Thanks for the memories...

Fellow speaker,

World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix suggests if you have an old-fashioned photo album of your childhood, you look through it to come up with stories.

Storied,

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

Taking action

Fellow speaker,

Professional Speaker Lewis Roth suggests you keep these things in mind when doing activities with your audience:

• Match length of your activity to the length of your program - e.g., if you're doing a keynote, do brief activities; if you're doing a workshop, make the activities longer
• Do not start your speech with an activity - give the audience some time to get comfortable with you and your presenting style before you introduce them to an activity
• Test your activity before using it in your speech - an activity can have unexpected and possibly damaging effects on your speech: test out the activity on a sample audience to see what the audience reaction is to the activity, only if the activity tests out OK do you use it in your actual speech

Actively

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

What do I get?

Fellow speaker,

Joe Shervell of London Speaker Bureau suggests you answer three questions in your audience's mind:

• What? - What do you have for me?
• So what? - Why should I care about this?
• Now what? - OK, I care, now what do I do?

Questioning,

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

Write it out

Fellow speaker,

Joe Shervell of London Speaker Bureau suggests before you begin your speech your write out:

1. Objective of your speech - Why are you giving this speech?
2. Target audience - Why does your audience need to hear this speech? How can you make your speech relevant to everyone in your audience?
3. Speech summary - Customize your speech summary so it matches your speech objective and is relevant to your target audience

Writing,

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

Developing your methaphor

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends you develop your metaphors by:

1. Give the speech to people who know what you are talking about without using metaphors and make sure they understand it
2. Give the speech to people who don't know what you are talking and use metaphors to get your points across. Get feedback on which metaphors made sense and which they didn't understand.

Metaphorically,

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

Keep it consistent

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Fred Miller recommends you match your gestures to your message. For example, if you say, "I'm excited!" look like you're excited (e.g., wide open eyes, outspread arms, etc.).

Consistently,

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

Custom-built

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Fred Miller recommends you customize your message so it's relevant to your audience. However, in customizing it, make sure the core meaning of your message is the same.

Customizing,

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

Life is like a chess game

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends you put your metaphors together by:

1. Making the metaphor consistent - for example, if you start talking about chess, keep all the metaphors related to chess playing
2. Relating all parts of the metaphor to each other - for example, if you are talking about chess, the chess board, and the chess pieces, make a metaphor that involves each part such as "Life is like the game of chess: the chess board is your daily life and the chess pieces are the people you meet every day."

Metaphorically,

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

Meaning the metaphor

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends you keep these questions in mind to make your metaphors meaningful:

• How does my topic relate to the audience's world?
• What comparison best relates to the audience's world?

Metaphonically,

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

Shall I compare thee...?

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends identifying comparisons to use in your metaphors by asking is your comparison... :

• Relevant to your message? - your comparison should communicate the meaning of your speech's message
• Relevant to your audience? - your comparison should be something your audience immediately knows and understands without having to do extra research

Metaphonically,

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

Do you understand me?

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends identifying metaphors your audience will understand by asking these questions:

• Who is your audience? - do a deep survey of your audience so you know what their common knowledge is
• What do they know about your topic? - determine the level of your audience's understanding about your topic - if they already understand what you are saying, there is no need to use a metaphor to describe it

Metaphonically,

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

On the steps of a metaphor

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends creating your metaphors in three steps:

1. Identify your audience - target your metaphors to your audience's awareness
2. Find comparisons - compare the known (identified in Step 1) to the unknown
3. Create meaningful metaphors - make sure your metaphors make sense to your audience

About the process,

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

What's a meta for?

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Nate Dunlop recommends using metaphors in your speeches which:

• Compare the known to the unknown - your audience has to know what you are comparing things to
• Activate your audience's senses - describe your metaphor so it uses your audience's senses (i.e., in terms of touch, sound, smell, etc.)

Metaphonically,

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

The Epic Keynote - a Review

Yesterday, I reviewed several books I've read this year in my Win Anyway Blog. Two of those books, The Art of Doing and You are a Badass, had some good lessons for speakers, but were still motivational in nature enough that I included them in that batch of reviews. The only true speaking book I've completed in 2016 is Jane Atkinson's 'The Epic Keynote' - which clearly belongs here!

I like Atkinson's style in general, and her book 'The Wealthy Speaker' is a great guide for beginners. Diving in this book, I was searching for a great keynote 'formula' that would make me look at what I'm doing in a whole new way.

What I got was the same old structure I always get, in the most simplified fashion possible.

Doesn't mean it's bad, however. In fact, it's filled with anecdotes from other speakers, almost to a fault. Atkinson seems more intent on compiling wisdom than chronicling her own.

The book covers a bit of old ground from The Wealthy Speaker, helping the reader identify the type of speaker they want to be, and who they should target. Then it hits the big topics - content, humor, style. It also talks about technology, storytelling, speaker's bureaus, and other ancillary aspects of the business, including finding a coach.

I did enjoy reading 'Tips From the Masters' and 'Flashpoints' from Mark Sanborn, Joe Heckler, Patricia Fripp, Darren LaCroix, and many, many others. I also found David Leiber's storytelling formula helpful.

