Good, you think to yourself. 20 minutes is plenty of time.

But how many speeches have you sat through where you fell asleep within the first two minutes?

And how afraid are you that people are going to do the same for yours?

It seems terribly obvious: unless you’re interesting, no one is going to pay attention. When you watch an episode of the O.C. or Gray’s Anatomy, you’re there to be entertained. You watch because the plot twists and the developing relationships on-screen are interesting. Not interesting? You switch the channel.

People may not have the luxury of turning off a speaker. But they can certainly turn off their own brains, and if you’re not careful, you’ll find most people snoozing in their chairs.

I recently came across an article on how to be interesting in a blog. Click clip #1
and clip #2

Critique

1) Okay, so his topic isn’t controversial. But with the Apple brand and the slew of exciting products they’ve been coming up with, it’s certainly not boring either. The excitement in the air is already palpable, and he makes a good joke out of it, linking it to the product.

2) His speech is 20 minutes – a perfect attention-span match.

3) ‘The world’s thinnest notebook.’ Sure, he talks about all the specifications and what it can do, but there’s absolutely no doubt that this is the key point that he’s selling about the MacBook Air. And the people love it.

4) The way he reveals the MacBook is absolutely theatrical and very good, and definitely surprising. The use of the manila folder as a prop not only emphasizes his central message, but it also keeps the audience in a flurry of anticipation before he actually unveils it. He’s also done this with other Apple products before, and it’s definitely worked, because every time he does this in the future, the audience is going to wonder what new method of presentation he’s going to come up with.

5) Admittedly, he’s not too humorous. But he does get a great deal of audience response in the form of cheering and clapping, which definitely shows audience attention and attraction.

6) And lastly, he makes a fantastic job of visuals. When he compares the MacBook Air to the Sony TZ series, he does it with a green-on-white bar on a plain screen, which is a good visual impact. Later, he also says that the Mac at its thickest is still thinner than the Sony at its thinnest – which is a convoluted sentence that would have taken a while to decipher, normally. But by flipping the green bar around, the audience got the message immediately, and they went wild.

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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Your audience stares back at you – a sea of unknown faces. If you’re lucky, they’ll be receptive. If you’re not, they’ll be bored.

And if it’s just not your day, they’ll even be hostile.

There’s a lot of information out there on how to make sure your speech is effective. But what most people don’t realize is that half the battle is won if your audience is awake and eager before you even open your mouth.

Here’s 10 things you should know so that you can win even more than half that battle!

1. Mingle with the audience before you start the speech.

The author of Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience, Joanna Campbell Slan, advises that you should arrive as early as possible and mix with the crowd of people beforehand, and many other experienced speakers do the same.( See, I’m not the only person who preaches about doing this) Make small talk, introduce yourself, and get a feel of what the audience already thinks about the topic. It helps you be prepared and is better than simply fretting alone backstage and getting more nervous.

You don’t have to tell them that you’ll be speaking later if you don’t want to. You can surprise your audience when you walk out on stage. Wave at the people you spoke to for more effect. This also gives you an effective starter. Be careful, though: if your audience is likely to be hostile to your topic, it’s best to be honest from the beginning.

2. If there’s no chance to mingle beforehand, simply BE ON TIME

If you’re half-an-hour late in beginning, the audience will have long settled down to a nap in their comfortable auditorium chairs. Having to wake them up at that point doesn’t earn you brownie points, and even if you get their eyes open, sleepy people don’t pay attention. And sleepy people don’t like to have their sleep interrupted.

3. Dress well and appropriately.

The first impression is made within ten seconds – and it’s been estimated that up to 90% of that impression is made based on how you look. Gail Hogan, a former news anchor writing for business journal Business First, tells us:

“Take a former politician of a large city in the Midwest. At the start of a luncheon speech to announce his new economic plan, the candidate was greeted by snickering and hushed whispers from the crowd.

It seemed a piece of the poor guy’s cherry cheesecake missed his mouth, found his chin and decided to stick around for the speech. Post-speech chatter centered around the candidate’s embarrassing public moment and not on his well-thought-out economic plan.”

If you look sloppy or if your hair is messy or if your clothes are not professional, your audience is less likely to take you and your speech seriously. This doesn’t mean that you can’t wear casual clothes for a more laidback atmosphere, but you must be sure that it’s appropriate for the occasion

4. “More speeches than you can imagine are doomed to fail by bad introductions…Instead of kindling fires of enthusiasm within the audience, the introductions lead to an epidemic outbreak of brain freeze.”

From The Toastmaster, a public speaking journal

Don’t let your intro be a dry narration of your academic credentials or the bare facts of your life’s story. The audience isn’t really interested in that. Either keep it as short as possible or find some interesting( humor would be a bonus) way to say it – possibly through a narrative story about an interesting incident. Let me give you an example:

“Eric just loves to be gawked at..even if it is in a pervert kind of way..”

Introduce yourself if possible, but if someone else is introducing you, make sure that you have control of what will be said or you’ll have someone shout “BRAG!” from the back of the room.

5. Make the venue interesting.

Put up posters or visuals of your subject. If you’re giving a presentation on aid for places struck by natural disasters, tack up images of victims or of the devastation caused by the hurricane/earthquake/etc. If you’re giving a corporate presentation on a product, put up images of the product, or better still, have the product there for your audience to fiddle with first.

