T Answer : Leave A Trail Provide Handout Flyer Help ?
Public Speaking is the number one way to advance your business career.
Do you get nervous when speaking to a group? Do you feel butterflies in your stomach? The following tips will help you get your butterflies to fly in formation.
1. Everyone feels some nerves before a presentation. Try to do a quiet meditation, visualization, or exercise before you speak. Breathe deeply. Memorize those opening lines and then quickly engage your audience with a question or humorous story.
2. Three keys to being a top presenter: practice, practice, practice. In front of your mirror, in front of your stuffed animals. Use a tape recorder and a cam recorder for playback and feedback. Try your material out with service clubs.
3. Embrace your audience. Remember, it is about them, not you. Are you going to challenge them to think differently, behave differently or perhaps, confirm them.
4. Use the rule of 3. The most successful speakers limit their remarks to 3 major points. Here is where you use your signature stories to support your points and help people visualize what you are saying.
5. Prepare for white space. Always allow for audience participation, questions, role play, interaction. These may be the Moments that just occur and may not be part of your prepared text. Lots of practice will let you get comfortable enough to do this.
6. Use your props. Visual aids help to reinforce your points. Power Point provides professionalism. Toys create humor and playfulness. Adults delineate their thoughts visually...so be creative.
7. Leave a trail. Provide a handout or a flyer about other programs you offer and how people may contact you. Collect their business cards and raffle a prize. Ask for written feedback and for referrals.
Sandra Schrift was a 13 year speaker bureau owner. Since 1996, she is a business coach to public speakers. Need some coaching to become a highly paid professional speaker?
Centuries ago great speakers often spoke two hours and more. But today when sound bytes on television news are the norm and serious problems are solved in an hour on a television drama, audiences are most interested in speakers that get their points across in a short period of time. In a speech delivered to a Women in Communication audience, Patricia Ward Brash said, "Television has helped create an impatient society, where audiences expect us to make our point simply and quickly."
Today great speakers are noted for their brevity. Billy Graham, in a recent city-wide campaign in Cincinnati, spoke about 20 minutes each night. Theodore Sorensen in his book, Kennedy, gave guidelines by which President Kennedy prepared speeches. No speech was more than 20-30 minutes. He wasted no words and his delivery wasted no time. He rarely used words he considered hackneyed or word fillers. As Purdue communications professor and researcher Josh Boyd wrote, "In physics, power is defined as work divided by time. In other words, more work done in less time produces more power. In the same way, a speaker's message is most powerful when he [or she] can deliver a lot of good material in a short amount of time."
Here are guidelines to make brevity a key foundation in your next speech. First, keep your stories under two minutes in length. In preparing a story, continue to ask the question, "How can I say this in less time and in fewer words?" Script out your story and then seek to condense it. There is an adage in using humor: "The longer the story the funnier it had better be." Connecting this principle to stories in general, we might say, "The longer the story, the more impact it had better have." To make sure your stories stay under two minutes, include only information that answers the questions, "Who?" "What?" "When?" "Where?" and "Why?" If it doesn't answer one of these questions, leave it out. Make sure also that you have a sense of direction in the story. Each part of the story should move toward the conclusion in the mind of the listener. The listener should always feel you are going somewhere in developing your story.
Second, when possible, follow the proverb, "Less is better than more." Never use three words when you can say it in two. Leave out clichés, filler words, and hackneyed words, such as "You know," "OK," and "All right." Leave out phrases such as "Let me be honest," or blunt, or frank. Avoid "In other words..." or "To say it another way..." Speak in short sentences, short phrases, and short words. Word choice should be instantly clear to an audience. Make it a goal to make every word have impact in your speech.
Third, know the length of your speech by practicing it. Never be surprised by the length of your speech. Never say to an audience, "I'm running out of time, so I must hurry along." You should know because of your Preparation and practice of the speech. To go one step further, if you know the time limit on your speech is 20 minutes, stop a minute short; don't go overtime. Audiences will appreciate your respect of their time and will think more highly of you as a speaker because of that. You should never be surprised by how long it takes you to deliver a speech
Fourth, learn to divide parts of your speech into time segments. Let's use a 20-minute speech as an example. The introduction should be no longer than 2½ minutes. You can get the attention and preview your message easily in that length of time. Avoid opening with generalizations about the weather or the audience. Let the audience know up front that every word you speak counts. Spend the bulk of your time in the body of the speech. This is where you make your points and give support or evidence for each point. The final two minutes should be your summary and move to action statement. Some speakers have a hard time concluding. When you say you are going to conclude, do so. As one wise person stated, "Don't dawdle at the finish line of the speech."
