Unless a speaker can interest his audience, his effort will be a failure. If your topic is not one of extraordinary interest, your listeners are likely to say to themselves, so what? Who cares? A speaker can quickly lose an audience if she or he doesn’t use the introduction to get their attention and clicking their interest in getting the initial attention of your audience is usually easy-even before you utter a single word. Read More→
Topics . . .
HOT Topics . . .
Archive for Storytelling
Monday,
January
3rd,
2011
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. Read More→
Comments (3)
Saturday,
December
11th,
2010
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. Read More→
Comments (2)
Wednesday,
December
1st,
2010
Having done executive coaching and corporate storytelling training over the last 23 years, I have seen many common mistakes from folks wishing to use storytelling for business presentations. Here are three of my quick fixes for public speaking issues. Read More→
Comments (0)
Wednesday,
November
17th,
2010
As our audiences change and are influenced by an unending flow of media and attempts at communication, does the average presenter have a chance of cutting through all this noise and clutter in the minds of their listeners? Read More→
Comments (0)
Sunday,
October
17th,
2010
Having a good sense of storytelling techniques is important for people involved in any form of communication. Unlike other ways to express a story, storytelling takes place in the moment between the storyteller and listener. It is a unique experience. Here are nine storytelling tips Read More→
Comments (1)
Tuesday,
March
16th,
2010
It’s that time of year again! What time? you ask. It’s the time of year I celebrate my birthday by doing the same number of push ups that equal the year I’m celebrating. It seemed like a good idea when I turned 30, but I’m guessing I’m going to have to look for a new way to celebrate sometime soon. The challenge this year is to do 40 consecutive push-ups. The outlook is bleak.
Because I wasn’t sure if I would make 39 push ups last year, I wrote a list of 39 Things I’ve Learned About Public Speaking.
I don’t want to repeat last year’s list, so I’ve come up with a new list… 40 Fatal Public Speaking Mistakes. It’s not that the mistakes will kill you, but they will definitely hurt your presentation.
1.) Don’t practice. Just wing it and hope everything falls into place.
2.) Drink ice water and dairy products before your presentation. Who doesn’t want to produce more phlegm and clear their throat a lot during a speech?
3.) Apologize in advance for being boring/nervous.
4.) Create your slides before you’ve nailed down your content.
5.) Skip audience analysis.
6.) Tell a lot of irrelevant stories about your kids, spouse, nephews, etc…
7.) Keep walking from one side of the room to the other for the entire presentation.
8.) Try to sound motivational by speaking loudly the entire time.
9.) Insult politicians, businesses, and other easy targets so you can get a quick laugh. Just hope they don’t have supporters or employees in the audience.
10.) Dress inappropriately for the event.
11.) Speak quickly so you can get more information into your speech in half the time.
12.) Stand in one spot while rocking back and forth from heel to toe (like a rocking chair).
13.) Stand in one spot while swaying from side to side (like a pendulum).
14.) Start the speech by telling the audience you haven’t done this presentation in a long time and will probably get lost along the way.
15.) Use slides that say the exact same thing you’re telling the audience.
16.) Keep turning your back to the audience and speaking to the screen.
17.) Don’t arrive early to set up your room. Show up a few minutes before and expect everything to be set up perfectly.
18.) If you’re using a microphone, skip the sound check. Just ask people if they can hear you when you start your speech.
19.) Start your speech by reading the “Starfish” story from “Chicken Soup for the Soul.”
20.) Use a lot of acronyms your audience won’t be able to remember.
21.) Use a lot of big words to show off your vocabulary. Who cares if no one knows what you’re saying?
22.) If your audience disagrees with you, try to convince them by being extra passionate about your position.
23.) Go over the time you’ve been given to deliver your speech. This works well just before lunch.
24.) Don’t research the statistics you use in your speech. Just assume they’re correct because you heard someone else use them.
25.) Steal stories from other speakers and make yourself the main character.
26.) When reading a speech, hold onto the lectern for dear life and don’t look up.
27.) Ask the audience to share their deepest feelings with people they’re meeting for the first time.
28.) Ignore the mood in the room and jump straight into your presentation. It will show the audience how tuned in you are.
29.) When using statistics, let the audience figure out how those statistics apply to them.
30.) Say “um” a lot so you’ll sound more “authentic.”
31.) Keep checking your wristwatch every few minutes. The audience will be curious about where you have to be after the speech?
32.) Assume the professor pose (one arm across your body and one hand holding your chin) so no one questions your knowledge.
33.) Give an infomercial on your product or service instead of speech that provides useful information.
34.) Forget vocal variety. Just use the same tone of voice and volume regardless of what you’re speaking about.
35.) Start your speech by complaining about the weather, your hotel, breakfast, aches, pains and anything else you can think of. Everyone loves a whiner.