6. Think up innovative ways of leading them into the topic, such as printing memorable statistics or quotes of key points and pasting them to the floor or even the ceiling.

Your audience will find themselves actively treasure-hunting for the information you’ve left them, and this will ensure that they’re warmed up for your actual presentation.

7. If possible, leave a quick introduction of your speech topic on the seats.

Don’t write a six-page article, though!( If not, we’ll be back to the sleeping problem ) The idea is to tantalize your audience and allow them to get a better idea of what you’re about to say without giving the game away. Give them one or two pertinent questions at the end of the introduction, to get them to think and warm up their brains. Once again, humour will be a bonus here.

8. Give out freebies.

Especially in Singapore! What better way to please Singaporeans then giving away free stuff?
Business writer Meredith Pond advises that freebies are a great way to help people remember your business. For her, ‘giving away free stuff, even if it’s just your advice, shows people that you’re willing to help them out’, and they ‘help your customers remember you’.

This is equally applicable to public speakers – it builds goodwill even before you start speaking. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Besides this, if you customize it or make it relevant to your product/speech topic, people will remember you whenever they use it.

9. Get them moving.

While this may be limited by the place constraints, just getting your audience to get up and do a few stretches before your speech will provide a change of pace and get the blood moving. It’s not possible to fall asleep while doing a jumping jack. More importantly, get the audiences involved in your presentation. By doing these 2 things, you’re giving the audiences the much desired attention and they’ll love you for it!

10. And before you move into the body of your presentation, use your opening to grab attention. First impressions matter.

We size a person up in the first ten seconds or so, so don’t waste it. Toastmaster J. A. Gamache once opened a speech by blowing a whistle and yelling, ‘All aboard!’ Not only does the noise wake up any potential sleepers, it intrigues the audience and creates a genuine interest in your speech. In his case, it transported them from a boring auditorium to the train he wanted them to be on.

These are just a few ideas to begin with. You don’t have to do all of them, but bear in mind that you definitely want the audience to like you or to fire their interest in your topic (best if both, of course). They’re be warmer, more likely to be forgiving of any mistakes you may make later, and far more receptive to your message.

And of course, they will LOVE YOU!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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I have never watched a single Rocky movie even though my room mate and dad are huge fans. However after Monday’s presentation by this phenomenal speaker, I will most likely watch ALL 6 of them. (Read on to find out why)

In the previous article, I shared about four best practices that the speaker adopted which got his audience - including myself - mesmerized and inspired almost immediately.

In this article, I am going to do a spin to five of the life lessons he has shared and show you how they can also be aptly applied to improving your speaking skills.

1. Embrace failure as a wonderful thing

Personally, this advice is new to me. I have heard about how we should always learn from our failures and also the importance of falling forward (thanks Darren!). However, I never hear anyone encouraging me to fail. Not even my parents. Perhaps this is because there is a huge taboo attached to failing. And failure is usually associated as something negative and embarrassing which causes people to avoid vehemently.

However, on second thoughts, the speaker is right. Failure is a very good thing and should be embraced. When you fail, it immediately feedbacks to you what doesn’t work and what works. The same principle applies to self-evaluations.

Admittedly, I learnt the most when I made mistakes. The more serious it is, the more memorable the lesson becomes. For example, how I embarass myself in front of 800 people while delivering a nuclear energy speech at high school. This incident alone has provided me with the impetus to improve in my public speaking skills. And the drive was so great that it gave me the courage to compete internationally. So were the other champions of life, like Rocky.

So my friend, if you have not failed enough in your public speaking, please do so AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. And please do so intelligently. You won’t want to fail at your most critical presentation or in front of your boss, will you?

Hence the best way is to increase your stage time, which gives you more opportunities to take risks. (for eg, trying a new technique or speaking on a unknown topic)

And when you fail, learn and improve. When you succeed, relish your victory and then take another risk. The more chances you give yourself to fail, the more opportunities you give yourself to grow.

For those of you who have failed a lot and are still defeated, I urge you to watch the Rocky video clip above. Failures are expected. Failures are necessary. What counts is not your fall. What counts is you PICKING YOURSELF UP. Remember it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward!

2. Remarkable people do the extremes

This was one of the observations that the speaker made after studying remarkable people for 20 years. Say Tiger Woods, considerably the best golf player in the world. He will practice ONE stroke for 12 to 14 hours! To us, this is crazy. But to him, this is merely a demonstration of his passion for the sport, a demonstration of his commitment to his skill. How many people have such discipline?

Another worthy mention is my mentor Kelvin Lim. He is by far the best coach I have ever met and also one of the best in Asia (FYI, he was awarded Master Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation, the highest recognition you can give to a coach) And yes, he was also one of the authors of The FAQ Book on Public Speaking. Unlike some coaches out there who get qualified just by attending a 4 day coaching program, Kelvin was trained for 12 years before he could even coach a real client. 12 years!

How about you? How can you go to the extreme in your pursuit to becoming a powerful speaker? If you haven’t been speaking regularly, how can you change that? If you haven’t been reading materials on public speaking, how can you change that? For those of you who have been consistent in your public speaking education, how can you take it to the next level?

