FRANCISCO SARAIVA

Lisa Braithwaite is a public speaking and presentation skills coach whose love for the subject is well embodied in her blog “Speak Schmeak”.It’s about Lisa’s thoughts on public speakers and speaking. We had the opportunity to interview Lisa and we would like to share with you Lisa’s thoughts on the following.

Lisa is a big fan of Tim Ferris’ 4HWW. 4HWW would mean the 4-Hour Work Week. We asked her opinion on what she thinks is the best way a professional speaker can incorporate Tim’s ideas on his lifestyle. What kind of outsourcing can he benefit most?

“The easiest 4HWW concept that someone can incorporate immediately is cutting down on checking e-mail. I went from a constant e-mail-checking habit to only checking twice a day. I’m now ten times more productive with a major distraction removed, and can stick to set times for writing in my blog and working on other projects. I’m no longer a slave to my e-mail, reading every message the moment it arrives, and then responding — taking my concentration away from other tasks. I’ve added a note to my signature that lets people know my e-mail schedule, so if they need to reach me urgently, they can call instead.

Each person has her own comfort level with administrative tasks. Depending on what you feel comfortable delegating, a speaker could use a virtual assistant for marketing and PR projects, online article submissions, booking speaking engagements, website updates, PowerPoint design, transcribing speeches, putting together a newsletter, product sales, database management, handling/filtering e-mails, and more! A good virtual assistant is only limited by your imagination.”

A speechwriter is a big help for a majority of people. “Do you think working with a speechwriter is a good idea?”

“I would not work with a speechwriter, but I can’t say if it’s a good idea for others. In working with copywriters in the past, for website content, I’ve found that it’s difficult for another person to write in my voice. It’s good to have basic content to work with, but I end up changing the content anyway to make it fit my style and personality. And that’s just some text on my website, which doesn’t have to reflect my personality quite as much as a speech.

But I’m very comfortable with writing, and transferring writing to speech, whereas some people write in an overly formal way which comes out stilted when spoken. I would be more likely to outsource administrative tasks than tasks that directly reflect my personality.

Perhaps a speechwriting coach might be more beneficial than a speechwriter, so a speaker can learn how to write a proper speech.”

Even the most advanced speaker has challenges and can improve in some area. “What is the public speaking challenge you are working at right now?”

“One of my challenges is that once I drop one annoying habit, I pick up a new one. Currently, I’m finding myself asking “right?” at the end of sentences, as though I’m looking for agreement or approval. It’s much better than it was when I first discovered it six months ago (by videotaping myself!), but I’m aware that I’m still doing it. Once I eradicate that bad habit, I’m sure another will take its place.”

Lastly, we ask her if she could choose anyone in the world to be her mentor and to help her in taking public speaking skills to the next level, who would that be?

“I don’t think one mentor would suffice in helping me taking my speaking to the next level! I’m inspired by speakers and performers everywhere I go.

I love watching how comedians handle difficult audiences or jokes that don’t work. Some speakers have lovely resonant voices, others have expressive body language and movement. I’ve attended performances by magicians and singers where I was impressed by their natural and authentic connection with the audience. In fact, professional speakers are sometimes the most disappointing performers, due to overly polished and stagey performances.

I realize that, technically, none of the speakers and performers mentioned above are mentors, but rather inspirations, and I’m lucky to be inspired by so many people!”

Please visit Lisa at www.coachlisab.com

At the 1997 Mac World event in Boston, Steve Jobs was invited to present the Apple annual report to its audience.

The 38-minute video opened with a screen preview of the Apple products, sample press releases and the welcome address of Colin Crawford, Mac Publication’s President & CEO . While his speech was read, Mr. Crowford seemed uneasy and his discourse entailed a lot of word crutches, his saving grace came with the animated image of the Apple logo (3:20-3:23) and the video introduction of the next speaker whom he referred to as “the person who needs no further introduction”. True enough; the appearance of Steve Jobs in Macworld’s front cover earned a resounding accolade from the audience until he personally appeared on stage.

Steve Jobs’ presentation started with Apple’s status report. His expression was very relaxed and has a continuous flow of thought. He has full control of the wide screen which featured the topics the he will discuss. His speech established a business plan for Apple starting with the problems facing the company, from the management down to the customer service, its “core assets”, improving software and hardware features and other issues. The manner in which Steve introduced each member of the board was well put together thereby establishing the integrity of each individual. He featured insights from the board members as resource persons, presented new partners, injected humor in each topic, included satellite feeds from Microsoft main man, Bill Gates, thus sustaining the audience interest on each topic. His closing remarks left insights to the audience with a discreet marketing campaign for Apple which is very striking and inviting.

Jobs holding a MacBook Air at Macworld Conference & Expo 2008

Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

In general, this video should be seen by people engaged in public speaking or are into speech-making. It is a very good example of communication because Steve Jobs presented it in a very light, casual, information packed and systematic manner. He was able to discuss and cover all the issues the audience needs to know about Apple. Indeed, this should be included in the top 10 speeches/presentations of Steve Jobs and emulated by all those who engage themselves in public speaking.

