Resources – Page 3 – Craig Strachan

How quickly does an audience judge a speaker?

I have just finished reading Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. Simplistically speaking, the book is about how we make snap judgments and decisions in the blink of an eye. The book itself is very interesting, and well worth reading, however it raised an interesting question.

How quickly does an audience judge a speaker?

My suspicion is that the audience have decided whether to listen to you or to switch off within the first 30 seconds of your presentation. So, the challenge is how are you going to grab their attention in those first few seconds? Here are three ideas:

Start with a powerful question (have you ever?.?)
Start with a powerful statement (in 5 years time, 1/5 of this audience will have been laid off?).
Let them know what is in it for them (today you will learn three ways to increase sales?)

Here?s what not to say:

I am so happy be here (clich?)
I am going to tell you (rather use ?you will learn? ? speak to the audience)
When I wrote my speech this morning (shows a lack of preparation)

The trick is to keep your introductions sharp, and to grap the attention of your audience as soon as you can.

Enjoy the book.

Book review – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

I have just finished reading a remarkable book – The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – by John Maxwell.

This is really quite an amazing book. It is written in 21 chapters, each of which discusses a different aspect of leadership. The laws that he describes are simple, understandable and easy to apply.

In Toastmasters, we often say that “facts tell while stories sell.” This book is a perfect example of that expression. It is filled with stories taken from all over the world which illustrate the laws of leadership. Amongst others, he draws on his own life, American history, sport, Churchill, Napoleon and even our own Nelson Mandela!

Just three of the laws are:

The law of process – leadership develops daily, not in a day
The law of connection – leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand
The law of empowerment – only secure leaders give power to others

The book is very easy reading, yet filled with powerful lessons. If you have not read it, I highly recommend that you find a copy and read it. It will help in your business, friendships and relationships.

Make a name for yourself

Here is a great little book that I discovered – Make a name for yourself. 55 Strategies to Fast-Track Your Professional Prowess, by Scott Ginsberg.

The author, Scott Ginsberg is quite a remarkable person. He has been wearing a name badge for the last 7 years, and this has resulted in several books, and how is now a professional speaker, author and trainer.

Scott describes himself as “that guy who wears a nametag 24-7 to make people friendlier”. It started as an experiment over 7 years ago, and he has been doing so ever since. He has turned his idea of wearing a nametag all the time into a business, whereby he helps people to connect and to achieve professional success.

The book is very simply written, and it provides some wonderful ideas on how to understand who you are, and how to make the best use of your resource to achieve success.

“In 2002, unsure of how to approach starting my own company, I sought out as many success resources as possible. From reading books to scouring the Internet to interviewing; successful people, I was determined to learn the patterns that enabled so many others to make a name for themselves.”

I have no doubt that by following his ideas, you will make a difference to yourself. Some of his ideas are:

Get up an hour earlier
Keep daily appointments with yourself
More books, less TV
It’s not what you know
Speak up or get shut down

And my personal favorite – the Best Swimmers are always in the Pool. In this chapter, he speaks about learning by doing, and best of all – It was given to him by a Toastmaster (thanks for the punt)!

I was very interested to see that while he is selling the book, you can also get it for free. I would love to see what the response to this approach it (and yes, I have download the book and I am going to buy it, it really is a gem)

You can get the book in three ways:
1) buy it from Amazon
2) buy it from his website
3) download it for free from his website!

Enjoy!