Public Speaking Tip: Think Global

The world is getting smaller. Now, it is no big deal to put us on a plane and expect us to address an international audience twelve hours later. Or we might face a U. S. audience made primarily of people from Japan, or India. A handy and inexpensive source of international background information is the Culturgram published by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, which is part of Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. Each Culturgram is a four page newsletter, updated every August, that gives you an easy to understand overview of the country of your choice. It includes customs and common courtesies, along with information about the people and their lifestyle. References are also included for additional resources. Currently 168 Culturgrams are available. Prices range from $6.00 for a single copy to 50 cents for bulk purchases. Call (800) 528-6279 for details.

Public Speaking Tip: Screen Size Approximation Chart

SCREEN SIZE APPROXIMATION CHART
Use this guide when someone asks you how large of a
screen you need.

3-5 people 21 inches diagonal (53.34 cm)
5-9 people 29 inches diagonal (73.66 cm)
10-15 people 37 inches diagonal (93.98 cm)
16-35 people 60 inches diagonal (152.4 cm)
36-50 people 72 inches diagonal (182.88 cm)
51-140 people 120 inches diagonal (304.8 cm)
141-220 people 150 inches diagonal (381.0 cm)
221-390 people 200 inches diagonal (508.0 cm)
391+ people 300 inches diagonal (762.0 cm)

Source: http://www.bhphotovideo.com

Public Speaking Tip: Be Careful

I was doing an event for 3200 people in California and it was a really big deal. I had a two stage managers with a headset counting down 30 seconds till show time, a personal assistant and complete video crew for tape and image projection. Everything was hustle and bustle and rush, rush, rush. I had another bunch of assistant who, on cue, were going to distribute plastic glow stars so the whole room would be lit with the stars for the grande finale where I had blacked out the room.

The entire production went off without a hitch. People had a great time. Afterwards I was busy shining my halo . . . .until the production company head came up to me and said, "We have a problem." . . . . I did not have a clue what he meant. He told me the assistants were throwing the stars into the crowd and one of them hit an attendee in the eye and scratched his cornea. . . . Talk about your heart sinking. No one knew if he was going to be OK or not. He was on his way to the hospital. . . . It was six week before he found out if the damage was permanent or not. Luckily he ended up with a badly scratched cornea and he is perfectly alright now.

I had let all the hoopla get in the way of my normal briefing of my assistants and it almost cost someone their eyesight . . . BE CAREFUL!

Public Speaking Tip: This Site will Really Help Your Presentations

Hi Gang. I found a really great presentation resource that you'll want to check out. Visit http://www.PresentersUniversity.com for lots of useful information on presentation skills, content development and visual aids. They have an extensive collection of expert tips and advice offered by leading presentation consultants. Be sure to try their many free samples of presentation tools and programs, including over 60 free PowerPoint templates. They also have an online bulletin boardc alled "Ask the Professor," where you can ask technical PowerPoint and presentation questions. Their free monthly newsletter, "Presentation Pointers," highlights what’s new and free on Presenters University. It's worth checking out.

Public Speaking Tip: Reboot and Know Your Equipment

A typical problem I see with presenters that use Power Point or other computer based presentations is that they forget to reboot before the presentation. Many conscientious presenters practice their presentation just prior to the actual delivery. They use up many of the computer resources before their presentation and when the time comes to deliver the program to the audience their computer crashes.

The other problem I see with computer presentations is that people don't know their equipment well enough or they are using the equipment provided by the meeting planner. You must set your computer so that no screen saver or power savers comes on. You must know how to get your projector out of sleep mode when the introducer goes on forever. Sometimes two computers are attached to the same projector. You must know how to switch between the two when it's your turn to present. Or you may be switching between a VCR and a computer.

The whole point is that you don't want to have your presentation ruined by some simple adjustments that you didn't know about.

Public Speaking Tip: A Breath of Fresh Air

I always want to give you the inside scoop and tiny nuances that help make an overall great presentation. Sometimes what I tell you has nothing to do with your speech. This is one of thosetimes.

Make sure you have some breath mints with you on stage or in your pocket. I've gone up to congratulate people on a great speech and about fell over because of their bad breath.

You would think all that wind you are blowing on stage would disperse bad breath, but for some reason after speaking for an hour or so, every foul smelling odor from your stomach wants to leap forth to your audience. It may be because you just had lunch with the group and didn't have time to brush your teeth, or it could be just because of the constant rush of air from your belly.

This doesn't matter too much if you are far from them, but if you bring them up on stage with you, or if someone wants to talk to you afterward, it can really reflect poorly on you.

I'm sorry to have to tell you this one, but one bigshot speaker I saw had nose hairs sticking out so far you could braid them. He had the nerve to hit on the women in the audience as they came up to talk to him. I can only imagine what they were thinking about this big jerk. '

So, watch the hygiene. You don't want to negate a great speech with poor personal habits.

