Public Speaking and Presentation Skills - Tips and Techniques That Really Work

Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 3

In step 1, I mentioned that "how" and "who" would come into play. If you haven't read steps 1 and 2, go ahead and do that now, and come on back.

Okay, step 3 is all about your strategy to achieve the goal, hit the target, produce the result you want. There are 2 possibilities here - 2 distinct categories, and your goal will fall into one or the other:

1. You're trying to achieve or accomplish something other people have previously accomplished or
achieved.
2. You're trying to achieve or accomplish something no one else has ever previously accomplished or achieved.

Most likely, your goal falls into category number 1 - other people have done what you're trying to do. But if your goal falls into category number 2, you're strategy is down to trial and error. Edison invented the light bulb, no one had done that successfully before him, so he was down to trial and error as a strategy for success. If your goal is category 2, now you know your strategy.

But it's more likely that you have a category 1 goal: your life just got easier - find someone who has already achieved what you're trying to do, and use them as a model for success. Find out what they did to achieve your goal. In fact, find several people to use as a model since you might be able to borrow from each of their strategies to fit your needs.

Now you know "how" and "who" but as you consider your strategy, you'll want to think of it as a series of steps to take, items you can cross off a to-do list so you can proceed in an orderly fashion toward your goal.

Tomorrow we'll cover step 4, see you then!
David

Labels: Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 3

Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 2

Here's your next step after defining the "what", "where" and "when" of your target, your goal.

This is a crucial step that most "goal achievement systems" won't tell you, either because they don't know this, or because they afraid you'll get scared away.

Step 2, is decide exactly, precisely, what you're willing to give up to achieve this goal. Everything comes with a price tag attached. It may not be visible, but the price tag is there. To achieve your goal, you're going to have to make sacrifices.

What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to sacrifice free time? Are you willing to sacrifice energy? Are you willing to sacrifice money? Relationships? Peace of mind?

This is a polarity universe. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you think this world is a place where you can have "all cake and no dieting" you're just plain wrong.

Think carefully about what you're planning to sacrifice. To achieve your goal, you may have to sacrifice a fair amount of time, money, energy, relationships, and peace of mind.

If you're not prepared to make sacrifices, give up now and forget about achieving your goal.

If you're prepared to do whatever it takes and pay whatever price you have to pay, then write down right now what you're willing to sacrifice.

Do that now, and I'll see you tomorrow.
David

Labels: Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 2

Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 1

This blueprint can be applied to any goal, but this blog is focused on seminar tips and seminar success, so we're contextualizing this blueprint to seminar and public speaking success.

Here's step 1.

Step one is to clearly define your target. Clearly define the results you want to get. Your target results should include specifics of what, when, where, and why. Who and how will come into focus during step number 3, so don't worry about that right now.

"What" is your goal stated specifically, "when" is your deadline for completion of this goal, and "why" is your purpose for achieving this goal. "Where" may or may not be obvious or required, include those specifics if you can, but be sure and be specific and clear about what, when, and why.

Don't let the answers just float around in your head, write them down. Seriously, do that right now. If you don't write it down right now, you're not serious about this goal. Writing down what, when and why is a clear demonstration that you're serious, and begins to create momentum in that direction.

Do it now!

See you tomorrow for step 2.
David

Labels: Seminar Success Goal Achievement Blueprint: Step 1

Seminar Success Tips, The Issue of Focus, and Michelangelo:

Here's what I think about Michelangelo's comment - you know, Michelangelo carved that famous statue out of a flawed block of granite that no other sculptor would touch and when asked how he was able to create such a masterpiece from a flawed block of granite, Michelangelo stopped, then replied "I looked inside that block and saw David inside, so I carved away everything that was not that".

There's a school of thought saying that you should be focused on your goal, concentrate on it, hold on tight to it. But really, focus is not about the ability to be single minded. What focus really is, is the ability to screen out distractions!

Re-read Michelangelo's comments. He didn't say he sculpted David, he said he chipped away what was not David! Focus truly is screening out what's not in alignment with your goal.

Tomorrow I'm going to start a 5 part series on a goal achievement blueprint - a realistic step-by-step plan to get to your goals - don't miss it!

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: and Michelangelo:, Seminar Success Tips, The Issue of Focus

Seminar Success and Your Focus Factor:

Did you reflect on the story of Michelangelo, and how he carved one of his most famous sculptures, the statue of David?

What does his reply say about what focus is?

What does he reply say about what focus is not?

When we think of being focused, we think of intense concentration, right? Does Michelangelo's answer sound like intensive concentration on his goal?

What do you think?

