You really think you need to learn all that jazz about tonality, body language and humour to be a charismatic and persuasive speaker?

This proves once and for all that WHEN you know who you are and what you are about, persuasiveness and charisma simply flows from within you.

What if you tapped into your mind and discovered what really drives you within?

What would you stand for and against?

What if you learnt how to piece together a speech with a proven template that will hook the audience and have them take action because you said so?

Discover these secrets in this FULL one day seminar by clicking here.

Interview with Deborah Torres Patel

Let’s face it.

It is really scary to meet your audience for the first time and get them to listen to you. If you are going to be selling them something at the end of it, that is pure “wet the pants” experience.

How do I know that?

Well, for a couple of months, I had been doing just that as a job! I was asked to sell training programs from the stage that I had no right to sell in the first place. It was all because the guru who was teaching the course felt that it would leverage their time to let someone else do it!

But guess what… the newspaper clearly shows their face and even writes:

“Give us 3 hours and <insert name of guru> will teach you how to <insert money making technique>”

I cut my teeth in front of an audience who feels they had been taken for a ride, expecting to listen to the guru but instead sees this young punk teaching them how to earn money!

Fortunately I spent almost $15,000 and learnt this technique that not only got the audience to know like and trust me in 60 secs, they even bought the $1500 course that I was promoting at the end of the seminar!

Haha!!!

Wanna hear the irony?

I even out-sold the guru promoting his own course… How’s that?

Let me share with you the $15k template in very easy to use bullet points

1. Centering
2. Connect
3. Hook
4. Introduce self
5. Appreciate
6. Credibility
7. Buy in

Let me help you remember these points yeah?

Imagine that you are now in a basketball arena, it is dark, quiet, and every step you make echoes through the entire stadium.

You walk gingerly to the CENTRE of the court and lo and behold, you see a socket.

Hmmmm…

Miraculously, you notice that in the corner of your eye, there is a shiny gleaming silver plug that just calls out to you.

Well duh…. of course the plug was meant to CONNECT to this socket.

You pull the plug towards the socket, heaving and huffing, wondering why it is soooo tight and what in the world is at the other end of it. The wire simply leads of into darkness and nothingness.

Well here goes.

You push in the plug. Chuuup. It fits nicely, like pushing your foot into your favourite shoe.

Then suddenly…

There is strange clanging sound from the end of the wire that connects to the plug. This sound comes from within the darkness that the wire leads into.

Seems to sound louder and louder though…

Swish!

A massive HOOK appears out of nowhere and drags you by your foot.

You swing like a 30m golf club in Tiger Woods hands and for that split second… suspend in mid air… right at the top of the stadium…

At this moment, the stadium lights flood the place and stings your eyes.Your eyebrows tighten as the muscles strain to accomodate the intensity of stadium strength ceiling lights.

Now you are suspended in mid air… upside down… uh oh… and you see a stadium of people staring straight at you. Unblinking. Mouth half open.

You clear your throat… Time to INTRODUCE yourself…

“Ahem…. Hi guys… I’m…..”

Loud applause fills the stadium and everyone stands and thanks you for the immense entertainment you’ve just provided them. They show all the APPRECIATION with the cheers, applause and smiles.

Then this really weird thing happened.

Each and everyone of them… all at the same time… reached into their pocket, pulled out their wallet, and took out their CREDIBILITY card.

The crowd BELLOWED in unison….

“I want to BUY him! I want to BUY him! I want to BUY him!”

That’s when you snap out from your nap…. realising that you had been struggling to listen to this droid drone on at the stage for the past 30 mins….

Cool…

Now that you have learnt the link method…lets get into the speaking techique side of things yeah?

Centering

Guess which is the most nerve wrecking segment of the presentation?

The first 10 secs!

Guess which part of the presentation is your audience most sceptical of you?

The first 10 secs!

Not a good combination huh?

Here is what you need to do:

It starts when you hear your name called out or when you know you are next to speak. There must be some form of self talk that empowers you to speak confidently. In my HighTrustSpeaking course, I teach something called it the confidence trigger. Using NLP and self hypnosis, you can create a powerful “anchor” that you can fire off to access any emotional state you want!

