Not all of us have the mastery of more than one language; however, for those of us who do, giving a speech can be that much more exciting. The question that you are going to have to find an answer to is just exactly what language will you use for your next speech? There may be one language that you use daily; however, you happen to know another language. Each language is different and they all have their unique characteristics. How will you decide which language to use?

The Power Of Second Language

What speakers need to realize is that using a second language for a speech or presentation is all about knowing your audience and what the majority of your listeners will understand. However, this doesn’t mean your audience necessarily understands English fluently, nor does it mean that you do either. It’s can be a big challenge for any speaker. What we need are suggestions from other speakers and speechwriters in order to help you prepare for the challenge.

First off, you are going to want to keep it simple. One problem that speakers run into all too often is that when people want to impress an audience, they tend to overcompensate. A lot of people think that giving a speech in plain English is a sign of ignorance. What you are going to want to do is to relax. You’ll want to keep it simple. Having a small vocabulary in a given language should not be viewed as being a disadvantage. Speakers need to realize that less is more in public speaking, and often even native speakers could simplify their language and say less when they give a speech.

We also want to make sure that we don’t get lost in translation. When we are creating our speech, we will want to use humor, metaphor and analogy sparingly. We need to beware of jokes and humor and figures of speech that may not translate well. Even worse, they may resonate very differently in other languages and cultures. When you are creating a speech you will need to remain aware that popular culture metaphors can cause confusion in a second language – baseball works well with American audiences; however, Cricket is much better with Indian audiences.

Understand Who You Will Be Speaking To

When we are creating a speech in another language, we are going to want to think short. What this means in practice is that we are going to want to be thinking short in just about every way: using short words and using short, declarative sentences. We don’t want to have a long speech, because speakers speaking in their second language often tend to speak slower. We will need to make our words count. If the audience that we will be addressing includes a lot of people for whom English is a second language, they will probably have learned a simple sentence structure: subject—verb—object. We don’t want to get lost in translation, we need to keep our sentences short.

When we have more than one language that we can use to give a speech in, this provides us with a unique opportunity to use each language’s special strengths. If we listen to each language closely, we can feel how every language has a personality, a sort of genius of its own. We need to realize that a speech in one language will have a different rhythm and flow than one in another language. As speech writers we need to understand that the definition of “good writing” depends on which country you are from, thanks to the innate differences in each language. When we are creating a speech, we need to aim for clarity, simplicity, brevity and, of course, humanity.

Finally, when we are giving a speech in another language, we need to make sure that we take the time to use all the tools. Our goal has to be to make sure your audience understands you while you speak in a second language. To make this happen, you are going to have to use more than just words and pronunciation. We need to listen to the experts who recommend emphasizing gestures, movement, inflection, posture and other tools to get our point across. Many speakers may rely on using text while delivering talks in their second language; however, it’s important that they use those tools to ensure a connection with their audience.

Speakers need to understand that as soon as people talk to a piece of paper, they begin losing their audience. In the end, doing a good job of speaking in your second language shares many of the qualities of speaking well in your first. We have to realize that the rules are the same, but they matter more.

What All Of This Means For You

Giving a speech is hard work. Giving speech in another language is even harder. Those speakers who have the ability to speak in more than one language have a unique opportunity when they go to give a speech, they can give a speech in another language. However, deciding to give a speech in another language comes with its own set of challenges for a speaker. We need to understand what delivering a speech in a language that may not be our primary language is going to mean for both us and our audience. Planning has to go into this kind of speech delivery.

Prior to giving a speech in another language, speakers need to make sure that they understand their audience. When creating a speech in another language, we need to make sure that we keep it simple. We also have to be very careful because things like jokes and metaphors can get lost in translation. Speeches in other languages should be kept short – we’ll be speaking slower, so our speeches should be shorter. Each language has its own set of strengths and we need to make sure to use them. Our speech in another language has to be understood by our audience and so we’ll need to use all of the tools that are available to us.

Having the ability to communicate in more than one language is an incredible skill. Speakers who have this ability also have the ability to deliver speeches in multiple languages. If we choose to try to do this, we need to move carefully so that we can make sure that our audience understands what we are trying to tell them. Realizing that we’ll be speaking in a different language means that we need to take the time to carefully prepare our speech to meet the needs of our audience. If we can do this, then we can be successful speaking in more than one language!

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: When you give a speech in another language, do you think that you should take questions after your speech?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

As speakers, when we are asked to give a speech we generally expect the speeches that we’ll be giving to last 30 to 60 minutes. However, that is not always the case. We all know that due to circumstances, the amount of time that we’ll be given to talk may be reduced. Because of this, we are often encouraged to have a shorter version of our speech in our “back pocket”. However, what if the speech that we are being asked to give is super short to begin with? Would you even know how to go about creating a very short speech?

The Shortest Speech: An Introduction

When you are considering the next type of public speaking for you to master, don’t overlook what may be the shortest speech of all: introducing another speaker. Many of us may not consider this a speech – it’s just something that we say to fill the time before another speaker starts. However, if you think that, then you would be wrong. Successful introductions are able to set the tone for an event. They will also tell listeners why they want to hear from the featured speaker, and why the speaker was invited to speak in the first place.

As speakers, when we think about the introduction as a short speech it isn’t simply a way of inflating our role as an introducer. If you take the time to think about it, it turns out that introductions really have the same structure as speeches. What this means is that they come equipped with an opening, a body and a closing. Now that structure may encompasses only a few sentences, but the structure is still there and you are going to have to take the time to master it.

