Great Speaking Coach

When a Speech is More than Just Talk

When a speech is more than just talk something happens. When the speaker inspires the audience to do just one thing they would not have done before, all the time and effort invested into the speech is worth it.

You don't have to be a 'motivational' speaker to inspire your audiences to take action. And the actions they take can be very concrete and even quantifiable. How do you do this if you're a serious business speaker?

First, you remember to put the audience first. This means: talk about their needs, their sticking points, their challenges. The audience that believes you know them and care about them becomes responsive to your calls for action. They feel a contract has been made--you gave them something and they will give you something back.

Next, tell your own true story and make it relevant to your audience and your point. When you're telling about how you climbed the mountain, ask them to imagine how they would feel facing such a climb? As you overcome obstacles, as them questions and use analogies so they make the connection between overcoming mountain climbing obstacles and doing better work.

Then ask them to take action. Describe this action by painting a vivid word picture.

Here's an example: "Pause at the door of your office or cubicle. Take a deep breath. Stride purposefully to your computer. Type the vision you created today in a large font. Print it and post it where you will see it often."

Here is what not to say: "Remember your vision and be sure to implement it when you get back to work."

The action taken after a speech is what gives the speech value to your audience, and also to you. Putting the audience first, using well-written and delivered stories and providing a clear call-to-action all add up to a high return on the investment of your speech or presentation.

How do you make your speeches more than just talk? Share your ideas through our comment link.

Props in Speeches Create Stickiness

What prop--a tangible thing that you can hold up for your audience to see--can you use to create an indelible message in the minds of your audiences?

Business speakers typically put a lot of time and effort into graphic images, bullet points and facts and figures. These feel real and serious to the speakers and their audiences. I agree that there are benefits to them.

However, human beings are stimulated by creative and unexpected elements in a speech or presentation. This is where props help you and your audiences.

Think of props as analogies or metaphors.

• Analogy is defined as similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

• Metaphor is defined as one thing conceived as representing another; a symbol

I use small fish nets to demonstrate concepts about business networking. The empty net represents the person who gives all their cards away. The net filled with paper represents the person who collects cards. The net filled with coins represents the person who builds connections through business networking just like the net which is created strengthening the connections between the threads.

A woman who was in an audience where I spoke how to implement Speakonomics! (TM)  focused on using a prop in a spotlight speech of her own. As a PR expert, she promotes her clients. She used pom poms to make the point that she is a cheerleader for her clients. That's a great analogy.

What props can you use as metaphors or analogies? Share your ideas through our comment link.

3 Topics for Your Speech to Civic & Chamber Groups

You know that speaking to civic, chamber and lead share groups will generate leads so you commit to be the speaker from time to time. Now the question to answer is "what do I speak about?"

No matter what products or services you and your company offer, you do NOT speak directly about them. That's perceived as a sales pitch and will generate annoyance or even harsh rejection.

Here are 3 topics that are "evergreen"--they are always of great interest to audiences. Customize the topics to your audience and customize the perspective from your particular company--but make sure it's about the audience, not about you.

1) How to make more money. Have you ever met a business who doesn't want to make more money? Of course not. So you must make a list of the top 3 ways your audience can make more money. The value to you is that you offer these tips from your perspective as an expert on whatever your industry is.

If you're a CPA, show your audience how specific decisions about corporate formulation affects the bottom line.

If you are a printing company, show your audience how your clients attribute increased revenue to their print materials.

2) How to improve customer service. Your company has its own customer service practices that have developed over the years. Talk briefly about what works for your company and how you arrived at your customer service practices. You make this topic relevant to all businesses by talking about customer service concepts: customer retention practices; special offer practices; employee training practices.

If you are a public relations firm, show your audience how asking great questions is perceived as customer service.

If you provide IT services, show your audience how you write, distribute and analyze customer satisfaction surveys.

3) How to gain visibility with your prospects. Every company benefits from prospects coming to them. Obvious methods to generate leads and customers are direct mail, advertising and sales calls. In your speech, you should talk about other approaches, beginning with speaking to groups like the one you're at. You can encourage everyone in the audience to get in front of audiences. You can also describe your other marketing strategies such as winning awards; providing sponsorship to other organizations; creating newsworthy activities and distributing news releases about them; doing research and publishing a white paper.

If you're the general manager or sales manager of a business-oriented hotel, talk about the results that come when people meet face-to-face.

