Develop A Genuine Interest In People

One of the critical things you have to do to succeed as a public speaker, trainer, or presenters is to have a genuine interest in the people you are writing and speaking to – or you'll find it impossible to deliver a truly lively and sincere presentation.

You have to have a genuine interest in the individuals in your audience. " and the issues that affect their businesses, careers. and lives." Steve Slaunwhite was writing to copy writers when he wrote those words in The Golden Thread, an on-line newsletter for copy writers but that advice that applies equally well to speech writers and the speakers themselves.


You have to be a people person.



Extroverts are naturally that way. Others, more introverted or shy might have more trouble in getting their minds off themselves – but anybody can develop that interest if you really want to.

One of the tricks that that can help you to do this is to copy a tactic used by novelists and short story writers to help them create characters that come to life on their pages.

Using real characters they have met (or created in their minds) they ask themselves a wide variety of questions about that person such as:

• What is the person's marital status?
  
• What is their family like?
  
• What is their ethnicity?
  
• What are their fears or obsessions?
  
• What are their ambitions?
  
• What are their superstitions?
  
• What attitudes do they have?
  
• What characters flaws or strengths do they have?
  
• What food preferences do they have?
  

These examples taken from the book What If? By Anne Bernays and Pamela Painters are just examples you will think of many more yourself as you get into the habit of doing this when you meet people. It works and is another tool you can use in your public speaking career.

The trick is to get in the habit of doing this with people you meet. It can help you to develop a genuine interest in others. It is all a bit mechanical at first but the more you practice the more natural – and rewarding it will become as you seek answers to questions to such questions by focussing not on yourself but on them and what you see them do, hear them say, and express silently through their body language when interacting with others.

It is just like riding a bicycle. When you first try you likely fall down many times, but eventually you get better and better and before long found yourself racing down some mountain trail or along the road with not trouble at all.

From personal experience I can tell you that learning to defeat shyness or tendency to be introverted by building an interest in others can be very similar to learning to ride that bicycle. . It is very mechanical at first but it gradually becomes more and more natural and rewarding – in your everyday as well as your public speaking activities.








 

Imitate Direct Mail Copy Writers Before Making Your Presentation

Instructors at American Writers and Artists stress two things: the need to learn as much as you can about both products and prospects your are writing to – learning not only about their general background such as age, education, income level and buying habits but also the core emotions or issues that keep them up at night. The goal is to actually be able to visualize your audience and how they would respond to problems – actually visualizing the nervous twitch on their face and other stress mannerisms. Then you will know how to write to them with words and ideas that will not only interest them but also motivate them to action.

 

As a writer and speaker you might not want to go that farther or even have the opportunity to learn that much about your audience. You should, however, learn as much as you can before writing and making your presentation.

If you are giving your speech, presentation, or seminar to a specific group of business people or professionals take the time to learn as much about their concerns and interests and interests as possible.

Then you will be able to focus your research and writing and come up with information and ideas that really help them. What direct mail writers call "golden nuggets" of information that will be loaded with beneficial ideas that your audience can really use to solve problems or accomplish goals.

 

All of this is where Mind Mapping techniques developed by Tony Buzan can be very useful – to analyze your audience, research information good make and outline your presentation.

 

What Do You Do With Your Hands?

Is your audience focussed on what you are saying or distracted by what you are doing with your hands? If you have a problem with this you are aren't alone; speakers run into a variety of problems such as some of these:

• Playing with their mustache
  
• Clasping their hands in front of their waist
  
• Hands stuffed into their pocket
  
• Playing with their fingers or electric cords on microphones
  
• Playing with pieces of chalk they are holding like dice
  
• Playing with change in their pockets
  

But remember that all of this is very distracting to your audience and should be eliminated by practicing your presentation in front of a mirror or a video camera so you can detect and consciously work at banishing such nervous mannerisms

Some very good speakers getting away with resting them – gently – on the sides of the stand holding their notes if there is one. It all depends on the speaker. Just make sure that you don't clutch it or give the impression that you are clutching it for support.

The best place for our hands when you are not using them to give some emphatic or descriptive gesture according to speech professionals like Peter Urs Bender and Ron Hoff is by your sides with your fingers slightly curled and index fingers lightly touching.

This might seem unnatural and awkward at first but it will become more natural the more you practice this.

And from this position it is easier to use your hands to create meaningful emphatic and descriptive gestures that will help to drive home the main points in your presentation and make it more interesting.


Watch professional speakers and presenters and you'll see that the best and most relaxed eliminate the problem of what to do with their hands by using them  -- when appropriate to give these effective emphatic or descriptive gestures.

Illustrate Your Presentation

Inject new life into your presentation or speech with a growing variety of tools or aids.
There are of course a wide variety of mediums you can use depending on the setting of your presentation and the size of your audience ranging from the old fashioned slip charts that either stand on a table or the larger floor models. You can use these for material that is already prepared or made up as you go through your presentation either alone or in combination white a whiteboard.
Another medium which can be very effective, especially for larger audiences as the image can be adjusted is the slide projector. Although many speakers and presenters are now using Power Point presentations the older slide projector can still be very effective especially now that you can easily make up a set of colour slides relatively inexpensively on your computer and then print them out in colour.
You can of course skip this step altogether by buying either a stand alone Power Point projector ( although these can be fairly expensive) or a projector that connects to your laptop computer.
Yet another useful aids to help you illustrate your material is the electronic whiteboard that enables you to outline your points as you speak or make your presentation. There is now quite a wide variety of these on the market now and many of these also allow you to scan or print out your notes that you can use as handouts. You can get more information about these at: www.whiteboardsandmore.com

This whiteboard method of illustrating your presentation can be made even more effective if you use the Mind Mapping or Graphic Recording method of illustrating your material. Christina at www.makemark.com can provide you with much more information about this technique. Contact Tony Buzan, the originator or Mind Mapping itself at: www.thinkbuzan.com

Just make sure that whatever technique and equipment you use it is appropriate for your setting and audience and that it helps you to illustrate what you are saying  effectively .