself. We are not suggesting you call yourself an idiot or the audience may say to themselves “He sure is” and you’ve lost them. Just don’t take yourself so seriously. A lot of times we will joke about the fact that our writing isn’t that good or my ability to draw is awful. Typically if people have been with us in a two day seminar, they already know that. So go ahead and make fun of yourself. It is a safe form of humor to use.

Tip No. 5: Designing visuals

How many times have you been to a presentation where the presenter is literally confused by her own visual? They look up at the screen and they say, “Well what you have here is, well, gee, I’m not sure, well what I meant is…” – what is that presenter doing? They are essentially saying that they haven’t taken the time to simplify and become familiar with their own visuals and now they expect you to look at it and understand it.

The point is to keep your visuals simple in design. You don’t want an unsolved mystery up on the screen. Make sure that it is very clear and keep in mind that people read from top to bottom and left to right. Design your visuals to be read that way.

Make those visuals easy to understand. Your talk doesn’t need to be simple, but the visuals you use to cue your audience to hear what you’re saying do.

About the Author

J. Douglas Jefferys is a principal at PublicSpeakingSkills.com, an international consulting firm specializing in training businesses of all sizes to communicate for maximum efficiency. The firm spreads its unique knowledge through on-site classes, public seminars, and high-impact videos, and can be reached through the Internet or at 888-663-7711.

It is no secret that motivational speakers who are successful can really enjoy a wonderful career as a result. Besides being able to be your own boss, you get to make money doing what you love-speaking in front of and sharing your experiences with others. The perks of a career in motivational speaking are plentiful and well-known, but what is not always so obvious is what makes some motivational speakers into the top motivational speakers in the country. Let’s explore some of the techniques that have helped to make these men and women into such great motivational speakers.

First of all, it is important that even the best motivational speakers remember the fundamentals of public speaking. These include moving your eye contact and field of view around the room, so that you can connect with the entire audience. Also, it is obviously important to use hand gestures and humor to establish a rapport with the audience, and help them to remain entertained by what you are saying to them. Although elite motivational speakers almost always have the fundamentals down, a lot of the reason that this is true is because they reinforce these fundamentals through practice.

The best motivational speakers are experts at tailoring their messages for a variety of groups and events. For instance, it is only reasonable to expect that you will not always have the same type of audience from event to event. You may speak for educational professionals at one event, a retired persons group at another, and then high school students at yet another event. Each of these particular groups of people have to be approached in a different way for you to reach them with your message. That must be taken into account when you are writing your speech, and also when you are delivering your speech.

Also, some events call for a different approach to speaking style. For a group of students, for example, it may behoove you to adopt a very casual style, and to also include some humor during your speech. For other speeches, you may want a more formal approach, although in general, motivational speakers use a casual speaking style.

The number one thing to do to join the ranks of top motivational speakers is to practice. By practicing your craft, you will only get better at what you do. Also, when you speak, your audience will be able to tell that you practiced beforehand.

About the Author

Read more information about all types of professional speakers, including Sales Motivational SpeakersMotivational Keynote Speakers at http://www.speakersbureautraining.com and and Motivational Keynote Speakers at http://www.speakersbureautraining.com

<strong>Author: <a title=”Nancy Daniels” href=”authors/nancy-daniels/50874″>Nancy Daniels</a></strong><br />

