Art Of Great Speaking

I’m a professional psychologist, a member of Rotary, a book author (on achievement motivation), a resume writer and career coach, and someone who has heard an endless number of professional and non-professional speakers for over 30 years. I’ve seen how it’s the little things that make a big difference. Here are 7 “little things” you can do that will instantly improve your public speaking dramatically.

1. TALK TWICE AS SLOW. Most speakers (even professional ones) talk too fast. Have you ever listened carefully to professional speakers on TV? They talk slower than in normal conversational speech. Slow down. Take your time. Don’t rush through individual words. Linger on them. It may feel unnatural, but just listen to a tape recording of yourself. It will undoubtedly sound a lot better.

2. TALK TWICE AS LOUD. Most speakers talk too softly. Speak up. It may seem to you that you are screaming, but (again) a tape recording will prove that it sounds fine.

3. ENUNCIATE THE CONSONANT SOUNDS CLEARLY. When we listen, we hear clearly because of the consonant sounds (the “hard” sounds – sss, t, d, p, m, and so forth), not the vowels (a, e, i, o, and u). Pay attention to those hard sounds. Make sure they are clear and distinct. Exaggerate them.

4. USE SHORT SENTENCES. You may like speaking in long, long sentences, but your audience doesn’t. Break up your ideas into short sentences. “Once idea per sentence” is as good a rule for speaking as it is for writing.

5. PAUSE OFTEN. Forget the ummmms and the aaahhhhs. Dead silence for a few seconds may seem like an eternity to you, but an audience doesn’t mind it at all. Take your time. Pausing creates interest and anticipation.

6. ORGANIZE YOUR TALK AROUND 3 TO 5 BULLET POINTS. No matter what you may think of off-the-cuff speeches and how entertaining they may be, nobody likes rambling on and on. Whatever you have to say, put it in the form of 3 to 5 bullet points. You’ll make listeners out of your audience.

7. SAVE THE BEST FOR LAST. What is the most important, the most dramatic, the most impactful thing you have to say in your talk? Figure out what it is, and PUT IT LAST. That’s the most effective way to end a talk.

Dr. Sander Marcus is a clinical psychologist at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. Specializing in motivational, career, and business areas, he has co-authored two books on underachievement and a nationally used sales test for hiring and training (the SalesAP, Sales Achievement Predictor). He can be contacted at marcus@iit.edu, 312-567-3358. www.center.iit.edu

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Presentation, presentation, presentation is the name of the Public Speaking game!

You may be the most knowledgeable person in the world on a given subject, you may be a PHD with clusters, but if your presentation of the presentation does not have presentation skills your presentation will fail! “Now that was fun!”

Have you gone to a seminar you were really excited about and if you made it to the end, got nothing out of it? Let’s take a look. When the presentation started this is what your heard; Welcooome toooday. . . . . . we will talk abouuut . . . . . .blah de blah, blah blah, blahblahblah. “Monotone, I hate monotone!”, “Drives me absolutely crazy!” Standing in one spot, like a mannequin and has the excitement of watching ice melt. Got the picture?

Continuing the series of “So You Want To Become A Public Speaker?” we are going to dive into Presentation. Not to be confused with the presentation itself, but how it’s presented.

Remember, a presentation is a performance, like an actor. Always bring your “A” game. No “B” movie acting here! How you are being perceived is critical to your longevity in this business.

Dress properly for the occasion. As stated in a previously published article in this series; you can always dress down, but not up.

If your topic is serious, be serious, but not stiff. Present the desired image to your audience. Be enthusiastic, confident, carry yourself with pride, but not cocky. Remain calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Remember the duck story; calm and collected on top of the water, even though your feet are going like heck below the surface.

Speak slowly, articulate clearly, and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. But don’t be phony your audience will pick up on that immediately. Take the time to connect with your audience. (Refer back to “Public Speaking Pre Preparation” in the area of “know your audience”.) Speak to the person furthest away from you to make sure your voice is heard from back of the room. It’s okay and encouraged to ask that furthest person in the back if you can be heard. Fluctuate the tone of your voice and dramatize if necessary. If sound equipment is required, as was determined during your pre preparation, adjust accordingly. DO NOT TALK MONOTONE!

I was taught to speak with conviction as if I really believed in what I was saying. Throughout my public speaking career I have changed that teaching to, “Speak with conviction as I truly believe in what I’m saying!”

The material you present verbally should have the same structure as a written research paper, i.e. INTRODUCTION to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state intro, summarize, and a logical conclusion) with a verbal presentation, add a questions and answer period.

Body language is critical. Standing, walking and moving around using appropriate hand gestures is a MUST. Never present a presentation sitting down or standing still, reading from a prepared presentation. I encourage you not to use a lectern. “Here, check this out” American Heritage Dictionary – lec·tern (lěk’tərn) A stand that serves as a support for the notes or books of a speaker. Now here’s my definition – “A lectern is a crutch for the unprepared speaker.”

