There are a number of traps that inexperienced presenters can fall into when they first begin presenting. Any one of these traps can make your presentation look less professional than it otherwise would. This article shares 6 of those traps with you and shows you some neat ways to overcome them.

Trap 1: The lapel microphone

Lapel microphones are wonderful as they allow you to move away from the podium and even through the audience. This makes for a much more relaxed and interesting presentation. The lapel microphone does, however, come with a few traps to look out for:

• You have to have somewhere to clip the microphone. If you are a man wearing a suit, you normally clip it onto the lapel of the jacket and everything is fine. If you are a woman wearing a round neckline you need to check that the microphone is able to be positioned close enough to your mouth to pick up your voice. Be careful of wearing a scarf or jewelry that may rub against the microphone as this will cause interference with the sound quality.
• Lapel microphones come with battery packs. These battery packs need to be put somewhere. If you are wearing something with a pocket that won’t sag with a little weight, then you have an obvious spot. If the battery pack has a Velcro attachment and you don’t have a pocket, you better hope that you have a belt. I have been in the situation where I have had to borrow a belt from one of the conference organizers so that I had somewhere to hook the battery pack. If the battery pack has a clip, you can attach it to the waist band of your skirt or trousers. If you are wearing something without a pocket, a belt or a waist band… you are going to have to carry the battery pack in your hand (not the preferred option). So, before you present with a lapel microphone, ensure you wear clothing that will be suitable.

Trap 2: Water and tissues

Your comfort while you are presenting is paramount. If you are speaking for more than 30 minutes or you are nervous, you will want to have a glass of water close by. If you stand up to speak and you find that you are really nervous, your mouth and vocal chords dry up. To help you lubricate things again, just take a few sips of water. Tepid water is better at lubricating than ice cold water, so pour your drink a little while before you present.

If you suffer from a runny nose, take tissues to the podium with you and very discreetly look after your problem. Sniffling during your presentation will look very unprofessional.

Trap 3: Fiddling with audio visual equipment

The time to check that all your audio visual equipment is working is before the presentation, not once it has started. The audience does not appreciate sitting there watching you fix audio visual equipment during the time they were expecting to hear your presentation.

If audio visual equipment breaks part way through your presentation, keep going without it. If you give the audience an activity to do, you can attempt to fix your audio visual equipment at that point. If there is a conference organizer, you can let them know of the problem and they will get someone to fix it for you. In the meantime, soldier on…. the audience will thank you for it.

In the same vein, check that your microphone is working before you walk onto the stage. If the chairman has used a hand help microphone to introduce you and then hands that same microphone over to you for your presentation, there is no need to hold it up and say ‘Is this working?’ or something similar. Just start talking as if it were working and take action only if it isn’t.

If I am going to be using a lapel or hand held microphone I always check with the people in charge of the audio visual equipment how long it has been since the battery was replaced. There is nothing worse than having the microphone fade and fail half way through your presentation. If they are good at their job, the sound support staff will usually put a new battery in before each session.

Trap 4: Stepping out of sight

It increases audience participation when you get closer to them and get them involved. You can get some great atmosphere happening in a room by moving into the audience every now and then. The trick, however, is to make sure that you still keep including people in the front rows and tables. As a rule of thumb, don’t go out of sight of the front rows of the audience for more than 10 or 15 seconds.

Trap 5: Reading your speech

The audience go to hear you speak, not to read. Reading takes away the natural voice inflections that happen when you speak. It is much more interesting to listen to someone speak than it is to listen to them read. If you are worried that you will forget what you are going to speak about, then use the notes pages for your PowerPoint presentation and put bullet points of the major points beneath each picture. This will allow you to speak about the idea on your slide and it will be much easier to find where you are up to than if you are looking through a written copy of your paper.

Trap 6: Pacing and other repetitive movements

Nervous movements can be very distracting to the audience. These include things such as:

• Pacing back and forth on the stage.
• Hand wringing.
• A repetitive arm movement.
• Jiggling one foot on the heel of a shoe (usually done by women wearing high heels).
• You can find out whether you have one of these distracting movements by:
• Presenting to a friend and getting some honest feedback.
• Presenting in front of a mirror.
• Videoing your presentation and watching it at double speed.

I hope that sharing these traps for the inexperienced presenter will help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have made over my many years of presenting.