Remember, true masters go to the extreme and if you want to be as powerful as them, you got to go to the extreme. Instead of spending one hour everyday studying public speaking, can you spare three hours instead? Instead of attending one Toastmasters meeting, can you attend one every week instead? Instead of just reading tips from my blog, can you commit to a coaching program that gives you the opportunity to see results in a shorter span of time? If you have yet to see MASSIVE growth in your speaking ability, chances are you have not walked the extra mile.

3. Kaizen without limits

Kaizen is a Japanese word that represents continuous self improvement. Again, masters make this lesson a daily habit. Tiger Woods, the best golf player in the world, spend hours every day perfecting his swing. James Galway, the flutist superstar, starts his day by playing the scales. Mark Brown, world champion of public speaking of 1995, is re-doing his basic speech manual that all Toastmasters start out with. These masters understand one thing. The only way to stay at the top is to keep working on their skills, even to the extent on training their basics.

There is a saying that if you find a field of interest and study it for a minimum of one hour every day, in five years time, you will become an expert in that given field! So likewise, if you ever want to become a powerful and impactful speaker, you got to start doing CONSISTENT work. One time-tested strategy is through daily damnits. The other is by making a commitment that you will learn at least ONE new thing that will help you improve your speaking skills.

Just one. It could be a inspiring quote you can use in your next speech. It could be an eye contact technique that you saw another speaker use with great success. It could be a success formula you learn here that you can apply in your next presentation. Anything. As long as it helps you move forward. Go the extreme, and kaizen without limits!

4. Don’t set goals!

Instead, set adventures for yourself! Goals vs. adventures. Which is more fun? Which is more exciting? Which is more promising? Adventures of course because of the positive connotation it comes with. So instead of coming up with singular goals like “become more confident in my next presentation”, inject some fun in your next “goal”. Combine a few goals together and design a story around it. What is the kind of impact you want to create for your audience? Describe in full details - what would you SEE, what would you HEAR, what would you audience SAY to you?

Setting an adventure also means that there is no hard and fast rules on how to get there. In fact, there are infinite ways to get there and you should explore as many of them as you can. It’s like how you explore a new city. It becomes boring when you rely on a map because you never get to have random encounters which may prove more meaningful. And while you are at it, enjoy the journey.

5. Always choose the path of least resistance

Human beings are motivated by two things - avoidance of pain and enjoyment of pleasure. One of the reasons why you are reading this blog is because you hate losing face in front of people and you want to get rid of the possible embarrassment. There may be some of you who are passionate about public speaking and hence you like to find out new strategies of approaching public speaking. Either way is fine. However if you are here for the long haul, I suggest you pick the path of least resistance.

This is especially so for people who are fearful of public speaking, for whatever reasons. Instead of getting stuck with these reasons, I suggest you do this - associate something pleasurable to public speaking. If you are someone who loves to grow (pleasure), remind yourself that no matter how bad it turns out, there will always be a lesson to mine and this will keep your nerves in check. If you are someone who loves attention, this is going to motivate you to spend more time sharpening your tongue (even though you hate the long hours involved). If you are someone who aspires to change the world, learning public speaking skills become necessary because words can move the world.

Take note, pain and pleasure are merely two ends of the same spectrum. So instead of getting stuck with all the pain and misery, switch gears and get yourself acclimatized to the possible pleasures of speaking in public. In time to come, you will love the art. I am a living proof.

(There is another version to this lesson, check it out here)

So there you go, FIVE powerful lessons that will ensure you speak at your best. Let me summarize.

1. Embrace failure as a wonderful thing
2. Remarkable people go to the extremes
3. Kaizen to the limit
4. Do not set goals, set adventures instead!
5. Always choose the path of least resistance

Finally, here’s a fun exercise for you to get involved in.

It will only take about 10 mins but chances are, you will enjoy it so much that you will keep going.

Here’s the exercise.

Take a blank piece of paper and start writing down what you want to achieve in the domain of public speaking. You can apply this to other parts of your life too. What would you write down if whatever you write will come true? What would you write down if you can start afresh?

This is your chance to set an adventure for yourself. Tell me in full details and colour, what kind of speaker do you want to become? How do you want your audience to behave before, during and after your presentation? How do you want to feel each time you are up on stage? What do you want to experience when you are up there delivering your speech? What kind of impact you want to crate for your audience? If you get to choose three topics to speak on, what will they be? And if there are particular talents you will like to have as a speaker, what will they be?

WRITE THEM ALL DOWN… with no reservation. Watch your internal conversations. Notice how you sabotage yourself by telling yourself that what you wrote down is pure bulls**t, and they will never come true. Ignore these voices. They don’t serve you. Instead I want you to have fun generating them. This could be YOU if you let it.

Once you are done, read it one more time. Pick three things out of your wish list that you can start working on. Incorporate the five lessons that I just shared with you. Most importantly, TAKE ACTION.

I repeat, TAKE ACTION.

It could just be doing ONE thing everyday. That’s good enough. The rest will take care of itself.

See you at the top!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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It has been a while since I was moved to tears by a presentation. Today was one such evening. The speaker is a self-made multi-millionaire who has undergone tremendous adversity before enjoying his current status.

And my training company, AdvantEdge Coaching, had the good fortune of inviting him to share - on an exclusive basis - his secrets of living an extraordinary life.