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Seminar Success and Your Focus Factor:

Seminar Success Tips, Focus, and... Michelangelo:

Here's a hint about what focus really is.

There's a story about the famous artist Michelangelo, and the statue of David (hey, nice name!). As the story goes, Michelangelo carved that famous statue out of a flawed block of granite that no other sculptor would touch.

When asked how he was able to create such a masterpiece from a flawed block of granite, Michelangelo stopped, then replied "I looked inside that block and saw David inside, so I carved away everything that was not that".

What does that tell you about focus? What are your thoughts and feelings? Feel free to post them right her on my blog.

See you tomorrow.
David

Labels: and... Michelangelo, Focus, Seminar Success Tips

Seminar Success and Focus:

These days you've heard a lot about focusing on what you want. "Visualize your goal clearly" etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Do you want to know what focus really is?

You might be surprised to find out. I've spent quite some time on this subject, and have discovered something deeply powerful about what focus is, and what it isn't.

What are your thoughts and feelings and experiences about focus?

Please do share!

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Seminar Success and Focus

Seminar Success Tips: What Are You Really After?

Thank you to one of my non-U.S. based subscribers for reminding me that not all of my readers are U.S. based - so my wishes for a "happy thanksgiving" were received with some humor - glad to keep you laughing all over the world!- moreover, thanks for being a regular reader.

So, now to the point: what are you really after? Why are you doing seminar speaking, or want to? Yes, I know... "help people" "make money" "promote my business" and by the way, feel free to post here YOUR specific purpose.

I have a friend who wants to get rich in buying real estate. I asked him if he likes the day-to-day tasks of looking for properties, putting in offers, dealing with negotiations, and the myriad details involved with real estate investing.

He said no, but he likes spending money and going to Hawaii! But I ask you, when the going gets rough, or when there are days he's just not feeling 100%, what's going to keep him going? Hopefully he'll be able to "keep his eyes on the prize" and think about Hawaii and keep his motivation up so he can push through the tough times. Many people do this, and I highly question this, I think this is a point worth stopping to really consider.

Why are you doing what you do? Is it for the benefits you'll get "some day" but you hate what you do?

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Seminar Success Tips: What Are You Really After?

Happy Thanksgiving From The American Seminar Academy!

I want to wish you and yours a safe and healthy (and fun!) Holiday!

Sincerely,

David

Labels: Happy Thanksgiving From The American Seminar Academy

Thanksgiving, Public Speaking, and Seminar Success

When it comes to successful seminar speaking, it all comes down to you. Literally.

Most people I know right now are gearing up to eat a lot and do a lot of nothing. Most of the "working stiffs" I know have already mentally checked out, and are going through the motions to get to the long 4 day weekend.

I have a different attitude, but then I always have. I'm actually going to be working on my new book as much as possible, between bites of turkey and reconnecting with relatives.

But my point is not to create a new game show called "who wants to be a work-a-holic", it's about mind-set. When I say that your seminar speaking success comes down to you, you need to check your attitude toward your work.

Are you just wanting to have seminar success so you can have more long weekends? If so, that's fine, but realize that the truly motivated, successful people actually enjoy what they do. They don't see their work as something to endure until they get to their *real* life. They see what they do as a big part of their real life.

What's your mental attitude toward what you do? Want to share, right here on my blog? What's your reaction to this post? Are you "into" what you do, or is it something you endure just to get to something else?

I really want to know!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
David

Labels: and Seminar Success, Public Speaking, Thanksgiving

Self Reflective Consciousness, Seminar Speaking Success... and You

Maybe you never really gave it a second thought, this whole thing about self reflective consciousness - especially the "darkside" of it that *allows* us to obsess on the past, and dread the future.

But that's the mechanism of stage fright and fear of public speaking. It's the root cause. It's what makes stage fright and fear of public speaking possible in the first place.

Well, doesn't that just figure? Mankind's greatest evolutionary achievement, and we use it to thwart our own success! Ha! Kind of ironic, don't you think?

Don't let you brain run wild. Seriously! Why are you letting your brain call the shots? How come it gets to flash pictures at you and you just react? How come you allow your brain to talk to you and send you dis-empowering messages?

Who's driving the bus??

More tomorrow, see you then!
David

Labels: Self Reflective Consciousness, Seminar Speaking Success... and You

Seminar Speaking Success and Mankind's Greatest Achievement?

Mankind's greatest achievement is not the pyramids of Giza or setting foot on the moon. Our greatest achievement is what allowed us to be able to do those things in the first place - I call it "self-reflective consciousness".