One way to keep your speech brief is to have few points in the body of your speech--no more than three. With a maximum of three points, you will have the self-discipline to condense rather than amplify. In organizing your material, accept the fact you will always have more material than you can cover and that you will only include material that relates to one of the two or three points you plan to make. Trying to cover four to six points will almost invariably make you go overtime in your speech.
A key to success in speaking is not just having something worthwhile to say, but also saying it briefly. We need to follow the speaking axiom, "Have a powerful, captivating opening and a strong, memorable close, and put the two of them as close together as possible."
most popular magazine for writers; had been interviewed all over writers e-zines; and had submitted articles to sites and magazines related to my primary audience (writers) and my secondary audience (those interested in working from home).
But the problem was that my audience was international. I had a workshop set up on Long Island, and more than 99% of my regular audience wouldnt be able to get there. So I had to get local attention. Through trial and error, Ive come up with a system that works. I havent had fewer than 30 people at any of my signings, and Ive always sold books. I hope my tips will inspire you next time youre promoting an event.
1. Focus on the benefit to the attendee.
The first thing a reader should see on your promotional material is whats in it for them. A signed book is all well and good, but itll require them to spend money. What are they getting free just for Showing up? In my case, I was offering a free 2-hour seminar about making money writing for magazines. What will they learn? What perks will they get? This is what appeared in big letters on my posters, with the book signing in small letters toward the bottom.
2. Community Events are not places to do business.
Most local newspapers have a community events section where they run short blurbs about local events. Submit your release at least two weeks prior to your event, with all the who, what, where, when, why questions succinctly answered. But after I did that and failed to place my events in local papers, I asked an ex-newspaper editor for advice.
While I would have probably run a little blurb about your free writing workshop, I would not have run your free writing workshop combined with your book signing, she wrote. I would invite you to pay for an advertisement because, being the jaded cynic I am, I would not give you free publicity for something from which you are profiting.
So leave your for-profit hat at home when approaching the media.
3. Think small.
National attention is nice, but when promoting a local event, you want to get your message to as many local people as possible. I mulled this over one day while pushing my grocery cart through a supermarket, then noticed the bulletin board filled with posters. I ran home and created my own on the computer: Colorful posters that gave all the essential information about my event in large, easy-to-read type, with pull-off tabs on the bottom that simply said Free Writing Seminar, along with the location, date, and time. You can put these in supermarkets, as well as delis, convenience stores, libraries, and other high-traffic businesses.
4. Find local websites, e-mail lists, and message boards.
Many cities, counties, and regions have their own websites where people can announce coming events. You can also search for your Geographic area on to find e-mail discussion lists in your area. Write to the site owner or group moderator to request that he or she tell members about your event.
5. Co-promote.
When Judith Lazarus promoted her books, The Spa Sourcebook and Stress Relief & Relaxation Techniques, she asked a spa product manufacturer to provide her with samples. She used these samples to draw people to her book signing table. You might find a local business that could benefit from being featured at your event, and ask them to hang a sign about the event or include flyers in customers bags in return. Or find someone whos promoting a complementary product or service, and agree to swapyoull distribute postcards about their events at your table if theyll do the same for you.
6. Run contests and giveaways.
Similar to Judiths deal with the spa product manufacturer, see if you can get a business to donate an item for giveawayor use one of your own products or services. On your publicity material, you can announce that one lucky attendee (or many) will win a valuable door prize. Or invite people to enter the contest beforehand, then tell each of them that youll announce the winner/s at the event. Be sure to include the prizes monetary value on your announcements.
7. Use lawn signs.
If politicians can promote themselves with signs on our lawns, why cant we? Ask friends and associates to put a colorful sign on their lawn with very brief information about your event.
8. Be photogenic.
If this is an event youve done before, or if you have an interesting photo related to your event, send it to local Newspapers with your release. You have a better shot at seeing print if you can provide a photo, and readers will be more drawn to your announcement if its accompanied by a picture. Pick an interesting prop or a fun candid shot, not a typical headshot.
9. Business cards, revisited.
Although many local business dont have enough counter space to display a stack of your flyers, they may be happy to let you deposit a stack of business-card-size announcements about your event. These are easy to make on your computer, and again, should just contain an eye-catching headline and essential information about the event.
