Customer Training Association 10 December 2009
- Monday Nov 30,2009 03:00 PM
- By External Author
- In Thoughts from the speakers
Connecting People
While one of the biggest, and most often overlooked, benefits of networking is the development of a trusted network of suppliers for your business, it can become all too easy to take people for granted and have unreasonable expectations from them.
It appears that networking has generated a sub-culture of expecting people to do something for nothing. From the graphic designer friend of mine who was approached on Twitter by one of their followers to ‘take five minutes to look at my logo’ to organisations who ask professional speakers to plan, prepare and deliver talks for no cost, ‘because it will be good marketing’, people are increasingly dismissing the background work and expertise that go into providing a quality service.
Perhaps the root of this is the relationships that need to be developed as you build your network. I am continually urging my clients to build both trust and understanding among their network if they want to benefit from referrals, so it’s a natural extension that they should give away their expertise to showcase their work….isn’t it?
The danger, however, is that people’s work and expertise becomes devalued. One of the major effects of the growth of social media is the amount of information that is given away for free, information that people would have paid for previously. Has this led to a situation where people are less likely to pay for the support they need because they feel entitled to receive it for nothing?
I was sent an interesting video last week by pricing expert Cliff Burgin. In the video, produced by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Dan Ariely talks about ‘The Cost of Social Norms’. Ariely looks at how money can get in the way of social relationships and how we will happily do favours for our personal friends and family without charging for that.
In the video, Ariely says “We live in two worlds. We live in a social world where we do things for people as favours…..and we live in a financial world where we work for money. When the two worlds are seperate everything is fine. But when you try to mix things something happens, and that thing is usually not very good.”
As people build relationships with people in their networks, those lines get very blurry. I have built strong friendships with people I have met through my networking, in some cases to the point where the personal relationship is more important than the professional connection. With many business-to-business service providers networking together, expectations of free support from each other are bound to grow.
And there’s definitely a place for this. What is important is the definition of the term ‘free’. An exchange of value that doesn’t include money is common place now, with services being provided as a contra between two companies. But for the relationship to remain robust it has to be two-way.
What concerns me is that expectations of one-way support are growing, people’s businesses, expertise and time are not valued in the way they used to be by others in their network and ultimately this can lead to a breakdown, rather than growth, in trust.
Mark’s Daily Thought – Ideas from Mark Fritz to help you Get Ahead, Stay Ahead and Be Successful
We often don’t get creative ideas from our people, because we don’t give them challenges that require them to use their creativity. Sometimes, creativity needs a little starter, and always having some challenges (interesting problems) to solve helps your people always keep their creativity going.
Mark’s Daily Thought – Ideas from Mark Fritz to help you Get Ahead, Stay Ahead and Be Successful
Successful people always produce their best performance when their reputation is on the line. They know this, and will often make very visible their commitments to personally put their reputation on the line. This is key, as successful people put pressure on themselves first, before others have to.
Mark’s Daily Thought – Ideas from Mark Fritz to help you Get Ahead, Stay Ahead and Be Successful
In order to drive an organisation in a certain direction, the leader always has to think ahead of their people. However, while thinking ahead is important, it is also important to run alongside and help coach their people to keep the direction and pace. Sometimes, leaders run too far ahead and loose contact with their people.
Mark’s Daily Thought – Ideas from Mark Fritz to help you Get Ahead, Stay Ahead and Be Successful
Your thoughts are like life’s travel agent, as your thoughts are always taking your life in a certain direction and experiences. The direction and experiences you have today is a result of your past thoughts, and your current thoughts will determine where you go in the future. Where are your current thoughts pointing you?
Connecting People
Who wins the business card game?
In the early days of BRE we would start launch meetings of new groups with an ice breaker. Everyone present would have a few minutes to meet, and exchange business cards with, as many other people as possible. The people who had collected the most cards would be considered to be the winners and we presented them with a nice branded business card holder.
I soon stopped the practice when I realised that it sent out all of the wrong messages. After all, is there anything worse in networking events than people who run around like crazy trying to pass out and collect as many cards as they possibly can, never stopping to engage in conversation or find out something about anyone else in the room?
