By Sintilia Miecevole

Public speaking ranks right up there in terms of the things we are afraid to do. Whether it’s the fear of being watched closely by others, or the insecurity and self-conscious feeling of slipping up during the presentation, these six tips will help you give a polished, professional speech that you (and your audience) can be proud of!

1. Know your audience. This is the single best piece of advice for delivering a presentation. What are there interests? Their backgrounds? Why are they coming to hear you speak? What ideas do you have to share with them? Approaching your speech as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast makes it less stressful.

2. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your speech? What’s really at the heart of your presentation? By concentrating on the “end result” rather than slogging through the beginning, you create a powerful punch that drives home your message instead of rambling on.

3. Share a story. In public speaking circles, this is called a “hook” – something that gets your audience’s attention and makes them sit up and listen. Start off by asking questions or sharing an experience you had. People like to be active, rather than passive listeners. By giving them something that they can identify with, you’ll find that these people are just like you; that makes giving a presentation a whole lot easier. Be sure your story has a beginning, a point, and an ending. There’s nothing quite as bad as telling a story to an engaged audience and then forgetting why you told it!

4. If you’re selling a product, focus on the benefits instead of the features. People would much rather hear WHAT a product can do for them than HOW it does it. Narrow down your product’s features until you get to the core of how it solves a problem. If you need help with figuring out the difference between a feature and a benefit, ask yourself “So What?” For example, if you’re selling a vacuum cleaner that has a hypoallergenic filter, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself “so what?” The answer would be something like, “It picks up dust, mold and pet dander”. Again, “so what?” Answer, “You’ll feel relief from runny nose and sneezing plus itchy, water eyes.” Now THAT’s a benefit!

5 Powerpoint presentations are great but they can be overwhelming – or downright boring. Instead, give your audience something to DO by providing them with fill-in-the-blank flip charts or “team activities”. These help reinforce and emphasize your message in ways that a computer presentation simply cannot.

6. Make sure your speech ends in a way that reiterates the beginning. Speakers can get carried away with the details and leave their audiences asking, “What was the point of all that?” People naturally digest information in “chunks”, so focus on the big picture rather than all the pieces. If the details are just as important, save it for an after-speech handout that the audience can take with them and read over at their leisure.

If you keep these six tips in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time overcoming your fear of public speaking, but you’ll have a very appreciative audience who will in turn be more receptive and eager to try your product or service. Go get ‘em!

About the Author: http://www.bornspeaker.com is Sintilia Miecevole’s site with all kinds of speaker information from keynote, motivational, professional and dynamic speakers to car, stereo, motorcycle, outdoor speakers and much more. Be sure to visit http://www.bornspeaker.com for all of your speaker information.

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RESEARCH YOUR AUDIENCE
It amazes me how some speakers will show up for a speaking engagement and really not know anything about the audience they are speaking to. Many speakers just get lazy and feel that their message is so important that anyone would want to hear it. They couldn’t be more wrong. Your core message may be about the same for everyone, but knowing your audience will allow you to slant the information so that the audience feels it was prepared just for them. They will relate much better to the information and think much more highly of you for creating something specifically for them. Of course, in many cases you were only slanting your information, but I won’t tell if you won’t.

PRACTICE
The only way to look polished while speaking is to practice. This is one skill you cannot delegate to anyone else. It is you that is on stage with the microphone and it is you who will look either great or terrible. You are sadly mistaken and egotistical if you think the PowerPoint slides that either you or someone else created will make you a dynamic speaker. There are specific techniques used to practice that don’t take much time and make you look extremely polished. One of these techniques is called bits. You practice a short piece of material over and over again. You don’t practice it word for word, but just talk your way through it. This way you won’t blank out when a distraction happens while you are on stage.

TAKE CARE OF HECKLERS
The following is my famous asterisk technique; I use it to make sure hecklers don’t interrupt my presentation. I get people in the group to identify potential troublemakers BEFORE I get to the event. I phone these people and interview them to give them the attention they are craving. I then mention their names during the speech. This virtually eliminates the chance they will give me a hard time because I am praising one of their opinions. This works really well but don’t mention their names exclusively or the rest of the audience that knows these people are trouble may think that you are just as bad. Mention a wide variety of people in the audience. Just make sure the bad ones are included which normally keeps them at bay.

