From my Personal Leadership Insight blog...
My business partner, Jonathan Smith - Professional Speaker, Author, and interview coach for hundreds of successful communicators (including the last two Miss Americas), has identified three primary roles people choose when they open their mouth to speak in front of a group.
1. The Speaker - Their focus is the performance. Over time this focus demands perfection. This need for consistency and perfection too often kills authenticity and blocks their credibility.
2. The Educator - Their focus is the information. The information is king. This need for quantity of information creates attention fatigue and disconnects the emotional side of the exchange.
3. The Communicator - Their focus is the transfer. The goal is simply to take what is in the communicator's heart and transfer it to each audience member's mind. Seth Godin says that all communication is a transfer of emotion. Whatever it is you need to accomplish, don't let your need for perfection or a bad case of information overload prevent you from being effective!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Del.icio.us Masterful Communication Links
On my leadership blog (http://pliblog.yournextspeaker.com) I have links to my almost 300 Del.icio.us links. They are organized by the ten Personal Leadership Insight Essentials (Vision, Integrity, Innovative, etc.) The group that is the largest is the Masterful Communication group. Go to this link to directly access these 65 links dealing with every aspect of how to communicate better...
Rhett's Masterful Communication Del.icio.us Links
Rhett's Masterful Communication Del.icio.us Links
Friday, June 29, 2007
Keeping an Audience's Attention
Here are six tips on keeping an audience's attention in a workshop environment...
(The format is "Challenge" - "Solution")
1. Volume - Obviously having microphones will take care of this one. However, even without microphones, you can create "triggers" to focus their attention: "when I say Cheerio clap three times and look this way", "repeat after me", etc.
2. Round Tables - This configuration is great for having to do a ton of writing, but it absolutely kills a trainers ability to maintain order, attention and focus. That is why I use the technique of packing the audience up to the front of the room (or the back) with just their chairs and their books. It gets everyone close together. It gets every one's chair and thus their attention focused one direction. It removes the energy gaps between the people. It takes away everything on the tables that could distract the audience.
3. Listening Fatigue - I stick to the 7-minute rule. The audience needs to change the way they input information every 7-minutes or so. The different techniques you can use are: talk to them, have them talk to each other, have one of them talk to the group, have a group discussion, have them read something, have them think/reflect, have them listen to music/audio, have them watch/listen to a video, have them do demonstrations for each other, do an activity, or do a demonstration. By sticking close to this time rule, you create a pace to your workshop that doesn't allow for the audience to lose attention.
4. Information Overload - Especially in long-days or long-sessions format, this concept is critical. Information overload kills attention span. The best formula is to take the very top one, two or three concepts or ideas or questions or training points and go deeper into those few. This formula trumps the "cover 10-15 points" formula every time because after one of two hours the audience's information receiving pipeline is full and they start shutting down. They are getting way too much information to handle and ultimately they learn less even though more content is given.
5. Hearing the Same 'Ole Stuff - As soon as your audience starts to hear something being covered that they have heard before, their natural response is to shut down their listening. Our task as presenters is to say the same 'ole stuff, but to say it and debrief it and "activity" it in new ways using new unique language and new unique labels.
6. Lack of Rapport With Presenter - A few rapport-building techniques: humor, mingling with the audience, learning their names, having high expectations of them, laughing at yourself, making your content fun, putting a competitive drive into your content. The primary reason why I get high remarks from audiences is because I connect with them on an emotional level. It just so happens that the emotion I spark in them is primarily humor. Different styles call for different emotional connections. Every style has an emotional connection that can be brought to the table, it is just a matter of figuring out where that sweet spot is for you. Great presenting is about transferring emotion. And by tapping into that vein with people, they almost can't help but stay attentive and focused because they are drawn to you and the emotions you are stirring in them.
(The format is "Challenge" - "Solution")
1. Volume - Obviously having microphones will take care of this one. However, even without microphones, you can create "triggers" to focus their attention: "when I say Cheerio clap three times and look this way", "repeat after me", etc.
