World Class Speaking

The Ultimate Guide to Presenting, Marketing and Profiting Like a Champion

Craig Valentine, Mitch Meyerson

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781600379192
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Meetings & Presentations
• Index: Business

Two experts show you how to boost your speaking and marketing skills and make money by giving riveting presentations. When World Class Speaker meets World Class Guerrilla Marketer, your profits explode! How would you like to become a World Class Speaker whom others travel far and wide to see? How would you like to turn your presentations into profit-making machines that bring in 6 figures or more each year? How would you like to speak to audiences without having to leave home? World Class Speaking is the system for you! In this book, you will learn how to build stellar presentations that keep your audiences on the edge of their seats, turn your presentations into dozens of profitable income streams, master leading-edge technologies & speak to 1, 000 people without even leaving home, and automate your business & make passive recurring income while you sleep. World Class Speaking is the one-stop-shop for building breakthrough presentations & turning them into a solid system of ongoing income.

PART I

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How to Master the Art of Public Speaking

Chapter 1

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DOS AND DON’TS OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC SPEAKING

AVOID MAKING THESE SEVENTEEN COSTLY MISTAKES IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

Let’s begin our journey by understanding the difference between wannabe speakers and world-class speakers when it comes to the art of public speaking. Wannabe speakers generally make the following seventeen mistakes. World-class speakers avoid these mistakes and reap the rewards for doing so. Here are the seventeen common mistakes speakers make:

1. They don’t master the essence of public speaking. The essence of public speaking is to tell a story and sell a point. Wannabe speakers don’t master this. If you master the art of storytelling, you will be 80 percent across the bridge to mastering the art of public speaking. Most presentations are way too loose. This means the audience cannot remember the points, because the points are not tied to anything. When you tie them to stories, your speech becomes tight and you make your audience “TALL” (Think, Act, Laugh, and Learn).

2. They don’t sell! Every speech is a sales presentation. Even eulogies sell us on the qualities of the person who just left us. Whether you are selling an idea, a product, a service, or a person’s life story, when you are in speaking you are in sales. Mastering the art of selling will bring wealth to you quicker than any other way. Now you may say, “But Valentine, I just give informational speeches. I don’t sell.” Well, then, let me ask you this: do you want people to listen to your presentation? Then you need to sell them on why they should listen in the first place. Again, every speech is a sales presentation. Don’t avoid it; embrace it. Master it.

3. They build themselves up. If you build yourself up, you let your audience down. Too many speakers, in the name of establishing credibility, begin building themselves up by talking about all the things they’ve accomplished and all the successes they have had. Guess what your audience thinks about this? First, they probably think you’re egotistical and second they think you’re special. The absolute worst thing you can have audience members think about you is that you are “special.” Later you will grasp an understanding of why this is so detrimental and what you can do to be light-years ahead of most presenters.

4. They have no next clear step. Most speeches end with applause and apathy. The speaker is the cause for both. Before you even put your speech together, you should ask yourself, “What do I want my audience to think, feel, or do after experiencing my message?” If your audience does not know exactly what they should think, feel, or do afterwards, you have failed as a speaker. Later, you will pick up tools to not only have them know what to think, feel, or do, but to be so excited that they can’t wait to act on it.

5. They give loose messages. Loose means the messages are not tied to any anchors and therefore the audience has no way to remember it. Your message becomes fleeting and everyone has wasted their time. Later, you will see how to use anchors for every point you make, so that your speech becomes unforgettable and your impact becomes a magnet for more opportunities, customers, and profits. You will pick up my special PARTS formula for making your whole speech stick.

6. They present with words, words, and more words. Audiences remember what they see far more than what you say. Profitable speakers speak in images, not in words. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well, later you will discover a tool that is “worth a thousand pictures.” These tools and others will tighten your speech and make it as memorable as your last trip to the beach.

7. They start with a whimper. The best speakers understand that the first thirty seconds will make or break your entire speech. This is all the time it takes for the audience to decide whether they should mentally check in or check out of your presentation. Do not start with a whimper. Start with a bang. Later, you will see examples of how too many speakers begin their speeches, and then you will pick up tools to start with the kind of bang that makes your audiences say, “I’m so glad I’m here, and I can’t wait to see the rest of this!”

8. They force-fit. Force-fitting means they try to get too much information into too little time. There is an old speaker’s proverb that states, “If you squeeze your information in, you squeeze your audience out.” There is no time to engage, to play, and to connect with your audience. Later you will discover a rule-of-thumb formula you can use to include just enough information but not too much. When you do this correctly, you will be able to watch your audience walk away with satisfied smiles on their faces. It will be as though they’ve just finished a great meal.

9. They don’t build their speech on benefits. Wannabe speakers, if they use benefits at all, sprinkle them on at the end of each point—or worse, at the end of each presentation. They think this will motivate people to act. That won’t get it. The structure of the presentation has to actually be built on benefits, and very few speakers do this. Once you do, you will keep your audiences on the edges of their seats, and when they get up, they’ll take your next step. Later, you will see just how you can build a benefits-laden speech from the ground up. This is World Class Speaking at its best.