If you're in financial services of any kind, talk about how your company differentiated itself from competitors by sponsoring a large community event or underwriting an ongoing program of services such as literacy, child care or employment skills training.

When you stimulate your audiences' creative thinking about how they could solve their burning issues, you become a resource rather than simply a vendor. People will come to you for more information, advice or suggestions, allowing you to develop relationships.

As you all know, relationships are what make it possible to increase your business and keep it going no matter the economy or what your competition does.

Share your speaking topic ideas through our comment link.

Speak Like Steve Jobs? It's possible!

Steve Jobs has a well-earned reputation for being a dynamic, compelling and passionate public speaker. With all the expectations on his shoulders, he manages to break free from the boring CEO speech model; and he has relegated Power Point to its appropriate position as a visual aid. If Steve Jobs can do this with the whole world watching, so can you!

Take these three moments from his 2008 keynote:

1) Create a theme in a few words. Deliver it with flair, creating a feeling of expectation.

In 2008 Jobs opened his keynote with the phrase "there's something in the air." With that simple sentence, he provoked the audience's interest and stated his theme in just 5 words. Who didn't want to stick around with their eyes and ears open to find out what was in the air?

2) Make numbers and statistics meaningful by putting them in context and illuminating them cleverly.

Jobs stated that Apple had sold 4 million iPhones up to that day. To communicate how powerful that number is, he then said the iPhone had been on the market for 200 days, so 4 million units sold over 200 days means they have sold 20,000 unite per day. That gives the number context and power.

Jobs introduces his 4th new product by showing a photo of a Sony notebook. He displays a simple chart with some basic numbers about the size and performance of the Sony. Then a picture of an interoffice envelope appears on the screen.

Jobs then held up a real interoffice mail envelope. And out of that envelope he pulled a MacBook Air.  That dramatic 30 seconds will make a lasting impression that people will talk  about ever after.

3) Show your passion. Jobs stands fully open to the audience--no podium, no pointers, no darkness. He is out there doing his thing. He trusts his own personality to help him connect with the audience. And his passion and enthusiasm strengthens his audiences' physical and emotional passion about Apple.

One more thing is perfectly clear: Jobs rehearses and rehearses and rehearses. Nothing is left to chance, both in his words and delivery and in the technology that supports him, in order to make the whole show look effortless. That's what wows the audience.

When you hear yourself saying I DON'T have time or money; and when you hear yourself saying I DO have to write detailed slides decks and open by thanking people and give the audience a handout with all the slides--stop yourself and think of Steve Jobs.

Being the co-founder and innovative genius behind Apple is something no one can do but Steve Jobs.

Being a dynamic speaker is something you CAN do, just like Steve Jobs. Watch just the first 10 minutes of his MacWorld 2008 keynote and get inspired to break free from your old speaking restrictions and deliver an amazing message.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOKGKsdY-VI&feature=related

 

Public Speakers--Put the Audience First, Please

Picture a hotel ballroom filled with 350 high-powered local business people. They've gathered for the annual Chairman's Luncheon of the largest Chamber of Commerce in the metro area. Awards are bestowed and the transition between Chamber Chairs takes place. And during the 1-1/2 hours of speeches and presentations not a single inspirational word is spoken to encourage this powerful audience to participate in the coming year. 

When you or your organization gathers this kind of audience, your first step in preparing the speeches must be to think about connecting to the audience. This is a prime opportunity for describing a vision of the future and inspiring the audience to take action on that vision.

I do not accept that it doesn't matter if the speeches are boring or lacking in inspiration. That may be what people expect but it doesn't mean you should meet those impossibly low expectations. This is a huge opportunity cost--time and attention effectively wasted. Three hundred and fifty of the county's top movers and shakers not impacted by a single inspiring sentence!

My foundation principle is Put The Audience First. In every speech for every audience on every occasion--give your audience something to take with them. You will get immeasurable results in return.

Speaking Opportunities Are Priceless: Create Them for Yourself

Business development--or to say it more clearly, more sales, more revenue, more customers--is on everyone's mind. And minimizing spending is also on everyone's mind. Is there one activity that will help your business grow and that doesn't cost you a lot of money to implement?

Yes! That one activity is speaking to audiences of your prospects.

Three questions are popping into your head right now. Here they are along with the answers:

1 - What do I talk about?

Talk about a solution to a business problem or "pain" that the majority of your customers have.

• My CPA clients talk about how changes in family status affects tax planning.
• My insurance broker clients talk about what keeps CEOs up at night
• My IT services clients talk about how to weigh the pros and cons of new technology
• My hotel sales manager client talks about the power of face to face meetings.

