Carrie Vawter-Yousfi, founder of Mommy’s Coach has unlocked the secret to successfully running a busy household, while ensuring plenty of quality time.
She created her own business 5 years ago out of her struggle with motherhood and a Silicon Valley career. As a working mom, she developed a system to help new mothers better manage their time within the dynamics of family life. Then, sharing her system with family and friends on how to get organized and stay motivated after the birth of their first child.
Carrie draws on her formal education in Business Administration/Communications and over 12 years of Account Management experience in corporate America. She now adds her work experience, and proudest achievement as mother of two daughters, ages 6 and 8 and marriage of 11 years to her growing parent workshops and 1:1 coaching services in the Bay Area.
She has been a member of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers), BABI and an inspiring NSA (National Speaker’s Association) member and current Pro-Track member. Also, Carries is a member of the eWomen Network and Blossom Birth.
Carrie has shared her time and talents with Babies R Us, Harmony, Blossom Birth, DayOne, Good Samaritan Hospital, Las Madres and several preschools in Santa Clara County. She frequently appears as a guest on the local TV station KMTV15. Currently, she is instructor at The Loft Family Enrichment Center in Morgan Hill.
Her motto: A Happy Home = Happy Mom!
Pro-Track Profile
I met up with Carrie and we discussed her work helping women how are transitioning into the new life of motherhood. We also reviewed her reasons for enrolling in Pro-Track and the value she gets from the classes. To hear what she told me, click on the podcast icon below.
At the end of the month, I’m off to Anaheim, for my 7th NSA Convention. The theme this year is Influence and the conference chair is NSA bad-boy Randy Gage. He rocked the house a couple of years back with a religion-bashing keynote that, for the first time ever, did not get a knee-jerk 100% standing ovation as presentations at NSA conferences typically enjoy. Randy is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who is not afraid to stir up controversy.
So I’m looking for the ways NSA presenters will shake it up this year.
In addition to the main tent sessions which fill the first two days, here’s where I’ll be spending my time. If you’ll be at the convention be sure to get in touch and say Hi.
Bloggers Breakfast
Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC and I will be hosting a Bloggers (and wanna be bloggers) Breakfast on Sunday July 31st. We meet at 7:30am in the Gold Key III room. Grab breakfast and come along with ideas to share about how to increase blog traffic, subscribers or revenue!
So where do you find funny stuff? How do you diagram a joke? What’s a throw-away line? Find out the answers to these questions and many more as seriously funny Mark Mayfield explores the SCIENCE of comedy. The performance art of comedy is critical and is part of this breakout, but it still takes a back seat to the mechanics of comedy. You’ll learn secrets and techniques that great comics use and learn how to incorporate them into your programs. By attending this session, you will be able to: understand why humor works and when it doesn’t; find comedy in observational experience; and improve your comedy writing and performing skills.
(Since the awesome Bill Stainton workshop at the Northern California Chapter back in March, I’ve had a deeper appreciation for the value of really good comedy in any speech. Looking forward to Mark’s suggestions here.)
This program will examine the fundamentals of brand definition, core values and effective communication across social media platforms. It reveals the need for you to integrate purpose and profit if social media is to work for, rather than against you. You’ll learn from some of the best practices and case studies of Fortune 500 brands to give companies the confidence and action steps to become the social technology leaders of tomorrow. By attending this session, you will be able to: define your brands to take advantage of the social business marketplace; further your branding and community building; leverage the latest in mobile, gaming and social technologies.
(Given my own interest in Social Media and past presentations I’ve given on this topic, this is a must. It’s been fascinating to watch the ways in which professional speakers have been using social media.)
