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Have a passion for
your subject(s). If you don't care about
your topic, who will? Make a list of
five topics you love. Choose two and be
willing to develop a program you are
willing to stay with for at least two
years.
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Be persistent in your
quest to be a speaker of excellence. You
must be perceived as an expert with
expertise. Demonstrate this through your
life experiences, research and the way
you customize your material for each
audience. You are only as good as your
last speech!
-
Have the patience to
succeed. Is persistence your middle
name? Don't expect to be a success over
night. Get support, mentors, and a coach
to help you master your presentation.
One speaker said, This is a hard
business to make an easy living.
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Speak from your
heart. Be authentic. Be vulnerable.
Share your mishaps and idiosyncrasies.
You won't be perceived as real until you
do this. When you are truthful, your
audiences will trust what you are
saying. Let your message provide hope
for your audience.
-
Connect quickly with
your audience. You only have 30 seconds
to make your connection. So pay
attention to your opening remarks. Don't
use jokes they may offend people in your
audience. Do use short quotations, a
funny story that is relevant to your
message, a question or two to get their
attention quickly.
-
Prepare 24/7 you
don't write speeches, you find them
everywhere in hotels, from family
experiences, in the supermarkets and
restaurants. Retrieve them and retell
them. Don't lose out on great material
because you didn't have your note pad
near you. Why not invest in a mini-tape
recorder and record ideas as they occur
throughout your day.
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Speak to the ways
people learn; auditory, visual and
kinesthetic. Know your audience so that
you can offer the right mix. Research
suggests 40% are visual, 40% are
kinesthetic, and only 20% are auditory.
If you don't use props or visuals, you
will not reach 80% of your audience. Be
inclusive and find ways/tools that will
speak to 100% of the people in your
audience.
-
Support your main
points with stories most people
delineate their thoughts visually.
People learn best from your personal
stories. They will also do a better job
in retaining your message if you tell
them a story. Remember when you were a
kid. . you said to your parents, tell me
a story. When an adult hears your story,
they are only a step away from their own
story. Become a good story teller and
watch your referrals and repeat business
increase.
-
Make it fun learning
is directly proportional to the amount
of fun your audience is having laughter
is like internal jogging. Inject some
humor along the way. The audience wants
to lighten up even with serious matters.
Reminder---mature adults do not take
themselves too seriously.
-
Have a reverence for
the work you do. It is a privilege to be
on the platform. And with this comes an
awesome responsibility to your audience.
Speaking is an art and a skill. Tap in
to your creativity, your wholesomeness,
your playfulness. Live/speak from the
inside out.