Best wishes with your future presentations.

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Sandra Rodman B Com LLB LLM Master Results Coach, Master Performance Consultant, Master NLP Practitioner, Master Ericsonian Hypnosis, Reiki Practitioner, Pellowah Practitioner and author of ‘Winning Presentation Skills’ shares the secrets she has discovered from being the keynote speaker at hundreds of accounting and legal seminars. More information and order link www.WinningPresentationSkills.com

Professional speaking for many entrepreneurs and business professionals creates an opportunity for another stream of income.  For professionals who want to add speaking to their career mix as either their primary or secondary source of income there are multiple options.

1. Keynote Speaking: This is the type of speaking most people think of when they envision speaking professionally. You’re up on a stage, you get paid a nice fee to be there and you’re the headliner.  Some events have an opening keynote and a closing keynote.  Keynote speeches tend to be inspirational, motivational, and humorous.  If you’re new to the speaking world, this may seem like the “best” type of professional speaking. It can be lucrative, depending on your fees and your goals. Some plusses: you set and negotiate your fee, travel, and expenses and know exactly what you’ll be paid prior to the event.  A negative: as a keynote speaker your fee is your income for the event, period. If you happen to have a book you might be able to negotiate a selling your book at the event, but typically you’re not asked to sell, so you’re income is fixed.

2.  Break-Out Session Trainer: At many events that have a keynote speaker, there are typically multiple training  — or break-out–  sessions that require experienced facilitators to present.  This is an excellent starting ground for newer speakers and can give you an opportunity to get experience, testimonials, and video.  You can fill your speaking schedule with these events, but they typically pay a fraction of a keynote fee and often do not include travel expenses because event planners try to hire local talent as much as possible to stretch often tight budgets.

3.  Platform Speaker: Unless you happen to be a high profile former (or current) athlete or politician, by far this type of speaking provides the biggest opportunity to make a significant income.  Your job as a platform speaker is to not only speak to entertain and teach, but also to sell your products and/or services via “back of the room” sales.  This type of presentation also carries the biggest risk to a speaker because you are not paid a fee to attend the event. You get a free “ticket” usually for yourself and a guest, and a room filled with those interested in at least the same general subject as your products and services.  But you pay for your own airfare, hotel, and meals while at the event. And whatever you sell you can expect to split 50/50 with the event promoter.  But because audiences at these events typically expect speakers to present offers to them, many are prepared to purchase what you have for sale.  And as a result of that, making multiple five and six-figure sales is not uncommon.

Finally, did you know public speaking is one of the most effective ways to market a small business? I invite you to discover how to create your own talk and the 5 easy steps you can take today to get started with this powerful marketing tool. Pick up a FREE recording where you’ll get all the secrets of marketing your business with a speech. Go now to http://www.SignatureSpeechSecrets.com

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Felicia J. Slattery, M.A., M.Ad.Ed. is a communication consultant, speaker & coach specializing in training small and home-based business owners effective communication and public speaking skills so they can see more cash flow now.

You are not limited to the stories of your company, your personal life and stories from others in corporate storytelling. Why not call upon the power contained in a few centuries worth of stories? When you speak in public, you want your audience to be immersed in your subject and able to hold on to your message well after you finish speaking. This desire and need actually applies to storytelling in nearly any situation, from classroom to boardroom to sanctuary to platform.

Mixing in some good myths, legends, fables or fairytales into your public speaking can enhance the character of your presentation. In addition, with this business storytelling technique, you will connect at a much deeper level with your audience than you can when you use personal stories alone. I call these types of stories “world tales.” However, it is hard to just pick one up from any source and use it. It takes some adjusting, rewriting and customizing. Let me give you an example.

I recently had the chance to coach a client who wanted to add more storytelling to her presentation. She knew that she already had enough personal stories, but wanted “something more” to round out her presentation.

My first coaching comment for her was that it was good for her to recognize that there can be too many personal stories in a presentation. It was also good for her to recognize that stories need depth and it is hard to have depth when you are telling many stories of other people. Those stories of others are more anecdotes than they are storytelling. Therefore, she was well on her way to making a solid presentation with a solid use of personal storytelling balanced with a few (as I call them) “world stories.”

