Archive for the ‘Understanding your audience’ Category

Marketing Your Speaking Skills

January 31st, 2008 |3 comments

I get a lot of enquiries through my website on how to market your speaking skills.  Below are some ideas that I have used recently.

The first thing you need to do is to get out and start speaking.  It does not matter if you are speaking at a Toastmasters Club, Rostrum Club or cards club, just get out and practice!  This will give you the experience that you need to market yourself.

Once you have from this circuit, you can hit the Rotary circut.  Rotary clubs are great to speak to for the following reason:

  1. They are great people – this means a welcoming audience!
  2. The members are generally ‘better connected’ than other members of society.  This means that you are speaking to people who can either look directly at your services and hire you, or will generally have some influence where they work and can recommend you.
  3. It’s a great way to refine your material. Recently I was scheduled to speak to two Rotary clubs on the 1 day.  My first presentation was at 7:30 am and the other 12 hours later.  I thought the speech that I prepared would work well for both clubs.  However, the morning presentation did not go as well as I wanted it too.  To improve my presentation for the evening, I re-wrote my 20 minute presentation during my lunch break that day and gave it again in the evening.  It was a much better effort.  If I had not been at the two meeting in the one day, it would have been much longer between the pain of the morning presentation and the success of the evening presentation.  The longer the time between the two, the less chance of refining!

So how do you go about approaching Rotary clubs?  It is simple.  Just follow the steps below and you will be fine.

  1. Google Rotary Clubs for your local area.  Search the website for individual club websites.
  2. Find the contact of the club.  It does not matter who it is, what position they hold, or what the site looks like.
  3. Send the contact the following e-mail

Hello,

My name is <insert name here>and I am a local speaker.

Could you please advise who I would need to speak to about being a guest speaker at one of your club meetings.

Cheers

<insert name>

That’s all you need to do.  Send this e-mail to every club within 90 minutes drive of your house.  (If you think that is too far, I suppose you don’t want to be a speaker!  If you think that having 2 kinds under 3, both you and your partner working full-time and having to get up at 5 to get there is a problem, deal with it!)

4.  Keep track of the contact names, e-mail addresses and club names.  Not everyone will get back to you straight away.  After a month, follow up those that have not got back to you.

5.  The final reason you would want to get out and do the Rotary circuit is that you get a free meal and a pen as well!

What do you say?  Check some of the other posts such as Understanding your Audience and marketing your speaking skills

But if you really want to a step-by-step guide, you need to get the MP3 How to Start Your Public Speaking Career Today. In this audio you will get everything you need to get started – including an example of a live Rotary Speech. I will literally be your coach on how to get your first gig. Get How to Start Your Public Speaking Career Today.

Getting out and marketing yourself as a speaker really is that easy.  The speaking circuit is full of people who do not have a message as good as yours, but are marketing themselves better than you are.  In 12 months time, do you want to be sitting down annoyed that you let another 12 months go by before you got out and did something?

‘Til next time.

Cheers

Darren Fleming


Kevin Rudd Vs. Obama

January 23rd, 2008 |no comments

There was a great article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Stephanie Peatling analysing the public speaking skills of the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with those of US Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama.  It’s a great article that highlights the different styles of speaking of recent Australian political leaders and compares them to Obama.  They are like chalk and cheese!

The full article can be found here.  I have also copied the full article below as I do not know for how long the link will work.

Obama offers hope for the art of speechmaking

Stephanie Peatling
January 21, 2008
Cast your mind back to election night. It’s not that long ago, not even two months. It’s hard, because to go there is to remember the speech Kevin Rudd gave as he claimed victory for the Labor Party after 11 grim years in Opposition.An occasion, one might think, for a rousing, stirring, passionate speech full of hope and optimism.Instead, there was a lengthy dissertation on the task ahead and a short, sharp reminder that even though the night was one for celebration it would be followed by an early morning of work – a none too subtle hint to staff not to let frivolity get in the way of a clear head.For months before that night Rudd had kept the media entertained with his frequent use of metaphors – the bridge too far, the fork in the road, the base camp of Everest. He is a far cry from the walking thesaurus that was Kim Beazley, a Labor leader who would never say “unquestioning underling” when “myrmidon” would do; would never use “wordy” when “prolix” could be dusted off; or “useless activity” when “boondoggle” was there for the taking.A press gallery favourite was “termagant”, which Beazley once hurled at Tony Abbott, who no doubt scurried to check its meaning (“an imaginary Muslim deity portrayed as a violent and overbearing character in medieval mystery plays”) before responding.