But in this article, let me just keep it simple for you. You can still achieve a similar level of peak performance state just with self talk alone.

After you use the empowering self talk, next comes the walk up to the front.

Don’t run up, don’t trudge up. Just walk briskly and confidently up. Your nervous energy is just waiting to burst at this point.

Control!!!

Stand at the front. Feet slightly apart. Shoulders relaxed. Hands beside you. NOT in your pocket… Not in front of you… covering the precious parts… Beside you.

Centre yourself. There you go. The more centred you feel, the more confident you get. The more confident you get, the MORE centred you feel. And just that alone, would easily get you into the peak speaking state.

Connect

This is simple.

Just look at the audience at this point. Scan from left to right, with a smile on your face please… Unless of course you are about to deliver harsh bad news… then if you wore that grin, heh… that’ll be fun huh? Imagine what they will do to the messenger.

You want them to feel that you are connecting with them. And that you feel what they are feeling. For those who did not want to be here, you understand. For those who can’t wait to hear what you have to say, you reflect the enthusiasm.

Hook

Your first line should never, never, never be…

“Good morning/ afternoon/ evening”

They really don’t give a crap actually.

Now if you are an adored guru of your field, then even starting with a lame joke makes your audience like you. And you really don’t have to read this at all.

But if you are like the majority of presenters who have to really, and I mean really buy audience over first, then digest this.

The first thing that comes out from your mouth must engage them.

You can use one of these proven to work tools:

1)   Enrolling questions

These are questions that makes the audience respond with a yes or no. Usually, you need to let them know that you ask these questions to find out some information before proceeding.

Eg: “How many of you had read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell before?”

2)   CSI opening

If you ever watched an episode of CSI, then you may have a clue of what I mean here. You know how the show starts, 30 seconds into the show… and you still have no clue what is happening? Then BAM! Ahh… Now you know what you are in for for the next 60 mins of the show.

Hey, to keep it simple, just start with a story. Can’t go wrong with that.

3)   Dramemo

What does “Drama” plus “Demo” get you? “DRAMEMO”!

All you need is a dramatic demonstration to kick start the presentation.

Eg: Clap your hands intermittently, and at the 4^th clap onwards… say this: “Everytime I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.”

Introduce yourself

Here is where you earn the right to get people to listen to you. You need to talk about your credentials, experience, especially your hero’s journey story.

I wished I could go in depth here. But this would become a 5000 word essay and no one would finish reading this.

In High Trust Speaking workshop, I really focus on this. When you get your “earn the right” segment right, your audience would practically be eating out of your hands for the rest of the talk. If you omit this part, DOOM! Was that subtle enough?

Appreciate Others

This is something that all presenters need to learn more of. We are really sick and tired of those trainers and presenters who think they are sages on the stage.

Your audience loves to be appreciated. In fact, you can even go on to appreciate whoever you feel deserves it. The organisers, your mentor, etc. The only limit is that the person you are showing appreciation for must be present at the presentation!

Credibility

Here you need to sell the heck out of yourself without sounding like a jerk. Here’s how.

First, you tell them all your achievements.

Next you tell them it was not always like this.

Finally, you tell them the story that was the turning point for you.

Buy In

Here is the final component to the introduction segment to your entire talk/ presentation.

Your audience will want to know what is in it for them to listen to the entire duration of your talk. Here you must forecast for them the parts to your talk in a way that would entice them to pay attention.

In this segment, your ability to use emotional trigger sentences and covert hypnosis skills would be VERY useful. You can learn more about convert persuasion and hypnosis with ethics from my other 100+ articles on the subject.

Well that is it! The overview of the “7 Keys to Make Your Audience Like, Know and Trust You in Less Than 60 Seconds” is laid out here for you to digest!

My participants and attendees spent hundreds over dollars to hone and perfect each and every key to make every presentation a High Trust one.

Then, your listener/ audience/ trainees would be motivated into action, transform their beliefs or take you as their chosen leader.