Look into a dog's eyes - it's different than looking into a human being's eyes. When you look into a person's eyes, they know that you know that you're looking at them. We humans have the ability to self-reflect. This amazing ability allows us to reflect on patterns in the past and project into the future with predictions. It's that ability that has allowed us to build great pyramids and fly to the moon.

However, life is full of yin and yang, and there is a darkside to this ability: we can reflect on the past and relive painful memories over and over. We can also live in the present dreading the future. It's self-reflective consciousness that "allows" us to be able to have stage fright and fear of public speaking.

Mankind's greatest achievement is what can completely thwart our seminar success!

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: Seminar Speaking Success and Mankind's Greatest Achievement?

Can other speakers help you to be a better seminar speaker?

Indirectly, yes. It's very easy to attend seminars, then just sit there and make notes about what you like and don't like about their presentation style.

You can pay attention to how they use their voice, how they use or don't use the stage space. You can make notes about how they started their talk and how it was ended. You can make notes about audience reaction. You can makes note of any interesting or powerful quotes they used.

You can notice if they use humor, and if it worked. You could pay close attention to how they use their face and what kind of gestures they make. Make notes about how they dressed and any use of props or visuals they used. You can also reverse engineer how they put their talk together based on the flow of content and how they present it.

Seminars and speaking engagements are all around you and are going on all the time - why not let other speakers help you to improve your game?

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: Can other speakers help you to be a better seminar speaker?

How Do You Define Seminar Success?

Is it in sales dollars? Standing ovations? People that tell you that you're great?

Is it in money raised for charity? Petitions signed? Smiles on people's faces?

Clearly, you can define your seminar success however you wish. However, I highly suggest you define it! Many people don't - if you ask them if their seminar was a success, you'll get "I guess so..."

Define your goal(s) for your seminar, then measure you success against that. Goals can be hard or soft: hard is money brought in, appointments made, number of signatures on a petition. Soft goals are audience enjoyment, client satisfaction, how you feel about how things went. Soft goals are intangible, hard goals are tangible.

To your seminar success! See you tomorrow.
David

Labels: How Do You Define Seminar Success?

Are They Buying Your Reasons or Are You Buying Their Excuses?

No matter what type of public speaking you're doing - whether you're doing fund raising, selling, educating, training, raising awareness, or whatever - either the group is buying your reasons, or you are buying their excuses.

If you buy into people's excuses for not learning, not contributing, not buying, not seeing your side, not supporting your cause, then you have failed. Plain and simple.

Don't buy into people's excuses. Use your passion, your influence, your expertise, your humor, your charm - your everything - to sway the group to buy your reasons to take the action you want them to take.

When it comes down to the bottom line, either they're buying your reasons, or you're buying their excuses!

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Are They Buying Your Reasons or Are You Buying Their Excuses?

Seminar Success and Industry Organizations

Have you ever joined a speakers industry organization like Toastmasters or the National Speakers Association? Have you ever worked with Meeting Planners International? Have you worked with any of the many speakers bureaus out there?

If so, what was your experience? Positive? Negative? Neutral? Did you pick up any tips that made you money?

And, be honest: did your association with any of those or other speakers industry organizations make you money, or cost you money? In the final analysis - and without justifying - was your net cash flow negative or positive as a result of your involvement?

I look forward to your replies! Post your opinions, experiences and feedback right here at
www.seminaracademy.com/blog.

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: Seminar Success and Industry Organizations

Is Walking Across Hot Coals Easier Than Public Speaking?

At first, I was flummoxed as to why many people said they'd rather walk across hot coals than get up and speak in front of 100 people, but here's what I ended up realizing:

1. If you walk across hot coals, the biggest risk is you burn your feet. You'd have physical pain, and you'd have to wait for your feet to heal up properly. The risk is to your body.

2. If you speak in front of 100 people and somehow manage to humiliate yourself (people are afraid they'll say or do something stupid and look like an idiot in front of all those people and suffer severe embarrassment), you'd have emotional pain. Who knows how long it could take for that wound to heal, you may never recover or suffer for many years until the memory fades. The risk is to your ego.

It's not so surprising, then, that many people are more afraid to injure their ego since that's a pain that could take a very long time to heal - much longer than burned feet!

What do you say? Post your comments right here on my blog: www.seminaracademy.com/blog

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Is Walking Across Hot Coals Easier Than Public Speaking?

Would You Rather Speak In Front of 100 People, or Walk Across Hot Coals?

In the workshops I teach on conquering stage fright and fear of public speaking, I'll often ask this question. At first I was surprised at how many people would rather walk on hot coals than do public speaking!

