'No Sweat' Public Speaking!» Overcoming the fear of public speaking

The “F” Word – Speakers Should. . .

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:01:10 +0000

TEmbrace It!

I’m going to use the “F” Word today.

I know I’ve already made some of you uncomfortable.

You don’t like that word directed at you.

If you direct it to others, it’s not well received.

The Truth: Failure Gets a Bad Rap!

We learn far more from our failures than things we do correctly the first time. This certainly applies to Public Speaking and Presenting.

One of my mantras is:
“Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities.”
No one has everchallenged me on it. Many agree they should take and make as many Speaking Opportunities as possible. If they do, they will grow their businesses, advance their careers, and increase their leadership roles.

Speaking Opportunities are also Learning Opportunities.
Things we learn from public speaking are often not from
presentations going smoothly and without any flaws or snafus. Sometimes, it’s quite the opposite!

Many of the public speaking skills I have came about because I forgot, messed up, or didn’t even know about using them in presentations.

The Introduction

Examples:
I write my own Introduction. It’s an integral part of the speech, and what every speaker should do. Mine follows the guidelines of a good Introduction and does a nice job of setting me up as the next speaker. There is some humor built into it and usually does a great job of connecting me to the audience before my Opening.

All morning I had been giving a number of small workshops at a manufacturing firm. In the afternoon, the entire company gather together for the main meeting of the event. I handed my Introduction to the VP of Sales who was to Introduce me. He goes stage center, looks briefly at my Introduction, wads it up in his hands and says, “We all know Fred! Come up and give us your presentation!”

Bummer!

I had to do some quick thinking and improvising because I never expected him not to read what I had given him!

That was a HUGE Lesson. Ever since, I email the Introduction to the emcee in advance of the event, asking them to review it and contact me with any questions. I explain that it is an important part of the presentation. I make it a point to see them before the event and, again, ask if there are any questions.

I was delivering a presentation at a Chamber of Commerce Luncheon that consisted of thirty-six slides. Everything was going smoothly until I pressed the button on my remote to advance the slide to number eight. Suddenly, the screen went blank!

My computer was working fine, as was the projector. Because this was a luncheon meeting with a tight schedule, I didn’t have time to reboot the equipment and see if that would fix the problem.

Keynote's Light Table View

Fortunately, as a backup, I always print my slides in Keynote’s Light Table View (for PowerPoint users, it’s called Slide Sorter View). This option allows me to place up to forty-two slides on one sheet of paper. Since I use mostly images, rather than bullet points and text, it was very easy to look at the image of the slide and know what to talk about.

I quickly found out that having a backup plan and using it is not as easy as I had hoped. (It was almost Big Sweat instead of No Sweat!) Luckily, I really know this material, and the presentation continued and was well received.

The lesson I learned was that having that “Plan B” was not enough. I needed to practice with the Light Table View, also.

I’ve taken this concept a step further, and now have the Light Table View printout next to the computer when delivering presentations and find it gives me the “overview of where I am” better than looking just at the Presenter Display View on my mac.

Keynote's Presenter's Display View

Presenter Display View (Presenter Tools in PowerPoint) is a tremendous tool for presenting that I also learned by “not knowing” how to get the “screens arranged” correctly.

I was presenting in “mirror” mode, where the image on the screen is the image projected. This is nice, because the presenter can face the audience and not turn their back to see what the audience is seeing. Better than this is the Presenter Display View which lets me see:
• What the audience sees.
• The next slide.
• Notes.
• The time or a timer.

You can see the advantage this view offers. However, it took trial and error and research for me to figure out how to get the screens, mine and the one the audience sees, arranged correctly. I’m not a techie and the learning was frustrating. But the reward of having it work correctly – tremendous! I’m able to deliver a far better presentation using this tool.

Failing to make this work initially, forced me out of my confort zone to learn something new – Good!

I read a quote once that rings true: “Learning begins at the edge of our comfort zone.” It’s also a fact that when we get out of our comfort zone, it becomes larger!

Perhaps it is the word “Failure” that must be addressed. It has a negative connotation. If we substitute the word, “Experiment,” the “Failure” doesn’t seem like such a big deal. We don’t expect “experiments” to always have positive outcomes. A “failed experiment” takes us closer to the results we are seeking because it let’s us eliminate one process, idea or technique. This is a good thing - correct?

