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Posted By David Newman | August 12th, 2007
Overcoming Pre-Presentation Jitters
by Heather Hansen
There is nothing more impressive that an eloquent public speaker. Confident, well-versed and in-control, he makes it look easy, doesn’t he? But we all know it’s not as easy as it looks.
It is a very natural reaction to become nervous before a presentation. This is basically because it is very unnatural to put yourself in the vulnerable position of standing before a large group of people who will judge you and what you say (which is really an extension of you, isn’t it?).
It’s okay to be nervous - as long as your audience never finds out! Follow these tips to overcome nervousness and build confidence:
Before your audience arrives
1. Be prepared
This should not be the first time you deliver your presentation. A very thorough understanding of the topic and how you want to present it is necessary for success.
Have a general outline of what you want to say, and know exactly how you want to deliver it before standing up in front of your audience. The more prepared you are, the fewer reasons you have for being nervous.
2. Get comfortable with your surroundings
Always be the first one to arrive at the place where you are presenting. Even if it is the company boardroom that you’ve been in a thousand times, spend some time standing at the front of the room. Envision people in the chairs looking at you. If you know the people attending your presentation, envision their faces. Get comfortable with this image.
Make sure the room is set up the way you want it to be. Move furniture appropriately and make sure there aren’t any traps - cables you might trip over, tables you could bump into, etc.
The more comfortable you are with your surroundings, the more relaxed you will be able to be.
3. Set up your presentation
Make sure your computer is working, set up Power Point, place participant materials, name cards, bottles of water, etc. at each person’s place. Make sure that everything is ready to go so you can focus on your audience when they arrive.
4. Take a deep breath and stop fidgeting
Take a deep breath, meditate, go to your happy place - do whatever you need to do and whatever works for you to relax. Do this before your audience arrives or in a place removed from your audience - don’t roll out your yoga mat on stage.
Also be aware of your nervous habits. Stop playing with your hair, tapping your foot, biting your lip, wringing your hands, straightening your suit, etc. Your audience should only see the relaxed, confident, professional you.
If you think you don’t have any nervous habits, video record one of your presentations. You may be surprised by what you see. Make a conscious effort to identify your own habits and put an end to them.
When your audience arrives
1. Create a friendly environment
When the audience begins arriving, the nerves go into overdrive. Combat this natural force by creating a safe and friendly environment.
Depending on the size of the audience, greet each participant individually and casually chat with the group. With larger groups, circulate and socialize with smaller groups of audience members.
Small talk will get your mind off of your nerves and make you feel more comfortable with the people that are there. It will also make your audience feel more at ease and leave them with a good first impression of you!
2. Give yourself a pep talk
Take a moment to prepare yourself mentally before you begin. This mental preparation could start as early as when you get out of bed the morning of the presentation, or it could be a quick pep talk just before you begin.
Remind yourself that there is a reason why you have been asked to speak - you have something very important to say! The sooner you really believe this, the better.
Everyone there wants to listen to what you have to say. They’re on your side, and want you to succeed. It is a safe environment filled with friendly professionals who can’t wait to hear what you have to say.
These things may or may not be true (generally they are, but there are of course exceptions to the rule) - it doesn’t matter. It’s about building confidence and making you feel more comfortable. The more you believe you have something important to say, the easier it is to convince your audience. It will be natural and obvious to them.
3. Find your biggest fan
In every audience there is at least one person that stands out as a “supporter.” You may have identified the person during pre-presentation small talk, it could be a colleague who is a good friend, or it could just be a “head-nodder” (one of those people who really reacts to presenters by nodding his head, taking notes, and generally being very supportive).
These people are your biggest fans. If you’re feeling nervous as you begin to speak, or if you run into problems during the presentation, focus on these individuals. No matter what happens, they will continue to smile and nod their heads, giving you that extra push you need to get through.
4. Take one last deep breath, smile and begin!
Heather Hansen, founder of Singapore-based Hansen Speech & Language Training, is an executive speech and language coach, writer and trainer. Become a star speaker! Join her mailing list today at http://www.hansenslt.com to receive a free special report and her monthly newsletter, Speak like a Star!
