Owner: Speak Schmeak URL:http://coachlisab.blogspot.com Join Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:31:53 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Tips, techniques and insights about public speaking and speakers. Site statistics:Click here
Two minutes of thank yous? 2008-02-05 16:46:00 I read an article the other day about delivering a ten-minute speech that gave this instruction:"Begin with a two-minute opening of thank yous, acknowledgments and possibly a little background on yourself and the organization."Wha . . .? 20% of a ten-minute speech devoted to thank yous and acknowledgments?Extrapolate this out to an hour-long presentation and try to imagine 12 minutes
of this at the beginning of a presentation:"Thank you so much for having me. I'm so honored to be here presenting in front of such a distinguished and brilliant audience. I'd like to thank Jane Doe for her excellent decision to invite me to speak to you, the most fabulous audience ever, today, on this lovely sunny September day in Southern California. Let me tell you all about myself for the next ten minutes."
Everyone's an original 2008-02-04 12:02:00 I came across an ad for Fairmont Hotels and Resorts yesterday showing a picture of a man enjoying himself on a dusky street in Québec. The text reads:"plays in a jazz quartet""collects vintage running shoes""likes to pretend he understands French when staying at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac"It reminded me of a guy my husband told me about recently, a friend of a friend who photographs everything he eats.The guy isn't a photographer, or a chef, or a blogger, or in the food industry at all.He just likes to photograph his food.If you met this guy on the street, you could never imagine in a million years that this is his hobby. I found him ten times more interesting after hearing this story than before hearing the story.What's my point?I hear people saying all the time, as an excuse not to
Presentation disasters 2008-02-01 12:04:00 If you're looking to add more potential mishaps to your imaginary list of things that could go wrong in a presentation, check out this list of real-life presentation disasters.Some pretty hilarious stuff. It makes you realize that no disaster is so bad you can't recover from it!This from ScottGu's blog, where he also shares a story that's pretty funny.Anyone have a good story to share that you can laugh about now?
What do you have in common with your audience? 2008-01-31 12:18:00 I gave a presentation last week to UCSB's Rape Prevention Education Program's peer educators, on presenting difficult topics to difficult audiences.I especially enjoyed presenting to this group because I've been in their shoes and am particularly qualified to talk to them about this topic. For six years I spoke to high school students on abusive relationships. I spoke in high school classrooms, continuation schools and juvenile justice facilities. There were plenty of ignorant, resistant and downright hostile audience members in those presentations, due to the uncomfortable and personal nature of the topic.I could relate to the UCSB students' experiences with their audiences, which created an instant bond between us.But this was not a unique occasion. I always try to find the commonalities
What's your untold story? 2008-01-30 19:14:00 "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story
inside you."~ Maya Angelou
Still offline. . . 2008-01-30 12:24:00 Hey all, Just a quick note to let you know I'm still without e-mail and Internet access, and trying to run my business through brief stints at an Internet cafe. Scary how much we need this technology these days. My most critical projects this week rely heavily on e-mail and Internet! Newsletter went out today, at least. Not perfect, but at least it went out!Are you sending me your positive vibes? Because I'm super stressed.
Doing the bare minimum 2008-01-29 12:04:00 I drove by a neighborhood breakfast place the other day and felt a sense of sadness. We had given this restaurant several chances, but every time we went there, the food and service were just mediocre. Nothing special. The same old thing that half a dozen restaurants within a half mile were also doing. I can't say it was terrible. It just wasn't good. Hash browns cooked in slightly rancid oil. Greasy eggs. "Wheat" toast a shade of brown more indicative of caramel coloring than whole grains. Lukewarm coffee (and don't even get me started on the tea options). If I ordered a side of fruit, I can already tell you that the melon would be as hard as a rock or mushy like mashed potatoes. There are also some good breakfast places in town. The prices are the same, but that's the only similarity. At
Offline for a couple of days 2008-01-27 17:54:00 Tragedy of tragedies - my modem got fried in a power outage Saturday and I'm without e-mail or Internet until the new modem arrives. Could be Monday, could be WEDNESDAY. Grrr.Please send your positive energy to get the modem here asap. I have several critical projects that need to be completed in the next two days - like relaunching my e-course, for example. I need your good vibes!See you soon!
