Archive for the ‘Content Strategies’ Category

Getting ready to speak to Technology professionals

My Confession

I must confess that, in the past, I used to view some audiences as collective groups. For example, I’d think, “Okay, this is a group of engineers so I can’t bring my normal speaking style to this event.” And I’d change my style and almost always fail. Fortunately for me, another speaker pulled me aside one day and said, “Craig, they hired you for a reason. They want YOU!”

Realization

With that realization I came to see that all of our audiences are made up of individual human beings that have feelings, emotions, and ways of thinking and that you can’t just look at them as one static group. They are whole people. I say this because some speakers think they need to change their entire style to speak to certain groups. This is untrue. You need to still be you. However, you can make subtle adjustments to fit the culture of each event.

Even Thoracic Surgeons?

The first time I spoke to a group of thoracic surgeons I had doubts about bringing my energetic style to the table. I thought since they were surgeons that maybe I should leave my humor and emotions out and simply give them the logic. After all, heart surgery is serious is it not?

However, soon after I began, it hit me that they were individual human beings long before becoming surgeons. In other words, they’d like me to make them TALL (Think, Act, Laugh, and Learn) just as other audieneces would. So I gave them me. Following the presentation many of the surgeons (and some scientists) approached me and said things like:

 “Thank you for bringing this conference to life. These conferences are usually so boring.”

 “You gave me a new sense of why I do what I do. Thank you!”

 “I am so motivated to get back to my research. Do you have any tapes (that’s what we used to call them)?”

Realize that none of these comments was about the logic, but about change. Change is sparked by emotions backed up by logic. It’s very difficult to connect with peoples’ emotions when you’re not being your true self. No matter whom you address, make sure YOU are the one addressing them.

  

Should I ever change based on the audience?

 You don’t need to change who you are but you can certainly make adjustments to your content and your delivery. Adjust for your audience. Even though you have individuals in your audience, you can still customize your speech in ways that will help them connect with you the best. Just make sure, like everything else in speaking, the adjustments are subtle. Look at the ways many speakers adjust to certain types of audiences while retaining their own style:

 

Types of Engagements	Small Adjustment
Youth – A high school graduation, etc.	Grab them with a story immediately. Make the stories short and the points even shorter. Get them involved early! Think MTV. They are used to short TV clips, immediate information via the Internet, instant digital cameras, etc. In a nutshell, they are not used to waiting patiently for much.
Scientific and Engineering Professionals	Tell your stories and make your points but also include step-by-step processes they can follow. Slides with real visuals (i.e. charts, graphs, steps) can add value to the speech. Move from the right brain (emotion) to the left brain (logic) quickly. Think stories and then think step-by-step.
Motivation - Sales group, etc.	Act the stories out with everything that you have! Bring your energy and sell your points by letting your audience know the results they can get from following those points. Think “Get fired up!”
Troubled Organizations -  Possible merger, etc.	Connect with what is vital to them and then go into your stories and points. Start with their pain and then turn that pain into your promise. Feel free to use humor throughout to keep them loose. However, make sure the humor is self-deprecating, because they may not be in a mood to laugh at their own organization. Think hope.
Funerals	Tone down everything and speak softly at least at first. You can still relate touching stories about the person who has passed. These stories can have humor as well especially if you’re celebrating the person’s life.
Very young kids – Elementary schools	Bring your characters to life as if it is story time for your own kids. Use sound effects, facial expressions, and anything else you can to keep their attention. Slip in the point.
Foreign Country – Where yours is not their first language	Slow down your speech and realize that puns and other humor based on word-play might not work well. Research the culture far in advance of your speech so you know what’s off limits. Trust me, because I have learned the hard way! The first time I went overseas to speak, I felt like my humor must have fallen into the Pacific Ocean during the flight. Now I know to let my stories provide the humor and to speak slightly slower than usual.

                     

The Key to Your Connection?                                     

All in all, the key to making a connection is you. No matter what small adjustments you make please keep in mind that the audience still wants to experience the real you. Tell your stories and make your points. They hired you for a reason. They want you just the way you are.

 

 

 

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 us in 1 of 2 ways:

1. “Wow, he sure is full of himself.”

or

2. “Well, I guess he’s just special.”

As a speaker, being considered special is just as bad as being considered “full of yourself.” When your audience sees you as special, what do you think they begin to think?

They probably think, “Of course those strategies work for him because he’s special. They won’t work for me.”

