Category: Speaking

Truth or dare

I am often asked for my views on keeping the stories in a speech completely accurate as to what happened, as opposed to embellishing the story to make a great speech. My response is that while you need to be true to your stories, you must also be true to your message. Make sure that your audience remembers your message.

But it can be a fine line between embellishing a story to make it a great story, and telling an outright lie.

Darren la Croux has written a great blog post on this subject, explaining that your stories should at least be “Based on a True Story”. He says,

Have you ever noticed that Hollywood blockbusters always start off, “based on a true story?” They never start, “this is exactly how it happened.” If they told it exactly how it happened, we’d be bored!

Are you perfectly accurate when you tell your stories? The truth is important, yes. I’m not saying to lie or make things up. I just want your stories to be so memorable that people walk away clearly understanding your message.

If you are unsure how to approach this issue in your speeches, read his post; he gives a very clear an concise answer.

Be afraid of our customers

Heard in a presentation by (the other) Michael Jackson

Yes, you should wake up every morning terrified with your sheets drenched in sweat, but not because you’re afraid of our competitors. Be afraid of our customers, because those are the folks who have the money. Our competitors are never going to send us money.

Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
Remember who could be sending you money, and do everything to gain their trust, respect and business.

Confessions of a Public Speaker – review

Confessions of a Public Speaker, by Scott Burken

When I received a copy, my initial reaction was that it was yet another publich speaking guide. Paging the book, I quickly realized that I was wrong. This books provides a very different perspective on public speaking, Written by somebody that clearly has experienced many hours on the stage, he not only gives the usual information that you would expect from such a book (how to structure your speech, using PowerPoint, body language etc), he also gives a huge amount of guidance on things that you only learn from experience, such as the easiest way to hook up a lapel microphone (unplug it, drop the cable through the inside of your shirt, and then reconnect it), how to full the front row (give stuff away), and how to use silence to make a point.

This book will help anybody interested in become a better public speaker, as well as those who are starting to do more than just the occasional presentation at work. It is loaded with tips and tricks that you only gain from experience on the road. It is written in a lighthearted manner, and is incredibly easy to read, the author has a quirky sense of humour, and he is happy to poke fun at himself. Chapter titles include “do not eat the microphone”, “the science of not boring people”, and “what to do if your talk sucks”. Even if you have been around for a while, you will still learn a trick or two from the book.

While there are many photos in the book, they are black and white, and are generally not very clear. However, you are not buying the book to look at the photos.

The book is easy reading, full of tips, and provides valuable advice to both the beginner and more experienced speaker; well worth reading.

You can buy the book from Amazon.com ($16.49), or find out more about Scott on his website

Thanks to the Folks at O’Reilly for the review copy.

What are you charging to speak?

It is well known in the speaking business that the celebraty speakers are the ones that charge the most. But do you realize how much some of them are charging?

According to the Online Universaties website, some people are charging as much as $1.5 million for a single speeck! I can assure you that is far more than I charge.

Here is a quick summary:

  • Donald Trump, $1-1.5 million
  • Tony Blair, $616,000
  • Bill Clinton, $150,000- $450,000
  • Lance Armstrong, $100,000 and up
  • Al Gore, $100,000-150,000

Are you prepared for anything?

As a speaker, there are many things that can go wrong, and potentially derail your presentation. It is not a case of it something goes wrong, but of when it will go wrong.

The difference between a minor incident and a major catastrophe comes down to one simple thing: preparation. Some of the things that can typically happen are:

Equipment failure

Computers crash, projectors stop working. Mains power trips. And my favourite, laptop and projector refuse to speak to each other. There are very few presentations that really require PowerPoint, so be able to give your presentation without the equipment if necessary. Arrive early, and give yourself plenty of time to set-up and ensure that all is working fine.

Equipment lost in transit

When traveling to conference venues, you pass through many environments were equipment can mysteriously disappear. Have a backup copy of your presentation with you (in a separate bag to your laptop). Finding a spare machine to borrow is easy; finding another copy of your presentation is far more difficult. Travel with as little equipment as possible (it also makes the traveling easier), and ensure in writing that the conference venue has the necessary equipment.

Microphone batteries die

I insist on new batteries in my microphone (NEW, not freshly charged). Spoiling a $500 presentation for a $2 battery is just plain silly. Keeping a few AA, AAA and 9volt batteries close at hand will quickly rescue you when batteries die.

A little bit of extra preparation will go a long way to ensuring that you give an effective and trouble-free presentation.

The Oratorical Prowess of Barack Obama

Guest post by Zander Smith

A good politician gives lots of speeches. A great politician has the oratory skill to use his speeches to motivate, inspire, and convince people to follow him. The recent American presidential race showed the world the importance of giving a good speech, the importance of having great oratorical prowess. Barack Obama a black motivational speaker inspired millions of Americans to follow him to the White House during the course of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Most Americans have never met Barack Obama and they never will. They do feel connected to him because of the power of his pre-election speeches. On the campaign trail Obama used style to give meaning and believability to his words. This often ignored trait of great orators made Americans feel as if they knew Barack Obama personally and they believed what he had to say.

