Public Speaking

Stage fright Is Good and Makes You Better Looking Too! Before you learn how to speak in public, it is important to be ready to speak in public. Stage fright is a phenomenon that you must learn to control if you want to be good at public speaking. Actually, stage fright isn't the most accurate term for the nervousness that occurs when considering a speaking engagement. In fact, most of the fear occurs before you step on-stage. Once you're up there, it usually goes away. Try to think of stage fright in a positive way. Fear is your friend. It makes your reflexes sharper. It heightens your energy, adds a sparkle to your eye, and color to your cheeks. When you are nervous about speaking, you are more conscious of your posture and breathing. With all those good side effects you will actually look healthier and more physically attractive.

Attention spans are short. Here is the 'Wake em Up' way to keep the audience with you. After you have created your talk, go through it and make sure that every 2-4 minutes you use some kind of attention gaining device.

You could increase your voice inflection, show a visual, hold up a prop, move around the room, tell a story, throw out a one liner, write on a flip chart, show a picture of your kids if you want to.

Just make sure that no more than a few minutes goes by between attention gaining devices. The audience won't know you are using a technique on them, but at the end they will say. Wow! That time sure went by fast!

www.AmazingPublicSpeaking.com

FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO:
GREAT SPEAKING is the Electronic Magazine for Presentations Skills Tips, Speaking 4 Money, Speaking Business Referrals, Speaker Marketing, Speaker Humor, Training and other Public Speaking related Features. Click here for your FREE Subscription.

Major Speaking Clients include:
Chicken Soup for the Soul MEGA Seminar Series, Freedom Builders National Tour, Maximizing Success Summit, Kodak, Hallmark Cards, Wharton Business School Club, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Choice Hotels International, John Wanamaker Department Stores, Booz-Allen Hamilton, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Connected International Meeting Professionals, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Washington Association financial Management Roundtable, National Association of Professional Saleswomen, North American Retail Dealers Association, Geico Insurance, Mt. Vernon Printing, Home of the Brave Foundation, International Operators Council, National Electronic Service Dealers Association, National Association of Service Dealers, Horizon Health Care Management, ADVO, and many others.

Honors:
Chosen out of 70 candidates to represent the Washington, DC area at the National Speakers Association 1994 Annual Convention. Asked to speak at 1995 National Convention in Minneapolis, MN and the 1998 Winter Workshop in Norfolk, VA. 2000 Winter Workshop, Burbank CA, , 2001 Winter Workshops Chicago, San Francisco, Mega Monday Featured Presenter NSA National Convention 2002, Keynote, National Speakers Association Australia, Sydney, 2003, Keynote European Speakers Association, London 2004, Keynote at the Global Speakers Summit, Singapore, 2005, Keynote Maylaysian Speakers Association, Kuala Lumpur 2005, PLUS over 70 NSA chapter events around the country and in Canada.

Chosen as the featured presenter at the Meeting Professional International Retreat Ottawa, Canada, and their All-California Conference.

2000 Toastmasters District 31 Communication & Leadership Award for (Given to Non-Toastmasters showing exceptional skills)

If you are active in the speaking and Internet marketing world, or just getting started, you have heard of Tom Antion. If you haven't, just type his name into any major search engine like Google, and you can sit there for months reading the 70,000+ pages about him and his successful career as a well-known professional speaker and Internet marketing mentor.

www.antion.com

Some humor 'experts' say that you should not laugh at your own jokes and stories when you are speaking in public. This may work for some, but it is definitely not my style. When I'm in front of an audience, I'm having a great time. I'm there because I love humor and laughter and I love sharing it with the audience. I can't help laughing sometimes. I laugh at what I say. I laugh at what they say. I laugh at unexpected occurrences during the presentation. That's my style. I believe that to fully connect with an audience, you must be accepted as one of them. If I expect them to laugh, then I should laugh too.

Sometimes you can laugh to tell the audience it's time to laugh. Within a matter of minutes your public stage persona will be evident to the audience. As soon as they catch onto your style and rhythm, they will pick up on the cues you give them. When you laugh, they know it is time for them to laugh. It's almost like holding up an applause sign. Some presenters use facial expressions or gestures or a combination of many cues that tell the audience it's OK to laugh.

The opposite of a laughter cue is a deadpan expression. This is a serious expression that is contrasted with funny lines. The contrast evokes a larger laugh than the line could get by itself. I use this to set the audience up for some fun questions. I look completely earnest when I say, I'm the foremost expert in the world [pause] on dumb questions. It always gets a good laugh.

When speaking in public go ahead and laugh when you feel like it. Both you and your audience will enjoy the speech more.

www.AmazingPublicSpeaking.com