They have a built-in excuse not to use your advice and, consequently, you become worthless to that audience. You can avoid this by using the following 3 Audience Impact Tools that will not only get you connected with your audience but will also spark them to act on your message. In other words, you will be valuable to your audience.

Audience Impact Tool Number 1: Put the Process, not the Person, on a Pedestal

In other words, don’t brag about yourself; brag about the process (or formula, recipe, toolkit, etc.) you have uncovered in your life’s journey. When you do this, the audience members think, “I am interested in learning more about this process. I don’t know if it really works, but I’m at least interested in learning more about it.”

This gets your audience a little closer to taking action on your message, because you’ve succeeded in building interest in your process rather than in you. However, there are still two major obstacles. Although they are interested in your process, they still aren’t sure if it really works. Your story should begin to prove to them that the process works, but Audience Impact Tool number 2 will take your audience’s confidence in your process to another level.

Audience Impact Tool Number 2 – Quantify Your Process

For example, in the midst of your story or activity, you might say, “I came across these tools that I now refer to as the 4 Rs to Remarkable Results that you can use to make change work for you instead of against you.” Or you might say, “This 3-step formula was used by the great orators of the past and the present. Everyone from Aristotle to Anthony Robbins has used these 3 steps.”

Why Quantify the Process?

The reason you should quantify your process is because specifics build credibility. Your process goes from being a loose intangible mess to a tight proven step by step system. It also naturally builds the curiosity for your audience members to think, “I want to hear all 4 steps. Come on, what’s step 1?” In this way, quantifying your process not only builds credibility for that process, but it also teases your audience to want to know more. As a result, they will buy-into the fact that the process worked for you. However, they still might not think it will work for them. That’s where Audience Impact Tool Number 3 comes in handy.

Audience Impact Tool Number 3 – Share Your Four Fs 

If you want your audience members to act on your message, you must help them feel like you (or the main characters in your story) are similar to them. Think similar, not special. One step you can easily take is to break yourself down so your audience members know you are closer to them than you are to, say, Zeus.

For example, I regularly tell people the low score I received the first time I took the SATs (Standardized Achievement Tests we use in many States in the US). What do you think happens inside of the minds of my audience members? Chances are they think, “Well, if he can be successful with his background, I can definitely be successful at this too. Give me that process.”

Neither Les Brown nor Anthony Robbins has a college degree and they play that up for all it’s worth. It helps their audience members know that it’s their processes, formulas, and mindsets, not their special unmatched innate abilities, that have made the difference. This helps audience members feel hopeful.

But I Haven’t Climbed Mount Everest!

So often speakers complain to me, “Craig, I haven’t climbed Mount Everest or done anything like that so why would people want to hear from me?”

So what? So you haven’t climbed Mt. Everest. Has your audience? Chances are nobody in your audience has climbed Mt. Everest so how would they relate to that? Here’s my question. Have you ever been fired? Have you ever had a really bad day? Have you ever been embarrased? Your audience will relate to these situations much more than they will to Mt. Everest. And if you offer a road from where you were then to where you are today, they’ll likely take it. Why? Because they feel similar.

Many average speakers won’t allow themselves to share their failures or open up to an audience in this way. However, the quickest way to build a connection with your audience is to share your…

1. Failures
2. Flaws
3. Frustrations
4. Firsts

If you do this, you will connect fast and deep. Let’s take sharing your firsts as an example. Many times your audience members tend to see you where you currently are and think, “I’ll never get there.” However, if you share where you were at first (i.e. failing in speeches, etc.), they will realize that if they take hold of your processes, they can have the same (or even greater) success than you.

As I always say…

Let your long road lead to their shortcut

Final thoughts

Remember, your job as a speaker is usually to sell people on the results they will get when they utilize a certain formula, process, tool, or recipe. It has nothing to do with you being a genius, it has everything to do with you uncovering the process that worked for you (or for your customers) and will work for others. Your story becomes the proof that they can use the process too.

People want the truth wrapped up in proof

The 3 Audience Impact Tools

1. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal
2. Quantify your process
3. Share your failures, flaws, frustrations, and firsts

Your Turn 

What do you do to put the process, not the person, on a pedestal?

 

Next step?

There is a definite process for telling stories that put the process, not the person, on a pedestal. If you tell stories in the most effective way, you will automatically become valuable to your audience and connect with them deeply. Learn the 9 Cs in my Storytelling Home-Study Course for Speakers at http://www.edgeoftheirseats.com

Most audiences do not want to be preached to outside of the church. However, it is sometimes easy to fall into preaching especially when you are very passionate about your message. Below are three guidelines you can follow to prevent destroying your speech due to preaching.

