Getting Over Screwups in your Presentation

  1. If a fly gets caught in your throat, say, “excuse me” and slowly take a sip of water.
  2. Don’t panic, and don’t obsess over your mistakes.
  3. You aren’t going to be loved by 100% of the audience. If one person is ignoring you or sleeping, don’t obsess over it.
  4. You won’t be great the first time you give a speech, but that’s OK.
  5. Forget about your previous speaking failures.
  6. Don't blame anyone else for anything that goes wrong during a speech.
  7. Great speakers and average speakers both make frequent mistakes when they speak.

Promoting Yourself in a Radio Interview

  1. If you are promoting a particular book, company, or cause, don’t be afraid to mention it by name.
  2. The more radio you do, the more TV requests you will receive.
  3. Build an audio radio resume tape featuring your best performances during radio show appearances.
  4. Don’t count on the host to plug your book or web site.
  5. When giving out a web site address or phone number, do it twice slowly.
  6. If you are giving out a phone number, make sure it is a vanity number that spells out a word so that if I hear it once I can remember it.

BY TJ Walker



Make Your Notes BIG!!!

It’s fine to use notes and outlines when you are giving a speech—in fact I encourage people to do so. But the less noticeable your notes are to your audience, the better.

Most people make the mistake of writing or typing their notes in standard small or 12 pt font sizes. This size is fine if you are holding your notes close to your face, as you would if you were reading a book. Small size is OK if you have your reading glasses on. But the small print is a problem when you are standing and giving a speech. If you have to pick up your notes, that is a distraction for your audience. If you have to bend over or crane your neck, that is a distraction for your audience. If you have to stop your speech, pull out your reading glasses, put them on, read your outline, and then pull them off and put them away again, you will distract your audience.

The solution is simple: write your outline in big, gigantic type size. If you need each letter to be two inches tall in order to see it without your reading glasses, then make each letter two inches tall. The point is you need to make your script work for you in the environment that you will be using it. Billboards have type 10 feet tall because when people are driving down the highway at 70 miles an hour, they can’t see type on a billboard that is 6 inches tall.

Make your outline notes work for you. Don’t cram one style that works in one environment into another environment where it makes no sense. By making your notes so big that you can see them out of the corner of your eye, you will create the illusion that you are a confident, authoritative speaker.

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

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