Category Archives: Small Business

Dec 16 0 comments
Small Business

Public Speaking Training on the Best Speech Topic of All Time

David Portney wrote:


In this public speaking training article, I’m going to reveal to you the absolute best speech topic of all time.

Now, don’t panic if you think your speech topic is different, because I’m going to show you how to make a slight adjustment to your speech topic so that it’s within the “framework” of the best speech topic of all time.

Okay, drum roll please… here’s the number one best speech topic of all time:

Money.

Money is without a doubt the hottest topic and until money disappears from the Earth, which is not very likely, money will remain the hottest speech topic until the end of time.

Making money, how to make more money, how to stop losing money – these are speech topics that will never, ever get old and people will always flock to hear.

Now, what if your topic doesn’t have anything to do with money or making money or how to stop losing money?

For example, let’s say you’re a motivational speaker and your speech topic is all about empowerment and how people can empower themselves to live a more fulfilled life.

Well, by being more fulfilled, one can be more productive. And being more productive means you can produce more and therefore earn more money!

Easy, isn’t it?

Okay, let’s try another: what if you’re a massage therapist and your topic is on massage therapy and you go out and speak about that.

Well, people who get regular massages are more relaxed. And people who are more relaxed can think more clearly, be more creative, and get more done. And thinking clearly and being more creative and getting more done translates to being more productive, which means… you guessed it – making more money!

Let’s try one or two more – how about leadership skills and communication skills.

Again, this is simple: being a better leader means being able to motivate groups to be more productive which translates to increase company profits which translates to raises and promotions for that leader (or more take home pay for the owner, if the owner is that leader).

Same thing with communication skills: being a better communicator can lead to generating more clients and closing more sales which… yep, means more money.

Being able to tie your existing speech topic into making more money is the key. Simply think about the benefits of what your speech topic offers people, and use the examples above to stimulate your thinking into how that ties into being more productive and making more money

There’s an old saying: “you don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle”.

So don’t just talk about leadership, or massage, or communication skills – talk about the results people will get from being a better leader or more relaxed or a better communicator.

Moreover be sure to tell people about all the benefits they’ll receive. For example, making more money.

Now, take your existing speech topic and make it into the best speech topic of all time!

Sign up right now for free weekly public speaking training at http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com



Dec 16 0 comments
Small Business

Public Speaking Training on a Super-secret Staging Technique

David Portney wrote:


This public speaking training article is on how to use the highly effective and very sophisticated technique sometimes called “stage anchoring”.

Stage anchoring is a technique used to manage and control emotional state of mind of your audience or group in any public speaking situation.

The term “stage” as I use it here means any place where you’re up in front of people. That could be standing up in the front of a room, or leading a meeting, or speaking to the board of directors.

It doesn’t matter if you’re on an actual stage or not, just that you’re in front of people.

The term “anchoring” means any kind of stimulus-response – for example, the stimulus of hearing your national anthem can create the response of you feeling patriotism.

Putting those terms together, stage anchoring means using specific physical locations on “the stage” as a specific stimulus that creates a specific predetermined emotional response in your audience.

Stage anchoring is a very sophisticated and advanced technique, but it’s not complicated or complex to use or understand. In fact it’s much easier to demonstrate and practice in a public speaking training than to read or hear about it.

What makes this advanced is primarily the fact that you are mapping out ahead of time what specific emotional states and moods you want to elicit in your group.

Most speakers trainers and presenters don’t stop to think ahead about what kind of “emotional roller coaster ride” they should take their audience on.

The other thing that makes this an advanced technique is you must carefully plan out what state of mind you want them in at the end of your talk when you do your call to action. For example, if you’re selling yourself or your product or service, perhaps a state of intense desire would be useful.

This means that step one of planning your stage anchors is deciding what specific emotional states of mind you want your audience to experience.

Step two will be deciding when exactly in your presentation you want your audience to experience which specific emotional state. For example, you may want to start with curiosity and then lead to desire.

Step three is deciding ahead of time exactly which location on the stage you’ll use exclusively for that particular emotional state. Important!-you must keep your locations cleanly separated!

Step four is deciding what you will say to elicit each of the emotional states you plan to elicit in your audience.

Summary and super-important bonus tips:

Stage anchoring is a highly sophisticated and extremely powerful way of controlling the mood and emotional states of your audience in ways you have determined ahead of time.

Plan out emotional states that will most likely facilitate the outcomes and results you want to reach with your public speaking. Stories are the easiest way to elicit emotional states in your audience. Your voice tone and facial expressions must be congruent with each emotional state.

Sign up right now for free weekly public speaking training at http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com



Dec 09 0 comments
Small Business

Public Speaking Anxiety: Can Public Speaking Training Make it Worse?

David Portney wrote:


If you have deep anxiety about public speaking, I want you to be very cautious before you even consider taking any kind of public speaking training.

Public speaking training may actually make your anxiety worse!

