If you had been sitting there at the Toastmasters District 22 Conference in Joplin, Missouri…

“Don’t overdo it.” – Craig Valentine

Okay!

Sunday we had Craig Valentine for a 2-hour mini-coaching session on storytelling. There isn’t enough pure unadulterated awesomeness in the English language to help you understand what you missed. But I’ll try…

(Actually, these are my notes)

Why use the stage?
- make a point
- transition – structure your speech
- best: the action in your story prompts you movements on stage
- timeline
Make everything clarify your message, not confuse it
Don’t overdo it – subtle 

Don’t tell … Ask
Most people don’t want to be most people
If you want to know when to say “you and I” or “you and me”, remove the “you and” from the sentence and see which one makes sense

Coached Arlen
Leave your embarrassment in the lobby
Be more subtle in your vocal changes (character voices)

Curiosity – tease them before you tell them
- tap, tease and transport … 
  – Tap “what’s the number one thing standing between most people and their dreams?”
  – Tease – elicited answers and told the audience they were wrong
  – Transport – put them in the scene – Check the VAKS

If all of the questions are answered, your story is over. Even if you keep talking.

Circumstances - 

Characters – Just a few facts 

Coached Heather
Maybe change “perfect family” question
“Have you ever” felt there was a barrier to 
Figure out your foundational phrase – your tap should tie into their takeaway

First check in – 10:05 – these are things the audience took from the first hour:
Timeline on the stage
How to measure a pause (inner voice exercise)
Tap tease and transport
Don’t speak like I write- i.e. “get over here” she said
Don’t speak to impress, speak to inspire
Don’t tell…ask
Speaking is not a monolog , it’s a dialog
Check the VAKS

Conflict
when you introduce your character, throw them into the conflict
Conflict is the hook
Conflict invites them to solve the problem
Establish the conflict as early as possible 
Conflict – titanic hits the iceberg
Escalation – water raises in the titanic 

Come up with two or three events or conversations that escalate the conflict
Escalate until “the battle at boiling point”
Then comes the cure – with the guru – never be the guru of your own story
Be similar, not special
Put the process, not the person on the pedestal 

Ed – Better voices for better choices

Change 
After the cure, how did that cure change you?
What’s the delta

Credibility – who has more credibility about your story than you
Connection - 

We all have different stories, but we all have the same emotions – David Brooks

Conversations and dialog
Never add humor, uncover it
Use dialog – humor is in the reactions
It’s the look before and after the line that makes the line
The need to hear it just how you heard it
Always put the conflict before the cure

Last discuss and debrief – 11:10
What you pick up in the cure, you hand them out the door
Don’t re-tell it, re-live it
DC – be under the influence of your own emotions 
The cure can’t be in the title
If it’s too emotional, rehearse until you can give it without getting visibly emotional
Cliche – have them fill in the blanks
Most people don’t want to be most people

Awesome!

This morning, Craig Valentine opened the Toastmasters District 22 conference in Joplin, Missouri with Getting Remarkable Results in Leadeship and Life.

As always Craig Valentine inspired!

Some of the tidbits:

Never seen a positive leader with a negative team.

What you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

No neutral people. There either on the way or in the way.

Be driven by your vision, or you’ll be driven by someone else’s.

When we make excuses for someone, we invite them to never change.

I’ve been waiting a long time to see Craig here in District 22. As always, he delivered!

Craig Rocks!

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.

Here is a link to another article about Craig’s process I wrote in February.

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/.

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.

The important question is how does this advice affect you?  Is this where your next speech comes from, where your next project comes from, where your next success comes from?

The notes from the Edge Summit are presented in chronological order. If you have some thoughts I missed, feel free to e-mail me at contact@robchristeson.com and I’ll include them here with attribution and a link (if you want). Please note that links to the Edge site are affiliate links.

Also, I’ve done my best to properly attribute information as I typed it in the session. Most of what you read here comes from World Champions Darren LaCroix, Ed Tate, Craig Valentine or Lance Miller from the Edge event. Mark Brown also participated remotely, and some material comes from the awesome Alan Weiss and the amazing Patricia Fripp. If you do spot any errors or omissions, they are unintentional and I’ll correct them immediately.

Here we go…
“Ya ain’t gonna learn any younger” – Lance Miller quoting advice he received from a story about learning to back up a semi trailer truck.

lightbulb moment – think chandelier moment – Maureen Zapalla

Three questions you should ask about your business
why you?
who will pay?
how will I reach them?

