Have any of these happened to you?

1. Slow down your speaking. Have you ever been given this advice? You might think that the way to make this work is to add time to your presentation.

Better? Cut unnecessary content.

2. The speaker before you went over time. Should you just plow through your complete presentation? Even while the audience is checking in with their watches, and out on you?

Cut content.

3. We’re you asked to do your 40-minute keynote in 20 minutes? Should you plan to speed up your presentation?

You guessed it…cut content.

Is there a trick? No, just a process:

First, go back to the beginning. Ask yourself, “What is the point you expect your audience to walk away with?” Craig Valentine calls this your foundational phrase. If you can’t get it to 10 words or less, your audience won’t get it either.

Next, look at the content that doesn’t support this phrase. We all love anecdotes and quotes that sound good. Stephen Covey says, “Be Proactive”. If you only include them because they sound good without really supporting your point, you need to let them go. Cut them. Now.

Do you have any activities? Can you bring in something that takes less time? Maybe you can take that 5-minute group activity and replace it with a 2-minute one. I did that recently at a training…oh wait…you don’t need to hear that.

Take a close look at the stories you use. Do your stories have characters that aren’t important to the point? Are there any superfluous words or phrases? Let them go.

Are you adding commentary? Sometimes this may be valuable, but not always. Be sure adding your opinion supports the audiences needs. If you are doing it for yourself, cut it.

Having to figure out how to speak less can be annoying, but if you avoid cramming information in you can avoid cramming your audience out. It’s tough to do the first few (hundred) times, but once you master the skill of cutting out unnecessary content, you’ll be more effective when you do speak, and you’re audience will be more likely to want to hear you again.

1. Get feedback at every level. Ask someone, in advance, to give you an evaluation. Make it from a manual (CC projects # 2-6 always work, 9 and 10 may work as well) and ask them to keep the judging criteria in mind when they do. Use a different project each time you give the speech (both in practice at your club and at contests). This should be in addition to your coach (if you have one) so you get a fresh perspective.

Why? It blows me away to see someone not do well, then ask what they could have done differently. Some will even say, “I wish I could hear what the judges were looking for.” You don’t want to hear from them. They took just one minute to decide on your score. Then they concentrated on the next speaker. Get someone good to pay attention to you, and get some feedback you can use.

2. Don’t worry about the judges. Yeah, that’s easy to say, but there is more to winning a contest than being liked by the judges. Plus, they can tell when a speaker is talking just to them.

Why? They are looking for your skill as a speaker, and some things they take into account are how you reach your audience, and how the audience reacts to you. Make sure to remember your audience before you speak.

3. Watch your competition. See as much of them as you can stand. Visit other clubs (don’t judge – that’s a rules violation) and other Area and Division contests when you can. Carpool if you need to. Others are going.  

Why? There are some great techniques on display, and some colossal blunders you may want to avoid. Plus, seeing how different speakers use different room configurations and how audiences react can teach you volumes to improve your own speaking ability.

4. Get some help. I mentioned a coach in #1 above. There are professional options, but you don’t have to spend money to get help. You just have to decide how much time you have, and how much time/help you’ll need. Sometimes members of your club or a nearby club may be willing to help you. Just ask. Chances are you can find someone willing to help, even if it’s just a little.

Why? Practice helps you, but without feedback it has little value. It’s good to have someone to help you focus your practice and serve as a filter for all of the suggestions you’re going to hear.

5. Remember, it’s about being the best speaker, not just having the best speech. This one is a lot like #2 – easy to say, hard to prove. After all, the greatest speaker in the world won’t win with a dull, boring speech. But then, the greatest speaker in the world wouldn’t give a dull, boring speech either. The best would know their audience, know their message, and know themselves.

Why? That’s just how it is.

This advice may not be for you, but if you are in it to win it, you might want to consider doing more than you have before. Do your best…be your best…that’s what competing and winning is all about.

Editors note: If you are thinking about professional coaching, check out World Champions EDGE (Affiliate link). This is a great resource, and the first month is just $1.

1. Figure it out for yourself (difficult, time-consuming, and a high probability of failure/quitting)
2. Learn from experts on your own (Books, Videos, other “learn at home” courses)
3. Learn from the experts directly

The first method is the slow, painful, learn-from-every-single-mistake method that has made America great. You may choose to believe that there are no shortcuts in life, but this method is a certain long-cut – don’t kid yourself. Another misconception is the lower cost here. But, if you delay future earnings while you patiently (and painfully) get better, is it really saving you money, or costing you more down the road?

The second method uses books, audio lesson, teleseminars and such to reduce the learning curve while keeping costs low and flexibility high. The advantage here is:

1. You can learn from the best
2. On your own schedule
3. At a lower cost than other options

This can be a great first step to see if the expert’s style will suit you, and get you through the basics without the deeper investment. Plus, when you’re ready to make the call and work directly with the experts, you’ll get more out of the experience, and avoid paying a premium for basic information. Translation: you can jump into the more advanced content.