A reader of this blog was telling me this week about an event she recently attended where the same ice breaker was employed. Unimpressed, she decided to remain in her seat rather than join in with the game. The person who had been sitting next to her handed her his card before leaving to distribute his cards more widely. A couple of minutes later he came up to her and tried to pass his card across again. He had completely forgotten that they had already spoken and exchanged cards!
To me, an exchange of business cards should put the seal on a conversation, as a signal of the intent to build on the initial interaction. The example above shows the flipside, collecting cards without any meaningful interaction has the same benefits as picking names from the phone book.
The winner at networking events is the person pursuing conversations, not cards.
So you want to be a Public Speaker?
Have you ever attended a seminar and said, “Wow, I wish I could speak like that”? Well, I’ve got some great news for you. You can be a public speaker.
There is no such thing as a born public speaker. Public speaking is a learned skill, basically anyone can do it. You just need to follow some simple rules and practice. If you know how to talk, you can become a public speaker. Becoming really good at public speaking requires some risk.
Now understand there is risk involved. You risk being rejected when you ask someone out on a date, and you risk getting into an accident every time you drive your car.
If you were afraid of getting into an accident, you’d never get behind the wheel, right? It has been proven that one of our greatest fears, believe it or not, is public speaking.
The key to getting up in front of an audience is believing that you have something to share with them that may make a difference in their lives – by entertaining them, warning them, encouraging them, or giving them direction or information. In order to be good at anything, you have to practice.
Its easy to become discouraged if you expect to be as good as Zig Ziglar, Tom Antion, Bill Brooks and Jim Cathcart right out of the shoot. But if you knew their backgrounds you will find that it took a long time before they were able to do what they do so well.
The thing to remember is the only person you need to compare yourself with is yourself. You must constantly work for your personal best, so when you are preparing your speech and practicing, all you need to ask yourself is, is your second speech better than your first? Did you learn something new as you prepared for your speech? Did you learn something from the feed-back comments of others after you gave your speech? That’s all you need to do. You can use what you’ve learned to make the next speech your best and then use the same process for each speech you give thereafter. Just take one step at a time.
Find your Niche
The more you like your topic, the more your audience will want to hear about it. There are three ways to determine your power fields, interests, majors and pet peeves. Start with process one and follow these recommendations.
But before you do that, you need to understand, to become a successful public speaker you must be passionate about your public speaking career. You MUST, eat drink and sleep public speaking. You must be focused, determined and control any and all distractions to become successful in this field. It is an absolute must that you love what youre doing. Yes, its important you must enjoy helping people and be around people communication is a two way process. The reason I do this basically is that I enjoy being in front of people. I get fired up, excited and enjoy the interaction. Yes, ego is involved also. Its a rush!
Now, back to where we were. Below are some questions to ask yourself to find your niche. Your audience will know if you really care about what youre speaking on believe me! So, find your niche.
PROCESS 1
What do you like to do in your spare time?
What are your hobbies?
What do you like to do at holidays?
What is your favorite travel destination?
What do you like to talk about with friends?
On what issue do you hold a strong opinion?
What issue do you like to know more about?
What values are you standing for?
What special expertise do you have?
What do you fix well?
What special skills do you have?
What special professional or personal experiences have you had in your life?
What speech topic or debate in the news recently focused your attention?
PROCESS 2
Associate. Lets say you like to talk about Donald Trump. Now write down all things that come up in your mind. All the things related to Donald Trump. E.g. real estate, business successes, scandals, TV productions, his friends, and so on. In other words, you are building a topic tree around Mr. Trump. This method takes some time, but you can apply it on almost every candidate issue.
PROCESS 3
Is it of great interest to you?
Does it really excite you?
Is it something you’re already interested in?
Did you always want to know more about it, but didn’t have the time to find out?
Do you love to talk about it?
Do you already know more about the speech topic?
Are you passionate about your subject?
