Contrary to the popular belief that your audience wants you to succeed, I believe it comes with a condition — you have to deserve it. I have seen many speakers who interpret the reassurance as an excuse to be sloppy in their presentation. They abuse the kindness of their audience and end up wasting their time. Hence I usually take the tougher route and demand the speaker to be vigilant in their preparation whether the audience wants them to succeed or not.

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Over the years, we have heard our fair share of public speaking advice that ranges from “Lame” to “Spongebob Square Pants kind-of Lame”. Isn’t it time we bring them out in the open and set them on fire? At least that was what Andrew and I thought. Riding on the wave of ingenuity, we came up with five spoof videos to ridicule the sucky speaking advice that you have frequently receive. We have also included bite-size tips to help you sharpen your speaking skills. All in just 3 to 5 minutes. It’s really easy to watch, especially when you are skiving at work… (grins)

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Many months ago, I wrote an entry encouraging you to go naked at your presentations. How is it coming along?

In case you are wondering if I have gone out of my mind, the answer is YES… and NO. Yes, because there is still so much to pack for my trip to Sri Lanka and no in the context of this entry. Going naked in your presentation is about stripping back to the bare necessities… here is Garr and my list combined of how you can go naked in your next presentation. If you are lazy, you can watch a quick summary of some of the pointers via the video presentation below.

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Chanced upon this video at Ross’s website - Public Speaking Sucker. Was so touched by it that I had to write you an entry even though it is 1AM in Singapore.

The unknowing star of the video is a mobile phone salesman - Paul Potts - who doesn’t look or act like one. Though his job was mediocre, his dream was big. Paul wanted to be a singer and he has been longing to be one with every fibre of his soul. In spite of his fear, Paul knew deep down that a dream was meant to be lived… and so he did. Below is a tribute to this ordinary man who dreamt big. His song was one of inspiration and hope, a reminder to all of us that it’s never too late to dream.

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A loyal visitor of The Public Speaking Blog and a downright funny speaker, Darren Fleming recently competed in the Table Topics Competition Finals organized by Toastmasters International. The table topics contest runs this way - the contest chair will announce the topic and you will give a 3 minutes speech in response to that topic on the spot. As you can imagine, it requires you to think at galatic speed and speak with incisive sharp wit.

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Been wanting to write a blog entry on how to deliver a technical presentation for the longest time. And then this video came along which got me off my lazy butt. First, watch this really short (1′47″) clip. It helps if you have no clue what “Social Networking” means. Even if you do, watch it. Like me, you will be impressed with both the effectiveness and effortlessness of explaining such an elusive term. One of the viewers even commented how happy HIS MUM was as she finally understands what social networking means. So much for online dictionaries and wikipedia…

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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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This post will be God-sent for those of who you are cracking your brain to think of a speech to deliver at your Toastmasters meeting, a business gathering or an after-dinner event.

What you are seeing below is an abstract of Darren La Croix’s winning speech “Ouch”.

Have you watch it? If no, go watch it esp. if you are looking to be humored after a long day at work.

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Now that’s something! Credits have to be given to the group of writers who came up with these funny lines. They were so witty (and intelligently written) that even a dead-pan face Bush could deliver it with significant success. One of his lines actually got him about 12 seconds of laughter and applause! (The one where Bush thanked Senator Webb for doing security). Note that the lines were exceptionally funny for Americans since it was written for their listening. Only goes to show that knowing the audience is equally - if not more - important when you are writing humor.

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Weekend’s here. Have a break!

I have always admired Hossan Leong (still do!) for his witty and incisive humor. In fact I am looking forward to watch his next stand up comedy! Meanwhile, enjoy this latest and most talked about “national” song written by Edmund Tan and performed by Hossan.

Here’s the song in case you are looking for it…

We Live In Singapura

Sang Nila, Utama
Saw a lion, alamak
Name the village Singapura, then run very far

Years later, ang mor came
Stamford Raffles was his name
Posed for statues very nice, we kenna colonize

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