<p>I once met a man who told me that his soft-spoken voice made others become quiet and pay attention to him. It took everything in my power not to laugh in his face. In today’s loud, fast-paced, hectic world, being soft-spoken is definitely not a strength, especially in America. To be constantly asked to repeat yourself is one of the reasons others take over the conversation.</p>
<p>Imagine watching a movie and the volume is not quite loud enough to be able to understand the actors’ words. That is exactly what is happening when you speak and others cannot hear you. To solve the problem with the movie, you simply turn up the volume. Unfortunately, it is not quite that simple with the speaking voice because your inner ear has spent a lifetime being most comfortable with your softer volume level.</p>
<p>Your inner ear is the way you perceive your voice – its timbre, volume, and other qualities. Unfortunately, your inner ear is a poor judge of how you actually sound to everyone else. When you speak, the voice you hear in your head is sound vibrating in the solid and liquid of the brain – distorted sound.</p>
<p>What you hear on your answering machine, voicemail, or other form of recording equipment, however, is sound traveling through the air. And, you do not recognize that voice because it is foreign to you. It is not how your inner ear perceives your voice.</p>
<p>The answer is to train yourself to accept a larger volume of sound. Admittedly, your inner ear will revolt in the beginning because you will think that you are shouting or that you are speaking too loudly. This is why recording yourself is the 1st step in re-training your inner ear to appreciate that increase.</p>
<p>I suggest you record a TV broadcaster’s voice and then record yourself directly following the professional. When you make the recording, be sure that the volume for the broadcaster is at a comfortable listening level. Then when you record yourself, place the microphone the same distance from yourself as it was from your speakers.</p>
<p>Play it back and adjust the volume output according to the professional’s voice. Then listen to your volume. Were you softer than the other voice? If so, can you appreciate the need to speak in a ‘normal’ volume level if you expect to be heard? Notice that I said normal, not loud.</p>
<p>I do not want anyone speaking loudly. Loud hurts your listeners’ ears. Your goal is not to speak loudly but to speak with a normal amount of volume. If you expect your message to be heard, it will not happen until you are ready to accept that increase.</p>

<p>Article Source: <a href=”http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/if-you-are-softspoken-your-message-is-not-being-heard-2220097.html” title=”If You Are Soft-Spoken, Your Message Is Not Being Heard”>http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/if-you-are-softspoken-your-message-is-not-being-heard-2220097.html</a></p>

<strong>About the Author</strong><br />
<p>The Voice Lady <strong>Nancy Daniels</strong> offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as <strong>Voicing It!</strong>, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit <a href=”http://www.voicedynamic.com/specialaccessvolume.htm”>Voice Dynamic</a> and watch Nancy as she describes <strong>Your Volume Control.</strong></p></body>
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Colette_Morris

So you’ve got to give a speech in public? Once your stomach stops churning, here are some public speaking tips that should make your job easier.

1. Outline your speech Write out what you are going to talk about. Your outline should cover all the points you want to make in your speech. Ideally in a reasonably logical order.

2. Make notes One of the easiest ways is to use old-fashioned 3×5 index cards. Each one should have a bullet point on it that you can expand on. If you’re using a PowerPoint slide show then this should give you the basis for your notes.

3. Practice your presentation Stand in front of a mirror and practice your speech. If you’re likely to be embarrassed, do this while no-one else is at home. Speaking out loud is a necessary part of this practice. Sure, it may be uncomfortable the first few times you try it but you’ll get better as you go along. Note where you stumble – this gives you pointers for where you need to change your speech slightly.

4. Talk to one person It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking in a business meeting with one other person or addressing hundreds or even thousands of people. Talk as though you are talking face to face with one person. Apart from anything else, you’ve done this all your life so it should be easier. If you’ve got a large audience, focus on one person and talk to them.

5. Stay away from humor Unless you’re a renowned after dinner speaker, humor is best left out of your speech. Not everyone shares the same sense of humor – otherwise Friends and South Park wouldn’t both still be on air – so keep it out of your presentation.

6. Don’t fidget If you’ve got a podium then there’s a natural place to put your hands. If you haven’t, be aware of what your doing with your hands and don’t fidget with them or gesture too much. Fidgeting makes you look nervous!

7. If you stumble, carry on Most of your audience will be relieved that it’s not them giving the speech. If you stumble, recover as fast as you can. Do your best not to get flustered and make sure you keep your place in your speech so you can recover from any glitches quickly.

8. Keep it short Unless you’ve been told that you absolutely have to speak for a set amount of time, stick to the idea that less is more. Don’t bore your audience. Ideally they should be wanting more when you’ve finished your set speech.