Public Speaking Tip: The WOW Factor

What do you do during your presentations that cause the audience to say WOW? Dewitt Jones, a former photographer for National Geographic uses slides that literally give you goose pimples. Tom Ogden, an award winning magician from the Magic Castle in Los Angeles uses, what else, magic. Dave Gorden tells a story about Walt Disney. I use a special freeze frame video segment and shoot fire in the air.

In fact, there are many things that you can use or do to make your audience say WOW! You may have great voice quality like my friend, author and former radio announcer, Rick Ott. You may use your appearance like professional speaker Larry Winget who wears funny glasses and ties. You might sing or play a musical instrument or juggle or use props.

If you want to push your name up the memorability chart, put something unique in your presentations that causes the audience members to go WOW!

Celebrities net thousands on lucrative public speaking circuit - Irish Independent

Celebrities net thousands on lucrative public speaking circuit - Irish Independent

PoughkeepsieJournal.com - 4-H gives kids forum to build speaking skills

PoughkeepsieJournal.com - 4-H gives kids forum to build speaking skills: "4-H gives kids forum to build speaking skills "

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Public Speaking Tip: 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.

Excerpt from "Wake 'em Up Video Professional Speaking System" http://www.antion.com/speakervideo.htm"

Public Speaking Tip: Be There and Be Firm

Do not let people with other things on their mind mess up your presentation! If you are in your presentation room early and have real reasons for doing what you are doing, you will have the best luck at commanding your stage.

I was the opening speaker at an event recently and was in the room way early to set up and test everything. It was my job to kick off the event and WOW the crowd in my half day presentation.

Thirty minutes before start time one of the harried meeting organizers wanted to change my entire setup around to accommodate the introducer. I was gracious and polite, but I was not about to ruin my opening to accommodate the introducer. So here's what I did:

=> I politely explained my reasoning to the organizer. I told her that what she had in mind was going to totally blow the beginning of my talk and make us all look like fools as the introducer brought me on stage. . . .Why would we look like fools? Because at the peak of the intro, we would have had to move tables around, reboot a computer and switch clip on microphones. . . . This is no way for a professional to come on stage to WOW a crowd.

=> I suggested alternative ways to accommodate the very brief needs of the introducer.

=> I did all of the above in a firm, but polite fashion so I did not appear arrogant or unreasonable.

Overcoming stage fright

Overcoming stage fright: "Overcoming stage fright"

Public Speaking Tip: What if the Banquet Staff are No Shows?

Thank goodness this doesn't happen often, but it happened to me recently. I had my full day Electronic Marketing camp scheduled for a 7:00 AM setup with attendees to show up around 8:30 AM. I showed up in the room and no one was to be found anywhere.

Here's a checklist of what to do:

1. Immediately use the house phone to call the front desk and ask for the "manager on duty." Start raising a little h _ _ _. I do this simply to get their attention. You might mention something like "breach of contract" which usually gets extra attention.

2. Start opening side doors in the meeting rooms and looking at all the other meeting rooms to see what you can scrounge, tables, extension cords, chairs, etc. Drag them into your meeting room so you can take ownership. (I'm not saying ruin someone else's setup, I'm just saying if no one else's room is set up, then it's their fault if they didn't come down to double check things early so grab what you can.)

3. If you need a screen and none has shown up, (this also happened this weekend) find the most usable section of a white or light colored wall and set the room around that area.

4. If you have a breakfast scheduled or coffee/tea service go directly into the kitchen and start yelling "HELLO." Always have a copy of your contract with you if you have one. Go directly to the chef on duty and see if they can get something going quickly.

5. Don't be afraid to jump in and do things yourself. Move quickly with a stern look on your face. If someone eventually does show up, this demeanor should transmit the idea that you are miffed and there is not time to play games.

Yes, I know some people will say that you should be sickening sweet to get things done, but I'm afraid that when there are deadline time constraints you must get action quickly and many hotel staff people are not in any kind of hurry, so if you want to be ready when those attendees roll in, you have to move people to action.

Oh, one last thing. Always have cash bribes on you to get fast action when you really need it.

Public Speaking Tip: Beware when you prepare dry erase boards

I am a real sticker on preparing in advance. There are some rare instances when preparing too far in advance could cause you trouble. This is one of them.

Let's say you have access to your presentation room the night before, so you visit the room and decide to put your opening dry erase board comments on the board.

The next day you start your presentation, talk for 15 minutes, refer to your dry erase board comments for several minutes and then you go to erase them. --- oops. They might not come off without some serious scrubbing of the board.

This happened to me once and I had to hold the back of the board with one hand and scrub each little inch of writing really hard to get it erased enough to continue.