Public Speaking? Yes, You Can

After I’ve given a speech, people sometimes come up to me and say, “Boy, I would love to be able to give speeches for a living.” When I ask them why they don’t pursue that dream, they say, “Oh, I could never do that.”

But the good news is yes, you can. Public speaking is a learnable skill. Even someone who feels insecure in front of a group can learn to become a good speaker.

It begins with preparation. I learned from Tony Robbins, the famous motivational speaker, that if you want to overcome your fear and learn to do something, three things can impact your performance: your belief system, body language and routine.

Belief system: The late, great speech coach Dorothy Sarnoff used to teach her students to repeat these words before giving a speech: “I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad you’re here. I know what I know, and I care about you.” Repeating these thoughts changes your belief system. You actually become glad you are there. You know what you know, so you stop worrying about not being good. And when you care about the people in the audience, you lose your fear of them and your confidence soars.

If you allow negative thoughts to take over, your mind will respond to that. So plant only positive messages in your brain. Remember, your mind doesn’t know the difference between the truth and what you tell it.

Body language: Pay attention to how good speakers carry themselves. Most hold their shoulders back and heads high. I use a lot of hand gestures when I speak. Think of a time when you felt confident and productive. How did you walk? How did you act? It’s pretty hard to feel inadequate if you walk and act like you know what you’re doing.

Routine: Now look at your routine. A routine signals the brain that all is well. If I’m going to deliver new material, I practice it several times with friends or family. I ask for feedback, and try to think of questions audience members are likely to have. I use notes until the information becomes second nature. Just before I go on, I do a little deep breathing, a quick review of what I plan to say, then I imagine the audience giving me a standing ovation.

When I was 12 years old, I ran for president of the seventh grade and had to make a speech in front of the school. My dad coached me to start with humor to get everyone relaxed, including myself. So when I got called up and the audience finished applauding, the first thing I said was, “As the cow said to the farmer when the milking machine broke down, ‘Thanks for that warm hand!’” Everybody roared. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with my winning the election, but it sure felt good.

My dad also taught me to take what you do seriously but take yourself lightly. I still live by that advice. In February, I was asked to give the dinner keynote after the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. There were more than 2,000 people there from 100 nations. The last two people on the stage before I spoke were amazing: first a hilarious singing and dancing comedian, then Jordan Smith, the talented young singer who won the TV show “The Voice.” They both got standing ovations. Then I heard, “Now here’s our keynote speaker, Ken Blanchard.” Talk about intimidating.

I decided to take the humorous route, so I said to the audience, “If any of you have read ‘The One Minute Manager,’ you know the third secret is the One Minute Reprimand. I think I have to give one of those to the organizers who made me follow those last two performers!” I immediately got the crowd on my side so they were ready to hear my message — and I ended up getting a standing ovation, too. It was quite an experience.

People are there to learn what you know. So remember, it’s not about you — it’s all about your audience. You will serve them well by seeing yourself in your best light and projecting a confidence that lets your message shine. Your audience will benefit, and so will you.

 

AUTHOR:  Ken Blanchard is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Cos. and co-author of “Collaboration Begins with You: Be a Silo Buster.” Comment below, or email editor@CLOmedia.com.

 

Reprinted from Chief Learning Officer magazine

“Best Practices for Incorporating Multimedia in Webinars with Ken Molay” (On Demand Webinar)

 

watch now icon

Adobe AD

Webinar content can be so much more than PowerPoint slides and narration. Have you considered adding live video, prerecorded content, audio clips, web interactions, quizzes, or interactive exercises to your webinars? Multimedia content can improve attention and engagement from your attendees, but only if you use it carefully and correctly.

Watch this 60-minute webinar and you will learn best practices for incorporating multimedia components in your webinars. You will gain valuable tips such as:

1.            Ways that multimedia can increase or inhibit interaction and engagement

2.            Techniques for smoothly integrating recorded content into your live presentation

3.            How to avoid making the most common and annoying webcam mistake

4.            What technical factors you need to be aware of before adding multimedia

5.            Fair use considerations for referencing publicly-posted contentKen Molay

The session was led by Ken Molay, president of Webinar Success and a recognized expert in webinar production and presentation. Ken shares tips and tricks gleaned from 15 years of webinar experience, with plenty of practical examples for webinar administrators, moderators, and speakers.

Listen to the questions that attendees asked during the presentation and Ken’s insightful answers.  Don’t miss this opportunity to discover new ways to enhance your webinars and make them more attractive and memorable to your target audiences.

 

Webinar Recording : Before and After: How to Make AMAZING Slides… Fast! with Mike Parkinson

webinar with play button

Watch graphics guru, Mike Parkinson as he transform bad slides into amazing slides in real time. See actual before and after examples and learn how to do it yourself. Learn what makes a slide a failure and see how to fix it… fast. Using tools, tips and tricks, Mike demonstrates how to turn bullets into compelling graphics, improve templates, and enhance content.

After watching this PresentationXpert session, you will be able to:                             Before and After wtih Frame
1) Identify why a slide is bad (or great)
2) Turn bad slides into amazing slides
3) Transform bullets into graphics
4) Make your slides more memorable
5) Objectively validate that your slides will be successful
6) Save time and money

.

mike with space

 

ABOUT MIKE:
Mike Parkinson of Billion Dollar Graphics brings a wealth of experience and talent to today’s webinar. He really understands  the power of graphics. You will see him transform simple PowerPoint graphics into powerful visuals that make a statement. Mike has authored several books on presentation graphics and created several resources that any of us can used to enhance any PowerPoint presentation.

 

Print

 

 

 Unlimited Graphics Subscription for our Community – SPECIAL OFFER!

For just $99 per  month – which is a 93% savings – you can  communicate better with 100% editable, professional graphics. Improve understanding and recall while saving time and money. Make better presentations, proposals, educational materials, marketing, sales documents, white papers, and websites. Get My Graphic infographics are designed to clearly communicate complex information.

…there is a great resource out there with “templates”/inspiration for infographics. See [Get My Graphic] http://www.getmygraphic.com. I consider the site a best practice for proposal graphics. ~ Melissa Bevins, Boeing

[The] graphics from [Get My Graphic]… have been life savers!!! They have allowed me to be more creative in an area that I didn’t think creativity was possible. In addition, everyone thinks I’m a graphics rock star now! Thanks a million… ~ Mary Brick, Noblis, Limited Exclusivewww.noblis.org

EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE!

Save up to 93%. Get instant, unlimited access to these graphics for you and your organization with your Unlimited Subscription. All graphics downloaded are yours to use immediately and indefinitely. With unlimited downloads you can make the perfect professional graphic because you can combine graphics, add icons and symbols, insert photos, sample and apply styles across graphics, and animate. You can evolve your graphics as fast and often as needed. All graphics are easy to edit, combine, and animate in PowerPoint. Graphics can be exported and used in any software.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO AND TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS EXCLUSIVE OFFER!!

 

Pin It on Pinterest