Until we say, “Our experiment was successful because it brought us closer to a solution,” let’s

Embrace Failure!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

They also know:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.
He shows them how to
Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with -
No Sweat!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
Connect/Follow me:
FaceBook
LinkedIn
Twitter
314-517-8772

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The Fear of Public Speaking – KSDK Interviews. . .

Fred E. Miller — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:01:51 +0000

K Me!

St. Louis (KSDK) - It could be a wedding toast or a class assignment in high school or college. Most of us get anxious when we’re asked to talk to an audience.

It’s the number one phobia, called glossophobia. When it comes to talking the talk, many people would rather get a root canal or an IRS audit than make a speech.

Click the video player above to watch the report.

Fred Miller’s book is No Sweat Public Speaking!, and among his tips: people remember the first and last thing you tell them, so Have a strong opening and a strong close to your speech, have confident body language, remember that the audience is on your side and they want you to succeed.

KSDK

Transcript of Interview

Kay Quinn: …or it could be a wedding toast, or a class assignment in high school or college. Most of us get anxious when we’re asked to talk to an audience, and Art Holliday here has a story about the fear of speaking in public. 75 percent of us are afraid to talk in public. You and I aren’t — aren’t among those people.

Art Holliday: The number two phobia is fear of death; but the number one phobia is fear of speaking in public, okay.

Kay Quinn: Wow. Can you imagine?

Art Holliday: It’s called glossophobia. And when it comes to talking the talk, many people would rather get a root canal or an IRS audit than make a speech.

It’s time to talk about talking.

Fred Miller: Yikes. Me, speak in front of a group? Oh, my gosh.

Art Holliday: Welcome to Cave Springs Toastmasters where an author and a teenage film maker face their fear.

Male1: Very afraid. I have a big fear in public speaking.

Female1: You know, I did have a little bit of a fear in public speaking. But, like, Fred said today, practice, practice, practice.

Art Holliday: Fred Miller is an author who coaches people how to speak in public.

Fred Miller: If your reaction to a speaking opportunity is more Yikes than Yes, you’re not alone. Lots of people have a fear of public speaking.

Art Holliday: Miller says he is used to calming nervous narrators.

Fred Miller: I’ve coached lawyers, and doctors, and CEOs; coached a bride — father of the bride to be. I think he started having panic attacks the day his daughter got engaged, thinking about giving that toast to the bride.

Art Holliday: Even presidential candidates can experience tongue turmoil.

Governor Perry: I would do away with the education, the commerce, and let’s see. I can’t. The third one, I can’t. I’m sorry. Oops.

Art Holliday: Fred Miller’s goal is oops for your confidence when you work the crowd.

Fred Miller: Kind of feel like your naked all alone, vulnerable? That’s just it. You’ve got to get used to it.

Female2: The first speech, oh my gosh, my legs were shaking; and now I ‘m on speech seven and-

Male4: I’m not very good at public speaking and, plus, I’m very shy. I just realized well, this is the best opportunity to come here and learn.

Male5: Thank you Mayor, and fellow Reglinians.

Art Holliday: Fred Miller says you can go from knee-knocking nervousness to a knock-your-socks-off presentation. All you have to do is–

Fred Miller: Speak, speak, speak. If you want to be a swimmer, swim. If you want to be a baker, bake. The learning is in the doing. So, if you want to be a speaker, just get up and speak.

Art Holliday: Just make sure you hold onto your script.

Now, Fred Miller’s book is “No Sweat Public Speaking!”

Among his tips:

People remember the first and last thing you tell them, so have a strong opening and a strong close to your speech.
Have confident body language. Remember that the audience is on your side and they want you to succeed.
And Miller is a big fan of Toastmasters International, which helps improve public speaking and leadership skills. There are 77 Toastmaster organizations in Missouri and Illinois within 25 miles of downtown St. Louis. So, a lot of people are aware of their fears and they’re trying to do something about it.

Kay Quinn: Yeah, you’ve go to remember we’re all just human, right. So, you’re going to make mistakes from time to time, or slip up, and I love the Don Knotts’ thing. Oh, that is so funny. That’s classic. It’s priceless. Thank you so much, Art.

Art Holliday: Thank you.