How To Create A Good Introduction

Speakers need to realize that learning to give a good introduction is an important step in building your speaking skills. Often, when you are asked to provide an introduction for another speaker, you’ll begin preparing an introduction with biographical material provided in advance by the speaker. However, you don’t want to limit yourself to only reading the summary. A much better plan is instead of giving the audience a chronological recitation of this speaker’s resume, instead seek out background material that relates to, or underscores, the theme of the speaker’s message, or can help the audience to relate to them as a person.

When you are creating an introduction make sure that you don’t neglect the speech itself in your introduction. What you are going to want to do is instead of merely introducing the speaker, you might also want to share your thoughts on the topic itself and how it may be significant to the audience. Finally, you are going to want to think about your introduction as a form of a red carpet – one that you’re laying down to lead the speaker to their audience. Will it be possible for you to get the audience thinking, laughing and feeling excited about hearing the speaker? One thing that you can do is to take time to include what are called grace notes (small embellishments) in your introduction in order to prepare the audience for the speaker. If you can accomplish all of this, then you’ll have their undying gratitude for making the effort.

What All Of This Means For You

As speakers we are all used to being asked to give a speech. When we receive a request, we’ll prepare what we want to say during a typical 30–60-minute speech. However, we need to broaden our understanding of what types of speeches are out there. In fact, there might be one type of speech that you will be asked to give that you might not even view as being a speech. I’m talking about giving an introduction for another speaker.

Many speakers don’t view an introduction as being a “real” speech. They think of it simply as filler before the real speaker starts their speech. However, we need to understand that your introduction of a speaker can set the tone for their speech. Every introduction has the same structure as a regular speech. It will have an opening, a body, and a closing. When we are asked to deliver an introduction, we will often be given biographical material. However, instead of just reading that, we should take the time to get the speaker’s back story. During our introduction we need to realize that the speaker will be giving a speech and we need to get the audience fired up and ready to hear it.

It turns out that introducing a speaker can be a critical part of any speech. If we are asked to provide an introduction, then we have the ability to set the tone for the speech. We need to understand that what we tell the audience will hopefully get them excited about the speech that they will soon be hearing. Delivering a successful speaker introduction may be the shortest, and the most important, type of speech that you will ever give!

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: How long do you think that a speaker’s introduction should be?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Not all of us have the mastery of more than one language; however, for those of us who do, giving a speech can be that much more exciting. The question that you are going to have to find an answer to is just exactly what language will you use for your next speech? There may be one language that you use daily; however, you happen to know another language. Each language is different and they all have their unique characteristics. How will you decide which language to use?

As someone who has the ability to give a speech, you have many options when it comes to the next speech that you’ll give. I think that most of us generally picture giving a speech as being something that we stand in front of a group of people and do. However, it turns out that there are many different opportunities that are available for speakers to use their skills. We don’t have to do the standard “stand and deliver” type of speech. The biggest challenge that you may be facing is trying to decide just exactly what type of speech you want to give next.

Many Types Of Speeches

All types of public speaking that we participate in share common qualities. Speaking requires preparation and practice, confidence on a stage or in front of a room, and requires us to make an effort to ensure the audience can see and hear us. Whether your aim is to entertain, persuade or educate, your speech must meet some basic goals: stay within the time allotted, engage the audience and convey information clearly.

However, once we move past the basics, there’s a wide variety of speech types we can try. The one that you end up choosing may be driven by your role at a special occasion or business meeting, by the audience, or by a format, venue or some sort of time restriction. As a speaker, you’ll want to stretch yourself to learn about, and practice, one or more of the many types of public speaking.

Business Presentations

Although we may not think of them as being very interesting, business presentations are an important form of public speaking. Unlike most other kinds of speeches that we give, business presentations hinge on at least one audience member: the decision-maker. Your goal as the speaker is to influence that person’s decision, so a vital part of your business presentation involves making sure that you know who the decision-maker is. Getting to your point quickly and clearly is another way that business presentations differ from other public speaking styles. In these types of speeches, you must be able to defend your arguments against any challenges. One way to do this is to practice having an answer to the question, “so what?” after each of your major persuasive points.

TED Talks

TED talks have become very popular and so TED-talk like events have sprung up all over the place. TED-talk speakers must meet a number of parameters. Speeches must be no more than 18 minutes long, delivered without a lectern and often with few or even no slides, and they often rely heavily on storytelling. TED talks are given before high powered audiences and are done to share “ideas worth spreading.” They are also often live-streamed to an even larger, remote audience, and later shared freely online where they can be viewed by millions. If you want to try out this format, take the time to watch TED talks online for examples of how it’s done, and explore the option of speaking at a local TEDx. In addition to the time limits, TED speakers will get specific guidance, known as “The TED Commandments.” The guidance aims to ensure the audience will hear new ideas that are presented by the speaker with passion and a unique point of view. The “commandments” also remind TED speakers that they need to be human, approachable and funny, and avoid self-promotion.

Storytelling

I think that we all know that telling a story is the one of the oldest forms of public speaking. This type of speaking predates written language. Your entire speech could tell a single story, or one story can be incorporated into a broader speech to illustrate a point, teach a lesson, connect with your audience, or even make history come alive. Distinct elements of a storytelling speech include building and releasing dramatic tension, incorporating surprise elements, and engaging the listener’s imagination.

Acceptance Speeches

The good news is that this type of speech is used to signal something good: you’re publicly accepting an honor, award or commendation. The purpose of your acceptance speech is to give gracious thanks to the organization bestowing this honor upon you. After addressing the organization, you will then have the option of thanking friends and family who helped you along the way and sharing why the recognition is meaningful to you. Often organizations bestow awards to draw attention to particular issues or actions that they wish to encourage, so speaking about your connection to that issue is another option that is good for you to consider.