The point is to demonstrate passion and expertise and generate a feeling that you have solutions to your audiences problems. It is not to sell any one solution from the speech.

2 - How do I make the speech worthwhile for my company?

Fill your speech with interesting and engaging content such as stories, quotations, fun facts, quizzes, working exercises and "Dos and Don'ts." 

These things make the audience like you. You know the saying "people do business with people they like." It's still true, and perhaps even more important when you're in a crowded marketplace with services or products that are hard to differentiate. These approaches generate the most requests for more information or for full scale sales presentations.

3 - How do I create speaking opportunities?

Ask your current clients what organizations they belong to. These may be industry-focused associations, business groups, educational organizations or others. Then ask if those organizations have speakers at various events or functions. Find out more about those speaking opportunities and offer yourself as a speaker. Maybe you lead an "ask the experts" session, or participate on a panel, or teach a workshop. Each time you appear in front of groups of your prospects, you are marketing yourself and your company. And you know the value of that.

You are only limited by your imagination. Open your mind and find the speaking opportunities and make them work for you.

Questions? Post them through the comment link and I will answer.

3 Tips on Taking the Leap to Better Speaking

What's your objection to making a deliberate decision to work on your speaking skills and confidence?

Most people offer one of three reasons for not taking action: 1) Too busy; 2) No money; 3) They don't  see a need ("I'm not great but I'm okay" or "I don't typically speak" or "I'm really uncomfortable speaking so I just don't").

Just like for any decision, if you don't see or feel a need, you're not likely to find the time or the money. Once a need is real, you free up time and money. This is human nature.

My 3 tips on taking the leap to better speaking focus on clarifying the benefits of speaking in business. Once you consider the benefits that are possible, you will have a much clearer need, which then frees up your time and some funds.

The Benefits of Speaking in Business:

• You control what your audiences hear and believe:

The first obligation of a speaker is to know what the audience cares about. You then decide how to speak about this concern or pain, rather than leaving an opening for others who may have different ideas. As a chief executive, for example, you control the message about projections for the coming year rather than ceding the message to others with counter-productive perspectives.

• You stand out from all others in your playing field

If you've been reluctant to speak in public, you know most of your competitors are also reluctant. So when you do step onto the stage you are standing out from the crowd and will get noticed. Combine this willingness to speak in public with the benefit of controlling what the audience hears and believes, and you've generated a powerful position which leaves your competitors scrambling to catch up.

• You create opportunities for persuasion, action and stickiness

There are research-driven, proven ways to persuade audiences to take action and to increase the memorability of your message. By applying these to your speeches and presentations, you help the audience get what they want while simultaneously guiding them to take the action you want them to take. Whether the purpose of your speech is to increase market share, demonstrate your leadership in your field or change behavior within your company, using fair and above-board persuasion principles in your speeches will generate outcomes better than any other method.

Ask any successful business leader about the top 3 keys to their success and they will always include "communication" in that list. Speeches and presentations are exceptionally powerful communication methods that lead to great returns on the investment of time and money. Ensure your future by committing today to improving your speaking skills.

Speaking to Attract Customers--3 Must-Know Tips

Speaking to audiences of your prospects is the number way to attract them to your company for help to address their problems. But--a big but--the speech you give must be exceptional. Not good or good enough but "out of the park," home-run-like amazing. Otherwise it's just another at bat, no hits, no runs, nothing.

So you wonder, "how do I give that kind of speech?" Apply these 3 tips without fail and you'll win the business development game.

3 Tips to Attracting Customers through Speeches

1) Speak about your audience. Not about your company. To do this you must know what their primary problem or pain point is that's relevant to your product or service. Don't guess--ask, ask, ask. Call up about 20 percent of the expected audience (that's 2 out of 10, 5 out of 25 or 10 out of 50) and ask them: what would happen in you increased your company's revenue this month or quarter? What are you doing to make that happen? What is preventing you from reaching the goal? This last question is the problem or pain that you want to speak to.

2) Create your call-to-action based upon their problem. The call-to-action must be about steps they should take, after having listened to your speech, to fix their problem. I recommend three short declarative sentences plus a repeated line or refrain. You will not directly ask them to call you, you will encourage them to take actions that you could help them with.