She was looking for a story that demonstrated the dangers of staying in the same old place, staying in the same old rut. She had a very specific audience in mind and was finding it hard to get just the right story. After listening to her, I started to research stories. Research is one of my corporate-storytelling coaching duties. I found for her a perfect Aesop Fable. In one of its original complex-language forms, it appears like this:

TWO FROGS were neighbors. One inhabited a deep pond, far removed from public view; the other lived in a gully containing little water, and traversed by a country road. The Frog that lived in the pond warned his friend to change his residence and entreated him to come and live with him, saying that he would enjoy greater safety from danger and food that is more abundant. The other refused, saying that he felt it so very hard to leave a place to which he had become accustomed.

A few days afterwards, a heavy wagon passed through the gully and crushed him to death under its wheels. When I suggested this tale to my coaching client, she shot back with some measure of repulsion. “There is no way I could use a story like that. They will never get over the frog being ‘crushed to death’ in the story. I don’t think you understand what I need.”

Already rather sure of what she would say, I asked her if the message of the story worked for her presentation. “Of course it would. It would do that, but I can’t talk about dead frogs!”

I suggested to her that one of the keys to using world tales is the ability to adapt a story to fit your presentation. It is a skill that very few of the so-called “business storytelling” coaches out there really understand or even have the skill to teach. However, I have been storytelling for more than two decades. I have the skills of a real storyteller.

I told my client that I would adapt this story for her as part of our coaching time. She agreed. In about an hour, I adapted the story for her specific needs. The first draft of the new version looked like this:

Once, there were two frogs. One lived out in the country in a clear, clean pond and had everything that she wanted. She was so happy to be in the outdoors. Her sister, however, lived in the big city in a little canal by the side of the road- where it was busy and dangerous.

One day the country frog visited her sister in the city. The city frog complained about how noisy it was in the city and how hard it was to see the moon at night because of all the tall buildings. The country frog then told her, “It sure is dangerous here. Why don’t you come out to the country with me and live free and happy? I can see the moon anytime I want.”

“No,” said the frog that lived in the city, “I heard there are many snakes out there, and there’s all that mud, and besides, it takes so much energy to move out from my home. I’ll just stay here; at least the canal always has water in it.”

The country frog returned to her home, where she was always happy and free. The next day, the city frog was caught up in a net by a small child, who took her home and put her in a big jar where she was kept with water and fed every day. There the frog remained for the rest of her life, never seeing the moon again, but she did have a never-ending supply of dead flies.

You will notice that I took the essential “core” of the story and adapted it to fit the needs of my client and her audience. I kept the essential concept of taking the safe path vs. risk taking, keeping the idea of staying in a canal/rut/gully to fit well into her need to talk about “getting out of your rut” in her upcoming presentation.

I also had to address her concern about her perception of the violence in the story while still keeping the idea that the frog’s failure to break free of the “rut” would result in frustration and death. I substituted the finality and violent image of a squished frog to that of a captured frog. Who knows, perhaps some day the captured frog could be freed?

I have not shared with you the final version of the story as my client further adapted my first draft to fit her audience. Once she saw that she was not limited to the version she did not like, she quickly used my draft to develop a story that she loved and would be unique to her individual presentation.

When a person objects to a “world tale” in their work, it is most likely because they object to the single version of the story they have discovered. Although it may take some time to develop a new version of a story from the base idea of the tale, it is well worth it. “World tales” allow you, as the speaker and presenter, to tap into the deeper meanings that have made such stories a staple for many different cultures for many centuries.

Take a chance with stories! In the end, do you want your audience to feel connected to you, to have the “aha!” moment that such stories create? Mix in and explore the power of the “world tale” to magnetically attract your audience to your message.

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For more information about Sean’s workshop that teaches you to harness the power of business or corporate storytelling, please visit our website at http://www.executivespeakertraining.com. You are also invited to follow Sean via his Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/storyteller today.

There are a number of traps that inexperienced presenters can fall into when they first begin presenting. Any one of these traps can make your presentation look less professional than it otherwise would. In this article we will look at traps relating to keep track of time, airing commercials, sticking around after the presentation and being difficult to work with.