Audio-visual aids are okay; don’t torment your audience by creating a lengthy overhead presentation and reading it out to them. You will loose your audience for sure and most importantly your credibility.

Do not read from notes. It’s okay to glance at your notes, but personally I don’t use them. However, I do use overhead presentations so if I loose my place I can glance up, adjust and continue on. Know your subject! If you make an error, correct it, inject some humor and continue.

Add humor when appropriate. Keep your audience interested and relaxed throughout the entire presentation. Caution; don’t be a clown! Humor is great to get your audience relaxed and at the same time relax you the presenter. Don’t open with a joke. This is a bad practice. Trust me there will be plenty of time and opportunities for humor during your presentation. Remember that an interesting presentation makes time go by fast, but a boring presentation is always too long to bear even if the presentation length is the same.

Maintain good eye contact with your audience. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and once in a while glance at the whole audience while speaking.

Maintain a constant visual on your audience. Their body language will tell you if you need to adjust your presentation. Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt on the fly.

Your presentation of the presentation (gotta love it) is critical to your public speaking career. Voice tone, eye contact, humor, body language, subject matter knowledge, visual-aids and structure are items you must understand and implement. As stated in previous sessions, “You’re a walking billboard for your Public Speaking career and these are some of the tools in your toolbox of success. Good luck and see you at the next session.

Visit Us at our Public Speaking site.

Mr. Simmons has been public speaking since 1973. Mr. Simmons has presented hundreds of public speaking presentations from business concepts to motivational. Mr. Dale Simmons, known as the “WHY” man, is a interactive motivational and “self-help” public speaker.

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Our continuing series of “So You Want To Become a Public Speaker”; we will look at Public Speaking Pre-Preparation.

How many seminars have you gone to and paid good money to participate to find the speaker reading from cards, or reading from an overhead presentation? And let us not forget the “and, ums, ah’s”.

I went to a seminar once and it was so bad that I found myself counting how many “and’s and um’s” were being stated. I really cannot remember what the subject was. I found myself viewing the seminar participants sleeping, writing, day dreaming and so on. Have you ever been to one of those? There are really only two major causes for this type of poor performance.

1. Just there to get paid

That is to me the most disgusting reason of all. If you’re just there to get paid and not passionate about your speaking career GET OUT! People pay good money for seminars and expect to hear a good presenter with good information. Nuf said!

2. Bad preparation

Pre-Preparation is critical to your delivering a good presentation. In Public Speaking the pre-preparation, or lack of, will be noticed by your audience.

So, we are going to address pre seminar preparation.

So now you have the subject matter for your next seminar. You know the venue and the time allotted for your presentation. What else do you need to know?

Elements of Pre Prep

Know your audience; – their age group, gender, ethnicity, education, income level. You may ask yourself, “Why do I need to know all that information?”

The more your presentation is geared towards your audience the more impact and success you will have in its delivery and the less chance of a blunder. Example; There was a speech given by a government official where a question was raised on how the presenter thought about a specific person. Me personally, I felt the response was well stated, but was offensive to some with regard to “he is articulate” and was taken as a racial thing. There was rhubarb about that whole thing.

In this new politically correct (PC) world one must be careful of the words used. Unless you are a well known controversial speaker, one must address this issue in your pre-prep.

Can see the value of knowing your audience before presenting?

To find out audience information, contact the seminar planner, they would have a good idea of your audience.

Speech Preparation – Okay you have your subject, now what? Organizing your speech is one of the most important skills to learn. Good organization is often the key to understanding. The audience is more likely to understand your message if it is well organized.

Write out your speech. Writing for public speaking isn’t so different from other types of writing. You want to hold your audience’s attention, communicate your ideas in a logical manner and use reliable evidence to support your point.

When you write a speech understand your audience is made up of listeners. They have only one chance to comprehend what you’re presenting. Your speech must be well-organized and easily understood, and your delivery must fit the audience. Again with the audience!

Practice, Practice, Practice! – In my eyes this is the most important part of public speaking! To put this in straight talk, “you need to nail this!” ”You only have one shot. You blow it here and you’re all done.” I’m not joking!

If this is a new subject for you need to start practicing this presentation 1 week before show time! Your reputation is riding on every presentation you present regardless of the public speaking venue. Ask a friend over to help, it may cost you’re a dinner or beer, present it and ask for honest feedback.

You really don’t want to read off cue cards or read off you Power Point presentation. Your audience can read the onscreen presentation. It does not hurt to glance up if you loose your place. But again if you practiced this presentation enough you shouldn’t have to.

Equipment Requirements – Understand your venue. Seating capacity, number of expected participants, size of room and acoustics play a huge roll on your planned delivery. Also find out about existing sound equipment, projectors, screens and lighting.

