Archive for the ‘public speaking tips’ Category

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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

For a great range of other tips check out Lifestyle Tips

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10 Tips to Improve Your Image as a Speaker

1. Dress for success! While this might seem an obvious one, I regularly encounter speakers who majorly under dress 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 organizer and find out what is the expected attire for speakers.

2. Develop a great intro and closing and practice it 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. REPHRASE!!!! Have a second conclusion prepared. After a speech or a presentation usually comes a question and answer period. Once the questions stop coming, it is best to end on a strong note. This is a great time to get your “last word” in.

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. 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.

5. 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.

6. Avoid PowerPoint blunders! There are three most common PowerPoint blunders that will scream “I’M A TOTAL BEGINNER!” a) Filling up each slide with complete paragraphs and reading them off the projection screen b) Using too many different kinds of animation schemes. Stick with one, or max two, and keep them simple. It gets annoying after a while to wait for sentences to crawl in or to land on the screen like a helicopter. c) Use of too complex or blank templates. Either keep it simple and professional, or use pictures that are relevant to your topic. Pictures that have a little humorous slant are most effective (in my experience), but be cautious not to fall in extremes where the pictures create too much distraction from your presentation. (You can get free pictures for your presentations (and brochures) at http://www.sxc.hu – make sure to read the Terms of Use)

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. “Ask” for the applause! As I sit in at beginner speakers’ presentations, I often notice a common mistake: ending on a low note and not eliciting applause. As speakers we want to know that we did great, and the way we do that is by allowing the audience to express their satisfaction by a stormy applause. And an easy way to do that is by ending the presentation with a well-rehearsed closing (see point 2 above), bringing it all together, and perhaps giving a last great quote or some wisdom related to the topic. Then pause and give the audience a chance to react to your closing. In order to not break your audience’s enthusiasm and response to your presentation, talk about special offers and Q&A after the applause. You can include little plug-ins of your offers in the body of your presentation.

10. HAVE SPECIAL OFFERS! Such as refer your audience to an E-course that they can sign up for on your website, or even better, pass out a sign-up sheet and let them sign up right there on the spot (this would be appropriate with a smaller audience). Mention related articles available on your website (which each should include special offers as well). Talk up your book, if you have one. No matter what your special offer is, the most important thing is to have one that results at minimum in capturing names and contact info.

Public speaking – be that leading a seminar, presenting a workshop, or delivering a keynote – can be one of the most rewarding experiences, as well as a very profitable venture if it’s done right. The key is to consistently present ourselves as professionals who are worth the (high) fees we charge, leaving our clients no choice but to invite us to present over and over again. ————————————————————————————— © Copyright E.G. Sebastian, 2007. All rights reserved.

E.G. Sebastian is an international speaker (speaks 6 languages), Certified DiSC Behavioral System trainer, and is an Authorized Inscape Distributor. Besides DiSC training, E.G. provides organizations with team-building, stress-management, and communication skills training; as well as offers DiSC Behavioral System train-the-trainer packages. To find out more about E.G. and his offers, visit his website at www.egsebastian.com.

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Joe Hickman, a veteran broadcast journalist, also writes for top public speakers and edits http://HaLife.com. Check out his Humor for Speakers pages.

Technorati Tags: presentation tips, public speaking tips