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

Fear of Public Speaking & Stage Fright: Is This Good Advice ?-You Be The Judge!

I went to Google and typed in "Fear of Public Speaking", and here's what I found:

Now, of course, I'm skipping the paid listings on top and the paid listings on the side from Google's Adwords program, and just going with the "natural" organic listings.

In position #1, is a website by Morton C. Orman, M.D. (who better to learn public speaking skills from but a medical Dr., eh?) and his website is www.StressCure.com. I think the good Dr. makes a number of good points in his report "How to Conquer Public Speaking Fear".

Dr. Orman outlines 10 key principles. Now, I don't know Dr. Orman personally, but I think his 10 principles are good - in principle. Although much of what the good Dr. writes falls under what I'd classify as "traditional advice" you'll find in any library book, it is all good advice nonetheless.

But going beyond giving Dr. Orman a nice pat on the back and an "A for effort", I'd also offer the following critique, or more to the point, the following important distinction about his advice.

First, you should read his "11 Hidden Causes Of Public Speaking Stress" yourself which is part of the same article. Hint: look for repeated words.

Have you reviewed it yet?

Again, while everything Dr. Orman says is good advice, ultimately this advice does not work in the real world for most people - and by the way, when I say "most people" I'm referring to the fact that over the years I've done workshops on Fear of Public Speaking and How to Conquer Stage Fright and I've taught and tried out E-V-E-R-Y technique on myself and my hundreds and hundreds (if not thousands) of students.

So, what's the common denominator? What's the key repeated keyword?

Look closely, and you'll notice that it's "thinking". All the advice, while good advice, is about having some kind of mental shift. Having an intellectual understanding.

However, and here's the bad news, Understanding does not cause change!

Feel free to quote me on that.

Look: people go to therapy sessions and spend years talking about their problems. One of my family members has been in therapy for more than 25 years now, spent many thousands of dollars, and understands her problem very well... but still has her problem!

Understanding does not cause change. I will bet that our good Dr. is very well educated, very intelligent, and very cerebral. So naturally his advice on conquering stage fright and fear of public speaking is based on his most highly preferred method of operating in the world: thinking and understanding.

But, and this is a BIG but - change happens on a gut level, not a cerebral level. Right now I won't go into a lot of detail about the dynamics and details of that, but that is the bottom line: understanding does not cause change, change happens on a gut level.

Fear of public speaking, like all fear, is a gut level reaction to perceived danger. If you want to transform that fear, you need to do it on a gut level. The techniques my students learn in my workshops don't require any understandings or intellectualizing. The techniques I teach operate on a gut level to instantly (yes, instantly) cause a different reaction than fear.

It's my experience and the experience of my students that stuff like "knowing your audience wants you to succeed" and other intellectual understandings really just don't cut the mustard; your gut doesn't care about that stuff!

Frankly, this kind of cerebral intellectual advice makes up 99.99% of the "techniques" people teach to conquer stage fright and fear of public speaking. It's almost as if Adam & Eve wrote a book on this topic way back in the beginning, and everyone after that has been copying that book without bothering to find out if it really works or not!

Labels: fear of public speaking

Public Speaking & Presentation Skills - 2 Critical Points

If you're going to do any kind of public speaking at all, and if you only do one thing to improve your skill and get much better results, that you need to pay attention to 2 critical points in your presentation:

The very first words that come out of your mouth, and - you guessed it! - the very last words you say.

The first words you speak, according to a very strong strategy, should be what is known as a "grabber". Think of this like the headline of a newspaper or magazine article - you're flipping pages looking for something that "grabs" your attention.

Your grabber needs to make people say to themselves "that can't be true!" or "you've got to be kidding me!" or "that can't be true" or "what!? I didn't know that!".

An opening grabber right up front means people are sitting up and paying attention.

Just as important - and perhaps even more important - are your last words. Don't fall apart here with some weak drivel like most speakers do. Clearly and concisely outline exactly what action you want people to take.

It's best if you can close with a strong incentive to take some action, and your close should follow a very tight summary of your presentation.

Now, go to www.SeminarAcademy.com and sign up for my weekly Success Quick Tips because you'll get all kinds of juicy tips for free and automatically sent to you without you having to lift a finger.

See you tomorrow!
David

Why All Public Speaking Is Actually Marketing & Sales:

When you do any kind of public speaking, ultimately you're in reality doing marketing and sales.

I don't care if you're speaking in front of a classroom giving a book report, making a speech at a wedding, delivering a presentation to the board of directors, or speaking at a community organization, or standing up to speak at a local government hearing.

In every single case, HOW you say what you say will determine success or failure.

And that means you're always positioning yourself, and you're always selling yourself. Marketing = positioning, sales = selling.

It's that simple.

You know where most people go wrong? They think their ability to speak to persuade or influence is based entirely and exclusively on WHAT they say, the content of their speech or talk or presentation.

Wrong, wrong, WRONG!

The old expression "it aint what you say, it's how you say it that matters" is one of the truest sayings out there.

But do you think this only applies to speaking in front of groups?

The same skill of being able to control HOW you present what you say to an audience or a group is exactly the same as a one-on-one communication.

When you finally realize this, a major light bulb will go on above your head, and it will change your personal and business life forever.