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Time vs. information 2008-01-26 12:30:00 I'm working with a client who is scheduled to give a 12-minute industry presentation on a complex topic with lots of stats and data. She also has several great stories to illustrate her topic, activities for interaction with the audience, and good ideas for images for her PowerPoint.But right now, her talk would take at least a half hour to deliver!If she had an hour, she could delve deeper into her stats, break up the audience into groups for discussion, spend more time analyzing data, and give a more in-depth presentation.But she doesn't have an hour, she has 12 minutes (although she thinks she can get away with stretching it to 15).Short presentations like this one are notorious for being boring brain dumps. The speaker doesn't know how to condense all her knowledge into such a tight ti Read more:information
What's important to you? 2008-01-25 10:11:00 "I can pitch in front of 50,000 people, but speaking in front of a few hundred probably makes me more nervous.I just try to be myself and talk about what's important to me." ~ San Diego Padres pitcher Jake PeavyAs a speaker, are you talking about what's important to you?If not, how can you change that?
"Dr. Theatre" 2008-01-23 11:39:00 Nick R. Thomas writes about having recently given a presentation while sick (after having walked 45 minutes to reach the venue).I wrote about a similar experience here, minus the trek, called "the show must go on" and Nick adds another layer to the concept of sucking it up for the audience.As he took the stage, he was greeted by "Dr. Theatre," that combination of adrenaline and willpower that mysteriously cures a sick speaker for the duration of the presentation.You may feel mighty "rough," as Nick puts it, but getting up on stage has a stimulating effect that overrides the misery.I have further proof of this adrenaline effect, by the way, although hardly scientific.About 17 years ago, I was hit by a car while driving my scooter - without a helmet.Besides the fact that I was hit head-on an
I'm not afraid 2008-01-22 11:52:00 This blog post at Library Revolution reminded me of my post back in October about an article by Martha Beck called "The Cure for Self-Consciousness."Emily at Library Revolution decided that, instead of resolutions, she would choose a mantra for 2008 instead. Her mantra: I'm Not Afraid."Afraid of what? * Of change * Of taking chances * Of trying new things * Of reassessing old things * Of making tough choices * Of sticking my neck out * Of being wrong * Of pissing off some people * Of failure * Of success"The Martha Beck article included a tip for defeating self-consciousness called, "Ask yourself the Universal Question." The question: So?Beck elaborated, "There are endless applications for the Universal Question. I suggest using it every time you feel yourself Read more:afraid
Stand Up Inside Yourself 2008-01-21 11:50:00 My client, Susan Hyatt, is one of six life coaches leading seminars in an upcoming weekend event hosted by Martha Beck in Scottsdale, Arizona May 17 & 18, 2008.Here's what she had to say about the event:"Steering By Starlight is a weekend long event created by Martha Beck to promote her new book (of the same title). It is open to the public.I am holding my own seminar, Stand
Up Inside Yourself
, on Sunday, May 18th at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center. More details can be found at www.marthabeck.com. Click on 'Starlight Seminar - Leading Your Life.'"Click on the image above to go to Susan's flyer; you should then be able to click on the flyer to enlarge it.Here's an excerpt from a post on Susan's blog about "Getting out of Stuckville" that will give you an idea of her philosophy
This list is a slippery slope to existential change 2008-01-21 11:20:00 Check out the LA Times equivalent of the banished words list I wrote about earlier in the month.Some of my "favorites":It's all good.My bad. Using. Periods. After. Every. Word. For. Emphasis.Any phrases you'd like to add?
Think on your feet or think at your seat? 2008-01-19 11:20:00 "Being able to think
on one's feet is highly overrated. It is far better to develop the discipline of preparing in advance and rehearsing. Of course, this is hard work, but if you consistently think about your message and all of the issues surrounding your topic, you will rarely be surprised.So if you want to appear to be good at thinking on your feet, spend some time thinking at your seat in front of your computer, writing down notes, outlines, bullet points, and sample questions and answers. Then you can make it all look easy." ~ TJ Walker, in his book "Media Training A-Z."TJ, who I've quoted here before, asked me to tell you that if you go to his Media Training Worldwide site, he'll send you a free presentation training video.I haven't looked at his presentation training materials yet,
How accurate is your perception of yourself? 2008-01-18 09:44:00 "I haven't seen myself rock out yet, but I hear I'm pretty intense." ~ Kyle Reinneck, American Idol contestantThe judges didn't agree; in fact, they found him a little scary - not the "intense" vibe he was going for. He seemed genuinely shocked when they said his audition was "demonic" and disturbing, and his eyes were "menacing."He actually seemed like a sweet young guy, not demonic at all - a camp counselor who brought along a poster with pictures of his first and second graders.Do you think Kyle might have presented a different audition if he had videotaped himself and analyzed his performance? Might he have been more aware of his actual persona when performing?Another reason to record yourself, peeps.
