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?

(BAD ADVICE)

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.)

*****

(THE BEST ADVICE)

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

Every Word Counts - Winston Churchill
A strong conclusion is vital to a great speech, and few do it better then Winston Churchill.

(More Videos)

SpeakCast Tutorial: Improve Your Communication Skills

4 Jobs
Every time you speak you have 4 jobs to accomplish.

(More Videos)

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

Subscribe
Name
Email

Please select how often you would like to receive updates:
Daily Updates
Weekly Updates
 


 


PowerPoint Tips: Slide and Title Masters
IT Management, CT
PowerPoint has its share of features that reduce the time it takes to create and format a presentation, but some of..

St. Patrick's Day: New PowerPoint Template Set From Ppted
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called St. Patrick's Day. Not only do... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

How do I Create and manage PowerPoint table data?
TechRepublic, KY 
In Microsoft PowerPoint, tables can be a bit troublesome because space is limited. Too much data on one

How NOT To Do A PowerPoint Presentation
One is Presentation Zen, which should be a must-read for all undergraduate (and graduate) students. Here's another, titled "Life After Death By PowerPoint." It hits most of the high (and low) points in...,

FREE PowerPoint Business Slide Backgrounds... COOL....!
This site gives us 100+ innovative powerpoint slide backgrounds for FREE.Just check it out...

How to Add Video Clips to Microsoft PowerPoint | eHow.com
This is a great tutorial from e-How about adding video clips to your PowerPoint presentation:. How to Add Video Clips to Microsoft PowerPoint | eHow.com. On another note, frequently people ask me how...

Let viewers set the pace of your PowerPoint presentations
CNET Blogs, CA
You can convert any PowerPoint presentation into a self-running slide show, or add controls.

Make PowerPoint Text Stand Out
Chances are you have sat through a PowerPoint presentation that was just too wordy. Being the conscientious employee that you are, you start off paying thorough attention, diligently reading along as the speaker presents slide after slide listing everything from the company’s new 572-word mission statement to the interim president’s entire five page letter of introduction. But somewhere along the way, your eyes glaze over and drool begins to pool in the corner of your mouth. And now it’s your turn to create a PowerPoint....

Tips for Better, Faster Computing
PC World Canada, Canada
Have you ever gotten a PowerPoint file that you can't read? I don't want you to miss anything, so pick up.

(More PowerPoint Alerts)

 

 
April 10 & 11, 2008
Media Training Workshop
New York, NY
More Info
Sign Up

 

ISU speaker: Technology out of sci-fi coming soon
By Michele Steinbacher
The way Ray Kurzweil tells it, the stuff of science fiction isn’t far off — a few decades, at most. The inventor and futurist, who headlines Illinois State University’s sesquicentennial finale Thursday, believes biological humans and computer technology are going to merge very soon — say by 2045.

The most useful new gadgets for your car
MSNBC -
Text-to-speech technology has become the latest buzzword in the navigation industry because of its emphasis on safety,

Davide Franco is the New as CEO at Loquendo
TMCnet
By Stefania Viscusi, TMCnet Assistant Editor Speech recognition and text to speech technology provider, Loquendo ,...,

Going high-tech costs school board $900K
Venice Gondolier, FL
The interior upgrades, including improved electronics on the dais where laptops can be plugged in for easier..

Finding Fun Stuff with filetype:
Technology Evangelist, MN
This should bring back a list of every PowerPoint file Google has found on the web. Results like this show up in..

Newspapers will survive by doing what they do best

Holly Connects Integrates LumenVox Ad-Hoc-
News (Pressemitteilung), Germany
Its innovative speech technology empowers channel integrators, developers, and solution providers to...,

SRI International Receives Patent for Voice-Based Search Technology
Market Wire (press release)
The Speech Technology and Research Laboratory's staff of about 25 includes.

Composica Enterprise 3.2 to be launched at Learning Technologies 2008
Training Press Releases (press release), UK
Composica Enterprise offers highly robust PowerPoint.

(More Technology Alerts)

 

It's Not About You
Your presentation is about your audience and giving them interesting information they can use.

 

Announcing the official Call for Ideas for BlogHer '08
Why a "Call for Ideas" and not a "Call for Speakers" or "Call for Proposals" or something like that? Because BlogHers are a generous bunch, and there are plenty of you who like to recommend other

Call for Speakers for Wireless Mobile Expo
2008 Wireless & Mobile Expo and Conference call for speakers is now open. Proposals will be accepted until April 30, 2008. Call for Speakers Opens for 2008 Wireless & Mobile Expo and Conference...

JetBrains Sponsors Developer Day Scotland
The call for speakers is still open, but hurry, it will be closing soon!

(More Alerts)

 

The Speaking Channel Newsletter is provided by Media Training Worldwide
Media Training Worldwide provides more media and presentation training workshops and seminars (54 separate courses) than any other company in the world. Media Training Worldwide also publishes more than 100 presentation training books, DVD's, CDs, and other information products and is the largest presentation/media training publisher in the world. For a product catalog or more information on training services call 800-755-7220 or visit us online.