30 Ways to Be a Great Speaker

30 Ways to Be a Great Speaker

1. Craft an interesting title to your presentation/speech


2. Open with a Bang. Use a question/anecdote/quote.


3. Smile when you get up on stage. It'll boost your confidence and build rapport with the audience.


4. Make eye-contact with your audience to build a connection. 


5. Keep it simple. Narrow down your message into one simple idea that everyone in the audience will understand.


6. Limit the number of points you talk about


7. Keep it conversational. Sound human. Don't use jargon and vocabulary that you wouldn't use in daily conversations.

8. Use stories to illustrate your points 


9. Use analogies to make your point clear 


10. Use acronyms to make your points memorable


11. Use metaphors and similes to create visual images

12. Make strategic use of pauses. Use pauses to allow your audience to digest particularly difficult bits of information. Use pauses after questions to allow the audience to reflect.

13. Involve the audience with an activity


14. Ask questions. Get them to discuss the answers between themselves in pairs to get their creative juices flowing. And then ask them to report their answers back to you.


15. Use the 12 Power Words to engage your listeners


16. Keep your presentation/speech You-focused. Keep the focus on the audience.


17. Sell the benefits, not the features. 


18. Tease your audience into wanting to know more. Don't tell, tease.


19. Give the audience a Next Step that you want them to take. 


20. Repeat catch-phrases often and your point will be remembered.


21. Keep your talk positive. Avoid talking about depressing topics. Your audience will be more receptive if your talk gives them hope.


22. Use handouts to increase retention rates. 


23. DO NOT read from your Powerpoint Presentation. Add value to the slides by elaborating on the points and sharing your opinions and stories.


24. Limit the number of bullet points per slide to no more than 3 


25. No paragraphs on slides! Avoid a large bunch of text on the slide.


26. Use vocal variety. Avoid speaking in a monotone or you'll bore your audience. Add emphasis to certain words, change your pitch and tone to reflect different emotions (surprise, fear, love). Use a voice-recorder and record your presentation, and then ask a friend to review the recording and to help you add vocal variety. 


27. Use open body-language (i.e. no crossed arms, no hands in pockets).


28. Keep your gestures natural. No over-exaggeration. Record yourself using a video-camera and ask a friend to review your body language.


29. Practice, practice, practice! Rehearse your speech at least twice before you step up on stage. Rehearse mentally (visualize yourself giving an engaging speech) right before you step up on stage.


30. Join a Toastmasters club. You gain plenty of stage time, build your confidence and receive valuable tips from experienced speakers.


 BONUS:
31. Realize it's a process. Becoming a better speaker and communicator takes practice. You won't see drastic improvements overnight, but you'll get better and better with each presentation. Relax, have fun, and make a commitment to being a better speaker than you were the yesterday.



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How to Tease and Flirt with Your Audience

How to Tease and Flirt with Your Audience
http://www.public-speaking-hong-kong.blogspot.com/

What's the best way to get your audience curious?
How do you get them so curious that they're begging
you to know more?

• Public Speaking Tip: Tease, Don't Tell

Before your audience will value the information you’re giving,
they’ve got to want it. Demand has to come before supply.Most presenters take the audience’s desire for granted,
but that’s a big mistake. Great presentations are mysteries,
not encyclopedia entries.

• Example: The Girl Effect

An online video called “The Girl Effect”  starts by recounting a
list of global problems: AIDS. Hunger. Poverty. War. Then, it asks,
What if there was an unexpected solution to this mess?
Would you even know it if you saw it? The solution isn’t the Internet.
It’s not science. It’s not government. Curious? See, it works.
(Go to girleffect.org for the answer.)

• Even TV Shows Do It!

Curiosity must come before content. Imagine if the TV show Lost had begun with an announcement: “They’re all dead people and the island  is Purgatory. Over the next 4 seasons, we’ll unpack how they got there. At the end we’ll take questions.” We’ve all had the experience of being in the audience as a presenter clicks to a slide with 8 bullet points. As he starts discussing the first bullet point, we quickly read all 8. Now we’re bored. He’s lost us. But what if there had been 8 questions instead? We’d want to stay tuned for the answers.

•  "What's the next question I want them to wrestle with?"

The best presenters don’t structure their presentations
by thinking, “What’s the next point I should make?”
Instead, they decide, “What’s the next question I want them
to wrestle with?”



About the Authors
The above article was by Chip and Dan Heath, authors
of the highly recommended book "Made to Stick". You
can check out their public speaking resources here:
http://heathbrothers.com/

Most Persuasive Word Ever?

Most Persuasive Words

What's the Most Persuasive Word in the
English language?


Which one word can help you connect 
quicker with people and strengthen your
persuasion efforts?


Do you know how this one word can
have major influences on your persuasion 
attempts?


The Most Persuasive Word in English: 'Because'


Telling people the reason why you are doing
something has a major influence on how they
react to you because, more often than not,
people willingly comply with requests when
given reasons why they should. Ellen Langer,
a social psychologist at Harvard University, 
demonstrated that people respond automatically
 and without thinking when given the proper stimulus.




The Power of 'Because'


Here’s how the experiment went: In a busy library, 
one of her subjects would approach the person at 
the front of the line for the photocopier and say, 
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox 
machine because I am in a rush?” This request was 
successful 94 percent of the time. 


Later, when the  subject returned to ask another 
group of people lined  up at the same machine and said, 
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” 
her success rate dropped to 60 percent. No big surprise here. 


What was a big surprise was that when the subject 
approached the front of the line a little later and asked, 
“Excuse me, I have five pages. 
May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make these copies?” 
the compliance rate whizzed back up to 93 percent!




Public Speaking Tip: Use the Word 'Because' 


When you want to connect quickly, offer your contact a “because” and chances are you’ll be successful. For example, if you’re aiming to do business with company Q, and you meet a key contact there, instead of simply saying, “I’m delighted to meet you,” add “because I’ve read so much about your pioneering work with XYZ . . .”

P.S. Gain access to the most important public speaking

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About the Author
The above article is by Nicholas Boothman.
You can read more of his articles on:
http://www.nicholasboothman.com