It's easy to read, filled with short bits of accessible wisdom. If I'd picked it up 15 years ago, I'd be really impressed with it. If you're at the beginning of your journey in speaking, this is a great book for you. Just because it fell short of my likely too high expectations doesn't invalidate its content.

2 1/2 out of 4 Stars

Activate your activities

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Monika Sugiarto recommends when doing activities with your speech you:

1. Ask the question that is on the audience's mind - think about what is most likely to bother them about the activity and break up their tension on that issue
2. Practice what the audience learns - focus the activity on practicing the techniques you mentioned in your talk
3. Observe your audience doing the activity - walk around the area where your audience is doing the activity, see where things are going well and where they need help; step into help where needed

Actively,

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

Finding the why

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Jennier Leone recommends you dig deeply into your personal story to find out the moment that defines who you are and you you are that way:

1. Take me back to the moment when... - think about the story and follow up on each moment in the story to see what happened in your life to get you to where you are now
2. Ask better questions - repeatedly ask questions that drill down into the heart of who and what you are
3. Relive the moment - relive the moment you are thinking about, feeling yourself experiencing and observing everything going on
4. Play detective - follow up on the clues to the past, avoiding the obvious answers and looking for the deeper answers hidden underneath

Looking for an answer,

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

Circle the wagons

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Robert Gordyn recommends you circle back to your main point when closing. For example, if you opened your speech "How do you handle your fears?" you can close your speech with, "Now you know how to follow the FEAR system to overcome any fear you have any time it occurs."

Circling,

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

Any questions about that?

Fellow speaker,

According to professional speaker Robert Gordyn, when you close your speech with a question to the audience:

• Use "wh..." questions (e.g., who, what, etc.)
• Keep the question short
• Tie all questions into your speech point

Questions,

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

The eyes have it - Part 4

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Billie Joe Williams suggests you can improve your eye contact during your speech by:

• Smiling while looking at your audience
• If you can not see your audience's eyes, visualize where you think your audience's eyes are and look there
• Move your head when making eye contact around the room

Eyeing,

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

Take action!

Fellow speaker,

According to professional speaker Robert Gordyn, your call to action should:

• Benefit the audience
• Legitimize and support your speech points

Acting,

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

What are talking about?

Fellow speaker,

Speaker Lydia Bailey suggests you create a dialogue with your audience by:

• Asking your audience something related to your speech
• Polling your audience on their thoughts and feelings
• Playing a video and involving your audience in a discussion about what they saw

Dialoguing,

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

Memorize to vocalize

Fellow speaker,

Speaker Lydia Bailey suggests you memorize the first three lines of your speech.

Memorizing,

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

Work out to speak out

Fellow speaker,

Speaker Lydia Bailey suggests you do exercises the day of your speech before getting up to speak. If you have a very early time for your speech, exercise the day before.

Working it,

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

The 10% solution

Fellow speaker,

According to professional speaker Robert Gordyn, 10% of your speech should be spent on your closing. For example, a 40 minute speech should have about a 3-4 minute closing

Still standing,

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

Close it up

Fellow speaker,

According to World Champion Speaker Darren LaCroix, the closing of your speech summarizes and enhances your speech message. Summarize the speech message neatly and precisely in a way that motivates and inspires your audience.

Still standing,

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

Movement with meaning

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker David Chase suggests when you move on stage, the movement should be directly related to something you are talking about in your speech. If your speech doesn't require you to move, stand still.

Still standing,

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

Room reaction

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker David Chase reminds you the characters actions and reactions have to match the scene you have set up. For example, if you describe a table in the middle of the room, the characters have to move around the table.

Reactively,

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

I object!

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker David Chase suggests when gesturing in your speech you use realistic gestures that show the objects in your speech scene:

• Size
• Shape
• Location

Objectively,

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

Unfreeze your brain

Fellow speaker,

If you've ever gotten onstage and had a moment where you forgot what you were going to say next, you're not alone! When you have a "brain freeze":

1. Stay calm
2. Pause and wait for your mind to catch up to you
3. If nothing happens, repeat the last words you said and repeat steps one and two

As long as you have done repeated speech rehearsals out loud, saying your speech over and over...you have the speech IN you, you just need to get it OUT. Wait for it and it will come back to you.

Unfreezing,

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

The three questions your audience has

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Wade Randolph suggests your audience has three questions about you as a speaker:

• Who are you?
• Why should I listen to you?
• Do I connect with you?

Questioning,

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

That's the point!

Fellow speaker,

World Champion speaker Craig Valentine suggests you do an activity that underlines your main point. For example, if you are talking about the importance of remembering, do an activity that emphasizes having a good memory.

Pointedly,

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

It's all about them

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Wade Randolph suggests you make the people your audience knows the stars of your speech. For example, if your audience's boss is Mr. Smith, talk to Mr. Smith before your speech and share something he told you that will deeply connect with your audience.

Starring,

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

Heed the call

Fellow speaker,

Professional speaker Wade Randolph suggests you have a clear call to action in your speech that challenges the audience to take a definite action in their life (e.g., "Get rid of the time wasters in your life").

Calling,

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