Most importantly, regardless of the subject, YOU MUST BE PASSIONATE ABOUT PUBLIC SPEAKING AND THE TOPIC BE PRESENTED!
Once you have found your niche(s), perfect it/them. If youve noticed, you can have more than one. It is strongly suggested you have multiple subject matter. Personally, I have eight seminars from one hour to a two week on site venue. Dont limit your marketability with only having one or two. Versatility is the name of the game. But which ever you choose become the expert in that/those subject(s). Stay up to date with changes, technology or whatever impacts change to your subject. Constant research is the key here. Remember, people are paying for your knowledge!
Tools of the Trade:
To start on this subject, I will layout the common tools required to maintain your trade:
1. Laptop Computer
2. Digital movie camera (professional is suggested here)
3. Mobile Projection (presentations)(see InFocus)
4. Thumb Drive (2GIG min)
5. Headset Microphone Wireless System
6. Digital micro recorder
7. The most important tool of all your voice
Voice is essential to your profession. To take care of your voice properly is essential to your longevity
Dos to project and save your voice:
1. Get an annual check-up from a throat specialist Prevention is always better than a cure.
2. Consider professional voice training. A voice teacher, professional choir director or singer can make a world of difference in techniques and your sound.
3. Drink six to eight glasses of water daily this helps to moisten throat tissue and cuts down on dryness which leads to irritation.
4. Drink only water, lemonade or warm liquids when using your voice for long periods of time. Ice cold liquids have a tendency to shock or paralyze the throat and causes strain.
5. Use warm salt water solution or warm lemonade to gargle with after long hours of selling especially if your throat feels tired.
6, Use a quality sound system. Dont buy because of price buy because of sound.
7. Let the sound system do the work for you thats why you have it. Control crowd with sound system. Turn it up if theyre too noisy silence will quite them also. Keep them attentive but not by yelling.
8. Relax your body and voice. You can feel tightness and tension relax, breathe deeply, relax, breathe deeply.
9. Keep throat moist at all times. Small pieces of candy held in corner of mouth help produce saliva. Avoid menthol candies, cough drops, etc. They tend to cause dryness. NEVER, NEVER chew GUM! Yes it does produce saliva but looks disgusting. Every time I see one chewing gum during a presentation I see a barnyard animal chewing cud! – Okay, my pet Peeve!
10. Project voice naturally. Talk naturally but project upward and outward through diaphragm. Talk to furthest person from you to help projection.
11. Practice and try to cultivate the habit of diaphragmatic breathing whenever you have to speak. Your voice will hold up much better, sound stronger, and be more pleasant for others to hear.
DON’TS: Here are a few that can affect your voice quality and lead to throat problems.
1. Dont strain learn proper breathing techniques and protection techniques. Prolonged straining of your voice causes the vocal chords to rub violently together causing blisters or nodules often requiring surgery and then voice therapy to correct.
2. Dont scream or shout excessively Auctioneers dont speak without a good sound system.
3. Dont use a cotton handkerchief over mike dust and cotton particles from the handkerchief cause dryness and strain.
4. Dont rely on throat lozenges, sprays, pills, steam to ease throat. This is a dead give-away to problems. Dont spray antihistamines to clear nose. They dry out throat tissue excessively and often cause drainage into throat. Grosse, but true.
5. Dont speak out of pitch too high or too low a pitch causes voice strain, how do you find your pitch? Talk or hum to determine pitch.
6. Dont cough, sneeze or clear throat excessively causes incredible stress on vocal chords and irritation from rubbing together that may lead to nodules.
7. Dont speak louder or change your pitch when you have head congestion. You may feel you cant be understood unless you adjust your voice but remember, your audiences ears are not congested and they can hear you fine. Slower, more careful articulation will help your clarity.
8. Dont smoke! If others around you are smoking, drink water. This greatly reduces the likelihood of throat irritation.
9. Dont ignore warning signs hoarseness, laryngitis, sore throat (especially after speaking), swelling, lumps or continued irritation. Dont wait get it checked by a doctor and hydrate.