The speaking business has shifted dramatically. How do you continue to make good income by redeploying your skills, talents and material? Learn to use teleseminars, webinars, blogs and your current intellectual property to make money in your jammies. Turn your IP into books, e-books, recordings, transcripts, e-learning, e-reports, e-booklets, bundled related products and ongoing revenue. This is a must-attend program for increasing your cash flow with your current IP. By attending this session, you will be able to:understand why “jammies” income is so important now because the speaking business has changed in the last few years; know why delivering your information virtually is critical and which types of teleseminars/webinars are right for your style and your target audience; and discover how you can create ongoing income from blogs, teleseminars/webinars.
(Rebecca is a key member of the Northern California Chapter who is a doyenne of the world of blogging and virtual meetings. As the co-publisher of SpeakerNetNews she has her finger on the pulse of the speaking business.)
Doc gives a motivational and inspiring presentation that retells the story of his journey from bartender and musician to accidental humanitarian. When we consider a problem as far-reaching as the global water crisis, we often question the impact that we have as an individual. Doc’s life work and incredible story answers the question of how much impact one person can have. By attending this session, you will be able to: do what we can with what we have; recognize the immense power of relationships to transcend perceived barriers; and Internalize the power of one to transform the impossible into the inevitable.
(Executives face the twin challenge of showing how their companies are “doing well by doing good” as well as putting meat on the bones on their corporate social responsibility claims. Water is a fundamental need for life on earth. Jesus turned water into wine. Doc’s organization’s goal is to allow Jesus to turn His miracle around for the needy people of this world. Powerful stuff.)
At twelve, Clare was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Years later after an accident at a gym, the diagnosis became traumatic brain injury which affected her ability to speak. She had to learn to speak again as well as learn the many new ways to live a successful life. She taught herself how to speak through a structured program she calls ColorWheeling™ – a program she now shares with others as a way to plan for success.
Clare learned how to turn her disabilities into abilities and a new career as a motivational speaker, TV Producer and host. Her show is called Colorful Journey of Success. Guests include authors, actors, designers, coaches, and key people in a variety of industries including science, medicine, and psychology. Her motivational speeches and writings share her own intriguing stories about her Colorful Journey of Success including her six step system of success using color codes.
Even with hidden disabilities, Clare has achieved successes. She raised a daughter alone, graduated from San Francisco School of Fashion, has an M.A. in psychology, earned the status of Distinguished Toastmaster, and manages her own home and rentals.
Clare states:
We never know what is around the next corner in life. Re-inventing my life was learning to speak and even think again. It was a huge challenge but I discovered we can re-train our brain and take control of our lives.
Pro-Track Profile
Clare enrolled in the 2011 NSA/NC Pro-Track speaker training program. To hear about her speaking work, her comments on the value of Toastmasters for professional speakers, and what attracted her to Pro-Track, click on the podcast icon below.
Wendy Hanson helps startups and legacy companies act more aggressively, create more accountability and be more innovative. By shifting the culture, she helps teams communicate more clearly and work with focus.
As an entrepreneur, Wendy loves helping other women entrepreneurs. She co-authored The Sassy Ladies’ Toolkit for Start-up Businesses, which received the Writer’s Digest Award for Non-Fiction Self-Published Books. She also hosts a Blog Talk Radio show interviewing entrepreneurs and sharing their wisdom.
Wendy has over 12 years experience in corporate coaching and consulting. During Google’s formative years of 2002 to 2009, Wendy coached their teams and executives. Other client companies include AOL, MapQuest and Verizon.
She is a partner in Point Forward Ventures helping startups develop strategy, successful execution and leadership. She works as a partner with her clients for their success.
As a member of the National Speakers Association, Wendy is a sought after speaker for corporate and business events. She speaks and coaches on the entrepreneurial mindset. Her speaking engagements include topics such as “Intergenerational Differences in the Workforce,” “Five Keys to Successful Start-Ups,” and “Entrepreneurial Skills for Women.”
Wendy has a Masters in Organization and Management from Antioch New England Graduate School and is a certified Personal and Business Coach from the Coaches Training Institute in San Rafael, California.