But later I realized why this is true. Can you guess why?

Also which would you rather do - would you take the hot coals, or speaking to 100 people?

Vote right here on my blog.

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: or Walk Across Hot Coals?, Would You Rather Speak In Front of 100 People

Seminar Tip for Saturday - Hey, What's Your Objections?

A way to think about all our fears when it comes to public speaking is to call all those things "objections".

That's a useful word because if I say "why don't you come up here in front of all these people and say a few words" you'll object to doing that. Now of course, not everyone would object, some people would have to be pulled from the stage, they'll never shut up. But most people object to "having to" get up in front of people and speak.

How about you? What's your biggest objection? How many objections do you have? What is your biggest objection to doing seminars, workshops, and public speaking?

I really want to know! Go ahead and post them here, it's okay, you post anonymously if you want.

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: Seminar Tip for Saturday - Hey, What's Your Objections?

Seminar Speaking Success - What's The Limit?

It amazes me what you can do with seminar speaking. When I say "seminar speaking" I actually mean any kind of speaking that involves being in front of more than 2 people and making some kind of presentation.

So when I say seminar speaking, that means workshops, classes, conferences, seminars, trainings - any kind of event where you speak to people.

There's no limit what you can use seminar speaking to achieve, so I'll tip you off to just a few:

Promote your business, hold a charity event, sell a product or service, teach a skill, further a mission or cause, fund raising, political reasons, or even make yourself famous on a local or even national level.

What do you want to do with seminar speaking?-the sky's the limit!

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: Seminar Speaking Success - What's The Limit?

Seminar Speaking Success, Tips - and What Lies Under a Rock:

Here we are in the beginning stages of discussing exactly how you can conquer stage fright and fear of public speaking. A critical piece to this is exposing what I call 'what lies under a rock' - it's the ugly truth about your true fears, what really scares and bothers you, the root cause of any and all anxiety about getting up in front of people and speaking.

As we do this, I'd like to pause and have you consider something: you know how Tony Robbins and others do their fire-walk thing, where people walk barefoot over hot coals? The idea is that people become empowered by doing something they thought they couldn't do, or that was impossible. The idea is that people then go on to their 'normal' life with that feeling.

Everyone I know who's done that says that the charged-up feeling fades come Monday morning. Sure, the fire-walk is a great source of inspiration, but Monday morning, the "skill" of walking on fire is not something that translates to any skill you can use in the real world, in the rest of your life. It's just a nice metaphor.

However, what if you could overcome fear of public speaking? What if you conquer stage fright? Doesn't that translate into skills you can use Monday morning - you bet it does!

Let's continue together tomorrow, see you then!
David

Labels: Seminar Speaking Success, Tips - and What Lies Under a Rock:

Next Step: Conquering Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking:

I call it overturning rocks; something is buried under there. It might be repulsive. You might not like what you see.

I call that stuff under the rock "fear triggers". It's the actual cause of stage fright and fear of public speaking.

There is no amount of useless advice that will get rid of those fear triggers. Most "conventional wisdom" is focused solely on managing - not eliminating at the root - your stage fright and fear of public speaking.

It's time to turn the rock over and describe what you see. Grab a pen and piece of paper - and some brutal honesty - and start writing down what you're really afraid of. Don't sugar-coat it. Get it all down in front of you. Make a complete listing or diagram of your fears. What are you afraid will or won't happen? Be honest, brutally honest!

This could be ugly. This could remind you of things you don't want to remember. This could cause you to become quite emotional. Stay focused. If you need to, pretend your just an objective observer or a reporter just getting the facts, not making evaluations.

Do it now. It's time to expose those fear triggers - the true root of stage fright and fear of public speaking - and "defuse" them once and for all.

See you tomorrow.
David

Labels: Next Step: Conquering Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking:

Conquering Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking, and The Ugly Truth

It's time to face the ugly truth - this is, if you want to conquer stage fright and overcome your fear of public speaking forever.

The ugly truth is like overturning a rock, you can't be sure what you're going to find.

Now, you don't have to overturn this rock. Of course, you also can just keep your stage fright and fear of public speaking.

Over the next week or so, we're going to be overturning some rocks, but you might not like what you see!

Starting tomorrow, we're also going to more deeply explore exactly what is *stage fright* and the difference between stage fright and *fear of public speaking*.

But, remember - when we start overturning rocks, who knows what will come crawling out!-Are you sure you're really ready for this?

If you're ready to conquer your stage fright and fear of public speaking, join me over the next week or two as we skip past useless techniques and get to the real heart of how to make stage fright and fear of public speaking a thing of the past.