[00:03:20]

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
Connect/Follow me:
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LinkedIn
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314-517-8772

Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller Audio John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in...
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Have a Spare Tire in Case Murphy Shows Up!

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:01:34 +0000

H Murphy, of Murphy’s Law,

always seems to be lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim. That casualty could be you!

Always be prepared for anything and everything you can control.

If the computer crashes, projector dies, or sound system goes silent, you must still present your material! There are people in the audience who came to learn something. It’s your presentation and your responsibility they don’t leave disappointed.

Be sure your “trunk” is well equipped for all contingencies.
If I’m using slides, I backup my presentation on a USB flash drive. Because I use a mac, my slideshows are made with iWork Keynote software. I export copies to PowerPoint and convert, also, to PDFs. The PDF conversion is done because they work when versions of PowerPoint and Keynote are not the versions on a backup computer.

I also print a copy of my slideshow in Light Table view, which allows me to see a large number of my slides on one piece of paper. More about this in a moment!

If you use slides, I recommend you do the same. If those slides contain bullet points with text, print out a copy with the text large enough you’ll be able to read it. In stressful moments, that text can get very fuzzy!

Having a spare tire is not enough! You must know if the tire is inflated, have a working car jack, and a lug wrench. Even if you have “all that in your trunk” it doesn’t mean you know how to use it and change a tire.

Here’s my real life example:
I was presenting to a local Chamber at their monthly luncheon meeting and was on slide number eight of a thirty-six slide presentation. Suddenly the screen went BLANK! My computer was working fine, as, it seemed, was the projector. Because the schedule was tight, there was no time to reboot and see if that would fix the problem.

As a “Plan B” I always print out my slides in Light Table View. This allows me to place thirty-plus, very small images of my slides, on one sheet of paper. Thankfully, I use mostly images in slides rather than text. (This is something you’ll definitely want to investigate in my book and website!) I’m able to look at the image, and know my material well enough, that I can continue the presentation.

However, having the “Spare Tire” and needing to switch to it instantly is not always easy. Luckily, I was able to grab my paper, present the remainder of my presentation, and finish to a thankful round of applause. (It was almost Big Sweat instead of No Sweat!)

My Lesson Learned is obvious. Before going into the desert, practice, just in case of a blowout, changing that tire!

I now practice, not only my presentation, but the “Backup Plan.” Knowing what can happen, and confident I can handle things if Murphy pounces, is a great stress reliever. Follow my lead, and Practice “Plan B,” also!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
Connect/Follow me:
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LinkedIn
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314-517-8772

Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . . There are several lessons here: Murphy’s Law rules! It’s not...
Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller Audio John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in...
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The Elevator Speech Booklet – CLICK to Open!

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:01:12 +0000

YourYour Elevator Speech is a Mini-Presentation

CLICK to Open Booklet

**Use this as a Template for Your Elevator Speech!**

An Elevator Speech is what we deliver when introducing ourselves at networking events, business meetings, or when meeting anyone for the first time.

The term, Elevator Speech, implies it’s something that won’t take very long to deliver. If someone’s only going to be in an elevator with you till the next floor, it may be less than a minute. It’s not an exercise to take casually.

Just as an Elevator goes up one floor at a time, the Elevator Speech should be delivered “by the floor.”

At each stop, the verbal and/or nonverbal signal to look for is, “Tell me more.”

Everyone doesn’t want to go to the Top Floor with you. Some don’t want to leave the lobby! There is no need to waste time and energy taking them all the way up.

The Elevator Speech can be a good tool for Qualifying and DisQualifying prospects.

The Elevator Speech starts simple. As interest and time permit, it is expanded.

Again, not everyone wants to go with you to the Top Floor and you don’t want to take everyone there.

Let’s get in the Elevator and start going up!

1st Floor - Describes Who You Are
Hello! My Name is Fred Miller.
That may be all someone wants to know about you – Your Name.

2nd Floor - Describes What You Do
I’m a Speaker, a Coach and an Author.
That’s what I do.
Hopefully, they want to know:
What I speak about.
What I coach.
What have I authored.

On this floor, very briefly, tell them what you do. Don’t give a lot of details.

3rd Floor - Describes Your Expertise
The Title of my Book is, “No Sweat Public Speaking!”
How to Develop, Practice, and Deliver a ‘Knock Your Socks Off!’ Presentation with -
No Sweat!