Pro-Track Profile
Wendy recently moved from Rhode Island to Northern California and took the opportunity to enroll in the NSA/NC Pro-Track program. To hear what she told me about her coaching and professional speaking career, click on the podcast icon below.
Born and raised in Australia, Linda Benn brings a breath of fresh air to the USA. She shares her cultural experiences and unique approach to overcoming the issues related to stress in the workplace and improving worker productivity.
The native Australian relocated to the US where she observed people experiencing fear, overwhelm and uncertainty about the economy and their future. She noticed people focusing more on problems rather than solutions.
She shares her cultural experiences and unique approach to overcoming the issues related to stress in the workplace by sharing a mindset of possibility, collaboration and productivity. Australians have a unique perspective of their “No Worries Mate” philosophy which can be applied and learned by American workers.
Linda’s training includes: postural evaluation; alignment correction; yoga training; meditation; nutritional counseling; breathing exercises; communication and reflective listening exercises; coaching; mentoring and offering training seminars. She skillfully customizes programs to the needs both of the workers and the company. Linda works with key individuals within an organization collaborating to generate positive, long-lasting results.
She trains and coaches people how to change their perspective on any stressful situation and reprogram to create a positive outcome.
Using a holistic approach that rewires the mental and physical system of organizations, she retrains individuals using her 5R method that teaches people how to release, realign, restore, rebalance and reenergize. Linda motivates people to the benefits of a healthy mind and an energized body to be more productive in their work. Her expertise as a coach and consultant advises companies how to build a Stress Firewall that results in attracting and retaining employees while increasing productivity & profits.
Pro-Track Profile
I caught up with Linda in January at the start of the Pro-Track year and asked her to share more details about her background. In addition to her new corporate website, which helps employees thrive, she also mentioned her original Heart Light Energy site. To hear what she had to tell me, click on the podcast icon below.
The National Speakers Association of Northern California March Meeting
Saturday’s meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the National Speakers Association was one of the most valuable and informative meetings I have attended in the last five years. There were three of my Cisco communications colleagues in the room, all furiously taking notes. If we collectively implement just 10% of the tips and tricks shared by the two speakers, executive communications at our company might never be the same again.
Sticky Content – How to use Extreme Platform, Interactive, and Visual Techniques to be Massively Memorable, with Brian Walter, CSP
Brian is a “corporate humorist” with a unique blend of communications expertise. Over a 25+ year career, he’s been an advertising director, marketing & sales director, radio & TV commercial producer, copywriter, communications manager, presentation coach, video producer, management trainer, consultant and professional speaker. He’s even a Guinness Book of World Records holder for producing the world’s shortest TV commercial. Brian has earned the elite Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) from the National Speakers Association, and is a member of Meeting Professionals International.
Brian’s business is called Extreme Meetings. He provides customized “infotainment” to make meetings memorable. Brian has presented to audiences ranging from 7 to 7,000. His clients have included Starbucks, Microsoft, Costco, Pepsico, AAA, Payless, Verizon Wireless, several banks that are no longer in existence, the Social Security Administration, a regional office of the IRS…and a dairy company best known for awesome chocolate milk.
Brian shared a humongous list of tips tricks and tested techniques for engaging audiences and taking your speech from ordinary to extraordinary.
E-Ticket Ride Moments
Back in the day, Disneyland famously offered top-priced E-ticket rides.
These were the Matterhorn, the Pirates of the Caribbean – the best in the Park, the ones you told your friends about the next day. They were the exciting rides, the ones where something happened. For your speech to have impact, it must either be perfect (difficult to achieve time in and time out), or it must have built-in production values which guarantee the audience will remember what you said. In other words, it must have a few E-Ticket moments (but not too many to be overwhelming). These are the moments when the presentation goes beyond the facts and figures, the basic information, the data that make up most corporate content. Instead look for interaction; movement; unique visuals; music; costumes; video; sound effects; SFX; risk; props; volume; placement; and spectacle.
