How to Impress Others When You Speak

 People expect more of a speaker that just words. Here's how to stand out.

1) Be the message. You must exemplify the principles, values, and ideas that you talk about in order to have credibility in urging others to adopt them.

2) Think like the audience.  Present your ideas from the viewpoint of how they will find them most useful. Realize that things that work for you, may depend upon your situation. Thus, customize new techniques to the world that your audience lives in.

3) Be original. Create your own cartoons and humor.  Tell your own stories.  Use your own activities. Stealing from others is unethical, illegal, and just plain wrong. You can be sued by the author (or cartoonist) for using copyrighted materials, such as cartoons from the newspaper.  And you could find that your presentation follows one with the original versions of material that you planned to use.

4) Create a safe environment.  People learn best when they feel safe to experiment and try new ideas. Treat everyone with respect.  Never damage anyone in the audience, even if this person seems to be disrupting your presentation.

5) Be ethical. Cite references for published information. Obtain a license and pay royalties if you must use copyrighted materials. Realize that other speakers (authors, cartoonists, humorists, entertainers, etc.) depend upon their materials for their livelihood.

6) Let people discover and experience new ideas.  Adults learn by applying what they are being taught. It makes learning more permanent and enjoyable.

7) Be authentic. That is, be yourself, without pretense, without gimmicks, and without theatrics. People can recognize a fake easily.  And when they find one, they leave.

8) Leave the audience impressed with themselves.  Create opportunities for people to be funny, clever, or correct.  Feed the audience set up lines that lead them into being the stars in your program.  Ask question that let them show off what they know. This facilitates adult learning by making people feel special, which opens their minds to new ideas.

9) Keep it simple. People benefit most from techniques that they can use now.

10) Speak to them about them.  Everyone finds their own story the most interesting. If you tell your story, then take them with you by including them in your story. Help them experience what you felt, discover as you learned, and celebrate as if they had won.

To speak with charisma and persuasion, visit: http://plr.coreedgeprivatelabelrights.com

How to Unleash All Your Leadership Potential

There is a steady flow of information in the form of books, articles, white papers, and training all in the context of "what is leadership" or "how to develop a leader?"  In this issue, I will avoid those two questions and write about two others that I believe might be on the minds of a lot you readers and they are:

Why does better leadership make a difference? and

How does better leadership achieve those differences?

Leadership is a highly unique form of human behavior that requires the integration of character, knowledge, and experience.  So what can you do if you step up and unleash your leadership potential? Change the world.

Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a great understanding of self. Discover your personality traits and how they relate to leadership. When we know ourselves, we can maximize our positive traits, and become aware of our weaker areas, which help us to achieve our leadership potential.  Once you understand and know yourself, next you must hone your communication skills. These are not limited to your public speaking skills either. This includes your writing style and your body language.  Your ability to communicate effectively enhances your ability to improve interpersonal relationships.  Another important skill is to learn how to learn.  Examine different teaching methods and learning styles to identify how you and those you may lead learn best.  This skill will greatly enhance your ability to make decisions and give clear instructions.  Charismatic leaders are unusually aware of their strengths and weaknesses and create great missions around building on the former and transforming the latter.

An Exceptional Leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the skills and abilities of team members and leads them toward greater efficiency and effectiveness.

...And so leader is not a title and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.

This is what Dr. Ken Blanchard, in his book "The Heart of a Leader" had to say about good leaders; "If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek."

For more information for improving your leadership skills, visit: Charisma

Body Language at Work (Reading people's unspoken words when your livelihood depends on it)

 You can always use body language as a key to success in your work. You could give a good impression, convince clients, and please your boss.  In communication, only 7% are the words and rest of the 93% is accounted for the nonverbal cues, which includes the aspects of speech and body language. 

Appropriate Body Language During an Interview, Meeting Or Presentation

A job interview is usually nerve-wracking. But in order not to be included in the list of rejected applicants, you have to impress your interviewer by being confident. Here are the gestures and body movements you must observe during a job interview.

A firm handshake indicates confidence.  Relax on the chair provided for you, but do not slouch. Slouching reflects laziness. Keep your heap up, and lean slightly forward. Place your hands on your lap, and never in your pocket. The hands-in-pocket gesture signifies nervousness, boredom, and dishonesty. As much as possible, do not cross your legs. But if crossing your legs would help calm your nerves, you may do so but point your body towards the direction of the interviewer. During the conversation, make sure you maintain eye contact to show your interest and eagerness to listen.

Art of Animation

Make use of your hands to punctuate or emphasize what you are saying. You will appear stiff if your hands will stay on your lap during the entire period of the interview. Hand gestures also signifies that you are honest and indeed knowledgeable of what you are talking about. You can do this while sitting or standing. During a presentation, move around, but walk slowly. The greatest presenters are those who can speak confidently with the right timing of body movements and gestures.