Not only was I reminded of life’s valuable lessons through his stories, I saw how he applied some of the best speaking practices that made his 2 hours presentation an unforgettable experience. Allow me to give you a low down.

This entry will be done in two parts. One centres around the strategies he adopted that made his presentation a highly memorable and inspiring one. The second part covers some of the life lessons he has learnt and I am going to give it a spin by applying them into public speaking.

1. The importance of prep work

Like a martial artist, he was disciplined and understood perfectly the importance of prep work. He came to the venue yesterday to do a rehearsal. A full 2 hours. Got his wife and best friend to give him feedback so that he can fine-tune. How many speakers actually go the extra mile to do that?

Today, he came two hours earlier to set up the place and run through his slides another time. Wow.

That’s not all. After the set-up was done and he was satisfied with the lighting and sound, he got himself INTO THE ZONE. That’s right. He got himself into the zone. That’s what many sportsmen call it. The zone. It’s a space of serenity and focus. Nothing matters except that particular presentation. When his friends came by, they knew well enough not to “disturb” him. So there the speaker was, with his ipod, running through parts of his lines intently, and with a fierce intensity. I was impressed.

Although, his technique was opposite of what I usually do i.e. get flesh-time with my audience, you can still incorporate that into your pre-presentation phase. Here’s my recommendation. An hour before your speech - when everything is all set up - find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed. Run through the thoughts into your head. Clear them. And keep your mind focused on your mission at hand - What do you want to achieve at the end of your presentation? Increase your stake by reminding yourself why you are delivering this presentation in the first place and its significance.

If you need to, go listen to your specially selected music or watch a short video clip (for me, I watched my favorite speakers in action). Do whatever you need to get yourself prep and ready for the big moment - your presentation.

2. Make your presentation multi-sensory

This is one of the powerful strategies adopted by Anthony Robbins. Apparently the speaker knew about it too because he did the same too. The consequence was much appreciated. His audience - including me who was sleep deprived for the past week - was thoroughly engaged throughout the entire 120 minutes.

Let’s do a quick run through.

Auditory (hearing):

He did that very skilfully through music. Right when you enter the room, you will be greeted with high energy music that stirs up your spirit and make you want to dance. Near to the end of his presentation, when he got us to perform an act of courage (details below), he played the theme song of Rocky. And it was timely because he showed us a clip from Rocky before that. At his last slide, he played another piece of music that was highly emotional (gradual at first, intense at the end). Tied in with his conclusion about how we should DREAM BIG, he really made you want to rush out of the room and declare to the world how you want to relive your life. Cool stuff.

Visually (seeing):

Mainly through his slides. And he only used three colours. Red. White. Black. When he was dishing out key lessons, his slides were white on red. When he was sharing about some of the low points in his life, his slides were white on black. That’s what we call anchoring. This strategy helps the audience remember better and I strongly encourage you to try that in your next presentation.

He showed us a video too, from Rocky 6. Let the video speaks for itself.

Kinesthetically (doing):

This was highly unexpected yet if you think about it, this activity makes sense since he is a martial artist. He got us to write down ALL our fears on this A3 wooden board. And then near to the end of his presentation, he challenged everyone of us to break the board with our fist or palm, signifying our intention to fight through all fears. Really cool. And you should see how the ladies were apprehensive and uncomfortable. Yet the activity was also the highlight of the presentation because you see how each and everyone of the participant (there were 31 of us) came down to the stage and literally destroyed the board.

In fact one of the participants was so gungho that he went down with TWO boards. Not only did he NOT break the board, he injured the fingers of the speaker. I thought it was funny. (and yes yes, I should learn to be more sympathetic). But trust me, this is going to be memorable because one, the participant was courageous and two, the speaker showed pain which is usually unlikely in a motivational speech. At the end, the participant destroyed both boards, one at a time.

I was meant to show you the broken boards but the pictures are not with me. Will show them in the next entry.

So as you can see, the speaker’s presentation was one that feels like a Spielberg movie, with both high and low moments, with a lot of action and adventure. Now, that’s a blockbuster speech that you want to create the next time round! And it doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to do is to get your audience to SEE, HEAR and DO something and you will already be on your way to becoming more interesting and engaging.

3. It was a story-driven presentation

His objective was clear right at the beginning. First with his speech title and second in his introduction. “I want to share with you how you can unleash your potential”. And then he immediately went on to his first story, his favorite fairytale - the one about the Thai princess.

If you were to analyze his presentation, you will realize that this story was strategic to begin with. He cleverly used this simple fairytale to set up his presentation i.e. in life, there will always be a hero, a coward and a princess (analogous to the prize). And the choice of becoming a hero or coward is up to us, which later led him to talk about the one thing that separates heroes from cowards. Both face fear but one of them face it while the other runs away from it.

And then he went on to share about his life story, centering around the numerous failures he had… from his divorce to being broke and then to him being fired from a job and etc. He later contrasted on his failures with his current successes which leads us to a question - what did he do different?

And his answer is straightforward - he never run away from his failures. In fact, he embraced them and learn from them.

Did he just stopped there? No, of course not. He went on to share about his deaf buddy, a brave individual who have every right to give up because of his limitation, but he did not. I cried at his encounter partly because he was also moved (he was very sincere!) and partly because I admire the deaf guy’s courage.