It’s important to make some clear distinctions here: being a little nervous or a little anxious about doing pubic speaking is common.

Having a little public speaking anxiety is so common that some public speaking trainers don’t realize that some people have an actual clinical phobia and very deep anxiety.

If you suffer from true glossophobia and not merely a “normal amount” of public speaking anxiety and nervousness, then a public speaking training might actually do more harm than good.

I’ve heard some terrible stories about public speaking trainings where the trainer – well intentioned I’m sure – took a “sink or swim” approach to anxious students and worsened their anxiety.

One particularly bad story I heard is a public speaking trainer that actually bound a students hands with rope behind her back to prevent her from “making nervous gestures”; you can imagine the damage caused to this poor student of public speaking.

A good public speaking training will offer the student plenty of feedback on what they did well and what needs improving. But there should be a comfort zone created and maintained at all times, and this is the responsibility of the trainer. Feedback is crucial, but it should be constructive and supportive at the same time.

A very good public speaking training will not hold back – instead of just getting nice pats on the back for lackluster skill levels, the student will be challenged to improve with honest feedback.

At the best public speaking trainings, the facilitator will know how to set the rules up ahead of time when it comes to giving feedback because mean-spirited comments disguised as “telling it like it is” will do more harm than good.

Evaluate a public speaking training and the trainer carefully. Speak to the trainer directly and tell them if you have concerns or have experienced anxiety about public speaking in the past. They should be able to have an honest dialogue with you and ease your mind about any uncomfortable situations that you might encounter.

All that being said, even the best public speaking trainings and their trainers can’t read a student’s mind or know their entire personal history, so ultimately you need to be responsible for yourself and to yourself. Try to stay out of situations that will result in increased anxiety, and if you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation, give yourself permission to bow out gracefully and watch from the safety of the sidelines.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can feel free to contact me and I’ll be glad to address your concerns and answer your questions.

For more public speaking training articles visit http://www.bestpublicspeakingtraining.com



Oct 29 0 comments
Small Business

Critical Public Speaking Pre-preparation

Dale A. Simmons wrote:


Our continuing series of “So You Want To Become a Public Speaker”; we will look at Public Speaking Pre-Preparation. How many seminars have you gone to and paid good money to participate to find the speaker reading from cards, or reading from an overhead presentation? And let us not forget the “and, ums, ah’s”.

I went to a seminar once and it was so bad that I found myself counting how many “and’s and um’s” were being stated. I really cannot remember what the subject was. I found myself viewing the seminar participants sleeping, writing, day dreaming and so on. Have you ever been to one of those? There are really only two major causes for this type of poor performance.

1. Just there to get paid

That is to me the most disgusting reason of all. If you’re just there to get paid and not passionate about your speaking career GET OUT! People pay good money for seminars and expect to hear a good presenter with good information. Nuf said!

2. Bad preparation

Pre-Preparation is critical to your delivering a good presentation. In Public Speaking the pre-preparation, or lack of, will be noticed by your audience.

So, we are going to address pre seminar preparation.

So now you have the subject matter for your next seminar. You know the venue and the time allotted for your presentation. What else do you need to know?

Elements of Pre Prep

Know your audience; - their age group, gender, ethnicity, education, income level. You may ask yourself, “Why do I need to know all that information?”

The more your presentation is geared towards your audience the more impact and success you will have in its delivery and the less chance of a blunder. Example; There was a speech given by a government official where a question was raised on how the presenter thought about a specific person. Me personally, I felt the response was well stated, but was offensive to some with regard to “he is articulate” and was taken as a racial thing. There was rhubarb about that whole thing.

In this new politically correct (PC) world one must be careful of the words used. Unless you are a well known controversial speaker, one must address this issue in your pre-prep.

Can you see the value of knowing your audience before presenting?

To find out audience information, contact the seminar planner, they would have a good idea of your audience.

Speech Preparation – Okay you have your subject, now what? Organizing your speech is one of the most important skills to learn. Good organization is often the key to understanding. The audience is more likely to understand your message if it is well organized.

Write out your speech. Writing for public speaking isn’t so different from other types of writing. You want to hold your audience’s attention, communicate your ideas in a logical manner and use reliable evidence to support your point.

When you write a speech understand your audience is made up of listeners. They have only one chance to comprehend what you’re presenting. Your speech must be well-organized and easily understood, and your delivery must fit the audience. Again with the audience!

Practice, Practice, Practice! - In my eyes this is the most important part of public speaking! To put this in straight talk, “you need to nail this!” “You only have one shot. You blow it here and you’re all done.” I’m not joking!

If this is a new subject for you need to start practicing this presentation 1 week before show time! Your reputation is riding on every presentation you present regardless of the public speaking venue. Ask a friend over to help, it may cost you’re a dinner or beer, present it and ask for honest feedback.

You really don’t want to read off cue cards or read off you Power Point presentation. Your audience can read the onscreen presentation. It does not hurt to glance up if you loose your place. But again if you practiced this presentation enough you shouldn’t have to.

