Speech Training

Archive for the ‘Public Speaking’ Category

The organization to which you belong wishes to honor one of its members by presenting a gift, representative of the good will of the entire body.

You have been chosen to make the presentation speech.

The time has arrived, the person to be honored, and all the members of the organization, are present. The moment for your speech has come. What will you say?

There are three things to do:

1. Develop a climax.

2. Develop a compliment.

3. Present a gift.

You must do this in such a way that all three purposes Will unite more or less in one effect.

To do all this follow six steps:

1. Tell how it happened that you and your associates became familiar with the person to be honored.

“Nine years ago the great J. and B. Company erected this plant. When you and I took our places here we found ourselves under the eye of a keen, active man of business. Whether or not he had a heart we did not know.”

2. Tell how the person’s worth became established.

“As time went on we found not only a master and driver, but also a friend.” (Name instances that show a sympathetic spirit.)

3. Name the immediate cause of the present feeling in the organization.

“All these things we had known. Then came the crowning event, the establishment of the free reading room, game room, and infirmary.” (Comment on this in detail.)

4. Speak of the desire to express recognition.

“Because of all his many acts of kindness, and, in particular, because of this last great benefit, the J. and B. employees here wished to do something, however slight, to show recognition.”

5. Exhibit the gift, with appropriate explanations.

“The J. and B. employees have procured this silver loving cup, which, we hope, will express for years to come, the good will and hearty appreciation of every employee here.”

6. Make the direct presentation.

“Mr. Nelson, on behalf of all the employees of the J. and B. Company, it gives me pleasure to present to you this silver loving cup as a testimonial of gratitude for kindnesses of all kinds, and, in particular, for the establishment of the free game room, reading room, and infirmary.”

Notice that not until the very end of your speech do you mention the name of the person to be honored, or the gift that you present.

Follow this summary:

1. Tell the story of the relationship to be honored.

2. Tell how worth was established.

3. Comment on the cause of present feeling.

4. Speak of the desire to express recognition.

5. Explain the nature and purpose of the gift.

6. Make a formal presentation of the gift, summarizing the immediate reasons for its presentation.

PROBLEM.

You have been appointed to present a gift to the retiring President of your Lodge. Think out the words of your speech.

by Sandra Schrift

http://www.schrift.com

The three rules for being a top presenter are: practice, practice, practice. The good news is that public speaking is a craft that can be taught and learned. Hire a
speech coach.

1. Do you love what you speak on? Develop a niche or specialty that you truly enjoy and are good at.  Have a passion for your subject(s). Be persistent in your quest to be a speaker of excellence. Have the patience to succeed.

2. Do you have something interesting, inspiring, and useful to share with audiences? Be mindful of your voice (keep it deep and low pitched), your personality and attitude (positive), your tone (soft, loud, encouraging as needed),
your style, and your vocabulary.

3. Prepare 24/7. You don’t write speeches. You find them everywhere. in hotels, from family experiences, in supermarkets and in restaurants. Retrieve them and retell them. Do your research and keep current.

4. Practice your speech out loud. Rehearse until you are a virtuoso. Record it on a tape recorder and/or video camera. Play it back to see what changes you wish to make. Also do this when giving a program to a live audience. Do it every
time!

5. Have good platform skills. Knowing your subject is not enough. You must have the ability to excite the audience and keep their interest.

6. Speak from the heart and always connect quickly with your audience. Most audiences want to laugh, be inspired, listen to your personal stories, and feel something.  The listeners want you to know more than they do.

7. To begin, practice the four D’s with the tasks in your life: Drop, Delay, Delegate, Do! Make space for taking the steps needed to pursue your speaking career.

8. Acknowledge and utilize your prime time (chronobiology). Use your peak working hours to develop and collect your material, listen to tapes, hear other speakers, view videos, etc.

9. Take one step at a time – the first step is the hardest. The do what is needed to package yourself and improve your delivery constantly.