Trap 1: Looking at your watch

Although you do need to keep track of how you are progressing through your speech, be careful of how often you look at your watch. It can be helpful to have the watch on the podium rather than on your arm. The audience likes to believe that you are there for them and you that you are enjoying being there with them. If you constantly look at your watch, it makes it look as though you cannot wait to finish the talk and get away.

Trap 2: Airing commercials

There are subtle ways to make a pitch and then there are outright blatant extended pitches. People do not like to feel as if they have been lured into a room for you to give them a sales pitch. If you intend to pitch, do it with subtlety and only after you have given them some very valuable and helpful information for free. Be very tasteful and ensure any pitching you do is kept to a minimum.

If you are presenting at someone else’s conference, check with the conference organiser that it would be OK to pitch your business before you do. Otherwise you might find that you don’t get invited back to present again. Remember that sometimes the best pitch you can give is the quality of the presentation. If you put your name and your organisation on your slides… and then give the presentation of your life… people will follow through by ringing you. I have been surprised that they can ring you as much as 2 years after the presentation, but they still ring.

Trap 3: Running over time

Always always always finish on time. If you go over time, you are being disrespectful to the:

• audience and their time;

• chairperson and his or her time;

• conference organiser’s time; and

• speakers who are coming after you, as they will either have to cut their presentations short or start late. People appreciate you finishing on time or even 2 or 3 minutes early.

To help you finish on time:

• Work out how many slides you have;

• How long you will speak about each slide;

• Then divide your time between your slides (remembering that some slides won’t take as long and some will take longer); and

• Write the time you should be at each slide at the top right hand side on the notes page for each slide. This lets you know on the way through how you are going with time. If you find that you are in front, you can slow down and take a little extra time on some explanations. If you find that you are behind, start mentally calculating which bits of what you planned to talk about you will have to leave out.

Trap 4: Disappearing after the presentation

Audience members (and conference organisers) expect you to hang around for a few minutes after your presentation. When you stay after your presentation it allows:

• Audience members to ask in-depth questions it wasn’t appropriate to discuss during the presentation.

• Shy audience members to ask you a question.

• Both you and the audience members who may be interested in what you do to exchange details.

• You to thank the conference organiser for including you in the conference.

• You to meet other speakers who are speaking at about the event.

Trap 5: Being difficult to work with

A great way to build your reputation, career and business is by presenting. Conference organisers have to deal with a lot of presenters and they prefer to deal with ones who are easy to get along with, don’t make lots of demands and do a good job. If you are demanding and behave as though you deserve all the conference organiser’s attention, you will have to do a very outstanding job to ensure they ask you back again. Conference organisers would rather deal with someone pleasant who does a pretty good job than someone unpleasant who does a slightly better job.

Trap 6: Being disorganised

Ensure you have everything organised and structured well before you stand up to present. The worst case of disorganisation I have ever seen was a man who had just printed his speech minutes before standing up to speak. Half way through his presentation he said, “Gee if I had written this speech, I wouldn’t have said that.” It went over with the audience like a lead balloon.

One of the key things tips I can give you about being organised is to always take a back up copy of everything with you. You never know when you will need it. This can happen because:

• The conference organiser never got the copy you emailed weeks ago.

• The laptop you were planning to use won’t start.

• Your laptop won’t communicate with the conference organiser’s data projector.

• The conference organiser wishes to use his or her own laptop to save time between presentations.

• There was a problem with the files you previously sent through.

The extra effort to make a back up copy is well worth it when the alternative might be to stand in front of 200 people to give a presentation without visual aids. I hope that sharing these traps for the inexperienced presenter will help you to avoid some of the mistakes I have made over my many years of presenting. Best wishes with your future presentations.

If you ensure you have thought about the common traps we have shared with you before you start each presentation, your success will be much more certain. All that will be left is to prepare and enjoy what you are doing.

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Sandra Rodman B Com LLB LLM Master Results Coach, Master Performance Consultant and author of ‘Winning Presentation Skills’ shares the secrets she has used and teaches others to give Winning Presentations that help careers soar and businesses grow. More information and order link www.winningpresentationskills.com

Motivational speakers rank near the top of AOL’s “Top Ten Most Overpaid Jobs.” Why?

Being a practiced public speaker is not equal to being a good keynoter, because keynoting is an art form unto itself, demanding skills and a disposition above and beyond training and consulting. Speaking takes many forms. Some speakers are successful in intimate settings, others on large platforms. Few do both with equal ease (excluding celebrities, of course, who can cough and get a standing ovation).