See you tomorrow,
David
PS: be sure to check out my many and growing articles and tips at PublicSpeakingWizard.com

Labels: public speaking - presentation skills

Public Speaking and Handling Questions

When it comes to doing public speaking and seminars, one of the things that really freaks people out is how to handle questions.

I've seen this over and over in my workshops. People think they have to be able answer any possible question that someone could throw their way, and that makes them hesitate to do any kind of public speaking or seminars. They feel they have to be the "ultimate expert" and know absolutely everything about a topic, or else they don't deserve to talk about it.

Nonsense!

All you have to do is know more than the people in your audience. Don't suffer from the mistaken idea that somehow you have to be a "know it all" or that someone there will know more than you. Even if someone does know more than you, that won't matter.

Why won't that matter? Because as long as you keep you composure and confidently continue with your talk, you'll be seen as the expert.

This is what most people miss: YOU'RE the one up there. That makes YOU the expert.

It reminds me of when I used to have my own band, and we'd be playing somewhere - there were ALWAYS better guitar players in the audience... but the audience never cared or knew because I was the one on stage and not them.

Sure, you may run into someone in your audience who acts like a know it all, and wants to hijack your seminar talk or speech, but I teach you strategies to "head that off at the pass" and prevent that from ever happening in the first place.

So don't worry about having to "know everything" before you start doing public speaking seminars. When you do start, you'll kick yourself for not having started sooner!

See you later,
David

Labels: Public Speaking

Public Speaking As Lead Generation and Conversion Strategy

As a business owner, your main concern is lead generation and conversion. Public speaking and seminars is without a doubt the best way to promote your business. It's also the fastest way to bring in new customers and clients. Not to mention, fun!

Sure, maybe you're not sure about the whole getting up in front of people thing - after all, in school it was nerve wracking (to say the least) to have to get up in front of people and start speaking... all those faces looking at you... all those eyes on you....

Look: that was then. That was when you were in your formative years when your peers, and what they thought of you, meant more than anything else.

Yes, you probably have a kind-of hangover from that now, but my students over and over have easily conquered what they thought was insurmountable stage fright and fear of public speaking, and so can you.

So, either start doing seminars and public speaking to promote your business, your mission, your product, your service, yourself................ or you might as well get out one-hundred dollar bills and start ripping them up right now.

Why Are You Doing Public Speaking, Anyway?

I can think of at least a dozen reasons and uses for doing public speaking.

But you know what? I'd really like to hear why you are doing public speaking or seminars. What are you using speaking for?--is it to gain credibility? Generate leads? Make sales? Educate people? Raise money for charity? Get signatures on a petition?

What are you doing out there?

See you tomorrow,
David

Public Speaking & Presentation Skill - Should You Feel Guilty?

Yesterday I was revealing a very simple but extremely powerful public speaking / presentation skill technique.

When you're doing any public speaking or presentation or seminar and you use this technique I taught you, your talk is extremely dynamic and emotionally moving to your group.

The net effect is that you create an emotional roller coaster for your audience, and they'll be much more likely to get up afterward and do business with you and buy from you.

Is that ethical? Is that morally sound? Is that morally corrupt? Is that just plain wrong?

Isn't it just blatant manipulation for personal gain, and therefore sleazy?

I want to hear what you think, and I suspect there will be diverse opinions on this topic.

All opinions will be allowed to be posted here on this public speaking and seminar success blog.

See you tomorrow!
David
PS: Get tons of free public speaking and seminar success tips and articles here:

Labels: public speaking - presentation skills - ethics

Public Speaking and Your Presentation Style - A Secret Technique:

When you do any kind of public speaking or seminar, there is one thing that will be critically important:

Your presentation style.

I'm talking "make-or-break" here folks... I'm talking about reeling in new customers and clients and bringing in a flood of money by effectively getting your message across, or NOT.

Public speaking and seminars CAN bring you a flood of money, an avalanche of cash, but it's totally, completely 100% possible that your presentation style can completely ruin your results!

Don't fret, I'm coming to your rescue with a very simple, but extremely powerful technique to save the day (and your results!).

During your talk or speech, alternate between having the group laughing their asses off, and being scared to death.

This creates an emotional roller coaster ride for your audience.

It creates an emotionally moving and stirring experience that moves people to take action, and gets you the results you seek.

Now, I'll warn you that while this is extremely simple and powerfully effective, it's not necessarily easy because you DO have to be able to be alternately funny and scary on command.... but here's how to do it:

Do all of that by telling stories.

You can do this in a couple of ways:

1. Tell stories that make them laugh during the story, but also contain scary parts.
2. Tell funny stories and scary stories separately, alternating funny and scary.

Here's an example:

Let's say you're an insurance agent doing public speaking and seminars: you'd simply tell horror stories of what happened to people who didn't have insurance, but you'd also be sure to include humorous stories, or humorous elements in your scary stories (see 1 & 2 above).

This technique is so effective, it's almost scary. But I want you to use this because it really moves people to action... BUT I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU:

Here's my question: doesn't this technique amount to blatant manipulation of your group? Shouldn't you feel guilty for playing on people's emotions just to bring in business and money?

Okay, so that was 2 questions... post your answers here, and I'll also go further into this soon and give you my thoughts and feelings on those 2 very important questions.

Stay tuned!
David
President, American Seminar Academy