How Well Do You Speak?
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TITLE: How Well Do You Speak?
AUTHOR: Sandra Schrift
CONTACT: sandra@schrift.com
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How Well Do You Speak?
Public speaking is the number one way to advance your
career or your business. When you are a good speaker, you
can close a sale, sell your point of view, and increase
your productivity as a business professional. Here are 10
tips to get you started.
1. The key to being a good speaker is to appear credible
and knowledgeable about your subject. Be perceived as an
expert on your topic. If you don?t do this the audience
will not listen well and you will not be correctly
interpreted.
2. Should you begin your speech with a joke or humorous
story? No, to the joke. Yes, to the funny story. Begin
with a humorous story that relates to your speech material.
This is a great way to connect with your audience.
3. Control your nerves before you begin. Visualize your
success. (the audience wants you to succeed.) Take some
deep breaths to bring about calm. If you are speaking in a
cold, snowy location, then arrive early and walk the halls
for about 5 minutes.
4. Your job is to take care of these four items:
? hold the audience attention
? make a favorable impression
? know what to do with your hands
? answer questions from the audience at the end of your
speech (if you don?t know and answer, say, ?I don?t know,
but I?ll get the information to you later.?)
5. Make eye contact. Look at one person long enough to
deliver one complete thought, then move to another person
and do the same. When you do this, everyone in the audience
will feel that you are speaking to them also.
6. Why are visual aids important to enhance your message?
Well, they jazz up your message and most importantly they
increase the audience retention of your point(s). Most of
us delineate our thoughts visually. So your audience
needs to see as well as hear.
7. Don?t make these mistakes.
? forgetting to check the audio-visual equipment in advance
of your speech
? not demonstrating ?enthusiasm? in your voice
? projecting your voice too forcefully
? forgetting to provide your program chair with your
introduction
8. Rehearse! Rehearse! Rehearse! All good speakers
prepare their presentation and then rehearse it for their
friends, colleagues, spouse/partner, in front of your
bathroom mirror and even videotape themselves for playback.
I even line up stuffed animals (borrowed from my grandchildren)
on chairs and create an imaginary ?furry? audience.
9. Listen to good speakers, and then become one! All
speakers do not sound alike. So hear a variety of styles.
Do you want to be a Tony Robbins, Dennis Waitley, Ronald
Reagan, George Bush, or Colin Powell? Get some ideas and
then work on your OWN style. Include remarks that reach all
the styles in your audience. Express yourself so that people
can get auditory, visual and kinesthetic messages.
10. Why should you become an accomplished speaker? It will
make you more self-confident. You will become more persuasive.
You will be more dynamic in your delivery style. You don?t need
to do this alone. I coach speakers who want masterful
presentations and am here to help you. too. Email me at
sandra@schrift.com and be sure to visit my website for more
tips at www.schrift.com/tips.htm
COPYRIGHT: ©2005 by Sandra Schrift. All rights reserved
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
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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.
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www.schrift.com/summer_sizzle.htm
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