But although Beazley tossed out words not used by the average person for several decades, it was done with delight and love for language. He would never have told journalists he did not want the gathering of federal, state and territory leaders known as the Council of Australian Governments “to become a sort of dead horse”.

“I want it to be a workhorse, not a dead horse. I don’t want to whip it. I just want to stroke it gently … Just lately the poetry’s lacking. But my intention is to meet it regularly and actually turn it into a real workhorse of the Federation,” Rudd said in one of his first press conferences as Prime Minister.

John Howard ushered in a new era of no-frills speaking and there is not yet much evidence to suggest the new Prime Minister wants to return to the sweeping verbal landscapes of Paul Keating. Rudd’s use of language so far is functional and administrative. In English, at least. In Mandarin he seems to get a far more appreciative response.

Rudd does have a staffer whose job includes speechwriting but not someone whose only job is speechwriting. Keating had the lyrical Don Watson as his speechwriter. Before him went Graham Freudenberg, the great Labor speechwriter who wrote Arthur Calwell’s 1965 censure of the Vietnam War, Gough Whitlam’s “It’s Time” speech of 1972 and also wrote for Bob Hawke, Neville Wran, Barrie Unsworth, Simon Crean, Bob Carr and Sir William Deane.

Freudenberg wrote in his elegant autobiography, A Figure Of Speech, that his retirement at the age of 70 allowed him to take a new interest in the role of political language and speeches. He attributed much of his interest to George Bush, whose presidency, he wrote, is “being defined by the speeches and the phrase-making of his speechwriters”.“The United States seemed to have become a rhetocracy, ruled by professional wordsmiths: ‘axis of evil’, ‘war on terror’ and ‘shock and awe’ are all speechwriters’ phrases … Despite my professional admiration for the craftsmanship of Bush’s speeches, the whole process seemed to me an absurd and dangerous separation of rhetoric and emotion from substance, argument and reason.”Freudenberg goes on to cite a 2004 essay by the philosopher Raimond Gaita, who speculated that the running down of political language was due to the fundamental cynicism among voters, who, instead of seeing the possibilities for good in politics, saw only the chances for personal gain and self-protection.Maybe the language of Australian politics merely reflects the broader popular culture, with its Big Brother participants and Corey Worthingtons and seeming lack of room or desire for elegance and subtlety.

But maybe there is hope.

Thousands of Americans are responding to the speeches of Barack Obama, whose emotive use of language is propelling him towards the White House.

“Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope,” Obama told people gathered to hear him claim victory in the Iowa primary earlier this month.

“For many months, we’ve been teased, even derided, for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.”

If Americans can respond so enthusiastically to such flair there is no reason to doubt Australians would do the same.

All we need is for someone to start speaking.


Top Tips for Nailing that Speech

December 17th, 2007 |no comments

I came across this article on public speaking today.

It opens with a great point, if you want to make a speech, have something to say.  Too often people get up to speak because they feel they have too, or they simply want too.  This bores the audience!  (the classic example of this is the Boss that stands up at the Christmas party and goes on and on and on and on about nothing, all because he feels that he has to make a speech.  They’d be much better to say “Merry Christmas and have a good drink” and be out of there in 30 seconds than to crap on for half an hour!  Trust me, those at the party will appreciate it more.  After-all, what do you want to do at a Christmas party – listen to the boss go on, or have a drink and relax!

So here is the article.  It is well worth a read. http://www.forbes.com/home/entrepreneurs/2007/08/01/sun-microsystems-nokia-ent-sales-cx_ll_0801byb07_publicspeaking.html

Merry Christmas!

Cheers

Darren Fleming

https://executivespeaking.com.au


Marketing your Public Speaking skills

November 13th, 2007 |1 comment

This blog was not created to show people how to become wealthy public speakers. There are plenty of public speaking blogs out there that can do that.

However, I recently came across this piece of advice from Patricia Fripp, a San Francisco based public speaking coach. They points are great and should be spread. You can get more of Patricia Fripps insights here.

Everything in life is about marketing. Weather you are trying to sell an idea at work or your services as a speaker you need to understand what you have to offer others. Below are some points that will help.

Successful marketing means that you identify prospective clients and position yourself in the market so they choose you over your competition. When I sit down with clients who want to position their marketing, I seek the answers to four basic questions:

1. WHO IS YOUR POTENTIAL CLIENT?

Who wants to buy or could be stimulated to want to buy? Who is in a position to buy what you sell? What geographical and financial factors affect this ability? A good way to identify future clients is to listen
— really listen — to those you have now. Their comments, especially negative ones, will help you tailor both your product and your approach to other prospects.