Guideline #1 – The soft “you”

The word “you” is the most important word in speaking and, frankly, speakers do not use it enough. However, some speakers do use it quite often but there’s one big problem. They use the hard “you” rather than the soft “you.” What’s the difference? Listen to the quick audio below to see the difference.

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Did you hear the difference? The hard “you” sounds like you’re commanding your audience and forcing them to listen to you. The soft “you” is much more inviting. In fact, you should listen to the very beginning of this story and count the number of “you/your” words that I use in only 57 seconds. You will need to pay close attention because some of these “you/your” words can pass by in a barely noticeable way.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Welcome back. How many “you/your” words did you hear? I counted 15 in 57 seconds. With all those “you/your” statements, did it make my speech sound “preachy?” No. Why? Because each was a soft “you” rather than a hard one. But, rest assured, it’s very important to use many more “you/your” statements than “I” statements. In the audio you just heard, I used “you” or “your” once every 3.8 seconds. You don’t have to keep up that rate throughout the entire speech but I just wanted you to see that it’s possible (and effective) to use many “you/your” words without preaching. Use that soft “you.”

Guideline #2 – Let the story make the point

Too many speakers tell their story and then spend far too much time driving home their point. If you tell the story with the most effective structure, then your audience will be 80% across the bridge to understanding and buying into your point. Then it only takes a Foundational Phrase and perhaps another line or two to drive that point home and get your audience 100% across the bridge.

Top Line      O.     O.     O.

Bottom Line      O. . . . .

Look at the Top Line and Bottom Line above, because this is the mistake that speakers make. Look at the circle as the story and the dot as the point. The Top Line is great because you can see a story (circle) and the attached point (dot), then another story and the attached point and then another story and the attached point. That’s fine because each point is made by (and anchored to) the story.

What many speakers do is represented by the Bottom Line. They tell their story (circle) and then keep driving home several points (multiple dots). The problem here is that only the first point is attached to the story. The extra points (that are not anchored by the story) will all come across as preaching. Each point deserves its own story (or other anchor such as an Activity or Analogy) and that way each point can be uncovered within the story and prevent you from preaching. Keep those images in mind.

Guideline #3 – Don’t tell; ask

So often I hear speakers make statements like, “We all have tough challenges in our lives…” and this sparks people in the audience to think, “What makes you think you know about me? Why do you say I have challenges?”

That’s the problem with “telling” your audience members about themselves. The solution is to ask. For example, instead of saying, “We all have challenges…,”prequalify your statement by asking, “Raise your hand if you’ve ever faced a challenge?”  Most hands will go up.

Secret Key: When you’re asking a question in which you want to get a “yes,” then it’s a great idea to include the past rather than just the future. For example, you will get many more hands raised if you say, “Raise your hand if you’ve ever faced a challenge.” You will get fewer hands if you say, “Raise your hand if you are facing a challenge.”

That’s why I love to use the following stems:

“Have you ever…”

“Raise your hand if you have ever…”

Those phrases are much more inclusive and will get almost all hands to go up. Then, once you qualify them with that question, you can continue with something like, “That’s what I thought. Well, wouldn’t it be nice to have a system of turning each challenge into an opportunity? Well, guess what? There is a system. It’s called…”

There is nothing “preachy” about that because you did not tell them about themselves, you asked them about themselves.

Final Thoughts:

If you have a conversation with your audience instead of preaching to your audience, you will connect and they will want you back time and time again. See…even that previous sentence had five more “yous and yours!”

Because this is the Holiday season, I felt like giving the gift that keeps on giving. Below are five very important newsletters from the past 2-3 years.

I’m sure there may be other newsletters of mine that hit you more where you live. However, if you act on the suggestions from these 5, you should gain a significant edge over most speakers when it comes to mastering this wonderful art of public speaking.  

If you have read them before, you should enjoy seeing them again from your new perspective.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

 

Five Must-See Newsletters from the Past Two Years

 The #1 Storytelling Mistake Speakers Make (and 3 ways to fix it)

 Two Delivery Tools to Uncover Humor in your Speech

 25 Phrases to Guide you to Greatness in Speaking

 4 Mistakes that Make You Lose Your Audience

 Intangibles of Speaking – 20 Ideas to Have Presence and Speak from the Heart

If you want to continue mastering the art of public speaking, stay tuned for more valuable newsletters to come!