Topics members wanted to discuss (questions in bold)
coaching – developing a multi-session plan (this one didn’t get touched on) 

marketing a seminar - 3 months out – marketing blasts – touch multiple times – research says you can reach out to customers 220 times per year without annoying them – multiple items (e-mail, Facebook, twitter, etc.)

what 3 tips for the 73 people who didn’t make the finals - there were some thoughts later on the finals, read my notes here: http://robchristeson.com/toastmasters-why-you-wont-win-your-contest

Selling from the back of the room - selling without annoying people (SWAP) – sell another’s program before selling your own – Seeding (plant seeds) – weaving () – you aren’t selling products,you’re selling results
Lance – going from zero to moving – change from manipulating your client to helping them – 1. believe in the product, 2. care about the customer, 3. 
Craig – everybody has a story to tell, but rarely do they get to tell it, because (wait for it) everybody has a story to tell. Be the one to listen to other peoples stories.
#1 reason they buy – confidence in you – confidence comes from familiarity – familiarity comes from repeated exposure – sell the results (Craig’s car story) – put the result before the resource – not just for products, but in your speech too
Lance- present and ask for feedback – take the materials that work and use them to make your product

Ed – retention after 48 hours – 10 percent; take notes – 50 percent; notes and discuss – 75 percent; notes, discuss, and teach – 82 percent after one year

Should you have a book first, DVD, or other product?
Craig – never create a product without teaching it several times first – your first product should be an audio CD

Details about being a small business
Ed – this is a business first, you speak second. If you don’t treat it as a business, you won’t get to do either. More will come in the 2-day Get Paid to Speak seminar.

Using YouTube, how much is too much - embrace the concept of abundance – answer the question – 2-3 minutes – give a next step (more below)

Craig – recommended a book – Launch by Michael Stelzner

Maleki (District 71) – Take the Talent to Training and the Treasure will come out – not about the price, it’s about the process

“Be careful not to keep your ego to close to your position, if you lose your position, your ego will go with it” – Colin Powell quoted by Ed

Ed – the word is receiving – 3rd place Scott Pritchard stayed on stage after speaking and saying “mister contest master” (at the finish) and smiled at the audience for about 10 seconds – what’s the word? receiving

Ed – number one job of a speaker is to make an impact – not to be liked

Ed – Talk in Tweets (talk in sound bytes) <–blog topic

Craig – speaking in sound bytes creates a memorable message – what is his focus? two words – touch lives – before you speak, say “please help me forget myself, remember my speech and touch my audience”

Lance – conviction – convict – what happened to become a convict – trial with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt – conviction is having a position you believe beyond a reasonable doubt 
- passion – in dictionary, passion came from ancient word for suffer. 
Practice to execution ratio (pro football)
Passion are those things that we do that we would suffer through without feeling like we are suffering
Sincere – means we have a clean, clear message
Do a raffle for your product- collect business cards and draw one to get a free copy of your product. Be clear “I’m going to email you with an option to opt in” so they know why you’re collecting the cards

Ed – Presentation variety- in order to maintain peoples attention, change your delivery method every 5- 10 minutes (I.e. You talking, asking questions, audience interactions, etc.)

Ed asked a few of us to run the 10 minute review after lunch
Take one minute and review your notes and write down your three favorite tweets or sound bytes of the morning. – you will learn…
Instruct online folks to tweet to hashtag Championsedge 
Take two minutes to turn to your neighbor and choose your best tweet
Next we go one group per row to give their top tweet
Maureen will write them down

general or specialist? – start with what you know – package/title it in what they want Book “how to earn more than a million dollars …”  

“the Psychology of Money” – became  ”the millionaire mindset”
“anatomy of an audience” – “connect with any audience”

Esteem
Do
Gain
Enjoy

Craig – touch all 4 categories to reach your audience
Darren – start with 3 topics, 2 specific and 1 general (or 1 and 2)
Craig – your audience is going to come up and tell you what you are speaking about – “never strike oil by digging an inch deep”
Ed – you can also specialize by delivery methods – be known as “the person who is known as…”

