Archive for Speaking Coach
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→
Have a Spare Tire in Case Murphy Shows Up!
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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 Read More→
The Elevator Speech Booklet – CLICK to Open!
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Your Elevator Speech is a Mini-Presentation
CLICK to Open Booklet
Use this as a Template for Your Elevator Speech!
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: Read More→
Speakers, My 2012 New Year’s Resolutions are. . .
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It’s That Time of the Year!
Here are My 2012 Resolutions.
What are Yours?
#1. Prepare and Practice for each Presentation
even if I’ve given it 100+ times.
- It might be the umpteenth time I’ve delivered it, but it’s the first time most of the audience have heard it.
- The size of the audience doesn’t matter. I should always give my best.
- “Practice makes perfect.” No!
- “Perfect Practice makes Perfect.” – No such thing!
- The one I subscribe to is: “The road to perfection never ends!”
#2. Regularly Refresh and Update my Content and Delivery.
- The only constant is Change. I’ll continue to practice Kaizen, the Japanese word that means continuous improvement.
#3. Get Out of my Comfort Zone with Content and Delivery.
- When we Get Out of our Comfort Zone – our Comfort Zone becomes Larger!
#4. Study, Study, and Study more about my subject of Expertise,
the Art & Science of Public Speaking/Presenting.
- I always learn new things from the blogs, articles, books and videos I seek out on public speaking/presentations.
#5. Continue to regularly Write a New Post with great Content
and to place the Audio in each Post.
- The combination of Written Post + Audio Post has made me a better writer and a better speaker.
#6. Take just about every opportunity I can to Speak. Paid and Fee Waived. Read More→
Speakers, There’s NO App for That!
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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 Read More→
Remember: NonVerbal Communication Trumps. . .
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Verbal Communication
Have you ever watched a Professional Mime? They speak no words, but communicate very well, don’t they!
If they were to use their voice, their NonVerbal Communication: eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body movements, would outweigh their spoken words.
Our NonVerbal Communication carries more weight than the words we say and how we say them.
Example: The speaker on the podium says, “I’m very excited to be speaking to this group today.” At the same time, he is yawning, not giving eye contact to anyone in the audience, and continually looking at his watch. What’s the message he’s sending?
Everything in the Delivery of our presentation must be in sync, else the audience will believe what they “See.”
While we can consciously use our NonVerbal Communication Skills to emphasize parts of our presentation, it’s important to remember that we exhibit involuntary NonVerbal Communication, also. Read More→
Public Speaking is the Key to Opening. . .
Posted by: | CommentsThe Doors of Opportunity!
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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 Read More→
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.
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→
Props for Presentations: Seen and UnSeen!
Posted by: | CommentsMake the Invisible – Visible! Sometimes – Not! 
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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.
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, Read More→