This summer my wife and I drove to Erie, Pennsylvania for a wedding. While on Rt. 70 for quite a while, we saw a huge sign that read as follows:

Last Place for Fuel and Food for 122 miles”

Guess what we did? We stopped at that rest-stop/restaurant park.  

Why did we stop? It’s because of the influence that scarcity and urgency had on us. We didn’t necessarily plan to stop there but we definitely didn’t want to go another 122 miles before we could stop for food and fuel.

Whoever put up that sign knew something very important about influencing others and that’s that scarcity and urgency are huge factors.

Why Getting them to Take Action is Not Enough

I’ve seen lots of speakers give a call to action, but many of them are missing scarcity and urgency. It’s not enough to influence people to take action, you must influence them to take action now. Why? Because if they don’t take action now, chances are they never will. Life will get in the way and block the view they had of your initial suggestion.

Here’s one way I have used scarcity and urgency in my speeches. I’ve said something like:

“If you don’t write down your perfect day within the next 48 hours, you most likely never will.”

When selling one of my products, listen to what I say at the end of the offer (Clip is 38 seconds):

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Guess what happens when I let my audience know I only have 10 courses with me? People suddenly find a reason to act now.

In fact, a few months ago in Seattle, I only had 18 courses on me and I let my audience know it. As soon as I made my offer (I hadn’t even finished my speech yet), audience members started leaving. I thought, “Uh oh, what did I do? Did I say something that upset them?” Then I overheard one of them say, “I have to be one of the first 18!” That’s when I realized they weren’t leaving. They were heading towards my product table to be first in line. That’s what scarcity and urgency do for you. They prompt your audience to act now.

Scarcity and Urgency work for Marketing Too 

By the way, just as a side note, scarcity and urgency are also very good for marketing. For example, Mitch Meyerson and I run the World Class Speaking Coach Certification Course each June and we make sure to let our site’s visitors know that the course ONLY HAPPENS ONCE PER YEAR. That provides urgency because we have a limited number of spots available.

So make sure you find ways to put urgency and/or scarcity behind each call to action you give in your speech whether it involves a product or simply a next step.

 How can You Apply This?

Let’s look at a process for implementation.

The process I use is simply to ask myself the following questions about the actions I suggest my audience members take. 

1. What results can they expect if they act on my message (or invest in this product/program)?
2. Why should they do it now?
3. What happens to most people who don’t do it?
4. What happens to most people who wait to do it?
5. How can they separate themselves from the pack of most people?

 When I ask myself these questions, it becomes immediately apparent what I need to say to my audience to get them to act and to act now.

 Here are some of the scarcity/urgency-related statements I have made to influence them to take action now:

• “Most people won’t act…” Note: This works great because of one of the truths I’ve uncovered, which is “Most people don’t want to be most people.”
• “Most people procrastinate…”
• “If you don’t do it within the next 48 hours, chances are you won’t ever do it…”
• “You get a $$ discount today only…”
• “There are only 10 (or 18 or however many products or spaces) left…”

 Another Powerful Tool for Getting them to Act Now 

What you’ve read above will work. However, there is another very effective way to get audience members to take action now. It’s to sell the belief. Get your audience to buy-into the belief that procrastination (in general) is destructive and acting now is constructive. You can do this throughout your speech and also at the end.

For example, years ago I used to end my speeches by talking about how most people live their lives on “get-set.” By getting my audience involved in this belief, they are more apt to accept it and act now. Listen to how I used to end one of my keynote speeches by selling this belief (clip is 7 minutes).

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Getting my audience to see the problem and then understand the solution (i.e. “Go!”) gets them at least half-way across the bridge to taking an action. This belief, in combination with the other scarcity and urgency tools, usually helps push, pull, and influence my audience to take action now. The same will happen with your audiences…if you find a way to integrate these tools into your very next speech. After all, if you don’t do it for the next speech…[well, you know the rest]

Your Turn

Can you share some of the ways your use urgency and scarcity in your speeches so that your audiences take action now? I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

 

Before you see exactly what an Explosive Activity is, take a look at how it benefits you. After all, it has the power to transform and even save average presentations and turn them into unforgettable experiences for your audience. 

 

Benefits of an Explosive Activity

• Energizes your Audience (and you) while they learn
• Gives you something to call back to which makes the lessons stick
• Promotes discussion and fun with your audience
• Makes your speech fly by fast for your audience
• Reaches the kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learners so nobody misses out on your message
• Provides the kind of mix that keeps your audience from being bored

 

What is an Explosive Activity?