9. Don’t resort to alcohol Tempting as it may be to have a shot of something before you take to the stage, it’s better to be 100% sober and in control.

10. Ignore distractions Unless the fire alarm has just sounded and you all need to leave the building, keep going! Keep your speech going as planned. Don’t panic if one or two of your audience walk out – they may just have had an urgent message or need to answer a call of nature. And make sure your cell phone is turned off as well!

About the Author

Get more public speaking tips and lots of useful public speaking strategies to make your next speech memorable.

My latest obsession is public speaking. I don’t know what hit me, but I’m finding myself making excuses to speak in front of people. As with photographing people, I started, because I was afraid of it, and I had over come that fear by just doing it (repeatedly), until I fell in love with the act and couldn’t stop. Public speaking is similar. I’ve extracted out some useful tips from “Podium Tactics From 28 Public-Speaking Pros“. These are general tips from the speakers. I will cover specific techniques in a later blog post.

• “..putting aside a lack of confidence and delivering a message more important than your feelings and sensitivity. It’s about recognizing that your presentation is meant to help someone.”, George Foreman
• “The single most important thing you can do is put yourself in other people’s heads and hearts. I think about what they truly need, not what I want to talk about. Whatever size the group, whether five or 5,000 people, you have to at least try to imagine what each of those individuals are there for.”, Tony Robbins, motivational speaker and life coach
• “If you believe in something, you can talk about it. … When I talk to people, I have one thing on my mind: How can I help that person?…”, Jack LaLanne, 92-year-old fitness guru
• “John F. Kennedy said ‘You should not open your mouth unless you hope to change the world.’ While that’s a bit grandiose for me, you shouldn’t give a public speech unless you want to make something happen.”, Tom Peters, communications consultant
• “minimize data. We have a ‘three’ rule: Don’t tell them more than three things. I speak at nursery schools; … I force myself to do that because it really forces me to get down and think [about] the basic message and how can I communicate it as simply as possible.”, Allen Hershkowitz, Ph.D
• “Slow down, especially at the beginning of a speech.You’ll get the audience’s attention by pausing.”, Bob Kerrey
• “Don’t be afraid to work ‘off book’ (without a written speech). …On a little scrap of paper, I wrote down key words that I knew would spark stories or themes that could get the ball rolling. … If you have enthusiasm and excitement, if you show your humanity up there, that’s when the audience starts to warm up.”, Richard LaGravenese
• “Engage the lowest common denominator, someone with a negative attitude or who can’t concentrate. If I can engage that person, everyone else with fall like a domino.”, Erin Gruwell
• “I’m trying to speak to each person individually. Eye contact is critical. I move from west to east, making contact with people for a second or two. If there’s someone who seems disengaged, I’ll keep coming back in hopes of reaching them.”, Rev. Kieran Harrington
• “The night before a speech, I go over my notes right before I go to sleep. …elps your brain absorb the material.”, Sally Koslow
• “For years, I presented like other people presented, and it was like wearing clothes that didn’t fit. It was much more helpful to do things my own way.”, Tom Yorton, president of The Second City.
• “If you are the type that gets frightened or intimidated by speaking to large groups, it doesn’t hurt to speak to a couple people in the audience before you start your speech.”, Kate White, editor in chief of Cosmopolitan
• “Use a [Microsoft] PowerPoint presentation as a support rather than as a document. All too often, the presenter tries to cram the whole story into the slides, and winds up with just a massive data-dump of graphics that neither tell nor assist the story…. one, two or three words with an image. It captures the essence of the story while the newsreader gives the details.”, Jerry Weissman, founder of Power Presentations
• “Have a unifying theme tethered to a powerful, inspirational story that will be sufficiently moving to be remembered long after the lights are dimmed and the microphone turned off.”, Ken Starr, former White House independent counsel
• “Compliment the audience. Every invitation to speak is a compliment and an honor to you”, Dr. Robert H. Schuller
• “Make a point using a funny and familiar everyday observation. …At this point, I’ve got the audience nodding and laughing-and the pressure is off. Now I can begin to teach them all the clever, low-key approaches they can take to establish that initial credibility with consumers.”, John Palumbo
• “No matter how serious the presentation is, you can’t take yourself too seriously. Self-deprecation is always part of my speech. It helps the audience know we’re all in the same boat”, Marty Markowitz
• “Say the same things over in different ways, especially when you are trying to sell something. …It will make an imprint that people will remember.”, Judge Maria Lopez
• “I just try to get people to relax right off the top. You want your audience to settle in, …It doesn’t have to be funny necessarily, but something to snap people out of whatever doldrums they might be into.”, Steve Levy

