Public Speaking: Facing Your Fears

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Presentation Skills: Flip Chart Color

=> Black, blue and green inks have the greatest visibility.

=> Blue is the most pleasing color to look at with red coming in second (note: pleasing to look at and visibility are not the same)

=> Do not do the whole chart in red ink.

=> Avoid purple, brown, pink and yellow inks.

=> Permanent markers give the most vivid color but dry out faster if you leave the cap off. They also frequently bleed thru to the next page. Forget trying to get the ink out of your clothes.

=> Water colors are less vivid and squeak when you write. Ink will wash out of clothing.

Use Color Thoughtfully

=> Use bright colors for small graphics to make them stand out.

=> Use subtle colors for large graphics so they don't overwhelm.

Use Color Psychologically

According to Greg Bandy in Multimedia Presentation Design for the Uninitiated certain colors evoke certain emotions.

=> RED = Brutal, Dangerous, Hot, Stop!

=> DARK BLUE = Stable, Trustworthy, Calm

=> LIGHT BLUE = Cool, Refreshing

=> GRAY = Integrity, Neutral, Mature

=> PURPLE = Regal, Mysterious

=> GREEN = Organic, Healthy, New life, Go Money

=> ORANGE / YELLOW = Sunny, Bright, Warm

=> WHITE = Pure, Hopeful, Clean

=> BLACK = Serious, Heavy, Profitable, Death Since "death" is a pretty heavy way to end this section, I will give you a reference to find out more about outstanding visual design.

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Public Speaking: Making A Good Presentation

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Public Speaking: Overcoming Speaking Anxiety

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Public Speaking: Tie One On

I got this tip many years ago from speaker Paul Radde. After shooting one of my first major videos, I noticed that my tie was crooked for most of the video. It looked bad in person, but it looked TERRIBLE on video.

Here is the tip: After you have put on your tie, run the skinny part of the tie through the loop in the back of the main part of the tie. Take a tie clip, or you could use a large paper clip or safety pin and clip the skinny part of the tie to your shirt. Put the tie clip or pin on the skinny part of your tie below the loop. This holds the main part of your tie perfectly in the center for even the most animated presenter and hides the clip. Thanks Paul. This tip has made my tie look good for the last seven years . . . Can you come up with a tip that will help my face look better? hahahahaha

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Great Public Speaking: Male vs. Female Audience

Tom With Mark Victor Hansen

There is nothing I like better than an all female public speaking audience. All female audiences tend to laugh more easily and louder than all male audiences. All-male audiences are the toughest because the male ego gets in the way of laughter. They look around to see if anyone else is laughing before they laugh, and they won't laugh as loud because they think they will look less powerful.

If you speak to an all-male audience it is more critical to bond and be "one of the guys" especially if you are a female speaker. I'm not being sexist here. I don't believe in sexist language. I'm just giving you the thoughts to keep in mind if you are a female speaker and you want to be successful speaking in front of a general all-male audience. You must realize: not all males out there in the business world are as sensitive as me (send all big hugs to me in care of my publisher). If your all-male audience consists of a general public audience not from the same company or field, stick to sports, business, and money to best connect with them.

One of the hardest audiences to deal with consists of a group of executives from the same company when the CEO is present. If you say something funny, the executives will start to laugh, but they choke it off until they check to see if the CEO is laughing. If he or she is laughing, then they go ahead and laugh. This kind of audience will create timing nightmares for you. If you are the CEO and you are in the audience for a presentation, it is your obligation to laugh and at least act like you're having a good time to "give permission" to everyone else to laugh. As a good public speaker, you can sometimes take it upon yourself to gently explain to the CEO how everyone will look to him or her for approval.

Audiences that consist of more than 50 percent women are good too because . The presence of the females provides a good buffer and makes it OK for the men to laugh, since so many other people are laughing.

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Public Speaking: Start Out Low

Unless you are doing some type of surprise or big rah rah opening in your public speaking engagement, consciously start out with a slightly lower than normal voice inflection. In the excitement or nervousness that many of us feel at the beginning of a speaking engagement, it is easy to go the other way and start out with a voice inflection that is too high.

The problem with this is that if you are already at a high range when you start, you have nowhere to go as you attempt to crescendo the audience to a big peak of excitement at the end of your program.

When you present in public . . . start low.

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Make Money Speaking: Powerful Websites

Look at some of the people and their websites that Tom has helped over the years.http://www.GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com This is just a small sampling of the great businesses that Tom has helped create and many of these people even learned to maintain these websites for themselves, eliminating the costly need for web designers.

Check out this fast-paced video promo and when your ready to create online wealth for yourself, click on the link above to download the FREE brochure and watch the introductory video. Is this going to be your year to succeed?

Public Speaking Training: Oral Storytelling

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Public Speaking: Executive Public Speaking

Public Speaking Humor: Ads

You can concoct fake ads, or use real ads that are funny in your public speaking engagements. They can be read aloud, projected, or distributed as handouts.* Watch for funny ads that relate to your business or presentation topic in magazines and other periodicals. Cut the ads out and photocopy for distribution as a handout or make them into slides and overheads. Jay Leno has a series of books called Headlines I, II, and III. Besides having really funny headlines from newspapers and magazines, the books have lots of blooper advertisements along with commentary from Jay. My favorite was the funeral monument company that advertised a lifetime replacement guarantee.

You can read these aloud in your public speaking engagements without worry of copyright infringement. Always attribute the source though. You don't want to claim material as your own if you did not create it.

*Be careful not to violate copyrights

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Public Speaking: Do Your Research

Many people that know me or have had me do a public speaking engagement for them know that I am a real stickler for pre program research. This research allows you to connect with the audience on much deeper levels than you could have without it. There are many ways to do this research.