Gestures And Movements To Avoid

The wrong gestures, done consciously or unconsciously, could give the wrong impression to your boss, co-workers, and clients. These may be the reason of you getting fired. Therefore, you must avoid the following acts of body language. 

Avoid pointing a finger at somebody, especially your boss.  Even when you are angry or trying to emphasize a detail, it is regarded as a rude gesture. In meetings, refrain from showing signs of boredom and lack of interest. These signs include arms crossed over the chest, eyes on objects other than the person talking or the presentation itself, yawning, signing, drumming the fingers on the table, or tapping your foot.

Signs That You Are Not Doing a Good Job

If you are the presenter in a meeting or an applicant in a job interview, you must observe the body language of your audience as well. Reading their actions and movements could aid you to be aware of their reactions and if you are doing well.

You would detect if the other party is getting bored if their focus of attention is not on you. This is evident by the absence of eye contact. Observe their hands as well. Even if their eyes are on you, but if their hands are busy, it may mean they are thinking of something else. See if their fingers are playing with their pen or drumming on the surface of the table. Boredom is also indicated when the person in front of you begin to slouch back into their chair.

Signs of opposition to your ideas and opinions are also determined when the other party crosses their arms, wrinkle their forehead, and tilt their head. 

However, the signs above sometimes do not reflect how someone really feels. What is important is that you know how to prepare yourself in critical times at the workplace.

For information on how to speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma

Relax Your Way to Public Speaking to Increase Your Earning Potential

Believe it or not, fear of death is actually second to the one greatest fear that the majority of humanity seems tensely afraid of: fear of speaking in public. 

If fear is all that you are thinking, then forget about that presentation that could earn your company and you the necessary sales. Presentation and public speaking is one of the most efficient as well as effective manner in making your products and services known. Why deny your product or service the chance to be heard? If you are still afraid, try your very best to focus on the various positive after effects of making that presentation.  Create in your mind the numerous clients, customers and contact persons you might not get to see or be involved with if you let that unnecessary and irrelevant anxiety take hold of you. Your presentation may only take thirty minutes but the long term effects of your pitch or presentation might go a long way.

If the fear is still gripping you, try to do the following exercises to help your body relax and warm up to whatever it is you plan to do in your presentation. Turn that negative energy into a positive one and see who benefits best from it. 

Warm up your body.  Are you wearing high heeled shoes now? If you are, please take them off now. Then go and stand up. Try to stand on only one leg. Then shake the leg that is off the floor. Switch legs and do the same thing again. What you are doing is taking the negative energy of anxiety towards the floor and out of your body. Though this may appear and sound so out of this world, it actually works.  For your information, actors use this as a warm-up exercise prior to attacking any scene. 

Hold out your hands, shake them, fast. Put your hands over your head and bring them to your sides. Repeat the same process. Doing this continually will take the tension off your hands and arms so any movements you make with them during your presentation will appear natural.

Ease the tension present in the muscles of your face.  In order to do this what you could do is chew in a manner that is exaggerated. 

These exercises are done for the purpose of warming any part of your body that is edgy, uptight or taut from being too nervous thinking about how you will do in your presentation. Do not think too much though as it only adds unnecessary stress. Relax and your audience will relax along with you.

For more information to speak with charisma and persuasion for higher earnings, visit: http://plr.coreedgeprivatelabelrights.com and http://persuasivespeech.coreedgecharisma.com/

Blueprint for Leadership - How to Be a Better Leader

If you were to build a house, you would begin with a blueprint. This blueprint proves useful because it contains more than directions on how to build a house.  It also describes the finished house. So, what does this have to do with leadership?

Last month I asked an audience of leaders to tell me the characteristics of an ideal leader. Their answers were (in the order collected):

A good listener, enthusiasm, passion, shows appreciation, a visionary, role model, trusting, integrity, organized, knowledgeable, credibility, persuasive, charisma, team building, clarity of purpose, problem solver, attitude of service, leads by example, patience, willing to act without complete knowledge, understands followers, consistent, empowers other people, and adapts to change.

I'll add that this is essentially the same list that I receive from other audiences when I ask this question. From this come some useful insights.

1) Notice what the list contains. All of these characteristics relate to the human side of leadership. That's interesting because I often hear people minimize this side of leadership with terms like "soft" or "touchy feely." Actually, applying these characteristics requires more strength than not.

2) Notice what the list excludes. Absent from this list (and all lists from other programs) are characteristics such as stern, mean, serious, short tempered, vindictive, tough, angry, harsh, punitive, controlling, violent, or ruthless. And that's interesting because many popular representations of leadership emphasize at least one of these "hard" characteristics. In fact, these characteristics are the refuge of those who lack the strength (or the skills) to apply the human side of leadership.