Remember; dont skimp on quality with your tools. Your tools are important and cost should not be a factor. You get what you pay for!
Delivery
As a speaker, you never want to die in front of the room, but if you take the wrong position, it may very well affect how your received.
Lots of research on covert influence shows that it really does matter where one stands when we present our subject matter.
To satisfy yourself that the position of your body in relationship to others is important, try this. Ask several to help you out. Place two chairs face to face, just about 3-4 feet from each other. Now, assuming you are sitting in one, slide the other over about two feet to the right, so when the other person is sitting across from you, youll be to their right, and vice versa.
Now have each person sit across from you as you present a short subject. Have them appraise you on a scale from 1-10 how comfortable they are with you. After they have done so, move your chair so that they are now across from you, and on your left and repeat the process. Do this with as many people as you can, because the results are overwhelming. Youll be shocked to find that almost everyone rates you as being much more comfortable when you are on their right side. Not only that, but research also indicates that you will be seen as more attractive as well. See how this might be beneficial?
So, how do you use this information in a live presentation? While there are more complex strategies, the basic use of this is not only powerful, but simple.
When you first take the stage, youll want to stand near the center, just off to the right of the audience, or your left. As the presentation progresses, you will want to use both sides of the stage; the side to the right of the audience for anything you want them to associate positive feelings to, and the left side to the things you want them to link to negativity. Aint science wonderful?
Nerves
Your mouth is dry, heart pounding, and knees knocking. You go into panic, facing a dreaded public speaking engagement.
Now understand, I have been speaking since 1973 and have given hundreds of seminars and each and every time Im nervous.
Here are a few tips that may help combat those symptoms and reduce nervousness.
1. Deep breathing will help your brain work to capacity, and forcing the slower pace will quell the panic.
2. Exude confidence; Stand tall, with shoulders back and chest out. Smile. Even though you dont feel happy or confident, do it anyway. You will look confident and your body will fool your brain into thinking it is confident. It works!
3. Keep you mouth and throat hydrated. Plan to keep a drink on hand while you are speaking, though this sounds impossible. Place (room temperature) water strategically placed so you can re-hydrate during your presentation. Know when in your presentation it would be less noticed. If all else fails tell your audience that you need to hydrate. You can make it humorous.
4. Adrenalin sends the blood rushing to the fight/flight centers of your brain at the base of the skull. Place your hand on your forehead and press gently on the bony points. This will bring the blood to the parts of the brain that need it to present your speech best.
5. Know you are prepared. Obviously this depends on actually being prepared, so take every opportunity in the days leading up to the speech to prepare your material. Be familiar with the structure of the presentation, and the ideas to use. Memorize the most important parts, and the parts you might forget.
6. Know your audience, its critical! Their average age, gender, race, income levels, education, generally their demographics. Remember, the more you know your audience the more it will put you at ease.
7. Remember, you are the expert! Yes, there are people who might know more about your subject. I think this way, if there is a person that knows more about the subject being presented in the audience, then why they are not up here presenting and I seated in the audience?
7 Keys of making a Speech
1. Grammar Use correct grammar. Write out your speech in advance and read it aloud a few times. This will help you catch most of the mistakes privately. Ask a friend to listen to the speech and give you feedback or note any grammatical errors.
2. Filler Words Unnecessary words that do not help convey your point can be distracting. Avoid the use of uh, ah, um, you know, like, and I mean. In order to avoid run-on sentences, insert a one-second pause – between sentences instead of using and or so to connect two or more sentences. Before you take the stage practice saying any difficult words you plan to use.
3. Body Language By this, I am referring to unintentional cues you give such as looking at your notes, not making eye contact, slumped shoulders, hands in pockets jingling money, or slouching on the lectern. Practicing in front of a mirror will help you discover your own quirky movements.
4. Gestures These are intentional movements you use to make a point or illustrate the importance of a word. Make your gestures large enough to be seen by the person sitting in the back of the room. Step away from the lectern when using the lower part of your body; otherwise your movement will not be seen.