2. WHY WILL THEY WANT TO BUY?

What emotional and physical factors will influence them? I just worked with an east coast psychiatrist who ran a practice with ten other psychiatrists and wanted to position herself. Our conversations quickly disclosed that her community was predominantly upwardly mobile professionals. Many of the women had delayed having children. Due to fertility drugs, a high percentage of families had twins, triplets, or more. We decided to focus her practice on these families, the first practice in the area to do that. How did we do this? First, we realized her potential audience was geographical, that is, in her community rather than regional, national or international. These prospects had distinctive demographics. By appealing to a unique aspect, we hit on her core group. She’s now hugely successful in her practice.

3. WHAT ANGLE SHOULD YOU TAKE? How is your product or service unique?

Why is it perfect for your target audience? How is it different from everyone else’s? How will it fulfill your core group’s needs in a way that no one else can? This is positioning yourself in the market.
(Remember how Avis advertised, “We try harder.”) As an example, when other advertising consultants do presentations, they talk about budgets, print versus TV, soft versus hard sell. I position myself by emphasizing that you start by targeting your audience, positioning your product, and creating distinctive selling propositions. Lots of mom-and-pop businesses, confronted by super stores, can’t compete or even survive unless they find a unique niche to fill.

4. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SELL IT?

We all know people with great ideas, products, and inventions. They spend a fortune developing this product, but it sits there because they have no idea what to do with it. Is there a system in place to put your product in the customers’ hands and return their money to you? Or do you need to create one?

Cheers

Darren Fleming
Australian Public Speaking courses


Annoying Speaking Habits

November 12th, 2007 |1 comment

We have all encountered speakers that have annoying habits.  This could be the over use of “um, errs and Ahs”, the tendency to waffle on and on and on and on and on………or the speaker who simply does not get to the point.

…….And this does not just have to be a speaker on stage.  It can be someone in a meeting, a customer on a call……………..or even a sister (or brother!).

I’m compiling a list of these annoying habits so I can address advise skills to overcome them.  This means that you will never have others accusing you of having the annoying habit!

So please, let me know what they are…………….

Cheers

Darren Fleming

Australian Public Speaking Courses


The Eulogy

November 4th, 2007 |1 comment

One of the toughest gigs in public speaking is the eulogy.  It is something that no one likes to do, and if you are known for having some skills in public speaking, by default it will become your duty to deliver it.  I recently had the opportunity to help a very good friend prepare the eulogy for her father.  I thought that I would share some of the tips that helped her.  These are not just speaking tips that I have read, but tips I used when I delivered the eulogy for my father as well. 

  1. The Eulogy (like the funeral service) is for the living, not the deceased.  It is a way of public remembering your loved one and what they meant to you.
  2. Don’t be afraid to re-write history.  This does not mean that you turn the deceased into the saint they never were.  Rather, it means looking for the brighter things your loved one gave to you and others.  Shine the light on the best parts and remember them.
  3. Tell stories.  People will want to hear about the stories of your loved one and what they meant to you.  It is these stories that other will remember long after the service has ended.
  4. Have a support structure for delivering your eulogy.  This may mean having the speech written out with you, someone by your side, or someone prepped to take over should you become too emotional.
  5. Don’t be afraid to let the emotion show.
  6. Don’t be afraid to have a laugh.  At my fathers’ funeral, one of the speakers was Dads best mate.  He recounted many funny stories that we had never heard.  Even the officiating Minister was in fits of laughter.  The speech mirrored Dads’ life, and this helped us to remember him.
  7. Finally, take a recording of the day.  Have someone take photos and make an audio recording of the day.  This may sound macabre, but its not.  As with all major events in life, we want to look back and relive the emotions of the day.  A funeral is no different.

 Do you have any other suggestions for the Eulogy? 

Cheers 

Darren Fleming

Australian Public Speaking Courses

www.executivespeaking.com.au 


Election Communication

October 29th, 2007 |1 comment

With Australian Politics in Federal Election mode, I thought that it would be a good time to look at the communication style of our leaders John Howard and Kevin Rudd.

Firstly, I would like to say that I am not endorsing either side on this blog.  Rather, the entries here are to help voters see past the Politician to the message.  Further, these observations are made from my rare opportunities to see the leaders on the TV, or to hear the sound bites  on radio.

John Howard 

For the international readers, John Howard is our current Prime Minister, and has been in power for 11 years.

