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.

Posted under Public Speaking

I received the following article yesterday in my email from JA Gamache.  It was very timely as Patricia said Monday night that recording your speech is necessary to be a better speaker.  So, between Fripp and JA I decided to record my speech yesterday.  Not only did I record it, but I also plan to watch it!!!

How do you Improve a Speech?

by J.A. Gamache: Third place Champion at the 2001 Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking

When you have to deliver the same speech several times, I suggest you record every one of your live performances. You will improve your text by working from the recording. Here’s why I record all my speeches:

1- To Capture the Inspiration of the Moment

During a performance, I often have some really good ideas. Sometimes a participant says something that makes me think of something relevant that I spontaneously add to my speech. This new idea often turns into a real gem of a text. If I don’t record my performance, there’s a good chance that I won’t remember that specific moment of inspiration.

2-To Keep the BestWording

I often express myself better when I am on stage. Small improvements to my text naturally come to mind. And the recording helps me remember them. These changes are precious especially when you want to include humor. A joke works best when it is delivered in the right way with the right use of words.

3- To Unveil the Potential for Humor in Your Speech

A recording helps you seize every reaction of your audience, no matter how small. When I hear someone giggle, it shows me there is potential for humor in what I have just said. A sentence or the context in which I said it was funny for a few people. By reworking my text and my delivery, there’s a good chance I’ll find the RIGHT combination which next time will make the whole audience laugh.

I hope the reasons mentioned above will inspire you to record each one of your live presentations. It’s a great way to improve your speeches. You won’t loose the gems you come up with spontaneously during a speech. You will be able to listen to the audience’s reaction to uncover the humorous potential of your talk.

©MMIX J.A. Gamache www.jagamache.com. All rights reserved.

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PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE in whole or in part if a copy of the reproduced text is sent to J.A. Gamache at info@jagamache.com after publication and also provided that this byline, including  the following paragraph, appears along with the reproduced text:

This article was reproduced from “Speaking in Public with J.A.”, a FREE electronic magazine authored by J.A. Gamache, International Inspirational Speaker. To subscribe to his FREE e-zine or to find out more about his presentations, visit: http://www.jagamache.com.

Posted under Guest Article

Patricia Fripp came to town last night!  What a treat!  I learned a lot from her 2.5 hour presentation.  Here are some of the highlights:

1. Dialogue is key to making stories come alive.
2. Having a good I/You ratio is an excellent technique for connecting with the audience.
3. Your dialogue does not have to come from people.
4. You must record your presentations AND watch them.
5. We need to fall in love with our own content.
6. Have someone else transcribe your speeches if possible.
7. Move with purpose using movement specific phrases.
8. Stand still at the start of your presentation.
9. You can connect intellectually or emotionally.
10. If you don’t know what questions your audience has, you don’t know your audience.
11. Storytelling for speeches also works for blogs.
12. Lead your audience from what they can do to how you can provide it.
13. Use the words of your clients in your presentations.
14. You can make eye contact on silence too.
15. You cannot be creative in isolation.
16. Create a mastermind group.
17. Make the people in the audience the heroes.
18. Use phrasing to punctuate your speeches.
19. Punch words need to go at the end of a phrase.
20. Take your audience along with you in your presentation.

This really only scratches the surface of what I learned.  I will come back to many of these comments on this blog.

Posted under Public Speaking