For those investing time, energy, and money to build a speaking career, Shakespeare’s exhortation “to thine own self be true” is absolute wisdom. Sought-after keynoters know it is not enough simply to have

• a successful track record, whether it be consulting, or medicine, or any other field;
• several books to one’s credit affirming unrivaled expertise;
• experience in facilitating groups and presenting workshops; or
• confidence in one’s ability to take the next step.

While these credentials constitute a great foundation for moving into keynoting, there are a host of more challenging traits most keynoters possess. Keynoters must be able to:

1. Set the stage for a meeting and build attendance with their name recognition (or a powerful subject).

2. Wow the audience with insight, wisdom, humor, and direct application of ideas to shared problems and challenges.

3. Make them laugh. Laughter is the shortest distance between two people, so a tough message delivered on the wings of laughter usually finds its mark. You don’t have to be funny to speak–only to get paid the big bucks.

4. Deliver the message with stories that bring home the points.

5. Demonstrate the intellectual foundation that satisfies the audience’s need for authority and credibility.

6. Create an emotional connection with the audience that speaks to their hearts.

7. Extend a call to action that gets them committed to diving into the rest of the meeting with confidence.

8. Create a mood of excitement about what’s to come.

9. Give rise to conversation among the participants as they continue to reflect on the message.

10. Make people glad they came and leave them wanting more.

A keynote artist can do all these things, bringing the conference to a triumphant closure. Then the organizer will breathe a sigh of relief; the CEO may confide sensitive problems because she has been so moved; participants will leave reflecting on what the keynoter stirred up and confident they can rise to the challenges ahead.

All the accolades are great, but to a keynote artist, they represent confirmation that the miracle of transformational speaking has occurred.

With appreciation for your voice in the world, Gail.

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© Gail Larsen 2002-2010. All rights reserved. Real Speaking is a registered trademark. Permission to reprint: You may reprint this article in your own print or electronic newsletter. Please include the following statement: Reprinted from “Real Speaking Power Points” a free e-letter by Gail Larsen, author of Transformational Speaking.

Gail Larsen is the founder of Real Speaking. She supports people in discovering and giving voice to the message that is theirs to speak, as well as identifying the markets and format where it will be heard. She loves to hear from you and read all your responses. Please share your comments by contacting Gail through her website or to subscribe and receive occasional insights and ideas that will enhance your public speaking and communications; visit http://www.realspeaking.net.

One of the most searched-for communication skills on the Internet is “how to tell a story.” I would like to give you a quick step-by-step guide to this process of story telling, drawn from my 23 years of being a professional storyteller. This is the fast and quick method to learn a new story.

1. Decide on a story. Sounds elementary, but at some point, you need to find a story that you love. If you are having problems, search the Internet for some simple tales or find some good stories at a site like Storyteller.net  or Aesopfables.com.

2. Break the story down into an outline of events so that you can remember the episodes of each story.

You have two choices for step three. Do one or both if you would like.

3-A. Write out or draw out the parts of the story. Using longhand, that means pencil and paper, write out the episodes of the story in your own words. Do not copy the story. Rewrite it in your own words. Doing this process by hand allows your brain to overcome any resistance you might have to the story. Knowing you can do this process with your story is also a way for your brain to overcome some fear of public speaking that might hinder you from telling this story.

3-B. The other way to break down a story is via “storyboarding,” a technique that many storytellers use. Take a letter-sized piece of paper. Fold it in half along the length. You now have an eleven inch piece of pager that looks like a taco. Then, fold the right side up against the left and then fold the same way again. When you unfold the paper you will have a piece of paper divided into 8 segments.

Starting at the top segment, draw out each step of the story. This is only for you to learn so stick figures and bad drawings are just fine. This visual method may help you grasp the story better than writing alone.

4. Begin to tell yourself the story, aloud, using your own words while looking at one of the #3 tools above. Repeat this process several times.

5. Think about the story you are telling. Are there parts of the story that do not really need to be there? Do they drag down the story? Cross them off the list or the storyboard and tell yourself the story one more time with those parts of the story removed. Again, at each of these times, you are speaking your story aloud. Let your face get a feel for the story.