5. Vocal Delivery Avoid monotone and jazz up your presentation by varying your tone (emphasis or emotion), pitch (high or low voice), and rate (fast or slow). All these help keep an audience interested in what you are saying.
6. Topic Your focus should be on your audience. An interesting topic is important, but should be relevant to your listeners needs. Prepare ahead of time. Write key points on small 3×5 note cards to remind you of what is next. Reading off cue cards is discouraged. Only use them if necessary. Know your subject!
7. Visual Aids Not all presentations require or need visual aids. However, visual aids and handouts make a your presentation more interesting.
Impromptu Speaking
If you have ever given a presentation at work or at a special event you know how nerve-wracking it can be. A little nervousness is normal. It shows that you care and are excited about the opportunity youve been given to speak. Having nervousness overcome your ability to function in front of an job interview panel can be harmful.
Practice impromptu speaking as a way of learning to respond effectively on a moments notice.
Here are a few suggestions about how to rehearse for successful impromptu speaking. For this exercise you will require:
A timer, stopwatch or clock with a second hand sweep.
A friend – If you dont have anyone to practice with, youll have to watch the timer yourself.
A topic here are three:
1. What is procrastination and how it impacts ones personal life.
2. You have a friend that has asked you for some advice on why his business is not taking off. You know it is his focus and time management that needs real help.
3. Please give your advice on how to deal with rush-hour traffic.
Take each topic listed above one at a time. Have your friend read one topic aloud then set the timer for two minutes.
Your friend will give you a silent signal when youve reached one minute and again when you have reached two minutes. Try to keep speaking until you get the one minute signal. Then, wrap up when you get the two minute signal.
Compose your thoughts as quickly as possible and begin addressing the topic. Give a simple opening statement. You may repeat the topic question as your opening. Then, give your opinion about the topic by answering the questions to the best of your ability. Give a summary of what you presented.
Guest Speaker
Being a guest speaker in front of the right audience can be an excellent way to attract new business. Many clubs, organizations, conventions, and trade shows seek guest speakers who can provide useful information to their audience. The opportunity to speak in front of an attentive group can certainly boost your business, whether you are a service or product provider.
Design your speech or presentation so that the audience leaves with useful information that will help them. Avoid giving a sales pitch; this will be a turn-off for both the audience and the speaker-coordinator.
Here are a number of reasons why being a guest speaker can attract more business:
You are perceived as an expert in your field.
You have an opportunity to get free publicity to promote the event.
You have the opportunity to hand out information to each attendee (with your contact name on it).
You can ask for names and addresses of attendees to build your contact database.
You can chat one-on-one with the attendees after the meeting. Make sure you have a business card!
Check out your local Chamber of Commerce, local trade shows, or your local Convention Center. In some cities there are Professional Meeting Planners who often seek speakers. Your participation as a speaker at one event may lead to other contacts in the industry.
Author: Dale Simmons
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Pressure cooker
Being given the job of picking a motivational, keynote or public speaker for your conference is a double edged sword. If the speaker goes down well, you’ll get all the credit and the conference goes down in company history as one of the great successes of the year and something to be aspired to for future conferences.
However, if you pick an unsatisfactory public speaker, or even worse, a terrible one (think – any conference you’ve attended that you wish you hadn’t , or the Psychic act hired in the Phoenix nights TV series! ) then it’s a negative note against you and you’ll be responsible for the conference being a flop.
So what are your options when booking a public speaker?
There are lots of sports personalities available for hire. The downside is that the majority of them are actually very mediocre public speakers and some are just plain bad. Top tip; the best ones have the biggest price tags, so expect to pay in excess of 10K. There are some good sports personality speakers who can be hired for less, but there’s a good reason they’re cheaper – they’re on the way out and probably only the older members of the audience will know who they are!
You could always book the keynote speaker that you hired last year, as they were a great success and very reasonably priced. The flaw in this plan is (as one famous high street bank found out to their cost) hiring the same motivational speaker year after year only succeeds in de-motivating your staff when they hear the same old stuff trotted out year after year!