Posted By David Newman | May 28th, 2007
TOP TEN WAYS TO MAKE MONEY PUBLIC SPEAKING
by Tom Antion
1. SELL YOUR KNOWLEDGE
 This is my overriding principle that came from years of hard knocks trying to get people to hire me to speak. I get more speaking engagements than I ever had before when I quit trying to sell them and began selling my knowledge in as many different formats as possible. The idea is that infinitely more people can buy what you know through books, tapes, CDs, Ebooks and videos than could ever hire you to speak. Your name recognition because of your knowledge distribution makes speaking engagements much easier to come by because the people that could hire you have already heard you and your message on your knowledge based products. In the mean time, the money from the product sales keeps your business thriving.
2. GET SPONSORSHIP
You can get other companies to sponsor your speaking fee so they can be associated with your message when you speak. Stop and think of what kinds of groups would want to be associated with your message. Let’s say you speak to the banking industry. Maybe mortgage, or mutual fund companies would sponsor you. Maybe bank equipment companies would. Think of anyone who would want to have exposure to your target audience then simply make a proposal to their public relations department.
3. GET DIRECTLY PAID
This is pretty straight forward. As a motivational speaker, you speak to a corporation, association, civic group, or anyone who would hire you and they pay you directly. Most of the time you should try to get a deposit up front of about 50 percent and the balance either before the event, or the day of the event. You will use various methods to get hired. I have had the greatest success in my career getting hired to speak by promoting myself properly on the Internet.
4. SPEAKERS BUREAUS
A speakers bureau is a for profit organization that locates speakers for paying clients. The speakers bureau normally takes a percentage of your gross fee. The percentage is usually in the 15 to 30 percent range with the average fee being 25 percent. It is very difficult to start with speakers bureaus unless you are a bonafide celebrity and your fees are substantial. You must remember they get paid on straight commission and the higher your fee, the more they make. Also, unless you have a proven track record, a speakers bureau will be afraid to put you in front of one of their clients because if you bomb they could lose many more bookings from the same client. You must also supply the bureau with promotional materials that don’t have your contact information so anyone that sees the material will contact the bureau directly and not you.
5. PUBLIC SEMINARS
This is another fairly simple idea, but that doesn’t mean it’s simple to do. Basically you promote your seminar to the public and they buy tickets to attend. You could also promote it to corporate management and get them to buy tickets for their employees to attend. I avoided public seminars for years because of the risk and expense involved in printing and mailing brochures. Now I do lots of public seminars because I can promote them at no cost through my website and email magazine.
6. TELEPHONE SEMINARS
This can be a form of public seminar, or it can be done for private groups. You arrange for a telephone bridge line (very inexpensive), or a conference call (can be VERY expensive). You have participants call in and you deliver the seminar over the telephone. This saves a tremendous amount of money on travel expenses for you and the participants along with all kinds of savings for the participants (travel, time, etc.) For visuals you can have the participants sitting in front of their computer while on the phone. You tell them what web page to visit to see your visuals.
7. WEBCASTS
This is similar to telephone seminars except you are using the Internet instead of a telephone to hold the seminar.
8. TRAINING COMPANIES
In this case a company hires you to deliver their programs to public seminar participants, or to participants all from the same private company. Career Track, SkillPath Seminars and Fred Pryor Seminars are examples of companies who hire seminar leaders. In some cases you can develop programs for the seminar company and get a higher fee for delivering that program and a fee each time it is delivered by another seminar leader. You also get a percentage of all the back of room products you sell. These companies can keep you on the road quite a bit so you better be ready to travel and don’t think each event will be in the Bahamas . . .Your events are more likely to be in places like Toledo, Cleveland and Columbus. These are relatively low paying jobs when compared to the kind of money you can get promoting your own speeches and seminars.
9. MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKERS SPEAK FREE TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS
Many professionals (including professional speakers) speak or give free public seminars to help get clients. Attorneys, doctors, dentists, accountants, real estate agents, lawyers, home builders and many other people from a wide variety of professions give seminars to promote their business and to gain clients directly from the seminars. To do this effectively you must not spend the entire seminar promoting yourself. You must give the participants good information with the idea of establishing yourself or your company as the expert. There is certainly nothing wrong with showing people how complicated things are and even though they can do it themselves, it might not be a wise thing to do. For instance, you could be a plumber giving a seminar on how to remodel your bathroom. You tell the participants every little detail of how to do it and also tell them the perils if they do it wrong. No one will complain that you were just giving a sales pitch, but many will think to themselves, “Maybe this is too much to tackle by myself. Maybe I should hire this person to either help me or do it for me.”
10. SPEAK AS PART OF YOUR JOB
Many companies have their own speakers bureau. Normally the only reason it exists is as a public relations tool to provide a good image of their company to the community. One of the ways you can speak for pay in your company is to volunteer to be in the speakers bureau. As long as you are on company time when you are speaking, you are indirectly getting paid to speak. If they always ask you to speak after hours on your own time, well that’s a different story. You still might want to do it to continue to become a better motivational speaker. Another way to get paid to speak in your job is to join the training staff of your company, or start one if one doesn’t exist. You can simply target a problem the company is having and work up a program to train others in the company on how to solve the problem. Suggest a few sessions to your boss to see how it goes. If you get results, chances are they will want you to do the same program for others in the company.
Posted By David Newman | May 28th, 2007
By Stephan Schiffman
Fear of public speaking ranks high on nearly every study of common anxieties — higher even than the fear of death!
As someone who has delivered hundreds of speeches before groups of all kinds, and trained many people to do the same, I have some insights on this. What people really fear is not so much public speaking itself as the possibility of being unprepared for a speech.
If you prepare well, you will eliminate most of the fear. Here are the ten “MUSTS” for a successful speech. Cover all ten, and you will be well prepared for the big event.
1. You MUST use humor to establish rapport with the audience very early on in the speech — and preferably self-deprecating humor. (Abraham Lincoln was once accused of being two-faced. Lincoln replied, “If I had two faces, do you think this is the one I’d be wearing?” )
2. You MUST know your audience and match your content to their world.
3. You MUST know your material thoroughly. In other words, you must practice delivering the major points, in the order you want to cover them, preferably in front of people such as family or friends. (Doing this ahead of time will also help you identify what should be eliminated from the speech.) Consider making an audio or video of your speech and reviewing it closely before you deliver it to a “live” group.
4. You MUST know your own strengths and weaknesses as a speaker. Make sure you are emphasizing your strengths during the speech.
5. You MUST wear appropriate attire for the occasion.
6. You MUST project comfort and confidence to the audience. Erect posture and the ability to take deep breaths is a part of this. Do not confuse “confidence” with “arrogance”—being able to admit that you do not know something, or that you made an error about something, will usually win you attention and interest.
7. You MUST use appropriate body language – hand gestures, walking, spreading your arms – to retain visual interest from the audience.
8. You MUST speak comprehensibly. If this is a problem according to other people who listen to you practice delivering your speech, make a conscious choice to slow down and enunciate. Find ways to remind yourself of this during the speech.
9. You MUST speak loudly enough to be heard by everyone. (If you don’t have a microphone, pitch your voice so that the person in the back of the room will hear what you’re saying.)
10. You MUST speak with enthusiasm and conviction. If the audience does not believe that you believe what you’re saying, they will tune out.
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STEPHAN SCHIFFMAN is the president of D.E.I., one of the largest sales training companies in the U.S. He is the author of a number of best-selling books including Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!)
Posted By David Newman | May 12th, 2007
| by Matt Bellace, MS, MA
 The practice that reinvented my speaking business was stand-up comedy. I am a youth motivation speaker with an expertise in substance abuse prevention. Until recently, I was known as a good speaker with real world prevention experience who uses interaction to engage the audience. Stand-up comedy took my developing career and made dramatic improvements.
My speaking mentor, Kevin Wanzer, encouraged me to be myself on stage and continually work to improve my skills. I never knew that his advice would apply so well to developing comedic abilities.
In 2000, I took a stand-up comedy workshop at a community college. As a PhD candidate and a perpetual student, I liked the idea of tackling comedy in the classroom setting. To my surprise, much of the introductory course was devoted to stage presence and learning to write material. Both of these skills I developed through speaking. Honestly, my material was not that funny when I started, but I had strong stage presence with a good underlying sense of humor.