This is where you tell something about why you have expertise in what you do.

4th Floor - Why They Hire Me
Businesses and Individuals Hire Me Because they want to improve their Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.

I prefer the words Hire Me rather than:
“I work with people who. . .
“I help people. . .
Hire Me lets them know I get Paid to do this.
Hire Me can be an excellent Dis-Qualifier.

The word “because” is important. It has a positive psychological impact on the recipient.

5th Floor - More Why They Hire Me
They do this because:
We perceive really good speakers as Experts.
Perception is reality.
We like to work with Experts.

Here, expand on why they hire you.

6th Floor - More Information
They know:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.

You may not have time or need to deliver more information, but it’s good
to have it as an option.

I could follow this up with,
“Are You Taking and Making Speaking Opportunities?”

That could continue the conversation.
This is an Elevator Speech, not a Sales Presentation.
If this leads to a meeting and a conversation, I’ll ask it at that time.

7th Floor - I Deliver
I show them how to Develop, Practice, and Deliver a ‘Knock Your Socks Off!’ Presentation with – No Sweat!

The “No Sweat!” is part of my Branding. If you have a “Brand” it’s this is a great place to use it!

8th Floor - ASK!
“You probably don’t know any companies or people who could use the services I offer,
Do You?

Asking the question this way will catch them a bit off guard and usually get them thinking.
Their answer could be a prospect.

Somewhere on the ride up, the person you’re delivering to, is curious enough to tell you they want to know more and have a conversation in the future.
If not, ASKING them is the next best thing to do. What have you got to lose?

Be aware that an Elevator Speech, just like any presentation, consists of two Components:
Content and Delivery.

Plan your Content.
• Read The Elevator Speech Booklet.
• Very little, but pertinent information, for each “floor.”
• Continually refresh it. Change is constant.
• You learn new skills and have new experiences that can be
valuable to mention.

Delivery is Verbal and NonVerbal.
Verbal: The way the words are spoken.
• Speak clearly and distinctly.
NonVerbal, Everything else.
• Smile. It’s universal and gets a positive response.
• Make eye contact to show honesty and sincerity.
• Stand tall and lean in slightly to listen and/or shake hands.
• If appropriate to shake hands, give a firm handshake.

Now, work on Your Elevator Speech.
Then, if you’re inclined, go to the Comments Section, please, and
share Your Elevator Speech!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
Connect/Follow me:
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314-517-8772

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Speakers, There’s NO App for That!

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:01:53 +0000

AP You Gotta Do It Yourself!. . .and
**You Should Want To!**

There’s NO App to download that will make you a Great Speaker and lessen the Fear of Public Speaking.

Because of the Fear of Public Speaking, many in leadership positions pass on taking and making Speaking Opportunities and delegate the task to others. That’s Nuts!

You should not hand a Speaking Opportunity off to someone else. Steve Jobs never did, and it’s one of the reasons Apple grew to be one of the most successful and innovative companies ever.

What would you think of a President, Prime Minister, or any leader of a country handing
off their annual “State of the Union Address’ to others? It would not be seen as a positive move, would it?

Leadership is executed through superb communications!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know My Mantra:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities!
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities!
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities!

Those who present well are perceived as Experts. Perception is reality, and we like to work with Experts. (Experts can command higher prices for their products and services, also.)

People who take and make Speaking Opportunities grow the perception they are Experts. They grow their Businesses, advance their Careers, and increase their Leadership Roles.

We expect leaders to be good presenters. Some are; many are not. If the leader is not comfortable delivering presentations, make it a goal to learn how!

Public Speaking/Giving a Presentation is a skill that is learned. Just as no one is born knowing how to ride a bike, work with a computer, or drive a car, no one is born a public speaker.

There are many things a person can do to learn these skills:

Take Public Speaking Courses.
Join Toastmasters
Read blogs and books on Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.
Observe professional speakers.
Listen to great speeches.
Watch videos on Presentation Skills.
Hire a personal coach.
PRACTICE delivering presentations.
SPEAK!

Two activities stand above the others:

Practice! – Practice! – Practice!

Would any serious athlete just “Show Up”
for the big game, match or meet? – NO!

Spring Training, Summer Camp, Winter Camp,
Workout – Workout – Workout!