Curved Vision’s words in their website have a life of their own that would really move you to take action. It would be impossible not to explore. To simply describe the site as unique is an understatement. And it is with such honor that we were given the chance for a short interview with the man behind Curved Vision, Dr. Simon Raybould.

Curved Vision is a communications firm specializing in presentation skills training, effective public speaking and voice coaching in Newcastle, United Kingdom.

We asked Simon about his post, “Don’t Practice” where he talked about rehearsing the speech before delivering it in front of a live audience.

“Don’t you feel that some people “rehearse” so much that when they deliver they are just acting and the communication style is not in congruence with their own personality?”

“Oh yes! That’s always a risk - mind you, in my experience it’s much more likely that people don’t practise enough than they over-practise. However, part of the skill of rehearsing is knowing when to stop practicing, of knowing when to let things go so that there’s a little live magic

I work a lot with dancers and I watch them working in studios, hour after hour after hour and then they “go live” and perform something fresh, dancing something that takes your breath away no matter how many times you see it. I asked one once how they did it, how they stayed fresh, “It’s easy”, he said. “Every night when we walk out onto the stage we’re not just ‘performing’, we are ‘re-creating’ “.

Simon stressed that presentations should be like that. Preparing is about gaining the technical competence to mean that the pressure is on, and the audience is there in front of you, you’re not going to miss your steps - you can concentrate on re-creating afresh.

Clients consult a professional for a reason so we asked Simon the main challenges in public speaking that the majority of his clients have in common.

“Fear is the most common thing that our clients come to us complaining about. It’s not the biggest problem most of them face in reality, though. Most people’s main problem is that they don’t actually know what the presentation is for, what it’s about and what it’s supposed to achieve. Of course they’re afraid because they don’t know how to succeed… because they don’t know what success will look like. They do know, however, what failure will look like!”

Here we find ourselves nodding in affirmation, right? Simon continued, “The other main problem is that people simply try and say too much. They don’t put themselves in their audience’s shoes and say, “What do I need to say?”. Instead, they stay firmly planted in their own shoes and say, “What do I know?” The two things are very, very different. If you don’t know what your audience needs to know, you simply tell them everything they might need to know - and thus they actually get nothing.”

“If it looks like you are working hard when you ‘perform’ then you have not been working hard enough when you prepare”. In conclusion we asked his opinion on how important is being “effortless” in business presentations.

“It’s very important. You see, for me a presentation is all about getting your message over to the audience in the best way for them. Perhaps being ‘effortless’ is over-stating the case a bit, but generally speaking, I’d try and get rid of anything that can get between the message and the audience. Anything less than ‘effortless’ presenting, in the sense of the mechanics of delivering the presentation, draws attention to the presenter and thus away from his or her message. In one sense, presenters should be invisible!

On the other hand it’s easy to take this too far - sometimes all you need to do is to be ‘good enough’ not to get in the way of your message!”

Dr. Simon Raybould is the author of “Little Big Voice Book, Voice Coaching Book for Ordinary People”. He also has an e-book,”… like a brick wrapped in velvet…” This is about making business presentations. A visit in his website will surely be worth your time, www.curved-vision.co.uk

“Don’t believe me? Watch any good stand-up comedian. See how assured they are in their delivery and yet how fresh their material appears!”

One of the most disturbing events of 1970 happened on May 4. It was the day of the Kent State Massacre. A shooting rampage was staged by the National Guardsmen of Ohio, leading to the death of four Kent State University students. The grueling act as initiated by then US President Richard Nixon was a response to the students’ protest against the expansion of the Vietnam War to Cambodia. This gave birth to the composition of the protest song “Ohio” penned by Neil Young and released shortly after the gruesome incident by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young.

Because of the song’s profound effect on the students and the Americans in general, it eventually became their anti Vietnam-war protest anthem. As such, numerous videos have been uploaded on the internet to demonstrate the severity of the situation at that time and how “Ohio” moved and inspired the people.

This moving video presents the news headline in New York Times and The Journal that fateful day in May 1970. Followed by series of photos of the four innocent victims, troops in heavy battle gear at gunfire position interspersed with images of people scampering for a place to hide and grieving for the lifeless bodies of the students (00:56-1:06), protesters and again the death squad (1:32-1:45).

The “OHIO” bi-line

“Gotta get down to it,

Soldiers are gunning us down,

Should have been done long ago”

up and under the images of the guardsmen. While the next few lines of the song goes

“What if you knew her and

Found her dead on the ground

How can you run when you know”

Up and under the images of grieving people over the victims (1:51-1:59)

Right after the chorus in the interlude portion of the song, are images of protesters followed by “Tin soldiers and Nixon’s coming:

We’re finally on our own” (2:19-2:24)

showing the troops and Nixon referring to the map of Cambodia. The song ends with the photos of the four student victims of the tragedy that befell America.

This footage presents to the public how a song can represent itself as an instrument to awaken socio-political awareness, which are also used as sources for public address. As such political rallies may be enlivened by songs and performances depicting current events and political concerns especially when it is based on true-to life experiences coupled by images of human atrocities.

Photo Source: http://www.alancanfora.com