And even till the end, the speaker brought up a story, his best one. It was a story about Bunkerd Faphimai, a world champion of thai boxing.

Saw what he did? His entire presentation was essentially stringed from one story to another. And the message served as a transition to the next story and the next. The common thread of course was the objective - how do we unleash our potential. This is a structure that is definitely worth modelling, one that has proven successful and will continue to be IF YOU TELL AUTHENTIC STORIES. Remember, no one cares about stories you picked from Chicken Soup from the Soul. Your audience care more about the stories that happen in your life and the lives of people in your world. Remember that!

(Click here to explore how you can craft an engaging and entertaining story that will leave an impact in your audience)

And finally…

4. The power of silence

He was a highly energetic speaker. He paced around a lot and he speaks relatively fast. However before every important point he has to make, he will ALWAYS stop for a moment and ponder (by putting his finger on his lip). And then he espoused on the secret he has discovered or lesson he has learnt the hard way.

The momentary silence has a very powerful effect on the audience. It caught our attention and heightened our senses. If you are in the audience, you will feel the invisible force pulling you forward in anticipation for that point which you know is going to make a deep impact in you. And when he finally let you in on that particular lesson or secret, you will soak it in and the effects linger. You really got to try it to know what I am talking about. Let’s crossed our fingers that he allow me to put up the video online. And then you can watch it for yourself.

So the lesson is simple. The next time you are about to share an important point, pause for a moment. Take your time and look into the eyes of your audience. Increase the tension built up. And then let them in. I guarantee that you will be having your audience eat out of your hands! Very nice effect. Go try.

So there you go, four very powerful practices you can adopt in your next presentation to leave your audience mesmerized and inspired. Let me recap.

1. The importance of prep work
2. Make your presentation multi-sensory
3. Develop a story-driven presentation
4. Pause before every important point you make

There is still a part two which will be released in a couple of days time. I suggest you take some time to re-read this article and then create an action plan based on the four strategies the speaker has adopted. Talk soon!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

Related Entries
250 Lessons I Have Learnt That Will Make You Become A Highly Successful Speaker

Now More Than Ever, You Need To Know This… (Another very powerful strategy that champion speakers use to great effect)

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Take it away Gary!

Have you ever seen a presenter or speaker speak on stage, and be entirely turned off or irritated by him? Alright, maybe not entirely turned off… but your feeling still borders on the negative side as you struggle with discomfort as you hear the speaker speak?

Well, lousy content and poor pronunciation aside, inappropriate use of body language in different settings can cause discomfort for your audience and it can be a MAJOR turnoff to the people who’ve come to hear you speak! It’s true!

Imagine your typical meeting/conference room. It’s capacity is made for about 10-20 people set around a round/oval meeting table. You’re seated in the midst of the audience, and you’ve a presenter prancing around the room and waving his arms in the air as he gesticulates and makes a point.

What comes to your mind?

( I had a chimpanzee in mind…a really adorable one)

Jokes aside, inappropriate gesturing can make your audience uncomfortable. More specifically, misjudging the magnitude and the level of energy you put into gesticulation can cause more harm than good for your speech. And when it comes to body language, it is essential that speakers match their level of energy and the size of their actions accordingly to the size of the crowd, as over-gesticulation or under-gesticulation may compromise the effectiveness of your speech/presentation.

The purpose of this post, then is to help you understand the dynamics behind the volume of your action, and which level you should employ depending the size of your crowd.

When it comes to using your hands, there are 4 main zones to consider. When you’re talking to a small group of people on stage, the minimum you could use your hands would be at level One-waist level. You are, however, allowed to stray into the zone Two, which is slightly higher-chest level too even when you’re group size is considerably small, say between 3 - 5 people.

The Second Zone (chest level) is an appropriate level for you to gesticulate when you’re speaking to, say, a group size of around 6 to 50 people. It is natural for you to raise your level as as your group size becomes bigger, you’ll need to increase it for the sake of visibility and energy.

The Third Zone (upper chest level) would be more appropriate for a group size of 50 and above, and when you’ve people seated far at the back and you need to make your actions visible to them.

Lastly, the Fourth Zone (head level and beyond) is the loudest and most prominent of all levels. Whilst it’s okay to make a gesture or use your hands near your head once in awhile to make a point, prolonged gesticulation around your head, or raising your hands above your shoulders could have disastrous consequences. Not only would you look like a restless chimpanzee, your actions could come across as being too loud and boisterous, and you could come across as being pushy, aggressive and dangerous. Not to mention crazy… and restless (again!)

Eventually, unless you’re speaking (or singing) to a stadium full of people, I would recommend that you refrain from raising or flailing your hand for extended periods above your head. Not unless you’re trying to show off your beautiful arm pits or attempt to find a mate by spreading your pheromones. In any instance, you can do it if you feel like being a monkey. Otherwise, let’s strive to be professional by paying attention to the volume of our actions.

Remember, there’s no need to shout when you can speak. The same goes for our actions!

Remember( yet another one ), you heard this first at the Public Speaking Blog!

