Archive for speech
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→
Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller
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John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in St. Louis, interviews me.
Special thanks to Jim Grandone, www.grandone.com
Transcript of Interview 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→
The Important Rule of Three for Speakers -
More Examples
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The Rule of Three:
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In his book, “Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer,” Roy Peter Clark provides insights to the magic of the number three: “The mojo of three offers a greater sense of completeness than four or more.” Clark correctly points out, “We use one for power. Use two for comparison, contrast. Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness. Use four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand.” For speakers, it is essential to study this, implement it, and become an expert at using it. (That was three, wasn’t it?) Here are examples relevant to speaking and delivering presentations. Read More→
Fear of Public Speaking?
11 Nuggets to Neutralize that Fear Now!
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Glossophobia
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is the Fear of Public Speaking. The word comes from the Greek glossa, meaning tongue and phobus, fear or dread.
The Bad News
This fear can negatively affect your personal and professional life. Passing on opportunities to make presentations puts you behind others who accept that challenge.
We perceive really great speakers to be Experts. Perception is reality, and we prefer to work with Experts. You do want to be perceived as an Expert – Correct? (Say, “Yes!”)
Missed speaking opportunities are missed business opportunities.
People who regularly take and make speaking opportunities grow the perception they are Experts and grow their businesses.
The Good News
There are proven ways to overcome the Fear of Public Speaking. Read on!
11 Nuggets To Neutralize that Fear Now! Read More→
The Worse Speech You’ll Ever Give Is. . .
Posted by: | CommentsFar Better Than the One You Never Give!
One of the greatest fears people have is the “Fear of Public Speaking.” Up to 75% of the population suffer from this malady. There’s even a word for it – glossophobia. Glosso from the Greek language meaning tongue and phobus, meaning fear.
You know the benefits of delivering presentations.
- Great speakers are perceived as Experts.
- Being an Expert helps your career. Perception is reality, and we rather work with Experts – correct?
- Experts are also able to charge more for their services.
- It’s good for the ego!
It’s worth the effort to be perceived as an Expert.
There is no pill to take, movie to watch, or book to read that will instantly morph you into a dynamic presenter. The only way to become a great speaker is to Speak! Read More→
More Scoops of Chapman’s Ice Cream that. . .
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Make ”Subtle Little Differences!”
As stated in a previous Post, Chapman’s Ice Cream was famous for their advertising campaign that stated there was a “subtle little difference” in their product that “made all the difference!” Apply that philosophy to your presentations.
Here are more “subtle little differences” you can use that will “make all the difference” in how the audience perceives you, your message and how well they GET IT!
- Make a “subtle little difference” with the Title of your speech.
- Think of the Title of your speech as if it were the headline of a newspaper article, subject line of an email, or the title on the spine of a book sitting on a shelf at the bookstore. Read More→
If YOU are in the Audience, PLEASE. . .
Posted by: | CommentsLearn by Observing and Listening
A good speaker can become a better one by watching others speak. Follow these suggestions the next time you are in the audience.
- Turn OFF your cell phone.
- Practice active listening.
- Give the speaker eye contact.
- Lean forward in your seat.
- Do not cross your arms.
- Smile at the speaker.
- Did the Introduction, delivered by the Emcee, answer these three questions?
- Why this subject?
- Why this speaker?
- Why now?
- Concentrate on the speaker’s message. Read More→
Cotton Mouth – Yech!
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Here are tips to relieve it.
Cotton, or dry mouth, can be caused be many things: anxiety, dry air, certain medications, and just plain talking.
It’s aggravating because it’s tough to talk when your mouth is dry. Your softer, often raspier voice, is harder for the audience to hear and understand.
For some, having that dry mouth, brings on anxiety. This is a good reason for having a plan to lessen it.
The quickest fix is to drink water. Be certain the water is at room temperature. Iced water or hot water, as in coffee or hot tea, is not good for the vocal chords and will worsen the condition. One suggestion is to bring your own bottle of water, and have it Read More→
Public Speaking & Presentation “Quotes”
Posted by: | CommentsHere are quotes I have collected – Enjoy!
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” - Rudyard Kipling
“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” - Carl W. Buechner
“There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience” - Alexander Gregg
“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.” - Dale Carnegie
“Mere words are cheap and plenty enough, but ideas that rouse and set multitudes thinking come as gold from the mines.” - A. Owen
“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Read More→
