The P's and Q's of Public Speaking -
The P's and Q's of Public Speaking - 10 Steps to a successful
presentation
by Alan Fairweather
(c) Alan Fairweather - All Rights reserved
http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/
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Avoid the pain
Which would you prefer - root canal dental surgery without an
anaesthetic or a bit of public speaking? According to the people
who research these things, most of us would prefer the former.
Public speaking is still one of our greatest fears and it turns
grown men and women into nervous wrecks. The mere thought of it
turns our tongue to cotton wool, causes our internal plumbing to
act up and our kneecaps to start knocking lumps out of each
other. The problem is that Public Speaking catches up with many
of us at some time both in our business and personal life.
You're asked to do a short talk at Fred's "leaving do". The
organisers of your business club want fifteen minutes on why you
make "kafuffle" valves. A potential client wants a presentation
on why they should give you the contract. Of course there's
always the confident people who think "I'm real good at this,
lead me to the podium." The only thing is that some of these
people could bore your socks off and do more for insomniacs than
the strongest sleeping pills. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be
sent on a Public Speaking course by your enlightened employer.
But more likely, when asked to make a presentation you'll get
hold of a book on speaking, start writing the speech and lose
sleep until the event. Well, there's no need for all of this
because help is at hand. All you need to remember are your P's
and Q's. Let's start with the P's
Preparation When you sit down to write what you're going to say,
bear in mind who you'll be speaking to. Will they understand
what you're talking about; will they understand the technical
stuff and the jargon? If in doubt remember the old saying "Keep
It Simple Stupid". To quote Aristotle - "Think as the wise men
do, but speak as the common man". Make sure that what you say
has a beginning, a middle and an end. Think of some anecdotes
that help reinforce your story. People think visually so paint
verbal pictures for your audience. And always remember, people
want to know what's in it for them - so make sure you tell them!
Place Have a look at the venue before the event if you can. It's
not always possible, however, even if you get there half an hour
before, you can check out where you'll be speaking. Stand at the
point where you will deliver from, imagine where the audience
will be and check that they can see and hear you. You may even
wish to place a glass of water where you'll be able to find it.
Personal Preparation Before any speaking event, think about what
you are going to wear; when in doubt dress up rather than down.
You can always take things off for a more casual look. Men could
remove their jacket and their tie. Women could remove items of
jewellery. Part of your personal preparation should include some
mouth and breathing exercises. Practise saying some tongue
twisters to give your speaking muscles a good work out. Take a
deep breath and expand your diaphragm. Then breathe out,
counting at the same time, try and get up to fifty and not pass
out. As part of your personal preparation, write your own
introduction. Write out exactly what you want someone to say
about you, large font, double-spaced and ask the person
introducing you to read it. Believe me they won't object and
will probably be pleased and impressed.
Poise and Posture Whenever you're called to speak, stand up or
walk to the front quickly and purposefully. Pull yourself up to
your full height, stand tall and look like you own the place.
Before you start to speak, pause, look round your audience and
smile. You may even have to wait until the applause dies down.
Remember, you want the audience to like you, so look likeable.
Practise this in front of a mirror or your family; I've heard
that children make pretty good critics.
Pretend I'm suggesting you pretend you're not nervous because no
doubt you will be. Nervousness is vital for speaking in public,
it boosts your adrenaline, which makes your mind sharper and
gives you energy. It also has the slight side effect of making
you lighter through loss of body waste materials. The trick is
to keep your nerves to yourself. On no account tell your
audience your nervous, you'll only scare the living daylights
out of them if they think you're going to faint. Some of the
tricks for dealing with nerves are: Get lots of oxygen into your
system, run on the spot and wave your arms about like a lunatic.
It burns off the stress chemicals. Speak to members of your
audience as they come in or at some time before you stand up.
That tricks your brain into thinking you're talking to some
friends. Have a glass of water handy for that dry mouth. Stick
cotton wool on your kneecaps so people won't hear them knocking.
One word of warning - do not drink alcohol. It might give you
Dutch courage but your audience will end up thinking you're
speaking Dutch.
The Presentation This is it, the big moment when you tell your
audience what a clever person you are and have them leap to
their feet in thunderous applause. Okay, let's step back a bit -
if you want their applause then you're going to have to work for
it. Right from the start your delivery needs to grab their
attention. Don't start by saying - "Good morning, my name is
Fred Bloggs and I'm from Bloggs and Company." Even if your name
is Bloggs, it's a dead boring way to start a presentation. Far
better to start with some interesting facts or an anecdote that
is relevant to your presentation. Look at the audience as
individuals; I appreciate that this can be difficult when some
of them are downright ugly. However it grabs their attention if
they think you're talking to them individually. Talk louder than
you would normally do, it keeps the people in the front row
awake and makes sure those at the back get the message. Funnily
enough, it's also good for your nerves.
PowerPoint And for those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a
software programme that's used to design stunning graphics and
text for projection onto a screen. As a professional speaker,
I'm not that struck on PowerPoint. I feel that too many speakers
rely on it and it takes over the presentation. After all, you're
the important factor here. If an audience is going to accept
what you say then they need to see the whites of your eyes.
There needs to be a big focus on you, not on the technology. Use
PowerPoint if you want but keep it to a minimum and make sure
you're not just the person pushing the buttons. Why not get a
bit clever at using the faithful old Flip Chart, lots of
professionals do.
Passion This is what stops the audience in their tracks. This is
what makes them want to employ you; to accept what you're
proposing and make them want you to marry their son or daughter.
Couple this with some energy, enthusiasm and emotion and you
have the makings of a great public speaker. Just think of our
old friend Adolph Hitler, boy could he move an audience to
action. It's just too bad he was selling something that wasn't
to everyone's liking. Give your presentation a bit of oomph and
don't start telling me - "I'm not that kind of person." There's
no need to go over the top but you're doing a presentation to
move people to action, not having a cosy little chat in your
front room.
That's the P's finished with so let's look at the Q's.
Questions Decide when you're going to take them and tell people
at the start. In a short speech it's best to take questions at
the end. If you take them as you go then you may get waylaid and
your timing will get knocked out. Never - never - never finish
with questions; far better to ask for questions five or ten
minutes before the end. Deal with the questions and then
summarise for a strong finish. Too many presentations finish on
questions and the whole thing goes a bit flat. When you're asked
a question, repeat it to the whole audience and thank the
questioner. It keeps everyone involved, it gives you time to
think and it makes you look so clever and in control.
Quit Quit when you're ahead. Stick to the agreed time; if you're
asked to speak for twenty minutes, speak for nineteen and the
audience will love you for it. Remember, quality is not
quantity. One of the most famous speeches ever - "The Gettysburg
Address", by President Lincoln, was just over two minutes long.
Right, that's my cue to quit when I'm ahead. Public Speaking
will never be easy for most of us but we can all do it a whole
lot better.
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Discover how you can generate more business without having to
cold call! Alan Fairweather is the author of "How to get More
Sales without Selling" This book is packed with practical things
that you can do to