Public Speaking – You Must Have a Good Sound System
on Dec 31 in UncategorizedIf it is hard to hear, people won’t listen. When speaking in public you must have an excellent sound system because some of the time you will be speaking while your audience is laughing. Stand-up comics need good sound too, but they are a little different because they tell a joke, then people laugh (they hope). They tell another joke, then people laugh. A good public speaker will be rolling right along making points, showing product features, telling stories, and dropping one-liners and must be heard all the while.
A humorous speech demands a better sound system than a serious speech. In a serious talk, words can be missed and the main message can still be very clear. In humor it doesn’t work that way. If key words are missed in a joke or story, it will ruin the humor. No one will laugh and you will look like a giant goober.
The need for a thorough sound check is another good reason to be in the room early. You need to check the microphone to make sure it works. You need to check to see how far your mouth should be from the microphone. You need to know how loudly you should talk. Realize that during your check the audio level should be very loud. People will absorb the sound once they get into the room.
Make sure the sound system is carrying to all parts of the room. If someone is speaking prior to you, try to go to the back of the room to see how he or she is coming across. If you have someone at the presentation with you, have them signal from the back of the room if changes are needed in the public address system after you have started.
If the amplifier controls aren’t handy after you have started, you can adjust the sound by changing the distance between your mouth and the microphone and/or increasing or decreasing the loudness of your voice. Try not to use the latter method too often so you don’t strain your vocal mechanism.
How do you become a great speaker and get paid for it? Learn the public speaking secrets that can make you $5500 or more per speech! Learn the skills to change other people’s lives forever. It’s easier than you think!
Tom Antion is the author of the best selling presentation skills book “Wake ‘em Up Business Presentations” and “Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing.” Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and delivered over 2700 paid presentations worldwide. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/public-speaking-you-must-have-a-good-sound-system-1645323.html
Public Speaking – Storytelling Do’s
on Dec 31 in Uncategorized* Use stories during public speaking engagements to illustrate points and state the point in addition to telling the story. Always make your story relevant to the subject at hand.
* Select stories to match the intelligence, experience, occupation, and age of the audience as well as the nature of the occasion. You don’t want to talk over the heads of the audience members and you don’t want to bore them with stories that are too simple.
* Space stories at intervals to provide a change of pace and to reemphasize your message. Remember from Chapter 5 the listening pattern you want to create in the audience.
* Tell about your troubles, stupidity, or ignorance. People like you when you use self-effacing humor because they see themselves mirrored in your weaknesses.
* Eliminate inconsequential detail. Use the fewest number of words that convey the message in an interesting fashion. Writing the story out will help you see words that can be eliminated without hurting the story.
* Keep your humorous stories short during your public speaking engagements. The size of the laugh is inversely proportional to the number of words used to get to the punchline.
Rule: The longer the story, the funnier it must be. You must make jokes and humorous stories believable up to a point. Use factual, specific details that the audience can relate to, i.e., say the brand name like Lots-o-Suds rather than a laundry detergent. The more truthful and specific the story sounds the more your audience will get caught up in what you say.
* Specify the location of a joke or story. If your story takes place in a restaurant say, “I was at Jerry’s Sub Shop in Rockville, Maryland, the other day.” This gives the audience something concrete to think about, which makes them more involved mentally.
* When crafting a story, use people, places, and things the audience knows. When the audience is familiar with the elements in your story, they will become even more involved. As soon as you mention the company cafeteria, their minds race to the cafeteria to meet you and find out what happens. However, don’t use humor that is too inside. Only a few people will understand it.
* Emphasize the adjectives and verbs in your stories to make them sound more interesting. Try it. Look around where you are right now and describe anything you want. Really put punch behind the adjectives and verbs and see how your description comes to life. Use specific and interesting verbs and adjectives. Say I was exhausted, not I was tired. Say, her head was nodding and drooping, not her head was down.
* Learn your stories. In a normal speech if you forget the exact thing you wanted to say, you can improvise and go on. But if you leave out an important detail in a story or if you accidentally give away the climax too soon, you have a mess on your hands. I tell a story at least 30 times in private before I’ll test it in front of an audience.
* Use true facts from your own life. This makes it easier for you to tell the story because you lived it and you can learn it faster too. Also, someone else can’t steal your story as easily if all the facts have to do with your life.
* Use appropriate emotional language to hook the listener. (Refer to this website’s “Emotional Language”
article for reference.)
* Construct a humorous story so that it concludes abruptly with a climactic word. Don’t utter another syllable or sound after this climactic word. You might squelch the laughter you worked so hard to get.