P.S. To find out more about Body Language on Stage, check out the following posts:

Power Moves! 5 Tips To Make Body Language Work For You

Power Failure-How Not To Use Your Body

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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In Part 1, I introduced one of the biggest Fast Food icons who used such a strategy, KFC. Turns out that many other corporate companies have been telling stories all this while. Though they all preach and stand proudly with the impeccable quality that their products represent, they all illustrate this using different stories from different sources.

For KFC, the story goes that Colonel Sanders himself peddled his home-cooked fried chicken, believng in his creation so much he never once compromised it for other people’s preferences.

There is another example that I’d like to bring up and that is the World’s Famous Coffee Brand. Make a guess. Did I hear Illy?. You got this one right. One of the stories which use to be famously circulated was how the Director of the company at that time ( Who was the son of the founder for Illy coffees ) visited a small cafe which served Illy coffees. After placing his order, the young man behind the bar apologetically explained that the coffee maker was not working quite right that morning and that he’d rather not serve the coffee at all if its going to taste different.

What great story material! Notice the differences in the 2 stories now? In KFC, the story originated from the founder himself. In the Illy story, the story came from an unknown young man, the employee, the very people you trust to uphold the visions of the company.

What are your other sources of company stories?

Think about everyone involved in the company. And I mean, EVERYONE.

How can you miss the people who gives your products the most credibility?!? Your CUSTOMERS!

And there are countless examples of companies using their customers as the source of their stories.

One example: Starbucks launched a nationwide storytelling competition in the US encouraging people to write in their stories around a particular theme. That theme has got to do with finding their partners/love or some even spouses in any Starbucks outlet. ( Forget SDU, head down to your nearest outlet now! ). And you should be there to see the response! ( Not that I was there..)

If your products or services that you offer are THAT good, there is bound to be some appreciative customers who will write a lovely note or letter praising the organization. Hence, your customer stories can even come to you!

So now we’ve solve the first problem, which is getting our stories. Now that you’ve got them, how do you craft them?

We already know that EVERY STORY has these basic elements: PLOT, CHARACTERS, CONFLICT, MESSAGE
And EVERY STORY has a..standard set of characters: Hero, Villain, Hero Support, Damsel In Distress. Of course these are used metaphorically. The damsel in distress may not actually be a damse..nevermind.

Easy. Identify all these characers in the story you are crafting. Who’s the Hero? ( Eg, My Boss ) Why is he the Hero? How has he contributed to the story that entitles him to become the Hero?

Once you’ve clarified their roles in the story, it becomes way easier now!

Another note on the other basic element: CONFLICT.

Yes, conflicts are the driving force of the story, but remember. Absolute chaos is as dull as Total Harmony. Introduce one conflict. Can you imagine if the Illy Story had more than 1 problem. Instead of just the coffee maker breaking down, your cafe’s water supply got shut + all the bottled water were stolen the night before + …irritated already?

Go ahead, get writing and share with me!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

P.S. This is a continuation of Telling Stories…In a Business Suit (Part 1) Read that for the full post for Corporate Storytelling

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Even the most advanced speaker has challenges and can improve in some area. What is the public speaking challenge you are working at right now?

It’s not the question per say that got me thinking. It’s the first statement he made.

Francisco is right. Even the most advanced speaker has challenges, just like the rest of us. And what sets them apart from us is this - They never sit on their laurels. No matter how good they are already, they are constantly looking at how to become BETTER, and how to move the bar to the next level.

And that reinforces what my mentor shared me once: “Eric, I know you are good but you are not good enough. In your next speech competition, you got to so good that the question is WHO WILL BE IN SECOND PLACE?”

And that blew my mind.

Because he just shared with me one of the secrets of successful speakers, the same secret that created some of the legends in the world.

And this secret can be formulated into a question that I urge you to ask yourself constantly:

IS THIS THE BEST I CAN DO?

In fact, that’s the same question that Seth Godin asked in his recent blog entry.

In his words…

The objective isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all.

So the next time you deliver a speech, ask yourself “IS THIS BEST YOU CAN DO?”

Chances are, there will always be room for more improvement. And your job is to constantly move the bar to the next level… and then to the next.

For me, I am still waiting for someone to tell me how my message has profoundly changed their lives… what about you? What will your best look like?

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

P.S. In case you are curious about my response to his question. Here it is:

Learning how to prepare a solid speech with minimal preparation. We are living in a world where time is a rare commodity. So it is extremely valuable for a speaker if he can prepare a powerful speech off the cuff. Couple of realizations I have made along the way. One, it comes with daily practice. No matter how long or short your speech is, ALWAYS apply the fundamentals. For example, researching about the audience or ensuring there is a structure in your speech or fine-tuning a message that inspires you and your audience. When you keep doing all the basics well, it will come a point in time where they function automatically at the background. Coming up with a memorable speech will thus become second nature.

Two, keep studying the other competent speakers. (Try www.ted.com) The more you listen to their speeches and study their strategies, the more attuned you are to the different possibilities of creating a good speech. And when the time comes to create one, you will have a whole pool of ideas and strategies to tap into.

Three, sharpen your quick thinking skills. Enuff’ said. One way is to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway. Play along with the games because they will help you improve your quick thinking skills. Here’s one you can try. Take one minute to talk about a random object. Keep doing that before every meal. Make sure it is a daily affair. And then once you get a hang of it, link every object you speak about to a certain message like “Life should be lived to the fullest”. At first, you may find it hard but the more you try, the better you get.