Make three colums – Experience     Delivery     Results

Experience
Specifics about your experience

Delivery
Speech          
Seminar
Book
Process CD

Results
increase profits
decrease costs
decrease turnover

Homework – flesh this list out for yourself

Mine – Experience
Teaching
PM Increase knowledge (anecdotal)
Military
Logistics
Supervision
Evaluations
Speaking
Blogging
Writing

My Delivery
Blog
Speaking
Seminars
Lunch ‘n learn

My Results
Increase productivity
Decrease turnover
hmmmmm….(homework)

 
Focus on results, not experience and delivery – discuss results, leave out experience and delivery – Craig, focus on the pain – ask questions and turn their pain into your promise

Social Media is a hot topic right now – Be careful about speaking about making money with social media when your aren’t making money yourself (credibility)

Marketing a seminar - sign up on edtate.com - special report 
Ed – make sure that you have enough time i.e. three months to market it
Delivery mechanism – e-mail, linkedin, postcards, newspaper, business journal,
Darren – web page – convert them – title – split test to find best conversion method
Shopping cart – all three of them use the same one speaker resources.com

6- minutes to a keynote
Craig – structure – you have 7 seconds before they decide if they like you, 30 seconds before they decide to check out. Open with a question or a story – then make a big promise. i.e “By the time you leave here today, you will have the tools… you will have ideas…etc.” Then the roadmap. “…and these come to you in the form of 4 R’s to remarkable results”
10-1 rule of thumb, 1 story/point to every 10 minutes
Phrase
Anchor – what’s loose is lost – Acronym, anecdote, analogy, activity
Reflection – Take your story and have them reflect on how it affects them
Technique – how do they practice it i.e. “write down your perfect day”
Sale – Push them into the Pull – Push away from what they want to avoid and pull them toward what they want
Use the PAR for newer speakers

Demo video - less than 10 minutes on site (have report, need to have a point, need solid audio) – less than 10 seconds on who you are
YouTube 2-3 minutes (1 minute if you can) – 1 video, 1 purpose, 1 next step. no more than 3 scenes (locations)

you must package your process in order to profit

Ed- what do you want people to Know Feel or Do

Darren – watch the first 5 minutes of a movie – notice how they are introducing characters through dialog
Time management from NSA
Focus day – product, speaking
Administrative day – mundane activities
Free day  - free of everything – phone, e-mail, etc. 
Same model for athletes and entertainers

Darren -every time you speak, build your list – then, touch your list – at least once a month
Do interviews
an a-ha moment is a letting-go of a previous belief 

Charles speech (coached on-site)

longer pause after first “so was I”
pauses

“do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Concluded twice 

too many I’s, My’s and Me’s

My homework:

Work on 52bloggingtips.com – finish creating the tips and start filming videos

Talk to the Human
New tagline – an IT guys perspective on communicating with real people

Affiliate link alert: World Champions EDGE. This link will take you to the Edge website, where you can see some free materials or sign up for just $1 for the first month.

Saturday morning started off with Jim Key delivering his keynote presentation, Hitting the Mark: The Quest for Excellence. During this presentation, Jim shared how a single person could “give him permission to believe in himself”. He shared some examples where he may have given up on something important because of the naysayers, but the right encouragement allowed him to believe in himself for that one specific subject.

John Madden delivered his signature keynote at lunch, titled Leap Don’t Sleep. This wasn’t the first time I heard his presentation, and as usual he did a great job and kept the audience entertained.

In the early afternoon, Pamela McCown gave her amazing session, 5 S.T.E.P.S. to DTM. Grab the info here, and the card here.

After that, Jim’s session Speak Better, Quicker! was a fantastic session on how to use specific techniques to rapidly improve your speaking and some great methods to overcoming nervousness.

Saturday evening, Pam gave her keynote session, Get out of Toastmasters. After that, she ran our officer induction ceremony where the 2011-2012 officers were welcomed into office.

On Suday (as I wrote this), Jim gave his session, Maximum Inpact: The Art of Using Your Story. One of my favorite parts of this was when he discussed his remedy for those who say, “I don’t have any interesting stories…nothing interesting or usable ever happens to me.”

If you find yourself feeling that way, there is a simple solution: Live an interesting life! … On Purpose!!!

Another gem: To make the impact last, make the impact last. Since you cannot hear the verbal inflections, what that meas is to make the impact have a lasting impression, make the impact in your line the last thing you say.

I can’t list all of the amazing things Jim said (we brought him to our district so you could see for yourself).

