How to send your audience to sleep

Would you like it somebody nodded off during your presentation? Please tell me No... But could it happen?

That's an easy question to answer. And the answer is this – forget that the audience are there and deliver the presentation to please yourself.

Let's think about this for one moment… Why has the speaker been booked and what is the speaker's number one priority?

Simple – It is to deliver a speech or presentation to the needs of that target audience.

The biggest mistake a speaker can make is not to prepare thoroughly, and a key aspect of that preparation is to understand who will be in the audience.

So, let's assume that you've done your homework. You have a good handle on who'll be in the audience, so far so good, but what else can we do to turn them off?

There are so many opportunities to build a communications barrier between you and them and I'll be discussing some of them in this article.

Imagine a short wave radio. You know the one that whistles and crackles a lot. You can hear a voice delivering a message, but those whistles and crackles are breaking up the words, and although there is a message, there is also interference. The message is incomplete and sometimes unintelligible.

It's the same in public speaking. If we can remove the interference then our message becomes so much stronger. Normally, we are totally unaware of these extraneous interferences.

Lack of eye contact is a popular omission from a presentation. Or the speaker often feigns eye contact by actually looking over the top of people's heads. The secret is to make everybody feel that you are speaking to them individually. Make them feel special. Be generous with your eye contact. Nobody will bite you for looking at them, but they might growl a little if you don't. Just three of four seconds to each person and keep it moving to cover all of the audience segments.

Have you ever noticed a speaker swaying from side to side? This toing and froing from foot to foot, rather like a slow dance. It is distracting and it also can have a hypnotic impact on the audience. You would have lost your audience after ten minutes. Equally, rocking backwards and forwards, especially on an old wooden floor can result in an incessant creaking like the mast on a 17th century war ship.

Playing with keys and coins in the pockets is another regular mistake. How can you make natural gestures when your hands are tucked away from view? And that jangling of the coins and the key ring is so annoying and distracting. For gentlemen in particular, it is to say the least… unsightly.

Every day, we all hear lots of unwanted and extraneous verbal material like – OK, right, y'know, um, ahh, init, yeh, wicked, now, so… But that's normally delivered in every day chatter. However, when these words are used within a speech or presentation, they are magnified and distorted out of all proportion. The recommendation is simply – leave them out, the interference will be reduced and the message will carry greater clarity.

If you are delivering a technical presentation to a non-technical audience, please avoid jargon and acronyms. The audience will mentally drift off if they are given too much indigestible jargon in too short a space of time. I hope that most people would know acronyms like NATO, MEP, NSPCC, PDSA and KBG, SLA, TLA, but even people who are mostly up to date with their essential reading will not know them all.

In Britain we have an organisation called SAGA, which runs special events for the over-fifties. I used to ask people if they knew what SAGA means as an acronym. One rather energetic lady in her seventies gave me one hilarious answer, but I can only tell you what she told me if you attend one of our workshops.

If you wear glasses, be aware that they can be a major distraction. It's simple, either keep them on, or take them off. At college I used to have a lovely professor, but he was at that age, rather as I am now, where his eyes were beginning to fail him. He couldn't see his students without the glasses and he couldn't follow his notes without them. What could be done? Expensive though they are, bifocals will do the job. They are an investment, not an expense.

During the course of sixty minutes, the glasses went on and off on 78 occasions. Yes, that's pretty distracting.

Finally, avoid ambiguity, unless you are doing it for comic effect.

Groucho Marx gave us the famous, ‘New York man shoots elephant in his pyjamas.'

The key message is this – once you begin practicing your speech, just concentrate on removing those distractions from your presentations as they are barriers to communication. Ask a collegue to give you some objective feedback focussing on the distraction factor. Think of the short wave radio and keep that frequency of speech clarity clear.

By: Vincent Stevenson
Credit:www.superfeature.com

How to introduce a speaker

Introducing the guest speaker is not the easiest of tasks. Always remember your audience - what's in it for them?

How seldom do we hear an introduction which is really not much more than a partial biography, uninteresting, without structure, stumbled through, essentially, merely going through the motions?

Who cares whether the speaker was born 1961 in Plompton, that he went to grammar school, high school and university, that he married a class mate, has four children, a VW Polo, a bulldog, and moved to Dublin in 1991? So they are going to speak on 'From Andes to Amazon'"The future of our forests in Africa".

Exaggeration? – Perhaps. But not too far from the truth. It recalls all the boring ritual of the average introduction.

What is our duty when introducing the speaker?

Obviously, to increase the interest, attention and anticipation of the audience. It is only a courtesy to the speaker to condition the audience to a pleased, happy anticipation and ensure attention.

What is a good introduction?

It consists of several things:

With a few rare exceptions, a good introduction should not go over two or three minutes. Don't hog the limited time of the speaker.

There should always be an "introduction of the introduction." Perhaps this is only a single sentence of an attention-compelling nature. An introduction is a short speech and should follow the rules for good speech making. Some apropos side remarks or comments might further increase the mood and anticipation if it is lightly humorous and in good taste.