10. They have an “I” or “we” focus. The most important word in speaking is “you.” It needs to be used with an 80:20 ratio with the words “I” and “we.” Whether setting up your structure, doing check-ins and questions with your audience, or driving home your points, you need to use “you” and “your” as often as possible. Later, you will uncover the most effective ways to do this. When you do, you’ll find it almost effortless to keep them leaning on your every word.

11. Their delivery is not truly dynamic. If you get mail delivered to your house and it’s destroyed by the rain, chances are that whatever that mail contains will be affected. That’s because content is directly tied to delivery, and being ineffective with one leads to a destroyed speech. What you say is not enough to make an impact. How you say it is critical. It’s not about bouncing off the walls. It’s not about being dynamic the entire time. It’s not about simply changing your stress, rate, pitch, and volume. It’s not about the powerful pause. What is it about? You will find out in chapter four, which is on delivery.

12. They lip-synch. If you use PowerPoint slides to say the same thing visually that you say verbally, you are lip-synching your presentation; you are the Milli Vanilli of public speaking. Abuse of slides has destroyed more presentations than any other device in history. Speakers who use slides improperly compete with themselves, and their audience members lose. The audience must choose among watching the screen, reading their handouts, and watching you. Do you know what they usually decide to do? They mentally check out of your presentation and just leave the shell of the body there for you to bore to death. Later, you will get the tools you can use to make slides work for you rather than weaken you.

13. They use Ditch-digging introductions. Most speakers understand that you should always give a written introduction to the person introducing you. However, they don’t understand what makes a good introduction. Instead, their introductions are just a tweaking of their bio. This is horrible when it comes to speaking and the audience already starts thinking, “Enough already. Okay, so he has done this and that. What’s in it for me to be here?” Later, you will learn a foolproof method for writing an introduction that makes your audience members say, “Great! I’m in the right place.”

14. They don’t get their audiences involved. Involvement breathes life into a speech, but wannabe speakers leave audiences gasping for air, because they don’t get them involved. If they do get them involved, they don’t do it early enough. Waiting until the end of your presentation to ask, “Are there any questions?” does not suffice as good audience involvement. There are so many ways to get and keep them involved, it ought to be a crime not to. Later, you will pick up tools to keep them involved, engrossed, and engaged throughout your entire presentation and beyond. You will see eyes wide open rather than glazed over. Remember that audiences like to be heard too. Get them involved, and do it early.

15. They forget about the floor. They don’t own the stage. Wannabe speakers take the stage, but World-Class Speakers own it. You have the ability to add clarity, great emotion, and impact to your speech just by using the stage in masterful, purposeful ways. Later, you will discover how to use this speaking platform to spark an unbreakable connection between you and your audience members.

16. They don’t connect. If you do not connect, you cannot affect. Connection is about energy, but it is not about bouncing off the walls. Later, you will see how to match the energy of your audience so that they feel connected to you within the first few moments of your speech.

17. They speak for standing ovations. Too many speakers strive to get a standing ovation instead of what they should strive for: standing invitations.

WHAT IS THE CORE ESSENCE OF WORLD CLASS SPEAKING?

If you know anything about me, you know I’m all about the nuts and bolts. Theory has its place and is an important backdrop, but the practical and tangible tools you pick up in this book are what will make the difference in your future and fortune as a speaker. However, there is one strategy that’s at the heart of World Class Speaking, and it goes back thousands of years. Therefore, before we jump into all the tangible tools, starting in chapter two, wrap your mind around what you’re about to read. It will make all the difference in your failure or vast success as a world-class speaker and will lead you to see significant profits!

The Heart of Public Speaking

At the heart of public speaking is a story. Bill Gove, the first President of the National Speakers Association, summed it up best with his advice to

“Tell a story and make a point!”

That is the core essence of public speaking. We speak to be remembered, right? Well, what better way is there to be remembered than to tell a story? Think about it: When people remember your story, what will they also remember? That’s right; they’ll remember your point.

Think back to when you were a kid. Did you ever say to your parents, “Mommy, Daddy, please tell me a story”? Do your kids ever ask you for a story? I know mine do every night. Stories drive life. Believe it or not, many of our values and our understanding of life came from those early stories.

For example, do you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? What was the moral of that story? Slow and steady wins the race. How about The Wizard of Oz? It reminded us that there is no place like home and that the strength we might need has been in us the whole time. Finally, how about the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? This is the interesting thing about stories. They can provide you with several different messages based on where you are in your life. Each person can take something different from them. When I was young, I felt that Goldilocks was an innocent little girl who wandered into a house and made herself comfortable. Now, of course, I think Goldilocks should be locked up for breaking and entering! After all, who breaks into a house and then complains that the owner’s bed is not comfortable enough? But I digress … Stories breathe life into your speech and captivate the audience, all while slipping in a message that can change their lives. When you master storytelling, you’ll be well o...