 If you have followed my lessons at all, you know it’s important to anchor every point you make in your speech. You can anchor the point with an anecdote (story), an activity, an analogy, an acronym, a visual, or in countless other ways. However, the key is to use one anchor to make one point. Therefore you can use one activity (anchor) to make a single point. 

However, an Explosive Activity is different? Why? Because, instead of using it to make a single point, you use the one activity to make multiple points. Then, once you get your explosion of points, you drive each point home with its own anchor. 

  

Example of an Explosive Activity

For example, I have an activity in which I ask my audience members make triangles. They do this in groups of three. The first time they do the activity, most of them don’t do very well. Then I give them time to discuss the activity within their group and I have them do it again. They usually do very well the second time. After the activity, they uncover the following points that helped them improve the second time they did the activity.
  

  

Once they come up with this explosion of points, I then illustrate each point with its own anchor (usually a story). For example, I drive home the point about communication by telling a story about a miscommunication I had. 

When we finish with the communication point, I drive home the point about planning by telling a story as well. 

 

Calling Back to the Activity to make the points stick

As I tell these stories, I can also help drive each individual point home by calling back to the activity. For example, for the point about vision, I ask my audience, “Did you have any questions when I first asked you to make triangles?” 

Inevitably someone will say something like, “Yes. We didn’t know what kind of triangles you wanted or whether or not we should draw them or how big, or how many…” 

Then I ask, “So you didn’t know what the overall goal was?” 

They say, “Right!” 

I say, “And whose fault is that?” 

Everybody in the audience points to me. 

I say, “That’s right, it’s my fault. Why? Because I walked you through the activity blindly and expected you to follow. And unfortunately that’s what many leaders do. They ask you to perform tasks without even letting you in on what the overall vision is. And look how confused and reluctant you were to get started.”  

 

Now that I’ve called back to the activity that they experienced, I can then anchor the point about vision with a story. But the key is that they have both the activity and the story to relate to as they begin to digest the point.

  

 Meeting People where they are

Another reason why the explosive activity works so well is learning styles. As stated earlier, audience members learn best through one of these three types of learning styles: 

• Kinesthetic (through experiencing something)
• Visual (seeing something)
• Auditory (hearing something)

 The problem with many speakers is they ignore the kinesthetic style. The explosive activity gives the audience an experience (through the activity) while they receive the message. However, I do not suggest using the activity by itself to drive home each of the points. You can do that for an activity that only anchors one point, but I wouldn’t do that for an activity that explodes multiple points. Instead, it’s very important to drive each point home with its own anchor after it has been uncovered through the activity. 

In other words, use the activity to spark the uncovering of the points and use your stories to anchor each point. 

 

The Process for Successfully using an Explosive Activity

 Step 1: Do an activity that makes several points. 

Step 2: Anchor each point with a story (or another anchor). 

Step 3: Keep calling back to the activity and the anchor (story) that run parallel to  each other while you make your points. 

 

Caveat:

Make sure you still give sufficient time to anchor and drive home each of your points. If you have my Create your Keynote Home-Study Course, you already know I recommend my 10:1 rule of thumb. In other words, for every 10 minutes you speak, you can make 1 point that you anchor and drive home with impact. Therefore, if you are speaking for 45 minutes, you should make a maximum of 4 major points. 

This Rule of Thumb really doesn’t change here. Therefore, if you use an Explosive Activity designed to uncover three major points, I suggest you allot at least 30 minutes to that section of your speech (10 minutes per uncovered point). That means you can use this Explosive Activity process for the majority of a 30-45 minute program or you can do as I do, which is to use it primarily as one section of a 90-minute speech. 

 

Final Thoughts

Regardless of how you use it, the Explosive Activity will keep your audience energized, touch all the learning styles, and help your audience have fun while they learn. That’s the kind of impact that will get you re-hired time and time again.

Should you toot your own horn when speaking?

The answer is yes. However, it’s a must to do it without hitting a sour note with your audience.

 

Why is it important to do?

It’s important because your audience has the following question in their minds when you get up to speak:

Why should I listen to this speaker?

In other words, your audience needs to know how you’ve earned the right to speak to them. What credibility do you have? Don’t get me wrong, if your stories and messages are interesting, they will listen. However, throughout the speech, you will gain greater and greater influence once they understand, bit by bit, how you’ve walked your own talk and utilized the tools you are now sharing with them. They need to know what you’ve done so they can care about what you share.

