Archive for Answering Questions
Speakers: Instructions For Your Audience Are. . .
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Wouldn’t It Be Nice If. . .
Before your presentation, your Audience had specific instructions and training on how to be a Good Audience?
An audience can make or break a presentation.
A good, enthusiastic group gives the speaker responses and energy that lead to a better presentation.
Audiences with individuals who have their own agendas and don’t respect the speaker’s efforts, can disrupt an otherwise, good presentation. This can lead to, frustration for the presenter, a less than stellar performance, and the audience not GETTING the speaker’s message.
If the speaker has developed and practiced a speech, the audience should follow certain “Guidelines” that give the presenter an opportunity to deliver their message so the audience GETS IT! They don’t have to agree with all of it. They don’t have to agree with any of it. However, unless they GET IT! there can’t be a significant discussion going forward.
To help the speaker, and the audience, I’ve compiled a set of:
Audience Instructions
- Arrive well before the scheduled event.
- Arriving after an event has started and finding a seat is disruptive to everyone.
- If you can meet the presenter before their presentation, be Read More→
Speakers: The Last Thing you do, will be. . .
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The First Thing the Audience
will Remember!
will Remember!
The Law of Primacy and Recency states:
The First and Last Things your audience hears
and sees, will probably be remembered more
than anything else in your presentation.
Of the two, the Closing will be better recalled.
Knowing that Law is important for several reasons.
- It’s why speakers should have a Strong Opening
and a Strong Closing!
- The Opening should grab the attention of the audience and make them desire to hear more.
- Example:
- “Picture this! Friday is our annual Open House and the president of the company wants each department to give a fifteen minute presentation. I have you scheduled for 1:15 – right after lunch!”
Speakers: Don’t do these 11 Things!
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Read them – Study them – Don’t do them!
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If you’re a speaker there are certain things you should do, and should not do. Here are 11 Definite Don’ts!
- Don’t ”Wing it.”
- Your non-effort will show.
- You’ll embarrass yourself and waste the time of your audience. They came to learn something from your talk.
- It is your responsibility they leave the room knowing more about your subject than they did when they entered.
- Prepare and practice your presentation as if it were very important – because it is!
- It is, and always should be, about the Audience!
- Being Audience Centered is one of the
Laws of Presentation.
Your PRESENTATION needs a MAKEOVER If. . .
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When was Your Presentation
last updated?
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If it’s been awhile - Keep reading!
Doing a Presentation Makeover
makes sense if:
The Information You Want to Convey is Important.
It should be Important!
Important to the audience and
Important to you!
If it’s not important, Why are you doing it?
“The presentation you and/or your team deliver:
directly reflects upon the presenters and those developing the presentation.”
You might need a
Presentation Makeover if you. . . Read More→
LIMITED OFFER! The Audio of Fred’s Keynote Address
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My Keynote Presentation, “No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Here’s a Sample from the Beginning of the Talk:
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This Keynote Presentation covers the:
- Components, Parts and Elements of a presentation.
- Things to do that will lessen the “Fear of Public Speaking.”
- Bonus Tips – Subtle little differences will make all the difference in your presentation.
It’s a bit over 95 minutes in length. You’ll want to play it over and over!
For a Limited Time, I’m offering it for only $9.95, with my No BS Guarantee.
If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied, I’ll refund your purchase in full. MP3 file will be sent by the next business day.
Ask Fred
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Question: If you had one piece of advice to give to improve my speaking, what would it be?
Answer: SPEAK! – SPEAK! – SPEAK! If you want to be a great Baker – Bake! If you want to be a great Swimmer – Swim! If you want to be a great Speaker – SPEAK! You can do all the intellectualizing about the subject you want, read books, listen to CDs, watch videos and go to speaking events. The Learning is in the Doing! Each time you speak, if you practice beforehand, you will become better. Get a good friend to critique your speeches, then work on what needs improvement, then - SPEAK! – SPEAK! – SPEAK!
Question: What about Toastmasters? Worth my time?
Read More→
IfYouDon’tPauseItLooksAndSoundsLikeThis!
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The P-A-U-S-E
A Major Element of Verbal Communication
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Question: What if my entire Post was written like the Title?
How long could you read it and what would you understand?
Answer: Not Long and Not Much!
The same applies to your audience if you Talk, Talk, Talk and don’t PAUSE.
The people watching and listening to your presentation will never GET IT! if you don’t give them the opportunity to ingest and digest your material. We think by associations and our brains need to take in and process what information we’re bringing in and determine what “files” in our brains they belong in. That’s pretty hard to do if you don’t PAUSE every once in a while.
Claude Debussy, the famous French composer, said, “Music is the silence between the notes.” Read More→
Protected: YOUR “No Sweat Public Speaking!” Workbook
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Here’s the audio, and a bit of commentary.
My Keynote Presentation, “No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Here’s a Sample from the Beginning of the Talk:
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.
This Keynote Presentation covers the:
- Components, Parts and Elements of a presentation.
- Things to do that will lessen the “Fear of Public Speaking.”
- Bonus Tips – Subtle little differences will make all the difference in your presentation.
It’s a bit over 95 minutes in length. You’ll want to play it over and over!
I’m offering it for only $9.95, with my
No BS Guarantee.
If for any reason you are not 100% satisfied, I’ll refund your purchase in full. MP3 file will be sent by the next business day.
What is Your Verbal Image?
Posted by: | CommentsVirtual Presentations Present Challenges
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GoToMeeting.com, WebEx.com and similar products, feature the ability to hold meetings, webinars, and training over the internet.
These tools have amazing benefits for participants and the presenter(s). They allow many people, from different locations, to come together for the on-line event. But like most tools, there are some tradeoffs. The biggest one is the inability, in most cases and the one this Post addresses, to use all your nonverbal presentation skills and “take the temperature” of the audience as you can in a live, on-site venue.
Nonverbal communication reinforces, or not, the words
we say.
Nonverbal communication trumps verbal communication. Not seeing facial expressions, gestures, and body movements can be a huge hurdle. It’s important, throughout a presentation, to constantly “take the temperature” of the audience to “see” if they are GETTING IT!, i.e. understanding your message. The nonverbal messages we look for when doing in-person talks are not as available, if at all, over the web. Read More→
