As I was browsing through one of my regular public speaking sites, I found a post that highlighted some of the actual newspaper headlines.

Most were excruciatingly funny, some ludicrious to say the least. But all points to one lesson: double check and triple check what you are going to say before you even say it.. One short of a comma may create quite a misunderstanding for example “Two sisters reunited after 18 years at checkout counter.” Without the comma, we would think that the sisters have been stuck at the checkout counter for 18 years which we all know is ridiculous. In writing, you would want to put a comma between “years” and “at” to indicate that they reunited at the checkout counter. In speaking, you would use a short pause to represent the comma. However, I would rather you do this instead: “After 18 years, the two sisters finally reunited at the checkout counter.” Much clearer, don’t you think? End of lesson.

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I always have people asking me how to get some good ideas for their speech. My answer usually yields the same reaction.

HUH??!!

The answer is really simple. Go Find Them!

You got to keep an active eye for speech ideas. Go back to your routine and consciously search for things that you can talk about. If it is something interesting, it will definitely catch your eye. It could be an incident that happened to you at the shopping mall. It could be an article you read from the newspaper. It could be a story that your friend shared with you. It could be a quote that jumped out at you while reading a book. It could be an advertisement that you saw while waiting for your show to begin. It could be an object that you stumble across while heading to work. In other words…

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Did a two hours workshop with Bishan Toastmasters some time back (in early June). And I finally got down to converting the recording to an mp3. Would like to give it to you on one condition. Scroll down to the bottom of this post and answer this simple question:

“What is the best public speaking advice you have received so far?”

In my earlier post dated 29th January, I shared with you an epiphany I had while eating my mum’s delicious fried carrot cake.

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Many months back, I wrote an email to my subscribers discouraging them from using cue cards for well justified reasons. However, a blogger friend of mine Nancy Tierney challenged each of them at her recent article: Would Steve Jobs Ever Use Note Cards? and that made my day. You see, there is always two sides to a coin. By reading both the argument for and against cue cards, we have effectively throw the ball back in your court to decide.
……………………………

RE: This Is What You Should Not Do

DO NOT read from your 4 by 5 note cards at your
presentation.

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By now, most of you would have been accustomed to a very powerful speaking strategy. And that’s to tell a story and then make a point. For a quick refresher, you can check out the following articles:

6 + 6=Everything You Need To Know About Public Speaking
“How To Create Stories In Ten Minutes Or Less”
Secrets To Story Telling Success”

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Just got back from a hearty dose of hosting at Daiko 2007, an annual drum performance put by the S’pore Polytechnic Japanese Drum Team. Thanks to this hosting engagement, I had the chance to witness the grace and power of Daiko drummers. Trust me, it takes skill, strength and a sense of rythmn to drum up a decent tune. And as usual, I had a lot of fun hosting this event with Charissa whom I met at Irene’s hosting class.

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I got your attention, din I? You must be wondering.. what is it I need to know, more than anything else. And the more I digress, the more you want to know. You may be thinking right now whether I am dangling a carrot right in front of you. Yes, you are absolutely right. Question is, why are you still reading this since there’s every possibility I may just be playing a fool with you. Well, let’s just say that you have no choice. You have come thus far and you seriously need to know what is that something that now, more than ever, you need to know. Give you a clue. It is a secret that a lot of top-notch speakers adopt to have their audience eating from their hands. It is a persuasion technique that has been subtlely added in the sales pitch, without you knowing. It is a formula that once you understand will serve you well.

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A friend of mine was kind enough to spice up my afternoon by sharing with me this video. It summarizes most of my grievances I have with presenters who get their kicks out of sentencing you to death by powerpoint!

For crying out loud, please avoid the following if you still have some humanity in you…

1. Write everything you want to say on your slide.
2. Not rinning spell chek.
3. Use excessive bullet points to highlight key points.
4. Choose really bad colour schemes like yellow on lime green background.
5. Rush through 80 slides in one hour.
6. Shove sensless data to your audience.
7. Add animations that does nothing but give you migraines

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Was reminded of an important lesson a couple of minutes ago as I was preparing for this evening’s communications workshop: Schmooze Your Way To Success - How To Build A Personal Network That You Can Count On.

Something that is straightforward and simple to you may not necessarily be the case for your audience. This is a blindspot that often many speakers commit. The curse of being too familiar with their own materials.

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Last week I was flying Southwest Airlines on my way to speak at a conference in Columbus, OH. The flight attendant handed out a flyer about our pilot. This was to be his last flight before “regulations” forced him to retire at midnight that night. Within moments, fire trucks approached our terminal and began squirting a rainbow of colored water onto our plane in celebration for him. We were asked to stand and applaud as the pilot came from the cockpit. It was quite an emotional scene, especially for those close to him. Everyone was smiling along with shedding some tears.

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