The guest speakers, local presenters and fabulous contestants made the conference an event to remember. I’m looking forward to the October 28-29 2011 Fall Conference in Kansas City.

Only one person will win at the next contest you are in. The rest will certainly not win, and that could be you. These are the strongest reasons why you won’t win:

You want to win a contest. This means your focus is in the wrong place. Just like in any presentation that you want to give successfully, contest speeches have to reach your audience. Focus on them. Even in longer presentations you have to capture their attention and interest quickly. But, in contest speeches you also have to reach them with your message and wrap it up quickly. Time is the only real difference in contest speaking.

Your message sucks. When you reach your audience, you need to leave them with something they’ll remember. Be explicit. If you think that you are so good that they’ll get it from the story, you lose. And yes, it’s that simple. Be explicit. That means have a phrase they can walk out of the room with – 7 words or less. Explicit. As 1999 champ Craig Valentine says – No Phrase, No Stage. Note: I’ve seen this done at every level of Toastmasters contests. At district and above, it’s a one-in-a-million shot to win (or even place) with a crappy/unclear message.

You have no story. Or worse, you have 3 main points. In 5-7 minutes. No. One point (see message above) and best is one story to support that one message. It works to have a sub story or two - nothing too complicated – to support the main story.

You aren’t checking in. Keep your audience involved. Ask a few questions, even rhetorical ones. Get it? Another example: you just finished a piece about that time where your girlfriend said “it’s over”. You might ask the audience, “have you ever had your heart broken?”

You are making assumptions. “We all…” haven’t done anything you can count on, except breathe. Don’t tell your audience why you are like (similar to) them. Ask them if they are like you.

You aren’t funny, or you are too funny. Balance. If they are laughing throughout the speech, save it for the humorous speech contest. If they don’t laugh at all, you lose.

You are standing still. Use the stage (or whatever space you are given) to build a scene. Be deliberate. Practice your staging. Pacing is only slightly better than standing still (i.e. you still lose).

It’s all about you. Don’t preach to your audience about why you know they shouldn’t smoke, drink or whatever. Show them (see story, above) how you learned that lesson and how they can apply it if they want to.

You aren’t taking advantage of feedback. Don’t assume that someone will be or won’t be able to help you just because they are another contestant, a District Officer or not in Toastmasters. None of those factors prove anything.
1. Give your speech wherever/whenever you can. Don’t use all of the feedback you get, but some of it will be helpful.
2. At the contest, seek feedback in advance. Hand your CC manual to a non-judge and ask them to evaluate you (projects 2-6 are best). Don’t concentrate on just one area (i.e. vocal variety) but look at the feedback after the contest. If you come to me after the contest and ask, “any feedback?” without telling me up front to pay attention, then you are just one of the many speakers I watched. Sure, I noticed something. But it isn’t the same. If you want me to give you real feedback, tell me before you speak.
3. Record yourself…and watch…and listen.

You aren’t getting good coaching. Get the best coaching you can afford. Can I help you? Yes. Can others help you? Yes. Are there previous World Champs that can help even more? Yes.  Affiliate link alert: World Champions EDGE. This link will take you to the Edge website, where you can see some free materials or sign up for just $1 for the first month. This is the best low-cost option to getting help. Personal coaching will cost more. Caveat: Other Toastmasters may be willing to mentor (help) you just because you ask. Don’t expect 24/7 access, but there is a lot of experience, expertise and talent out there.

You are still reading this post. Stop reading and get to work!

Don’t be afraid to speak up. 

Can we stand up and make a difference when we need to make a difference.

International Speech Contest: 5-7 minutes to speak to the world – you’re always speaking to the world

Individual to individual, we get along great. It’s group to group where we start to have problems

Message should be concise, 5-10 words

What is your passion, conviction, humility, your message?

Stay in your power center as a speaker.

Ask yourself the questions to find out what your passion is.

Some of his questions:

What is your story? - you don’t need to have a tragic story (I.e. Homeless heroin addict). Your story comes from “why did you do it?” what motivated you to take that action? Living vs. Existing. Ask yourself in the morning, am i more interested in going out and doing something than staying in bed and doing nothing.

What is your philosophy? - Honesty? Fairness? Timeliness?
what Lance learned on the farm (shoveling manure) One scoop at a time. Don’t let work pile up. Any job is a promotion.