Exception: Some stories get laughter all along the way. More of these stories are used by humorists who are expected to be funny all the time.
* Work out different lengths of the same story to fit different time segments. (Yes, I’ve snuck a Don’t in the Do’s section.) Don’t memorize your stories word-for-word. This way you won’t feel forced to say every word, every time you tell the story. You can change the length of the story easily by adding or subtracting detail. Super Trick: Have a quotation ready that makes the same point as your story. If your time is shortened, you can cut out a story and replace it with a quote.
* Slant your story to the intended audience. When telling a story to a group of executives you would probably want to use different language and emphasis than if you were telling the same story to a group of secretaries. Change nonessential elements of the story to make a better connection.
* Use terms like Imagine this, Have you ever had an experience where… Let me take you with me to… to draw the audience into your stories.
How do you become a great speaker and get paid for it? Learn the public speaking secrets that can make you $5500 or more per speech! Learn the skills to change other people’s lives forever. It’s easier than you think!
Tom Antion is the author of the best selling presentation skills book “Wake ‘em Up Business Presentations” and “Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing.” Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and delivered over 2700 paid presentations worldwide. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/public-speaking-storytelling-dos-1645358.html
Casually Connect? A Real Life Presentation Lesson from Abu Dhabi
on Dec 30 in Uncategorized“I’m glad you had to speak in your casuals…”
– DTAC Abu Dhabi Participant
Casually Connect? A Real Life Presentation Lesson from Abu Dhabi By Darren LaCroix
Ever have lots go wrong on the way to a presentation? Then that leads to even more? How do you handle it? Does it fluster you? Can people in the audience “sense” something is wrong based on your delivery?
New line of questioning: What if the problem is the best thing that could have happened?
There I am, on my way to Abu Dhabi to inspire and teach at a conference of fellow speakers. I did not make my flight connection in London so I was re-routed through Bahrain (I’d never been re-routed though another country before). Though I made it there late the night prior to my convention opening, keynote speech…my luggage did not.
Now, this is not the first time this has happened to me. However this IS the first time I did not get my bags the next day. This time they were promised to arrive overnight. When I woke in the morning my luggage had still not arrived. Though many of my friends following me on Twitter were concerned, I was not. Why didn’t I pack a suit in my carry on? Why didn’t I wear a suit? These are very fair questions which, at this moment, did not matter!
When we take the stage we are authority figures and should act and dress accordingly. I have always taught my students to dress “one level” above your audience. By this I mean, if the audience is “casual” then dress business casual. What if I was wrong in that lesson?
As the opening speaker, and struggling to wake up after thirty hours of travel and a brief sleep, there was no time to buy a new suit. I took a shower, ate breakfast, and proceeded to hack myself shaving with the hotels version of a razor. Ouch! Still, there is no reason to worry. Fellow speakers are the most forgiving and understanding audiences. They are there for my content and to enjoy my enthusiasm. They are not there to judge me (though there will always be some of that going on. It is human nature.)
As I took the stage, though usually I start with a question, or right into a story, for this speech I felt I needed to acknowledge my situation. My reason for opening in this manner was due to a multi-cultural audience. With six countries represented, I felt “clarity” was more important then a dramatic opening. I wanted to make sure they knew I was a professional, and took their conference seriously.
After explaining the reason I was in jeans, I said, “It does not matter what you are wearing. It matters where your heart is and what the audience leaves with.” I was okay with it, so they were okay with it. I did not let my “situation” create a barrier between myself and the audience.
In fact, just the opposite happened. One of the members of the audience pulled me aside and told me he was glad my luggage did not make it. He felt a closer connection to me because of my casual attire. He said, “Sometime suits can separate us.” Wow! That was brilliant, honest, and revealing. I never looked at it from that perspective.
As a World Champion, individuals can at times put us on a pedestal and think what we accomplished is unattainable by an average person. The goal of my presentation is to inspire people. I’m an average guy that committed himself to learning. Not only that, I made a conscience decision to not try and figure it out on my own, but instead, learn a proven process.
It is our responsibility to bring hope and inspiration to our subject.
How do you do that? I learned sometimes suits separate, and casuals connect. We must always crave feedback because we may be surprised what the perception of our audience is.
To answer the “fair questions” I like to travel in jeans, so I do. A suit would crumple in my carry on. I don’t worry about it! It is life, it is part of my business and I’m cool with the consequences! Let’s all be “in the moment” and not worry about being perfect!
Stage time,
Darren LaCroix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking
Copyright 2009 The Humor Institute, Inc.