…

As I am also honing my humor edge, I spent quite a significant amount of time watching comedies and listening to funny speakers like Ellen Degeneres or Darren La Croix (2001 World Champion of Public Speaking). If I were to choose a mentor, it will have to be the funny people from Whose Line Is It Anyway. First in the list is Ryan Stiles. Next will be Russell Peters. Third will be Hossan Leong, straight from Singapore.

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If you have been a frequent visitor of The Public Speaking Blog, you will realize that I seldom do promotions or get you to buy anything unless it serves a purpose i.e. the product helps you become a better speaker in the shortest amount of time. Today is such a occasion.

I have three goals for this blog entry.

One, I want to be FULLY TRANSPARENT to you and tell you only the truth.

Two, I will reveal the profound but strangely unknown reason why you are struggling with public speaking or any other skills in life.

Three, I’m going to do whatever it takes to ethically persuade, convince, and influence you to join my elite coaching program.

If you are ok with that, continue reading…

Do you feel that no matter how hard you try, there is always a certain limit to your results? It’s as if there is a glass ceiling on top of you, impeding your growth after a certain stage and the hard work you put returns only expected (and sometimes diminished) results?

Why is it that you can’t reach the next level, the next standard, no matter how hard you push?

I’m sure you have experienced it. Don’t you ever wonder why is this so?

Well, here is the reason why you are struggling…

Just a warning first: IF used appropriately, this knowledge alone can make a lot of difference to your progress.

Do not be surprised when the light bulbs start flashing in your head. In fact, expect it to happen.

It took me years of banging my head against the wall in frustration to arrive at this piece of wisdom.

So, here it is…
“You were always doing it ALONE.”

Lonely place to be, isn’t it?

And I don’t mean alone as if you don’t have any friends that are also speaking in public. They could even ENJOY public speaking but you can still be growing your skills alone.

It’s the same: You didn’t involve others who have the SAME IDEALS as you. I mean, knowing someone who is PASSIONATE in public speaking is one thing, but getting that person INVOLVED is another.

Case in point:

Have you ever met someone who speaks worse than you?

We all do, right?

Even if the poor fella can’t speak to save his life, you are compelled to work harder when you see this person clocking in the stage-time, applying himself to the techniques, and making slow, but steady progress. The very act of observing someone having success, no matter how small is sometimes enough to drive you to work harder and try something different. I guarantee you, that soon-to-be champion speaker will inspire more than reading a 100 motivational books.

But here is the ingenuity of not doing it alone. You learn so many different ways to perform it better, faster and more easier. Isn’t it true that 10 brains are better than 1. Suddenly you gain so much more perspective and insights at what you can do to improve and smash through the glass ceiling.

I personally talk to many different public speakers and champion speakers to expand my mind to many ways of improving.

This knowledge is not limited to public speaking, it applies to every aspect of your life.

James Arthur Ray said it well: “You could be very successful at something in your life right now, but deep down inside, there is one area in your life where you KNOW you could be better, and you KNOW you could do so much better.”

My wish is for you to find others to help you, to support you, and to drive you on this journey.

:: Click here to find out more about the coaching program ::

This is the reason why I created the coaching program together, to align you with the other hungry winners.

You are probably excited right now with what I’m going to share to make this a brain-dead simple decision for you. So here are the three reasons:

* You will get the opportunity to ask me UNLIMITED questions, one at a time for anything that has to do with public speaking. Up till now, no other champion public speaker I know offers this kind of coaching. NONE. The more specific and well-thought out the question, the better the answers.

* You have full membership into our Mastermind Group. This is where you surround yourself with like-minded people who are passionate about public speaking and share your IDEAL. Every month, we will discuss every members’ problems, insights and breakthroughs (That means YOU). This is your opportunity to benefit from everyone’s experience so you can quickly rise to the top.

Every Mastermind Meeting will be recorded, edited and packaged in a downloadable format so that you can listen to it anywhere, anytime. You will even receive the audio transcription to be used as your revision notes. This way, you can listen in the meeting intently and be very present when participating while taking some brief notes for immediate action.

Later, you can revisit the lesson through the audio recording and highlight more ideas from the transcripts to be added for future application. Neat, huh?

* Now, here is the killer, you will receive UNLIMITED PROFESSIONAL CRITIQUES. Now this is something NO ONE has ever done in my industry. This will easily 10 TIMES the price of the program. I was afraid to add this at first because it is a very time-consuming activity and sometime challenging task. In the end I included it to this program.

Why? Because I know beyond a shadow of doubt that this is probably the one thing that can make the biggest difference in your life, provided that you actually USE it. I’m committed to work hard in giving you the best critique to the best of my ability if you promise to work equally hard on yourself.

In the past (even today), I pay champion speakers a sum of USD39.95 per speech critique. And that is only a critique on my written speech! In this program, you get to send me UNLIMITED numbers of speech drafts, audio recordings, or even video recordings of your performance and I will critique it for you at NO EXTRA CHARGE. You do the math…

Now, is that an irresistible offer or what?


