Archive for Lessening the Fear of Public Speaking
The Five Laws of Presentation
Posted by: | CommentsTo be a Successful Speaker, these are Not Optional!
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To be successful in anything, there are Very Specific Laws that apply. These are not suggestions! The Public Speaking / Presentation World is no exception.
The following Five Laws of Presentation are essential if a high quality presentation is the goal.
Read them – Study them – Apply them!
- Know your “Stuff!”
- Really know your material.
- Continually study and keep abreast of the latest information.
- Read books and blogs on the subject.
- Set up google alerts for specifics that will help you stay up to date.
- Be proficient with all the Components, Parts and Elements of a great presentation.
- Have great content and use all the verbal and nonverbal communication skills available to deliver your presentation.
- Remember: Delivery trumps Content – NonVerbal Communication trumps Verbal Communication and Everything must be in sync!
Attention, Audience! Be SPEAKER CENTERED – Please!
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Being Audience Centered is a mandate for speakers. Great presenters know: It’s all about the audience, and not about them. When a speaker takes their focus off the audience the presentation suffers and the odds of them GETTING IT! lessen.
In most cases, the audience came to learn something, not to see or hear the speaker.
We speakers are the messengers. It’s incumbent upon us to deliver information in a manner that educates, entertains and simply explains it.
However, it’s a Two-Way Street. We speakers need things from the audience to do our job to the best of our ability. We need the Audience to be Speaker Centered. They should be focusing on the Speaker!
Here are some of those things that will help us Deliver Better to You:
- Give us your undivided attention – Please! Read More→
Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . .
Posted by: | CommentsBLANK - You’re Going to Need It! - Glad I Had Mine!
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Have you ever changed a tire? (I don’t mean calling the Auto Club and waiting for the service truck to arrive!) I know many of you haven’t. So if you had the misfortune of getting a flat in the middle of nowhere and had a properly inflated tire in your trunk, and all the tools to make that change, you might have to grab your manual and figure how to change that tire – correct?
Having a ‘Plan B’ doesn’t mean implementing it is going to be easy!
Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong it will go wrong, applies to the world of Public Speaking and Presentations, also.
I always have a ‘Plan B’, and often a ‘Plan C’. But, like having that spare tire, I never really expect to need it.
Successful Speakers Focus on. . .
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The AUDIENCE!
Speakers: It’s not about you!
It’s all about your Audience!
Successful Companies are Customer Centered.
- They focus on the Customer; the needs and challenges their customers have.
They focus on meeting those needs and solving those challenges.
That means:
- The Medical Community is Patient Centered.
- The Educational System is Student Centered.
- The Hospitality Industry is Guest Centered.
To be successful in the Public Speaking / Presentation World we need to be
Audience Centered!
The audience didn’t come to see and hear you. They did come to learn! They came to Read More→
The Worst Speech You’ll Ever Give,
Posted by: | CommentsWill Be Far Better Than the One You Never Give!
That’s worth repeating:
“The worst speech you’ll ever give,
will be far better than the one you never give!”
Many are held back from speaking because of the
Fear of Public Speaking.
They mistakenly think:
- They have to be perfect.
- They’ll make a fool of themselves.
- The audience won’t like them.
- They’ll forget something.
- The previous speaker was so much better!
- The audience knows more than they do about the subject.
- They have nothing worthwhile to say.
Often, we want to make our feelings know to others so that, perhaps, action can be taken.
Some grab the opportunity. Many opt to pass. Some pass, unfortunately, because of the above reasons for the Fear of Public Speaking.
Watch This Video of a young lady, who hates public speaking, but is so passionate
about keeping her library off the budget cutting block in Toronto, she had to speak.
She makes the essential “emotional connection” with her audience.
Slideshows Help Them SEE Your Message!
Posted by: | CommentsWhen Done Well:
PowerPoint / Keynote Slide Presentations
Help the Audience GET IT!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. There are three styles of learning.
- Auditory – Learn by hearing.
- Visual – Learn by seeing.
- Kinesthetic - Learn by doing.
For speakers, if more than one of these styles can be addressed to convey your message, the odds they’ll GET IT are dramatically increased. Combining high quality, universally understood images on a screen with you, the speaker providing the “text” is an excellent way to do this.
Unfortunately, the majority of slide shows are designed with lots of text, bullet points, corporate templates and logos. If they include any images, they are often cheap clip art or graphics that have the audience scratching their heads wondering what they are.
Sometimes you wonder why the presenter even showed up! They are standing at the lectern, with their back to the audience, and are reading each and every bit of text to the attendees. Yech! They could just have well emailed their powerpoint presentation to everyone!
So your audience GETS IT! here are better ways to use slides in your presentation:
Use very little text and as few bullet points as possible.
Here’s why: Read More→
“I Have Nothing to Speak About!”
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Nonsense!
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One of the main reasons people have a Fear of Public Speaking is they think they have nothing to say. They believe anything and everything that could ever be said on a subject has already been said - and probably, many many times!
They imagine the audience will know more than they do about the subject and will consider their valuable time is being wasted. They’ll be bored to death, give them a hard time during the Q&A, and perhaps leave before the presentation is completed.
Nonsense!
I came to this realization after a friend emailed me a question. I don’t recall what it was about, but I Read More→
Failing Gets a Bad Rap!
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve ever failed, please raise your hand!
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I can’t see any of you, but I know all your hands are raised. (Several have both hands and legs in the air!)
Did you learn more from things you failed at or from things that went well the first time you did them?
You learned more from what went wrong than what happened without incident – Correct?
When something goes right the first time we don’t stop and say, “Great! I’ll make a template of what happened that made this so good so I do it each time a similar situation presents itself,”
What usually happens is this: Read More→
Fear of Public Speaking:
An Equal Opportunity Fear!
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The “Fear of Public Speaking” doesn’t care about your
Age, Education, or Occupation.
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Survey after survey lists it at top of the ‘Fear List’ most people have. Some say they would rather die than stand in front of an audience and deliver a speech. Unfortunately, it holds many people back from reaching their true potential.
It is a fear worth confronting and overcoming.
You might be the world’s leading authority on a subject, but if you can’t present that expertise to others in a manner that educates, entertains, and explains it well, you won’t achieve the goals that should be yours!
The research shows: “Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career and Leadership Opportunities.” Read More→
CBS Radio Interviews Speaker/Author Fred Miller
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NewsRadio KMOX 1120 The Voice of St. Louis!
Host Mark Reardon interviews me about my book,
“No Sweat Public Speaking!”
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With their famous 50,000 watt signal, KMOX is one of the top stations in the country.
Mark Reardon, 30 year radio veteran, interviewed me about Public Speaking and my book.
Following is the transcript. Read More→