5 Tooting Tools to build credibility without hitting a sour note

1. Spread it out

I remember back when I first started with the National Seminars Group (NSG). Before my first training session, I was trained for two days on NSG’s way of doing things. I tried to start my practice training session by stating my accolades in an attempt to build credibility. My trainer said, “Craig, don’t try to get all of your accolades across at the beginning, because that will turn your audience off. Instead, spread it over the two days.” I never forgot that.

She was absolutely right. If you bunch up your accolades and list one after the other, your audience will feel like you’re lifting yourself above them. Instead, it’s important to mention an accolade only when it relates to the point you’re about to make. For example, if the third point in my speech is “Stay away from negative people,” that’s when I might mention a good result I achieved in life (such as winning Salesperson of the year 3 times in 4 years) because I did it by avoiding negative people. The key is that I don’t bring up the accolade until I bring up the relevant point. And because your points are spread throughout your speech, your accolades will automatically follow suit.

2. Put it in another character’s words

Instead of saying something like, “I won Manager of the Year for the National Small Business Council,” I could put that into another character’s words within my story. I learned this from Patricia Fripp.

I like to do this with a question. For example, I could say, “My friend Karen once asked me, ‘Craig, what went into becoming the Manager of the Year for the National Small Business Council? What do you attribute that to?’” With that set up, I can say, “Well, Karen, I learned the most important tool there is to know when it comes to leading people. It’s…” So I set up the tool with the toot. This becomes organic and meaningful to the point rather than thrown in with an egotistical intention.

 

3. Share at least one failure first

One way to avoid hitting a sour note with your toot is to share at least one failure before you share the related success. Your audience can now identify with your failure and later be excited about how you turned it into a success. They will be on your side.   

Another option is to share the failure and the toot at the same time. For example, when I speak to sales groups, I often share this quick mixture of  tooting and failing. Click below to hear the 44-second audio.

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When you share the toot and the failure together, your audience knows that you realize it is the process (i.e. avoiding negative people) that helped you accomplish what you did.

 

4. Be Grateful in your Delivery

As you know, speaking is a combination of structure, content, and delivery. Delivery plays a big role in how your toot comes across. If you deliver it as if you always knew you were entitled to achieve your accomplishment, it will hit a sour note. However, if you deliver it as if you are grateful and maybe even surprised at the success, it will come across as something we can celebrate with you.  And we will!

 

5. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal

Don’t toot about yourself as much as you toot about the processes you’ve uncovered. For example, in the audio you heard about my colleague Fred, I then go on to inform my audience that it was hanging around positive people that helped me reach my sales success. It wasn’t me, it was the process. Put the process, not the person, on a pedestal.

 

Final thoughts:

Tooting your own horn can come across either as a sour note or beautiful music. If you prefer the latter, then put these 5 Tooting Tools to work for you.

The following mistakes will keep you from making the impact you should have and from being the speaker you should be. Be honest in evaluating whether you make the mistakes or not. Then, and only then, can you change them.

1. Don’t use too much set-up before you get into your story. This is a very common mistake I see most speakers make. Let the story be part of the set up and hook us in from the very beginning with a strong conflict.

2. Don’t say unnecessary words such as, “I thought to myself…” Well, who else can you think to?! Just say, “I thought…”

Another one I heard recently was, “I shared the stage with him before he passed away.” I think we’ll know it was before he passed away. The bad news is, guess when I heard this? It was when I listened to one of my own speeches. That’s right, I’m guilty. I said it. The lesson is to listen to your recorded speeches and see what extraneous words and phrases can be pulled.  

3. Don’t leave a point in your speech without teasing for what’s coming next. This is especially important in training sessions when you have 10-15 minutes breaks. If you don’t sufficiently tease for what’s coming up after the break, some of your audience members might not return. Whether you’re giving a speech or a training session, always tease for what’s coming next.

4. Don’t give a speech without having one exact next step for your audience to take after the speech. This next step should have something to do with you. For example, I have given various speeches wherein the next step was to…

• Beccome 3 times the speaker you are today by visiting www.52SpeakingTips.com
• Keep your audience hooked by investing in my Storytelling Home-Study Course for speakers
• Earn an extra income by visiting www.certifiedspeakingcoach.com (the next class is not until 2012 so I wouldn’t have this as a next step until a few months before it began)
• See the books that changed my business and my life at www.CraigsBookshelf.com
• Sharpen your speaking skills with my free e-book at www.thebookonspeaking.com
• Friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, connect with my on LinkedIn, visit me on YouTube, etc.  

