Great Speaking Coach

Tips on Speaking

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2 Speaking Tips from President Obama

"Not only is Presdient Obama "up-to-speed" on the pressing issues of our time but also articulate about addressing them in a friendly, accessible way." That is Tom Shales' review of the president's handling of questions at his 100-day news conference.

Shales continues: "Obama can use a five-dollar word such as "overarching" in one sentence and a few sentences later utter a folksy "doggone it."His verbiage is a melting pot that's always bubbling."

If variety in language and style works for President Obama, why don't more business speakers allow themselves to speak like this? CEOs persist in limiting themselves to "just the facts" delivered through a script that may be of literary quality but is deadly when spoken. And as long as CEOs speak this way, everyone in their company will follow suit. Their audiences get the same boring speech over and over.

When you're thinking about a speech or presentation remember your knack for conversation and your gift of gab. The brains of your audiences aren't different in conversation than they are when they're listening to you speak. Think of speeches and presentations as a conversation scaled up, rather than being on a different scale altogether.

How do you preserve your conversational tone and variety in your speeches and presentations? Share your ideas through our comment link below.

Delivery of Effective Business Presentations

Quality speaking and writing is not dead or out of favor. In fact, compared with 5 or 10 years ago, communication skills for both speaking and writing are more important than ever. Why? Because there is so much freely available information streaming into your eyes and ears that only the best will penetrate.

In a New York Times interviewwith Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, you learn how important high communication standards are:

Q. And is there any change in the kind of qualities you’re looking for compared with 5, 10 years ago?

A.I think this communication point is getting more and more important. People really have to be able to handle the written and spoken word. And when I say written word, I don’t mean Power Points. I don’t think Power Points help people think as clearly as they should because you don’t have to put a complete thought in place. You can just put a phrase with a bullet in front of it. And it doesn’t have a subject, a verb and an object, so you aren’t expressing complete thoughts.

"Perfect Power Point Presentation" articles and coaches abound. And yet, this phrase is a perfect oxymoron--if a Power Point presentation is perfect it will be a total failure for your audience and for the speaker.

People need to be touched on both sides of their brains--the logical side and the non-linear, creative side. Brain science has proved this (for those who want facts about this, study brain science). Power Point and the rules people have concocted around it do not touch the non-linear, creative side of the human brain. So no matter how much time and attention you put into slides (e.g. making them perfect) you will fail to create a perfect presentation.

I'd love to hear how you incorporate slides into your presentation, because there ARE ways to use them for the effective delivery of a business presentation. Share your ideas through our comment link.

Marketing Success Using Speaking and Promotional Products

Reading the lists of the top 10 promotional products and the top 10 buyers of these items, I see clear opportunities for generating more leads than ever by asking the audience to use the promotional products during your speeches and presentations.

Here are some ideas:

For those businesses that are hard for prospects to differentiate from many others - financial services, the professions such as law, accounting and insurance, banking, and real estate - a promotional product that is unexpected and then used in an unexpected way will help people remember you.

Stress balls: Call them 'exercise balls'. About half-way through your speech, interrupt your train of thought for an "exercise break." Direct 1 minute of exercise using the ball: hold it in your right hand, stretch your arm out, squeeze it once for practice. Then on the count of 3,2,1--everyone count how many times they can squeeze it in 5 seconds. Ask the participants to shout out their numbers and give a round of applause to some of the highest ones. Then say: "when ideas stall, stop and play ball."

Does your company provide products and services that help customers plan? It's hard to sell "planning" which often seems intangible and also hard to differentiate. Use fortune cookies as a promotional product. The fortunes are all about the results or outcomes of planning, such as "you'll make the goals of your financial plan" or "enjoy the profits of the goals you set."

Your key point #1 is "Plans make good luck happen." Leading up to the key point, you might speak about some statistics for companies that planned versus those that didn't. Then you ask everyone to open their fortune cookies read the fortune and share it with the person next to them. Tell the audience to keep their fortune and post it in a prominent place in their office.Then you speak your key point: "Plans make good luck happen."

How do you make promotional products work for you? The key word here is 'work"--they should not just be a feel good item or something you hope the recipient will pay attention to. Share your successful ideas through our comment link.

1 Amazing Tip to Make Your Next Speech Perfect

I recently met a PR expert who communicated her passion for her clients' success in no uncertain terms. She loves what she does and she is exceptionally skilled at it. Then when asked about her own website, she said she doesn't have one because "I hate to talk about myself."

Do you feel that way too? I'm not going to analyze why that may be. I will tell you there is one--yes, one--simple way to get the message about your work out there--and it doesn't require that you talk about yourself.

Talk about, write about, blog about, social network about--your clients and customers, your employees or your team. Put the emphasis on others. Tell their story. You'll find that the words flow from your mouth or your finger tips, because you're giving a glowing tale about them. Audiences and readers will understand that you are closely related to the story.

You get well-deserved recognition while doing what feels comfortable for you.

Right this minute stop and think about a success story of a client, employee or team. What was the problem, what were the obstacles they faced and how did they resolve the situation?

Post your own review of this one tip and make other suggestions through our comment link about how to tell about yourself with comfort.

Reduce Your Fear of Speaking - 3 Tips

Are you happy to talk about others' contributions and achievements, but not about your own? Do you allow yourself to make mistakes doing your work, but think speakers must never make mistakes? Have you thrown together a slide deck just hours before a presentation, then felt stiff and uncomfortable in front of your audience?

These are the expressions of fear about speaking and presenting that I hear all the time. And because of these fears, people refuse to speak and thus deny themselves the benefits that speaking and presenting generate.