36.) Mispronounce the names of the VIPs in your audience. Better yet, call them a different name altogether!
37.) Since body language is supposed to make up for 55% of your message, use a sparkling smile and huge gestures to cover up your lack of preparation.
38.) Insult people in the audience because they’re not as enthusiastic about your topic as you are.
39.) Use examples that are sexist and racist generalizations.
40.) Don’t practice. I know this was #1, but it’s important enough to repeat again. Failing to prepare for your speech is the most fatal public speaking mistake you can make.
If you want to avoid making the 40 Fatal Public Speaking Mistakes, I suggest you download a free copy of my “Successful Speeches Toolkit.” It will give you the inside scoop on how to give a better speech and get better results. Visit http://www.wellwrittenwellsaid.com/freetoolkit.html to get your workbook and search tool.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
John Watkis is a freelance speechwriter, speaking coach and keynote speaker who helps his clients use the right words at the right time in the right way so they can educate, influence and inspire their audiences. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Watkis
Comments (0)
Categories : Misc Speaking Topics, Public Speaking Mistakes
Sunday,
March
14th,
2010
1. Open Hot, Close Hotter.
To grab audience attention and be remembered, start the presentation with a bang, not a limp, “Thanks, it’s nice to be here.” The first (and last) 30 seconds have the most impact on the audience. Save any greetings and gratitude until they’ve already grabbed the audience with a powerful opening. And don’t end with a whimper. Remember that last words linger. Unfortunately, many speakers close with, “Are there any questions?” Wrong! Instead, say, “Before I close, are there any questions?” Answer them. Then close on a high note.
2. Get the Inside Scoop.
Attendees at one of my seminars, “How to Be a Coach to Your Client,” want to know how they can personalize and add excitement and color to the speeches they craft for others. How, they ask, can they get those invaluable inside stories? I suggested they do what I do–interview the speaker’s client’s colleagues and family members. These people are familiar with the “stories” the speaker often tells, stories that have already been honed to what I call the “Hollywood model” (characters, dialogue, dramatic lesson learned). What insights and amusing stories can they share? Advise your members to ask others for input that can provide color and energy to a presentation.
3. Try Inside-Out Speaking.
Don’t write speeches for people to read. Instead, sit down with them, in person or on the phone, and ask them questions. I do this, pulling out of them their ideas, stories, life experiences, philosophies, and examples through questions. Then my job is to help them organize, wordsmith, and deliver these comments with more drama.
Although the client and I often end up with a script that can then be edited and tightened, the words grow out of our conversations. I call this “inside-out” speaking. My work represents a cleaned-up conversation; one the speaker is going to have with the audience. Of course, a script is not a conversation, but if it sounds conversational, it is far more appealing and much easier to deliver directly to the audience without reading it word for word. Emotional contact is impossible without eye contact.
4. Provide Five Magic Moments.
How are great speeches like classic Hollywood movies? Movie promoters say that a successful film has to have five magic moments for each viewer, though not necessarily the same five. When it does, people will talk about it and add enough energy to a paid advertising campaign to make it a hit.
Be sure each presentation has five great moments–dramatic, humorous, profound, or poignant–that the audience can relive in their minds later and repeat to their friends.
5. Avoid Borrowed Stories.
I urge you to create vivid, personal stories for their presentations. Imagine how I once felt, sitting in an audience of 18,000 people, listening to Barbara Bush describe a great story she had read in Chicken Soup for the Soul–my own story which made the point, “What you do speaks louder than what you say.” (Yes, I know Ralph Waldo Emerson said it first.) Did Barbara Bush mention it was my story? No.
But even if she had mentioned my name, I think she missed a huge opportunity with her speech. Back then; I imagined her sitting in bed at the White House, going through stacks of books with a highlighter pen for things to talk about. Since then, I’ve realized that a speech writer did the research and wrote her words. My point? I’m not upset she didn’t credit me. Just disappointed that someone with Barbara Bush’s incredible life experiences did not share them. I am sure she had much more interesting recent topics and perceptions than reporting on something someone said to me many years ago. That’s how audiences will feel if your members repeat things they’ve read instead of experienced.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Patricia Fripp CSP, CPAE is a San Francisco-based executive speech coach and award-winning professional speaker. She is the author of Get What You Want!, Make It, So You Don’t Have to Fake It!, and Past-President of the National Speakers Association. Visit Fripp’s website at http://www.fripp.com
Comments (0)
Saturday,
March
6th,
2010
Every now and then it is important to remind ourselves of some of the foundations that can lift us to great heights in speaking. Here are 25 phrases to do just that.
