Public Speakers 5 Biggest Questions, Part Two

I do not want to over-simplify these five riddles, but I’m about to offer you one solution for all of these five, very different problems.

It might be called “Wayne’s Super Fix.”

It’s a commanding use of one Theme Model for your topic, speech or presentation. Not a big lofty, 50 slide presentation.

We’ll start at the top; Stage Fright? There’s a lot of advice out there but no one will tell you this fix.

Develop a strong Theme Model for your presentation, then don’t speak or present, , , just talk about your masterpiece. It’s your baby, , , something that no one has every seen or heard of before.

Tell them about how you discovered all of its elements, who helped you organize them, what the critical point(s) are and how your pattern works in real life, etc.

You’ll knock their socks off, even it you stumble all over the place. Guaranteed!

Red-Hot Topic? Get a subject you can draw in one frame, , , one that you can turn into a powerful Theme Model and you are home free.

Speak Without Notes? Just use your new-found way of curbing stage fright. Talk about your Theme Model.

Toastmasters to Profitable Career? Tell people about your Theme Model. In your TM speeches, in your TM club, have your TM buds promote you, in your blog (if I can set-up one, anyone can), website, Twitter, Squidoo, Facebook and the lists goes on.

You can write articles about it online and offline. The secret is that you have something (your Theme Model) to promote, so use it every way you can.

Beating Out the Big Boys and Girls? To do that you’re going need some kind of an advantage on them, , , and you do! Your Theme Model.

That Theme Model of yours is a visual aid, usually with from three to seven elements that embodies your whole presentations. And it will set you apart and above those speakers who don't have such an effective tool. It will be what puts you ahead of the pack.

Wayne

P.S. Heart model from http://www.heart-health-weightwatcher.com/ . Click on diagram of the heart to enlarge.

7 Reasons Why Music Is an Effective “Visual Aid”

In the past two weeks, I’ve called your attention to the fact that great visual impact can be made by any presenter through the use of what I called Entertainment Media. I listed four different approaches, Comedy, Ventriloquism, Magic and Music. And there are others (for another day).

Music was covered pretty well in three videos of top speakers who use music perfectly as a “visual aid.”

Mike Rayburn and his guitar, David Pogue and his piano and singing, and Benjamin Zander with his piano. I could have shown you a dozen or more performers but these happen to be the very best.

My hope is that these videos will expand your thinking about how music may be able to fit into your public speaking career.

I have one last thing to share with you with regard to using music in your presentations: Why music is so powerful and leaves such a memorable impact on your listeners. Here are seven factors to remember.

1. The Event. This has to do with the setting where you experience any piece of music, whether in a car, at a concert event or in a auditorium listening to a public speaker.

Most speakers are not aware of it, but peoples’ learning is greatly effected by “where they hear something.” You can probably remember everything that happened at your prom.

Particularly, every song that was played.

2. Your Listening. When music is played, you listen. And you have thoughts. Memory experts tell us the music and the listening are remembered together, , , also anything else that might have happened in that setting.

The auditory modality makes a lasting impression on what is learn.

3. The Melody. The tune of a song makes it’s own impact. And if you like it, you won’t forget it.
Advertising people work diligently to create songs and jingles that attach themselves to our mind, , , and with the right strategy, any speaker can do the same thing with their audiences.

4. The Lyrics. The words of a song can equally, attach themselves to the minds of any audience.

And when these words can be one in the same as your primary message, you’re ahead of the game when it comes to impacting your audience.

5. The Rhythm. The beat. The drums. The foot tapping aspect of the music.

The beat of music vastly effects the mood and attitude on any audience. And you can greatly use this “effect” to gain a speaking advantages.

6. The Motion. Add to all of this, the idea of dance, movement and animation. This all makes the whole experience more memorable. Which is exactly what every presenter is looking for.

7. The Total Message. What you have here, after the six factors is a bottom line that all adds it all together. This “adds” up to a powerful learning experience.

And when it’s all said and done, , , consider Benjamin Zander presentation, , , and you have a finished message, , , a new and improved appreciation for classical music.

So, if you have any music ability at all, try to see how you can work it into your speaking. Your audiences will love you forever for it.

Wayne

Substance, Not Form!

Back in the day, when I worked in real estate development, I can't tell you how important an aerial map was to virtually every presentation.

The Confession of a Visual Aid Creator

PowerPoint, movies, projectors, write-on devises and mounted material are not even visual aids. They are media or medium. They are only the vehicle that brings a visual aid to us.

All to often, people who teach you how to use visual aids only discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these different media (or tools).

No time is spent telling you it's not the PowerPoint, but the content displayed. Not the movie but the message it protrays. They don't tell you it's what's projected on the screen, not the hardware that's used to get it there.

That's what this blog is about, , , substance over form. Not what it's displayed with but actually what is displayed.

MethodMap.blogspot.com is about substance.

Well thought substance, shared with interested and involved people, drawn on the back of a napkin will out perform a multimedia extravaganza shown to thousands of people any day.

Wayne

The Game of Marketing

This is a different kind of post. I’m giving you a link to a free PDF by Robert Middleton. He is a consultant to consultants. And speaks quite a bit. For 16 years he’s been working with professional service business owner.

Everyone should read this 36 page report, The Game of Marketing.

In it he uses an elaborate model of a baseball field. It’s quite an effective metaphor. It shows the many steps the “at home alone” service provider needs to take to succeed.

Download this informative report and give it a study!

Here’s the link http://www.actionplan.com/pdf/01_Intro_Mkt_Ball.pdf

Wayne

P.S. In my seminar, 25 Easy Ways to Promote Your Speaking Career with Your Visual Aid, Middleton’s idea is included; Use your Theme Model as the centerpiece of a free, promotional PDF report!