There is good news for fearful speakers. These fears and others like them can be diminished with some simple, focused steps.

1 - Audiences love it when speakers and presenters talk about them (the audience) and tell relevant stories about other people like them. Speakers should not put themselves in the starring role or fill their speeches and presentations with "I". Those of you who like to talk about others will find the speaking platform very comfortable if you do this during your speeches and presentations.

2 - Audiences really crave authenticity--a sense that the speaker is being real and the same person they would meet in the hallway. Everyone knows that real people make mistakes. It's what they do about the mistake that's important. Just as you would do in a conversation, if you make a mistake during  your speech or presentation, you simply correct yourself and move on.

3 -Throwing slides together minutes or hours before you speak is a terrible mistake and one that you can prevent from ever happening again. First, reduce the number of slides, and the content on them. One slide for 5 minutes, with one image or two bullets is plenty. Then you speak about it from your deep expertise. Second, schedule time in your calendar for your slide writing and do not give up that time. Your audience deserves that amount of commitment from you. If you stand firm on your prep time, others will respect you.

Post your review of these ideas about overcoming fear of speaking and share your own success stories through our comment link.

Speaking about Your Leadership Transition

I learned quite a bit from Scott David of Stone Lake Leadership group as we talked about how leaders build their personal brand. He and partner Terri Nimmons are passionate about the 5 P's of Personal Brand: Persona, Product, Packaging, Promotion and Permission.

Speaking is part of every leader's portfolio and how you do it affects your personal brand.

Your Persona is the emotional response people have to you. Do your audiences describe you as personable, warm, caring--in other words, are you interested in them? Outstanding business speakers are described in these words: "I felt as if he/she was speaking just to me--even though there were 100 people in the room."

Packaging is about your appearance and how it supports (or does not support) the rest of your brand. Speaking and presenting style is part of your packaging. Are you creating a "Wow" response or do people think "ho hum"?

Promotionis the part of your personal brand that allows you to speak about your contributions. It is not swagger and braggadocio. It is being strategic about what you want other people to know such as fairly and invitingly telling about your work and results.This is especiallyy important as you transition up the career ladder. When you're managing or leading, you want to give credit to your team of hands-on performers. You also need to be clear about how your leadershipshaped the teams results. Speaking effectively about this is key to the promotion component of your personal brand.

If you want to learn lots more about Personal Brand and the 5 P's pay a visit to Stone Lake Leadership's website or give Scott a call at 301-604-3451.

How do you use speaking to polish your personal brand? Write your review through our comment link.

Speaking to Build Your Personal Brand

Branding is a recurrent word these days and it's applied to individuals as well as to companies. What does it mean to have a personal brand?

Lethia Owens says your personal brand is what you are known for. It's what do you as well as what you say. And it's important for you to make sure that what you think your brand is and what others think your brand is are the same thing.

So if you believe you're confident and a take-action person, do others call you aggressive and impatient? Do you think of yourself as smart and creative, while others would call you arrogant and prone to throwing out wild, crazy and irrelevant ideas?

I've heard many business speakers who believe they're smart and innovative and yet their speeches and presentations are boring and dull because they refuse to spend enough time and thought putting their presentations together. They simply do what they've always done figuring that is good enough. Really smart and innovative people never settle for good enough.

How do ensure that your speeches and presentations reflect and build upon your personal brand? Leave your review in our comment box.

Breathe New Life into Your Business Presentations

All that is required to breathe new life into business presentations is knowing what excites an audience. The human beings in an audience are attracted to speeches and presentations that stimulate their senses; that persuade them to take action; and that have a message that sticks over time.

 

Attraction: When you increase the stimulation of the 5 senses you increase the attraction of your speech or presentation. Go into the layers of the senses below the obvious:

• Vision-B & W and color photos; videos; abstract designs as well as graphics, process flow charts; many colors,not just the brand color palette.

• Hearing - ambient noises or work places; street noises, sounds of nature and travel; music.

• Touch- ask your audience to handle paper and pens; use calculators; raise their hands and move in their places

• Smell- provide powerful pleasing odors such as popcorn, chocolate and mints.

• Taste - the same items that smell good also taste good. Avoid bland or overly sweet snacks.

How do you attract your audiences? Share your ideas through our comment link.

 

Credibility at Risk When You Say "I Don’t Know What to Do"

CEOs across industries are telling journalists reporting for all media that they can’t plan because they don’t know what the future holds.

If they can’t create a plan how can anyone buy from them, invest with them, or work for them?

You’re either the CEO of your company or the CEO of your career. Clients, customers and prospects are always looking to you for a message. Will it be one of hopelessness or will it be one that inspires action in a positive direction?

Your product or service provides value to your customers. Articulate that value in terms of your customer’s current situation.

• How does your product or service alleviate their fears?

• How do you help them retain their customers?

• What do you offer to help them cut expenses smartly, rather than panic and cut across the board?

Here’s the take away for you today: Identify the desired outcome of your listeners and talk to them about that.

CEO Terry J. Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s, told the NY Times a story of an experience that affected his whole career. When he was young and somewhat dissatisfied with his situation, his boss pointed to a poster of a tree that was captioned “bloom where you’re planted.” He got it, took advantage of that assignment, got recognized and climbed his career ladder.

Today’s messages from CEOs must be the same. You are planted where you are right now. The soil may be dry and poor in nutrients, but it’s what you’ve got. Dig deep inside and find even one way to send out a new leaf. When the conditions improve you will be ready to bloom large, way ahead of your competition.

How are you blooming where you are planted? Share your ideas through our comment link.