Carefully craft those memorable moments that would be included in a movie trailer about your presentation. Ask yourself, would a trailer advertising your speech feature your talking head all the time (nah!), or would it feature the moments when things happen – when you bring the guy on stage; throw something into the audience; show a video or even risk wheeling in a pallet of dollar bills to illustrate a sales goal that has been achieved?
People want content, but they want sizzle too. Brian suggests there’s a false dichotomy between the two. He offers a blend he calls “contizzle”.
How to give your speech impact
Make it:
Gettable: Most presentations are larded with too much information. Give them the data but make sure they also get the point in a memorable way. You want that “Scooby Doo” moment, when the audience tilt their heads and think “Woo-Hoo”.
Emotional: Hook into their feelings. People’s decisions are based on emotion. Understand they are not looking for two more bullet points before they will be convinced about your argument. You need your idea to go “verbally viral”, to be an idea that can be shared. Imagine what they might say to their significant other when they return home from your meeting. They’re not going to mention the fifth bullet point on the fourth slide, are they, Mr. or Ms. Exec-Comms Manager? No, they’ll summarize it in one to two sentences, sentences about what hit them at an emotional level. So why not sweat the detail on that, with as much energy and attention as you do on making sure every speed and feed is included.
Actionable: offer them a realistic next step to take after the talk ends.
Bottom line: Brian offered two ways to make a talk stick. Firstly through engaging in extreme interaction with the audience; secondly by creating mini brands for the content (as he does with the following branded techniques).
Extreme Audience Interaction
In the richest and most expansive part of his presentation, Brian offered a range of ways in which you can ask for volunteers from a live audience to participate in your talk. All avoid the whining, begging, pleading tone, that some presenters are forced to adopt with a reluctant audience, as their credibility leaks from the soles of their shoes into the floor of the podium.
My one regret is that few of these techniques are applicable to the increasingly popular world of virtual meetings. It’s a shame that some companies have lost sight of the value of that aspect of the rich tapestry of human experience that allows for these opportunities for emotional connection between the presenter and the audience; tolerating meetings where every presenter is reduced to the two-dimensional window in the remote viewer’s computer screen. What price flesh and blood and human emotion in a virtual world?
Asking for Volunteers – the Brian Walter Way
The first rule is do not ever, ever, ever embarrass people. Protect their dignity. But this doesn’t mean being boringly politically correct. It’s interesting to your audience the extent you allow your volunteers to seem to be at risk.
So how do you put people in a risky situation in front of their peers, and have their permission to embarrass them in a way that will allow everyone else in the audience to feel that vicarious thrill that comes with watching a colleague twist in the wind, out on a limb, wondering if they will make it or fake it?
Here’s how.
Bribe them. Offer $20 for someone to come up on stage (or $50 for senior management) and you’ve got instant permission to ask them to do or say anything that might make them look the fool, because they want you to show them the money. Believe Brian when he says that this works every time. Can’t afford the money if you want a lot of interaction? Simple. Offer Starbucks gift cards for a “mystery amount” (they won’t know they’re only worth $5 until long after you’ve left the auditorium).
Set them up. Acknowledge that this will be an embarrassing situation on stage and ask for everyone’s permission to play along. Again, this works.
Volunteer ball. Toss a small ball into the audience. Whoever catches it can either be the volunteer, or more likely gets to choose the person to their left or right. Brian spent time explaining how this simple act engages the whole audience on both sides of the aisle emotionally – from those who are immediately relieved the ball is not coming over to their side of the room; to those in the rows immediately before and behind the person who catches it and have that moment of anxiety that it might hit them; to the delight on the face of the guy or gal who gets to point the finger at their colleague who will now go up on stage.
Choose the pointer. Whoever you point to in the audience to volunteer is given a reprieve. They get to choose the person who must step up. This is especially effective when you have chosen somebody who emphatically shakes their head that they will not volunteer. Congratulations! You now tell me who should come up on stage. Watch the emotion on their face change instantly.