3) How about you? How would you rate yourself as a leader compared to the list of positive characteristics? If you were to survey the people who report to you, how would they describe your leadership? Would they list characteristics from the "soft" list or from the "hard" list? Could you become more effective by improving upon any of the "soft" characteristics? And how about the other leaders in your organization? Do they truly maximize human potential?

People want leaders who treat them with genuine compassion, courtesy, and respect. They want leaders who help them become more successful. They want leaders who inspire them with a vision for a better world and show them how to get there.

For more information on a special brand of leadership, visit: Charisma

Adding Charisma to Your Presentations by Developing a Dynamic Story

Story telling is a very effective way to get your point across. Here are some tips to help you develop a dynamic powerful story to become more charismatic.

•Decide on the purpose for the story. What is the main point you want to make? Slant the telling of the story so that that point is clear.

•Create the backdrop. Describe the scene so that the audience can picture it in their minds. What is the time, location, weather? What is going on emotionally, physically, or spiritually?

•Introduce the main characters. Help your audience to picture the important characters through detailed descriptions. Become them; describe their relationships, quirks and personality. Add character voices or mannerisms to make them different from your own.

•Begin the Journey. What is the task, the goal, and the journey to take? What are the challenges that need to be faced?

•Meet the obstacle. To avoid boredom something must happen to get in your way and make it interesting. This could be a person, a self limiting belief, or a challenge to overcome. Exaggeration will add humor.

•Overcome the obstacles. What had to be done to overcome the obstacle? What inner resources did you have to summon? Did someone help you? A hero? Be specific. Break your solution down into a few steps in sequence. This is where the teaching happens.

•Resolve the story. How did everything turn out? Tie up the loose ends-what happened to the other people? To your hero?

•Make the point. A story needs one clear point to have more points confuses the issue. Write out and memorize the point, work on the words to make it simple and easy to remember. Find “the phrase that pays”.

•Ask the question. Make your story personal to the audience. “Has that ever happened to you?” Turn the main point into a question. Push their buttons!

•Practice, practice, practice. Tell your stories to anyone who is willing to listen. Get feedback and make adjustments accordingly. Remember people are emotionally driven and storytelling helps you draw them in becoming more magnetic.

For more tips for speaking with charisma and persuasion, visit: http://persuasivespeech.coreedgecharisma.com

6 Steps to Becoming a Powerful Public Speaker

Public speaking ranks right up there in terms of the things we are afraid to do. Whether it’s the fear of being watched closely by others, or the insecurity and self-conscious feeling of slipping up during the presentation, these six tips will help you give a polished, professional speech that you (and your audience) can be proud of!

1. Know your audience. This is the single best piece of advice for delivering a presentation. What are their interests? Their backgrounds? Why are they coming to hear you speak? What ideas do you have to share with them? Approaching your speech as more of a “me-to-you” discussion rather than a full-blown broadcast makes it less stressful.

2. What do you want your audience to do as a result of your speech? What’s really at the heart of your presentation? By concentrating on the “end result” rather than slogging through the beginning, you create a powerful punch that drives home your message instead of rambling on.

3. Share a story. In public speaking circles, this is called a “hook” – something that gets your audience’s attention and makes them sit up and listen. Start off by asking questions or sharing an experience you had. People like to be active, rather than passive listeners. By giving them something that they can identify with, you’ll find that these people are just like you; that makes giving a presentation a whole lot easier. Be sure your story has a beginning, a point, and an ending. There’s nothing quite as bad as telling a story to an engaged audience and then forgetting why you told it!

4. If you’re selling a product, focus on the benefits instead of the features. People would much rather hear WHAT a product can do for them than HOW it does it. Narrow down your product’s features until you get to the core of how it solves a problem. If you need help with figuring out the difference between a feature and a benefit, ask yourself “So what?” For example, if you’re selling a vacuum cleaner that has a hypoallergenic filter, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask yourself “so what?” The answer would be something like, “It picks up dust, mold and pet dander”. Again, “so what?” Answer, “You’ll feel relief from runny nose and sneezing plus itchy, water eyes.” Now THAT’s a benefit!

5. PowerPoint presentations are great but they can be overwhelming – or downright boring. Instead, give your audience something to DO by providing them with fill-in-the-blank flip charts or “team activities”. These help reinforce and emphasize your message in ways that a computer presentation simply cannot.


6. Make sure your speech ends in a way that reiterates the beginning. Speakers can get carried away with the details and leave their audiences asking, “What was the point of all that?” People naturally digest information in “chunks”, so focus on the big picture rather than all the pieces. If the details are just as important, save it for an after-speech handout that the audience can take with them and read over at their leisure.

If you keep these six tips in mind, you’ll not only have an easier time overcoming your fear of public speaking, but you’ll have a very appreciative audience who will in turn be more receptive and eager to try your product or service.

To speak more persuasively, visit: Charisma