LITTLE GEMS: Advice for New Speakers
To all seasoned, experienced speakers:
What little things do you do that work really well? What best practices would you share with someone just getting started with public speaking?
Please keep this discussion focused on specific, tactical ideas. No philosophical rants. No global advice. Just really down-and-dirty ideas that work.
Here's are a few to get us going. I've put them in chronological order.
ALWAYS READY
Go Bag. In 25 years of speaking, I've forgotten to bring -- at one time or another -- just about everything. Forgetting things (or thinking that I might be forgetting something) makes me nervous -- and starts me scurrying around my office when I should be calm, focused, and on the way to the event! So I keep a "go bag" in my office ready and packed: business cards, brochures, handouts, a favorite water glass, toothbrush/toothpaste, projector cord adapters (for my Mac), markers/chalk, Post-It notes, a couple Granola bars, breath mints -- and a checklist for the contents of the bag, so I can double check to make sure everything is stocked and ready to go. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
A MONTH BEFORE THE PRESENTATION
Review best practices. It's still early enough to consult with trusted texts on message strategy. Lately, I've used Made To Stick and Seth Godin's Really Bad PowerPoint (And How To Avoid It). (Here are my own thoughts on Powerpoint.)
Organize, update, and customize the presentation's content. I have learned that -- if I review my presentation a month in advance -- I'll have time to revise the content. I still have time to talk to the event planner (and perhaps to members of the audience, individually or through an online survey) to make my content more relevant and more helpful to the audience.
THE DAY BEFORE THE PRESENTATION
No Last-Minute Make-Over. I never get a haircut the day of a big presentation. And I don't wear a new shirt. I want to feel comfortable. Hair falling down my neck -- or an unusually starched shirt -- is distracting. Not good. I wear a familiar shirt. And familiar hair.
UPON ARRIVAL (THE DAY OF THE PRESENTATION)
First Contact. When I arrive at the site to make a presentation, the very first thing I do is find my sponsor, the event planner who hired me. I know she is apprehensive about each aspect of the event going smoothly -- and the arrival of each speaker is a critical milestone. So, before I take off my coat, get my name tag, or put down my bags, I find my client and say, "I'm here. All is well. Thank you for having me today. How is the program going?" I can see the relief on her face — and I am glad I did not prolong her concern for even another 15 seconds.
DURING THE 15 MINUTES BEFORE SPEAKING
Meet everyone. If there is a break before I'm introduced, I try to visit every table or every corner of the room. I say hello to everyone -- every member of the audience. "Hi, my name is Artie and I'm the next speaker. Thank you for having me here today. I hope you enjoy it." I find that audiences like speakers they know. So I make sure everyone knows me, even if just a little. I don't get involved in long conversations with any one person. I move around they room.
Don't Leave Notes. Before I speak, when I go to the bathroom, I always take my notes with me. Otherwise, I'm walking to the bathroom wondering if my notes will be on the podium where I left them. Then I can't relax and get focused.
Spinach Check and Face Stretch. I always visit the bathroom during the 15 minutes before I speak. I check my teeth for spinach, especially if the event included a meal. (Why be preoccupied, wondering?) And I stretch my face (scrunching up my eyes and mouth, then opening everything wide, and again and again) so that all my expressions will be ready!
DURING THE INTRODUCTION
Listen and Smile. I've been introduced hundreds of times. I've learned not to react too much. Just smile and listen. I pretend to be my mother, politely hearing her son being introduced. I pretend that my introduction is interesting to me (even though I wrote it and have heard it so many times). And I never correct a mistake. Mistakes happens, like when the introducer says I received my MBA from "Columbus University" rather than "Columbia University." (Ouch. There's an expensive difference.) But I have learned that correcting the introducer reverses the momentum of the event at the critical moment of take-off. And it's not nice to correct someone publicly. And if I correct the introducer, what behavior am I role modeling for the audience about to hear my presentation?
AT THE MOMENT OF STARTING
Acquire the Podium. I smile at the audience (which is always applauding, hoping for the best) as I approach the podium. But I don't start my presentation. I pause to make sure everything is there (water, notes). I take a deep breath. I plant my feet. I grasp both sides of the podium. I smile again at the audience. I do all this so that my pace is right, from the very start. Otherwise, I find that I start speaking way too fast and have to slow down to a more comfortable, more understandable pace later on.
IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PRESENTATION
Express Thanks. At the end of presentations, during the moment of applause, I used to be pre-occupied with packing up my equipment and coiling power cords. I think it was because I was embarrassed to be the recipient of applause. I have found that it's more professional to acknowledge the gratitude of the audience with my own gratitude: expressed with a tight-lipped smile, a nod of the head, a very little bow, hands clasped together.
Quick Repair. After I speak, my breath is at its worst. Something about yapping for 30 or 60 minutes makes me dry. And I know, right after I present, some members of the audience will come up and speak privately with me. I used to be self-conscious (distracting me during Q+A, making me apprehensive about the post-speech chats. So, during Q+A, I always dip into my go bag (see #2 above) and pop a breath mint into my mouth.
What specific, tactical ideas -- the smaller the better -- do you have for new speakers?
What little things do you do that work really well? What best practices would you share with someone just getting started with public speaking?
Please keep this discussion focused on specific, tactical ideas. No philosophical rants. No global advice. Just really down-and-dirty ideas that work.
Here's are a few to get us going. I've put them in chronological order.
ALWAYS READY
Go Bag. In 25 years of speaking, I've forgotten to bring -- at one time or another -- just about everything. Forgetting things (or thinking that I might be forgetting something) makes me nervous -- and starts me scurrying around my office when I should be calm, focused, and on the way to the event! So I keep a "go bag" in my office ready and packed: business cards, brochures, handouts, a favorite water glass, toothbrush/toothpaste, projector cord adapters (for my Mac), markers/chalk, Post-It notes, a couple Granola bars, breath mints -- and a checklist for the contents of the bag, so I can double check to make sure everything is stocked and ready to go. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
A MONTH BEFORE THE PRESENTATION
Review best practices. It's still early enough to consult with trusted texts on message strategy. Lately, I've used Made To Stick and Seth Godin's Really Bad PowerPoint (And How To Avoid It). (Here are my own thoughts on Powerpoint.)
Organize, update, and customize the presentation's content. I have learned that -- if I review my presentation a month in advance -- I'll have time to revise the content. I still have time to talk to the event planner (and perhaps to members of the audience, individually or through an online survey) to make my content more relevant and more helpful to the audience.
THE DAY BEFORE THE PRESENTATION
No Last-Minute Make-Over. I never get a haircut the day of a big presentation. And I don't wear a new shirt. I want to feel comfortable. Hair falling down my neck -- or an unusually starched shirt -- is distracting. Not good. I wear a familiar shirt. And familiar hair.
UPON ARRIVAL (THE DAY OF THE PRESENTATION)
First Contact. When I arrive at the site to make a presentation, the very first thing I do is find my sponsor, the event planner who hired me. I know she is apprehensive about each aspect of the event going smoothly -- and the arrival of each speaker is a critical milestone. So, before I take off my coat, get my name tag, or put down my bags, I find my client and say, "I'm here. All is well. Thank you for having me today. How is the program going?" I can see the relief on her face — and I am glad I did not prolong her concern for even another 15 seconds.
DURING THE 15 MINUTES BEFORE SPEAKING
Meet everyone. If there is a break before I'm introduced, I try to visit every table or every corner of the room. I say hello to everyone -- every member of the audience. "Hi, my name is Artie and I'm the next speaker. Thank you for having me here today. I hope you enjoy it." I find that audiences like speakers they know. So I make sure everyone knows me, even if just a little. I don't get involved in long conversations with any one person. I move around they room.
Don't Leave Notes. Before I speak, when I go to the bathroom, I always take my notes with me. Otherwise, I'm walking to the bathroom wondering if my notes will be on the podium where I left them. Then I can't relax and get focused.
Spinach Check and Face Stretch. I always visit the bathroom during the 15 minutes before I speak. I check my teeth for spinach, especially if the event included a meal. (Why be preoccupied, wondering?) And I stretch my face (scrunching up my eyes and mouth, then opening everything wide, and again and again) so that all my expressions will be ready!