Equipment Requirements – Understand your venue. Seating capacity, number of expected participants, size of room and acoustics play a huge roll on your planned delivery. Also find out about existing sound equipment, projectors, screens and lighting.

Once you have gathered all this information you can start your pre-prep for equipment needed like wireless microphone systems and adaptability to existing sound equipment, USB presentation projector, laptop, extra batteries, extra bulb, USB flash drive (backup for your presentation), and screen.

There is nothing worst than getting to your public speaking venue and you don’t have the correct equipment for your presentation. Backup, back-up backup! Basically be prepared for the worst!

Pre-preparation is critical to your public speaking career. Know your audience, write out your speech in a logical manner, practice, practice, practice and then practice some more. Understand your venue and have the required equipment there to present your best presentation ever!

For more information on public speaking contact us 1-888-696-6424,email or visit our web site.



Jul 25 0 comments
Small Business

Public Speaking, Presentation of the Presentation

Dale A. Simmons wrote:


Presentation, presentation, presentation is the name of the Public Speaking game!

You may be the most knowledgeable person in the world on a given subject, you may be a PHD with clusters, but if your presentation of the presentation does not have presentation skills your presentation will fail! “Now that was fun!”

Have you gone to a seminar you were really excited about and if you made it to the end, got nothing out of it? Let’s take a look. When the presentation started this is what your heard; Welcooome toooday. . . . . . we will talk abouuut . . . . . .blah de blah, blah blah, blahblahblah. “Monotone, I hate monotone!”, “Drives me absolutely crazy!” Standing in one spot, like a mannequin and has the excitement of watching ice melt. Got the picture?

Continuing the series of “So You Want To Become A Public Speaker?” we are going to dive into Presentation. Not to be confused with the presentation itself, but how it’s presented.

Remember, a presentation is a performance, like an actor. Always bring your “A” game. No “B” movie acting here! How you are being perceived is critical to your longevity in this business.

Dress properly for the occasion. As stated in a previously published article in this series; you can always dress down, but not up.

If your topic is serious, be serious, but not stiff. Present the desired image to your audience. Be enthusiastic, confident, carry yourself with pride, but not cocky. Remain calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Remember the duck story; calm and collected on top of the water, even though your feet are going like heck below the surface.

Speak slowly, articulate clearly, and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. But don’t be phony your audience will pick up on that immediately. Take the time to connect with your audience. (Refer back to “Public Speaking Pre Preparation” in the area of “know your audience”.) Speak to the person furthest away from you to make sure your voice is heard from back of the room. It’s okay and encouraged to ask that furthest person in the back if you can be heard. Fluctuate the tone of your voice and dramatize if necessary. If sound equipment is required, as was determined during your pre preparation, adjust accordingly. DO NOT TALK MONOTONE!

I was taught to speak with conviction as if I really believed in what I was saying. Throughout my public speaking career I have changed that teaching to, “Speak with conviction as I truly believe in what I’m saying!”

The material you present verbally should have the same structure as a written research paper, i.e. INTRODUCTION to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state intro, summarize, and a logical conclusion) with a verbal presentation, add a questions and answer period.

Body language is critical. Standing, walking and moving around using appropriate hand gestures is a MUST. Never present a presentation sitting down or standing still, reading from a prepared presentation. I encourage you not to use a lectern. “Here, check this out” American Heritage Dictionary - lec·tern (lěk’tərn) A stand that serves as a support for the notes or books of a speaker. Now here’s my definition - “A lectern is a crutch for the unprepared speaker.”

Audio-visual aids are okay; don’t torment your audience by creating a lengthy overhead presentation and reading it out to them. You will loose your audience for sure and most importantly your credibility.

Do not read from notes. It’s okay to glance at your notes, but personally I don’t use them. However, I do use overhead presentations so if I loose my place I can glance up, adjust and continue on. Know your subject! If you make an error, correct it, inject some humor and continue.

Add humor when appropriate. Keep your audience interested and relaxed throughout the entire presentation. Caution; don’t be a clown! Humor is great to get your audience relaxed and at the same time relax you the presenter. Don’t open with a joke. This is a bad practice. Trust me there will be plenty of time and opportunities for humor during your presentation. Remember that an interesting presentation makes time go by fast, but a boring presentation is always too long to bear even if the presentation length is the same.

Maintain good eye contact with your audience. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and once in a while glance at the whole audience while speaking.

Maintain a constant visual on your audience. Their body language will tell you if you need to adjust your presentation. Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt on the fly.

Your presentation of the presentation (gotta love it) is critical to your public speaking career. Voice tone, eye contact, humor, body language, subject matter knowledge, visual-aids and structure are items you must understand and implement. As stated in previous sessions, “You’re a walking billboard for your Public Speaking career and these are some of the tools in your toolbox of success. Good luck and see you at the next session.

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