But how does a social networking phenomenon help you as a speaker? When preparing speeches and presentations a number of my clients have had initial difficulty focusing on what the purpose of their speech is. As a result, the early versions of the speeches are inevitably lacking a defining message that that the audience can take away from the speech. However, after sitting down and really defining what the reason and purpose for giving the speeches are the speeches have changed markedly as the speaker carefully considers the words and phrases they will share with the audience to ensure they match the refined purpose of the speech.

It’s the 140 characters that make the difference. It forces you to take what would be a rambling and unfocussed speech purpose and apply a blow torch to it. You are forced question every word and idea in your purpose to determine if it really matches what you want to achieve when you deliver your speech.  So, the next time you sit down to prepare a speech, before you write your opening lines, write down the purpose of your speech, and keep refining it until its 140 characters or less.

Happy Speaking

Mark.

P.S. Why not follow my tweets?

Do you have someone to keep you accountable for reaching your goals in 2010? Having someone who we rely on to keep us honest during the year, after the euphoria of New Year and summer holidays has subsided is crucial. That someone (and it doesn’t have to be just one!) acts as a mirror for you, providing an honest reflection of your choices during the year. When other “priorities” come up and you’re about to let your dreams fall by the wayside, they’ll remind you what you committed to in January and what you’re about to “let go”. You still have to make the choices of whether you’ll stay the course with you goals or will you let them go, but it becomes so much harder to abandon your goals when you know there’s someone watching your progress…

So I’m going to ask you to be my mirror for 2010. One of my aspirations for this year is to update my blog and send out my email newsletter on a regular basis. I intend to update and distribute them both twice a month. I’d like you to be my mirror and accountability! Now I have publicly stated my goal I’m going to have to work hard to make sure I stick to it because I know you’re all watching! If you think I’m not sticking to my goal I’d love you to contact me and remind of what I’ve said here!

Whether your goal is to lose some weight, learn a musical instrument, or to improve an area of your life find someone who can hold you accountable to the promises you’ve made to yourself at the beginning of the year.

Happy New Year and Happy Speaking!

Mark.

P.S. For those who want to improve their public speaking check out the Speakers Edge eBook available for immediate download!

In those cases, if the speaker will give a better speech with notes than without I won’t stand in their way - but I will work with them to alter the pages they intend to read from!

First, I insist that they make the font LARGE! So many people make a speech and give themselves an eye test at the same time. When you put your notes on the lectern; the writing on the page can start to feel awfully small. I always remind speakers that the only person who’ll ever see your notes is you. Because of this you can make them as large as you want - no one will ever know! The ideal scenario is to be able to look down at your speech, read a sentence, and look up at the audience as you deliver the words you’ve just read. Then glance down at your notes and easily find the point in the text where you are up to, read your next sentence, and return to looking at your audience. You’ll make a stronger impression when you make the effort to look at the people you are speaking too.

Next, keep the writing on the paper to point form, and key statistics only. After spending time getting ready for the speech most of my clients know what they want to say and can recite their speech without looking at their notes. However they want a level of insurance in case their memory fails them when they are in the spotlight. In order to regather their thoughts most people only need to glance at a prompt and they can continue conversing with the audience, without the audience ever realising the speaker lost their way. With this strategy most speakers find their speeches and presentations become more conversational and less rigid - resulting in better reactions from those who are sitting there listening to what they have to say.

These two simple strategies can make the next speech you deliver far more effective because you’ll have the freedom to look at your audience without your eyes being locked to your notes and you’ll find yourself delivering speeches that are far more conversational.

Happy Speaking

Mark.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not completely averse to seeing a speaker use notes (although I bet many times the same speaker could give an adequate presentation by relying on their memory rather than a pre-written script). What I do have an issue with is seeing a speaker utilise PowerPoint as a visual aid and a speech writing tool at the same time. If a speaker is going to write his (or her) entire speech in PowerPoint and then display those same slides for the audience to see (and read!) -  What benefit is the speaker providing? Why not email the presentation to everyone and allow them the opportunity to get something more valuable done!

