August, 2009 From BORING to BRILLIANT!!
	Quotes of the month: "It is criminal to be boring!" –Ed Tate 2000 W.C.P.S. "Never Be Boring Again!" – Doug Stevenson, speaker, author		Opening: Ever been an audience member and your eyes had the glazed-over look? Even worse, have you ever looked out as a speaker, and saw that glazed-over look in your audience's eyes? I can safely say that we have all been there before, possibly in both scenarios. Promise: If you want to avoid the pain of viewing 'screensaver' or glazed-over eyes on bored faces, and instead view a sea of interested, enthused, engaged faces in your audiences, simply commit to going from Boring to Brilliant! Roadmap: To commit to being brilliant as a speaker, examine both columns below, and determine which areas of your speaking techniques you need to change in order to enhance your speaking level to Brilliant! Your introduction? Areas within your content? Aspects of your delivery?
	BORING BRILLIANT Your Introduction   Make yourself special by detailing all your credentials, some of which may be totally irrelevant to your topic If you happen to be a news subscriber, you may not have ever heard Craig Valentine's 5 steps in creating an introduction that will keep the audience at the edge of their seats wanting to hear more. I invite you to listen and learn how to write your introductions in a brand new way: audio. Have nothing in it for them- no thought-provoking questions, no promise or benefits for the audience. Your Content   Open with 'unpleasant pleasantries' i.e., nice to be here, lovely weather, etc Open with a Bang! Remove all distractions with a strong opening; frame your message clearly by getting right into the content with your promise to them of how they will benefit from what they will hear; provide a roadmap of where you are taking them. Have a loose message that leaves the audience lost, confused, bored, zoned out. "What is loose is lost." –Craig Valentine Know your message and be able to say it in fewer than 10 words. Be concise and precise in describing your message Squeeze in too much information Structure your content so you avoid rambling. Make your points clear and palatable, and take-away message doable. Use no humour Be reminded that when people laugh, they relax, when they relax, they learn, when they learn, they remember. Let them laugh at you, with you. They love to hear and likely laugh at your 4 F's: your flaws, fears, failures and firsts. Tell stories that make you appear superior, special, one of a kind. If they cannot relate to you and your stories, they will lose hope for betterment of themselves and their lives. Use simple, everyday stories that have taught you life lessons/processes from which they too can learn. By making yourself similar to them, you will be more connected and endeared to them Tell all your stories as narratives using the 3rd person. Use characters and dialogue – make your characters the heroes with the great lines of lessons learned by you. Worst case scenario: use no stories. Simply give a 'data dump' or a 'power-point parade', left brain linear logical content – it may have interesting facts but usually boring, leaving audiences thinking: So what! What's in it for me? Learning requires the whole-brain approach, both left and right lobes. Allow for humour, spontaneity, emotion, and creativity, besides organization and structure of content. As D. Stevenson says: "Emotion is the fast lane to the brain." He also says: "Speak from your head with your heart wide open." People are moved to action emotionally, not intellectually. Your Delivery Speak in the same tone, pace, volume- show no emotions. "Sameness is the enemy of the speaker." –P. Fripp By using characters and dialogue, you will naturally and automatically have vocal variety. "Re-live the story, not just re-tell it." –L. Heckler Talk AT them, preaching or pontificating. Talk WITH them in a natural, sincere, conversational manner Both Doug Stevenson and Craig Valentine are not only master storytellers, but also masters in teaching story telling. I invite you to check out their resources on their sites. Doug Stevenson's site sample videos of story telling in business (media gallery) great CD's and DVD's on the same topic Sign up for FREE newsletters on presentation skills and storytelling Craig Valentine's site You can invest: in your own storytelling Home-Study Course for Speakers his book called "The Nuts and Bolts o Public Speaking" - practical tools for Powerful Presentations if delivery is something you want to improve upon, check out his new DVD set called Dynamic Delivery Devices Sign up for his FREE newsletters and often FREE downloads Whether you have to make few or many changes in your journey towards brilliance, may I suggest that you make small changes but do so often. When you find you've mastered those, then move on to master others. I invite you to join us next month when we discuss the letter "C" as it relates to another speaking skill. Until then, Happy Speaking! Kathryn@kathrynmackenzie.com 416.489.6603 If you wish to unsubscribe from these newsletters, please click here. On the other hand, if you know someone who may benefit from these newsletters, please forward them. Thank you. www.kathrynmackenzie.com © 2009 All rights reserved