DURING THE INTRODUCTION
Listen and Smile. I've been introduced hundreds of times. I've learned not to react too much. Just smile and listen. I pretend to be my mother, politely hearing her son being introduced. I pretend that my introduction is interesting to me (even though I wrote it and have heard it so many times). And I never correct a mistake. Mistakes happens, like when the introducer says I received my MBA from "Columbus University" rather than "Columbia University." (Ouch. There's an expensive difference.) But I have learned that correcting the introducer reverses the momentum of the event at the critical moment of take-off. And it's not nice to correct someone publicly. And if I correct the introducer, what behavior am I role modeling for the audience about to hear my presentation?
AT THE MOMENT OF STARTING
Acquire the Podium. I smile at the audience (which is always applauding, hoping for the best) as I approach the podium. But I don't start my presentation. I pause to make sure everything is there (water, notes). I take a deep breath. I plant my feet. I grasp both sides of the podium. I smile again at the audience. I do all this so that my pace is right, from the very start. Otherwise, I find that I start speaking way too fast and have to slow down to a more comfortable, more understandable pace later on.
IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE PRESENTATION
Express Thanks. At the end of presentations, during the moment of applause, I used to be pre-occupied with packing up my equipment and coiling power cords. I think it was because I was embarrassed to be the recipient of applause. I have found that it's more professional to acknowledge the gratitude of the audience with my own gratitude: expressed with a tight-lipped smile, a nod of the head, a very little bow, hands clasped together.
Quick Repair. After I speak, my breath is at its worst. Something about yapping for 30 or 60 minutes makes me dry. And I know, right after I present, some members of the audience will come up and speak privately with me. I used to be self-conscious (distracting me during Q+A, making me apprehensive about the post-speech chats. So, during Q+A, I always dip into my go bag (see #2 above) and pop a breath mint into my mouth.
What specific, tactical ideas -- the smaller the better -- do you have for new speakers?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Aila Accad, RN, MSN on -
Not wacky at all, Lyndsey, I'm so glad you brought it up. I do this EVERY time I speak, and have done so for over 25 years. I ask for guidance to say what the people need to hear for their highest & best outcome.
Often people will see me years later and say, "What you said changed my life!" I'll ask them what it was and they tell me something I would NEVER have actually said. They heard what they needed to hear!
Warm :))
Aila
www.ailaspeaks.com
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Michael Hanson on -
I was wondering whether or not anyone could provide a couple of steps for starting to speak in public, for becoming a better public speaker, and where I might get the opportunity to speak. I'm just wondering in general, where do I begin?
Here's my background:
I used to study with Jehovah's Witnesses and in doing so, I started giving speeches (or "talks" as they called them) when I was 11 years old up until the time I was 16. I was then "the voice" for my high school, announcing at football games, band and chorus events, and any other program that my school wanted me to speak for. I took a communications class for public speaking last quarter at The Ohio State University, and it kind of reminded me of how much I used to enjoy giving them. I'm currently enrolled in one of Artie Isaac's classes (phenomenal teacher!) and speakersite naturally came up in class conversations. So, here I am!
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Permalink Reply by Aila Accad, RN, MSN on
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Go get 'em, Christopher!
If you are feeling called to speak, step up and do it.
Someone is waiting to hear YOUR message.
* Find the message you are passionate to share ~ What important lesson have you learned?
* Isolate one or two points that will get the message across.
* Back the points up with examples, quotes and personal stories ~ How did you learn the lesson?
* Brainstorm what groups want or need to hear your message.
* Do some presentations (local and free if necessary)
* See what worked and what didn't.
* Hone your presentation as you go.
You must step out and do it!
Don't wait until you think your presentation is perfect before you start.
All the Best!
Warm :))
Aila
www.ailaspeaks.comGo
PS Toastmaster's International is a great place to learn, practice and hone your skills.
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Permalink Reply by B.C. Carver on -
Develop your speech, sprinkle it with true-life stories and speak for free to as many civic organizations as possible. Their members are leaders in the town and can get you booked.