Recently, I had the privlige to work directly with Darren LaCroix and Craig Valentine. Both Darren and Craig are among the best in speaking, highly successful professionals and highly sought after as speech coaches. One of the programs they run is called, The Secrets of Storytelling Champ Camp. Something you already know: The call it a Champ Camp becasue they are both World Champions of Public Speaking.

The advantage here was since I had learned quite a bit from both Darren and Craig from their CD and DVD content, I was able to really get some valuable advanced training in a single weekend. We took an idea I had for a story – the day I was laid off in 2009 – and turn it into a complete story with the ability to reach my audience.

The important factor here was to start by developing the 5 C’s of great storytelling. Characters, Conflict, Cure, Change and Carryout. These give you the basic structure to a powerful story. Then we worked through some additional techniques and If you want to learn about this storytelling process, check here.

Which method have you chosen? Are you getting the results you hoped for? If not, maybe it’s time to make a change and move to the next level. You can see real impovement if you’re willing to do the work, practice, and learn from the best.

Stop wasting time with the long-cut.

Note: All links to the World Champions Edge are affiliate links. There’s no difference in cost to you, but if you’d rather not use the affiliate link, you can go directly to http://www.worldchampionsedge.com/.

Then I wrote this post!

Happy New Year! Make it a great one!!

He likened this to how being a speaker is like having a store, with a storefront, shelves and a check out counter while having no product on the shelves. If you were going to start a business, you would start with a product and then open the store.

Imagine if you instead opened a store and then when people stopped by to shop, saw the empty store and asked what your product was. Your reply – “what do you need?”

The real question to ask yourself isn’t “can I be a professional speaker?” It’s “What do I have to offer my audience?” If you can answer that, then you have something to put on the shelves.

A lavaliere microphone
The audience needs to be able to hear the speaker on stage, and no matter how well I think I project, the fact is any room with more than 50 people in it should be served by some type of microphone/speakers.

A perpetually full glass of room-temperature water
It depends on how long I’ll be stranded on stage, but I know I can’t speak to a group for more than 20 minutes without needing at least a sip.

My notes
Of course I know my material, but I never know what kind of distraction might take me off course and require a quick glance to be sure I cover everything I intended.

My handouts
It’s nearly always a good idea to provide materials to the audience. Plus, I can include information on other services and I like to send out a sign-up list.

My Flip video camera (I still can’t believe they discontinued those)
I always want to record my presentations. As valuable as other evaluations are, nothing beats watching my own presentation to see what I really did.

Your list might be different, but these items serve to make a pretty sound presentation. What’s on your list?

I watch a lot of people working on improving their speaking ability, and they tend to fall into two camps: those who seek help to become better and those that don’t.

Those that look for help and listen to the advice they’re given progress at a better rate than they would without the help. This is probably, in part, because seeking help also means doing more work. After all, if you don’t ask for help, you don’t have work to do to implement any improvements, since none are being offered.

If you are one struggling to ask for help, you could start by asking yourself “why?”

- Do you think you don’t need it? Try asking and find out if you see improvement

- Do you think you don’t know anyone who could help? Start by asking for a recommendation – someone to help you find help

- Do you think no one is good enough to help? Narrow your focus – instead of looking for someone to help you be a better speaker, try finding someone who can help with storytelling, or using visual aides or maybe just someone to help manage Q&A sessions better

There is always room for improvement, but it can be difficult to do in a vacuum. Try getting a coach to help you with some aspect of your speaking and see the dramatic difference a little help can make.

You may have heard the old reference that 80% of all statistics are made-up. Well, it seems like 95% of the time I hear about “everybody”, it doesn’t apply to me.

The corollary to this overused word? “Nobody”. As in “nobody does that anymore”, or “nobody likes congress.” It may even feel true sometimes, but the next time you use the word everybody or nobody, remember that you may alienate part of your audience. The part that isn’t nobody…

More importantly (as we enter the contest season), how do you give a winning evaluation?

First – Open Strong. The first words out of your mouth should be something great about the presentation. i.e. “Mike, it’s clear that you did quite a bit of research to bring us this presentation, and it showed. Mister Contest Master, fellow toastmasters and guests, Mike’s speech really hit the mark today, wouldn’t you agree?” Find something that you saw the audience react to and use it to get them to agree with you early.

Avoid: “For the next 3 minutes and 30 seconds…” in your intro. It’s redundant, it wastes time, and worst of all is says your main concern is the clock, not the speaker.

Next - Be Specific. There’s nothing more useless than hearing “if you made your closing longer, it would have made the speech stronger.” Really? You don’t say? Your advice is “add more closing”?

Try this: “Teresa, your closing felt rushed to me. You want to accomplish a couple of things during that time. One, summerize your points, and two, leave us with your best takeaway. When you see the green light, that should be your cue to finish up your last main point. Be done by the yellow and you’ll have time for a complete closing…”

Always – Care. They can tell when you don’t. This starts before the speaker is introduced. You have to approach the evaluation as if the speaker came to you and said, “My job depends on getting this right. Can you help me?” If your goal isn’t to help the speaker, then the judges probably won’t help you.