Putting more action in interaction
Each one of these interaction techniques was worth the price of admission for the day. Each showcased Brian’s real expertise at creating extreme meetings. While he freely admits he does not own these techniques, and we can borrow them for our own events, it’s a rare presenter who would have the skill to successfully implement them the first time they were tried with an audience. But, hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Be a poser. Ask questions. So, what is this? Who said that? No matter what the response your answer is You are right. For example, rather than playing it the way the boring SME would, show the audience this graphic:
and simply ask So what is that?
Someone in the audience will probably venture that it’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, or perhaps Pavlov’s hierarchy of needs. No matter what, congratulate them, affirm that it is Maslow’s, and move on. You’ve just rewarded somebody in the audience emotionally, making them a partner in the transfer of information in a far more effective way than the typical engineering product manager would. Use the same technique to ask people to guess percentages or numbers. Encourage the audience to shout out numbers and correct them as they over- or under-shoot.
Be a big poser. Don’t be afraid to ask hard or obscure questions. If you want someone to guess where Starbucks got its name from, begin by asking are there any English majors in the room? Someone might guess that the name comes from Moby Dick. If not, you can start giving hints until the audience realizes what you’re asking for.
One-on-ones. Here’s an opportunity to move into the audience to create dramatic energy. Don’t just randomly wander into an audience like some are known to do. Be intentional. Approach someone to ask a question, elicit a response, engage them in a conversation. This breaks the rules most presenters adhere to. Make that one person your new BFF. They become the go-to person for the rest of your presentation. Everyone will be rooting for you as you shine the glow of attention on them in front of the audience.
Shout outs. Have a group shout out responses to questions you pose. Don’t be afraid of a little chaos and more noise in the auditorium that most presenters tolerate. It’s all good emotional connection.
Two truths and a lie. This was the golden nugget of the whole day. Rather than trying to explain the technique take a look at this YouTube video from last summer’s National Speakers Association convention where Brian used it on stage in front of an audience of 2000 to get extreme meeting interaction. It’s an 8 minute video, filmed on a Flip camera, but stay with it, it’s worth every moment:
Fluffy, fluffy, deep. Here’s how to humanize a senior executive with three questions. The trick is to give the executive a long list of potential questions beforehand and have them choose the three they would like to answer (give them the chance to fill in the blank, none will). Two of the three questions will be “fluffy” (warm, fuzzy ones) and one will be “deep”. For example: What is your secret guilty pleasure?What actor would you like to play you in real life? What species is your family pet? These allow the audience to see the warm fuzzy side of the executive. Follow with a single deep question: What does it take for someone to get recognition and promotion in the company today? If you could change one sales goal this quarter, what would that be? Realize that it’s easier to segue into the profound emotion from the warm fuzzy feeling that it is to land on it cold.
Speed Interviewing. Ask people to form groups of three and give them just 45 seconds to come up with the answer to a question or suggestion. It’s a ridiculously short amount of time in which to accomplish the task. Yet it creates instant energy as people rush to get the group to hear what they have to say. It will send the energy of the room through the roof.
Instant Actors. Here’s your chance to bring people on stage from the audience for a cameo appearance. Print out dialogue for them to read in large font ahead of time on cards, highlighting the text for each person. You now have permission to use humor and go way over the top, since people are playing characters from their world, rather than speaking their own beliefs. If you don’t want to use real people, Brian has had success with sock puppets. I’m currently a big fan of creating cartoons that convey content which would otherwise be difficult for the audience to handle.
Point-Counterpoint. A time-tested of speaking truth to power since the glory days of the 1970s:
Get your corporate actors to man up to this and you’ll be surprised how far even the most conservative audience will let you go with your content. Memorable won’t even begin to describe what they’ll be talking about around the water cooler the next morning.