Once you have gathered all this information you can start your pre-prep for equipment needed like wireless microphone systems and adaptability to existing sound equipment, USB presentation projector, laptop, extra batteries, extra bulb, USB flash drive (backup for your presentation), and screen.

There is nothing worst than getting to your public speaking venue and you don’t have the correct equipment for your presentation. Backup, back-up backup! Basically be prepared for the worst!

Pre-preparation is critical to your public speaking career. Know your audience, write out your speech in a logical manner, practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Understand your venue and have the required equipment there to present your best presentation ever!

For more information on public speaking contact us 1-888-696-6424, email or visit our web site.

Mr. Dale Simmons, known as the “WHY” man, is a interactive motivational and “self-help” public speaker who introduced the Pebble in the Pool © theory. With more than 28 years in the corporate market and conducting hundreds of training and career motivational public speaking presentations, Dale has developed the Pebble in the Pool © theory.

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The number one fear in the world is fear of public speaking. Most people are totally freaked out by the concept of talking in front of a group. As a speaker you cannot be afraid, you must enjoy being in front of large groups of people. The only way for this to happen is through practice and repetition. However here is a phrase to remember to keep you excited about speaking: “The person who holds the pen makes the most money.” Remember that whenever you start to feel nervous.

The rest of this article is dedicated to helping you become a dynamic public speaker.

Keys for Dynamic Public Speaking

Personal Appearance
When you speak in front of people you should wear dark clothing. NOT all black. You should avoid loud flashy colors because they will take the audiences attention away from your face. Wear pants and long sleeve shirts. You want the audiences attention to bee drawn to your hands and your face. A speaker should also be immaculately groomed and clean-shaven. Studies have proven that sub-consciously people relate facial hair with being dishonest and/or having something to hide. You do not need this triggering negative emotions in the room.

Smile
One of the most important things you can remember to do while presenting is Smile. Smiling softens your face as well as what your saying. The audience needs to see that you’re happy and excited to be sharing this opportunity with them. Smiling also releases endorphins into your system, which helps you relax

Do NOT Make Eye Contact
There is no quicker way for a speaker to lose their train of thought, than to look into the eyes of someone in the audience. Make your audience think your looking into their eyes by looking at their foreheads instead this is a great tactic for making people in the audience feel involved and important.

Move a Lot, But Not to Much
Be animated, It is more enjoyable for you and the audience. Movement also helps you send a more powerful message. Use lots of hand movements while your talking, but keep your hands in the box. The box is an imaginary box going from your neck to your waist and just a little past your shoulders. Use this box to keep your gestures from becoming too expansive, which can distract the audience. Avoid pacing around, it makes you look nervous, if you need to move only go two or three steps in any direction.

Do NOT Tap Your Feet or Click the Pen Cap
Avoid tapping your feet as it shows that you are nervous, and it also distracts the audience. The same goes for clicking the pen cap, many times you don’t even know your doing it, but the audience does. You do not want anything to break the spell. HOT Tip: Replace the cap on the pen each time you use it, a dry erase pen left uncapped can dry out in one presentation.

NEVER Point into the Audience
Pointing is a negative gesture, and needs to be avoided while speaking. If you need to point to someone, then use an open hand gesture or a loose fist. Same goes for the pen, do NOT point with it.

Show Your Palms
When you speak show the palms of your hands to the audience frequently. Sub-consciously this tells them that you have nothing to hide and that you are not threatening them.

NEVER Turn Your Back on The Audience
No matter what, NEVER turn your back on the audience, or you’ve lost them, you might get them back, but either way you have broken the spell. Many times when you are presenting you use a dry erase board or an overhead projector and it become very easy to turn your back…be conscious of this fact. Learn how to write with your off hand, so that no matter which side of the board you are on you never have to show your back to the audience.

Get the Audience to Laugh
Your first goal when you start speaking is to get the audience to laugh. Tell a joke, or say something funny or amusing. When a speaker can make the audience laugh they feel on top of the world. It is the best confidence boost you can get during a presentation. It also lifts a huge weight from your shoulders and you instantly loosen up.

Speak Clearly and Loudly
You need to speak clearly and loudly enough so that everyone can hear you easily. Articulate your words and use proper English. Do not use complicated words. However if you do have to use a complicated word make sure you explain it without making anyone feel dumb.

Involve the Audience
Great speakers get the audience involved in the presentation. They ask general questions for everyone to answer. They also pick out people in the audience to answer specific questions and they do it in a fun and easygoing manner. Asking questions is a good way to keep the audience on their toes. It is also very effective if you see someone goofing off or not paying attention, you can ask them a question, which will embarrass them (People have a guilty conscience) and they will then pay attention for the rest of the presentation so that they don’t get embarrassed again.