3) Incorporate relationship-building touches into your speech. Tell them you've written a one-page recap of the recommendations included in your speech. Say that other audiences have enjoyed receiving this reminder a few days later and that you'll be happy to send it by email to anyone who asks for one by leaving their business card. This is not the same as asking people to sign up for your newsletter or other endless broadcasts. This is a specific item that adds value to the time they've invested being in your audience. Then you will send one more new idea about a week later. Now you've been in front of them three times (your speech and 2 follow ups) which helps you stay top of mind.

You also want to make an offer during your speech. Think of something you can offer that is perceived as high value and not available from anyone else. Be sure that it's something you can easily provide. It doesn't have to be no-cost or discounted, just highly valuable. Then you repeat this offer in each of your 2 follow up emails.

Touching them by snail mail is also important and is worth it after they have been in your audience. When they receive a hard copy of your offer they will recognize the name on the envelope and welcome it, rather than tossing it out with the other direct mail. This is in direct contrast to doing mass direct mailings to people who've never heard of you, which is an expensive waste of resources.

Are you ready to get more business by speaking to your prospects? These 3 tips will keep your company top of mind for weeks to come and will help you stand out from other similar firms in your industry. While others are in defensive, crossing their fingers mode, you'll be out giving your prospects powerful opportunities and reasons to connect with you in ways that will lead to new business.

How to Help Your Audiences Soak Up Your Message

Last year I was a stone. I was hard and dense, deadened to the point that I couldn't register incoming messages and so rigid that I could not deliver meaningful outgoing messages.

I am now a sponge. I'm soft and relaxed, with many open channels that help me feel and hear everything both coming in and going out. I listen and I communicate with ease. Communication is truly a two-way street. And I am loving this.

What state do you create in your audiences? Do you deaden your audiences so that everything you say washes over them without penetrating? You can do this very easily by overloading them with data,  restricting yourself to scripts or lengthy slide decks and filling your talk exclusively with business-speak.

My stone-sponge analogy is related to how I was being trained to ride my horse. Last year's trainer is a narrow-minded, humorless person who reminds me of the hundreds of business speakers who believe they must stick to the facts, provide slides and copious notes so that the audience has something to refer to later (as if they will!) and demands strict adherence to "the way we always do things."

My new trainer says "dare to try something new" and "communication between you and your horse must be a thoughtful and respectful two-way street." When I listen to him and pay attention to my own behavior, together we create the harmonious ride that we are striving towards.

You force your audiences to be stones when you define or equate 'speech' or 'presentation' to 'Power Point.' Nothing on any slide ever will be more powerful and potent than you can be when you speak from your inner knowledge and passion with authenticity.

When you grab their attention with a story or ask them to imagine a situation, you create sponges. You help them open their inner channels so that your ideas and their own thoughts mix to create new perspectives and visions. When they are sponges they visualize themselves responding to your call-to-action. When they are sponges they absorb your message so deeply that it sticks for a long time.

Speaking to any audience is a privilege. Be sure you help your audiences be sponges every time for every speech or presentation.

How to Win-What Did Obama Do?

President Obama's speaking style has been the subject of many articles, blog posts and media reports. He is assessed as being articulate, able to speak about complicated topics in a way that vast audiences can understand and he is effective at connecting with his audiences. He has a definite style and rhythm that sets him apart from most leaders.

What is missing from President Obama's speeches? There are no Power Point slides!

If Barack Obama could go from newcomer to president in just a few years, on the strength of his ability to communicate a message of something intangible like change--without a single slide--why shouldn't you be able to communicate your ideas without slide decks?

You have expertise, passion and experience built into you. You have creative ideas, your own unique take on "life" and lots of practice speaking in conversations to all kinds of people. These are the skills you need to be a business speaker. There is never going to be a slide that's better than you are.

I always urge business speakers to picture a speech or presentation as an experience they create for their audiences. The experience includes three components: the audience's needs, the speaker's ability expertise, and the time the audience and the speaker spend together.

Once this picture is in place, the speaker plans the speech or presentation. Only after the planning is complete--the call-to-action, the key points, the leading materials and the attention-getting opening--does the speaker think about how to deliver the speech. Slides MAY be a delivery method for some of the content.

This is very different from this equation: Speech = Power Point deck. When you live by this faulty equation you will miss great opportunities to actually transform people and your own reputation and success.

The next time you open Power Point to begin preparing for a speech or presentation ask yourself, "What would Obama do?" The answer is that he would know his audience, speak from his knowledge with passion and authenticity, and use language and his personality to get his message across.

That's what you must do too.