Great Public Speaking: Pauses

Types of Pauses

A true NO ZZZZZs presenter doesn't feel that he or she must jabber away
constantly to keep the audience awake. Skilled presenters use silence to add to
the effectiveness and polish of a program. Theatrical folks have identified a
whole bunch of neat pauses which I'm sure they have a ball playing with. I'm
only going to address some of the most obvious and important ones here.

Short

The shortest pauses, which last anywhere from one-half to two seconds, are for
the simple purpose of separating your thoughts. All you have to remember is to
slow down. Give the audience a fighting chance to absorb what you are saying.
Change your voice inflection slightly at the end of each thought to cue the
audience the next thought is coming. Also, use a short pause before and after
any phrase (punch line) or word you want to emphasize.

Spontaneity

Another neat pause is known as a spontaneity pause. This is a planned
"unplanned" pause used so that you don't look too rehearsed. You might apply
this pause when you want to pretend to search for a word or phrase that you
already know.

Long

Long pauses of more than three seconds are very powerful. They command the
audience to think about what you just said that is if what you just said was
worth thinking about.
Please[pause][pause][pause] don't be afraid to be quiet once in a while. It
can dramatically increase your impact.


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Public Speaking: Why Humor

Joan Eisenstodt, from Eisenstodt Associates, and former MPI Meeting
Planner of the Year says, "High content, informational speakers almost always
fall flat if they don't use some humor. I equate appropriate humor with warmth
and audiences respond to warmth." She also notes, "After twenty-five years
watching audiences and presenters, I know that even subtle humor can help the
audience respond positively to information that could be considered boring."

MAKES A POSITIVE IMPRESSION. Laughter and good humor create
bonds. Even if the audience members don't like you, they will like you better
if you can make them laugh or smile and they will leave with better thoughts
of you.

SHOWS THAT YOU DON'T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY.
The old saying goes, "If you take yourself too seriously, no one else will." You
don't want to be known as a stuffed shirt. If you can laugh a little bit at
yourself at the right times, your audience can laugh with you and not at you.

HELPS PAINT PICTURES IN THE AUDIENCE'S MIND. The pictures
humorous storytellers can paint are what people remember, not the words.

MAKES INFORMATION MORE MEMORABLE. Joyce Saltman, a
college professor and well-known speaker in the health care field, did
exhaustive research for her 1995 doctoral dissertation Humor in Adult
Learning. She concluded that "Most researchers agreed that humor generally
aided in the retention of materials as well as to the enjoyment of the
presentation of the information."

LIGHTENS UP HEAVY MATERIAL. Appropriate humor added to heavy,
serious material gives the audience a few seconds to relax. Even Shakespeare
employed this device, called "comic relief," extensively to provide distraction
or offer respite from the serious events of a tragedy.

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Public Speaking: Getting The Sale

Humor can help you get the sales presentation in the first place. It will also help
you stay upbeat in the face of rejection, overcome inevitable problems that arise
during a presentation, break down sales resistance, and create loyal customers
who will buy again. Let me tell you how humor has greatly helped me.

One of the ways professional speakers gain business is to do no fee demo
talks in front of potential buyers. I was doing one of these talks for an
advertising association in Washington, D.C. After the presentation, a lady came
up to me and invited me to call her. She said my information would be perfect
for the employees at her government agency. I called three times that week and
did not get a return call. I called three times the next week and did not get a
return call. I called three times the next week and the week after that. Finally, I
got sick of calling so I sent her a funny fax.

She called back within the hour. I went down and got a $3000 contract and
another one the following month for $2000. She said my fax really made her
laugh in the midst of the constant pressure she was under and that's why she
called.

Was my success in this case only because of the humor? No. It was a
combination of humor and persistence.

You might be wondering how I could call someone 12 times in a month and
not be considered a pest. In the first place, she specifically invited me to call. To
me that means I'm going to call her the rest of her life until she tells me to quit.
In the second place, I knew she was a fun person because I saw her really
enjoying the program where she met me. In the third place, I was lighthearted
and fun on each phone call. I used mild exaggeration humor by saying things
like, I know you've got a six-foot stack of paperwork on your desk or I'll bet
people are pitching tents in the line outside your office door.

I do all sorts of things to help land the sales call. I sing on a prospect's voicemail, I send funny post cards, E-mail, gag gifts, and foods like candy, popcorn, doughnuts, and bagels. I always send humorous notes. I want my name to pop up when they need a speaker, seminar leader, or consultant. Constant, interesting, and fun reminders will help you get the call when they have a need.

