Enrich Your Language

Enrich your language as you read.  When reading anything keep a pen and notebook handy write down sentences  and phrases that strike you as particularly good or intersting.

Even if you don't use them directly they can serve as springboards for your own ideas.

Picking Just The Right Word

You often hear of the need for a rich storehouse of words so you can expressive yourself clearly. This is true, but this does not mean  selecting from that storehouse  only important sounding, polysyllabic Latin and Greek words.

What  you need to select,  according to Theodore A. Rees Cheney in his book, Getting Words Right  are  "truly expressive words, mainly nouns and verbs."

The words you retrieve can be, "long or short, impressive sounding or simple, Latin or Saxon in origin....le mot juste could be  French in origin he says, but  More often it is a simple Saxon word like break, scatter, glimmer or shut, that will work best.

On the other hand, he says  at times you will need the longer Latinate words.

Be careful, he warns: " If you want to move the genuinely sophisticated, highly intelligent,, and well educated, write in plain English, with only the occasionally, carefully chosen, Latinate  word."

Be Alert to Potential Illustratins and Figures of Speech

When not busy giving your speech or presentation stay alert for potential anecdotes, illustrations, and figures of speech to enrich your work.

Something can be as clear as a a drop of rainwater on your vehicle windshield  for instance.

Or something can be as plain and easy to see as dead trees on the edge or middle or a forest.

Or....

Never Given In To High Pressure Reactions

Most of your presentations will be given in peaceful situations, but should ever find yourself in touchy or even hostile situations never give in to high pressure reactions when responding to others -- like a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman recently did in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Responding to a volatile demonstration by  First Nations people hostile to  exploring for oil in their Province through the use of fracking,  injecting a lethal chemical cocktail into the ground. search for oil in underground shale, he was provoked into  shouting something like, The ground belongs to the government not....natives."

The response, through social media, brought instant, widespread condemnations for racial slurs with calls for his firing. There is just no acceptable excuse for such slurs in this day and age so never make such a mistake should find yourself in any situation like this. 

Don't Wait Too Long

Don't wait too long after making a joke for a response from your audience.

If your joke doesn't result in the desired laughter or chuckle from your audience within a second or so move on quickly to the rest of your presentation quickly.

Don't  draw attention to the situation by lingering too long. timing is critical not only in presenting  your punch line but also in minimizing its failure.

Be Prepared For Those Ideas

Be prepared for those illusive ideas for presentations that seem to come to you when you are often least prepared to capture them.

One of these times is when you are doing something else like shopping or driving so make sure you have your cell phone recorder ready to use or keep that old-fashioned notebook beside you on the seat or in your pocket.