Panel Discussions

When you are asked to speak as part of a panel discussion, you must take into account at least two other speakers. Learning how to both take and give up your turn at the microphone is essential if you want to be a good panelist. Panel speakers are often are called upon to react to what other panelists have said, in addition to what they came prepared to say. Answering audience questions is also a critical part of panel speaking, and the area in which many speakers find it most difficult to give up the floor. Some panelists will use slide presentations. Speakers may want to avoid panels of more than three people, since one’s time to speak is limited further with each person added to the group.

What All Of This Means For You

Although it is easy for speakers to think about the speeches that they give as all looking pretty much the same, it turns out that they can all come in different shapes and sizes. As speakers we need to realize this. For each of the different types of speeches that we may be called on to give, we need to prepare a different type of speech to give. Understanding the different types of speeches is an important responsibility of each speaker.

No matter what type of speech we are going to be giving, we have to create a speech that will allow us to stay within the time allotted, engage the audience and convey information clearly. The type of speech that we end up giving may be driven by a particular role that we are playing at an event. We may be called upon to give business presentations, TED talks, storytelling, acceptance speeches, or even participate in a panel discussion.

Speakers need to understand that the art of giving a speech is always the same no matter what format our speech may take. We have an obligation to create a speech that will both capture and then hold onto our audience’s attention. We just need to understand that not all speeches are created the same. Depending on the type of situation that we may find ourselves in, we may be provided with an opportunity to give a speech that does not look like our normal speech. We need to prepare for situations like this and prepare the best speech possible!

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: Can speakers combine storytelling into other types of speeches?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

As speakers, when we are asked to give a speech we generally expect the speeches that we’ll be giving to last 30 to 60 minutes. However, that is not always the case. We all know that due to circumstances, the amount of time that we’ll be given to talk may be reduced. Because of this, we are often encouraged to have a shorter version of our speech in our “back pocket”. However, what if the speech that we are being asked to give is super short to begin with? Would you even know how to go about creating a very short speech?

When we are getting ready to give a speech, we do a lot of prep work. We try to identify who we will be talking to, we write a speech and try to choose the right words to use, and then we practice. Now it goes without saying that all of these things are good things to be doing. However, is it possible that we are missing something from how we prepare? Could that thing be critically important? It turns out that how we sound to our audience is going to have a big impact on how they perceive us. Do you know how you sound when you give a speech?

It’s All About Vocal Expression

So, how do you want to sound when you give a speech? I suspect that like the rest of us you want to have a speaking voice that is both powerful and animated. You would like to have an elastic quality to it – you want it to seem to stretch in different directions as you move from one idea to the next. Your ultimate goal is to keep your audience interested. Speakers need to understand that the tonality of your voice – basically how you sound when you speak – can have a major impact on how you are perceived, whether you’re speaking to an audience of thousands or a room full of colleagues.

What we need to realize is that there’s evidence to suggest that our tonality accounts for almost 40 percent of whether anyone who hears you believes what you are saying. This means that to influence others when you speak, you must speak in a voice that will command attention and will convey authority. What speakers need to do is to work on five vocal components: pitch, pace, tone, melody and volume. We need to realize that most of us don’t speak loudly or con¬fidently enough.

One of the keys to good vocal command as well as vocal health is to use proper breathing techniques. Most speakers breathe through their mouth. However, we should be breathing through our nose. When you breathe through your nose, the air becomes moist, and when moist air goes into your throat and then into your vocal cords. This prevents your vocal cords from drying out. This is important because if our vocal cords become dehydrated, they don’t work well and can become red and swollen, leading to hoarseness or loss of your voice.

How To Sound Good During A Speech

Another key to sounding good during your next speech is controlling how the air flows out of your mouth when you speak. This is what will make you sound great. In order to get better at doing this correctly, we can use breathing exercises to teach ourselves the right technique. What we need to realize is that the positioning of our stomach is crucial to the whole process, which is known as diaphragmatic breathing.

Keep in mind that varying your vocal patterns is crucial for anyone who wants to command the attention of his or her audience. When people speak, they tend to hover around one single pitch. The reason that they do this is because they become comfortable with that one note. What happens is when you stay on one note – which is known as monotone – people listening to you think they know what you’re going to sound like next. So then they think they know what you’re going to say next … and they will stop listening. Most speakers add to these patterns of predictability by verbally punctuating their speech. For example, we often lower our voice to signal that a pause or a stop is coming – essentially, inserting what are verbal commas and periods in our speech. To keep our audience interested, and ultimately influence them with what you say, you need to mix things up.

Speakers need to realize that in music there are patterns of notes that interest you and that make you want to sing along or that capture your attention. The good news is that the same is true about the patterns and melodies we use with the voice. The goal is to keep your audience so attached to what you’re going to say that they are wondering what you are going to say next. Melody is the absolute best way to go about doing that. All speakers need to know about the secrets of tonality and how the simplest changes they can make with their voice will dramatically change their business life, their personal life and the way that they feel about themselves.

What All Of This Means For You

When we give a speech, our goal is to be able to connect with our audience and find ways to get our message across to them. We’ll do a lot of things in order to get ready to give a speech: we’ll come up with a great idea for our speech, write it out, and practice it. However, if we don’t take a moment and think about how our speech is going to sound to our audience, then we may be missing a key part of what it is going to take to have an impact on our audience?

We’d all like to think that we have a powerful voice. We want to be able to keep our audience interested in what we are saying. We need to realize that the tonality of our speech can have a big impact on if our audience believes what we are telling them. In order to have effective tonality, we need to use correct breathing. We also have to be careful to not use a single pitch to deliver our entire speech because doing so will cause our audience to tune us out. Music uses melodies to keep our attention and speakers can do the same thing.