BC
www.worldwidebc.com
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Permalink Reply by Don Farrell on -
I too like to focus on the tactical skill sets in my speaking engagements. By showing the audience how to sell and service better I need to take them on a "reality trip" so they can hear, feel and taste the situations that we put our customers and potential customers through. To do this I will prepare phone shops or even live visit shops to some of the businesses in the room and get their permission to play them. Sometimes I bring recorded calls from another training session with client names edited out if I think it will be too sensitive for the audience to handle. The reality trip brings everyone down to earth because many think they don't make the kinds of mistakes that they do and it also gets everyone's undivided attention. Many times audeince members will come up to me during a break and tell me that their opration does not make the mistakes we heard on the recording, to which I ask if it would be OK for us to call their opration live and have me pretend to want to buy something from them. You can imagine the reaction.....although many love the idea and so we shop them live in my presentation. Lastly, with many sales people and business leaders in the room I have huge egos to penetrate, nothing gets to their core better than a few shop calls.
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro on -
If you involve the audience in participatory activities consider preparing a photo certificate and photo album of the session. Email or print and send or bring a copy to the participants after the event. The certificate expresses your appreciation, thanks the people, provides a reminder of the event (which may help to reinforce what you have taught) and may even help you market future presentations (if a colleague or friend of the participant notices the certificate they may decide that they want to participate in a subsequent program).
A sample certificate may be found in the SpeakerSite photo collection. A sample album may be found through My SpeakerSite. Ron - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro on
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If you involve the audience in participatory activities consider preparing a photo certificate and photo album of the session. Email or print and send or bring a copy to the participants after the event. The certificate expresses your appreciation, thanks the people, provides a reminder of the event (which may help to reinforce what you have taught) and may even help you market future presentations (if a colleague or friend of the participant notices the certificate they may decide that they want to participate in a subsequent program).
A sample certificate may be found in the SpeakerSite photo collection. A sample album may be found through My SpeakerSite. Ron
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Ronald G. Shapiro on
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One additional tip: if budget allows, consider printing and framing the certificate. A framed certificate may be more likely to be displayed than a certificate in a folder. Ron
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Permalink Reply by Amy Drake on -
If you choose to work with an agency or speakers' bureau, be sure to do your homework and check with clients who have worked for or with them before signing on. Do not work with agents who ask you to pay them to get you speaking engagements, charge you for their marketing materials or ask you to pay exorbitant fees to be on their web site or to video tape or record your speaking engagements. It is acceptable for any reputable agency to take a commission from any speaking engagement they arrange for you, just beware of any hidden costs.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Frank, CSP, CPAE on -
* A podium (check the dictionary for the definition of podium) is what we stand ON (riser or stage)...a lectern is what we stand BEHIND (though many call it a podium).
* A lavaliere microphone has not been used for over 25 years.....instead you use either clip-on or lapel microphone.....unless you use a hand-held microphone or the lectern microphone. (A lavaliere microphone was a microphone about the size of your thumb that hung around your neck on a thin rope.....before they came up with the clip-on or lapel that we use today.) And, for further history, there was something called a horse collar that was used in the 30s - 60s whereby a hand held microphone was inserted into a wire device that hung around your neck...resembling a horse collar. It was awful.
* If you are speaking at a meal function of any kind, ALWAYS plan to arrive prior to the meal and be there for the meal, even if you don't plan to eat it. Let the meeting planner know, in advance, if you don't plan to eat, so they won't pay for your meal. If you are bringing your spouse or any guest, ALWAYS get permission, in advance, and offer to pay for their meal. If you are using PowerPoint, be there early enough before the meal so it isn't being set up during the meal. Arriving two hours early is much better than arriving fifteen minutes early. Put the meeting planner at ease. They don't need any more stress on the day of their event.
*I could offer hundreds of these tips, many of which are in my book, FOR PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS ONLY....or feel free to call me....614-864-3703....please call back if you get voice-mail.
Mike Frank, CSP, CPAE....Past-President / NATIONAL SPEAKERS ASSOCIATION
Mike@MikeFrank.com
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Permalink Reply by Gary Tomlinson on -
New speakers (and even seasoned ones) can be very nervous when they step on stage. It's good to remember that the presentation isn't about you. It's about your message and the audience needing to hear it. So, be well prepared, be well practiced and focus on your message and on your audience.
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Permalink Reply by Ric Morgan on
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As they are making their introduction of you ALWAYS check whatever zippers you might have...make it the last thing you do before stepping out their to make your presentation.
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