EF: All award winning speeches have one thing in common - a strong foundation which includes a clear structure, solid content and natural delivery. So if you want to develop a winning speech, start from the basics! Let’s see what Patricia Fripp has to say about speech basics.
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Every speech or presentation, formal or informal, long or short, has three key elements. The first is your structure. Think of it this way: the structure is the skeleton under the flesh of your words. Or, if it is easier for you, think of it as the framework, the way you organize the words.

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This is the most recent article written by Patricia Fripp, the first female President of the National Speakers Association. She is widely regarded as the Oprah Winfrey of the public speaking industry and I am honoured to have her as one of my partners for the upcoming book - The FAQ Book on Public Speaking. I found this article particularly insightful. Couldn’t have said it any better myself so let’s hear it from her directly.
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There are many ways we learn; let us look specifically how they relate to improving the spoken word.

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Speaking As A Performing Art
Guy Kawasaki picked Doug Lawrence’s brains and came up with these excellent tips on preparing physically for your presentations.

A Message In The Bottle Factor
Ross Bowering has taken a new slant on creating imapct with your speaking. He calls it the Messge in a Bottle factor

When There Is No Quiet, There Can Be No Loud
Love this post by Garr Reynolds. Sounds very zen-ish. But isn’t. The juxtaposition of music creation and presentation creation makes so much sense. Extremely useful for those of you who are aching to leave your audience going “What just happen??!!”

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I love this guy! Jason is an award-winning humor columnist and cartoonnist. (Nowadays, everybody is an award winner…) But still, he is worth checking out. I personally like this article a lot and since it’s about writing (grammar specifically), I think you will want to read it too. Enjoy!

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For most of us English is a sentence (buh dum bum). In school we learned the basics followed by their 6,534 exceptions. We discovered, for instance, that “i” goes before “e” except after “c,” then immediately took off to SCIENCE.

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Here’s an article from my friend Paul Evans, executive creator of Instant Speaking Success. His company has helped over 35,000 speakers avoid the fear and strengthen their skills. I like this article a lot, not only because it is witty but it makes lots of sense. Enjoy!
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Like most pubic speaking consultants, I usually hammer all the reasons a person should not be afraid of presenting. However, the more coaching I do, the more I realize the fear is legit. People should be afraid of getting in front of a group.

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By Darren LaCroix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking

Zip… “Auuurgh! Not now, I’m traveling! I don’t have time for this!” I screamed to myself. I was in Orlando teaching our Get Paid to Speak Champ Camp when the zipper on my luggage broke.

As soon as the Boot Camp was over, I took a cab to the department store near my hotel. I went straight to the luggage department in search of a replacement. The choices in luggage were numerous! At a glance, they all seemed the same, and the only thing differentiating them was price.

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Another insightful article by 2001 World Champion Speaker, Darren LaCroix. He is da man!!!

Ouch! How I fell on my face… all the way to the top

As I waited my turn to take the stage every fiber of my body started to vibrate. And then my name was called and my world shifted into slow motion. I stepped onstage. I could see nothing past the blinding lights. But I could hear the audience. And I started to visibly shake.

Have you ever felt like that?

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Pardon the blog drought… (T_T) This week has been quite a roller-coaster ride with projects due one after another. And it doesn’t help that exams are around the corner… Nonetheless my week ended on a high note - I got into the third round (semi-finals) of the Word of Mouth Contest! It’s Singapore first talkfest organized by NTUC Club and Entrepreneur Toastmasters Club. The journey is getting more exhilarating as I pit my wit and eloquence against some of the most qualified speakers in town. Truly an honor!!! Promise to share with you more about my experience soon (which will be next week unfortunately.) For those of you who don’t know, I am representing my division (Div Z) to compete in the finals of the Evaluation Contest at Macau, China. I will be fighting it out with six other finalists from Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong and Thailand. Bright side, I will have a lot to share with you when I get back!

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I had the honor of meeting Angela at NUS Alumni Toastmasters meeting last week. She was a feisty lady with a keen eye for language and a strong sense of humor. It was through her language evaluation that I realize a lot of us tend to neglect our grammar and sentence structures. Though it seems unimportant, poor use of language can distract the audience from the content of your speech and reduce the impact that you intended for. Worst, it creates a bad first impression that will take more than proper grooming and high qualifications to erase.

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There is an article by Scott Young that I would like to recommend all of you to read. His blog is one of the few that I read religiously every day. This article is even more relevant to those who attended the talk I gave at NUS on 25 Nov, titled How to Charm your Listeners: The Art of Making Small Talk For those of you who could not register because it was full house, I have good news for you. NUS PROSE is considering to do a re-run either in Nov or Dec. Not sure the time yet. But I will let you know when I do.

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