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Public Speaking: Driving Traffic to Your Website With Videos

Just watch a bunch of my short videos on http://www.YouTube.com/antion You don't need to watch my long ones. Just the short ones. It will give you ideas.

Here's a simple formula for YouTube videos designed to drive people to your site (as opposed to videos where people are already on your site)

=> Hi I'm [insert name]

=> I know you're here looking for information on [insert keyword]

=> Well you've come to the right place.

=> Add some of your credibility. Example: I've been working in the field of feng shui for 22 years...

=> Give them a tip.

=> For more great tips like this visit [insert your website and spell it out if necessary] where you can download [insert your freebie here]

=> I hope to see you at my site

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Public Speaking: Audience Gags

Audience Gags

Audience gags are offbeat jokes that occur unexpectedly during a presentation.
Dr. Joel Goodman, from the Humor Project, does one where a telephone rings
during his presentation. He answers the phone that was hidden in the lectern and
pretends to talk to his mother. The same joke would be called a running gag if
the phone rang at several other times during the program.

Ten Wanted Men

I staged a gag at a seminar one time that was loads of fun and took less than one
minute to complete. Before the program, I picked out about 10 fun-loving
audience members to help me. I gave them secret instructions that were to be
carried out on a certain cue during the program. To start the gag, I had my
assistant interrupt the seminar to give me an important note. The note read (I
used a serious expression):

"It appears that someone is in attendance today with another man's
wife. There is a large and irate man on his way here right now. If
you want out, there is a backstage door you can use to escape
quickly."

At this point, 10 men jumped up out of their seats and ran keystone cop style out
the door. Once they realized what was happening, several women jumped up and
ran out too. It was great fun and the gag sure woke up everyone who had a heavy
lunch.

Get more great gags to wake up your audience!

Public Speaking: Is This A Good Audience For Me?

I always ask the following questions of the meeting planner because I know what audience
profile I'm looking for. You will have to pick the questions for the parameters that are most important for you.

What topic do you want?
How many people do you expect?
What are their responsibilities?
Are their spouses invited?
What is the average age? What is the range of ages?
What percentage is non-U.S.?
Why are they there? Mandatory ____ Voluntary _____
What is the male/female ratio?
What is happening before I speak and after I speak? (You might get a great
audience profile, but be doomed to failure because of the program schedule)

If I decide to accept the engagement, these questions are repeated on the pre-program
questionnaire. I want as many levels of verification as I can get, so that
I know what I am getting into. Chart the answers along a continuum to see if the
engagement appears to be a good one for you. If all the answers fall to the right
of zero, it's a no-brainer. Go ahead and accept the engagement.

If some land to the left you have to seriously evaluate their weight compared to the weight you
have attributed to the factors that would make you accept. This is obviously not an exact science. When you get to the event some audiences will end up being better than you expected and some worse. At least you now have a way of eliminating the audiences that are clearly wrong for you.


Bad for me Good for me
4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4

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Public Speaking: Know Your Audience

You can't catch many fish by using food you like for the bait. You must give
them what they like. You must absolutely, positively know your audience.
You should know what the members of the audience have in common
(interests, enemies, competitors, etc.). You should know what the hot topic of
conversation is, but be sure they are joking about it themselves. It may be too
hot. You should know the restaurants where they eat, the name of their
newsletter, how much money they make, the name and record of the local
sports teams, etc., etc., etc.

The more you know about the audience, the better job you will do. Your goal should be to make that audience know that the presentation they are witnessing was created specifically for them.

If you don't present to the same audience all the time, you must have a
method for getting this information. Most NO ZZZZZs presenters use some
form of pre-program questionnaire which is sent out well in advance of their
program. I got the basis for mine from Dottie Walters at Walters International
Speakers Bureau. I made some slight changes to suit my presentation style and
I keep adding and deleting questions to tweak it to perfection.

Your conversations with the program coordinator will give you some of the
information you need. You should fill in as many of the blanks as you can
before you send out the questionnaire to save the program coordinator some
work. This also proves you were paying attention to what he or she said.

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Public Speaking: The C.A.R.E Speakers Tour

The C.A.R.E. Speakers Tour is designed to inpire and motivate you. However, unlike many seminars that simply get you excited but give you no direction, this seminar will also give you
immediately usable techniques to implement improve your life and your financial situation.