Understanding that how our voice sounds can have a big impact on how successful our next speech will be. The good news is that speakers have control over how their voice sounds. We can control our breathing and the pitch that we use to deliver our speech. By managing our tonality, we can make sure that our next speech will be able to make an impact on our audience.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: What’s the best way to find out what you sound like to your audience?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

As someone who has the ability to give a speech, you have many options when it comes to the next speech that you’ll give. I think that most of us generally picture giving a speech as being something that we stand in front of a group of people and do. However, it turns out that there are many different opportunities that are available for speakers to use their skills. We don’t have to do the standard “stand and deliver” type of speech. The biggest challenge that you may be facing is trying to decide just exactly what type of speech you want to give next.

Welcome to the 21st Century! As speakers, we often head off to our next presentation with everything that we can think to bring with us. However, as we all know it can be all too easy for us to forget or leave behind some important piece of information or presentation gear. If only there was a way to make sure that this never happened. It turns out that there just might be such a way. Those mobile phones and tablets that we all seem to carry with us everywhere these days have grown in sophistication based on the apps that they can run. A significant number of apps now exist that can help a speaker deliver a great presentation. Do you know about them?

Get Ready For What’s Coming

The good news is that speakers now have an array of tools that they can use to deliver even better presentations. The bad news is that there are so many of them out there, it can be a real challenge to stay up on what’s available and how you can use them. The big question is are you going to be ready for your next presentation? What kind of equipment are you going to have to bring to it? Is there a possibility that you might (once again) show up missing something that you really needed to bring?

Speakers need to realize that a wave of mobile devices has washed over the planet, and it’s the rare speaker today who doesn’t use a smartphone or tablet for their personal or business needs. The result of all of this is that the developers of mobile software applications continue to create new software tools for use by speakers on their so-called “pocket computers.” Let’s talk about some of the best options that you currently have available to you.

SlideShark

SlideShark is an app that lets speakers with iPads or iPhones view or show PowerPoint slides from their mobile devices. This can free them from having to tote around laptops for presentations. Speakers can use SlideShark to show slides on their iPads for small audiences or connect the tablet to a display projector for larger audiences. A chief benefit of the app is that it keeps fonts, graphics, videos, animations and hyperlinks associated with PowerPoint presentations intact when they are being used on mobile devices. SlideShark can also allow you to distribute, manage and track presentations in the “cloud” or at online locations, which can expand the reach of your messages and allows you to gauge audience viewing behavior.

Quickoffice

Guess what – if you have a need to create, edit or review PowerPoint presentations from an Android smartphone or tablet while on the go, Quickoffice from Google may be the solution for you. It contains needed basic formatting tools for creating presentations and allows you to add text boxes, edit or reorder slides, add or resize photos, use a presentation mode and more. When your work is done you can place the presentation in an online file-sharing site such as Google Drive or Dropbox in order to allow a review by colleagues or for access by audience members from any computer.

Presentation Clock

Who needs a clock during a presentation? This app allows speakers to keep time with oversized, easy-to-read numbers that make good use of screen sizes on mobile devices. Speakers can set the numbers to change color at different intervals (from green to yellow to red) in order to keep track of time. Subtle audio and vibration alerts also can be used when time thresholds are hit.

Presenter Remote Control

Guess what – there’s no longer a need to carry a separate clicker once you have this app which allows you to view and control PowerPoint presentations from an Android smartphone. You can use your phone to wirelessly advance slides and control volume on the “host” computer with the app, which works using Bluetooth technology. Another benefit of Presenter is that it has the ability to work with the Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems.

Quotebook

Speakers often stumble onto a great quote and need an easy way to store it for future use in a speech or document. Rather than providing access to stock quotes, this app offers a way for you to collect your own and organize them by author, source, category and more. You can copy the quote text into the app from your computer’s clipboard or simply type it in. Additionally you can add proverbs, lyrics, tweets or other compelling scraps of language you come across online as well.

What All Of This Means For You

Giving a speech is always a challenging thing to do. There you are standing on the stage and you don’t really have anything that can help you to be successful. Or at least in the past you didn’t. Now that we are living in the amazing 21st Century, things have changed. The mobile phones and tablets that we are always traveling with can be loaded with software tools that can help to make your next speech even better.

Using SlideShark you can show your PowerPoint presentation from your mobile devices which means that you no longer have to bring your laptop to your next presentation. Quickoffice can be used to allow speakers to create or edit their presentations on their mobile devices. Presentation clock will show a speaker how long they have left to speak and can change color as you get close to the end. Presenter remote control allows you to use your laptop to display your slides but you can then use your mobile device to click through the slides as you step away from your laptop. We always want to add quotes to our speeches and Quotebook can provide us with a place to put the quotes that we encounter during our day.

Sadly there is not just one app out there that will make your next speech better. However, there are a number of apps that when used together can help to make creating and delivering a presentation easier that it has ever been. Take the time to download these apps, play around with then, and then determine if they are just what you have been looking for in order to make your next presentation your best ever!

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: Should speakers use apps to deliver a speech or just concentrate on what they are going to say?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

When we are getting ready to give a speech, we do a lot of prep work. We try to identify who we will be talking to, we write a speech and try to choose the right words to use, and then we practice. Now it goes without saying that all of these things are good things to be doing. However, is it possible that we are missing something from how we prepare? Could that thing be critically important? It turns out that how we sound to our audience is going to have a big impact on how they perceive us. Do you know how you sound when you give a speech?