There are those public/ keynote speakers who have copied the style of high profile American Speakers, which would be fine provided they have the presence to carry it off and they’re speaking to an American audience. Brits are very cynical audiences and inflicting this approach on them will goes down like bacon butties at a bar mitzvah.
Then there are people who have achieved great feats, but if falling off a mountain and surviving fails to engage an audience including women, who have endured childbirth, juggled careers and partners (who themselves are busy hammering their heads off the glass ceiling!!!) it’s going to have a negative effect. I know one speaker whose talk is based on the challenges of climbing Kilimanjaro; however these days it’s practically been worn to a path with the vast numbers of people who have climbed it. He had the wind knocked out of his sails when several people in the audience, including someone in a wheelchair, claimed to have done the same trek.
Then you have an array of business speakers. They may not be household names although many will have books and media exposure that support their chosen speaking topics. They have much more in common with a business audience than the above options and the good ones are much more reasonably priced. For a large conference you can expect to pay between 5-10K and for a smaller conference you might even get one for as little as 2.5K. Most will have product (CD’s and books for sale) so a savvy conference organizer can even negotiate a deal on products as part of the fee, which makes a great added extra for attendees and even better value for money.
The biggest cardinal sin to avoid when choosing a public speaker.
Picking a speaker who will impress 100% of the people 100% of the time is an impossibility. Finding one who will be inoffensive to 100% of the people 100% of the time is perfectly achievable, but your speaker will have zero impact on your conference. You don’t have to have a big name to make a great conference; you just need a great Public/Keynote/Motivational Speaker. I know many famous celebrities (who shall remain nameless) who have enjoyed a successful career as a motivational speakers for years, without ever inspiring or entertaining an audience and charging thousands for each event. If you want a good public speaker then always do your homework and go by recommendation.
If you want your conference to be a great success then follow our useful 7 step guide below:
1) Keep your costs to a minimum by going direct to the speaker. Most speakers can be found on their own websites as well as speaker bureau sites. Speaker bureaus charge an extra 20% on the top of the speaker’s fee. If you’re unlucky enough to speak to the bureau that doesn’t have a direct relationship with the speaker, then you may be paying more than one lot of bureau fees. It’s also worth noting that the speaker bureaus aren’t regulated and there are many that speakers prefer not to work with them due to irregular practices.
2) Work off recommendations as anyone with some confidence and larynx can set themselves up as a public speaker.
3) Give your public speaker an adequate brief. What is the likely makeup of the audience? Mainly women? Men? Age? Backgrounds? Audience size? Details of the Venue? Equipment available?
4) As a general rule, don’t err on the side of blandness to avoid potentially causing offense. This is guaranteed to result in a bland experience for the audience. Audiences are human before they are employees and whilst you don’t want someone foul mouthed or offensive, very PC speakers are amongst the most dreaded by an audience.
5) Ask to see a show reel, blog, and testimonials. Any experienced professional will expect you to ask for them (if you haven’t been referred) and will gladly furnish you with them.
6) Be prepared to negotiate over fees, but don’t negotiate yourself out of a good speaker for the sake of a few pounds. The cost of the venue and the time of the delegates put the price of the speaker in the shade. Your speaker is going to be the highlight of your conference, so remember this when deciding to rule a speaker in, or out, on price
7) Read the small print. A good public speaker will have a comprehensive set of terms and conditions which will include a cancellation fee. You’ll usually have to book a good speaker well in advance; if they have committed their time to you in their diary then they can’t work for anyone else and they expect the same level of commitment from you. Last minute changes of date are likely to incur a fee, so ensure your conference details are secure before you book.
Author: Elizabeth M Clark
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger
You can learn to become a great public speaker. Once you understand how to speak and make presentations to audiences, you will have the beginning of a new, highly paid career. Read on to find the steps you can take to get started with public speaking, even if you have never spoken in public before.
Building a career as a public speaker will be lucrative and exciting. You will have the opportunity to travel the world and meet people from all walks of life. I encourage you to pursue this field if you have ever thought of having a career in public speaking.
Author: Connie Ragen Green
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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