Mini Brands
The key to a memorable talk is, as Brian has demonstrated with the mini branded interaction techniques above, to have snappy titles for all of the key concepts in your talk. This boosts retention and connects with people emotionally. Name your key points with phrases like “verbal ping-pong” instead of “the elevator pitch”. Take the time to develop a logo or icon for each and your talk will be more memorable. Brian has had success with:
Fact or crap. Senior leaders quickly pick up on the keyword and have no problem calling something crap during the rest of the meeting. Okay, so it’s politically incorrect, but a proven and more memorable brand name than “fact or fiction”. No one will be standing up on the podium saying something is fiction, fiction, fiction the way they will use the four letter alternative. This is the power of a memorable brand versus the inanely bland.
Do you pass the smile test? Are people in your team more likely to smile when you are coming into the room or when you are going out of it?
Introduce mini brands like this in your talk and listen as other presenters and the audience latch onto them during the rest of the conference.
To net it out, the goal of a good presentation is not to end up with a bleedingly obvious “Bad Dragon” story. That’s where the executive, engineer or subject matter expert stands up and tells people what the problem is; how their solution will make it better and help slay the Dragon; and how the organization will live happily ever after. The unfortunate reality is, that describes the vast majority of what passes for corporate communications in the Fortune 500 these days.
Build in some of Brian’s “contizzle” tricks; tell a good story with real obstacles to overcome; make sure there’s at least four or five memorable moments, and the audience will remember your message the next day and perhaps even the day after that.
What I Learned From Winning 29 Emmys That Speakers Need to Know, with Bill Stainton
Planning an event isn’t rocket science. It’s harder. You have to be the master of 1,001 details—everything from negotiating the hotel room block to deciding on the typeface for the program. After so much planning and effort, the last thing you need is a speaker who makes your attendees yawn, shrug their shoulders, and think, “Hmmm—I guess it’s going to be another one of those meetings.” A speaker like that can kill your event before it even gets off the ground.
What if, instead, you could get the attendees to think, “This is fantastic! This is hilarious! I’m so glad I’m here!” That’s certainly the reaction from the NSA/NC crowd to Bill’s afternoon presentation. Bill is a true showman who lived up to the name of his company: Ovation Speaking.
Bill paid his show biz dues. He spent fifteen years in front of the cameras of the top-rated local comedy TV show in the country—Seattle’s legendary Almost Live!—so he knows how to entertain an audience.
Unlike Brian, there was not as much for me to capture for the extreme meeting report. It was as much the way he delivered his material as what he delivered. The most memorable part of the afternoon for me was when he showed a video of his onstage riff at a past NSA Convention satirizing the conference theme. Take a look, it’s priceless:
Bill advises that all talks should be treated as a “show” and in that sense you have to think through three separate approaches: the producer who deals with the structure of the presentation; the writer who creates the content; and the performer who delivers it.
How to produce an effective presentation
Producers are responsible for the event details. They are in charge of driving the bus, the audience are the passengers. You have to have, as Brian indicated, a series of E-ticket moments built into the talk to keep the audience’s attention. Bill called them “bathroom blockers” – the times in a movie when you really have to go pee, but the action on the screen is so compelling you can’t leave the theater. You’ve got to think of what you can bring to the game to make your next presentation so compelling that people are blocked from going to the bathroom.
Bill shared the classic magicians advice: start with your second-best trick, end with your best trick, and put the rest of the content in the middle. Jay Leno, who Bill has worked with, always chose his ending joke first. The reason? Audiences always remember the last thing you say.
Which is one very obvious reason why you should never, ever, end with Q&A.
Find ways to build in an element of predictable unpredictability. You want to keep the audience guessing when something strange will happen next, but don’t do it in a predictable way. Avoid predictability to make sure those lean forward moments catch them by surprise.