When we give a speech, we use our words to capture the attention of our audience. However, in this modern age in which we are all living we also have other tools that we can use to help get our point across to our audience: Powerpoint. What I’m really talking about is visual images. All too often when we are giving a chance to use visual images during a speech that we giving, we’ll go to Powerpoint and create a set of slides. However, is this really the right thing for us to be doing? Is there a better way?

The Power Of PowerPoint

Let’s all agree that when we are asked to give a presentation, our first instinct often is to turn to PowerPoint, Microsoft’s almost ubiquitous software, to create slides in support of our speech. It’s a reaction shared by millions of speakers around the globe who are as comfortable with PowerPoint as they are with an old pair of shoes. However, what we need to do is to learn to view PowerPoint as being just one arrow in our design-tool quiver. There is a range of innovative software-design tools that are at our disposal when creating visual aids in support of our speech goals.

Speakers need to realize that as new presentation-design tools go mainstream, speakers have more options for how they design, edit and store their slides, ensuring we can match the right application to varied speaking scenarios. All of this includes software for designing and delivering small-group presentations on iPads or other tablets, storing and editing slideware online or “in the cloud,” and creating even more conceptual presentations in nonlinear ways.

Additionally, when we use PowerPoint today, we employ it for purposes beyond its original slide-design-and-projection function. Owing to advances in PowerPoint’s latest versions, more speakers now use the software as a full “creative suite” for tasks such as editing video or enhancing photographs, as well as for creating printed documents for presentations like sales proposals or white papers. The upshot of all of this is that change has come to the presentations-software market, and if you’re not taking steps to keep pace, you can miss out on opportunities to take your visual aids to another level.

The Next Level In Presentation Tools

The very first thing that speakers need to learn how to do is to design a decision tree. We need to be able to answer a series of “discovery” questions to determine the best design tool for our needs. If a presentation will be used repeatedly internally, for example, we might use the old standby, PowerPoint. However, if the presentation will be delivered more selectively and there’s a compelling need for video or complex graphics, we could opt for Apple’s Keynote design software. PowerPoint has made strides in its newer versions, but speakers still like Keynote for its ability to hold high-resolution video and create transitions.

Speakers also have other presentation-design tools we can employ, depending on our speaking needs. Included in our toolkit is SlideRocket. This cloud-based application is a good fit for speakers on the go. SlideRocket enables us to import existing PowerPoint or Google presentations online for quick-sharing or editing by our fellow speakers. Speakers like it because it is platform agnostic, meaning it works across different operating systems and you don’t have to worry about things you normally would concerning video formats or embedded fonts. SlideRocket also has an iPad application that enables speakers to make presentations from their tablets.

Speakers also are catching on to the fact they can get more bang for their PowerPoint buck by using that venerable software for purposes beyond slide design. We need to realize that PowerPoint is a versatile tool that also can be employed to create visually dynamic print documents as a better option to Microsoft Word and, in some cases, Microsoft Publisher, as well as a lower-cost alternative for basic video- or photo-editing needs. Speakers can turn to PowerPoint for smaller, less complex video-editing projects. Speakers also can create our own videos or convert existing PowerPoint presentations to video format for uploading to sites like YouTube. We can create slides, set them up with auto transitions, build pictures like a slideshow, and then export it all to a video file.

What All Of This Means For You

Speakers know that what they have to say during their next presentation is what they want their audience to leave remembering. However, we are also aware that if we want to be able to hold on to our audience’s attention during an entire speech, then the use of additional audio visual material can really help. I’m pretty sure that we all have our favorite image creation tools that we naturally tend to gravitate to. However, we need to understand that we are living in a constantly changing world and that means that we need to remain aware of what all of our options are.

We can all agree that when it comes time to create a presentation, most of us turn to using PowerPoint. It’s our go to tool. However, we need to realize that we now have many more options. Even PowerPoint now has features and options that allow it to do more than it was originally designed for. When we go to create a new presentation, we need to start out by asking ourselves a set of discovery questions. We need to know if we should be using PowerPoint or Keynote. Online tools like SlideRocket that allow us to upload our presentations and then have others to see and edit them. PowerPoint these days can also be used to perform video and photo editing tasks.

As speakers we have an obligation to stay on top of our game. We want every speech that we give to be memorable to our audience. In order to make that happen, we’d like to use the best supporting visual material. This requires us to remain aware of what tools are available to us and how they can be used to boost our speech. If we take the time to research what tools are available to us for our next speech, we can create a speech that will be truly unforgettable.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: Should we use more or fewer visual aids during our presentations when we want to keep the audience’s attention?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Welcome to the 21st Century! As speakers, we often head off to our next presentation with everything that we can think to bring with us. However, as we all know it can be all too easy for us to forget or leave behind some important piece of information or presentation gear. If only there was a way to make sure that this never happened. It turns out that there just might be such a way. Those mobile phones and tablets that we all seem to carry with us everywhere these days have grown in sophistication based on the apps that they can run. A significant number of apps now exist that can help a speaker deliver a great presentation. Do you know about them?

As a speaker, you know that you are wonderful. Now all you have to do is to convince your audience that you are wonderful! The question is just exactly what the best way to go about doing this is. You could simply tell them that you are wonderful, but I think that we can all agree that that probably would not do the trick. Somehow you have to show them that you are wonderful and get them to agree with you. Good news – there is a way to go about doing this. It’s called bragging.

Why Brag About Yourself

Let’s face it, if you bring up the idea of bragging, people are going to start to give you mean looks. We can all agree that bad bragging has a bad rap. This is rightly so. However, speakers need to realize that bragging done right can establish credibility and will create an audience connection. When your audience listens to you, you want them to view you as being a professional to whom they should be listening and taking notes. Professional speakers don’t make mistakes. Pros appreciate having competition when they speak, and so should you. During your next speech you will be competing against the stray thoughts of audience members, if nothing else. If you take the time to brag about your summer vacation spent in Italy or about seeing every Office episode 15 times, your audience is more likely to pay attention to you and more importantly, your message. They will understand that you’re absolutely awesome at something – even if it’s only Office trivia. Let the audience know by telling them early on.