You can review trade publications, do Internet searches, secret shop retail establishments, and use a pre program questionnaire. I do most of these research techniques for every presentation, but the technique that is most effective for me is the telephone interview.

Interview at least 15 people before you speak at an event. Try to speak to a cross section of the people that are going to be at the meeting. If they are all of the same rank and same job responsibilities, make sure that you get cross section from geographics, short timers versus old timers and/or male versus female. Be sure to get a wide range of views. Ask some variation of these questions:

What are the three biggest challenges you have in getting your daily duties done.

* Tell me about the organizational successes.
* Tell me about the organizational failures.
* Tell me anything funny that has happened.

Now we will look at how to use the information you get. One of my overriding principals of public speaking is to make the audience the stars. One way to do this is to use a very positive or insightful statement that you got from your phone interviews and project it or put it in your handout in a prominent position. Many times my entire customized presentation is based around the quotes I got from the people I interviewed. I weave my material in and around what they have told me. I then give the overhead or disk to the person who gave me the information.

Overheads are much better for this because I have seen them hanging on the bulletin board in the organization. Of course, my name and company are on it too. Your pre-program research will also help you build rapport and gain an 'insiders' position because you will be exposed to the terminology of the group, i.e., you might have used the generic term manager, but you learned that the term 'team leader' is used by a particular organization.

The information you receive can also be used to plant the seed for a future presentation or to land consulting work. You might say during a presentation, 'Joe, also told me about XYZ. We don't have time to discuss that today, but it certainly warrants some attention.' Besides promoting you, it shows you did your homework and that you know what is going in a the group to which you are speaking.

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A bunch of public speaking articles

Check out all the public speaking articles below

http://www.antion.com/articles/Speaker Series.htm

Links to the eleven artilcles below

http://www.antion.com/articles/whyusehumorinspeeches.htm Why use humor?

http://www.antion.com/articles/bits.htm How the pros memorize speeches

http://www.antion.com/articles/infunpublicspeaking.htm  Getting the audience ready to laugh

http://www.antion.com/articles/presentationskillstiming.htm  Timing

http://www.antion.com/articles/publicspeakinghumortimeofday.htm  Time of Day

http://www.antion.com/articles/speechclosings.htm Closings

http://www.antion.com/articles/presentationskillsmakingapoint.htm How to make a point with humor

http://www.antion.com/articles/publicspeakingsoundsystem.htm A sound, sound system

http://www.antion.com/articles/laughterinspeeches.htm  Should you laugh or not

http://www.antion.com/articles/speechtransitions.htm  Exciting Transitions

http://www.antion.com/articles/banquetspeaking.htm  How to speak at banquets and luncheons

Technorati Tags: public speaking,presentation skills,funny speeches

Public Speaking Training: Distracting Speaking Habits

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Public Speaking: Equipment Photos

I've talked about this tip before, but ran into the same situation again this month while doing a public speaking engagement in Morocco. The primary languages there are Arabic and French. Just arranging for an overhead projector was very difficult.

When I arrived as the opening speaker (after having confirmed three times an overhead projector and screen), none was to be found in the room. The manager of the gigantic ballroom could not speak English and because of tight scheduling of other events, I was not able to be in the room early as I always am.

I forgot to bring my equipment photographs which would have gotten the point across to the manager immediately whether he spoke English or not. It really didn't matter though, because the projector he finally brought was so terrible I had to scrap all the overheads.

I am ALWAYS prepared for total equipment failure and went on with the program without hesitation. Tips when speaking in a foreign environment:

1. Have photographs of the equipment you need.

2. Have a backup plan and be ready to use it

3. When you leave you own country start smiling and don't quit until you are locked safely in your bathroom (smile then too if you want to). Never get upset in public. Getting upset will only make things worse for you and your speaking engagement will suffer.

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Public Speaking Training: Vulnerability

I learned a great public speaking tip, at the recent National Speakers Association convention while standing around talking shop in the hotel lobby.

John Meluso spent some time with me and noted that I was not showing any vulnerability at all near the beginning of my program. I would roll along and then tell a signature story at the END of my talk that bared all. John, pointed out to me that being the hard charging kind of public speaker that I am, that I probably have been alienating many of the more sensitive audience members. It is likely that my style ran over them right from the start and caused them to retreat for cover, thus making them very distant from me emotionally. Because of his astute observation, when I'm speaking I will change the order of some of my material to better connect with more subdued audience members.

An old boy coal miner friend of mine once told me, 'The schoolhouse door is always open.' John, I want to thank you for reminding me that we all can get better.

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Public Speaking: Fake Facts And Statistics

Stating falsehoods as if they are absolutely true is another fun way to play with the audience during a public speaking engagement. However, you must make the statements obviously false by your words and your facial expressions. When you use this technique in this fashion, you don't want to leave any doubt in the audience's mind whether you are being funny or not.

Deadpan expression, or keeping a straight face, is a good technique to couple with fake facts and statistics. Also, you should really, really sound like you are trying to convince the audience that what your saying is true. This overemphasis on the sound of truth also tells the audience you are lying.

One time I was doing a Secretaries Day function. I used an extremely serious voice when I told them that scientific studies had been conducted indicating that the only reason executives became executives was because they couldn't make it as secretaries. They loved it.

Another good technique to build up your joke is to use official sounding sources for the information. 'A study done for the Alaskan Pipeline Workers Union indicated that 97.2 percent of Alaskan Pipeline Workers wear No Nonsense panty hose.' When using this type of humor use 'exact numbers' which add an extra comic emphasis.

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