chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Two Important Speaking Tips

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Why Timeshare — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:14:53 -0000

Confidence is key for good results. Make sure that everything comes out clearly and that eye contact is clear.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Essay Writing — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:35:32 -0000

Thanks a lot for a bunch of good tips.
I look forward to reading more on the topic in the future.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

John Reddish Get Results — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:01:51 -0000

Right On! If a speaker knows nothing else besides, WIIFM and providing Take Aways, s/he serves the audience well. A quicker question to ask, rather than divining one yourself, is, "Why are you here?" It let's them set the agenda. Once their wants are logged in, the speech can flow better. If I were to add one additional tip, it would be, as presenters we increasingly compete with both content and entertainment. The show's (stories, info offered, style, involvement) the thing. Good going.

Celebrating 10 years as a member of the NSA (National Speakers Association), and 30 years as a speaker/business consultant, it all comes down to the basics and you've said it better than some of my fellow speakers might have.

John Reddish
www.getresults.com
blog www.TheSuccessionPlanner.com

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Dave Peck — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:42:30 -0000

Awesome! These are simple, easy and great. Now that I think about it, you did these at blogworld. Brillant

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Craig — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:49:58 -0000

Great stuff. I have never been a fan of public speaking an am trying to improve on my confidence and technique as I present myself and company to others. These are insightful and are good lessons to know.

Craig
www.budgetpulse.com

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:13:15 -0000

In the Army briefing courses they always said: "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them". Supposedly there is something powerful about hearing something 3X.

Do you think that technique is too repetitive and formal for general public speaking, or would it fall under the useful repetition that you mentioned to @Arthur Germain?

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Scott Duehlmeier — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:11:16 -0000

Chris-

Awesome takeaways post-BWE08. First off, it was finally nice to meet you F2F, and second, where were you in my Public Speaking courses?

The Blogging & PR session still stands out for me, and I shared many of my notes from it with the rest of my PR team today. I love the fact that you hash tagged the session, so we could see what was on others minds.

I agree 100% with you on the actionable takeaway philosophy. There will always be two groups, the "What Am I Going to do Now?" group and the "What I am Going to do Now is..." group. How do we ensure we send out the latter? See above. Thanks for the pointers Chris.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

chrisbrogan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:05:50 -0000

@frank - great question. The answer often lies in knowing who's attending the speech. If you're speaking at the Blog World and New Media Expo, you can expect that the crowd is half experienced bloggers, 1/4 newbie bloggers, and 1/4 business types trying to figure out the space. How do I know? Ask around. Do a "show of hands" thing with the audience. Find out what people say.

@bad old weirdo Bob- naw, you've got your style, and it works for you. When I say do something, I don't mean run out and immediately start. Instead, I want there to be things to think about so when you go home, you think about those things in a way that might be actionable later. Not immediate.

@Arthur Germain - interesting that you have "stop repeating yourself." It turns out that, done tastefully and well, repeating one's self is a really great way to build a theme into someone's head, and thus make your speech more memorable. You might mean the nervous version of repeating. Non?

@Sean - I'll blog one up for you, sir.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

frank — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:58:46 -0000

1st point is great to hear ... i've not heard it like that before.

Chris, one question ... how do you generally get into the heads of folks to know what question to ask?

-
http://twitter.com/franswaa

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Kathryn Lake Hogan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:44:02 -0000

Good food for thought, Chris. I am speaking at a family history conference in November, and I will be seriously reviewing my presentations with your suggestions in mind. Thanks.
Kathryn

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Connie Bensen — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:40:11 -0000

Hey Chris,
It was totally fabulous meeting you at BWE!

In addition to takeaways, I suggest that the speaker motivate the audience & challenge them to implement them. Then encourage the audience to provide follow up later in regard to how it went & their suggestions.

A good community bldg tip, eh? It extends the conversation beyond the presentation.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Rhett Smith — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:51:34 -0000

Chris,

Awesome stuff. I spoke at GodblogCon last year at the New Media Expo on using Facebook and MySpace effectively in Youth Ministry...and I wish I had had this post back then. I wonder what takeaways I gave the audience if any.