Imagine what your life would be like if you knew exactly how to harness this power for good. Imagine what it would be like if people began to really listen to what you have to say. And imagine what it would feel like to have your reputation spread like an opened bottle of perfume, simply because you chose to be a High Trust Speaker. If you could, wouldn’t you?

There is a good reason that public speaking is a superior method of presenting material to a group than just faxing your text over and letting them read it.  Yes, part of that reason is that by stepping through the talk, you can make sure they “get it”.  But the most important reason has to do not with the subject, not with the presentation style and not even with how good the donuts were before talk.  The reason public speaking is so effective is that the audience gets the material presented in a very personal way by the one person who can do that – you.

When people walk away from your talk, they will remember one thing as their primary memory and another level as secondary.  The secondary memory will be your subject matter.  But the most potent memory they will carry with them will be that of you as a speaker.  Public speaking is actually a very personal thing to your audience.  That is because while to you, you are speaking one to many, to each audience member, you are talking to him or her directly.  That bond is unspoken but strong.  And it is even stronger when you address the same crowd regularly.

This may seem like an awesome responsibility but buried in this little fact about public speaking is a secret to make your presentations more effective.  Instead of shying away from the fact that people will feel like they know you after you address them in a public, embrace that fact of life about speaking in public and use it to your advantage.  The way to grab  a hold on this powerful psychological principle is simply to give them more of you in every aspect of your talk.

You can start with your introduction.  Its easy to tell some joke you heard on the late night talk shows and then go right into your talk.  But if you take a moment and speak to them person to person, you will create a stronger bond with them which will result in better results from your presentation.  Take some time and reveal a little bit about yourself to this group.  Public speaking can be a very cathartic event because when you open up to a group of people about your feelings and your past, they embrace you emotionally and that presentation becomes personal to them.

But don’t stop adding the personal touch with the introduction.  Continue to look for ways to make the presentation personal throughout the talk.  You no doubt know the power of illustrations, stories and humor in any presentation.  Well instead of using abstract or canned stories or jokes, personalize this aspect of your talk.  Don’t just “tell a joke”.  Instead think of a personal story that has a humorous component to it and use that to illustrate the point.  By using humor that makes fun of you, not only will the laughter be more genuine, it will ingratiate you to the crowd and create that connection between the personal speaker/audience bond to your subject matter.

The same is true of illustrations.  Now there have been cases where speakers made up a personal story to fit the talk so that is done.  And because it has the same effect, you could put that under the category of “acting” and not feel to badly about it.  But if you use a real story from your own life, your childhood or your love life, that will ring true during your talk and be more believable to your audience.

Don’t be intimidated by putting some of your own heart and life into your public speaking.  The investment of giving people a little more of you will result in a higher level of concentration and responses to your call to action.  And the audience will emotionally bond to you in such a way that you will almost certainly be asked back to speak again and again.

The software application PowerPoint has been a revolution in public speaking particularly in the business world.  PowerPoint is easy to use, available with almost every implementation of the Microsoft Office suite and it’s reliable. If you can use Microsoft Word, you probably have the skills to put together an effective presentation using PowerPoint.

But just like anything else, there is a right way and wrong way to give a talk using PowerPoint as a speaking tool.  If you have ever sat in on a presentation where the speaker used PowerPoint unwisely, you know that the tool can become as much of a curse as a blessing to a public speaker.  So it’s good to have some guidelines on how to use PowerPoint to help your presentation and not hurt it.

Knowing in advance some of the problems that can disturb your talk if you use PowerPoint unwisely can help you in the design of your slides.  For one thing, it’s a good idea not to put too much text on a PowerPoint slide.  If you put a long paragraph of information up on the screen, you will see people squinting to try to read it all.  And even if the section of your talk refers to that text, you put your audience in the position of trying to read that text or listen to you.  And either way they go, part of your message will be lost on them as they try to keep up.

