September 2010 Newsletter
To Connect with Audiences, "Let Kobe Play."
Let me explain.
I was working recently with a consultant that does a lot of work with law firms. He had a natural and charming smile. He used it all the time in conversation. From a style standpoint, it was his best feature.
But whenever he stood up to speak, his face became flat He wouldn’t smile. When I asked why, he said, “It feels weird to smile when talking about business issues.”
“Who is the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers?” I asked.
“Kobe Bryant,” he answered, looking puzzled.
“And would you agree with me that the Lakers’ coach would be crazy not not to start Kobe in any important game?”
“No doubt,” he said.
“Then why do you refuse to smile when you give a presentation? Your smile is your Kobe Bryant. It’s your strongest asset. You’re crazy not to use it.”
The point is that most of us have natural communication strengths. Once you identify those strengths, you need to put them to maximum use.
New Book From Speechworks President: 15 Minutes Including Q&A.
Corporate America is being overrun by a scourge of lousy presentations. Every day, business people bore listeners with presentations that ramble on, make no clear points, and fail to address the audiences’ key concerns.
Speechworks President Joey Asher proposes a simple cure for this corporate scourge in his fourth book: 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World from Lousy Presentations.
Now available on Amazon, 15 Minutes Including Q&A is a quick read that lays out a simple plan to create and deliver great short presentations that will connect with any audience.
Inspiring Speaking Lesson from Guy Kawasaki, Star Venture Capitalist and ex-Apple Exec.
If you want to create a successful business, don’t seek wealth. Seek to create meaning. And if you want to deliver a successful and inspiring presentation, tell stories, speak with the passion of an evangelist, and, yes, seek to create meaning.
Those are just a few of the lessons from a wonderful presentation entitled "The Art of the Start." The presentation was delivered recently to a gathering of entrepreneurs by business guru/venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.
If you want to view the speech, click here. Kawasaki is not politically neutral or politically correct and he uses questionable language. So be warned! But the speech is terrific.
Here are some of the things that we can learn from Guy’s speech.
To Hold the Audience's Attention, Change Gears Every 10 to 20 Minutes.
No one has ever complained that a speech was too short. And at Speechworks, we advise our clients to limit the length of a pure lecture to no more than about 20 minutes. That’s because there is much evidence that listeners’ attention spans drop off after 10 to 15 minutes.
But sometimes, you have to speak for 45 minutes or longer. If that’s the case, the key to holding the audience’s attention is to use “change ups” every 10 minutes or so.
By “change ups” we mean interactive activities like group discussions that reinforce the point of your message and break up the presentation.
Public Speaking Tip from Stevie Wonder
“We all have ability. The difference is how we use it."
Those are the words of music legend Stevie Wonder. And he could have been talking about communication skills. The fact is that everyone has the ability to become an effective public speaker.
At Speechworks, we give our clients the tools they need to saddle up and move an audience. We teach our clients to connect with audiences by focusing our programs on two areas: