by Cynthia Lay

I just ran across this article by Nick Morgan over on Forbes.com. It’s got some great tips for effective public speaking. A couple of them were especially helpful — and one of them was… well… REALLY bad!

Morgan’s 10 Holiday-Inspired Rules for Surviving
Public Speaking Disasters – or Avoiding Them in the First Place

In Tip #1, “Don’t take on a technical problem alone,” Nick mentions the idea of asking, “Are there any computer experts in the room?” when we have tech issues during a presentation. Pretty much any audience these days will include at least one techy-geek person, so you’re sure to get help much faster than you might expect. The cool thing is, that — by asking one simple question — you’re also getting the audience involved in the problem. They want you (and the techy-geek) to succeed! Use it as a team-building exercise! (Seriously, it works… I’ve seen it happen!) And, more importantly, your audience members won’t feel like they’re being left in the dark when you’re suddenly distracted by a computer.

Tip #7 is another one of my favorites (and a pet peeve!): “If someone asks a question, the most important response is to repeat the question, clarifying it for the whole audience.” I have a tendency to sit in the back of the room at workshops… it’s weird, I know… but that’s what I do. I like to people-watch, and this gives me the best means to do so. Those of us in the back can’t always hear somebody up front who’s asking the facilitator a question. In my (not-so-humble) opinion, it absolutely 100% the responsibility of the speaker to ensure that everybody in the audience understands what’s going on 100% of the time. This means, repeating the questions… then answering. Every time.

So, I was nodding my head enthusiastically all the way through the article . . . until the very last point . . . #10 “Close with ‘thank-you’ and wait for the audience to applaud.”

You want me to WHAT ? ! ? !

ANY self-respecting, public (and professional!) speaker KNOWS that we NEVER, EVER end a speech with “thank you!” To do so would be like… like… well… I’m SO flabbergasted that I can’t even think of a clever example! Nevertheless, there’s no better way to turn your audience OFF than to end a speech with “thank you.” It’s unimpressive, boring, and less-than-memorable. What about the message they’re supposed to walk away with?

Hall of Fame Speaker & Executive Speech Coach, Patricia Fripp, is well-known for her fabulous — and extremely effective — speech openings & closings. Her closing suggestions include:

• Finish the “end of the story”
• Circle with the opening
• End with a challenge
• Wrap it up with a call-to-action

I’ve experienced Fripp’s trainings & presentations dozens of times — and trust me, she’d never just say ‘thank you.’ She’s much more creative! And, more importantly, she cares too much about her message to do something like that!

Professional Speaker & Speaking Coach, Rob Christeson, on his his blog, shared what I think is the best — and most understandable — suggestion for beginning & ending a speech:

“You should open your presentation with your second strongest material, and close with your best material. You can’t do that if you just stop before you get to your conclusion. Practice your conclusion, watch your time, and avoid extra content in the middle. Don’t drop it off of the end.”

That says it all, doesn’t it?

If ‘thank you’ is the best material you’ve got, then it’s time to start over and write a completely new speech!

Nicely said, Rob! Sounds like Nick over at Forbes.com could learn a few things from you! :o)

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We know profanity is always inappropriate when speaking. There are, however, other words we should leave out of our speeches.

Do not say “you know” as an add on at the end of a sentence or any other time. Whether or not we know, the use of this meaningless expression takes away from the informational words that preceded it. Other meaningless expressions include “or something” or “thing.” Equally bad is some form of the verbalized pause which sounds like an extended “uuuuuuh” sound. Some people raise their voice with it and others go lower as they project this nonsensical sound. The way you say the sound doesn’t matter—just don’t make the sound.  Instead of using any of the above, simply pause.  Pauses catch attention so that people listen with anticipation.

Another phrase to avoid in speaking is “you guys.” Any sexist term—however innocent—is inappropriate.  If you say “you guys,” then you should also add, “… and gals” to make the sentence politically correct. Simply say “you” or “all of you.”  If you are in the South, “You all” is fine.  Don’t use marking (unnecessarily referring to specific gender) when speaking, whatever the context. This would include avoiding “waitress,” “fireman,” or “mailman.” Instead say “server,” “fire fighter,” and “mail carrier.”

Don’t say “most unique.” Unique means one of a kind.  Often to show how significant an idea is, the speaker will say, “That is one of the most unique traits of all.” The item cannot be the most if it is one of a kind.  Instead, say, “That is one of the most unusual traits of all.”

Don’t say, “Let me be honest with you,” or “Let me be frank with you.” That implies that you were not being honest or open with the audience until you made those statements. If you want to emphasize a point beyond others you have made, say, “Probably the most important point I will make is…” or “I must admit to you that…”

Don’t say “In conclusion…” unless you mean it. Too many speakers say the words and then take another five minutes to finish. Sometimes they will even say the word “conclusion” another time before finishing.