Would any serious musician, singer or actress just “Show Up”
for the big concert, show, or play? – NO!

Rehearsal – Practice – Rehearsal!

Why would someone think they can just “Show Up” for a presentation and “wing it?” – NO!

Practice! – Practice! – Practice!

Steve Jobs was the consumate presenter.
If he had a 90 minute Keynote Presentation scheduled to introduce a new Apple product
or service he would practice for weeks!

That’s the amount of time someone who was the best-of the-best would spend on preparing for a speech. How much prep time should you and I spend developing and practicing a presentation?

Do it! Present!

“The Learning is in the Doing!”
You can do all the intellectualizing you want about being a Public Speaker, but the real Learning is in the Doing!

There’s no other way!
Jump into the deep end of the pool (get in front of an audience) and start swimming (presenting).

What’s the worse that could happen?

You bomb!

BIG DEAL! Who Cares?

It’s a drop in the ocean of your life. It’s nothing!
You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Jump in and Do It!

I GUARANTEE:
“The worst speech you’ll ever give -
will be far better than the one you never give!”
Let me know how it works out!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
Connect/Follow me:
FaceBook
LinkedIn
Twitter
314-517-8772

Speakers: Brand Yourself with – “No Sweat!” I've worked very hard on my "No Sweat!" Brand: ”No...
Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller Audio John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in...
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Public Speaking is the Key to Opening. . .

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:01:29 +0000

The Doors of Opportunity!Speaking

Opportunity is waiting!

On the other side of that door is Lots of it!
How do we unlock and open it?

Speak!

Public Speaking/Presenting
is the Key to opening the
Doors of Opportunity!

Here’s why:
We perceive really good speakers as Experts!

Perception is reality, and we like to work with Experts.

The Research Shows:
• Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities!
• Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities!
• Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities!

The people who take and make Speaking Opportunities grow the perception they are Experts. They grow their businesses, careers, and leadership possibilities.

Think of great business and political leaders. Many attained their positions because of their great skills as a speaker. Presidents Obama, Clinton and Reagan rose to the highest position in our country partially because of those communication skills. Sarah Palin, considered a rock star on the podium, ran for vice president. Apple’s Steve Jobs was the consummate presenter and salesman as was Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca.

A speaker wants to connect to the members of the audience. The message of a person, skilled in presentation skills, speaks to the audience, and makes the connection. That connection can lead to direct and indirect opportunities.

Being a good presenter is an important skill needed for many occupations. Some present well – others don’t. All things being equal, the ones who communicate well are the leaders in their profession.

Equally important is the fact that even if a person seldom makes a presentation, having the skill will help in other significant ways.
• It will improve their one-on-one communication, something everyone does.
• Since it takes most out of their comfort zone, it widens that comfort zone and
improves self-esteem, a worthy goal!

Please Note: A Speaking Opportunity is also an opportunity to:
• Give others a Negative Impression of You.
• Embarrass Yourself.
• Set a Career Back!

Knowing this, it’s important to be aware that a Speaking Opportunity, whether you sought it out, or it found you, is Important! Don’t take it lightly. The spotlight will be on You.

You want to delver a great presentation. If assigned this task, you want those counting on you to be proud of your performance. You want to be satisfied with your own work.

Study, Learn and Use The Laws of Presentation.
• Know Your Stuff.
• Really know the subject you’ll be speaking about.
• Be up-to-date on the latest information.
• Know How to Present.
• Be proficient with all the Components, Parts, and Elements of a presentation.
• Study presentation skills.
• Join Toastmasters.
• Get a Coach!
• Be Audience Centered.
• It’s all about the Audience.It’s not about you!
• Understand – Believe – Practice this law!
• Practice – Practice – Practice!
• This is not a suggestion!
• A good rule of thumb is:
• For every minute of presentation – practice one hour.
• (The above is not a misprint!)

Those with a Fear of Public Speaking, or those who speak, but don’t have good presentation skills, lose out. They lose out because they either don’t take speaking opportunities, or, take them and perform poorly.

Presentation Skills, like all skills, can be learned! No one was born knowing how to ride a bike, drive a car, or use a computer. No one was born a Public Speaker!

There is a Simple, Proven Formula for learning these skills.
1. Study.
2. Practice – Practice – Practice.
3. Deliver Presentation.
Repeat the above activities!