PowerPoint comes with some really fun special effects like fonts and special effects like fade in or other ways text can be revealed on each slide.  Avoid the temptation to get too cute with these effects.  It’s always nice to have a little humor in your presentation but if your slides are overly “cutesy”, it reduces the credibility of your talk.  Also if every slide uses a different special effect, color scheme or font, not only is that distracting to the audience, it makes you look like you just discovered PowerPoint and had to play with all of the toys it has.  So establish some consistency in how each slide will look or behave and stick with it through every slide.

Another great device that PowerPoint offers is to allow the software to change slides for you on a timed progression.  In that way, PowerPoint can change the slide every two minutes allowing you just the amount of time you want between slides.  While this is also very slick, it is a dangerous toy to use because it can cause you to stumble while doing your talk.  You have to have you talk planned to a high level of precision to carry off that kind of talk and if you pause too much, have a question pop up or any other disturbance in your script, PowerPoint will move on when you do not.  So use this feature with caution.

Above all, do not turn your back on the audience to read a PowerPoint slide to them.  This is the number one most common mistake people do when speaking using PowerPoint.  Turning your back on your audience is always a bad idea.  So if you must discuss what is on the slide, do so facing the audience.  But to turn your back and then read a slide to them is insulting and boring to your audience.

It is far better not to have the text information on the slide but just a series of bullet items that are ticklers for the presentation you are giving.  This approach assures that PowerPoint remains a tool that you are using not a tool that is using you.  And that makes you the boss of PowerPoint which is the way it should be.

People who make their living researching what frightens people the most have made a pretty amazing discovery.  Consistently when people list the top five things they are afraid of in life, they have are some pretty intimidating terrors.  But you would think that death would rank number one on that list.  But death doesn’t take number one, it has to settle for number two.  Amazingly, the number one thing that terrifies most people is not death, it is public speaking.  A popular comedian once said that this means that people would rather be the guy in the casket at a funeral than the guy giving the eulogy.

If you have ever been in a meeting listening to a speaker, you can usually tell if they are terrified.  They will get up there and you will see that “deer in the headlights” look.  You know that look.  It is one of extreme fear, panic, and terror so profound that the person is frozen in place unable to speak of move.  And if you have ever been that guy or gal in front of a group giving the “deer in the headlights” look, you know the feeling of terror that happens in front of a group of people can be pretty awful.

So if you know that public speaking is going to be part of your job or something you have to regularly, you have to find a way to neutralize that fear and be able to relax in front of a crowd when you speak.  How often have you sat and listened to a speaker who was relaxed, funny, bright and even able to field questions with no difficulty at all?  It’s easy to admire that kind of public speaker and think that he or she has some magical powers that you will never get.  But they don’t have magic.  That speaker has just learned some techniques for neutralizing those fears so he or she can appear relaxed and as though he or she is having fun up there.  It’s not an inborn talent.  It’s a skill which can be learned.

Of course a lot of the ability to look out at a sea of faces who want to hear what you want to say and not feel sick comes from experience.  But experience teaches you things that you can at least understand before you become an old pro at public speaking.  One of those things is that the crowd out there doesn’t know what to expect.  If you broke down why you feel terrified in front of people, it’s that you think that they think they know what they want and that you are being judged.

But to understand what people really expect when they are looking at you at the podium on stage, just remember the last time you heard someone speak.  You had no predefined idea what was about to be said and you probably had no outline or any frame of reference what that speaker was going to say.  That means that even if you don’t deliver your speech perfectly, they will never know that!  As long as you don’t let on that you are nervous or not sure about your material, they won’t know if you got it wrong.  If you forget an entire segment of your speech, as long as what you do say flows nicely and they never know you forgot it, the people listening will think your speech was just fine and will probably applaud.

Also remember that you are not really speaking to a group.  The group has no ears.  You are speaking to several individuals.  When you are listening to a speaker, you are one person listening to one person.   That is how each person in that audience is receiving you, as individuals.  So if you speak to them as though they are one person, not a crowd, your presentation will be warm and personal and very successful.  And the crowd will like you to which helps a lot.

Just remember that their expectations of you are fairly low and for the most part, people hearing you speak want you to succeed.  So smile at them, use a bit of humor and use that little insider tip to relax up there.  And when you can relax, you can actually have fun at public speaking rather than wishing you were the guy in the casket instead.