Even if the next step is simply to visit your main website, make sure they have a good reason for doing so. The key is to limit your next step to one per speech. Offering several next steps confuses your audience and…

A confused mind says no but a clear mind says go

Keep it simple and clear.  

My Bad Mistake – Just this weekend I had a speech to 500 salespeople at a national conference. At the last minute, my time was cut from 1 hour to 45 minutes. This is fine because I know how to easily adapt my keynote for the allotted time. The problem was I neglected to give my exact next step of visiting 52Speakingtips.com. Therefore, even though I had a good connection, I didn’t give them the chance to learn more from me. I left 500 potential new leads on the table with my mistake.

Lesson? No matter how much your time is cut, never cut the important next step you have for them. After all, it’s one of the reasons you gave the speech in the first place.

5. Don’t schedule the length of your speech to fit the allotted time. For example, if you are called to speak for 45 minutes, do not plan for 45 minutes. Instead, plan for between 35 and 38 minutes. Why? Because someone will have to introduce you and that takes  a few minutes. In addition, it usually takes a few minutes for your audience to settle in before the program begins. Finally, it’s absolutely okay (even advantageous) to finish a bit early. Why? Because you will leave them wanting more instead of wishing they heard less. You want your audience to say, “I could listen to you all day,” rather than, “I feel like I listened to you all day.”

Plus, many event coordinators underestimate how much time is needed to go from one segment of the event to the other. Finishing a couple of minutes early is helpful for them to keep the meeting back on track.

 6. Don’t speak to your wants but to their needs. For example, I have a speech coming up very soon and I want to use a couple of my favorite stories. However, those are not what they need to hear. As a result, I am cutting my favorites and going with the best fit. This might seem obvious to do but, believe me, when you develop stories that hit home-runs with certain audiences, it’s very tempting to use those with other audiences even if it has to stretch to fit. Don’t.

A great story that doesn’t fit is worse than a good story that does

 7. Don’t forget that speaking involves a series of scenes. If you find yourself speaking for several minutes and you have not brought your audience into another scene, chances are your content is becoming loose and your audience is becoming lost. Why? Because your audience does not just want to listen to you, they want to experience you. Stories provide that experience as long as your audience feels like part of the scene.

Do you want to move your audience to action when you speak? 

Do you want them to want to listen to what you say next? 

Is there a next step you want your audience to take after your speech?

There should be! And it’s important to realize that when you are in speaking, you are in sales. However, it’s easy to sell people on listening or taking a next step when you know these 3 secret to selling your message.

Listen to the following 3-minute live audio and then take the Quiz below

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Quiz:

Question # 1: Never sell a product (or service or idea or yourself or change), always sell what?

Question #2: Put the _____________ before the resource?

Question #3: What was the result I promised my audience would get when they signed up for my 52Speakingtips.com site?

The real key to motivating your entire audience

Take your audience across the EDGE. In other words, offer them results that come from all 4 of these trigger categories.

E = Esteem more – offer results that have to do with recognition, self-confidence, self-esteem, fame, and attention. An example I use in my speeches is, “If you want to become known as the best speaker in your neck of the woods, then really listen closely to this next point.”

D = Do more – offer results that let them know they’ll be able to do more tomorrow than they can do today. Or make sure they know they’ll be able to do more than most people who don’t get the advice they’re about to get. An example I use is, “How would you like to make a deeper connection with your audience than you’ve ever felt before? Okay, this is a slight-edge principle…” Another example I use is, “When you get this next point, you’ll find yourself moving towards your goals, dreams, and aspirations, even while you sleep.”

 G = Gain more – Offer results related to making more money, cutting expenses, and saving time (i.e. letting your long road lead to their shortcut). An example I use is, “It’s important to realize that more buzz brings in more biz. So let’s look at how to get more of both.”

 E =Enjoy more – Offer results of more joy, adventure, and excitement and less stress, frustration and pain. An example I used way back in my World Championship speech was, “You’ll feel a peacefulness, a serenity, a tranquility that you never even knew existed. And sooner or later you will feel…fulfilled.” Those lines were very intentional to offer joy. Earlier in the speech I offered an Esteem result by saying, “You’ll have confidence exuding from every pore in your being.” Again, that was very intentional as I was crossing the EDGE. The only problem was, in a 7-minute speech, it’s not as easy and subtle as it is in a 30-60 minute keynote. Still, it’s worth doing because you want to hit everyone’s hot button.

