Check out the Dear Speakers post by James Duncan Davidson.  The article started as a series of tweets.  Some great wisdom from the audience point of view.  There’s also some amazing pictures of speakers.

The pointers, which are expanded on in the article and in the comments (definitely worth reading), are:

• Please deliver your speech to the crowd, not the screen.
• Pick a spot and stay.
• Take off your name tag.
• Stop walking  backwards.
• Make eye contact with your audience.
• The corner of the stage is darker than rest of stage.
• If you are being videotaped, all of the above matters 10x more.
• Dress like you mean it.
• When on a panel, look at who’s talking.

Taking off your name tag was an interesting one for me.  Having a name tag in your photo doesn’t make you look so good.  You never know when you are going to have your picture taken, so it is good to get into the practice of taking the name tag off.

The comments shed a lot of light on moving around the stage.  A lot of people defending the practice.  James Duncan Davidson does not suggest that these are rules that MUST be obeyed.  They are pointers that most speakers could do better with.  Once you can do all of these naturally, then it is time to experiment by wearing shorts and a t-shirt, walking backwards towards the corner of the stage with your name tag on, all the time looking at your feet.

There is an excellent discussion on evaluations over on LinkedIn.

One of the contributors in particular, John Zimmer, took the time to provide 10 tips for evaluations.  He has won a District level evaluation contest (the highest you can win), so knows what he is talking about .  Here is a bullet list of the 10 tips.  For more information see the discussion on LinkedIn.

1. Know the four criteria against which you will be judged.
2. Sit near the front, slightly to the side.
3. Gauge audience interest or reaction.
4. Have an original opening.
5. It is all about YOUR opinion.
6. Practice, practice, practice.
7. YouTube.
8. Don’t forget the middle.
9. Have a good ending.
10. The little things make a big difference.

Ten excellent points that can really elevate your evaluations to a new level.

Yet another post from Seth Godin related to speaking!  Maybe I should rename the blog to Seth Godin as applied to Speaking?!

In a recent post, Seth talks about Ignoring Sunk Costs.  Go take a minute and read his post.

How does that relate to speaking?  Glad you asked

We are in the throes of contest time at Toastmasters.  There are many speakers vying to become the World Champion of Public Speaking.  They likely have a number of speeches from previous contests that they could consider using.

When considering which speech to choose, ignore the sunk costs.  Don’t consider the amount of time you put into a speech as a reason to use it.  Just because a speech has been evaluated more does not mean it is better than a fresh speech that only you have seen.  Go with the speech that energizes you.  Go with the speech that you can infuse with passion.

Just read a blog posting from Seth Godin entitled “Mechanics vs. Intent.”  It follows on from my previous post on What is Your Intent.

Seth boils down the discussion into such a simple form.

…if you don’t go the extra mile and I end up not caring, all the tactics in the world won’t help.

Although Seth is not talking directly about giving a speech, his words are just as relevant.  No amount of vocal variety, movement, or gestures will help you if you don’t go the extra mile to share your message.

If there’s no passion behind your message, please stop wasting both our time.

No matter how scary the prospect is to put your passion into your speeches, you owe it to yourself to share it with the world.

It doesn’t have to be a speech about world hunger or curing cancer.  It can be as ordinary as a fishing trip, a kitchen disaster, or a trip to Costco.  I don’t care about your mechanics.  All I care about is that your eyes light up when you speak.

Update:

Just read a post entitled Passionately Speaking by Robert Killen.  Complementary to this post:

Passion is the one thing that will get your audience to sit up and take notice. Without it, all the best slides and statistics will inevitably fail to ignite them.

From a fortune cookie:

The eyes believe themselves, the ears believe other people.

Develop your listening skills to be as good as your observation skills.