The body of the introduction should raise the importance of the timeliness of the subject to be discussed. This is to increase the interest of the "so what" members of the audience. A short statement about the speaker should follow, restricted as far as possible to their accomplishments.

Up to this point, the title of the talk, the business or professional connection, or the title of the speaker and their name, have not been given. The conclusion of the introduction consists of these three:

title of speech
title of speaker
the speaker's name

in that order. The last words spoken are the name of the speaker.

All of this in three minutes? Yes. It takes some doing, but it is your duty. Try it and you will be surprised at the good reception it will get.

Rare indeed is the person who can give a good introduction if they are called upon only in the last few minutes before the speech. An introduction needs preparation, thought and ingenuity. The introducer needs to know the title of the speech, the slant the speaker will take, some pertinent facts about them, and the type of audience they will be addressing.

Keep a close eye on the events of the evening. Often events occur that throw into your lap a comment or bit of humour which, if grasped, establishes the easy liaison and happy anticipation which is priceless background for the speaker.

When introducing two or more speakers, it's important for the MC's technique not to look too formulaic?

If that is your task, pay close attention to what the first speaker says. Use your ingenuity, and as they finish, comment upon their speech. Pick out some statement or thought you can refer to, and in a logical or humorous way, connect their speech with the one which is to follow. Use such remarks as the "introduction to the introduction" for the next speaker.

Be entertaining, keep it short and factual, and make sure you memorise the speaker's name so that you're not reading your notes when you announce his name. It is your duty to increase your audience attention and anticipation. Try it next time. Warm the audience up, build up their interest.

By: Vincent Stevenson
Credit:www.superfeature.com

How To Eliminate Speaking Jitters: Eight Sure-Fire Strategies To Help You Speak More Naturally

Do you avoid giving speeches because the stress drives you up the wall? Do you give speeches, but hate every minute of it? Do you speak well, yet are held back from reaching your potential from the fear and self-doubt you experience? There is help for anyone who suffers from stage fright. Here are eight of my favorite stress-stopping techniques for speakers.

1. Don't Call Your Event "A Speech". Instead, Frame the Talk As A Coaching Session, Workshop or Class. Why? "Giving a speech" feels like a big deal, pressure-packed situation. Also, few audiences want to be spoken to or at by a "speech maker", but almost everyone enjoys the spirited give and take of a conversation.

2. Use The Overkill Principle, From Sports and School. If you have a school test or sports competition coming up, what made you feel relatively comfortable and confident going into the event? Overdoing your preparation with extremely hard practice and training. If you barely practiced, you had a genuine reason to be very nervous--you were NOT ready! The same is true for a speech.

3. Set Speaking Sub-goals. A speaking event should also be a learning experience for you, the speaker. One major goal is of course, to please, motivate, educate and move the audience. Try some new things, take some risks and make sure YOU learn from the event.

4. Practice All The Time, In Every Venue Imaginable. Use your speech material as you have casual conversations with people the weeks before your talk, in the coffee shop, lobby, stores, malls, etc. They won't know you are practicing your speech. You'll be able to practice the pronunciations, phrasing, inflection, timing, jokes and all else, just as you will do it from the platform.

5. Wear Your Most Confident Outfit and Accessories. Go ahead, be superstitious. Wear what makes you feel good, natural and energetic. Stay away from outfits that lower your self-esteem and confidence level. To be confident, look confident. Simple to do, but powerful.

6. Accept That Nervousness Is A Natural Part Of Any Performing. Long time well-known performers across many venues STILL get very nervous before their performances, yet they manage to give very creditable performances, time and again.

7. Know That You Can Perform Well And Be Very Nervous, Yet The Audience Will Never Know. You can be terrified inside, but if you go about your speaking, you can completely hide your fear from the audience. The few ways the audience will have hints that your nerves are appearing are when your voice continually cracks, your hands, arms and legs shake visibly or you stutter and stammer (assuming you don't do that naturally). Aside from that, they may never know. Act as if you are confident, and quite often, you will begin to feel confident.

8. Make the Audience Do Some of the Work. Instead of YOU speaking the entire time, give your audience some tasks. Ask them questions, give them a quiz, have them discover answers to tasks in small groups. Not only will the audience be more engaged and learn better, but you can take a break and gather your thoughts as they do their "homework". Try it, you'll like it.

Remember, even top speaking pros get nervous before and during their speeches. Collect stress-busting strategies like these. Observe experienced speakers and see what they do to reduce their nerves. Embrace your stress and it will serve you well.

For a comprehensive overview of your abilities as a speaker you need an assessment instrument that identifies your complete strengths and weaknesses. Go to the Procoach website for a free, easy-to-take 65-item presentation skills assessment tool you can score right on the spot. You can use this as a guide in creating your own presentation coaching program, or as the basis for a coaching program you undertake with Bill Cole, MS, MA.

By: John Smith
Credit:www.superfeature.com