How well your presentation goes the next time you step up to a podium depends on several factors.  But one factor you can control completely is your script.  The way you organize your content and how you present the material to that crowd can either totally captivate them and drive them step by step to conclusion or it can bore them to sleep.  Its all in how you construct your presentation and how you present what you want them to know throughout the talk.

The difference between a great talk and a boring one is simple.  A great talk is compelling.  A great talk gets to the heart of a common experience.  It addresses something we all go through and deals with a need we all experience.  In short, a great talk solves a problem.  So to create a presentation that reaches out and grabs your audience and holds them for the entire time of your presentation, you have to create a problem for them.  And then you have to solve it.

The point when you create the problem is in your opening comments.  Now don’t shy away from being a bit melodramatic in your opening.  Remember the goal of the opening is to grab the audience’s group attention and rivet it on your talk.  So present the problem statement in a personal way, how it is meaningful on a personal level to the audience and to you.  A about 20% of the time to the creation of the problem statement.  By the time you have created that big monster in the room, they will be ready for you to guide them toward the solution.

With the audience “in the palm of your hand”, you can move directly into the description of the perfect solution.  The solution phase of your talk can be broken into two parts.  First describe what the perfect solution would look like.  You would not even directly bring up your solution just yet.  Base your description of the perfect solution on the problem statement so you have an aspect of the solution that fits every possible problem created at the first part of your talk.

The next phase is the next to the last and comes about 50% into your time.  Now you have the audience in a perfect place to hear your solution.    Use about 30-40% of your total time on the proposed solution, fitting it perfectly to your discussion of the problem and the outline of what a perfect solution looks like.  By this time the audience is eager to know the solution.  All you are doing now is closing the deal.

If we followed a standard “term paper” approach to a program, the final phase would be to sum up and go over what you just talked about.  Btu we are not going to follow that pattern because this is the time for the “pay off”.  In your closing statements, you finally disclose the action to be taken.  By giving your audience what they can do to take the first step on putting your solution into motion, you are cashing in on all that energy you created in the first 80% of your speech.

Now close the deal by giving them concrete and “right now” things they can do to recognize the problem and start the wheels turning on making the solution a reality.  If its possible make the first step of implementing that solution happen right there in the room with you. That might be signing up for a newsletter, giving you an email address or going to another room for further counseling and discussion.  You know what it is.  But by using that  energy, you convert passive listeners to active participants.  And you did that with a very well designed and a well executive presentation plan.

To say that there is no ego in a person who does public speaking regularly or for a living would be clearly a false statement.  But for those of us who only speak from time to time, when you see a speaker who can walk out in a room of 30 people or a auditorium of 3000 and literally “own the room”, it really is an amazing transformation.  To imagine how  you could ever be that much larger than life is mind boggling.

But in a lot of ways, when you step out to talk to a group of people, you do become larger than life.  That is because you are doing the impossible.  You are having a conversation with dozens of people all at once.  Now, whether you feel like you are having that conversation or not isn’t important.  If your talk is not interactive, you may not know the dialog is happening.  But in the minds of every single individual in that hall, they are interacting with you.  What you are saying is getting down inside of them and they are reacting to it.  But even more than what you are saying, how you are saying it is having an even bigger impact.

So are there things you can do to “become” larger than life?  Well there are some ways of behaving in front of a crowd that differ from daily life.  We do have to accept that you will develop a “stage persona” that is different from your daily personality when you speak to a group.  Does that make you a phony?  No.  Both of those personalities are you.  It is just a different you when you relate to a group than to people one on one and it seems strange because that form of you only comes out on stage.  But it isn’t a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde thing.  Just as you speak to a child differently than you speak to an adult, you will develop a way to talking to a group that differs from speaking to an individual.

Part of becoming larger than life is learning to what they call “own the room”.  This sound egotistic and strange but it really does work when you are about to speak.  Owning the room simply means that when you step out in front of that crowd, they are no longer some random group of people, they are YOUR people.  They are there to listen to you and what you say is of value to them.  If you had any ego problems before you stepped out in front of that audience, check that ego problem at the door.