Look who will be there!

Glenn Morshower came from humble beginnings and is the most down to earth TV. and Movie star you will ever meet. Most people simply can't believe someone with Glenn's credentials could be such a sweet soul to every single person he meets. His program will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotion while teaching you how to go the extra mile to get what you want in life.

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Tom Antion has never had a job. He has been an entrepreneur his entire life starting his first advertising business at 10 years old. He sold his first used car at 15 years old before he even knew how to drive. And starting with nothing he owned five apartment buildings and a hotel before he graduated from college. But you won't think of Tom as the proverbial "used car salesman". Tom is all about living the life that you want. He absolutely refuses to deal with anyone he doesn't like. He will teach you how to put the power of the Internet behind you so you can totally control how much money you want to earn, where you work and who you spend your time with.

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Public Speaking: Deck the Halls with Story Ideas at Christmas

The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's can be painfully slow at newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations because newsmakers are doing things other than making news.

Talk show guests are in short supply. Reporters often find it difficult to track down the people they need to comment on a particular story. And because newspapers sell more ads in December, that means more news pages to fill.

Here are ways your publicity effort can capitalize on the holidays:

· Tie your story idea to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yom Kippur or New Year's. See Special Report #14: How to Piggyback Your Story Ideas onto Holidays and Anniversaries. (To access any special reports mentioned in this article Visit PublicityHound.com and click on "special reports".)

· Write letters to the editor and opinion columns for publication during the weeks immediately before and after Christmas, when submissions usually drop off.

· Call your local newspapers now to see what special sections they have planned during December. Your story idea might be a perfect fit. Pitch your idea immediately because these sections are sometimes done weeks in advance.

· Stay alert for breaking news stories on which you can provide expert opinion, even if the topic doesn't have anything to do with the holidays. If a story breaks, call newspapers and TV stations and offer to comment.

· Write or call magazine editors, who usually work six months ahead, with story ideas for late spring and early summer. Mark your calendar now to set aside some time before and after Christmas to pitch.


Publicity expert Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, publishes "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," a free ezine that shows you how to generate thousands of dollars in free online and offline publicity. Subscribe at PublicityHound.com and receive free the handy checklist "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release." Contact her at 262-284-7451 or at JStewart@PublicityHound.com

Great Public Speaking: Great Closing Lines

P.T. Barnum would have trouble getting people to leave his museum so he
put up a sign that said, "This way to the Egress." When people went
through the door, they found themselves on the street. I don't want to find
myself there, so I'll finish up now . . .

You've heard that "All's well that ends well." Well in my case it's All's
well that ends. Goodnight.

When all is said and done, there is usually more said than done. I think
I've said enough. Good Luck.

When a speaker says, "Well, to make a long story short," it's usually too
late. I don't want you to feel that way about me. Thanks for having me.

If you have a Question and Answer period:
Now let's open it up for questions. Ask me anything. If I know the answer,
I'll give it to you. If I don't, I'll make something up.

Complimentary and funny:
Secretaries are the backbone of an organization. They are the structure
that holds everything together [start to get emotional and cry. Take out a
handkerchief and hidden noisemaker. Blow your nose really loudly]. I'm
sorry. I get so emotional. You're the greatest. Good bye.

Paraphrase a quotation:
The next time you're feeling down, and you look in the mirror and see a
few extra wrinkles, just remember what my old buddy Mark Twain used to
say. "Those wrinkles are where smiles have been all these years." I'm Tom
Antion. I love you.

Now I'm going to say something in the public interest.
Goodnight.

George Eliot said, "Blessed is the man [I would substitute the word person
for the word man to avoid sexist language], who having nothing to say
refrains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact."

An old-timer is one who can remember when time was marching on instead
of running out. My time is running out, so in conclusion . . .

My great, great granddaddy always told me, "When you're holding a
conversation, be sure to let go of it once in awhile." I'm letting go of ours
right now. Are there any questions?

My talks usually have a happy ending. That's because everyone is glad
they are over.


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Public Speaking: Talk About Your Family

When you are doing a public speaking engagement, one way to build rapport with an audience is to include information about your family. Most people in the audience get the warm fuzzies when you mention your spouse or kids in a positive light.

Of course, you do run the risk that a few people in the audience may not like their spouse or kids. Generally the benefits of this technique far outweigh the risks.

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Public Speaking: Public Speaking Fears

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