Your audiences don’t want to see (or need to see) your entire speech illuminated on a screen in a dimly lit room. All they want is the key points (not sentences, paragraphs, or essays) to reinforce and remind them of your message. By keeping to key points you’ll be rewarded with a keenly interested audience who will listen to you and your presentation. If you want to use notes or a full script then go ahead – just don’t display it for everyone to see and read! Remember keep PowerPoint for your Power Points only.

Happy Speaking

Mark.

A load of what if!

A load of thoughts all centred on the individual… What would happen if we turned those questions around and you started thinking about your audience? What if you took the time to meet and mingle with the audience as they enter the room? You’ll find any barriers between you and your audience breaking down before your eyes. For starters you will build an all important connection between you and individual audience members – allowing you to find allies in sea of strange faces when you step up to speak. And, while you probably won’t get the opportunity to speak to every individual before your presentation you will be seen by everyone as you chat and move throughout the room before it’s your turn to step into the spotlight. Your audience will appreciate this demonstration of care and because you are taking the time to communicate with them individually they’ll reward you in kind.

By taking the time to meet and greet the audience you will also build up a picture of the mood and mindset of the audience – providing you a barometer upon which you can set your expectations of audience reaction.  If you know before you step into the spotlight that the audience has just heard bad news then you can make last minute customisations to your speech and you’ll know that if a joke gets muted laughs it’s because of factors outside your control and not your delivery.

It’s a natural reaction to want to tuck yourself away in a corner and mentally “prepare” before you speak. However it’s counterproductive. Why not use the time to do everything you can to make your speech or presentation a success? Go and meet as many members of your audience as you can and build a connection with the audience before you start your presentation. What if you found allies in the room who will agree with what you have to say? What if you can gauge the reaction before you start your speech? What if your speech is a success?

What if?

Happy Speaking.

Mark.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a conference organised by a very large IT services company.  In one of the sessions the speaker (we’ll call him Jim) used the Whiteboard to help him with his presentation. Now, Jim’s reasoning for utilising the whiteboard was spot on… It allowed him to get the audience involved in his presentation (a great way to get the audience to “buy in” to your message!!). But, Jim hadn’t considered the dynamics of the room he was speaking in when he decided to utilise the Whiteboard.

The first thing to consider with a Whiteboard (or flip chart) is; can everyone in the room see what I am writing? In Jim’s case the room was large and the audience was spread out - the result was that only those in the front three rows could adequately see and understand what Jim had written on the whiteboard.

Secondly, Jim spent half of his presentation standing in front of the whiteboard which was in the middle of the speaking area. Nothing wrong there except for the fact that Jim was referencing things he had written on the board which.  This resulted in the audience craning their necks to try to read what Jim had written a couple of minutes beforehand. When using a whiteboard or any other visual aids (such as PowerPoint) consider where it will be placed. In Jim’s case, if the Whiteboard was off to one side of the speaking area, he could have eliminated the issue of people having to look “through” him to see what was on the Whiteboard. The audience would have been able to glance to one side to see the main points on the Whiteboard before returning their attention back to Jim.

Unfortunately for Jim he “lost” half the room. The result was a lot of bored and confused faces by the end of his presentation. Having seen Jim deliver the same presentation at other conferences using a Whiteboard I know he can be more effective…

What is the difference…?

Simply Jim didn’t consider how he could make the Whiteboard work for him. In other conferences, he had a smaller room that allowed everyone to see what he was writing on the board, and fortuitously, it was placed to side so everyone could see the board all of the time. Next time you give a presentation where you’ll be using a Whiteboard check the room where you’ll be speaking so you can confirm that everyone in the audience will be able to see the Whiteboard (and what you’ll be writing on the board…); when you speak, ensure the whiteboard is placed so that the audience doesn’t have to “look through you”.

Remember, if a visual aid isn’t aiding your speech it’s hurting it! Use them carefully….

Happy Speaking

Mark.

P.S.  Always carry a spare set of whiteboard markers… They have a bad habit of running out at the most inopportune moments.