6. Put your notes down and tell yourself the story a few more times. This is a great exercise to do while you are driving your car or cleaning your house. Just keep talking to yourself.

7. Call up a friend or find an associate and tell them your story. Use no notes or storyboard. When you finish telling the story to your associate, ask them if it makes sense to them. Did they think you left out any parts? This is not the time to see if they “get it” or understand the deep meanings. You just want to know if the essential delivery of the story makes sense.

8. As your confidence in the story grows, you will want to start thinking about the emotions represented by different words in the story. You may find that you wish to emphasize one part or character over another. These things come with time. If you feel better about saying “once upon a time” at the beginning or “the end” as one of your story endings, then do so. As you grow to understand storytelling even more, you will learn so many other ways to start or end a story.

9. When it is time for your story’s debut, be confident. Look at your audience. Speak clearly. Slow down and enjoy the story experience. As a professional storyteller, I can tell you that it takes a dozen or more tellings of a story to find the your true rhythm and delivery for each story.

There you have it, how to tell a great story! This is a quick, get-it-now guide to storytelling. There is so much more you can learn about how to tell a story. Remember- get started today telling stories. Like a painter who must paint often to get better at painting, you, too, must speak stories often and to many groups in order to improve.

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Based in Arizona, Sean Buvala is a full-time professional storyteller and storytelling consultant who works throughout North America teaching storytelling for business. Along with storytelling techniques for corporate communication, Sean is also sought after for training storytelling for teachers of middle school and high-school students. For more information about Sean’s work as a storytelling coach, please see his site at http://www.seantells.net

Many professional speakers didn’t plan to speak for a living. They either backed into it or the business found them. It’s essential to choose your business model carefully in the competitive business of speaking.

Here is an overview of the basic speaking business models:

1. Freelance subcontractor.

This is where a speaker is hired to do an existing program designed by training companies or other speakers. The advantage is the training company does the marketing and the speaker is paid for delivery. My friend calls this “Show up and throw up.” You don’t need to be an expert but you must have excellent platform skills and a knowledge of the subject matter.

2. Corporate training model.

The speaker delivers his/her own material developed for a particular audience. The advantage is the fees are higher and you own the account. You can also penetrate deeper into a company for more business. Companies continually need to train their workforce and will look for outside experts and consultants to improve performance.

3. Keynote or motivational speaker.

This kind of speaker targets the association and corporate market and is generally speaking to large groups. They speak at a lot of conferences and conventions and must have an inspiring message and or a deep level of expertise. Keynote speakers command the highest fees but the downside is they are always looking for the next gig. A convention will not hire the same keynoter for two consecutive years. They often partner with speakers bureaus to book business. The life of a keynoter is to be a road warrior.

4. Product sales model or BOR (back-of-the-room sales).

Presenters speak for the purpose of selling products. They either stage their own public seminars and events or speak at conferences. This also can be a lucrative model but the speaker must be able to create products that people want and most importantly, be able to sell from the platform. Selling products from the back -of- the -room is challenging and this model is recommended only for those who have excellent selling skills and can move a crowd to action. It requires getting in front of large groups, transporting products, and having a merchant account.

A subset of BOR is internet sales. Some speakers direct the audience to their websites and sell hard copies and digital products. Other speakers have morphed into primary internet businesses and deliver their message through teleclasses and webinars.

5. Enterprise model.

This kind of speaker owns a bonafide business and manages employees. They may own a restaurant, a real estate company, a training company or other enterprise which they can sell. The bulk of their income is derived from the business and speaking is yet another but not the sole source of their income. This is often the most lucrative model because the speaker does not have to trade time for money. Employees or freelancers deliver the product or service. The speaker is positioned as an expert about the business or industry and may speak on business or motivational topics.

When choosing a business model, the main message from the panelists was play to your strengths.

The smartest speakers combine multiple streams of income.

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Diane DiResta is CEO of DiResta Communications, Inc., a New York City consultancy serving business leaders who want to communicate with greater impact – whether face-to-face, in front of a crowd or from an electronic platform. DiResta is the author of Knockout Presentations: How to Deliver Your Message with Power, Punch, and Pizzazz, an Amazon.com category best-seller and widely-used text in college business communication courses.

For a free newsletter and audio course visit http://www.diresta.com