Create a Great ID
At the beginning of your presentation you should introduce yourself and the best way to do that is with an ID. An ID is simply a short summary of yourself that tells about you, your experiences in life and with your company. Your ID should be short and powerful. A speaker uses their ID in their presentations to relate to the people in the audience and to show the audience that he/she is a real person, not some inhuman presenter. If a speaker has a great ID every person in the audience will be able to relate with the speaker in some way. Work hard on creating your ID and have it evolve as you evolve. Tie your ID in with your presentation so it flows smoothly together. Here are some questions your id should answer:

-Who I am -Where I was -What I saw -What I did -Results

Do NOT Memorize the Presentation
Do not try to memorize your presentation word for word. Only memorize the key parts. A great speaker never does the presentation the same way twice. He still gets the same information across he just tailors the way he presents it depending on the audience. Have fun with it. If you’re not having fun you can’t sell the audience.

Ditch the Ego
You must lose your ego in order to become a good speaker. Nobody wants to listen to a speaker that’s full of himself. However people will flock to hear a dynamic presenter tell an interesting story or present an opportunity.

Be Excited
Above all you must be excited and overflowing with energy. Energy and excitement are contagious, and a good speaker will infect his audience with his energy and excitement.

“People will be more excited about your enthusiasm, than the depths of your knowledge.”

Practice
If you want to become a dynamic speaker, you must practice your craft. Speaking is not like riding a bicycle. You do forget how and you do lose your skill. Practice in front of the mirror at home. Have a representative film several of your presentations and then watch them later and critique yourself. Get together with a group of other speakers and practice together. Regardless of how you do it, remember: Practice makes improvement, not perfect.

Tanner Larsson is an entrepreneur and an accomplished public speaker, who in addition to hosting his own workshops, is also often a guest or keynote speaker at business conventions and seminars. His website provides a wealth of information to help you become a dynamic speaker.
http://www.Dynamic-Speaking.com

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People who aren’t used to public speaking may never the less be called on at some time to give a talk, perhaps as part of their job. This can be a daunting task but there is a very easy, step by step formula for writing and delivering a great talk.

Step 1: Decide What Your Main Message Will Be.

Let’s use this article as an example and say that your main message is that “there is an easy step by step formula for writing and delivering a great talk”.

Step 2: Break That Main Message Into Up To Five Headings Or Steps.

Sticking with this article as your example for a talk, your five steps would be:- 1. Decide on your main message. 2. Break that message down in to no more than 5 parts. 3. In the beginning of your talk tell your audience, in summary, what you are going to cover in the talk. 4. Cover each of the five points in more detail. 5. End your talk by reminding them, in summary, what you covered during the talk. The reason why you use five points is that the human brain can only absorb 5 to 9 chunks of information in a sitting. Choosing five (rather than 6, 7, 8 or 9) ensures that you are keeping your talk within the capacity of every audience member.

Step 3: Tell The Audience, Early In The Talk, What You Are Going To Cover.

Staying with the theme of using this article as our example, you could say:-

“Today I will be showing you a simple but powerful system for writing and delivering a great talk. In the course of the presentation you will see that writing and giving a great talk comes down to five simple steps.

1. Decide on your main message. 2. Break that message down into no more than 5 parts. 3. In the beginning of your talk, tell your audience, in summary, what you are going to cover during the talk. 4. Cover each of those five points in more detail. 5. End your talk by reminding your audience, in summary, what you covered during the talk.”

Step 4: Present The Five Points In More Detail.

If the talk is short, and you know your subject well, then you can speak off the top of your head on each of the five points. All you will need as notes is a single card with your main theme written at the top, and underlined, and then the five key headings written down the card in numbered point form.

This simple structure has the advantage of actually giving your talk enough structure while at the same time allowing enough freedom for your talk to sound spontaneous. The spontaneous aspect makes it interesting for your audience to listen to, while the structure makes it easy for them to follow and understand.

If the talk that you have to give needs to be too long for this simple structure then you can further breakdown each of the five key points into no more than five sub-points per main point. Now all you need for notes is a card with the theme, at the top and underlined, then the five main headings in numbered point form, plus five more cards each with the a main heading at the top (underlined), and the five subheadings for that point written under that main heading in numbered point form.

I suggest that you use a different numbering system on each point card than on the main card. For example, if your main card used 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 then each of the other cards could have its heading at the top (with its number, say 1) and the sub points below numbered A, B, C, D, and E. In this way it avoids you getting confused as to which card you are on.

Step 5: Finish The Talk With A Summary Of What You Told Them.

You could say something like:- “To wrap up today’s talk I would just like to remind you of what we covered, so that it will stick more firmly in your mind. I started by promising you a simple system that will enable you to write and deliver a great talk. I delivered on that promise by showing you that it really is a straight forward five step process. 1. Decide on your main message. 2. Break that message down into no more than 5 parts. 3. In the beginning of your talk, tell your audience, in summary, what you are going to cover during the talk. 4. Cover each of the five points in more detail. 5. End your talk by reminding your audience, in summary, what you covered during the talk.