1. Speak to one but look to all
2. When you lift yourself up you let your audience down
3. What gets recorded gets rewarded
4. Don’t add humor to a speech; uncover humor within it
5. What’s loose is lost
6. When you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out (this one is not mine. It’s an old speaker proverb).
7. You master what you measure
8. Conflict is the hook and Dialogue is the heart
9. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal
10. The phrase determines what stays
11. To be a great speaker you must be a great tease
12. Be a similar person with a special process
13. Never sell a product, always sell a result
14. Let your story lead to their story
15. Never end with the Q&A
16. People remember best what they hear first and what they hear last
17. Don’t tell; ask
18. You can’t affect if they don’t reflect
19. Become niche and famous (If you try to speak to everyone you will end up speaking to no one)
20. A confused mind says no but a clear mind says go
21. Give the visual before the verbal
22. Give the look that goes with the line
23. Reactions tell the story (Darren LaCroix)
24. Too many speakers try to get across too much information in too little time
25. Don’t speak for standing ovations, speak for standing invitations
To get a better understanding of what these phrases mean and how life-changing they can be for your speaking, see the World Class Speaking book.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Craig Valentine is the author of two books entitled World Class Speaking and The Nuts and Bolts of Public Speaking. He is the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking and an internationally-known professional speaker. To get your FREE Masterful Speaking Toolkit, visit http://www.craigvalentine.com
Comments (0)
Thursday,
March
4th,
2010
Stories are by far one of the most powerful weapons you can use to make your point. Most public speakers know that. Yet very few have mastered the art of telling stories that can move an audience so much that it becomes unforgettable.
What normally happens is the speaker starts narrating a story. He begins sharing a story just like a meteorologist gives the weather report. He reports that a blizzard will arrive tomorrow, but doesn’t warn you how bitter cold it could get.
In other words he’s giving you information that’s on the surface. It’s factual, but doesn’t really put you at the scene. And if you’re not at the scene, then you won’t feel the scene’s true personal and emotional impact.
As a result of this his audience misses out on the highs and the lows. The pain and the pleasure. The humor and the pathos. And every other human feeling ranging from goose bumps, to temptation, to sheer, unadulterated ecstasy.
But here’s the cure…
Dialogue.
A conversation between two or more people. This puts your audience member at the scene. She is helplessly drawn in as you permit her to eavesdrop on a conversation.
Dialogue also means having a conversation with your audience. You bring them into your message. You are no longer talking at them, but with them.
Let’s look at five examples of why dialogue is so powerful:
1) Show me… don’t just tell me. This is really powerful when done right.
Avoid saying, “I stood next to the bee hive.”
But say this, “I turned around and found myself five feet from an active bee hive.”
Can you picture your audience feeling your surprise, shock and fear?
2) Reaching beneath the surface.
Avoid saying, “I grew up in a village filled with hunger, misery and danger.”
But do say, “In my village I could barely sleep at night because of my stomach pains, insect bites and nearby gunfire.”
Admitting you have pain is not as effective as experiencing your pain.
3) Drops your audience right in the middle of a scene.
Avoid saying, “I told Grace not to play with matches.”
Why don’t you say, “Grace, don’t play with those matches!” (In a yelling tone.)
Do you feel the emotional intensity you’ve created during this scene?
4) Conversation with your audience.
Avoid saying, “I went to the bowling alley for some fun. I saw Judy there. She was with Brad.”
How about saying, “As I approached the bowling alley I saw my sweetheart Judy. And do you know what? Her arms were wrapped around Brad!”
Can you see how one targeted question pulls your audience deeper into your story?
5) Playing with vocal variety.
Avoid saying, “Despina, the Greek lady, asked me why I was working here.”
But say, “Despina, the Greek lady asked me, ‘Why you working here?’” (In her voice.)
It’s always far more interesting for an audience to hear other voices. When you’re narrating a story, you’re not able to repeat something said using that person’s voice. But you can create those other voices within a dialogue.
Use the power of dialogue. It’s far more interesting and memorable for your audience. They’ll appreciate how you’ve dropped them right in the middle of a scene. And in this scene is where they are touched.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tommy Yan helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money through direct response marketing. He publishes Tommy’s Tease weekly e-zine to inspire people to succeed in business and personal growth. Get your free subscription today at http://www.TommyYan.com.
If you’re a speaker, trainer, coach, or a consultant — the major challenge you face is connecting with your audience. You talk, shout, or recite your message while they are dreaming about dinner.
Their eyes are glossy, their minds’ elsewhere, and their bodies ready to bolt. You don’t have a lot of time, so you’ve got to grab their attention fast. Or else, you’ll die wrestling against audience resistance. Find out how…
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tommy_Yan
Comments (0)
|
Public Speaking Tips from 997 Ways To Be A Great Speaker
Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2012 All Rights Reserved