Do you get nervous when speaking to a group? Do you feel butterflies in your stomach? The following tips will help you get your butterflies to fly in formation.
1. Everyone feels some nerves before a presentation. Try to do a quiet meditation, visualization, or exercise before you speak. Breathe deeply. Memorize those opening lines and then quickly engage your audience with a question or humorous story.
2. Three keys to being a top presenter: practice, practice, practice. In front of your mirror, in front of your stuffed animals. Use a tape recorder and a cam recorder for playback and feedback. Try your material out with service clubs.
3. Embrace your audience. Remember, it is about them, not you. Are you going to challenge them to think differently, behave differently or perhaps, confirm them.
4. Use the rule of 3. The most successful speakers limit their remarks to 3 major points. Here is where you use your signature stories to support your points and help people visualize what you are saying.
5. Prepare for white space. Always allow for audience participation, questions, role play, interaction. These may be the Moments that just occur and may not be part of your prepared text. Lots of practice will let you get comfortable enough to do this.
6. Use your props. Visual aids help to reinforce your points. Power Point provides professionalism. Toys create humor and playfulness. Adults delineate their thoughts visually...so be creative.
7. Leave a trail. Provide a handout or a flyer about other programs you offer and how people may contact you. Collect their business cards and raffle a prize. Ask for written feedback and for referrals.
Sandra Schrift was a 13 year speaker bureau owner. Since 1996, she is a business coach to public speakers. Need some coaching to become a highly paid professional speaker?
Centuries ago great speakers often spoke two hours and more. But today when sound bytes on television news are the norm and serious problems are solved in an hour on a television drama, audiences are most interested in speakers that get their points across in a short period of time. In a speech delivered to a Women in Communication audience, Patricia Ward Brash said, "Television has helped create an impatient society, where audiences expect us to make our point simply and quickly."
Today great speakers are noted for their brevity. Billy Graham, in a recent city-wide campaign in Cincinnati, spoke about 20 minutes each night. Theodore Sorensen in his book, Kennedy, gave guidelines by which President Kennedy prepared speeches. No speech was more than 20-30 minutes. He wasted no words and his delivery wasted no time. He rarely used words he considered hackneyed or word fillers. As Purdue communications professor and researcher Josh Boyd wrote, "In physics, power is defined as work divided by time. In other words, more work done in less time produces more power. In the same way, a speaker's message is most powerful when he [or she] can deliver a lot of good material in a short amount of time."
Here are guidelines to make brevity a key foundation in your next speech. First, keep your stories under two minutes in length. In preparing a story, continue to ask the question, "How can I say this in less time and in fewer words?" Script out your story and then seek to condense it. There is an adage in using humor: "The longer the story the funnier it had better be." Connecting this principle to stories in general, we might say, "The longer the story, the more impact it had better have." To make sure your stories stay under two minutes, include only information that answers the questions, "Who?" "What?" "When?" "Where?" and "Why?" If it doesn't answer one of these questions, leave it out. Make sure also that you have a sense of direction in the story. Each part of the story should move toward the conclusion in the mind of the listener. The listener should always feel you are going somewhere in developing your story.
Second, when possible, follow the proverb, "Less is better than more." Never use three words when you can say it in two. Leave out clichés, filler words, and hackneyed words, such as "You know," "OK," and "All right." Leave out phrases such as "Let me be honest," or blunt, or frank. Avoid "In other words..." or "To say it another way..." Speak in short sentences, short phrases, and short words. Word choice should be instantly clear to an audience. Make it a goal to make every word have impact in your speech.
Third, know the length of your speech by practicing it. Never be surprised by the length of your speech. Never say to an audience, "I'm running out of time, so I must hurry along." You should know because of your Preparation and practice of the speech. To go one step further, if you know the time limit on your speech is 20 minutes, stop a minute short; don't go overtime. Audiences will appreciate your respect of their time and will think more highly of you as a speaker because of that. You should never be surprised by how long it takes you to deliver a speech
Fourth, learn to divide parts of your speech into time segments. Let's use a 20-minute speech as an example. The introduction should be no longer than 2½ minutes. You can get the attention and preview your message easily in that length of time. Avoid opening with generalizations about the weather or the audience. Let the audience know up front that every word you speak counts. Spend the bulk of your time in the body of the speech. This is where you make your points and give support or evidence for each point. The final two minutes should be your summary and move to action statement. Some speakers have a hard time concluding. When you say you are going to conclude, do so. As one wise person stated, "Don't dawdle at the finish line of the speech."