What are the defining moments of your life? – firing someone, “anyone can fire somebody. Getting them to work, that takes leadership”. All of these moments can make great speeches.

When you come to a fork I the road, how do you decide to which way to go? Stopping short of previous goals helped Lance decide to press forward with other opportunities.

What is “that one thing” you know about life?

Can you find the Extraordinary in the Ordinary? – parking tickets, chair, etc. That’s what we do when we speak.

In your life, what is you attention on right now?

What are you certain about? …Uncertain about? How long would someone have to talk to convince you otherwise? 

What would you be willing to die for?

What issues do all human beings struggle with? – Can your audience identify with it?

Lance is working on a course on what is your philosophy in life?

Worked on creating a speech using a common object
- Picked a rubber band, and asked the audience for extraordinary attributes of the ordinary object.
- Many of them centered around stretching. lance made the correlation with people being stretched. Next, he looked for experiences in the audience about turning points in their life, and explored what “stretch” occurred there to develop a speech.
- Have you ever felt stretched in life?
- You should be inspirational/motivational with every speech you give

Have you ever flicked a rubber band and have it snap you on the hand? 
All the power is there when it’s stretched 
Told story (in first person) from Henrik about camping in a meadow for 6 weeks when I was just 8 years old. … This stretched me … 7 years later my dad died, and that stretched me.
Never broken
Found that I had strengths I didn’t know I had
We never get stronger standing still, it’s only when we stretch

Comes with accepting the concept. Saying “we only get stronger through challenging ourselves with adversity”, some people may not agree with you. But by describing how a rubber band is stronger when it’s stretched, you get the audience to buy into the concept. Then you make the analogy with life, and the audience already buys into the concept and you can deliver your message without having to force the message down their throats.

Lance also does e-critiques through the World Champions Edge. There are specific prices for that, so you’ll have to check the site. Affiliate link alert: World Champions EDGE. This link will take you to the Edge website, where you can see some free materials or sign up for just $1 for the first month.

Ed Tate likes to say “Review your Keepers”. This refers to the notes you’ve taken, and he says that if you review your notes every 24 hours for 7 days, your retention will be above 82%. In my experience, this works.

For me, that has been reviewing and editing my blog posts on the conference. If you wonder how/why I did this in the first place, read about the 37 second rule (I learned this from Ed Tate too, last year).

But here is a short list of key takeaways, and a few other thoughts, now that my brain has begun working again…

Take action – “Successful people do things that unsuccessful people are not willing to do.” – Ed Tate

Done is More Profitable than Perfect - This is from Darren LaCriox, although I’m not sure if he said it at the conference this time. (I did miss one of his breakout sessions).

There is no one secret to success - everyone is looking for the silver bullet. Realize that in Marketing or anything, you have to have multiple actions in work to see success. It takes Time, Energy and Imagination to be successful.

The story is told in the reactions – Darren LaCoix. The exercise where he showed this was worth the trip.

If I said it, you spread it – Craig Valentine, when I asked him how he felt about me blogging my notes and thoughts from the sessions.

Don’t motivate…inspire – Mark Brown said “I’m not a motivational speaker, I’m an inspirational speaker.” He says you can’t motivate others, motivation comes from within. I agree with that, and I see people get stuck on this point. Does it really matter if I motivate you, or if I inspire you to motivate yourself? Are the semantics that important? If the term is important to you, okay. Just remember that there can be many similarities between what people define as motivating someone and inspiring someone to motivate themselves. Of course, you need to understand motivation to be successful. Read Drive by Daniel Pink for some fantasic insights into motivation.

During the conference, I learned that Darren’s least favorite Toastmaster word was gestures. He prefers body language, because gestures implies something artificial and usually just using your hands. I agree that body language is a better word choice, but I may slip and say stuff…I mean gestures…from time-to-time.

My least favorite Toastmasters line is ”Don’t thank the audience, they should thank you.” I heard someone say this at one of the breakouts and I wanted to react. This is such a poor cliche, since both parts of it are wrong. I do agree about not thanking a Toastmasters audience, and I understand why we teach “don’t conclude with thank you”. It’s not that you shouldn’t do it, it’s how to do it right.

Check out the Edge Site. If you are someone who needs to speak in front of an audience, the experience will be invaluable for you. 

Affiliate link alert: World Champions EDGE. This link will take you to the Edge website, where you can see some free materials or sign up for just $1 for the first month.