10. When speaking, act like your favorite actor or actress. Good speakers bring many different aspects of their personality to the material they are presenting. So be  prepared to play the role of the humorist, motivator, problem solver, and even controversial thinker.

11. Go to the movies and watch actors perform theatrically. Then sprinkle some heightened reality into your speech. “Reality without theatricality is boring”.

12. To be an effective public speaker, you must persuade your audience to think, feel and/or do something differently.

13. Short is better than long. Lincoln’s Gettysburg address ran only 266 words. Always allow time for questions from the audience, as they will know better than you what is on their minds. Questions and comments will provide you with valuable feedback and wisdom from the group.

14. Create a catchy, provocative speech title. If you include a subtitle, be sure it states your speech’s benefit(s). Keep I short and clear! Titles begin with “How
to” are the number one attention getters. For example, Sandra Schrift’s audio cassette program on How to Succeed in the Speaking Business.” Use creative metaphors and alliteration. Professional speaker Eric Chester speaks on
Krafting Kreative Keynotes. Author Sam Horn created best sellers with the names Tongue Fu! And ConZentate.

Double, even triple your present clients. Learn speaking and writing tips that include: how to persuade your audiences to buy, how to write a talk, an e-book, mini-sales letters or short articles, and a driven audience talk or book. 90
minute marathon uses question and answer format. Hosted free by Sandra Schrift & Judy Cullins on 11/18/2004 From 8:00 p.m.
to 9:30 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time)

Sandra Schrift 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to “grow” a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals  and organizations who want to master their presentations.

Brent Filson
The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.

http://www.actionleadership.com

The CEO of a worldwide business asked me to help him develop a talk he planned to give to several hundred of his top
executives. He said, “I feel as if I’m Daniel going into the lion’s den.”

Indeed, it was the business equivalent of a lion’s den that he was entering. Hired from a competing firm, he was a stranger
to the company, a company hobbled by declining market share and bad morale caused by the arbitrary actions of the previous CEO, an isolated dictator.

“This is the first time most of them will see and hear me,” he said. “I’ll give a presentation on the state of the
business.”

“Hold on,” I said. “Don’t give a presentation. Give a Leadership Talk instead.”

There is a difference, I explained, between a presentation/speech and a Leadership Talk. A presentation/speech
communicates information, but a Leadership Talk not only communicates information but makes a deep, emotional, human
connection with the audience.

Most leaders give presentations and speeches most of the time when they should be giving Leadership Talks.

“You’re facing an important leadership situation,” I said.

“The old saying, ‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression’ applies here in spades. You’ve got a great
Leadership Talk opportunity. But to have people believe in you and follow you, they must be emotionally committed to you and
what you say. So understand what their emotional needs are.”

I went out into the field and talked to a number of his managers and found out that they were feeling intimidated by the
demands of increasingly sophisticated customers. I found out that they feared not being supported in the decisions they made
in the field. I learned that they were angry at having to meet what they considered unnecessary reporting requirements. I
learned that they didn’t trust the top executives.

Intimidation, fear, anger, distrust . . . those emotions described the state of his audience and, in truth, the state
of the business.

The CEO gave a Leadership Talk that spoke to and answered the needs of those emotions, a talk based on the single idea
that he was a person that they could trust.

That Leadership Talk marked the beginning of a turnaround for that company.

The lesson: Analyze and speak to the emotion of a situation, and you can become a dramatically more effective leader.

Make that analysis happen this way:

Know the difference between a presentation/speech and Leadership Talk then view every speaking situation you encounter as either a presentation/speech situation or a Leadership Talk situation.
Know that you rarely give presentation/speeches and that The Leadership Talk should be your primary leadership communication tool.
Analyze the emotions of your audience by asking what they feel at the time you speak, what they fear, what angers them, what inspires them.
Structure your talk around emotional-talking points. For instance, list three things that angers your audience. Make those things the main headings of your talk.
Speak to them about their emotions. Tell them, for instance, that you realize they are angry and what they are angry about. Tell them what you realize they are feeling.