You must assume that you are adored when you speak to a group of people.  This doesn’t mean you strut about like God’s gift to the world.  But it does mean that you recognize that your value to this group is as a speaker and that your services are wanted and needed here.  In fact, the only way you will be an effective public speaker is if you own the room.  Treat that room like it was your home and these people came here just because being with you is just that great.  If you step out there with that attitude, the audience will buy into your attitude and they will give you the room and be glad you took it over.

It can be a bit strange if you watch yourself become larger than life.  But you can be humble about it and just recognize it is part of the craft of becoming a great public speaker.  And if being good at this art you are gifted to give to the world means owning rooms and becoming bigger for an hour or so, well then why deny the world that experience? Enjoy it and let others enjoy it too.

The very words “public speaking” strike fear in the hearts of many people. It’s a fact that the vast majority of people are afraid of speaking in front of a group. Often this so called fear begins at an early age, perhaps at school where we are often forced to stand in front of a class and give a speech.

For others it is something that simply creeps up on you in adult life where you are suddenly expected to speak to a group but have no idea how to do it.

Public speaking is a wonderful thing to master. Once you can speak confidently in front of people, your whole life changes.
Gaining this confidence however can be a long process, but one that is not impossible.

Public speaking fears can manifest themselves in various situations such as job interviews, employee meetings, wedding speeches and anywhere that requires you to speak in front of more than one or two other people. Often it is the negative thoughts in your head that bring about public speaking woes rather than the act itself.

Some of the most important aspects of public speaking are:

- Body language: Everything counts here from your hands, body, posture, stance, eyes and facial expressions.
- Notes: don’t over use them. Your audience does not want to see you reading a script; rather they want to know what is on your mind. Cue cards are fine, but ensure that you don’t keep your head down for too long.
- Eye contact: aim to look towards the back of the room and even at individual people as much as you can.
- Tone: if your subject can be humorous then use humour. Always know your audience well and speak to them in a way that you know connects with them. Don’t use a monotonous tone; instead inject enthusiasm and passion into your speaking.

The best way to master public speaking is prepare! True, one can not prepare for an on the spot speaking engagement however if you have taken measures of preparing for your speeches in the past then you will not have negative doubtful thoughts in your mind when it comes time to deliver that impromptu talk. Instead, you will recall the last successful speeches you gave and these positive thoughts will flow through to your current speech. This positive flow on effect is how you gain confidence in public speaking.

Public speaking training is the best way to conquer your fear of talking or performing in front of people. This phobia affects an extraordinary number of people worldwide. It is thought that around 75% of Americans suffer from fear of public speaking! That makes it the largest phobia, even greater than the fear of death.

To become a confident public speaker you should undergo some training and practice. This can be done in a professional group with other like minded people. Here no one will laugh at you and everyone is there to support each other. This is an excellent way to increase your confidence in a supportive, non-judgmental environment.

Public speaking training consists of a variety of different exercises and modules. You will first learn how to ease your nerves and how to think positively. Your mental attitude is the only aspect that stops you from being a confident speaker. Once your nerves are calmed and you are in the right frame of mind, your speech will flow. This is what public speaking training will teach you.

A good training course will also show you the best way to prepare your speech. This includes tips on using props, how to use cards effectively as well as gestures and body language. The last thing you want to do when speaking is to read entirely from paper and never lift your head. By mastering the use of cue cards you will learn how to read points and expand upon them in your speech.

Handouts are another great way to enhance your speech. Giving them out at the appropriate time. Let your audience know that you are going to hand out a presentation outline; this saves them taking notes during your speech.

Further learning in a public speaking training course is that which extends to include scenarios such as question and answer sessions at the end of a speech. Often the best public speakers stumble at this point as the questions asked by audience members are unexpected. The best public speakers will not only be great at giving prepared speeches but also at answering impromptu questions from the audience.

Public speaking training is simply the most ideal way to beat your phobia of group speeches. Like anything in life, the more you face your fears, the less you will fear them.

Without a doubt you will come out feeling a lot more confident and ready to tackle that next speech!