USE EMOTIONAL LANGUAGE
Boring old facts rarely move people to action. Learning to use words that evoke emotions in people will make a much greater impact when you speak. There are many emotions you can trigger in the audience just by your choice of words. Happiness, anger, sadness, nostalgia are just a few. Knowing your purpose for being in front of the group helps you to pick which emotions you want to tap. When your purpose is known, choosing words to get the desired emotional response is much easier. For instance, if you wanted to take someone back to a childhood experience you might say, “Do you remember when someone did something bad at school and the teacher smacked the yardstick on her desk?” The word Phrase “smacked the yardstick” would evoke an emotional response that many adults can relate to. A younger group may not relate to this phrase since corporal punishment has all but disappeared from schools. You must pick the words that would mean something to your audience.

REVEAL YOURSELF
Often people have trouble implementing this idea because they like to remain aloof and private. This will hurt their chances of making a good connection with people in the audience. You certainly don’t have to reveal your deepest darkest secrets when on stage, but you certainly could tell someone how much you like horses, or how you love to cook . . .anything that will give them a glimpse into the real you will give you a better chance of connecting with them and getting them to listen to you.

USE PROPS
A prop is worth a thousand words. People can really anchor a thought in their minds when it is connected to an object that relates to the point you are trying to make. You could use large, small, funny or serious props. Always relate the prop to the point you are trying to make and make sure the audience can see it. Sometimes you’ll want to hide the prop so people don’t wonder what it is until you are ready to present it.

USE HUMOR
Even Shakespeare used humor in the middle of the tragedies he wrote. Humor is a powerful and effective tool that gives the audience’s mind a chance to breath in the face of heavy material. It also makes you more likable and fun to listen to. Humor is also much more likely to make your information more memorable. You don’t have to be a stand up comedian to use humor in speeches and presentations, and you don’t have to tell jokes either. There are many ways to add humor that don’t require any skill at all. You can show funny visuals, tell stories, or read from books or periodicals. Just like with props, make sue your humor relates to the point you are trying to make and you will be much more successful. Each issue of “Great Speaking” has about 20 pieces of humor you can use during speeches.

MOVE ‘EM TO ACTION
If you are going to bother taking up people’s time to speak to them, don’t you think it would be a good idea to get them to do something positive because of your presentation? Even if they do something negative, it’s still better than doing nothing because they will at least get a chance to learn something from their mistake. Regardless of the size of your ego, the reality is that you are there for them, not the other way around. I’m all for you building up your reputation, but if you go into your speech thinking it’s all for you, it will show and you probably won’t do as well as you would have had you concentrated on the needs of the audience more.

BRING SOLUTIONS
One of the best ways to make sure the audience loves you is to bring solutions to their problems. If you have done a thorough job of researching your audience, you already know what their problems are. It’s your job to bring ideas for them to try. In modern day thinking this is what motivational speaking is all about. No longer is it good enough to get people all fired up where they are bouncing off the walls without a clue as to what they will do with this new found excitement and motivation. Modern professional motivational speakers bring solutions and a plan of action to achieve them. Now those are motivating.

PAY ATTENTION TO LOGISTICS
The best preparation, practice, and audience research could be ruined if you forget to pay attention to all the details surrounding a presentation. You want to know what is happening before you speak, and what is happening after you speak: How are the people seated? Are they at round tables where half of them are facing away from you, or are there no tables at all? What kind of microphone is appropriate? How big is the screen in the room? Will the people be drinking alcohol? What is the lighting like? All these items and many more affect the overall effectiveness of a presentation. The same exact words delivered with significantly different logistics could be received in entirely different ways. You could even go from a fantastic evaluation to a bomb just because of the way people are seated. It’s up to you to know the differences and how they affect a presentation.