Follow the suggestions in this Post for Opening the Door to Opportunities and make your next presentation – No Sweat!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift. Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

About the Author
Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and author of the book,
“No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Businesses and individuals hire him because they want to improve their
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.
They do this because we perceive really great speakers to be Experts.
Perception is reality and we rather deal with Experts.
They also know:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.
He shows them how to
Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with -
No Sweat!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com
314-517-8772

Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller Audio John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in...
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Need a Speaker? Talk to Me!

Fred E. Miller — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:54:09 +0000

Does your Association, Company or Group need a Great speaker?

Speaker If so,
We should have a conversation!

The Fear of Public Speaking holds many back from reaching their potential. 75% of the population, to one degree or another, has this fear.

One of my Presentations addresses:
• Why we have this fear and
• Gives specific nuggets for lessening it.

Another Talk adds:
• The Components, Parts and Elements of a Presentation.
• I Name them, Explain them, and Give Examples.

Bonus Tips:
• Subtle little differences that make all the difference can be added to either presentation.

PowerPoint/Keynote Presentations are widely used today.
• They are usually not done very well.
• Many detract, rather than add, to helping convey the presenter’s message.
• I show how to reverse this!

The Research Shows:
• Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
• Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
• Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.

I have never had anyone challenge the above statements.
That’s why my message is important to many people!

My presentations can be customized to meet your specific needs. Programs can be expanded to include Workshops and/or Individual Executive Coaching.

Fees are individually negotiated.

It all starts with a conversation.
Call 314-517-8772 or Email and let me know what you want to accomplish.

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Attention, Audience! Be SPEAKER CENTERED – Please!

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:51:33 +0000

AudiBeing 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!

It’s discourteous to the speaker and others in the audience not to.
Turn OFF! your cell phones and beepers.
Don’t talk to your neighbor.
Don’t read anything.
Unless it’s an address delivered during a meal, Don’t eat anything.

Do look at us, our slides and props.

This is how we measure if we’re getting our message across – or not.
We may be doing all the talking, but the best of us constantly “take your temperature.”

We look for eye contact because if you’re looking at us, you’re probably paying attention.
We look at your facial expressions and body language.

Those voluntary and involuntary movements let us know if your’e GETTING IT! If not, shame on us. But it’s only by knowing we’re missing the mark that we can restate, repeat or make more clear our message.
If we’re making our points, we’ll know it via those signs. That knowledge energizes us! We thrive on knowing we’re communicating well and that improves our delivery.
Positive feedback from you also lessens our Fear of Public Speaking. (Yes, many of us do have that fear.)

Be an active listener and learn something!

Even if you’re not in the audience by choice, as long as you’re there you can learn something. Open up your mind to that and you’ll benefit.

Acknowledge our efforts.

Sure, not all of us are very good at this. Many speakers are terrible communicators. Some didn’t want the role, but were either assigned the job or “stepped up” when no one else volunteered.

Remember, please, that public speaking is a very real fear to lots and lots of people. Give those at the lectern credit for “just being up there.” (Most of the audience would not trade places with them.)

Applaud when the speaker closes their presentation.

It’s polite and acknowledges the time and effort put into the presentation. Even if you disagree with the speaker – applaud.

Thank them personally!

It’s not always possible, but it will mean a lot to the speaker.

Stick around after the presentation, shake their hand, and thank them for their message, even if you didn’t agree with it. (Put yourself in their shoes. Don’t you like to be appreciated?)

If you learned something, tell them!

In person is best, but an email or sending a hand written note would be great, also.

Too many people, even if they enjoyed the speaker and benefited from their message, just pick themselves up and leave when the presentation closes. Many speakers are not getting paid for their presentation. Even if they are compensated, the renumeration is not consistent with the time and effort the presenter spent prior to speaking.
Often, their only payback is knowing they made a difference to someone. They won’t know if you don’t tell them!

Even if the talk was less than stellar, acknowledge the effort. (Remember Teddy Roosevelt’s famous “The Man in the Arena Speech.” The point he made was that credit goes to the person in the arena, even if you’re “getting your butt kicked” rather than ‘those poor timid souls who know neither the thrill of victory nor the agony of defeat!’“)

If you have suggestions for improving our presentation, let us know – please!