Comedy changed my speaking business when I started doing comedy every week and injecting the appropriate material into my programs. In the beginning, I went to open mics and basically worked through being a terrible comic. Approximately, one year into the journey, I discovered a long lost cousin who happened to be a professional comedian. His name is Joe Matarese and he has a long list of credits, including Last Comic Standing. More importantly, his act is incredible. I had never seen anyone connect so well with an audience. The crowd loved him because he was himself and he was very funny. Following the show we met and hit it off right away. Within days, he was getting me guest spots of five to 10 minutes at clubs and colleges.
He provided two things that helped developed me into a professional comedian: guidance and repetition. Joe steered me away from hack jokes about airplane food and towards material about my life. The best part was the jokes fit in so well in front of speaking audiences. Suddenly, I went from being a good speaker with real world experience to well rounded speaker and comedian. This improved my marketability and my passion for the stage. Today, I perform often at top clubs like Caroline’s on Broadway and the Stress Factory in New Jersey. I still have much room for improvement, but I’m on the right path. Coincidentally, I’ve recruited Joe into professional speaking. It’s the least I could do.Matt Bellace, MS, MA, is a youth motivational speaker and comedian living in Hoboken, N.J. To contact him, visit wwww.mattbellace.com.
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Posted By David Newman | May 12th, 2007
by Vincent Muli Wa Kituku, PhD 
As a speaker, it is to your advantage not to overwhelm your audience with statistics or information. When you do, the audience will soon forget what you said in a presentation, let alone retain information they might find useful. But if you use an apt and memorable metaphor, you provide the audience the ability to recall the topic long after they have walked from your presentation. You have given them a new way of thinking about a particular issue.
However, finding the right metaphoric theme for a presentation goes beyond just telling a story. You must analyze your story carefully to be sure it relates to your topic. It must also be interesting enough to make an impression.
Find the Story that Fits Your Objective
Parables, stories or fables are all rich resources for speakers and/or trainers. They provide hidden messages and often can be tailored depending on the theme of your presentation. For example, for a presentation on how today’s employees can thrive in unpredictable workplaces, I use an old metaphor from my youth. Growing up in Kangundo, Kenya, I learned a parable about a lion and a gazelle and how they survive in the same jungle. The metaphor is now common in corporate America offices. It goes like this:
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will die. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.
Your Storytelling Style Matters
While some speakers/trainers may use the above metaphor to make or emphasize a point, I use it to embrace the whole presentation. When I use this metaphor, I take my audience to an African jungle–slowly and clearly. Everyone’s eyes are attentive and loud laughter or deep breathing follows. My audience sits up when I say, “Our world is like a jungle. We are either running for food or from being food,” and from there I begin to work into other points in my speech that build on this metaphor.
Construct Your Key Points
Now that my audience is ready to learn how their world is a “jungle” I begin by taking the parable apart. Considering where this story is taking place and how this is the natural habitat of both the lion and the gazelle, I can encourage listeners to know their “jungle.” “After all,” I say, “if this is your natural environment you should know its safe spots and its hidden dangers.” This provides the perfect spot for audience participation to discuss what is happening in their industry or jungle, now and as they look to the future.
A View From a Gazelle’s Perspective
Another area of the parable I explore is the action of running itself. After all, the parable stresses the importance of this for both the lion and the gazelle. From this metaphor I am able to present my points on concentration and the need to not let your career run aimlessly without direction. I stress how the lion chooses one gazelle as the target, positions itself and begins running. The gazelle does the same, but focuses on the direction of safety and doesn’t dally with other distractions while it is being chased.
The chase also brings to mind other considerations, such as determination and the importance of changing course if necessary, but never giving up. I encourage my audience to see it from either the gazelle’s or the lion’s point of view.
Next, I point out that all chases must end and that it’s just as important to know when you have reached your goal. This opens a discussion on what signs might indicate that a personal goal has been reached.
At this point I have taken a simple chase scene and pulled quite a few talking points for my presentation, and there are still plenty of areas to explore. I consider how lions will sometimes hunt in packs and talk about the need for teamwork. I talk about knowing when you are safe and what to do with the time when you find you are not running, a time when you can be honing your skills and preparing for the next “run.”