Tina is passionate about Personal Development and Spiritual Growth. She runs multiple businesses and has learned how to do so without any Stress. Visit her website at Think Simple. Be Decisive for her secrets to Productivity, Motivation, Creativity and Happiness.

7 Tips to Improve your Public Speaking

We all have to speak in public one time or another, and according to some (somewhat doubtful) research, public speaking is the number one fear of most people. However, with some preparation, mostly anyone can do a pretty good job at it. There isn’t as much magic to public speaking as some make it seem. By implementing the following 7 Tips anyone can come across as a pretty good speaker. You don’t believe me??? Try it!

1. Dress for success! While this might seem an obvious one, I regularly encounter speakers who majorly underdress or (some) overdress. The thumb of rule is, of course, better be overdressed than underdressed. Your audience wants to look up to you and good “packaging” will enhance your image tremendously. When unsure, contact the event organizer and find out what is the expected attire for speakers.

2. Develop a great intro and closing and practice them till you can say them forward and backward even in your dreams! There are only few things screaming “I’m not a professional” than someone starting their presentation with excuses or some weak mumbo-jumbo. Start your presentation with a quote, an intriguing question, humor, or a short story, or even magic; then link your intro to the topic of the day. Close your presentation by bringing up elements of your intro and build to a strong finish to elicit your well-deserved applause. One of my favorite techniques is the short suspense story that captivates the audience, then without finishing it, link it to the topic of the day. Then as a closing of the presentation, bring up again the suspense story, make a comparison to the topic again, and this time finish it.

3. Notice your tendency to use “Ah’s,” Mmm’s” and other fillers in your presentation! It can become really annoying when a speaker is uncomfortable with pauses in between sentences or while thinking, and fills those gaps with “Ahhh..,” “Mmm.,” or other sounds. Another, almost equally, annoying fillers are the constantly repeated “You know what I mean,” “You see what I’m saying,” and other constantly repeated fillers. There are two good ways to raise your awareness about these fillers: a) record one (or more) of your presentation(s) and listen with an ear for filers; b) Join your local Toastmasters International club – they are really good about helping you break your filler habits. (I had around 60 “Ahh’s” and “Mmmm’s” in my first speech I delivered at Toastmasters. By the time I gave my 7th or 8th speech I had zero fillers.) Once you are aware of your tendencies of using certain fillers, you can consciously take steps to eliminating them.

4. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much information! Do you want your audiences to leave with a sense of “This was great! Today I learned something?” Then narrow down the information you want to present in a way that will not overwhelm your audience. Ask yourself “What is it that the audience really needs to know about this topic?” Then break down that info into chunks that will fit the length of your presentation. At the end of your presentation give your audience information on how they can learn more about the topic – hopefully, by buying your book(s), tapes, CD, extended course, etc.

5. Build your presentation in an easy to follow format! Whether you are using PowerPoint, flip chart, or other methods to stay on track and to keep your audiences on track, make sure that you tell them in the introduction what points you will cover, then stick to the “plan” as close as possible. An easy way to accomplish this is by giving out handouts where participants can follow your train of thought. One of the most effective ways would be to have the main points spelled out on the handout, then have some fill-in-the-blanks fragments relating to each particular point.