Tom Antion is a veteran of the public speaking circuit. He has been paid for more than 2500 entertaining presentations. Tom has helped thousands of corporate executives professional speakers salespersons and trainers become highly effective communicators through professional one-on-one sessions retreats and seminars.

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Speaking about what you do is an incredibly powerful way of marketing your business, especially if you have a service business. I recently had the chance to evaluate some speakers at a conference I attended. As you might expect, every single one of these speakers was either a business owner or was employee of an organization where they had a role in generating sales for the company.

As someone who takes advantage of all opportunities to speak about what I do, I was carefully observing not only the content of the presentations but thinking about what I might do differently. That led to this creation of sins to avoid when you’re speaking about what you do:

1. Stand behind a podium or hide behind a microphone and don’t fully reach out to your audience. One of the speakers was great–she knew her material well, spoke without notes, and got the audience fully engaged. This is the kind of presenter you want to strive to be. Another of the presenters spoke from her notes but walked down the aisle and made eye contact with those of us in the audience and spoke directly to people. You need to reach out and touch your audience, to paraphrase an old AT&T commercial.

2. Talk to people for your full presentation time and don’t ask them to participate at all. One of the speakers stayed in one place behind her microphone and referred frequently to her notes. She asked us few questions and had planned no interactive exercises at all–she spoke “at” us rather than “to” us. Think about the workshops you have attended–didn’t you get more out of the ones in which you had to interact with the speaker or with others in the room? Create at least 2-3 interactive exercises that will get your audience pumped up and excited.

3. Spend the entire workshop talking about the product or service you provide. I have attended presentations in which I thought I was going to learn something and it ended up being a long commercial about the company hosting the presentation. If you’re going to ask people to listen to you, have a message to deliver that’s of benefit and value to your audience. Remember, they’re asking “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me?). It’s only in discovering and finding value in “what’s in it for them” that they’ll even care about what you do and the service that you provide. Provide value and begin to create that relationship first–then you’ll start to create a customer.

4. Provide content in your workshop that only remotely resembles what was promised. One of the workshops I attended was supposed to be about selling yourself and your ideas in and out of your organization. It ended up being a workshop on presentation and communication skills, and while I can draw the connecting lines to determine the relevance, there was no bridge given to help me make the connection. Therefore, I left the workshop feeling short-changed. Clearly define the outcomes and benefits you expect your attendees to receive from participating, and deliver what you promise.

5. Keep your presentation somber and serious. One of the deadliest mistakes you can make is to not joke around and have fun with your audience. Granted, if you make really bad jokes, this can bomb on you, but think of ways to interject humor into your presentation. One of the best presentations I’ve attend lately was given by Tony Brigmon, who is the Ambassador of Fun (isn’t that a cool job title?) for Southwest Airlines. He had all 250 people in the room rolling in the floor. His topic was on how to make meetings fun, and he did that and then some. You can read more about Tony at www.funmeetings.com

6. Don’t provide any mechanism for participants to contact you. I was completely amazed yesterday–only one presenter had any handouts and provided any way to reach her if I wanted to do business with her. Another of the presenters had a table in the back of the room with her books for sale and business cards on it, but you had to be persistent and wade through the sea of 150 women exiting the room to get there. Provide something for your presenters to reach you in the future–a one-page handout, a business card, a special page on your website where they can download materials. Give them some reason to think about you again.

7. Don’t have any way to stay in contact with those who attended your workshop. My second point of amazement was that not a single presenter did anything to collect the contact info of any participant. This is something you should be doing at any presentation you make, so negotiate for the right to do it even if the conference organizers frown upon the practice. My sole goal in speaking is to get participants to sign up for my newsletter. In order to collect that info, I do a drawing and say that if they’d like to sign up for my mailing list, they can participate in the drawing. I then award a door prize or two, depending on the size of the audience. I have a check-off box so they can indicate if they’d like to receive my newsletter or get more info about my coaching gym. If it’s a group with business cards, I’ll ask them to put an N on the back to receive my newsletter and a C on the back if they want more info about coaching. I then enter their names into my contact database (if it’s a large number, I hire someone to do this for me) and then follow up with them by email. If the person doesn’t have email, s/he is probably not an ideal client for me, but I do hang onto the address, as I do about 4 snail mailings per year to my contact database.