See you tomorrow,
David

Labels: and The Ugly Truth, Conquering Stage Fright and Fear of Public Speaking

Seminar Success Tips and Your BIGGEST Question:

What is your biggest question when it comes to seminar success and public speaking?

Send me your biggest question, and I'll send you a free gift - I guarantee you'll be thrilled with what I've got in mind to send you.

In my mind, seminar tips and skills fall into 3 main areas:

1. Conquering fear of public speaking and overcoming stage fright
2. The "logistics" of seminars - how to handle the 1,001 details so your seminar goes smoothly.
3. Presentation skills - being a "master of the stage", and knowing how to structure your talk to get the results you want to get.

Maybe that will help stimulate what your biggest question is.

If you have more than one question, that's okay, I'll still send you a free gift - BUT of those questions, be sure to let me know what your number one BIGGEST question is.

Email me at: David@SeminarAcademy.com

See you tomorrow!
David

Labels: Seminar Success Tips and Your BIGGEST Question:

How to connect with your audience and "touch" everyone in the room:

The "T'an T'ien" is a Chinese term referring to a spot on your abdomen located about 2 or 3 finger widths below your belly button. The T'an T'ien is thought of as the place where universal energy is concentrated.

Now, here's the thing: this technique does not require that you "believe" in universal energy. It works no matter what your beliefs are. Here's how it works: imagine that universal energy can flow into the top of your head and fill up your body like water pouring into a glass.

It helps to imagine this energy having a color like gold, silver, pure white light, or your favorite color. It can even be rainbow-like if you prefer. Now, imagine that this energy fills up your body so full that is overflows out through your T'an T'ien and fills up the room, touching everyone in the room.

If nothing else, this technique allows you to feel connected to your audience which can eliminate stage fright and anxiety because these people are not a bunch of strangers separate from you - they are all connected to you!

See you tomorrow,
David

Rookie Mistakes - Part II Cont'd

A couple of days ago, I promised that I'd reveal a simple but effective technique to eliminate that nervous, awkward pacing you're doing when you do seminar speaking.

Quick recap: seminars, workshops, public speaking and other group events are a terrific way to build your brand, your business, generate and convert more leads and prospects and make more money quickly.

Most people avoid doing it, however, due to stage fright. Those who do face their fear of public speaking are typically untrained rookie speakers whose presentation ability and skill is quite frankly, awful. You don't want to be one of those awful speakers.

Today's technique is called "Cylinders". The Cylinders technique will stop that distracting nervous pacing. Think of your body parts each consisting of a single cylinder. Your arms, legs, torso, neck and head are each a single cylinder.

Now, stand up: line up your cylinders so no cylinder is out of balance - no cylinder is leaning forward, or backward, or sideways. Line up your leg cylinders underneath your torso cylinder, under your neck and head cylinders. Make everything line up.

Line up all your cylinders, and feel the solid base you have. Feel how when all the cylinders are lined up, you can let your energy settle down through your feet, feel solid and confident. Now practice some of your seminar talk in this solid, confident position.

Try this right now!

See you tomorrow.
David

How to Get Speaking Engagements

There are speaking engagements all around you. I could literally fill a book with them, but here's a few to get you moving:

Clubs like the Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks and so forth are always desperate for speakers. Associations of all types like accounting, financial, notary, escrow, real estate, insurance etc. need speakers on a consistent basis for their meetings and conventions. Check out your local chamber of commerce for plenty of speaking options. Then there's the local adult schools - you don't have to have a teaching license or even a college degree to conduct classes there and get great exposure. Another terrific bunch of opportunities are all the existing seminars that are going on that you could tie into, all you have to do is find a way to provide value to the seminar promoter.

That should keep you pretty busy for a while! Start making some contacts today.

See you tomorrow,
David

Rookie Mistakes to Avoid, Part II:

Most inexperienced seminar speakers are nervous and anxious about public speaking. That nervousness translates into awkward movement around the front of the room.

For the audience, it can be very distracting when the speaker is pacing nervously back and forth across the stage - this may work well if you're a stand-up comedian like Chris Rock, but but if you're not Chris Rock, I suggest you stop your nervous pacing.

I've been to many seminars where the speaker is like one of those ducks in an amusement park shooting gallery - I have a hard time paying attention to their talk when I'm too distracted watching their awkward, nervous pacing.

Tomorrow I'll give you a terrific tip you can put to use immediately that will totally eliminate your nervous, awkward pacing and give you a commanding presence at the front of the room.

See you tomorrow!
David