6. Time yourself! When you practice, time each segment of your presentation and prepare a little cheat sheet (a 2 X 4 card, for example) that you will keep in your sight while you speak, right near a timer or watch. With this little “tool” you’ll always know whether you are on track. If you are running out of time, speed up or skip parts of your presentation and conclude with your rehearsed closing.

7. Keep eye contact! One of the biggest difficulties of novice public speakers is keeping eye contact with the audience. However, this is a very crucial element to come across as a great speaker. When a speaker keeps looking above the audiences head, the ceiling, the floor, etc., after a while the audience starts wandering “Who the heck is this guy talking to?” The easiest method to keeping good eye contact with your audience is by finding one smiling or friendly face and keep eye contact most of the time with that person… Then as the presentation moves on, start making eye contact (for a second or two) with some other audience members, but always returning to your smiling/friendly face. Then once you find another encouraging audience member, start keeping eye contact for some time period with this second person, while also wandering away to make eye contact with other audience members for a second or two. By following this method, usually one finds themselves more and more encouraged and the confidence gained that way will result in an easier flow of the message and more and more audience members will become engaged and be transformed into “friendly and smiling” faces.

……

Public speaking can be one of the most rewarding experiences. When applying the above 7 tips should make it more enjoyable for anyone, including your audiences who definitely do not want to see a speaker fail, mumble, talk to the walls, etc. People listen to a speaker to learn something or to get entertained; so follow the above tips and give your audience the great presentation they deserve.

————————————————————————————— © Copyright E.G. Sebastian, 2007. All rights reserved.

To hire E.G. to provide Public Speaking/Presentation Skills training – for groups or for individuals – call him toll-free at 877.379.3793, or contact him by E-mail at info@egsebastian.com.

E.G. Sebastian is an international speaker (speaks 6 languages), Certified DiSC Behavioral System trainer, and is an Authorized Inscape Distributor.

Whether you’re speaking to a large group in an auditorium, or a small group in a conference room, your voice is your most important tool as a speaker. To use your voice for maximum impact and make yourself heard, follow these simple public speaking tips.

Pointer 1: Vary your pitch, tone, volume and pace

The pitch of your voice is its “highness” or “lowness.” Varying your pitch is a way to add color, excitement, and emphasis to your speech. Nervous speakers sometimes have tension in their vocal chords, resulting in an unintentionally higher pitch. Relaxation and breathing exercises can help with this (see below).

The tone or quality of your voice says a lot to your audience that words can never convey. Does your voice sound warm or cold? Does it sound conversational or formal? Do you sound friendly, happy, angry, or nervous?

You’ve heard the word “monotone,” right? That’s what you sound like when you don’t vary the tone of your voice. When you adjust your tone to match the ideas and emotions in your presentation, your audience receives a deeper level of understanding as well as a deeper connection with you.

Volume is the loudness of your voice. Use varying volume for emphasis, and remember to adjust your volume to the size of the venue you’re speaking in.

One way to really grab your audience’s attention is to drop the volume when you want to make an important point. Lowering your volume forces the audience to give extra concentration to what you’re saying.

Use silence and pauses to maximize your message and to create drama. Silence gives you and your audience a nice break – it allows them to process what you’ve been saying, because it’s hard for our brains to hold too much information at one time. It also gives them a break from your voice. A pause can be used to emphasize a point, to really let something sink in.

One more thing to mention about volume: keep your sentences strong from start to finish. Some people’s voices fade out at the end of a sentence or idea, leaving the audience grasping to hear the final few words. Make sure to punch the beginnings and endings of sentences so they don’t disappear and leave your audience in confusion. Pace is the speed at which you speak. You can speed up or slow down for emphasis. Sometimes nervous speakers will race through their talk, finishing too early, and leaving the audience out of breath and lost, because they missed half of what was said. Breathing and relaxation can help you control and moderate your pace. Slow down your pace when you have something particularly important to say – you don’t want to race through your critical points.