Choice of words has great impact on the way the audience responds to you. These simple suggestions will help you be more effective in your next presentation.

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©Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP

Stephen D. Boyd, Ph.D., CSP, is a professor of speech communication at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky.  He works with organizations that want to speak and listen more effectively to increase personal and professional performance.  He can be reached at 800-727-6520 or visit www.sboyd.com for valuable articles and resources to improve your communication skills.

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Ever get the feeling that your audience just isn’t listening to what you are telling them? I mean sure, they seem to be with you at the start of your speech and then they seem to show up once again at the end, but how’s that middle part going for you? Researchers have studied what’s going on with your audience during the middle of your speech and let’s just say that it’s not good — they are checking out. Looks like we’re going to have to have a talk here — let’s find a way to keep them on board…

Why Your Audience is Leaving You

If you need to understand why your audience is checking out half-way through your speech, then the first thing that you need to realize is that you talk too slow. Well, not really.

A better way to say what’s going on is that your audience is thinking too fast. Research has shown that the human mind has the ability to comprehend words that come at us at up to 600 words per minute. The problem here is that you and I talk at a rate of 120-200 words per minute.

Now there’s nothing wrong with the way that we’re speaking, it’s just that we’re giving our audience a lot of spare mental time to start to think about other things while they wait for us to say more. If we’re not actively working to hold on to their attention, then they are very quickly going to be thinking about other things.

Just to make things a bit worse, the folks up at the Northwestern School of Speech have done some studies and they’ve discovered that the attention span of an audience is roughly 9 seconds. Ouch!

What You Can Do to Get Your Audience to Stay Focused

Now that you know that you’ve got a problem on your hands, you’re going to have to figure out what to do about it. If there is any good news in this it is that you do have the audience’s attention at the beginning and at the end of your speech — they perk up and listen to what you have to say during both of these times.

Thankfully, the researchers have looked into our problem and they have a suggestion for us. What they tell us is that our audience needs to have their attention grabbed every 6-8 minutes during the body of our speech.

There are a lot of different ways to go about doing this attention grabbing. Books have been written on how to use everything from eye contact to body language to keep your audience engaged in what you are saying. However, there is another way…

The really good speakers, politicians, know how to wake their audience up after they’ve started to grow restless with the droning on of a typical political speech. They tell their audience that they are getting ready to wrap things up (‘… in conclusion…”). This causes the audience to start to pay attention again.

However, all too often the politician doesn’t wrap things up – they just keep on talking. After a while, they will once again communicate that they are going to be wrapping things up and the audience will again perk up.

This may not be a technique that you want to use all the time. However, at least now you’ll have it in your back pocket to use if you need it.

What This Means for You

Listening to a speaker for 30, 60, or even 90 minutes is a hard job for an audience to do. In fact, it’s so hard that often they don’t do it – they’ll drift off and start to think about other things during the middle of that speech that you worked so hard on.

In order to prevent this from happening and to boost the probability that at least some of what you are saying will get into your audience’s heads, you need to change the way that you deliver your speech. You need to “wake up” your audience every 6-8 minutes with a startling statement or the appearance that you are starting to close your speech.

By realizing that your audience will start to drift off during your speech and taking steps to keep them onboard, you can become a much more effective speaker. This means that you will need to map out your speech and make sure that you include the spicy parts that will wake up your audience and make them hungry for more of what you are serving.

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Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.blueelephantconsulting.com/
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills™

Do you give speeches today, but want to learn how be more effective? Dr. Jim Anderson believes that great business skills are no substitute for poor presentation skills. Dr. Anderson will share with you the knowledge that he has gained while working to improve the speaking ability of both individuals and teams of speakers for over 20 years. Learn the secrets of effective speakers and really connect with your audience during your next speech. Follow Dr. Anderson on Twitter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Jim_Anderson

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Body language. The nonverbal communication of your body that can tell your audience you are speaking with confidence or cowardness, delight or disingenuity. Do you know which language your body is speaking?

Something as simple as an arm gesture could be telling your audience one thing while your voice is saying something totally different. And, of course, no body language usually means no vocal variety which is always boring.

Part of the difficulty with body language is that it often shows fear. When I first started my business some years ago, I was at a new member’s orientation for the local chamber of commerce. With about 150 people in the room, we had to stand and introduce ourselves. I had a bit of time before it was my turn. As I sat there thinking about what I was going to say, it suddenly dawned on me that my personal introduction was my business. It didn’t matter how anyone else sounded; however, as a voice coach, I realized that how I sounded could make or break my business.

It was at that point that I became nervous — more so than I have ever been. But when I stood to speak, I sounded and looked confident. My body language did not scream fear even though I was dying a thousand deaths!

What was I doing to allow myself to remain in control? I spoke to the audience just as if we were in my living room having a conversation which allowed me to use my body language in the exact same manner. I acknowledged those in attendance by smiling, using my hands as I talked, and shifting my weight from one leg to the other. By no means did I stand there rigid with my arms crossed over my chest or dangling limp at my sides. The image my body projected was comfort. Again, the audience was unaware of my nervousness.

Your body language should say ease and confidence, not dread or disinterest. The only way this is going to happen is when you can make eye contact with your audience, acknowledging all throughout the room. Speaking with emotion and believing in yourself help complete the picture.

The final step for gaining control is to breathe, something we never think to do when facing our fear. It is truly what allowed me to get through those 30 seconds well – so well, in fact, that a gentleman in the back of the room called me The Voice Lady and the label stuck.

Don’t let your body speak the wrong language. Use it to enhance your presentations, not detract from it.

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The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels provides private, group and corporate training throughout the United States and Canada as well as Voicing It, the only video training program on voice improvement and presentation skills. Visit Voice Dynamic and voice your opinion in her new blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_Daniels

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One of the worst nightmares of every public speaker — especially for comedians — is telling a joke and getting no laughs from the audience, or what we call bombing. The bad news is, everybody bombs. It’s just part of the job, but it’s how you recover from bombing that is more important. The good news is, as you become more experienced and confident, it happens less and less. And even when it does happen, it won’t be as bad anymore.

First thing to do is gauge the reaction of your audience. What I mean is, see if they really noticed that the joke didn’t work. Sometimes, the audience won’t notice at all. If you can move on to the next joke without calling attention to your misfired joke, you can actually get away with it. But your next joke has to work. Two jokes in a row that fall flat will definitely get their attention, or worse, lose their attention. That is why experienced comedians will sandwich a new joke in between old and tested jokes.

If it’s really obvious your joke didn’t get any laughs, then it’s time to stop and admit that you failed. Strangely, this will illicit laughter from them. I think it’s kinda like saying to them that it’s okay that I bombed, I’m not taking myself seriously and neither should you. You can say standard things like:

“I don’t know what I was smoking when I thought of that.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have bought that joke from Carrot Top.”

“My wife wrote that one.”

“I am going to fire my comedy coach after this show.”

One mistake performers make is to get back at the audience for not getting the punch line, which can lead to them turning on you, then the show becomes real ugly quick. It might be better to just do blame it on yourself and self-deprecate at least for the sake of the show. Then you can blame the audience after the show. Now, if the audience didn’t pay to watch, then screw them. Do whatever you want.

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to bombing. Admit that the joke didn’t work. Make fun of yourself for thinking it was funny at all. Then move on. Now, if you really want to be good at making come backs from flat punch lines, go to an open mic and purposely do bad jokes. Your brain will be forced to think of “savers” or one-liners to get you back on track.

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Tim Tayag is a pioneer of point of view stand up comedy in the Philippines and Asia. He started his comedy career in San Francisco back in 1997 and has toured and performed all over the world. You can learn more about him by visiting his website or purchase his comedy CD.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Tayag

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Murphy’s Law states: Whatever can go wrong, does. This is true even when you speak. The good news is, knowing what might go wrong ahead of time will help you to know how to handle it.

If Murphy does show up on the scene, never let your audience see you sweat! Never apologize when something goes wrong, and never make excuses.

On a recent episode of America’s Got Talent one of the acts was a team of two young children about ten or eleven years old. They started dancing on stairs and guess what? The little girl fell. Seconds later she got up and performed as if nothing happened. At the end of their performance the judges asked her, “Are you okay, honey? “Are you hurt?” At that moment she started to cry. Until then she was a trooper and never let anyone see her sweat.

That’s a perfect example of what you want to do as a performer and speaker. Unexpected things are going to happen that are out of your control. What are they? Here are five possibilities and how to handle them with grace and ease.

#1 – Electronic gadgets in the audience.

Today, people will often bring their laptops or other electronic devices to a presentation or workshop. The problem is, these devices disconnect your listener from you and you’re your talk. The best solution is to discourage the use of computers, laptops, netbooks, iPads and iPhones during your presentation.

Train your audience to turn off their cell phones by asking them to do so at the beginning of your talk. Take out your own cell phone and demonstrate what you want them to do while asking them to turn it off. Then thank them for doing so.

When people bring their laptops to use-and I’ve seen it over and over-they are not thinking about the event or the people in it; they are thinking about themselves. I’ve seen people plug the laptops in an outlet in the center aisle where people walk. As the speaker, you’re in control of the room and you’ve got to pay attention to what your audience it doing so you can correct it if necessary.

