Retelling an Event to Connect to your Audience

  1. If you can simply re-tell an event you experienced that is relevant to your message, you can communicate to a business audience.
  2. Re-live the event by re-telling what your colleagues said to you at that moment, what you were feeling, where you were, what your problem was, and how you solved it.
  3. If you can simply focus on accomplishing this, you can transform yourself from being dishwater dull to a toastmaster extraordinaire overnight.

Getting the Reporter’s Call

  1. If a reporter calls you, don’t start speaking off the cuff at that moment.
  2. Ask what the reporter’s deadline is.
  3. Figure out your message, talk to your colleagues, and create your sound bites.
  4. Determine the four or five most obvious questions that will come up during an interview, plus the one or two questions you think will be the hardest for you to answer.
  5. Then, call the reporter back BEFORE the deadline has passed.
  6. If the reporter says my deadline “is right now,” then say, “I’ll call you back in five minutes.”
  7. Come up with your message and CALL BACK IN FIVE MINUTES!

NJ Gov’s Powerpoint Disaster!
By Jess Todtfeld

Wow. You have to read this so you don’t have the same kind of PowerPoint disaster:
GOV CORZINE POWERPOINT - NY TIMES

When it comes to your speech, you must follow the WISDOM OF YOUR AUDIENCE (A new book I’m working on with TJ Walker.)

Ok. How big of a public speaking disaster was this? I’d probably give it an 8. What was the NJ Governor up against?

- Snide audience outbursts
- Ignoring audience remarks like “stop lying!”

...

Click to read the full story

 

What is the best way to begin my speech?

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience” (The best advice always comes from your speaking audience)

What is the best way to begin my speech?

Your Director of Communications: “Start by thanking your hosts or order of rank.”

Your Marketing Director: “Be sure to weave in our branding slogan in the first 30 seconds. Then tell people about all of our locations.”

Your director of new business: “Tell people about all of our locations and branches.”

Your mother, “Tell people how humbled you are by the nice introduction you received.”

Your inner voice: “Good morning. As you heard, my name is ___ and my title is ___. I’m happy to be here today. Thank you for that lovely introduction. Before I begin today, let me tell you about the incredibly boring history of my company starting back to its founding in 1923. Next, I’d like to tell you about all of the cities we are in (that you couldn’t possibly care about, because you aren’t in those cities.)

*****

Your Audience: “Stop boring us to death! We don’t care if you are happy to be here; we don’t know you well enough to care yet. We already know your name and title; the person introducing you told us–we aren’t stupid!!! Stop talking about you, you, you. We don’t care about you at this stage of our relationship. Instead, tell us something interesting and relevant to us. We care about ourselves. If you address our needs, we’ll be more likely to pay attention to the rest of your speech!”

 

More Tips from TJ Walker

 

Bully Pulpits: Speaking Secrets of World Famous Leaders

Take Action - FDR
Great leaders know its not enough to just take action themselves, but they must also communicate to others to take action. Watch FDR as a roll model.

(More Videos)

SpeakCast Tutorial: Improve Your Communication Skills

Spelling It Out
When you are speaking to colleagues and other peers within your industry, the tendency is to use lots of acronyms and initials, instead of speaking out the entire word or phrase. Don't do it.

(More Videos)

Publisher: TJ Walker
Managing Editor: Jess Todtfeld
Creative Director : Kris Gentile

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