I trust that you enjoyed today’s talk and that you will put this simple but powerful system into practice soon and discover how easy giving a talk really is.

Thank you and goodnight” (or good day as the case may be)

You will notice that I made the concluding remarks flow by using the terms “by promising” and “delivered on that promise” and then made it clear that the talk was over by encouraging them to put the new learning into action and thanking them for listening.

The terms “by promising” and “delivered on that promise” also reinforce in the minds of your audience members that you did a good job and that you gave them exactly what you promised. This will make your audience appreciate the talk and, as a result, when you thank them they will spontaneously applaud you.

Please try this five point system the next time that you have to give a talk and you will probably be pleasantly surprised just how easy, and how much fun, speaking in public can be.

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

Technorati Tags: Presentation Skills, Public Speaking

Just finish hearing a 5 mins audio lesson by David Brooks on public speaking. For those of you who do not know him, he is the 1990 World Champion Speaker. In this week’s audio lesson, he talked about two sets of six words that can essentially cover all you need to know about public speaking. Sound too good to be true? I thought so initially but after hearing it, it does make sense. Let me give you a quick recap.

In Bill Gove’s golden gavel speech, he summarized the essence of public speaking into six words – “Tell a story, make a point”. The story does not have to be a BIG story like how you fought cancer or conquered Mount Everest. It is the everyday story that happen to you and anyone else. Not only do stories help connect with your audience instantly, it also invoked one or more of the six emotions that people can have. Namely – happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust and fear (the other set of six words). If you feel these emotions in your story, it will also invoke these emotions in your audience.

Three things to note however.

1. Every story that you tell must make a point, else it would just be plain chatting.

2. Use your own stories! (No one can tell your story as well as you do)

3. Everything that you encounter can become a story with a lesson.

So my friends, it is really impossible NOT to have any stories to tell. Even for loners who stay home all day long, they have a story to tell like what goes on in their mind for example! So the issue isn’t really with your stories, it is more about the point that you can make with the story. Some speech coaches (even me!) suggest that you write down all interesting stories that happen to you and save them in your computer. You can even categorize them if you want to. And when you need to prepare a speech (with a ready message), you can browse through the collection of stories and pick the most appropriate one. Not only does it make your speech more interesting and personalized, it is also unique!

Take yesterday’s lecture for example. It was a really long lecture, three hours to be exact. And it was impossible to remember everything the lecturer has to say. And those that I remember, are either in the form of stories or visuals! At one point, he was explaining about the concept of red flags (i.e. all recruiters and investors nit pick so that they can select the best). And he shared with us this story. There’s this recruiting company that has a very interesting way of filtering resumes. They will shuffle all the 200 over resumes and throw away the first 50 resumes… coz they don’t want to hire unlucky people!

It was a really simple story. Not only did he made a point (on the red flags and the unfairness of the world), it was also funny. And we really appreciate it especially after sitting through almost three hours of lecture!

So…as you are preparing your next speech or even presentation, see if you can incorporate a personal story in it. Stop giving speeches. Start telling stories!

Eric Feng is one of the youngest international certified coach and an Advanced Bronze Toastmaster with too many awards in public speaking to be listed here. Sign in to Eric’s subscriber list to receive daily insightful tips on public speaking and receive a complimentary copy of “Unleash The Speaker In You : 8 Ways To Become A Better Speaker” worth $50 for FREE. Visit www.ericfeng.com .

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Did you know that adults have special needs as learners?

When we were kids, we went to school, and we sat through class every day, and our teachers taught everyone pretty much the same way. It didn’t really matter if you were a visual learner, an auditory learner, or a kinesthetic learner. The teacher pretty much did whatever s/he felt most comfortable doing. Times have changed, and teachers are more aware of learning styles now, and other issues that affect children’s learning.

But the principles of adult learning are still pretty new to most people. If you’re a speaker, and you’re doing any kind of education or training with the groups you’re speaking to, this applies to you.

First, a little history.

Malcolm Knowles is considered the “father of adult learning”, although the topic had been discussed and researched over a century earlier.

Knowles’ assumptions were that adults:

1) move from dependency to self-directedness;
2) draw upon their reservoir of experience for learning;
3) are ready to learn when they assume new roles; and
4) want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately.

In his book, “The Modern Practice of Adult Education: From Pedagogy to Andragogy,” Knowles opposes the view that adults are unable to learn: “…the rapidly accelerating pace of change in our society has proved this doctrine to be no longer valued. Facts learned in youth have become insufficient and in many instances actually untrue; and skills learned in youth have become outmoded by new technologies.”

The term “andragogy” has come to mean self-directed learning for people of all ages, as opposed to the term “pedagogy” which defines teacher-directed learning. In practical terms, it means that when educating or training adults, process comes before content.