I discourage people from using their computers during my talks. It is a known fact that your audience will retain more information if they write it down than if they type it. So do your audience a favor and ask them to put away all electronic devices.

#2 – Your laptop explodes.

You’re ready to start your presentation and you turn on your computer – it doesn’t turn on! Always make sure you have a backup ready, especially if it’s your event. I have a regular laptop and a netbook. I bring them both. I also bring a flash drive because someone in the audience will have a laptop I can use.

Have a backup plan ready just in case something happens to your own equipment. That goes for the projector, as well. Make sure you have an extra bulb because that’s what usually burns out. They’re very expensive, but it’s a good idea to have a spare.

Here’s a backup strategy: Bring two computers, have an outline of what you’re going say in case of ultimate equipment failure. This will ensure that you’re not dependent on your PowerPoint and the speech will go on!

At my last Persuasive Speaking Mastery even, one of my guest speakers brought her presentation on her laptop. She didn’t bring a backup on a flash drive. Her computer was not compatible with my projector. After 30 minutes of trying to get it to work, the guest speaker got her office to email the presentation to us. Now, what would have happened if no one was available at her office? It could have been a disaster.

If you’re going to bring your own computer to a presentation, make sure you have a backup plan. Part of that backup plan is your PowerPoint presentation on a flash drive. And for good measure, you may even want your assistant at your office when your speech starts.

#3 – Forgot your flash drive?

What do you do if you left your presentation behind? Panic? No. The first rule as a speaker, don’t be dependent on your PowerPoint. If you can’t go on without it, then you’re too dependent on it. If this happens, forget the PowerPoint and stand up and do your presentation like a professional.

During a multi-speaker event I hosted two years ago, once again a speaker’s PowerPoint was not compatible with our equipment. The speaker insisted on using the PowerPoint and would not go on stage without it. It took over 45 minutes to get it going. When the speaker finally went on stage she was flustered and it showed. The end result – no sales. Always remember, YOU are the presentation, not your PowerPoint.

#4 – The microphone breaks.

This has happened to me a couple times! Sometimes the handheld microphone breaks or the batteries go out in the lavaliere. Both can be devastating. Once, I was presenting on a big stage and all of a sudden the lavaliere went out. The sound guy gave me a handheld microphone. Since I like to use my hands when I talk this wasn’t the most comfortable solution. I would have rather kept my lapel microphone.

If you find yourself speaking on a multi-speaker stage, be sure ask the sound guy to check the batteries before you talk.

It is imperative to have a good overall sound system. At my very first Persuasive Speaking Mastery event I had over 140 people in the audience. I brought my own lavaliere system because I thought I would pull it into the hotel equipment and I could save some money. Wrong. The hotel equipment didn’t work right and everyone had trouble hearing me. Today, I avoid all the hassles by hiring a professional audio/visual guy who brings his own quality equipment and controls the sound levels. It is money well-spent.

If you’re speaking to small groups of 20, 25, or even 50, you probably don’t need a professional sound system. However, if you have a soft voice, you may. Either hire a professional or invest in the equipment yourself.

#5 – Run out of time.

It’s really important to stay on time. The longer you go over your time, the less likely it is you’ll be invited back because it throws off their entire meeting. It also shows disrespect to the audience and the host.

Let’s say you have a new presentation and you don’t know how long it will take or you have three parts but only have time to present one part. You can ask the audience, “I have three more points and it looks like I won’t have time to get to them. Which one of these do you want me to cover [list them]?” Let your audience tell you want they want. Be creative and say you’ll email them the other two topics.

If you see the clock ticking, don’t speed up your dialogue and rush through everything! Don’t talk so fast that your audience doesn’t understand you and don’t drop the last part of your speech. That’s the biggest mistake people make-they speed up and leave out their close. That’s not going to help you or your audience. It’s better to eliminate some of the points then it is to drop the close. Remember, the close is how you make sales and help others to create breakthroughs in their lives and in their businesses.

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Arvee Robinson is a Persuasive Speaking Coach, Master Speaker Trainer, International Speaker, and Author. She teaches business owners, service professionals, and entrepreneurs how to use public speaking as a marketing strategy so they can attract more clients, generate unlimited leads and grow their businesses, effortlessly. She teaches a proven system for delivering persuasive presentations, and easy to use formulas for creating a killer elevator pitch and a magnetic self-introduction. Arvee has helped hundreds of individuals to win clients and close more sales every time they speak. She offers private coaching, workshops, and weekly tele-classes. Her programs make people money for the rest of their lives. For more information, visit http://www.instantprospeaker.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Arvee_Robinson

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