Darren LaCroix
In 2001, Darren LaCroix, The World Champion of Public Speaking, outspoke 25,000 contestants from 14 countries to win that title. That was just a benchmark. Since that victory, Darren has traveled the world demystifying the process of creating a powerful speech. He has roused audiences in faraway places like Saudi Arabia, China, Oman, Malaysia, and Taiwan with his inspirational journey from first-rate chump to first-class champ, proving anything is possible if you are willing to work for it. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/casually-connect-a-real-life-presentation-lesson-from-abu-dhabi-1594744.html
Why now is THE BEST time to start a Public Speaking Business!?
on Dec 30 in UncategorizedWhy now is THE BEST time to start a Public Speaking Business!?
Do you agree right now people have more problems they need solved?
I’m so tired of people talking about the economy tanking! Why aren’t more people talking about how they will take better care of themselves, and their families?
“We don’t know what we are going to do?” Well, stop whining and decide to figure it out! Look for answers. If you are spending time commiserating about it, you have lost time finding the solution.
Recently I invested in a T. Harv Eker business seminar. He said there are two economies, “the economy” and “your economy.” It is so true. Most people in the Public Speaking Business suffered a recent downturn in business. I didn’t. Mine went up! It was by a healthy percentage too.
Did “the economy” affect my business? You betcha! One of my streams of income was down, no doubt about it. Instead of whining about that, I invested all year on marketing and giving people what they wanted. Therefore, my biggest stream of income jumped up.
More, now than ever, people are re-discovering there is no such thing as job security. Due to a new business owner, someone very close to me, in a high level job, was shown the door after 20 years of service. See, it’s the owners who get to decide. Business owners choose the direction, and the people who are going to take them there. The coolest thing about a small business is that it can be done part time, and there are so many tax write offs.
Why not be the business owner? Have you ever thought of having a public speaking business? What are you waiting for? Life is short. The coolest part is there is no building you have to buy, no space you have to rent, and no employees you have to hire. The truth is, the only barrier to entry, is an effective business plan. It is easier and less expensive now than ever before. The highest powered marketing tools I use now range from inexpensive to free.
The most important reason now is the best time, is due to the economy. To understand that you must know what business is about. T. Harv says it best, “An entrepreneur is someone who solves problems for people at a profit.” The worse the economy is, the more problems people have. The more problems there are, the more problems there are to be solved. The more people’s problems you solve, the more you will earn.
The public speaking business is geared perfectly for this, if you understand what you are trying to do. Solve problems for people. You are not selling speeches. Those who do try to sell speeches, fail. Do I care if I solve someone’s problem with a live speech, or a book, or a new DVD set? Yes, I do. I love to speak, but I’m a business man first. What do people need, and what form do they need it in? That is why I’m successful. I’ve never been to Japan, Australia, or New Zealand. Some of the greatest testimonials I have come from there. I love speaking, and it is one of the best ways I generate business, even when I’m not being paid. As Zig Ziglar says, “You can get whatever you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.”
What are you going to speak about? That’s easy! What do you know? What have you accomplished? What industry have you worked in? What adversity have you overcome? You help people from your experience. Help people with that. The biggest problem with new people to the public speaking business is undervaluing their own experience.
After almost every speech I give people come up to me and say, “I want to do what you do.” It became such a common occurrence, I realized this was a problem I could solve. After having a public speaking business since 1994, I knew I could help people shorten their learning curve. Though my first speech was for $75, I learned it the hard way. So, now I say give me eight hours and I’ll take eight years off your learning curve. I developed Get Paid to Speak by Next Week® My system takes people who have never gotten a paid speech in their lives and no business experience and shows them the secrets of getting their first checks. Their first checks have ranged from $250 to $650, some even more!
I show people, using their unique background, how to get their first checks. There is so much jam packed into this system my students tell me every time they go through it they get new ideas that bring them profit!
Will you take control of your life and your income? What problems will you help people solve? The cool thing about this business is that you don’t have to quit your day job to get started. If you lost your job, then you have more time to get things moving quicker. Dreams are meant to be achieved! Start your public speaking business, now.
Copyright 2009 The Humor Institute, Inc.
