Jan 02
At a recent corporate storytelling workshop for Microsoft, I was asked a question that I hear frequently: “How do I open my speech?” Several others in the room agreed that the first two or three minutes of a speech are often the most awkward.
Is it that way for you, as well? Do you have a hard time getting started, but once you get going, you’re all right? If so – welcome to the club.
In this article, I’m going to share what has worked for me and helped me build a lucrative speaking business. I’ll also share the results of my research into what transforms a good speech into a Dynamite Speech.
I used to have a lot of anxiety before I gave a speech. I knew most of what I was going to say – not word for word – but in general. I knew what stories I was going to tell and what quotes I was going to use, and the overall sequence of things. What freaked me out was what I was going to say first. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 27
Ted Liss was my acting teacher in Chicago back in 1969. Once a week for 2 ½ years I attended his acting class in a smoke-filled room that smelled like coffee and pulsated with the tensions of youth. His acting studio was small and tightly packed with a variety of young adults in their twenties and thirties: models, dancers and actor wannabees like myself.
The format of the class was built around performing monologues and scenes from plays. He’d choose a scene from a play that he thought would stretch you as an actor and break down your inhibitions.
After you finished performing your scene, he’d coach you. He’d focus on moments within the scene that he wanted to polish – make better and more powerful. The coaching sessions were very intense. He’d push you to the very edge of your comfort zone and beyond, challenging you to “double the intensity.” Sometimes he’d make you do the same 60-second sequence three or four times until you gave him the raw emotion he was looking for.
Ted was an amazing teacher. He knew how to get you to give him your best. And in his presence, you wanted to give him whatever he asked for. Because when he was done pushing you and making you “do it again,” he’d step back and let you bask in the applause from the other students.
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Aug 06
In this article, I’ll discuss three critical components of motivational speaking. These three components also apply to leadership.
The best motivational speakers challenge their audience members to think and act. They take ideas and principles, develop them in new and creative ways and deliver them with passion. The best leaders challenge their employees/direct reports/audience members to think and act. They take ideas and principles, develop them in new and creative ways and deliver them with passion.
Successful speakers are successful leaders. If leaders are to become more successful, they must also learn how to be motivational speakers.
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Jul 02
I’ve been giving speeches for 18 years now. After hundreds of speeches in front of all kinds of audiences large and small, I made a shift: I stopped focusing on content and started focusing on meaning.
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Jun 08
At the recent ASTD International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, I had the privilege of presenting two workshops on Story Theater - Using Emotional Triggers to Compel Attention and Enhance Retention. Over 400 people from all over the world attended my sessions.
In my sessions, as in all of my train-the-trainer and leadership development seminars, I had people on their feet doing basic acting exercises to experience the power of acting out actions, reactions and interactions instead of narrating them. You should have seen the room. It was a wonderful explosion of creativity and enthusiasm. People were stepping out of their comfort zones and trying things that they’d never even considered before.
To all of the wonderful people, from Canada, Asia, Europe, South America, South Africa, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the United States that I met and had conversations with, thank you for being so generous with your praise and enthusiasm for Story Theater.
I look forward to a trip to Asia in 2008, including Hong Kong, the Philippines. Malaysia, India and Dubai. If you are interested in having me speak to your organization during my trip, please give us a call. 1-800-573-6196.
Apr 26
In a recent corporate training for the top sales agents in a large pharmaceutical company, I asked the following question.
Have you ever been speaking and you look out into your audience and you see “screen saver eyes?” It’s that glassy eyed look that let’s you know that you have lost their attention.
The two most important questions to ask yourself are:
- what did you do to lose them and…
- how do you get them back?
This is an age old problem. It was brought on by the need to teach vast volumes of information in short periods of time and totally compounded by one of the worst technological breakthroughs in history - the advent of PowerPoint.
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Apr 06
Early on in my sales career, perhaps in my first year in real estate, I learned about the concept of KISS – Keep it Simple Stupid. At least that’s the way it was taught to me. The context of this lesson was for writing contracts. The more simple and concise the language in a contract, the better it is.
As a speaking coach, I am reminded of the need for the KISS concept time and again. We speakers are a wordy bunch. If we can use 40 words to say something that could be said in 10, we ramble on for 40. While we may like the sound of our own voices, the audience has to wade through our excessive verbiage to find the nuggets of wisdom hidden inside.
As a professional speaker, I have come to learn that it’s not what I say that’s important, it’s what my audience member remembers. And beyond that, it’s not just what they remember, but what they implement. It all comes down to memorability and action. If they remember what we say, the odds are they’ll think or act differently. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 21
In a recent leadership development training for high potential leaders for State Farm Insurance in California, I stated that “emotion is the fast lane to the brain.” My statement evoked a spirited conversation around the proper and appropriate use of emotion in a business presentation.
It seems that everyone is afraid to use emotion while at the same time acknowledging that what is missing from most business presentations is emotion. In many cases, my clients are stumped as to why everyone is so boring and yet, they keep developing presentations where content is king and personality and authenticity are shuffled aside as extraneous.
Consider this, you are an emotional being. There is no thought or action without an underlying emotion. Thoughts lead to emotions and emotions are followed by thoughts. They are married together and cannot be separated. Every speaker and every audience member thinks and feels simultaneously.
The unique way you think combined with how you feel is expressed as a one-of-a kind personality called YOU! Read the rest of this entry »