By all measures, John Howard is a great orator.  He has the ability to stand behind a lectern and deliver his message in a clear and concise way.  He rarely uses notes.  He is a confident speaker.  He has the ability to control his delivery in such a way as to engage us to listen.  He uses his rate of speaking, tone, and emotion in his voice to take control and keep control of a room.  He commands an awesome presence when speaking that tells us that we should listen and obey.  These skills have ensured that he has remained in control with no official threat to his position as the leader for 11 years.  Even during a recent party room challenge for his leadership, he was able to stare down any challengers.  He is a man who truly commands the lectern.

However, recently, there have been some chinks appearing in his armour.  During the “Great Debate” he seemed to become flustered when pressed on certain issues.  When Rudd put to him the points about Nuclear reactors, his speech became confused and he appeared to lose his train of thought.  He even went on to announce his own “education revolution” in his closing remarks – a point missed by the media! Today, when asked on radio, “Did Mr Turnbull ask you to sign up [to the Kyoto Protocol], Prime Minister?”, his response was, “We are not willing to be, look, I’m not talking about discussions inside the government. Forget it, you’re wasting your time asking me about that.”  This type of response is most out of character for Howard.

Kevin Rudd 

For the international readers, Kevin Rudd is the leader of the opposition party, and has been in the position just short of 12 months.

Rudd does not have the same commanding presence at the lectern as Howard.  However, this does not mean that he does not have the ability to match it with Howard.

Rudd is very controlled in his speech.  He does not lose his temper and is able to stick to his carefully developed responses as per the script. 

Rudd controls his presentations by speaking in a calm and constant manner that shows confidence and control.  When he is put on the spot, he bears his soul, and seems to say, “Well, what we have currently is not working.  Our plan is….”  This method of being open and honest (or at least appearing to be) is a strong way of building a connection with the audience.  He does not come across as the slick politician that has all the answers.  He espouses his vision and dream, and asks us to join him.  He does not have the same grumpy speech pattern that Beazley had, the arrogance of Latham nor the perpetual whingeing that Crean had.  This may be a factor as to why the electorate has taken to him so warmly!

As the election progresses, keep an eye on how their speaking styles change and give a glimpse into the pressures that both of the men are facing.

I’d be interested to get your thoughts on this. 

Cheers

Darren Fleming


What’s in it for Me???

October 4th, 2007 |no comments

Have you ever stopped and wondered why people should listen to you when you speak?

Do people listen to you because they have too, because it is part of their job or because you will be able to sack them if they don’t.  Or do they listen to you because they want too?

You might ask, “What’s the difference if they listen?”  Well there is a big difference.  The difference relates to whether your audience will accept and internalise your message and adopt it as their own.  If they are listening because they want too, then there is a greater chance that they will adopt your message.

So how do you get them to want to listen to you? 

Well you need to find out what your WIIFM is.  Anyone who has ever been involved in selling will know that WIIFM stand for ‘What’s in it for me?’  It is the question a buyer will ask while they listen to the sales pitch.  If there is nothing in the sales pitch for them, they will not buy.  It is the same for any audience.  While they may not be able to physically move away from your presentation, mentally they will be elsewhere and your message will be lost.

Understanding this is important in so many situations.  It is not just public speaking.  Consider the e-mails that you send, the letters you write, and the ‘phone calls you make.  If the person at the other end of your message cannot see any value in your message, you may as well not send the message.

So remember, before starting to speak, write or present, ask yourself, “What is my WIIFM?”  Once you know that, your audience will start to want to listen to you!

 ‘Til next time,

Cheers

Darren Fleming


Breaking the Rules of Public speaking

September 25th, 2007 |no comments

Many people are of the opinion that there are a number of sacred rules in public speaking that should never be broken. You should never race through your speech, you should never hold the lectern and you should never turn your back on the audience.

I would like to challenge the validity of these rules.

I have been a Toastmaster for over 13 years, and have often pushed these rules on others. But I firmly believe that there comes a time when you must break the rules to reach the audience.

Case in point: The rule that you should never turn your back on the Audience while speaking.

At face value this seems like a good rule to follow as it helps you to engage the audience more.

However, it is possible to turn your back on the audience and engage them even more than when you are looking at them.

Recently I competed in the District 73 Toastmasters annual convention in Perth Australia. I was competing in the Table Topics competition final. About 2000 people from across Australia had competed in this impromptu speaking competition, and I was one of just 7 people left standing. In this competition, you are given the topic and expected to start speaking on it straight away. The only preparation time you have is while you are walking across the stage.

