Creating content - Part 2

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you these tips for creating content for your speech:

• Clearly state your point at the end of your speech
• Be vulnerable and imperfect
• Connect your speech point to your audience

Contented,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Creating content - Part 1

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you these tips for creating content for your speech:

• Find a topic that you deeply care about
• Relive your story as you speak
• Take out everything in your speech not directly related to your point

Contented,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

My mindset to your mindset...

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you these tips for getting in the right mindset for your speech:

• Focus on the audience when you speak
• Create a conversation with your audience
• Treat your audience as your equal

Minding,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Easy does it!

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you can slow down the rate of your speech by:

• Filling your lungs completely after every few sentences
• Pause for one beat at commas and for two at periods
• Speak each word very clearly (while keeping a natural sounding voice)

Slowly,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 6

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech by:

• Having a backup outfit in case your planned outfit gets ruined
• Listen to your audience before your speech (ask questions relevant and listen to the audience responses) - rest your voice as much as possibly by doing more listening than asking
• Use large, dominant body language right before going onstage

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 5

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech by:

• Listening to music
• Visualizing a successful speech
• Having friends and family only contact you in case of an emergency

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 4

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech by using:

• Breathing exercises
• Yoga
• Meditation

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 3

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech by:

• Getting a good night's sleep the night before
• Drinking decaffeinated
• Eating lightly

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 2

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech by learning about your audience's:

• Expected size
• Cultural background
• Interests

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Take it easy - Part 1

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using these methods to relax and be more prepared before your speech:

• If your speech is within easy traveling distance, travel to your speaking location before the date of your speech to get an idea of how long it takes to get there
• Look at the setup of the room to become familiar with any room challenges
• Test the technology and bring a backup method of presenting in case the technology fails (e.g., if doing a slide presentation, print out your slides and bring them so in case the computer doesn't work, you can give key slides to the audience)

Preparing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Get my piece of the pie - Part 2

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using pie charts to show the relative importance of the items you are talking about and to have:

• Items ordered clockwise by size
• Item names and values labeled on the chart 
• In Others slice include percentages of the other categories 
• Different shades of a neutral color for all but one slice: bold shade the slice of item you want emphasize

Slicing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Get my piece of the pie - Part 1

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests using pie charts to show the relative importance of the items you are talking about and to have:

• Maximum of 5 pie slices per chart
• Others slice with a footnote that gives the other items
• In Others slice include percentages of the other items 

Slicing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Chronological column charts

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests when using chronological categories use column charts with vertical columns and labels.

Columnar,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Making a legend

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests when using a legend on your column chart:

• Clustered column: legend items side by side in the order they appear in the chart
• Stacked column: legend items stacked on top of each other in the order they appear in the chart

Bulleted,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

The Adventure of the Clustered Column

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests these tips when using column charts use a clustered column chart with the values in order of amount: lowest value on the left and highest value on the right. The chart values should visibly grow as you look from left to right on the column chart.

Bulleted,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Bullets over the boardroom - Part 2

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests these tips when using bullet points in your presentation:

• Keep bullets to a single line
• Do not use images behind the bullets
• Make sure the bullets are directly relevant to the slide title 

Bulleted,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Bullets over the boardroom - Part 1

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests these tips when using bullet points in your presentation:

• Begin each bullet with an action (e.g., "Take Action")
• Do not use sub-bullets
• Use a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 bullets

Bulleted,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

How to be funny

Fellow speaker,

Professional Comedian Judy Carter suggests following these steps to create humor in your speech:

1. Use your hands after your laugh line - after you give your laugh line, stick your hands out towards your audience, inviting them to laugh
2. Make the setup to the laugh line very serious - say something serious and then add something contrasting that is unexpected
3. Shock the audience by saying something that is an unspoken, taboo issue (does not have to be a swear word)
4. Act out what you are saying 
5. Joke about something obvious in your appearance

Richer,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

How now brown cow?

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Sandra Zimmer suggests following these steps to create a rich, resonant voice:

1. Drop your jaw and stretch your face muscles forward creating a "fish face"
2. Make long "HO" sounds (rhymes with "dough")
3. Feel the vibrations buzzing on the roof of your mouth and filling the front of your facial bones
4. Get used to the feeling of your mouth and face filled with vibration
5. Speak a sentence that has lots of long “O” sounds (e.g., “Those old boats don’t float.” Or “Hold open those doors.”) and feel the strong vibratory sensation

Richer,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Color and you

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests all color in a presentation slide has a meaning:

• Red - Negative
• Green - Positive
• Blue and/or Grey - Neutral
• Orange - Attention getting

Structuring,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Read all about it!

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests when creating your slide presentation you create simple slides:

1. Create a headline for the slide content
2. Use easy-to-read text fonts
3. Make it readable from the back of the room
4. Take out everything not directly related to the headline
5. Create contrast on the slide that highlights the headline's point (e.g., if the slide is about a sudden decrease in profits, make the decreased portion a contrasting color from the rest of the slide) 
6. Give a source for all data used

Structuring,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Presentation composition

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests when creating your slide presentation you spend the first few slides on giving the background then answer the questions in your audience's mind:

• How?
• Why?
• So what?

Structuring,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

To present or not to present

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests there are times for you to use presentation software in your speech and times for you not to use presentation software, depending on the purpose of your speech:

• Inspire - no presentation software
• Document firsthand images - use the actual images (not internet-chosen substitutes) and presentation software
• Inform or persuade - use presentation software as necessary to get your points across (e.g., if you want to inform your audience about your data, use some form of a graph)

About presenting,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

One prop, many meanings

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you can use one prop to have multiple meanings in your speech. For example, World Champion Speaker Randy Harvey gave a speech where a chair became over the course of a speech, a car, another car, a rock, a couch, and his mom.

Giving props,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Use the AVP!

Fellow speaker,

Professional Comedian Robert Kleiner suggests you focus on AVP in your speeches:

• Authentic
• Vulnerable
• Passionate

AVPing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

It's all in how you say it

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you speak in different volumes and rates to create different effects:

• Emotion - soft and slow
• Authority - loud and slow
• Passion - loud and fast
• Suspense - soft and fast

Effectively,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Closing time

Fellow speaker,

World Champion Speaker Craig Valentine suggests a way to close your speeches:

1. Signal the close
2. Call back to your main points
3. Questions & Answers (optional and if you do it, limit the time for it)
4. Lasting anchor (anchors your points in the audience's mind - often a story)

Closing,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Use these fun simple title tips now!

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you make your titles so they show:

• Urgency (for example, "Now")
• Ease (for example, "Simple")
• Entertainment (for example, "Fun")

Titling,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com

Surprising quote

Fellow speaker,

Speech coach Jeremy Donovan suggests you make your speech quotes interesting by surprising your audience. For example, you could say, "People remember best what they hear first and what they hear...most." Most of your audience would expect you to say "last". By saying "most" you surprise them and get them to pay attention.

Surprisingly,

Tim Wilson
Professional Speech Coach
Free speaking tips at: http://speakingquicktips.blogspot.com