Are you speaking your audience's language? 2008-01-17 11:41:00 We stopped by a new patisserie in our neighborhood last week. Very exciting - beautiful French pastries made from scratch right there in the bakery.You may not realize it, but many bakeries offer either frozen and defrosted products brought in from elsewhere, or are making their desserts from commercial boxed mixes with all kinds of mystery ingredients (hubby has spent twenty years in the specialty foods industry, part of that as a pastry chef, and knows way too much about the behind-the-scenes of the food industry).So when I can get fresh, handmade pastries made with real butter, real fruit, and care, well, that's just about heaven.As we were waiting to pay for our treats, an elderly man stood in front of the case perusing the pastries. A woman asked if she could help him.He asked, "What' Read more:language
Back at work tomorrow 2008-01-16 11:03:00 Sorry about the lag in posts. I've been away and didn't pre-write any posts, like a good blogger should.Until tomorrow
, enjoy this quote by Warren Buffett:"It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently."Here's why he invested in a Dale Carnegie course upon graduation from college: "Not to prevent my knees from knocking when public speaking but to do public speaking while my knees were knocking."From the book by Janet Lowe: "Warren Buffett Speaks: Wit and Wisdom from the World's Greatest Investor"
Did your message get through? 2008-01-11 10:33:00 Sometimes it's hard to know if we're having a lasting impact on our audiences. They may smile, laugh, applaud, and thank us afterward, but how do we know our message got through and, more importantly, will be applied?Yesterday I had the opportunity to see my audience immediately apply the concepts I introduced, and it was so satisfying!I gave the dreaded ten-minute talk to my referrals group that many of us face when we're out networking and promoting our businesses through public speaking. So what did I talk about? How to give the dreaded ten-minute talk to promote your business through public speaking!A key point in my talk was about benefits vs. features, which included a quiz handout featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. The group quickly latched on to the concept.One of the tw
How you dress = 55% of your presentation? 2008-01-10 10:18:00 If you missed my article in August about the "7-38-55" rule of communication, please take a look.Once again, I find this statistic being used in a way that completely distorts its original intent.I came across an article the other day that stated, "Statistics show that influence on an audience is determined as follows: 7 percent by what we SAY; 38 percent by how we SPEAK; and 55 percent by how we LOOK AND BEHAVE."The article then went on to apply this to what a speaker wears; that is, if 55 percent of communication is about how we "look and behave," then that must mean that how you dress
is more important than your actual words, which make up only 7 percent of communication.People, this statistic is being misinterpreted all over town. So read my article again and especially Judith Pearson' Read more:presentation
Is your image consistent with your message? 2008-03-12 11:57:00 I spoke with a woman the other day who told me that one reason she contacted me about coaching after seeing me in person was that she could tell I was someone who presents myself well. She's a personal organizer and pointed out that she wouldn't make a very good organizer if she wasn't organized herself, and that she would never hire a business coach who didn't demonstrate the kinds of qualities she wanted to achieve.On another note, I have a friend who's moving up in the world of public health nursing after putting in some 30 years in the field, then getting her masters degree and now her Ph.D. She mentioned a conference she's going to this summer with a bunch of bigwigs in the industry for whom she wants to make a good impression. She is in the process of losing 60 pounds and realizes th
"You can never let it show on your face" 2008-03-12 10:45:00 Paula Abdul to David Archuleta, after the American Idol contestant forgot the lyrics several times during his performance.
Speech preparation series 2008-03-11 10:34:00 Andrew Dlugan, at the Six Minutes blog, has been writing a detailed series
on speech preparation
using examples from one of his competition speeches.Here's what the series is covering: 1. How to Prepare Your Presentation 2. Select Your Speech
Topic 3. Plan Your Speech Outline 4. Writing Your First Draft 5. Editing Your Speech 6. Add Speech Impact with Rhetorical Devices 7. Staging, Gestures, and Vocal Variety 8. Practicing Your Presentation 9. Self-Critique: Preparation for Next Time 10. Winning a Toastmasters Speech ContestHe's just posted step #9. Good stuff - check it out!