Knowles may not have invented these terms or concepts, but he was the first to put them together into an organized theory. Additional theories of adult learning have been developed since Knowles’ time, as well. Here is an overview of adult learning principles that will greatly improve your understanding of how and why adults learn. This will allow you to tailor your presentations and training more effectively to the groups you serve.

1. Adults are autonomous and self-directed

Adults want to decide for themselves what, when, how and why to learn. Speakers/instructors should allow adults to direct some of their own learning. Here are some ways to facilitate this:

* Ask your participants what they already know about your topic and what they’re interested in learning. Find out what their goals are for being there.
* Share your agenda and ask for input. This might lead to switching around the order of your workshop to better serve the group’s needs. You might find you spend more time on certain subjects than you had planned, and less on others. Be flexible.
* Act as a facilitator, guiding the group and encouraging them to reach their own conclusions, rather than force-feeding information in a lecture format. Allow them to be responsible for their own learning.
* Do your research on the group and organizational needs beforehand, so you can provide a combination of information that meets their perceived needs and their actual needs.

2. Adults have a lifetime of knowledge and experience that informs their learning Adult learners can be a valuable resource for you as an instructor/speaker. It’s also important for them to connect learning to those previous life experiences. Here’s how to make the most of your audience’s experience and knowledge.

* Don’t assume that your participants are “blank slates” and know nothing about your topic. Nothing is more insulting than a speaker who launches into a lecture without first finding out the needs and knowledge level of the audience. Do your research and ask first to find out what they already know.
* When appropriate, ask your audience to share their experiences, and create activities that call on them to use their experiences, for example, in small group discussions.
* Prepare activities that involve choice, so the learning process can better fit the individual levels of your participants.

3. Adults need relevancy in learning

It’s important to adults that they are learning something relevant and applicable to real life, whether it’s work-related or personal. Here’s how to make learning relevant to your audience.

* Identify learning objectives and ask participants to share their goals.
* Discuss and ask for sharing of real-world applications of your topic.
* Avoid giving a workshop or presentation that’s too theoretical.

In the book “Teacher”, Sylvia Ashton-Warner discusses relevancy in her work as a teacher with Maori children. She recalls trying to teach them to read out of European textbooks with images and language that mean nothing to them. When she starts working within their own language, culture and experiences to teach them reading, they blossom. Relevancy is one of the major keys to learning for people of all ages.

4. Adults are motivated to learn by both external and internal factors

When we were kids, many of us were not motivated to learn by anything other than our parents’ and teachers’ rewards and punishments.

As adults, we have many reasons for pursuing learning:

* it’s a requirement of a job
* we want to make new friends and connections
* for professional development and to advance our careers
* to relieve boredom
* because we’re interested in a particular topic and want to learn for fun
* to create a better environment for our children and families

. . . and the list goes on.

As an instructor/speaker, it’s important to understand the many reasons why your attendees are in your seminar. They may not be there by choice, for example. Ask them why they’ve come and what they hope to gain from the experience.

As it is important to understand what motivates your participants to learn, it’s also important to understand what might be barriers to their learning:

* worry about finances
* time constraints
* childcare issues
* relationship issues (one partner feels threatened by advancement of the other)
* lack of confidence in ability to learn (some people grew to believe they were not good in school, and they carry that with them forever)
* insecurity about intelligence
* concern about practicality and relevance

. . . and the list goes on!

Understanding the motivations and barriers your participants face can help you as an instructor pinpoint how best to serve them, by increasing their motivation for learning.

5. Adult learners have sensitive egos

Many of us, over the course of a lifetime, have developed a fear of appearing stupid or incompetent. As children, we were encouraged to explore, ask questions and learn about the world, but somewhere along the way, that was taken away from us. Many adults have mixed feelings about teachers, school, and structured learning.

Some people go to great lengths to hide their inability to read, for example, or their lack of understanding of the duties of their job.

An instructor/speaker must be aware of these issues and build trust by treating learners respectfully, sensitively, and without judgment.

* Allow participants to build confidence by practicing what is learned in small groups before facing the large group
* Use positive reinforcement to encourage participants
* If sensitive issues are to be discussed, create a safe space by enforcing confidentiality and allowing participants to “pass” if there’s something they’re not comfortable talking about
* Provide activities that are low-risk before moving on to activities featuring higher risk or greater trust
* Acknowledge participants’ previous life experience and knowledge and allow them to voice opinions and share in class leadership

A speaker who believes she/he knows more than anyone else in the room is asking for trouble, and creating an environment that will discourage learning.

6. Adults are practical and problem-oriented, and want to apply what they’ve learned

Probably the most important result for adult learners is to be able to apply their learning to their work or personal life – immediately. Help facilitate this by doing the following:

* Use examples to help them see the connection between classroom theories and practical application
* Use problem-solving activities as part of learning
* Create action items or task lists together with participants
* Help learners transfer learning to daily practice by offering follow-up coaching or mentoring
* Create an experiential learning environment that follows an experiential learning cycle

This has been just a brief overview of adult learning principles. I hope you’ve found some of the tips in these articles to be helpful.