One way to keep your speech brief is to have few points in the body of your speech--no more than three. With a maximum of three points, you will have the self-discipline to condense rather than amplify. In organizing your material, accept the fact you will always have more material than you can cover and that you will only include material that relates to one of the two or three points you plan to make. Trying to cover four to six points will almost invariably make you go overtime in your speech.
A key to success in speaking is not just having something worthwhile to say, but also saying it briefly. We need to follow the speaking axiom, "Have a powerful, captivating opening and a strong, memorable close, and put the two of them as close together as possible."
most popular magazine for writers; had been interviewed all over writers e-zines; and had submitted articles to sites and magazines related to my primary audience (writers) and my secondary audience (those interested in working from home).
But the problem was that my audience was international. I had a workshop set up on Long Island, and more than 99% of my regular audience wouldnt be able to get there. So I had to get local attention. Through trial and error, Ive come up with a system that works. I havent had fewer than 30 people at any of my signings, and Ive always sold books. I hope my tips will inspire you next time youre promoting an event.
1. Focus on the benefit to the attendee.
The first thing a reader should see on your promotional material is whats in it for them. A signed book is all well and good, but itll require them to spend money. What are they getting free just for Showing up? In my case, I was offering a free 2-hour seminar about making money writing for magazines. What will they learn? What perks will they get? This is what appeared in big letters on my posters, with the book signing in small letters toward the bottom.
2. Community Events are not places to do business.
Most local newspapers have a community events section where they run short blurbs about local events. Submit your release at least two weeks prior to your event, with all the who, what, where, when, why questions succinctly answered. But after I did that and failed to place my events in local papers, I asked an ex-newspaper editor for advice.
While I would have probably run a little blurb about your free writing workshop, I would not have run your free writing workshop combined with your book signing, she wrote. I would invite you to pay for an advertisement because, being the jaded cynic I am, I would not give you free publicity for something from which you are profiting.
So leave your for-profit hat at home when approaching the media.
3. Think small.
National attention is nice, but when promoting a local event, you want to get your message to as many local people as possible. I mulled this over one day while pushing my grocery cart through a supermarket, then noticed the bulletin board filled with posters. I ran home and created my own on the computer: Colorful posters that gave all the essential information about my event in large, easy-to-read type, with pull-off tabs on the bottom that simply said Free Writing Seminar, along with the location, date, and time. You can put these in supermarkets, as well as delis, convenience stores, libraries, and other high-traffic businesses.
4. Find local websites, e-mail lists, and message boards.
Many cities, counties, and regions have their own websites where people can announce coming events. You can also search for your Geographic area on to find e-mail discussion lists in your area. Write to the site owner or group moderator to request that he or she tell members about your event.
5. Co-promote.
When Judith Lazarus promoted her books, The Spa Sourcebook and Stress Relief & Relaxation Techniques, she asked a spa product manufacturer to provide her with samples. She used these samples to draw people to her book signing table. You might find a local business that could benefit from being featured at your event, and ask them to hang a sign about the event or include flyers in customers bags in return. Or find someone whos promoting a complementary product or service, and agree to swapyoull distribute postcards about their events at your table if theyll do the same for you.
6. Run contests and giveaways.
Similar to Judiths deal with the spa product manufacturer, see if you can get a business to donate an item for giveawayor use one of your own products or services. On your publicity material, you can announce that one lucky attendee (or many) will win a valuable door prize. Or invite people to enter the contest beforehand, then tell each of them that youll announce the winner/s at the event. Be sure to include the prizes monetary value on your announcements.
7. Use lawn signs.
If politicians can promote themselves with signs on our lawns, why cant we? Ask friends and associates to put a colorful sign on their lawn with very brief information about your event.
8. Be photogenic.
If this is an event youve done before, or if you have an interesting photo related to your event, send it to local Newspapers with your release. You have a better shot at seeing print if you can provide a photo, and readers will be more drawn to your announcement if its accompanied by a picture. Pick an interesting prop or a fun candid shot, not a typical headshot.
9. Business cards, revisited.
Although many local business dont have enough counter space to display a stack of your flyers, they may be happy to let you deposit a stack of business-card-size announcements about your event. These are easy to make on your computer, and again, should just contain an eye-catching headline and essential information about the event.
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