The topic we had was:

“If you obey all the rules, you miss out on half the fun.  Is this a good philosophy to live by?”

As I walked across the stage, I decided that I would break some rules myself. As I approached the centre of the stage, I turned and put my back to the audience and started speaking. I spoke about the rules that we should not break when speaking. The main rule was about keeping eye contact with your audience. I then proceeded to make fun of the rules about ensuring that you move across the stage so everyone sees you. Next was my favourite rule – the need to pause. I paused so long that even I forgot what I was going to say next. However, the audience laughed hearterly as I broke the rules that they all held so closely to themselves.

Whats more, when the judges returned their decision, I was the winner! From speaking to the others in the audience (and not just my friends!) I was a clear and unanimous winner.

So, it just goes to show, you don’t need to follow all the rules to achieve your objectives.

However, might I suggest that you have a good understanding of the rules of Public Speaking and know how they operate before you go out and break them. If you don’t understand the rule and how it operates, you may be doing your cause more harm than good it you decide to break the rules!

There is a copy of my presentation on YouTube.  It goes for 5 min and can be viewed here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZOPZvzG6o

Cheers

Darren


PowerPoint

September 24th, 2007 |no comments

These days it seems that every business presentation you go to has to have a PowerPoint slide show.  While PowerPoint is a great presentation aid for delivering a message, if you’re not careful it will smother what you have to say.  PowerPoint should improve your message, and not become your message.  PowerPoint is about making it easier for your audience to understand and accept your message.  It’s  not about showing off how clever you can be.  Below are a few points to keep in mind when you next need to use PowerPoint.

  1. Should you use PowerPoint?  Not every message should be put into a PowerPoint presentation.  if you are considering using PowerPoint ask yourself if it will help your audience understand your message.  If it wont help, be different and don’t use it! 
  2. Don’t let the PowerPoint presentation be a substitute for knowing your message:  Don’t fall for the trick of reading the slides to deliver your message.  If you simply read your slides, your audience will read them too. They will read ahead of you and blank out what you are saying.
  3. Minimise visual distractions:  Everytime your audience sees movement on the screen they will look at it. If they are paying attention to the screen, they are not paying attention to you. 
  4. Just because PowerPoint can, does not mean that you should:  PowerPoint is fun to play with and can do some amazing things, but that does not mean that your audience wants to see it.  After they have seen the first slide fly in from the right, the heading type itself out and the bullet points twirl in from the distance they will become tried of it.  If your doing it to keep them entertained, can I suggest that you should look more closely at your content.
  5. Use contrasting backgrounds:  Make your background 1 solid colour and choose a font colour that can be easily seen against it.  If your audience has to struggle to see the text they will have trouble reading it.  If you make regular presentations to clients consider getting a professional template made.  Standard Microsoft templates stand out!
  6. Know and use the ‘B’ key:  When you no longer want the audience to see what is on the screen simply press the ‘B’ key and this will turn the screen black.  When there is nothing to look at, they audience will pay attention to you.  This is what you want. When you want to move to the next slide, simply press the space bar or click as you normally would.  The ‘W’ key has the same affect and turns the screen white.
  7. If you are going to use a laser pointer, have a reason to use it:  The reason you have a laser pointer is to point out specific things.  If you are using a pointer to simply point to the words that you are saying, what message are you giving about your audience?
  8. Moving from slide to slide is easier than it looks!  There are many ways to move forward with slides.  Pressing the left button on the mouse is the most obvious.  But did you know that the left and right arrows will move you around the slides too, as will the space bar.  If you want to go to a specific slide, simply type the number in and press the enter key and you will go there.  You can get a ton of other tips by pressing the ‘F1″ key!
  9. Never skip a slide!  If there are slides in your presentation that you don’t want to use, hide them from your presentation before you get up to speak.  If you are standing in front of the audience and you skip 2 slides, the audience will wonder what was on those slides and wont pay attention to what you are saying.  This will brake your connection with the audience and ruin your credibility.
  10. Limit the number of slides:  For those old enough to remember your aunties slide show of her trip to Europe you will know why you have to minimise the number of slides you use.  If you weren’t around in the 70’s and don’t know what a slide show is consider yourself lucky!
  11. Get to the point:  As with any type of presentation, you need to get to the point ASAP.  After all, time is in short supply these days.

PowerPoint is a great tool that can help you deliver your message.  Just don’t let it become your message.

‘Til next time.

Cheers

Darren


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