:: Click here to find out more about the coaching program ::

You must hurry and take advantage of this rare opportunity. Once the 10 slots are full, I will stop taking on clients. I can tell you for sure that I won’t be opening the coaching program for AT LEAST another 4 months and maybe longer. Unless someone leaves the coaching program, or dies (which is highly improbably) you will not be able to get coached 1-on-1 personally by me for at least another quarter. Even if there are still vacancies, I need to close the intakes on the 1st of July when we officially start our coaching.

:: Click here to find out more about the coaching program ::

See you at our first mastermind meeting!

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

P.S.

P.P.S. At this point, you might be tempted to do one of 2 things. 1) Take on this coaching 2) Forget all about it and go watch TV. In any case, I want to make your decision easy for you. Ask yourself 2 simple questions:

1. “Am I willing to make some serious progress in my public speaking skills now?”

2. “Am I able to invest in this program financially?”

If your answer to the first question is “Yes”, and to the second question “Maybe”, then I want you to take up my risk-free offer and give this coaching program a try for the first month. Why? Because you have nothing to lose in this offer, especially since you are willing to work hard on yourself.

Time to make a decision now.
:: Click here to find out more about the coaching program ::

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There is a astronomical number of public speaking resources out there on the web and it is almost impossible to read every one of them. Agree?

What if there is someone who compiles all the quality entries and update them at a period you request (say 10 mins?).

This means that you will have the latest and most relevant speaking strategies at your disposal. And instead of searching for them like a needle in haystack, you can now read the selected few and be assured that they are the best.

Although what I have just painted is still an ideal, we are on our way there with Guy Kawasaki’s new gizmo titled ALLTOP. It’s a “online magazine rack” with topics ranging from Autos to Celebrities to Social Media. While organized like a magazine, it is complete, succinct, and never outdated because they aggregate approximately 100 feeds per topic and update them every ten minutes.

You are invited to check out the speaking page right now! It’s brand new, bursting with solid advice on how you can score at your next presentation. You will find The Public Speaking Blog featured there too (grins)

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

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I just listened to an mp3 interview with Paul Endress, persuasion extraordinaire and found some of his persuasion techniques insightful. He is also the man behind the persuasion article written for The Toastmaster (May 2008 edition). If you want to listen to the full version of the tutorial, click here. If you are in a hurry, you can first check out my notes below.

While research shows that most people believe they can’t be sold, the fact is those same people can indeed be persuaded if they don’t recognize that a sales tecnique is being used.

The trick lies in the different persuasive strategies used then and now. Lets use a car salesman this time since they top the list as the people you absolutely cannot trust in a poll.

Then: They go on downloading information in you, telling you EVERYTHING you need to know AND don’t need to know.
Basically, its like taking a shotgun with pellets in it, hoping that one of them will hit the target. This doesn’t work anymore!

Now: Being subtle.

The following are strategies for you to adopt as you attempt to persuade your audience, be it one or many.

1. Aiming at the Target

Have you been in a situation where a salesman or saleswoman was trying to sell you something by giving you the 4-1-1 of what he or she is selling while you absolutely couldn’t wait to get away from the guy? That he or she was boring you nuts with all the information?

You felt like running away as soon as he turns his head because he never found out what was IMPORTANT to YOU.

Ask a simple question : “What’s most important to you when you buy a car? ”

“What’s most important to you when you enroll your kids to a programme? ”

“What most important to you when you look for a life partn…( ok you get it by now don’t you? ) ”

This simple question is what gets you the most answers. So for example, if I’m going to go buy a car, what’s important to me is the price.

So if you’re going to sell me a car, you should immediately address my pricing concerns and not go rambling on how energy-efficient and how many awards the car has won. This saves your breath and of course, time spent.

2. Never start your questions with ” WHY? “

Not only is it annoying but you get only excuses.

Lets use an example: If your kid comes back from school with his report card dominated with D’s and E’s and (God Forbid, F’s ), You’ll probably be in a rage and ask ..”WHY did you get D’s and E’s ?? ”

And the answer (or rather, excuse) that you’re going to get is:

“My teacher ate my test paper.”
“My teacher doesn’t really like me.”
“The kids bully me if I get A’s.”

So how can you ask the same question but get solutions instead?

Start your questions with “What” or “How”

These 2 words empowers action in people. You’re still asking the same question, but you shift its mode and then you start to get changes!

3. Use STORIES to convey your message.

Its important to highlight before I continue with how we can use stories that people tend to be too obvious when they use their stories. As a result, they shift back into a sales mode.

Most people cannot come up with a story on the fly. Even Paul suggested practice and fine-tuning our stories to ensure an impactful message and one that really sinks into the human psyche. Remember? Stories, like humour is a process. Your stories are not going to come out fantastic the first time you tell them. Hence, you must be willing to let your stories develop over time.

I suspect, if I let my enthusiasm and excitement get the better of me, you’ll never reach the end of this entry…awake.

That’s why I’m leaving you wanting for more (which happens to be another strategy in persuasion that I shall cover in my next entry)

Promise that my next entry will be shorter..by a bit at least *grins*

Cheers,
Eric Feng
Your Public Speaking Coach

Related Entries
Here’s How To Be Right All The Time
Ten Timeless Persuasion Speaking Techniques

P.S. Check out these smart advertisements. It’s really persuasion at its best!

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