At its most basic level, adult learning tends to be self-directed and based on the person’s individual needs and life experiences. Follow these tips when working with adults, and you will be on your way to creating a truly effective learning experience.

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.

Technorati Tags: Presentation Skills, Public Speaking

Salespeople often overlook one of the most effective and quick ways to both establish themselves as experts in their field and generate a pipeline of quality prospects.

Most salespeople who sell directly to consumers are all too familiar with cold-calling; purchasing leads; sending out mass direct mail and email pieces; and using print, radio and TV advertising and other common methods of lead generation. However, becoming a niche expert and taking that expertise on the road in the form of speaking to groups and organizations is seldom considered.

The natural fear of public speaking is a deterrent for many, but most salespeople simply have not considered the possibility. When we think of a speaker, most of us envision someone with grand ideas speaking to the most crucial events of the day–or maybe someone who has lead an extraordinary life, regaling the audience with tales of high adventure. If we do think of business experts as speakers, we tend to think of names such as Jack Welch, Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar or some other high-profile guru who commands tens of thousands of dollars per appearance.

Those sorts of people may be the most visible, but they are, in fact, the tiny minority of speakers. Literally tens of thousands of organizations in the US need speakers on a regular weekly or monthly basis. A large percentage of these organizations are actively looking for businesspeople that have a message that will appeal to the majority of their members–and you could be that speaker.

You need not be expounding on the evils of the Democratic takeover of Congress, or the how badly the Republicans have governed, or the great coming economic downfall of civilization as we know it. You do not have to be a stand-up comedian or a storyteller on the level of Garrison Keillor.

Speaking for local groups and originations only requires you to have information that is relevant and interesting. A realtor client of mine became an expert in the minutiae of every neighborhood in her city and began speaking to groups about the transitions taking place in the city–which neighborhoods are on the verge of taking off, and which in decline. Her presentation is laced with statistics but also stories and history, with fact and prediction.

Within a matter of several months, she became the “go to” person when members of audiences she had spoken to began to think about buying or selling their home, because she is recognized as the expert on where to move, where to build and where to avoid.

Another client of mine, a business insurance broker, began speaking about the issues that businesses in his city face in terms of risk. His presentation centers on crime, employee theft, and upcoming city ordinances that may affect business, and other, unexciting aspects of risk management.

Although he is a likable and entertaining man, his presentation is hardly worthy of an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. Nevertheless, he has information that is of interest to other businesspeople. Moreover, he, like the realtor, has become known as expert in his field. Businesspeople come to him first because of their perception of his extraordinary knowledge of both business risk and how to manage it and the local issues facing businesses.

Neither of these people is exceptional in the sense that they have led extraordinary lives or have mythical business prowess. In fact, the business agent has only been in the insurance business for a couple of years. However, both recognized the power of getting in front of groups and presenting themselves as experts. Their average audience is fewer than 40 people. Their average talk is less than 20 minutes, and each speaks less than four times a month. Nevertheless, if they speak three times per month to an average audience of 35 people, they are in front of about 1,200 per year as “the” expert in their field. Moreover, many of these people are potential prospects.

How do you become the expert? First, find something about your business that will be of interest to a broad range of potential customers. Concentrate on areas that could give your audience information on potential risks or opportunities that could expand or enhance their life, open new doors, or increase or protect their wealth. Once you have found an interesting niche, connect it to your local market. The realtor deals only with local issues and demographics, but the insurance broker mixes general risk statistics with local business-related issues. He takes mundane national statistics and brings them home, to a more personal level.

Do your homework on both your subject and your public speaking skills. Hone your presentation so that you are confident and do not have to speak with notes. Work in front of a mirror until you have managed to eliminate all of your nervous movement. Go over your presentation–both verbally in front of a mirror and in your mind as you drive–until it becomes second nature. Check and recheck facts and figures. And, join the Toastmasters. Most of us probably think of the Toastmasters as simply an organization that will improve our public speaking skills. It certainly will. However, it will improve your leadership skills also, not to mention your interpersonal skills in general. Most every community has at least one Toastmasters club within reasonable distance. In addition, in a city of any reasonable size, you’ll probably have several options of meeting days and times as there will probably be several clubs from which to choose. Then, once you have mastery over your subject and yourself, get the word out to church, service, chamber, business, and other organizations. Send a self-promotion package and follow up with a phone call. As you begin to set speaking engagements, more will follow.

Keep your material fresh and up-to-date. Look and act like a professional. Within months, you’ll have gained the reputation of an expert, the image of the guru, and the self-confidence to match.

