When you build yourself up, you let your audience down. Let’s face it; there are some speakers who use the platform to stroke their ego. I may have been one of them in the past. However, when we talk about how great we are and speak only of our successes, our audience members think of […]
Continue readingImportant Note: This lesson is about the introduction you provide for your introducer Another important Note: This is a long-post (more than 1000 words) but it will be worth it! Here is a Traditional Introduction for a Speaker Do yourself a favor and read the following paragraph out loud as if you are using it […]
Continue readingIf you want to be known as a content-rich speaker, you will want to follow my PARTS Formula. P = Phrase Have you ever seen a story or speech that was all over the place? Have you ever given one? Chances are this is because the speaker did not start creating the speech in the […]
Continue readingKey 1: Set expectations as to how many questions you will take or how long you will entertain questions. For example, I usually say, “We’ll take 4 or 5 questions and then I’ll wrap up the message.” Or I might say, “We have 5 minutes for questions and then we’ll put a bow on the […]
Continue readingWould you like a surefire way to clarify your message, shorten it, and make it stick? One of the best ways to do this is to relate the unknown to the known. In textbook language this is referred to as activating prior knowledge. Analogies help tremendously in this area. Webster’s New World Dictionary’s definition of […]
Continue readingReflect on these statements. The more you internalize them, the better speaker you will become. I welcome your comments on how they apply to you. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal If you are always dynamic, you are no longer dynamic People won’t remember what you say as much as they’ll remember […]
Continue readingWisdom comes from reflection, which makes you dive within. Therefore, you’re not supposed to simply read the statements below. Instead, reflect on them. I suggest contacting 1 or 2 other speakers to discuss all 10 statements and commenting on the statements on this blog. These are statements I use often when coaching speakers and the […]
Continue readingPatricia Fripp once said to me, “Craig, people will not remember what you say as much as they will remember what they see when you say it.” In other words, we have to make our speeches very visual in order to have the deepest impact. Here are 4 ways to accomplish this: 1. Put your […]
Continue readingImagine sitting on a tiny plane for a 26-minute flight from Seattle to Yakima, Washington. As customary, I hopped in my window seat and immediately tried to doze off. About halfway into the flight, the lady next to me asked, “So what do you do?” I said, “I’m a professional speaker.” She quickly burst into […]
Continue readingMany speakers give absolutely no thought to how they use the stage. They are missing out on a grand opportunity to pull on the audience’s emotions, clarify their message, and paint a lasting picture in the minds of their audience members. Here’s a quick solution: Designate a spot on the stage for each story you […]
Continue reading