2. Round Tables - This configuration is great for having to do a ton of writing, but it absolutely kills a trainers ability to maintain order, attention and focus. That is why I use the technique of packing the audience up to the front of the room (or the back) with just their chairs and their books. It gets everyone close together. It gets every one's chair and thus their attention focused one direction. It removes the energy gaps between the people. It takes away everything on the tables that could distract the audience.
3. Listening Fatigue - I stick to the 7-minute rule. The audience needs to change the way they input information every 7-minutes or so. The different techniques you can use are: talk to them, have them talk to each other, have one of them talk to the group, have a group discussion, have them read something, have them think/reflect, have them listen to music/audio, have them watch/listen to a video, have them do demonstrations for each other, do an activity, or do a demonstration. By sticking close to this time rule, you create a pace to your workshop that doesn't allow for the audience to lose attention.
4. Information Overload - Especially in long-days or long-sessions format, this concept is critical. Information overload kills attention span. The best formula is to take the very top one, two or three concepts or ideas or questions or training points and go deeper into those few. This formula trumps the "cover 10-15 points" formula every time because after one of two hours the audience's information receiving pipeline is full and they start shutting down. They are getting way too much information to handle and ultimately they learn less even though more content is given.
5. Hearing the Same 'Ole Stuff - As soon as your audience starts to hear something being covered that they have heard before, their natural response is to shut down their listening. Our task as presenters is to say the same 'ole stuff, but to say it and debrief it and "activity" it in new ways using new unique language and new unique labels.
6. Lack of Rapport With Presenter - A few rapport-building techniques: humor, mingling with the audience, learning their names, having high expectations of them, laughing at yourself, making your content fun, putting a competitive drive into your content. The primary reason why I get high remarks from audiences is because I connect with them on an emotional level. It just so happens that the emotion I spark in them is primarily humor. Different styles call for different emotional connections. Every style has an emotional connection that can be brought to the table, it is just a matter of figuring out where that sweet spot is for you. Great presenting is about transferring emotion. And by tapping into that vein with people, they almost can't help but stay attentive and focused because they are drawn to you and the emotions you are stirring in them.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
5 Questions to Ask During Presentation Development
Click over to my Personal Leadership Insight Blog to get this post...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Congratulations Miss Oklahoma 2007!
Congratulations to Makenna Smith, Miss Oklahoma 2007. Makenna is one of our presentation and pageant coaching clients. My business partner Jonathan Smith (http://www.jedwardsmith.com/) is now shooting for Miss America number three (the current Miss America, Lauren Nelson, and last year's Miss America, Jennifer Berry, were both clients of Jonathan).
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Warm Them Up Before You Start
Icebreakers are a very yesterday tool. Facilitators who use icebreakers operate from a flawed theory of presenting. They think they need to use the first few minutes of their time building rapport and getting the folks in the room "warmed-up" to each other, the content and the presenter. This doesn't work.
A better theory is based on the fact that we have about 30-seconds to get buy-in from an audience member. This means that the "warming-up" needs to happen even before we officially begin - to maximize the power and effectiveness of those first, critical 30-seconds. In the classroom, this is called "bell work." This means you have something for the students to do from the moment they walk into the classroom, even before the bell rings and class officially starts. Here are a few techniques I use in my programs to get the audience members started even before I start...
Have music playing
Arrange the seating so they are forced to sit next to someone
Have an engaging question on a PowerPoint or easel pad
Have a set of engaging questions in a PowerPoint show (have the slides change every 5-10 seconds)
Get in the audience members' zone - roam the room, ask questions, listen
Give the audience an actual task to perform before the workshop starts - and make sure it is something that "laters" can do as they slowly stroll in
Most importantly, be in control of what the room feels like, looks like, and acts like even before you officially start!