Bestselling author, speaker, sales trainer and management consultant, Paul McCord is recognized as a leading authority on lead generation, referral selling and personal marketing. Find more information at Power Referral Selling

Technorati Tags: Presentation Skills, Public Speaking

The power of a good speech is almost unparallel to anything else, a good speech can make huge changes in societies, bring conflicts to an end and start revolutions. Maybe you are not interested in this kind of speech making, but a good speaker will have the ability to move any obstacle he wants on his way to making his point clearly understood. The speech making ability is not only something that is a gift, it is something that can be learned and acquired. Many look up to famous speakers to be their roll models and inspiration.

Some people may claim that people have become famous in public speaking simply because they have the confidence and knowledge enough to be so certain of their ideas within everybody’s hearing. Yes, public speaking could be a good combination of wit and self esteem. But have you ever given it a thought that even the famous public speakers were initially afraid of the stage itself?

Public speaking is not something that you are born with. It is something that you must develop. If, as a child, you were oriented that a speech in front of a couple of people is something you must be anxious of then you might find it hard to realize yourself in that very manner. However, if you have been trained to express your views without regard to what criticisms or opinions other people may throw at you, then you are sure to thread the path of confidence in speaking well publicly.

There are various types of public speakers though. And for each type of speaker is a specific technique of public speaking. There may be some general guidelines as to how to speak publicly but eventually it is the natural styles of the actual speakers that rule.

However, this does not negate the fact that this is also the pitfall for most public speakers. It is often hard to keep the audience laughing or to keep their attention on your speech. That’s why these things set famous and effective public speakers apart from those of the beginners.

Another effective style that most famous public speakers use is a light-but-bombarded-with-sense-speech. Too few can deliver this well since many tend to complicate words and have the tendency to stay off focus, especially when the speech is extemporaneous.

Light speeches are easy to digest. These also offer the advantage of driving to your purpose without having to divert your public’s attention to another thing which is prone to lead everyone to another issue.

Depending on the speaker, the style may be easy to spot. But this is not the core of listening to public speakers. It is not about knowing how one would deliver himself but how his delivery penetrates to your understanding.

From the regular college or university presentations to being head of public relations departments the ability to give a good speech is widely appreciated. Learn how you can become a better Public Speaker & more at http://publicspeaking.zupatips.com

Technorati Tags: Presentation Skills, Public Speaking

made what I consider to be 3 big mistakes recently when I was introducing someone. I outlined the information to cover, jotted some statistics to share, and carried them with me onstage. Unfortunately, because we were running short for time, the introduction didn’t powerfully lead back to the audience benefit and my total admiration and respect for the upcoming speaker.

For some strange reason, I didn’t make the time to practice what I was going to say out loud. Not practicing aloud caused me to relearn 3 very important things.

1. When you introduce someone, even if it’s with a testimonial, the focus should never be on you. To get your sincere message across every single time, your words & your actions need to be completely of service to the person you are introducing. What you say must always focus on the benefit of your audience listening to the next speaker’s wisdom.

2. It is of vital importance when you introduce someone to build them up to motivate your audience to hang onto every word the upcoming speaker will say.

3. You don’t need a list to share from your heart. Just keep it short, simple & sincere to achieve maximum impact.

The learning point here is that even if you are a professional speaker, you must always practice any speech that you will give aloud beforehand, if possible. Hearing yourself speak aloud usually makes it instantly clear where your focus should be and what words are “listener & speaker friendly” meaning easy for the audience to understand and easy for you to articulate and express comfortably.

It is imperative that you time yourself especially when introducing someone else. Your message needs to be short & sweet with a clear takeaway. What’s a “takeaway”? It’s the one action you want your audience to take or the one piece of information you want them to remember.

Another tip when you introduce someone is to make sure that you do a fantastic build up and always end with the person’s name. For example, “Put your hands together and make some noise for a man who traveled all the way from Ann Arbor, Michigan — a man who’s in the top 1% of marketers & entrepreneurs in the world — THE man who is about to teach you how to create outrageous wealth —-Mr. — Stephen — Pierce!”

Let’s talk for a moment about mistakes. Frankly, we learn far more from our mistakes than our successes. As a matter of fact most mistakes aren’t even noticed by your audience. So don’t “beat yourself up” when you don’t perform as well as you think you could.

Finally, don’t do what I did and learn from my example. Don’t expect to be perfect and always practice what you will say on your feet and out loud before public speaking even if it’s just a quick introduction.

Welcome the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and give yourself credit for being courageous enough to speak in front of an audience. The best public speaking teacher is practice. Congratulate & celebrate you each step of the way and enjoy the journey one speech at a time.

Deborah Torres Patel is an internationally acclaimed expert on self expression and the fine arts of voice & communication. To receive ongoing tips & subscribe for complimentary online voice, presentation & public speaking training sign up at http://www.expressingyou.com .

Technorati Tags: Public Speaking