Although mastering the art of bragging is important, all speakers need to keep the principal of “DBAJ” in mind when they are speaking. DBAJ simply means: “Don’t be a jerk.” Most speakers are so afraid of violating DBAJ that we go to the other extreme of not being willing to brag about ourselves at all. Yeah, yeah – you probably understand the need for at least some self-promotion, but at a gut level it’s possible that you may be terrified by the possibility of appearing to be full of yourself. Using DBAJ helps to serve as a form of a self-check. The very first thing that you have to ask yourself is what you’re saying even relevant?

In order to put the DBAJ principle into effect make sure that you don’t make your audience feel like you want to teach them about how great you are. The next check is whether your audience can possibly relate to any aspect of the achievements you’re bragging about. You may have some skill or talent that your audience can’t relate to. However, what they can relate to is the fact that you’ve overcome a lot to get where you are. That’s enough for them. Even if you’re talking about a big accomplishment, a reasonable audience won’t resent you if you talk about how you screwed up along the way – show them that you are human just like them. However, what an audience won’t put up with is a jerk who says, “I’m a natural at everything, and I don’t remember learning, so it’s always interesting trying to teach people.” The final DBAJ check is to make sure you don’t spend too much time doing your bragging. No matter how good you are at it, you need to get it over with quickly.

How To Brag About Yourself

Speakers need to know how to go about using bragging in their speeches. You should always brag sooner in your speech than later; however, it doesn’t have to be what you lead with. It’s important to put as much thought into your bragging as you would both the opening and conclusion of your speech, even if you end up skimping on the body. You need to make sure that you are not too self-deprecating or that you say something that makes you look like a jerk. If you make this kind of mistake, then you’ll catch yourself, and then lamely back-track. Keep in mind that your bragging needs to be to the point – just like pushing the play button on an audio recorder.

A great way to for a speaker to brag is to have the emcee, or the event’s printed agenda do it for you. Even though you’re the one writing nice things about yourself, seeing it on a page or hearing it from someone else will give your bragging a degree of removal from you. This can also remedy the problem of getting into trouble through impromptu bragging. The same general rules of DBAJ apply no matter who is praising you, but it’s easier to get away with a bragging bullet-point list on paper than to have it come out of your mouth.

The one thing that we are not trying to do is to establish credibility. What we are going to want to do is to begin by thinking about bragging about ourselves and then go back and root out the jerk parts instead of starting by trying to “establish my credibility” and then build it up so it’s not wishy-washy. Don’t think that your speech content should do all the bragging for you. If this was a perfect world you’d be guaranteed to have everyone always listen to your speech. Instead, realize that adding bragging to your speech is not for yourself, but rather for your audience.

What All Of This Means For You

You know that you are not only a good speaker, but you are a fantastic human being also. What this means is that you need to find a way to convince your next audience about this. If this was a perfect world, they would show up for your speech knowing why you are such a wonderful person. Since this is not going to happen, you need to be the one who tells them. You have to add some bragging to your next speech.

I’m pretty sure that we all have a negative impression of bragging. However, the good news is that if we can learn how to properly go about bragging, then bragging done right can establish credibility and will create a connection with our audience. Although bragging can be a powerful tool in the hands of a speaker, we all have to remember the most important rule: “Don’t be a jerk.” This means that we should not try to teach our audience about how great we are. If we can have other people or printed material brag about us, then that is even better. We don’t want to spend our time trying to establish credibility – that can be a waste of our time.

Speakers need to make sure that our audiences really do want to hear what we have to tell them. The best way to go about making this happen is to find a way to get our audience to believe that we are truly something special. We have a powerful tool at our disposal that we can use to accomplish this: we can brag about ourselves. However, we need to be careful and make sure that when we do this it does not come across looking like we are bragging. Master the art of bragging and prepare to have your next audience tell you how great you are.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: How can you convince other people to take the time to brag about you so that you don’t have to do it?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

When we give a speech, we use our words to capture the attention of our audience. However, in this modern age in which we are all living we also have other tools that we can use to help get our point across to our audience: Powerpoint. What I’m really talking about is visual images. All too often when we are giving a chance to use visual images during a speech that we giving, we’ll go to Powerpoint and create a set of slides. However, is this really the right thing for us to be doing? Is there a better way?

Giving a good speech is hard for just about anyone to do well. However, when it comes to scientists, it can often be even more difficult. Scientists often spend their time at work hidden away in a lab working by themselves or as a member of a small team. They may deal with complex subjects that are filled with many different buzz words. If they are call on to give a speech, all too often they don’t know where to start. Clearly communicating their ideas to people who may not be scientists can be a real challenge. How can scientists become good speakers?

The Challenge Of Speaking If You Are A Scientist

We need to understand that being a scientist is more than just exploring the unknown and making some calculations. A scientist has to harness data and present it in a way that a diverse audience will not only understand, but can also appreciate and act upon. What scientists need is a way to come out of their proverbial shells, share their findings and experience the joy of public speaking. Scientists have to work to improve their communication skills, both in academic arenas and social settings. This is a valuable practice, because scientists often toil in isolation. A typical scientist will spend a lot of time at the bench, doing calculations or lab work and so often they’re not interacting directly with other people.