I was bummed I didn't meet you this weekend, but my really good friend Matt Singley got to hang with you a bit it seems. As an observer i was super impressed with how accessible you were to everyone at the conf. That speaks volumes....appreciate it and your posts.

rhett smith

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

@ahg3 (Arthur Germain) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:49:25 -0000

Chris,
I have seven tips that I give execs looking to improve their presentation performance.
1. Focus on one idea
2. Give it some structure
3. Be flexible about time
4. Say something interesting (to me) [that's your WIIFM]
5. Stop repeating yourself
6. Ditch PowerPoint [People HATE this one]
7. Practice, really practice [People REALLY hate this one]
I may have to add one for Takeaways!
You can read the whole (brief) article here on ManageSmarter (http://www.managesmarter.co...
@ahg3
Arthur Germain

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Stan Ng — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:45:33 -0000

Chris, I see your post is structured in such a way that it cleverly articulates the very two things you're trying to put across - WIIFM? and Takeaways.

Thanks for the very, very useful tips. Most importantly, they're easy for folks to understand and put into practice.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Minda Zetlin — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:20:42 -0000

Great advice!

In our presentations about the communications breakdown between suits and geeks our take-aways are small exercises(such as learning one new geek or suit word each week) that are easy to do but keep the audience thinking about our larger points.

As to the take-away-their-sword tactic, I'll add that it really helps to get some info beforehand about your audience and their beliefs. At least, it seems to be vital for us because some of our audiences need to be convinced that the communications breakdown between business and technology is real and really is harmful--others are already struggling with it and don't want us wasting their time convincing them that it's a problem.

Great advice!

Best,

Minda Zetlin

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

bob ashley — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:52:06 -0000

I'm the bad ole' weirdo, I guess. I think most presentations are already overly structure-bound, most leaving little room for spontaneous anything. I like digression, interaction, repartees, tangents, questions, irreverence, asides. That's got way more drama, especially with a good speaker, good on his/her feet. I figure this is how Shakespeare would've done it.

And I don't crave action items. It's just a little too patent. Anything worth doing, I figure is worth THINKING about before I act. I'm wacko, but I think we, most of us, are action-obsessed, at great expense. I'd be refreshed by a speaker who left me with "points to ponder", leaving actions to my own wherewithalls. And the lecture/seminar/essay are still not dead, all of these posing more questions for thought than they answer in action items.

Sooooo....you can please all of the people some of the time and you can please....well, you know the rest.

For all that, though, striking an ironic pose, I'll heed your advice, knowing I'm a black sheep minority.

bob

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Ari Adler — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:09:06 -0000

Great topic and great suggestions Chris.

I just blogged about how speakers at conferences need to remember to speak to their audience and stop reading their speeches. Maybe then we'll tune in, enjoy it and learn something.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Lacy Kemp — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:55:37 -0000

Chris- It's great to read this after watching you speak (on the panel pictured) this weekend. It's interesting to see how you come to your conclusions. And, best of all, you come off as laid back, which I think is a great way to get people to realize this doesn't have to be so stressful.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

KerryLeVasseur.com — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:46:47 -0000

I always learn so much from your site, thanks for sharing your ideas. I am already looking forward to your next post!

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Michael Martine, Blog Consulta — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:22:11 -0000

Not only is this bang-on for speaking, but for just about any kind of communications, such as blogging. Every blog post can address the want and provide actionable take-aways.

You could even apply this to Twitter... it just might take a few tweets to really do it. ;-)

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Dan Sorensen — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:44:40 -0000

These are very interesting. Now, seeing the format, i'm looking forward to seeing them in action in one of your presentations.

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Patrick DiDomenico — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:22:10 -0000

Love the ideas, Chris. Would you consider starting the presentation with the takeaways, so that the audience can think of them in context as the presentation goes on?

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

CT Moore — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:06:21 -0000

Your last point about Cirque du Soleil, Chris, reminded me of a concept that Zach Braiker mentioned (albeit not as his own): Return on Experience.

It seems a bit of a fluffy concept at first, but in the digital context alone we emphasize user experience. So in the real world, the WIIFM and Takeaways might just be part and parcel of the "audience's experience."

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Sean Bohan — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:03:41 -0000

So what would be the best way for someone to start getting speaking gigs? THinking Podcamps/Barcamps here... any others?

Re: Two Important Speaking Tips

Andrea Hill (afhill) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:02:56 -0000

I find it brilliant that you do basically the same thing in your blog posts: those last three questions jolt the casual reader and encourage them to reflect and take action.