 

Why does the EDGE Formula work?

It’s because you actually have several audiences inside of your audience. Keep in mind that different people in your audience will be moved by different motivations. Some will want more money. Others will be motivated by more recognition. Still, others will want more free time while others will be motivated by having less frustration and stress. The way to motivate all the people in your audience is to take them across the EDGE during your speech by offering results from each of the abovementioned categories. If you have 30-60 minutes, you should be able to do this seamlessly and subtly.

Review of the 3 Sales Secrets

Secret #1: Never sell a product, always sell the result

Secret #2: Put the result before the resource

Secret #3: Take your audience across the EDGE

If you want your audience to act on your message, which will give you a long-term impact on them, then follow these 3 secrets to selling your message.

If you want to make an extra $3,000 to $5,000 per speech by masteing back of the room selling (even if you have no products of your own), then click here.

By far one of the most neglected parts of a presentation is the transition from one point to another. The sad thing is that transitions can completely breathe new life into a speech and give you a surefire way to get everyone leaning forward waiting to hear what comes next. Below you will pick up a process to make your transitions so powerful, your audience will say,

Wow, I can’t wait to hear what’s coming up!”

 Here is what too many speakers do

Be honest, surely you’ve watched many speakers go from one point to another by stating something like, “Okay, now, point number 2 is…” or “Now, my next point is…” These speakers take for granted that the audience is still with them and that the audience wants to move on to this next point. Keep in mind, you might know it’s a valuable point but how will they know? The most effective speakers use transitions as a time to do two things:

1. Remind the audience where they were with point they just made
2. Entice the audience to join them on the journey to the next point. That’s right, tease them!  

  

3 Step Process for Transitioning with Power

Let’s look at a 3-step transition process you can use to create great anticipation from your audience members.

 Step One: Remind them where they have been

 Step Two: Tell them where they are going

 Step Three: Entice them to come along to the next stop

 Let’s listen in on a live example. In this clip, I am transitioning from my 2^nd R to Remarkable Results (Relinquish) to my third R (Rely).

 

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 Let’s quickly analyze the steps of that transition.

 Step one: Did you hear how I went back and stated the first two points (i.e. Face Reality, Relinquish what’s in the way) before moving on to the point about Relying on the people?

 Step Two: Did you hear how I mentioned that the next stop on our journey is to Relinquish what’s in the way, because “You’re either on the way or in the way.”?

 Step Three: Did you hear how I enticed them to come along or at least teased them for WIIFT (What’s In It For Them)? They now know that, if they come along, they’ll pick up an idea on how to change the StatusQuoaholics and become invaluable to any organization to which they belong. In other words, they know why they should come.  

If you listened closely, you heard a two-step process I use regularly for enticing my audience to come along with me to the next stop on the journey.

1. Point out a pain
2. Make them a promise

 Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Well, make no mistake about it, many people won’t take any action unless they are too uncomfortable standing still. Also note that most people are motivated more by avoidance than attainment. Therefore, moving them away from a pain and then towards a promise is a very effective sequence. Too many speakers only offer the promise. Well, the promise without the pain is not as effective. After all, would you take a headache pill if you had no headache? So remind them of the pain first and then turn their pain into your promise.

At least let them know where they are going and why

Here is another example of a transition I used to use regularly after I finished the point about using your unique gifts. 

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Here’s the quick breakdown of that audio. You heard me call back to my previous point about using your unique gifts and I even got the audience involved. Remember, like Tom Hopkins says, “If they say it, it’s true.” Then you heard me tease into the next point by letting them know they’ll be moving towards their goals even while they’re asleep. They don’t know what the point is yet, but they at least know WIIFT and so they anticipate the next part.  

 

The BOB Approach to Enticement

Give much thought to these spaces between your points. Here’s a suggestion for you. If you’re the type to memorize your opening line of your speech and your closing statements, do yourself a favor and begin to memorize and internalize your transitions as well.  Dont’ wing them. They’re too important! These can become the building blocks of a benefits-oriented speech which, like most magicians, leaves the audience wanting more.

 Another great ideas is, when you create your transitions, always think of BOB. You might want to write the name BOB in front of you whenever you put together your speech and especially your transitions. BOB stands for Build ON Benefits. If you build your transitions on the benefits your audience will get (WIIFT?), you’ll keep even the toughest audiences with you for your entire journey. And you will provide a much needed energizing and enticing break between your main points.