The one aspect of the workshops that all the presenters aced was to end their presentation with an uplifting story. Borrow a story if you don’t have one, but make it one that’s happened to you personally or one from your clients that you have permission to share — those are much more powerful. Start speaking locally, and see how your business begins to expand!

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed professionals make more profit in less time online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE ebook, TurboCharge Your Productivity: 50 + Tools To Help You Automate Your Business and Make More Profit in Less Time Online!, visit her site at http://www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com

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It’s that time again…the monthly meeting. You break out in a cold sweat just thinking about it. Whether you present to your managers or your employees you are saying to yourself:

What if I mess up?

What if I repeat myself?

What if the audience doesn’t like what I say?

What if I forget a part of my speech?

What if I look nervous?

It’s okay! You’re not the only one feeling this way. The Book of Lists states that the #1 fear is speaking in public. This fear is greater than the fear of death.

Well, I have the answers to your fears and can help you become an outstanding presenter. These 10 tips will help you become more confident making presentations that achieve results.

1. Start with an End in Mind

Ask yourself, “Why am I speaking?” “What do I want the audience to do after listening to my speech?” This will help you focus on the message you want to share with your audience. It will help you focus on who is your audience, the key points, and what you want your audience to do after listening to you.

2. Keep It Simple

Keep your presentation simple by learning to “speak to express instead of speaking to impress.” What I mean by speaking to impress is when you see speakers using $5 words for $2 situations during speeches and they look uncomfortable doing it. Another example of this is when presenters overuse PowerPoint. Your audience will soon lose interest in what you are saying.

Also keep it simple with the structure of your speech. An opening, body with tree major points, and a closing will help you connect with your audience. Just be sincere, concise, and simple in your presentation and you will always connect with your audience.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice

Master your presentation by practicing. Here’s the secret to practicing…first read your speech to yourself 2-3 times. This allows you to work out the majority of the rough spots in your presentation before you start rehearsing.

Then rehearse in front of a mirror or even better a video camera or tape player. Also try to rehearse in front of someone whose opinion you value.

Then practice as close as possible to your speaking environment as possible. For example, if you will be speaking behind a lectern, practice with your notes on an ironing board.

4. Visualize Success

Before going to sleep the night before a presentation I take time to visualize the success of the presentation. The key to making visualization work for you is involving as many senses (sound, touch, sight, smell, etc.) as possible in your visualization. Have you ever had a dream where it seemed so real you awoke in a cold sweat (You don’t need to tell me what the dream was)? It was because you used all your senses and that dream became so real to you that you needed to escape from it.

Visualize yourself giving a successful presentation where you see yourself as a confident presenter, hear yourself handling questions, etc. Visualize successful presentations so that it becomes real.

5. Eat the Elephant

I ask the timeless question, “How do you eat an elephant?” Piece by piece. The same answer applies to presenting to a group. How do you present to a group? Person to person. Break the group into individuals.

“How do I present to a large group?” is one of the biggest questions people have when giving presentations. Get personal. Whenever possible, I will make sure I arrive early to the room I’m presenting in and plant myself by the entrance. I will then greet as many people as possible that walk through the door. I will shake their hands and let them know I am glad they came. Here’s a tip for guaranteeing a positive audience:

* As you greet, look for pleasant, upbeat people. Then say something like, “I’m especially glad you made it today. As a matter of fact there’s a sit in the front row with your name on it. Please enjoy!”

The audience member will usually chuckle and you started the personalization process. Also this allows you to stack all the friendly audience members in the front rows. It’s always nice to see friendly faces in the front row.

Remember, when giving a presentation, it’s not about your needs or concerns. It’s about the audience’s needs or concerns. Make it personal and eat the elephant!

6. Nail Your Opening

It’s the first words your audience hears. Know your opening like the back of your hand. Know exactly what you are going to say. Once you get started and gain some momentum you will start to gain confidence for the rest of your speech.

It helps to pause for 3-5 seconds before you are about to start your presentation so that can focus on what you are about to say.

7. Nail Your Ending

It’s the last words your audience hears and reminder about you. You can have a great opening and body and have a bad ending and your audience your always remember how you ended.

Ask your audience to take action, think about an idea, etc. so that they understand why they are there.

8. Backup if You Forget

If you forget what you are about to say or lose your place in the presentation do the following:

* Stop speaking. Take two steps backward. Then take a deep breath. Collect your thoughts. Smile. Take two steps forward and proceed with your presentation.

* Go back and repeat the last sentence. That will help trigger what comes next in your presentation.

* If you really go blank, ask an audience member what was the last sentence you said. Also, if they have handouts of your speech, you can ask the audience what is the next subject we will discuss. You will be surprised how many people will volunteer this information to help you. This will give you time to collect your thoughts, involve the audience, and go forward with your presentation.

Note: If you forget a piece of information, collect yourself, and then go forward. Never say, “I’m sorry.” Unless the audience has a copy of every single word of your speech they will never know you forgot something.

9. Realize Nervousness is the Tool of Great Presenters Believe it or not, all presenters, whether professional or occasional, are nervous when presenting. The difference is the best presenters use nervousness to their advantage by turning nervousness into positive energy. Here are some tips to control nervousness:

* Whenever possible walk from the back of the room to burn some of the nervous energy.

* Slow your breathing

* Stretch

10. Get Excited

Get excited so that the audience is excited about hearing your presentation.

Some of the ways you can become excited is:

* Remember what you say is important and can make a difference for your audience.

* Every opportunity to present is a chance for you to succeed.

* Every time you speak you become better than the last time.

* Presenting will expose me to countless opportunities I wouldn’t have by not presenting.

So the next time you have the opportunity to present apply the above techniques. You will have fun while presenting on a whole new level.

About the Author: Ed Sykes is a professional speaker, author, and leading expert in the areas of leadership, motivation, stress management, customer service, and team building. You can e-mail him at mailto:esykes@thesykesgrp.com, or call him at (757) 427-7032. Goto his web site, http://www.thesykesgrp.com, and signup for the newsletter, OnPoint.

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Presentations – How to Manage Your Nerves!

Have you got a big presentation coming up, and it’s causing you sleepless nights? A common reaction is one of sheer terror. It’s one of the top ten human fears, along with spiders and heights. It‘s worth taking comfort from the fact that you’re not alone!

Here’s some tips to help you feel a little more at ease:

Prepare thoroughly

If you’ve done all you possibly can in preparing your material and researching the audience, it provides a degree of security. Preparing talks takes time, so make sure you allow enough time.

Stand where you are going to speak

In advance, try to get used to what it feels like standing where you’ll be speaking.

Try out your voice

This is important so that you do not experience that disembodied feeling when you start.

Distract yourself for ten minutes before you begin

For many people it’s those last few moments before you start that are the worst. Try distracting yourself and clear your mind of what is to come. Talk to someone about an unrelated subject or go to the cloakroom. Breathing deeply or doing a few neck exercises can also help.

Drink Water

It’s helpful to have a glass of water close to you when you are speaking. Take regular sips at appropriate intervals. This will stop your mouth from drying up and will make you take fairly regular pauses.

Breathe deeply

This can help voice production. Breathing deeply a couple of times has a calming effect and can help to control the adrenaline flow.

Prepare answers to anticipated questions

Again, by think ahead of what might be asked, you can prepare your answers. This helps that feeling of security.

Kate Shepherd is the founder of Kate Shepherd Associates a leading and innovative training consultancy specialising in Employment Law and Management Skills.

Kate provides training on “Presentation Skills” and also offers one to one coaching. For further details please contact kate@kateshepherdassociates.co.uk, 01949 861 384 or www.kateshepherdassociates.co.uk

Kate Shepherd is a Solicitor and a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)