Use 1 Idea to Make Your Slides #1

The human brain is very visual. That is why it is easier to remember someone’s face than it is to remember what their name is written as on their business card. This is part of the appeal of Powerpoint because when you are using it effectively, you are using images. But remember: Powerpoint is only one visual tool out of many. You could use good old fashioned props as well.

For example, one of the pioneers of modern technology, Steve Jobs, when introducing a new, ultra thin laptop, did not simply put up a slide with a picture of the laptop along with a few specs- he walked over to a table, picked up an envelope, and pulled the laptop right out of it to show how thin it actually was. It probably would have cost a total of 50 cents for the laptop but it made such a powerful impression on the audience that they got excited about how much thinner, lighter, and cooler the new laptop was going to be. He owned the company that probably had millions of dollars in budget and he could have hired any Hollywood movie director to make a fantastic promo video for him, but instead he chose to demonstrate its features with a simple envelope. So you have to always ask yourself if there is some tool that you can use to make your idea come alive and resonate with people.

Sometimes government agencies or organizations will get in touch with me and ask me what kind of public speaking services and guidance I can provide to either a single individual or a bunch of people associated with them and my selling pitch is that I do not just show up for a day and get people on camera- I actually have a toolkit of intellectual property, courses, books, online training, and the ability to rehearse with anyone after the training on Skype video. I will answer any of their questions in personalized, private videos. I will be sending up follow up training videos everyday for the next year. To show emphasis, I will actually have a toolkit by my side and I will show it to them to make the point that I have a whole host of helping tools that can aid them in the training process. Some people may think it is cheesy but you have to be willing to step out and take a risk from time to time.

This image or prop helps me to communicate my message and also helps them to remember the fact that I have a whole toolkit of pre and post training facilities in addition to the actual training itself.

You may not like using a certain prop and it is okay to not use it if you think it is too gimmicky or too cheesy. But if you think it will help your audience understand and remember your message, then, by all means, do it!

You Can Fulfill Your Exact Public Speaking Goals Once You Identify Them

For the past thirty years, I have worked with people from all over the globe belonging to all continents and regions. I have trained 10 year olds to 82 year olds. I have trained Presidents and administrative assistants. I have found that everyone is different but everyone is also the same. When I ask people what they want to achieve through my course, most of the first answers are that they are uncomfortable and they just want to be better at speaking. And I have to remind them that they could be as comfortable as they possibly can be but their speech could still be boring and uninteresting.

When I dig deep down with my clients, i find that there are four specific skill sets that they really want to work on. The first one of these is how they can actually feel and look comfortable and confident to their audience. As a short term solution, if you know how to look confident to your audience despite not feeling that way, you are going to be able to reduce a lot of your discomfort and anxiety.

The second skill is to make sure that people understand you. If someone has a great voice and incredible charisma while they speak but you cannot understand what they are saying because of jargon, too quick a speech, or too soft a tone, then no communication will effectively take place.

The third goal for most people is speaking in a way so you can actually get your audience to remember your messages. That is the hardest part of speaking. I ask my students to name the most effective and the best speaker they have heard in their field or industry in the past year, and then I ask them to tell me any message they remember from their speech or presentation. As I go around the circle taking answers, most will say that everyone they have heard has been boring, some will vaguely remember a speaker and one of their ideas, and others may remember three. Every 4 months, a student will be able to recall four ideas, and every 6 months, someone will come up with five, but not more than that.

Why do we want people to be able to remember your messages? So we can achieve our final goal which is to influence the audience to do what we want them to do. We speak to people in our industry because we want them to buy from us, or endorse us, or hire us, invest in us, or vote for us. We typically speak because we want the audience to do something for us.

These are the primary areas that my courses focus on. But I also want to know from you: what else do you want to get out of my courses? Tell me in the discussion session, with your name and place of origin, what else you want to learn from these courses so we can adjust accordingly.