Archive for Speaking Coach
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→
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.
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→
PowerPoint and Keynote Slide Presentations
Posted by: | CommentsProfessional PowerPoint and Keynote Slide Presentations.
Because many people are Visual Learners, Professional Slide Presentations can dramatically add to the goal of your audience GETTING IT!
Unfortunately, the majority of slide shows are designed with lots of text, bullet points and the occasional piece of cheap clip art.
Because your presentation is important – talk to me!
“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→
Speakers should be Bloggers. Here’s Why!
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I started Blogging almost two years ago. Here is what weekly Posting has brought Me.
It might do the same for You!
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Increased Knowledge.
I learn something every time I write a Post. Each time I pick a subject, I research it and always find information I didn’t know. My expertise on Public Speaking and Presentation Skills continues to grow.
Increased Visibility, Credibility and Brand Awareness.
As I write about the Components, Parts and Elements of a Presentation, all that text is out in the blogosphere for anyone searching those topics to find. Google sees it and my ranking in searches has increased exponentially. The more good Content I place in Posts, the more my readers learn and their perception of me as an EXPERT grows. (We like to work with EXPERTS, don’t we!)
Branding is important and large companies spend a lot of time and money to make sure people know them. “No Sweat!” is in the title of my book and the closing of each Post. It’s become my brand and is getting more recognition all the time! Read More→