The end result is a presentation rich with images that imprints the message or messages in audience members’ heads. And all that’s required to accomplish this is the right story or parable along with a plan to take it to the next level of creativity.
Vincent Muli Wa Kituku, PhD, is president of Kituku and Associates. He provides businesses with “spears” to motivate employees, serve customers and increase profits within a short time. He can be reached at (208) 376-8724,
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Posted By David Newman | May 5th, 2007
Jumping Aboard the Net Meeting Bandwagon
by Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC
 The verdict is in; the Internet will absolutely and fundamentally change all aspects of the meeting industry. So much is changing so quickly that the typical speaker arises each morning feeling as if he or she will never stay on pace with technology developments, particularly as they relate to the meeting industry. Yet, by staying focused on broad-based emerging issues, even solo speakers with no staff can maintain a firm handle on where to focus their time and attention.
Here are the four issues and opportunity areas of which to be aware:
#1 All Functions to the Web
All meeting planning functions will be transferred to the web–given this reality, and that it is happening faster than anyone could have supposed just a few years ago, as a Speaker it becomes fundamental to have all the materials in your business web-ready. This means converting all of your prespeech materials, such as contracts, agreement forms, presentation questionnaires, survey forms, product bordering information, room diagrams and so on into PDF format so that any form can be sent to a meeting planner quickly and easily in the form of an email attachment.Fortunately, conversion to PDF format is a painless process once the proper software is installed. Adobe systems is the leader in this area, and you can gather all the information you need at www.adobe.com.
#2 Prepare Dual Formats
Prepare all speech related materials in dual format–hereafter, whatever you would prepare for an onsite audience needs to be recast for delivery over the Internet, and for a net audience. If you use Corel Presentations, PowerPoint or other online slide show software, you are already ahead of the game as they readily lend themselves to usage over the Internet. Extend the process further by ensuring that your professional photos, handouts, or participant materials as I like to call them, charts, graphs, exhibits, article reprints, and other paraphernalia used in front of a live group can be easily conveyed over the net.
#3 Master Long Distance Techniques
Become adept at long distance learning techniques–I belong to an organization of 40 business experts who share their expertise with clients in live programs over the Internet. Our program, called MentorU and found on the Internet at www.MentorU.com, uses interactive technology hosted by Placewhere.com to deliver real time professional training to corporations and organizations throughout the world. Corporations may sign up 1 to 1,000 people and view programs either as initially and originally scheduled, or as replays contained in the MentorU archives program file.
The point for all speakers today is to become aware and fluent in making online presentations. Use a headset so that you can maintain hands free movement while directing a professional slideshow, entertaining questions from your audience, conducting on the spot surveys, and tabulating results, all without the slightest hitch. The need for onsite speakers at conferences and conventions is not likely to dissipate, even with the development of expert holographic systems like you may have witnessed if you ever tuned into a Star Trek episode involving the “Holodeck.” Still, online presentations will grab an increasing share of the speaking, training and consulting market. If you haven’t gotten your feet wet in this 21st Century technology thus far, now is certainly the time to get started.
#4 How You Use It
How you use the Internet will drive your product sales–even if you already earn a fair amount of your revenues from product sales, be they pre, post, or during live meetings, an increasing share of your product sales will be directly attributed to how you use the Internet, and more specifically, your website. Opportunities to stay in touch with groups to whom you have spoken and to key audience members has never been greater.
Those who initially may not have seen the need to purchase your products, or felt the urge to, may eventually become repeat buyers, in part because of the relationship you establish and maintain via the net. You can maintain such contact through regular online zines, specific email communiques (less desirable), broadcast announcements, and a variety of emerging techniques. The advocates you create as a result of your speaking engagement become prime candidates for generating repeat and enduring product sales. And, as much as you love speaking to groups, you probably also enjoy making money while you sleep.
Jeff Davidson, MBA, CMC, is a popular speaker; and the award-winning author of many books, including Breathing Space: Living and Working at a Comfortable Pace in a Sped-up Society ($14.95).
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