Finally – Summarize and be positive. The most important feedback you can give is to tell them what they specifically did well, and how to repeat it.

Avoid: “I look forward to your next speech.” Not because it’s trite, but because it’s vague. Be specific. Give them a reason you’re looking forward to the next speech, “John, You really hit the nail on the head with your woodworking tips, and I look forward to seeing how you’re next speech will give us more cool ideas for home improvement.”

Other thoughts: I’ve seen quite a few techniques, like G.L.O.V.E.,  A.C.E. and others used in competition, and the results are mixed. When I watch these evaluations, I ask myself is what you’re doing for the speaker or for yourself? If you use one of those techniques, it’s for the speaker. If you spend time describing it first, then it’s for you. Make sense?

Will these tips gaurentee you a win? Of course not. But if you open strong, care, and be specific in your feedback you’ll be competitive and more importantly you’ll help your speaker keep getting better. Isnt’ that what it’s really about?

Conner Cuneen, DTM -Pillars of Marketing Wisdom

Conner looked a little stiff starting out – and gave us 100,000 welcomes (an Irish thing)

All people dream, but not equally – Laurence of Arabia

Clear and compelling vision
- Successful businesses have a clear vision on what success will look like
- Howard Shaw – Starbucks – his vision while visiting Chicago – “in 5 years time, everyone on this street with a Starbucks cup in their hand”
- Starbucks now has over 17,000 units globally

Do you have a clear and compelling vision?
Do your people know the vision?

- in 2003, McDonalds recorded their first ever quarterlyy loss
- the CEO said “wouldn’t it be something if we had clean restrooms and hot, fresh food in all of our restaurants?”
The share price then? $12.50 Now? $87

- one suggested vision – get your staff to start thinking, “I want this customer to say as they are leaving ‘hey, I liked that place, I want to come back.’”

…you must see and feel what you are thinking

genchi genbutsu – go to the source and learn
If you understand your marketplace and your customers – you have a better chance of succeeding in that market

When Toyota decided to launch the Lexus brand – they sent their design engineers to live in Laguna Beech California to observe and understand their target audience.

Toyota wanted to create a child of America

You don’t need a Toyota budget, you just need a searching, inquisitive mind.

- do an online survey
- just call your customers and ask

Brand experience
- your behavior drives what people say about you
- what people say about you is your brand

asked “how many Guinness drinkers in the room”

the perfect pint takes 119 seconds to pour

Don’t just sell a product, sell the experience – Harley Davidson, Starbucks, Apple.

Interesting miss – he discussed the difference between an iPod and a Zune and said “if I offered every one here an iPod or a Zune, I bet 98 percent of you would take the iPod.” Why not make it more powerful and let us see us answering that with 98% or more?

list three words you would like someone to say about you, after you have left the room:

_________      _________      _________

Conclusion was a good wrap-up of the three points. He asked us some points, but again missed an opportunity. He asked us what coffee company he mentioned. we all said Starbucks. Then he asked us how likely it was that we would see one in the next 24 hours. hmmm. he didn’t prompt that earlier, and most of his audience will be in this hotel for the next 24 hours. Although, it turned out well with the same questions about McDonalds and Lexus.

To be honest, this presentation feels very similar to his presentation last year. My three words about Conner – “very good speaker”

editors note: I missed the second speaker

Tammy Miller, DTM, PID - Colors of Life
- imagine a blank canvas – 8 feet high by 8 feet wide – completely white – blank – it represents all of our lives
- is your life like than canvas, like a mural, or like a coloring book?
- what’s in a coloring book? no color, just black lines
- started with blank paper, then coloring books – color inside the lines
- in business, we’re told to think outside the box…color outside the lines
- colors everywhere – even in this hotel
- look at the carpet, she mentioned it’s really quite ugly – so you look up in the casino, not at the carpet
- people bring colors into our lives
- places bring colors into our lives
- hospital operating rooms are green because that is relaxing
- she asked the audience of 200-300 people how many people work out in a gym every day? less than 5 people raised their hands. She said that Gym’s are sometimes painted blue (inside) because research has shown that blue has the effect of making us work out longer and harder
Crayon box
- Red is the color of energy and confidence
- Green is the color of nature
- Yellow is the color of happiness, joy and laughter – Legal pads are yellow because yellow is the color of creativity
- Blue is the color of peace, spirituality and wisdom
(green had as much time devoted to it as the other three together)

When she learned she had cancer
- gather a group of friends to be her humor team
“We cannot always change what happens to us, but we can change how we respond”
- her color changed from gray to pink…hot pink
- we never know what we are being prepared for

The colors of our lives are created by the choices that we make
wrapped up by tying in her opening about the canvas, mural and the coloring book

Last year I was able to accurately predict who would receive the Accredited Speaker designation. This year, I was less accurate. I thought Tammy Miller was the one I’d pay to see, but I might be biased in that I’ve met her and heard her speak at past conventions. As it turns out Conner was the only recepient of the designation this year.