Too much (personal) information 2008-03-10 11:45:00 I mentioned last week that we saw Rufus Wainwright on Thursday night. Julianna Raye was the opening performer, singing a bossa nova-inspired set from her new CD.Singers often talk between songs, telling stories about their inspiration, or just entertaining the crowd. Sometimes a singer seems to talk more to cover up an awkward silence than to enhance the show.There were a few of these moments during Julanna Raye's performance, one of which stood out because, from a public speaking perspective, it was something that I advise against doing.She pointed out to the audience how she had just discovered that the bottom of her new dress fit neatly inside the tops of her over-the-knee boots, repeatedly getting caught there.My first thought: "Always check your outfit before you go onstage."My second Read more:information
What my morning looks like. . . 2008-03-08 11:14:00 . . . times three.If you haven't seen this animated video yet, check it out. Cat lovers will totally get it.(If you can't see it, click here for the video, called "Cat Man Do," on YouTube.)
Never lose focus 2008-03-07 09:42:00 Last night we saw Rufus Wainwright in concert at small local theater. If you think his voice resonates on a CD, you should hear him live, solo, with just his piano or guitar as accompaniment. Absolutely gorgeous.About halfway through the show, there was a snag. Sitting at the piano, he had just started a song, when he stopped. His microphone stand was drooping. The weight of the mic was causing the horizontally-positioned stand to sink slowly.While a stagehand changed out the stand, Rufus entertained the audience with a brief rendition of "There's no business like show business" and some chatter.He regained his focus and restarted the song, and within a minute had to stop again, as the second mic stand was starting to droop toward the piano keys. He made a joke about it, the stagehand came
Self-interview 2008-03-06 10:00:00 I've been tagged by Jacki Hollywood Brown at Adventures in Organizing to interview
myself about my blog. Here you go!What is the story behind the name of your blog?I wanted to call it something a little silly. So I decided to go with a Yiddish-style prefix, fitting with my sort-of-Jewish background:schm- (or shm-)[fr. various Yiddish words]colloq., chiefly U.S.an element used to form a nonsense term of derision by preceding the initial vowel or by replacing the initial consonant or consonant cluster (forming a rhyme) ~ "fancy, shmancy"Just ignore that part about "derision." I'm just trying not to take myself too seriously.Why did you start blogging in the first place?It was a way for me to connect with people about public speaking in a way that's less formal and more personal than a websit
You have to start yesterday 2008-03-14 10:00:00 "I’m in the midst of negotiating and writing an opera, and that has always been my life-long ambition. It is really something I thought I would do years down the line, when I was fat and bearded. But I realized that you really have to start yesterday if you want to get your dreams accomplished. It’s all about action." ~ Rufus WainwrightWhat are you waiting for?What's holding you back?What are you afraid of?What are you dwelling on?
Using notes pages in PowerPoint 2008-03-13 12:12:00 A lot of public speaking experts suggest using notes pages in PowerPoint
as an alternative to reading from slides.In PowerPoint, below each slide in "normal" view, there is a space to write out notes to accompany the slide. Look below the slide where it says, "Click to add notes." The notes can only be seen by the speaker.While I agree that anything is better than reading directly from the screen, turning your back to the audience and reciting what's right in front of their faces, there's one big problem with using notes pages.Notes pages keep you tied to the computer. Standing at the computer pushing buttons and reading from the monitor is not much more engaging than standing behind a lectern or, in fact, reading from the projected slides.Notes pages can be good for brainstorming the cont
Are you a people person? 2008-03-18 11:46:00 Some folks who have to speak in public just don't like people
. They don't enjoy being around people. They find people, in general, to be an annoyance.If you're not a people person
, you're going to have to work a lot harder at being an effective speaker. Why is that?A people person is observantA speaker needs to read the audience and be able to detect the general feeling in the room. Is there a positive or negative vibe? Are people responding or nodding off? Is the audience giving you energy or are they more like a stone wall?If you're not reading your audience, you are not making a connection with them. If the audience doesn't feel connected to you, they are not going to listen to or retain your message.A people person is open-mindedDoes your audience feel that you are approachable and ope
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