Speak thus, and you are revealed in powerful motivational ways. Furthermore, they are revealed to themselves.

These revelations can create strong bonds between speakers and audiences.

Understand the speaking situation in terms of its emotional content, and you understand that situation in new ways. Understand it in new ways and you speak in new ways. And when you speak in new ways, your audience acts in new ways.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He is founder and president of The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. – and has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured results. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, “49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results,”

At a meeting of your organization you wish to nominate for office a man whom you consider in every way fitted for the position.

You know that if you can make a good nomination address you will bring success to your candidate.

How will you speak in order to be successful? There are three psychological steps to follow.

Make your speech according to those three steps, in the order indicated below, and you will certainly make a good impression.

1. Define the type of man needed for the office.

“The office of Treasurer of our organization needs a man of business ability, a man accustomed to handling large sums of money, a man familiar with banking, with accounting, and with all the details of large business.” (Add further points until you have shown the full needs of the office.)

2. Without naming your candidate, show that you know a man whose characteristics are those called for by the office.

“There is a man among us who, for years, has handled, not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of dollars; he is an experienced banker, so respected that he was made an officer of the Bankers’ Association of this State; he is the author of a well known text book on the care of fraternal funds.” (Add further details until you have shown the unusual qualifications of your candidate.)

3. At the close of your address, name, for the first time, the candidate you have in mind.

“Gentlemen: the man who has all these remarkable qualifications, qualifications that more than fill the requirements of the office, is here with us. We are fortunate in having such a man as a fellow member. I nominate for the office of Treasurer, Mr. Frank B. Labdell, one of the charter members of this body.”

By speaking in this deductive way you fix attention upon the office rather than the man. You remove personal antagonism, and place all emphasis upon qualifications.

Prove your points thoroughly and you are likely to make your candidate successful. ¦

PROBLEM.

Think of a man who would make a successful President of your organization. Think out the words of a nomination address in his favor.

by Sandra Schrift

http://www.schrift.com

When you need to get up and speak do you feel butterflies in your stomach? Sweaty palms? Dry mouth? Shaking knees and hands? You are not alone. Fear of public speaking is No. 1. Death is No.4. So most people would rather get a root canal and pay their taxes than speak in front of an audience.

Here are a few techniques to help you reduce your nervousness and present like a pro.

1. Before you begin, drink some tepid water, take a few deep breaths and visualize your success.

2. The audience wants you to succeed – so just treat them as your friends and speak in a conversational manner. You don’t use notes when you speak to your friend, so don’t use them now. At the most, you may use some note cards that include some key words for you to remember.

3. You can relax yourself as well as your audience, if you remember to SMILE! Everyone is more at ease when they see your smile. Better yet, find some humor in the situation and get everyone to laugh, including you.

4. Practice, practice, practice. Getting familiar with your material by speaking often This really helps reduce your tension.

5. Find ways to speak – volunteer as a committee chair, lead a meeting, attend networking meetings so you can introduce yourself often and get comfortable hearing the sound of your voice and words.

6. Then ask yourself the big question: “What’s the worst thing that could happen? No, you won’t faint, or , forget what you plan to say. Remember when you speak to any audience, it is about them, not you. So be present with them as you would when speaking to your friend.

7. A great way to calm yourself is to arrive early and greet people as they enter the room. This is a way to relax yourself and encourage others to feel friendly towards you before you even start your speech.

8. Think about what you are going to wear. Choose clothing that makes you look good and feel good. Most people delineate their thoughts visually and your audience will form an opinion about you after looking at you for 30 seconds. My mother always encouraged me to “dress up” before taking a final exam – she said, “If you want a high grade, then look the part.”

9. If you really want to be a masterful speaker, hire a speech coach . . . like me. No serious athlete or professional speaker would get very far without a coach.

10. And, finally, focus on having fun President Theodore Roosevelt said, “If you can’t find a way to make public speaking fun, why do it?”