A better theory is based on the fact that we have about 30-seconds to get buy-in from an audience member. This means that the "warming-up" needs to happen even before we officially begin - to maximize the power and effectiveness of those first, critical 30-seconds. In the classroom, this is called "bell work." This means you have something for the students to do from the moment they walk into the classroom, even before the bell rings and class officially starts. Here are a few techniques I use in my programs to get the audience members started even before I start...
Have music playing
Arrange the seating so they are forced to sit next to someone
Have an engaging question on a PowerPoint or easel pad
Have a set of engaging questions in a PowerPoint show (have the slides change every 5-10 seconds)
Get in the audience members' zone - roam the room, ask questions, listen
Give the audience an actual task to perform before the workshop starts - and make sure it is something that "laters" can do as they slowly stroll in
Most importantly, be in control of what the room feels like, looks like, and acts like even before you officially start!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Great E-Book for Professional Speakers
Scott Ginsberg is the Name Tag Guy. He has a number of valuable, relevant and straight-to-the-point E-Books and articles on his web site. His "234 Things I've Learned About Writing, Delivering and Marketing Speeches" is a great book for the professional speaker and a good one for any speaker.
Here is the link to the E-Book - http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/speak234.pdf
Here is the link to his website - http://www.hellomynameisscott.com
Enjoy!
Here is the link to the E-Book - http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/speak234.pdf
Here is the link to his website - http://www.hellomynameisscott.com
Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Best Train-the-Trainer Book Out There!
If you facilitate groups on a regular basis (teachers, student leaders, workshop facilitators, corporate trainers, etc.) you need to invest in this book! I have read many of books like this throughout my 15 years of speaking and this one blows the rest out of the water! It is written specifically for teachers, but the learning principles are applicable across the board - particularly if your end goal is audience engagement, content retention and post-session behavior change!
Quantum Teaching: Orchestrating Student Success
Bobbi DePorter, Mark Reardon, Sarah Singer Nourie
Quantum Teaching: Orchestrating Student Success
Bobbi DePorter, Mark Reardon, Sarah Singer Nourie
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Don't Bury the Lead
In journalism there is a principle called "burying the lead." This is where rookie writers hide or don't even know the main interest story in the story. They bury it down the page and readers get lost early and lose interest. Great journalist know that they need to start with the lead, throw it out there early, spark your reader's interest and then spend the rest of the words on satisfying this interest.
As speakers we need to remember this principle. Start with your primary point. Spark their interest. Get them asking questions. Make it relate to them. Give your audience a reason to listen to you and they will!
As speakers we need to remember this principle. Start with your primary point. Spark their interest. Get them asking questions. Make it relate to them. Give your audience a reason to listen to you and they will!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
How to Communicate Like a Master
Here are three traits of improvement to learn how to be a masterful communicator (Masterful Communication is one of the ten PLI Essentials...)
Confidence.
Clarity.
Commitment.
How do you get there?
Confidence as a communicator is achieved through specific experience (understand what type of communication you need to be great at and then practice that) and by keeping your focus on others (the less you think about yourself, the less you think about how you can't do something or don't know something, etc.)
Clarity is achieved by communicating in concrete terms and by keeping your message very simple. Every communicator and speaker should read, re-read, and then re-read again Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.
Commitment is achieved by deciding to deliver every time you have a communication experience that you know you need to hit out of the park and by deciding to improve your communication abilities every day.
Confidence.
Clarity.
Commitment.
How do you get there?
Confidence as a communicator is achieved through specific experience (understand what type of communication you need to be great at and then practice that) and by keeping your focus on others (the less you think about yourself, the less you think about how you can't do something or don't know something, etc.)
Clarity is achieved by communicating in concrete terms and by keeping your message very simple. Every communicator and speaker should read, re-read, and then re-read again Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath.
Commitment is achieved by deciding to deliver every time you have a communication experience that you know you need to hit out of the park and by deciding to improve your communication abilities every day.
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