Pointer 2: Practice relaxation and breathing

Have I mentioned relaxation and breathing enough times? Relaxation and proper breathing allow oxygen to circulate and your muscles to relax, rather than building tension around the shoulders and chest, which can compress your lungs and make your voice sound weak from lack of breath support. Take some deep breaths before your presentation. Practice breathing deeply using your diaphragm; you know you’re doing it right when your stomach puffs out but your shoulders do not rise. Search the Web for articles and books about “diaphragmatic breathing” or “belly breathing.”

Do some warm-ups and stretches beforehand, especially stretches that involve your face, jaw, neck, chest, and upper body. And don’t forget to breathe during the presentation. Pausing to breathe while you’re speaking keeps you from speeding through the presentation – and the audience doesn’t even notice.

Pointer 3: Repeat back questions so your audience can also be heard

In a large room, repeat back your audience’s questions. Unless there is someone in the auditorium delivering a microphone to audience members, it’s likely that some people in the audience won’t hear the questions posed to you. Repeating back the questions keeps everyone on the same page and keeps the audience from feeling left out.

One way to practice the tips in this article is to read aloud from a book or newspaper. Even better: read aloud from a children’s book! Children’s books are meant to be read with a variety of vocal inflections, and this will allow you to try out all of the tips mentioned above.

Your voice is your most powerful public speaking tool. When your voice matches the emotion and concepts in your presentation, you deliver to your audience deeper understanding of and connection with your message.

Lisa Braithwaite works with individuals to uncover their challenges and build their strengths in presenting themselves confidently as speakers. Find your voice with public speaking coaching! Sign up for my newsletter and find out about my free consultation by visiting www.coachlisab.com.

I’m sure you know that the fear of public speaking is one of the strongest fears that people have. The truth is that it’s not the speaking that is the source of the fear, people speak everyday. The fear comes from the perception that the audience is judging the speaker. The true fear is the fear of a bad audience response.

You can ensure that you will get a good audience response every time by following a simple five step formula.

Step 1: Visualize a Successful Audience Response

A large percentage of your behavior is under the control of your subconscious mind. You subconscious mind is strongly influenced by your expectations. For this reason you should spend some time imagining a hearty applause at the end of your talk. You could also visualize happy, interested faces throughout the talk. This is the best way to set that expectation in your favor.

Step 2: Be Yourself

You can always tell a speaker who has been trained by one of the (unnamed) speaking groups. They have a rigid formula. They start their talk with a joke and so on. It is stiff and mechanical and rarely works well.

You don’t need a rigid formula like that. Just be yourself. If you are a funny person then a joke will pop out at an appropriate time and it will be funny. If that is not your nature then you don’t need to tell a joke. If you just be yourself then you don’t have to remember any mechanical formula because you have already been yourself for years.

Make sure that your talk contains no more than five key points and if the talk is a long one then you can further break those points down into no more than five sub-points per key point. You put those points down on a card (or five cards in the case of the long talk) and then you talk off the top of your head on each point. If you have prepared your topic well then you will know the material and it will flow naturally.

Step 3: Engage The Audience By Speaking To Them.

Treat the talk like a one on one conversation with a bunch of different individuals. Make eye contact with the most positive looking people in the audience and make sure that you do this with people in various parts of the room. As more people become interested make eye contact with them as well. They then feel like you are speaking to them.

Step 4: Use Everyday Words and Everyday Examples.

Use everyday words and everyday experiences to explain your points and the audience will follow you more easily.

If I am going to give a talk on a topic I haven’t spoken on before then I practice the talk while I’m driving around in the car. I do exactly as outlined in this article and talk off the top of my head on each point but I am listening to myself to make sure that the language I use is simple and easy to follow. I will do this as often as I can before I actually have to give the talk so that when I am on the platform the talk flows easily and the right words automatically come out.

Step 5: Be Friendly.

If you were having a social chat with your friends then you would have a friendly demeanor and you would naturally smile from time to time. Treat your audience as if they are your friends and you will find that you will naturally act in a friendly way toward them. When you smile people are more likely to smile at you. Friendliness attracts friendliness.

Try this simple five point system at your next talk and you will find that the audience will love you.

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his ebook “Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind” (valued at $27) completely FREE. Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his ebook “Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind” (valued at $27) completely FREE. Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

he fear of public speaking is one of the worst phobias to suffer at the hands of – if not the worst! Sufferers can be almost paralyzed with the fear in some cases. In my clinic and via my products, I help hundreds of people over each and every year to control their fear and actually begin to enjoy the art of public speaking.

I use Hypnosis, Emotional Freedom Technique and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to achieve the client’s desired results. If you are currently battling a phobia of public speaking then I would really encourage you to get some professional help, either from a practitioner of the three mentioned therapies or from one of the many successful products available on the internet for instant download.

To get you off to a flying start though I have included a few tips that I give to my clients that you maybe able to use to alleviate your fear somewhat. Here they are:

1. Understand that up to 90% of the nerves that you feel don’t actually show! You will always feel worse than you look and there is a very good reason for this. When you feel nervous it is because you body/brain is trying to tell you that maybe this is not such a good idea. In most cases you will be the only one actually picking up on this.

2. Try to pause and breathe regularly. We do this naturally in conversation and doing it while speaking publicly will help you to remain calm and stop you from talking too fast.

3. Never memorize a talk word for word – this will only confuse you more if you lose your place. Instead have notes and pointers that you have memorized. Have these with you so that you can refer back if you get lost.

4. Always speak on things that you are an expert on. This way you will nearly always know more about the subject than your audience. This is a real confidence boost.

5. In the days that are leading up to your talk – When you feel nervous – spend some time feeling positive. You see, it is actually the lead up to a presentation that makes most people nervous. By concentrating hard on the positives as well as the negatives it allows those bad thoughts running through your head to have another more positive outcome. This is in fact the most important as if you can change that dread to positively then you at 90% of the way to success.

So there you have it – my top tips! Remember that once you get up there you notice that it is not as bad as you thought it would be. And once you get a little bit of belief in your abilities then you will soon be on the track to success.

Richard MacKenzie in an expert in Hypnosis. He is also the best-selling author of Self-Change Hypnosis.

The experts on our fears and stresses consistently tell us that the fear of public speaking is the greatest fear that most people have. When I first started public speaking I would have happily agreed with them, but now I love it and I earn a large amount of money whenever I speak. Here are a couple of tips that may help you love it too.

The first tip is that the audience is not your enemy (unless you are a politician) and that they are actually on your side.

Imagine the following situation. You are sitting in the audience with a few hundred people, waiting for the speaker to arrive on stage. The speaker is introduced and as he steps onto the stage he trips over a loose cable, falls flat on his face, his notes go everywhere. As he gets up and starts picking up his notes how do you feel about his predicament?

If you are like most people you feel for him. You may well see the funny side but you also feel sympathy for his situation. When you are a speaker the audience isn’t out to get you. They have come along to hear what you have to say. Also most people realize that you are doing something that they are not brave enough to do themselves and they respect you for it.

That tip was given to me, by a very successful public speaker, shortly after I started public speaking. Whenever I was about to get on stage I reminded myself that the audience had come to listen to me and were on my side. I always found that thinking in this way helped me get into a positive, confident state of mind.

The second tip was also given to me by the same experienced speaker and this is something that I do in every talk I give, even to the present day.

When I take the stage and begin speaking I look around the audience for interested faces. I then spend more time looking at those people than I spend looking at others. I imagine that I am having a one to one conversation with those interested people. This helps the flow of the talk and soon I am seeing more interested faces.

This technique helps me build a rapport with the audience and before long almost everyone is listening with an interested, involved look on their face.