Perhaps you believe we have a fact wrong, could have added information or done something that would have made the presentation better and helped the audience GET IT!
I want to know, and people have told me.

I once finished a presentation and was given a better way to ask for questions from the audience. It works much better than what I’d been doing, and I have always appreciated that person taking time to advise me.

Some of you make our day, and we’re thrilled you are in the audience!

I’ll usually thank several participants for the attention and great feedback they provided during my presentation. I kiddingly ask them to “sit in the first, second, and third rows” the next time I speak!
We speakers love these folks! They really help us do a better job. – Thank you!

Before attending an event:
if attending is your choice, investigate the program, speaker and subject. Don’t attend if you don’t think it will be valuable to you. All subjects and all speakers are not for all audiences.

The next time you’re in the audience, please take the above advice, pass it on to others, and be Speaker Centered!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

About the Author
Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and author of the book,
“No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Businesses and individuals hire him because they want to improve their
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.
They do this because we perceive really great speakers to be Experts.
Perception is reality and we rather deal with Experts.
They also know:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.
He shows them how to
Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with -
No Sweat!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com

PHoto Credit: Phillip Stearns

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Props for Presentations: Seen and UnSeen!

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 05:01:05 +0000

Make the Invisible – Visible! Sometimes – Not!

Prop A prop is something used to support your presentation. Props can be very effective tools for presenters to use.

People have three styles of learning:

Visual – Learn by seeing.
Auditory – Learn by hearing.
Kinesthetic – Learn by doing.

Appealing to more than one of those styles of learning increase the odds your audience will GET IT!

Example:
I used to be in the Coffee Business. If I were speaking about Coffee, I might hold a mug in my hand and talk about different beans, roasts, and brewing equipment. The audience sees the mug. Most of them have probably had a cup or two that day. It reinforces my message about coffee. When I finish talking about coffee, I should put the cup out of site. If I set it down where everyone can see it, it becomes a distraction because some in the audience will keep glancing at it.

Putting the prop out of sight is the same theory behind BLANKING the screen of a slide presentation. Doing this immediately moves the attention of the audience from the screen to the presenter. That’s where the attention should be! The slideshow is not the presentation. It is a prop that helps the audience GET IT! while the presenter provides the “text” with their voice. (Very few, if any Bullet Points, please, and limited text. High quality, easily recognizable graphics are best.)

Sometimes, the best prop for the situation is the one you don’t physically use. For instance, if I said, “Picture your favorite coffee cup!” (Really, do this for me, please.) What do you see?

You might be picturing a cup your son or daughter made in pre-school or kindergarten. Maybe, you’re looking at one given to you for a present by a special friend, or one you received for achieving a specific goal.

Perhaps, you’re seeing the one you bought on a special vacation. I know, it was a cheap cup you bought at a souvenir shop, and now there is a crack in it. But picture that cup and the memories associated with it.

In these examples I’ve personalized that cup. Nothing can beat that for getting you to “see” a prop. What cup are you seeing?

I remember an old interview with Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert, the movie reviewers. One question was, “What’s the best medium for communication: Radio, TV, of the Big Screen?” Without hesitation they both answered, “Radio!” Immediately I thought of the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre Old Time Radio Shows, 1974 -1982. I also remembered listening to baseball games on radio and the colorful commentary and play-by-play that made me feel I was sitting in the stands.

Nothing can replace what your mind can “see”. Those in the audience who “see” that cup, get emotionally involved with you and your presentation. That cup has a story, and stories, as Nancy Duarte said, are the “emotional glue” that attach your audience to your ideas.

Another variation on this is getting the audience to anticipate seeing a prop.

One of the best examples of this is a presentation I saw delivered by an ex ad exec. He took the lectern with a large leather portfolio case. It was the kind artists use to protect their work.

He talked about the agency he had owned, and the campaigns his company had done for companies. The work, he said, would involve developing posters, print advertising, logos, letterheads, radio and tv commercials and a host of other products and services made to promote the client.

Throughout his presentation, he had one or more hands on the large portfolio case. He would shift it from hand to hand, and always seemed to be about to open it and display examples of his work for the companies he was talking about. He never opened the case!

WOW! When he closed his speech, we could not believe we had not seen the contents of that beautiful leather portfolio.

From the moment he opened his speech, he held our attention. With each advertising campaign story, our anticipation grew.