Obama is an expert at using rhythm and cadence during his speeches to involve his audience. Frequent pauses during his speeches allow the audience to participate by cheering, clapping, and chanting. It also gives listeners the chance to actually absorb what he is saying. Experts note three advantages to using well placed pauses during a speech.

-A pause will allow the speaker to take a breath and gives the audience a chance to respond

-A pause during which the audience responds lets people feel connected to the speaker – they are participating in what he has to say

-A pause which lets the audience respond shows the speakers generosity – he allows others to speak and does not take all the time for himself

Delivering a good speech is very difficult task. Bob Proctor, a great orator, breaks a speech down into 3 simple parts. First, tell the audience what the speech is about by introducing your material. Next, give the audience the meat of your material. Third, review what you have said in steps 1 and 2. The second step of any great speech is practice. A great orator will know his stuff. Study all of your information. The better acquainted you are with your material the better you will feel when sharing it with your audience.

Barack Obama’s campaign trail speeches, and his presidential speeches, are excellent examples of the above three advantages. Instead of following the modern, just the facts style of many of today’s orators Obama looked to the great speakers of the past for inspiration. Barack Obama may be a “new” style candidate but he has taken full advantage of “old school” techniques when speaking in public.

Zander Smith, Site Representative Great Black Speakers Member of Great speaker motivational society

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com/a.php?a=53912

How to Triple Your Back of the Room Book Sales Every Time You Do a Public Speaking Engagement

Guest post by Tom Antion

I’m darn good at selling at the back of the room. In fact, just this month I did three speaking engagements at multi speaker events and I outsold all the other speakers put together. What’s unique about this is the way I do it is not obnoxious and high pressure. Today I want to give you a low pressure technique that can give you way more sales than when you nervously wait till the end of your talk to suggest people buy your book.

What I want you to do is put a copy of your book on the chair of every attendee at your event. You will put a note in the book that says something like, “You don’t have to buy this book. We are just going to use it during the presentation.”
Yes, I know this is a scary thing to do. I know you’re thinking, “What if everyone just walks out the door with all my books?” Relax . . .this won’t happen. People are generally honest.

You will pick the two best parts of the book and read them from stage as you are teaching a related point. You might use the three best parts if you are speaking for several hours.

Here’s what will happen. You’ll sell three times as many books and you’ll hardly have to even mention it’s for sale. Just put a box in the back of the room at your table and mention that you’ll be at the table if anyone wants to take the book home with them it will be 20 bucks (or some round number). Also, tell them you will personalize it for them.
The idea here is that instead of just “selling” your stuff, show the value of it and you’ll sell way more than you ever have before.

Tom Antion is a professional speaker with over 2700 paid speeches to his credit. He is the founder of the largest public speaking membership site on the Internet, and the author of the best selling professional speaker course of all time “The Wake ’em up Video Professional Speaking System“

PowerPoint Karaoke slides

sidebar_logoOn Monday evening, I ran a PowerPoint Karaoke contest at the Cape Communicators Toastmaster Club. This is the first one that I ran, and it was a fantastic evening!

We had about 10 people who were each given a random deck of PowerPoint slides, and they were given about three minutes to present a presentation using their slides. It was all in good fun, and we had some very interesting takes on the topics.

It is a great way to both practise your impromptu speaking skills, and to have some practise with PowerPoint.

Here is how I did it:

  1. Draw for random speaking order
  2. Draw for random topic order – I didn’t want to be too nasty and give somebody a topic that they knew absolutely nothing about, so they could select topics beforehand. I also gave them 3 minutes to prepare – basically while the previous speaker was speaking. If you are feeling nasty, give them a topic just before they speak, and let them go – much as for a Toastmasters table topic session
  3. Each speaker got 3 minutes to speak. Timing lights at 2, 2.5 and 3 minutes
  4. I used the Toastmasters Table topics contest form as a “judging form”
  5. You are basically pretty free to make up the rules, so the above is what I did; feel free to adapt and let me know what works for you.

Here are all the decks that I used:

Each deck was approximately 5 slides long. Note that they are not “real” slide decks, but made up to give the speaker something to play with. Some of the topics are a little off the wall.

Many people have asked me for a copy of the slides so that they can present the Karaoke contests at their own clubs, so here they are. Please feel free to steal and disseminate. My only request is to let me know how it goes.

Please note that I have created these slide decks from a variety of publicly available material and slides that I have built up over the years. If I have inadvertently used copyright material, please let me know and I will remove it.

Finally, thanks so much to Imation for sponsoring the event. They gave us memory sticks and  tee shirts as prized. The sticks are 1 gig, and about 1cm square – really cute. They also gave me an amazing remote wireless projector adapter. This little device plugs into your USB port on one end, and the projector on the other, and voila, you have a wireless projector!

Leave a comment and let me know how your session goes!