Occasionally as I am scanning the faces I see someone who doesn’t want to be there. Perhaps they have been dragged along by a partner and have no interest in what I am saying. When I see that uninterested face I immediately turn to one of the key, very interested faces that that I have been using to build the rapport. In this way the uninterested face doesn’t distract me from my momentum.

I have also learned over the years that sometimes people who appear disinterested are in fact very interested in what you are saying; they just don’t have a face that shows it.

I was once giving a talk where a gentleman in the front row fell asleep a few minutes after my talk began. He went so deeply into sleep that a couple of times he almost fell out of his chair (fortunately he didn’t snore). At the end of the talk I opened the floor to questions and this guy woke up and proceeded to ask me very specific and interesting questions about things I had said. I don’t know how he did it but I learned never to assume that someone isn’t listening.

I hope that these two tips will help you in the next talk that you give. Remember that the audience is on your side and remember to build rapport by talking to those interested faces.

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his ebook “Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind” (valued at $27) completely FREE. Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

James Delrojo would like to help you by giving you his ebook “Unleash the Success Power of Your Mind” (valued at $27) completely FREE. Go to http://www.YourSuccessMind.com

Speaking to others is a natural, human experience. When we speak to one another, or one person speaks to a group, what we are doing is really communicating. Communicating involves getting the point of the spoken idea across to your listeners so they understand your topic or subject matter. In the basic sense, communication is essential for survival, since we have to communicate properly to get the things we want and need in life. Therefore, good communication skills are necessary.

Today, there are many people that work in a public setting that involves communication among peers. Many employers like banks, schools, sales and marketing companies and the like may have certain requirements for you to be considered for employment. In an office setting that you may find at employers like these is an environment where humans are supposed to interact, relate and communicate with one another to complete a task or to convey an idea or a series of ideas.

This is where public speaking comes into play. Although you can take a speaking course in high school and college, public speaking skills are best developed by speaking to others at an office meeting or presentation where you, as the speaker, communicate your ideas to the extent your listeners understand them. More often than not however, is that most people feel uncomfortable speaking in front of 20 or so people or co-workers. Some end up speaking with a lack of self confidence, thus hindering the communication effectiveness and also how you are perceived professionally in the workplace environment.

So, how do you develop the skills required to speak publicly and to speak with confidence? It is a very important skill to have after all, since a good speech with effective communication delivered with confidence can carry the day. What follows are some tactics and techniques that you can employ to help optimize your public speaking and to hone your skills.

If you work at an employer or in an environment where you may have to give a speech or speak publicly, you should thoroughly research what you are going to be discussing. The research should be done at such a level, that when you have completed it, you know the subject matter backwards and forwards, inside and out. This will give you confidence when your speech is delivered. Writing your speech out on paper is good a good idea too as this helps you learn and memorize specific things you may want to point out when you deliver your speech.

It is also a good idea to do a dry run of your speech to family members or friends so that they can give you some constructive criticism for improvement. When they give you suggestions for improvement, implement them in your speech material if you think they are sound and will actually improve your speech. Ask your dry run listeners to ask questions about the subject you are presenting so you can get feedback on the level of confidence you have in your answers and explanations. Also, remember to present your dry run speech using the tools and resources you will have available when you deliver your actual speech.

If you are speaking to children make sure to work on the tone of your voice. Children are more likely to pay attention to your speech if you sound enthused and knowledgeable. Try to involve your young listeners in your speech by asking their opinions of things you are discussing with them. When speaking to children or teens, make sure you dress casually and make your eye contact to show your interest in how they think and feel about your subject. It is also a good idea to make small jokes to fill a pause or to break your speech up a little. This also shows them that you are relaxed and comfortable speaking to them.

Public speaking is a very important skill you must have to achieve your goals, especially in a working environment that caters to well developed communication skills. It is necessary for survival in obtaining employment, encouraging others and social interaction and development. Public speaking is best perfected with practice and as you get better, your peers will motivate you to even higher levels of achievement.

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