We need to realize that scientists face the same obstacles as other professionals when it comes to both communication and public speaking. However, they often face the additional challenge of having to present complex data to a non-technical audience. If they have a lack of experience and training in how to communicate, then it can damage a scientist’s career. A lack of communication and presentation skills can endanger a scientist’s career promotions potential. Having excellent communication skills is a very important part of being a great scientist. It is becoming clear that in today’s highly competitive world, solely focusing on lab work is no longer enough for scientists.

Scientists may feel comfortable communicating one-on-one with customers, but when it comes to speaking in front of a group or giving a presentation, a scientist’s fear may intensify. The biggest obstacles are comfort and confidence. A scientist may have the ability to communicate with other scientists and perhaps also with people of various backgrounds. However, what they need to do is to hone their skill of public speaking through practice and feedback.

How Scientists Can Become Better Speakers

How can scientists become better public speakers? They need to learn to relax and to connect with their audience. In order to make this happen, they need to learn how to adapt and use impromptu techniques to engage their audience. This can be very important when these scientists speak “too technically” and the information goes over the heads of their audience members. Examples of speaking situations that scientists might find themselves in include if a boss asks for an impromptu opinion on a subject or a job interviewer asks the classic question “Where do you see yourself in two years?” In the end, the growth in a scientist’s speaking skills are measured by a higher degree of comfort and confidence in tackling such situations.

Scientists who can master the art of public speaking can handle impromptu project-status updates at departmental meetings, manage project activities and host group meetings. The goal of any scientist has to be to gain the confidence to lead scientific projects and lead task force members to successfully tackle many issues. Every scientist has their own set of unique skills. Painfully shy scientists may discover that they have a talent as a humorous speaker and be able to use that skill to boost their speaking abilities.

What All Of This Means For You

Becoming an accomplished public speaker is never an easy thing to do. It turns out that for scientists it may actually be even harder. The nature of being a scientist means that you are well training in a particular technical area and you spend your time either by yourself or in the company of like-minded individuals. This can make developing the skills need to give good speeches hard to do.

One of the biggest challenges that scientists face is that when they speak in public, they are often talking on topics that are very technical. This means that they need to find a way to take the complex and make it understandable by a diverse audience. They also have to find ways to come out of their shells and become comfortable giving speeches. Not being able to give speeches can hold back a scientist’s career. Scientists may feel comfortable speaking with other people, but speaking to a crowd can be a challenge.

The good news is that scientists can develop the public speaking skills that they need. As with everything else, this will take some time. However, they have been able to develop the skills that they needed to become a scientist and so these additional skills should not be too difficult. Once they have them, then they should be able to give effective speeches that provide their audience with clear understandable information. Even scientists can become good public speakers.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: Do you think that scientists should speak on topics that they don’t work on?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

As a speaker, you know that you are wonderful. Now all you have to do is to convince your audience that you are wonderful! The question is just exactly what the best way to go about doing this is. You could simply tell them that you are wonderful, but I think that we can all agree that that probably would not do the trick. Somehow you have to show them that you are wonderful and get them to agree with you. Good news – there is a way to go about doing this. It’s called bragging.

As speakers we are always looking for ways that we can make our next speech become more powerful. We want to be able to connect with our audience and get them to pay attention to the messages that we are trying to deliver to them. As we all know, the tools that we have to accomplish this are precious few – it’s really just us up there on that stage. However, it turns out that we do have one tool that can help us to create a link with each and every person in our audience. It’s eye contact. This is a powerful tool, but it will only help us if we know how best to use it.

The Power Of Eye Contact

How do you look at your audience when you are giving a speech? Many speakers may stare down members of their audience – they give them a so-called stalker stare. This simply means that the speaker is concentrating intensely. What we have do is a self-evaluation to determine what kind of eye contact we have with our audiences. In addition, we need to understand that some of us have “static expressions,” meaning that even when we’re not thinking hard about something, our face may look sad, angry or happy. When we are giving a speech, our facial expression should match up with what we are saying – we should use a mirror, if it helps to determine just exactly what we look like while giving a speech. Videotaping your speech may also help you assess your eye contact skills; after all, if you make good eye contact with yourself – or even if you don’t – you’ll know it after you watch the recording.

Let’s all agree that we are living in a tech-driven culture. It’s all too easy for us to miss eye contact altogether, staring at our smartphones and away from the reality around us. Despite the abundance of texting and tweeting, during our speech our eyes still give insight into our thoughts. Human beings are hard-wired for eye communication. We need to remember that when we are speaking before a group or among colleagues. Remember to be aware of cultural factors when you are giving a speech. Don’t lose sight of the fact that optimizing your use of eye contact is a key aspect of giving a speech.

When we give a speech, we, of course, must look at our audience. The good news is that it turns out that looking at our audience can be a powerful way for us to communicate with them. However, we need to know how best to use our eyes to communicate the message that we want to our audience. If we are not careful, we’ll not use our eyes correctly and we can end up sending out the wrong signals to our audience. Eye contact is a powerful communication technique for speakers to use. However, we need to fully understand how to use it to make our speech have more impact.

How To Use Your Eyes During A Speech

Proficient speakers are adept at communicating through their use of the eyes. Eye contact is a powerful means of expression, one that can be used either a positive or a negative effect. Good eye contact is something that can help you become a more polished speaker. However, in order to avoid offending your audience, speakers also need to consider the cultural setting before they employ a gaze, a wink, a stare or a blink.

Winking at an audience can spark powerful associations. Those associations are positive or negative depending on how they will be interpreted by your audience. A wink exchanged between co-workers, spouses or guests at a party may send the message that “we’re in this together”. But a wink that’s interpreted as insincere could cause audience discomfort or even disaster in both interpersonal and public communication. Winking is a tricky technique that should be used judiciously by speakers, especially when addressing an international audience.