Every time he spoke of the colors, custom designs, and how everything had to deliver the same message, we just knew we’d be seeing those samples. We never did! It was absolutely one of the best uses of a prop I’ve ever seen. (Of course, half of us would ready to jump the guy as soon as he left the lectern, extract the case from his hands and open it!)

He achieved his goal by not showing us what was (if anything) inside the case. Besides the extremely effective use of this prop, he also presented well. It was a great presentation!

Try using a prop or two in your presentation. Be creative and help your audience GET IT!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com

Photo Credit: Brett Jordan
Portfolio Picture: Smead Deluxe Art Portfolio

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Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . .

Fred E. Miller — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:01:54 +0000

BLANK - You’re Going to Need It! - Glad I Had Mine!

MDo you have a spare tire in your trunk? If you do, and I hope so, do you know if it’s properly inflated? Do you have a jack to lift the car so the tire can be changed? How about a lug wrench to remove the bad wheel and install the good one?

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.

I often use Apple’s Keynote software to develop and present slides in my presentations. My backup plans (spare tire and tools) include:

Copying the presentation to the ‘Cloud’.
Copying the presentation to a thumb drive.
Converting the presentation to PowerPoint in case there is not another mac available should mine not work and copying that file to the ‘Cloud’ and a thumb drive.

Checking that someone will have a PC or mac available as a backup should mine fail.
Checking that they have either PowerPoint or Keynote on that backup computer.

Hopefully, checking that my version of those programs will work on their version.

As I write this, I probably should have the software program on a backup drive, also, and hope their operating system will be able to load and run my software version.

Printed copies (yes, plural) of the Light Table View of the slideshow.

Light Table View allows the printing of several sizes of thumbnails of all slides. I’m able to place up to 35 slides on one piece of paper. Because my slides are mostly images, with very little text, I can look at the slide and know what words I should be speaking. If you use lots of text, and you should not, those thumbnails would have to be larger than ones with just images on them.
Navigator View can also be printed.

This shows the slides and any relevant notes.

Well, it happened! I had a blowout and the car stopped! That’s my analogy.

The real story is that I was on the 8th slide of a 36 slide presentation to a local Chamber of Commerce and the screen went BLANK! I couldn’t understand what went wrong. The computer was fine. The projector seemed to be running, also. It was a luncheon meeting, so there was no time to reboot either device. I grabbed my ‘spare tire’, my Light Table View printout, and continued the presentation.

It’s a shame I couldn’t continue to show the images on the slides since they reinforce the words I’m speaking and appeal to the visual learning style that most people have. That said, it was still a good presentation and I received compliments on the delivery and content.

There are several lessons here:

Murphy’s Law rules!

It’s not a question of If, it’s a question of When. I’ve had snafus before, but not a ‘blowout’ like this. Be Prepared!

Practice! – Practice! – Practice!

Be certain you know your stuff!

If I had not practiced and practiced and known what each of those images on the slide stood for in my presentation, it would have been“BIG Sweat” rather than “No Sweat!” for me. (I have to admit, it did get a little warm for a few minutes!)

Practice ‘Plan B’

Often, your ‘Plan B’ is so much different than the Main Plan that it must be practiced!

I was fortunate. Since I use mainly images in my slides, looking at the Light Table View was not much different from looking at the slides projected on a screen.
That’s not always the case with the material other presenters use. What if statistics and graphs were important to the audience GETTING IT? What would ‘Plan B’ look like then?

One suggestion would be to have large Poster Boards of those important graphs and statistics available if needed.

Be Audience Centered!

Those folks were there to learn something! My ‘flat tire’ should not have an impact them.

Imagine the response I would have received if I had said, “Sorry folks, I can’t get this working. Guess we’ll have to reschedule. Thanks for lunch!”

I assume I would have been blackballed from their chamber and many other associations.

Bottom Line:
Are you prepared for something that usually doesn’t, but could go wrong, in an instant? As I stated, I’ve always had that ‘spare tire’ but never expected to use it.

I’ve got a presentation this week and, if you’ll forgive me, I need to print out that ‘Plan B’ Light Table View and put it in my ‘trunk!’

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: http://www.nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

Fred E. Miller
Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com
nosweatpublicspeaking.com

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Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . .

BLANK - You’re Going to Need It! - Glad I Had Mine!

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