Darren LaCroix
In 2001, Darren LaCroix, The World Champion of Public Speaking, outspoke 25,000 contestants from 14 countries to win that title. That was just a benchmark. Since that victory, Darren has traveled the world demystifying the process of creating a powerful speech. He has roused audiences in faraway places like Saudi Arabia, China, Oman, Malaysia, and Taiwan with his inspirational journey from first-rate chump to first-class champ, proving anything is possible if you are willing to work for it. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/why-now-is-the-best-time-to-start-a-public-speaking-business-1594747.html
Nigeria: State and City police
on Dec 29 in Uncategorized
The former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo fondly called “ Baba Iyabo” made an attempt to ask the nation if we needed a federal police system at the same time former Governor of Lagos state Asiwaju of Yoruba land Tinubu was advocating for a state police, the issue became so popular that it generated lots of opinions among Nigerians in and out of the country and in my contribution which was titled “ Towards internal Security” which was published online I was advocating for city and county police system similar to what is operated in the United States of America.
The article revealed Nigeria police as presently constituted was not only underpaid but under equipped for job in the 21st Century. A police recruit in the state of Texas gross pay is over $48,000 per annum in addition to this pay, if the recruit can speak other languages he earns more than his colleagues, his life insurance is over $250,000 if he dies in the line of his duty, the incentives attached to the job of Police in the state of Texas is so mouth watering that it will be difficult to accept bribe as a police officer and a mere look of a police officer in Dallas County is enough to convince any observer that the officer is not only well paid but also well equipped for the job.
The internal security of Nigeria is so broken down that kidnapping is more of an acceptable fashion like we used to read in James Hardly Chase novels with some notable titles like “ Wants to stay alive? “ Believed violent ‘and Well now my Pretty” which were very popular with my generation in the seventies. Kidnapping as handled by police in those novels revealed how United States of America handled issues of serious nature and how crimes were departmentalized as federal, state and city issues, it revealed how the country was able to move beyond sentiment of federal to allowing state and city to handle crimes.
With the above understand, in mind, and actual real situation on the ground, research revealed more than what James Hardly Chase mentioned, it revealed US police system was just as corrupt and under equipped like Nigeria before each state was allowed to have its own police and with only a supervisory role from the FBI. The last administration made a cosmetic approach toward this by establishing the EFCC but failed to remove the federal police system which would have given the supervisory role to EFCC over the state and city police through out the country.
The questions in the mind of the readers will be as follows, what will happen to the states and cities that can not afford to set up the police administration right now? Suppose the governors turn the new police system to political control machine? Suppose non indigenes are victimized with state and city police? These are understandable fears of those who will rather look at negative effect than looking at how such problem was handled by nations that had similar problems.
Our nature and composition, does not allow us to effectively operate a single federal Police system in a nation with various ethnic compositions, to alley the fear as mentioned above, the laws to give power to state and city to establish police must make it difficult for governors, local government chairmen and city mayors in future to exercise undue influence on the system. The law will allow those states and cities which will rather have the Federal police to stick with the present system while those states and cities in Lagos, Oyo, Anambra, kano to test the market for the state and city police.
The transition to state and city police can not happen overnight for all states because some will rather stick with what they are used to, it took the state of Oregon in America 100 years to adopt state police behind the state of Texas. Recruitment must reflect the state composition and federal character before funds can be released by the Federal government, and each state or City police must be subjected to EFCC supervision and when a complex which case can not be solved by the state or the city police the EFCC will move in to reorganize the police system of the state or city for a reasonable period that will be stated by the law.
The Present Mobile Police must be under the EFCC to take over any state or city police in case of emergency and the rest of the police force will be re-deployed to operate solely at state level and city that will require their services if they can not be totally employed by the states or cities they can be laid off and such men in uniform can work as security men for companies or private sectors.
The Yoruba has an adage “Opo kan ni eyin afaa, Iba je eyo kan ko sa le fi mu musa” meaning “The chief Imam does not need to have lots of functional teeth even if it is one as long as the Imam can pick donut with it” It is very funny, but it is true with the police system we have right now, it is not the numbers of men in uniform but a functional police system which can only be achieved by creating state and city police.
The current Federal police system is making a mockery of security in Nigeria, kidnapping today is more of lucrative business than 419 or internet advanced fee fraud, kings, wives and concubines, children and movies stars are being kidnapped on daily basis and the ransom are being announced by the press like lottery winning games.
Finally, unlike what all the doubting “Thomases” will want us to believe on the shortcomings of State and City Police, establishing it, is where the solution to internal security of Nigeria lies, it will not only solve the problem it will put tribal “things” called OPC, Egbesu and area boys out of business, Governors and future Mayors of each city performances will be measured before re-election, State and City police will help to enforce all the local laws passed by the State House of Assembly and those of the local government, to ignore this, is to postpone the evil day, Nigeria Bless Your Hearts
Zents Kunle Sowunmi
New York USA the author of “Before the Journey became Home”
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/public-speaking-articles/nigeria-state-and-city-police-1634713.html