Speakers need to understand that the eyes offer clues to a person’s feelings, often involuntarily. The eyes can work in concert with your entire face to express emotions such as excitement, fear or deception. Things like negative emotional expressions such as anger or fear are hard-wired into our brain, making them universally understood. When a speaker is surprised, his or her eyes enlarge. Enlarged eyes can also communicate our excitement or fear. With sadness, the eyes appear droopy. They tend to close a little bit so the aperture looks small. In sadness you will also have the brows turned down. Perhaps a good fact is that there is no universal expression for nervousness. What speakers need to do is to be self-aware. We should focus on what “gives us away,” and work to improve that expression.

What All Of This Means For You

In our tech-driven culture, we sometimes miss eye contact altogether. We find ourselves staring at our smartphones and away from the reality around us. Despite the abundance of texting and tweeting, speakers need to realize that the eyes can still give insight into our thoughts. Human beings are hard-wired for eye communication. Speakers have to remember this when speaking before a group or among colleagues. When we give a speech we have to be aware of cultural factors. Speakers must not lose sight of the fact that optimizing our use of eye contact is a key aspect of our public speaking.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: What’s the best way to determine if we have good eye contact when we are giving a speech?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Giving a good speech is hard for just about anyone to do well. However, when it comes to scientists, it can often be even more difficult. Scientists often spend their time at work hidden away in a lab working by themselves or as a member of a small team. They may deal with complex subjects that are filled with many different buzz words. If they are call on to give a speech, all too often they don’t know where to start. Clearly communicating their ideas to people who may not be scientists can be a real challenge. How can scientists become good speakers?

The reason that we give speeches is because we want to be able to connect with our audience. It is our hope that they will hear the message that we have for them and they will be motivated to take action. However, this is easier to say than it is to do. Even before we get in front of our next audience, we have to have taken steps to make this happen by creating a speech that will move our audience. We need to discover how we can write a great speech.

Get Some Help To Write Better Speeches

One of the easiest ways for a speaker to get better at writing speeches is to look over the shoulders of professional speechwriters around the world. There are a number of different ways that we can go about doing this. One way is to follow a professional speech writers organization. These type of groups offer a wealth of resources to help advance your speechwriting skills, including both conferences and newsletters. In order to find where they are located, you can look on LinkedIn for the National Association of American Speechwriters Group, or explore the U.K. Speechwriters’ Guild and the European Speechwriter Network, which both hold joint conferences, publish newsletters and members’ speeches, and offer workshops on speechwriting.

What you are going to have to keep in mind that many of these professional groups may limit their membership to those whose primary work responsibilities include speechwriting. However, most of these speechwriting groups include some freely available material online, such as audio from their conferences or sample speeches.

You can always turn to social media. On the Twitter platform, you can search for posts with the hashtag #speechwriting to see tweets that have been created by speechwriters. This can allow you to find articles offering tips and insights, as well as commentary and criticism about recent speeches. Don’t forget to take the time to post questions about your speechwriting, using the same #speechwriting hashtag to make sure they reach interested audiences.

Another thing that you can do is to take the time to read professional speechwriting articles and tips. Ragan Communications is a publisher for communications professionals and they have an entire section on their website about speechwriting. Their articles examine current speeches and speechwriting tactics and provide delivery advice. Likewise, Vital Speeches of the Day is a speakers magazine that publishes top speeches and offers a website (www.vsotd.com) with links to speechwriting blogs, a free email newsletter and even more.

Finally, a great way to get better at writing speeches is for you to stock your speechwriting bookshelf. Many of the best speechwriters have penned books to help us learn from their successes and mistakes. For example, Fletcher Dean wrote “10 Steps to Writing a Vital Speech: The Definitive Guide to Professional Speechwriting”. Additionally, Peggy Noonan offers advice in “On Speaking Well: How to Give a Speech With Style, Substance, and Clarity”. Likewise Max Atkinson, speechwriter to former British Parliament member Paddy Ashdown, authored the comprehensive guide “Lend Me Your Ears: All You Need to Know about Making Speeches and Presentations”. The books that you need are out there, now all you have to do is to go out and get them.

What All Of This Means For You

We want any speech that we give to be a powerful tool. We want to be able to connect with our audience and we want our words to move them to take action. In order to make this happen, we have to be able to create speeches that will cause our audience to listen to what we are telling them and then to take action based on our words. This means that we need to learn how to write powerful speeches. Just exactly how should we go about doing this?

In order to become better speech writers, we can follow professional speechwriter’s organizations. These groups have online tools that we can tap into in order to get examples of well written speeches. We can also reach out to social media. Twitter uses the hashtag #speechwriting to mark comments from speechwriters and this can lead us to other resources. Reading professional speechwriting tips can be very beneficial. Finally, stocking our library with books that have been written by professional speechwriters can show us how it’s done.

Knowing that we want to become a better speechwriter is the first step in becoming better. We then have to understand the sequence of steps that we’re going to have to go through to become better. By following these tips we can improve the quality of the speeches that we produce. With better speeches, we can have more of an impact on our next audience.

– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Public Speaking Skills

Question For You: Do you think that we should seek out professional speech writers and ask them questions?

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

As speakers we are always looking for ways that we can make our next speech become more powerful. We want to be able to connect with our audience and get them to pay attention to the messages that we are trying to deliver to them. As we all know, the tools that we have to accomplish this are precious few – it’s really just us up there on that stage. However, it turns out that we do have one tool that can help us to create a link with each and every person in our audience. It’s eye contact. This is a powerful tool, but it will only help us if we know how best to use it.