As a speaker are you ensuring you start your speeches the right way? Walking onto the stage we need to ensure we’ve done the work to get the feel good factor from our audience. They are looking to us to get their attention and keep them interested with a speech that is relevant to their needs. If we start our speeches in a way that doesn’t get their attention or doesn’t show them that the speech is relevant for them we’ve wasted the opportunity to influence them. Sometimes a simple story or quote can be all it takes to get an audiences attention and generate a feel good factor for you and your speech.

When you take the time to craft your opening lines to get the audiences attention you will be rewarded with an audience who’ll be hanging off your every word… And, there’s no better feel good factor than that!

When it’s time for you to start your speech - are you starting off in the right way?

Happy Speaking

Mark.

So many presentations suffer from fog… and speakers that refuse to modify their “behaviour”. The speaker starts off and assumes the audience sees the speech destination as clearly he or she does. They then takes off down the road - leaving the audience behind (and bewildered) to get frustrated and annoyed.

When your audience sits down to listen to you speak they need you to clear the fog first.  Are you a speaker that fails to clear the fog and just takes off - leaving an audience that will try and make its own way to a destination (who knows if they ever get to the intended destination???). When the foggy speaker finishes you’ll find unhappy audience members congregating at the side of the room exchanging details as they leave the scene of yet another speaking accident.

When you write your speeches do you take the time to clear the fog? Use the opening of your speech to ensure your audience understands the journey you are going to take them on. You’ll be rewarded for your efforts as you watch the fog that surrounds your audience disappear and you’ll have a room full of willing passengers, ready to join you at your destination.

Happy Speaking

Mark.

During one of the breakout sessions the power to the data projector was cut. The audio visual crew scrambled into action, looking at each other before furiously checking plugs and connections. After several minutes of frowns as they took plugs out and put them back in their sockets they retreated to find other hotel staff to help them try and get the projector working again.

While this commotion went on around the presenter, thankfully for the audience, he kept his cool. After the AV staff left the room to find help he continued with what he had to say. He simply adjusted his delivery to reflect there were no slides to reference. He managed to do what so many presenters fail to do!! He kept the audience with him because he kept his cool. He could have easily got flustered, and if he had done so he would have lost the confidence and trust of the audience. Instead, he kept cool and delivered the rest of his presentation as best he could.  The audience understood that he had no control over what happened to the projector, and in handling the situation as well as he did he kept the confidence of his audience and was able to still deliver his message to an appreciative audience. Turning a tricky situation to his advantage!

When you give a speech, especially one that involves using technology do have a plan B?  An audience will forgive a “technical mishap” if you display the confidence to “work around” it. However, if you allow yourself to get visibly unsettled by something unexpected then your audience will lose their confidence in you. How can you stop the unexpected? You can’t! But, you can have a “Plan B” so if the unexpected happens you can handle the situation confidently. You’ll still share your message with the audience and maybe earn you’ll earn a few extra kudos in the process.

Happy Speaking                                                                                                                     

Mark.

P.S. They did get the projector working again – at the end of the session!

1. Setting

2. Material

3. Delivery

On competition night the setting wasn’t ideal. The room where we were competing had air conditioning with only two settings; “freezing” or “off”. When we turned it off the room became very stuffy, but when the air was turned back on, everyone in the room began to shiver. Neither environment is ideal for an audience to enjoy the speech that’s being presented to them. Especially when the  audience is full of contest judges!!  But, all contestants endured the same setting - so this wasn’t the source of the lesson I learnt…

In preparing for the competition I spent plenty of time writing my speech, soliciting feedback from friends, before adjusting and rewriting my speech. So, I’m reasonably happy with the speech in its written form. That’s not to say it was perfect - but at some point you have to stop polishing the words you have written and start thinking about the delivery.

It was in the delivery that I learnt my lesson. On the night I felt my delivery of the speech was a little flat. After reviewing the video of my delivery I noticed that the gestures I used were not as expressive as the words I spoke - A mismatch that will make any audience question the genuineness of the speaker and his or her intent. In hindsight I should have started thinking about my delivery earlier than I did to ensure that it was not only the words that were polished but also the gestures that go with them!

As you prepare your next speech remember that a great speech is not just the words you say, but also how you deliver them (and if everyone in the room is comfortable - even better!).

Happy Speaking

Mark.