A keynote speech should open with a five-minute microcosm of what the entire presentation will cover. This gives the audience an idea of how things are going to be set up. Take the time to decide what elements, themes, and flavors you will include in your first five minutes.
Writing the speech
Speechwriters, according to Bill, need to keep these main intentions front and center:
Clarity. Make sure there are no unintended questions left hanging in the air by statements that confuse or bewilder the listener. This includes the use of acronyms and industry terms that the audience might not fully understand. Control the audiences focus during the speech. Avoid the error of going from A to C without going through B.
Use precise words and concise phrases. Jerry Seinfeld, who Bill has worked with, claimed that a good day’s work is taking an eight word phrase down to five words. Go through your speech and making sure that all of your words have energy. For example, Mark Twain liked to illustrate the right choice of words as being the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. As most speechwriters know, there is power in alliteration, rhyming, and cognitive dissonance. NSA member Max Dixon talks about the coaching relationship he has with clients as a ruthless sanctuary, which is a great example of cognitive dissonance.
Sprinkle smartness in your speech. It’s really okay to have some things that might be ahead of the classic 8th Grade reading level of the average member of the American public. You need just enough smartness to grab their interest, but don’t overdo it. Remember the average American audience really does have an 8th Grade reading level.
When writing, follow the advice of James Thurber, “Don’t get it right, just get it written”. Then edit.
Delivering the speech
Once speakers are on the podium they need to be larger than life. Like the band in Spinal Tap you need to be a 10 in real life but an 11 on the stage. Understand:
The art of the pause is knowing how to skip a beat and add an infinitesimal pause before the punchline, but then once you’ve delivered the zinger, silently count to three, or if that makes you uncomfortable take a sip of water from a glass on the lectern, and wait for the audience to react. Often it will be a couple of seconds after you deliver the line that the chuckles start. Likewise, when you have delivered an important point in your content, do the same pause. Think for a moment about how we often pause video recordings. Build the same pauses into your live delivery to allow the audience to realize what you’ve just said and to process how it applies to their situation. Subject matter experts and comedians alike succeed or fail by their mastery of the art of the pause.
Commit to the bit. This is as straightforward as defining, in your own words, what the segment of the presentation means and giving it all your energy. Even for the necessarily rushed material that had to be created under deadline.
Four quick specific techniques. These were masterful suggestions.
Don’t move on the punchline.
Things that happen in the past should be indicated to the audience’s left. Those that happened today center stage, and those that happen tomorrow to the right.
Play to the cheap seats first which means address the back of the room and the balconies at the opening of your talk.
When you start to bomb, slow down. This is the only way to rescue a disaster.
The performer’s secret weapon: Rehearsal. Very few speakers do this right. It’s not just do a quick run through or repetition of your content. Deliberately practice and look for ways to improve. Review the speech for material you need to add or delete, for where you need to add pauses. Tip: Make an audio recording of a speech and send it to people of equivalent background to the audience to see if they get the message.
Bill concluded with the quote of the day:
Improve, to the extent that yesterday’s audience is cheated by today’s performance.
Mark Stiving, MBA, Ph.D. helps companies implement value based pricing strategies to increase profit.
As a pricing strategist, he ‘spreads the gospel’ of value based pricing. His message inspires manufacturers, marketers and others concerned with pricing to capture greater value through pricing improvements and to focus on creating real, quantifiable value for the benefit of their customers and their bottom line.
As a coach, Mark helps companies create and implement new pricing strategies to capture more of the value they create. He has consulted with Cisco, Procter and Gamble, Grimes Aerospace, Rogers Corporation, and many small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. He currently works full time developing and implementing new pricing strategies at National Semiconductor.
Mark has published pricing articles in the Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, and the Journal of Commerce. He freely shares his knowledge and latest thoughts on pricing on his Pragmatic Pricing website and has a forthcoming book titled “Big Picture Pricing.”
As an award winning speaker, Mark’s favorite hobby is public speaking, generously giving back to the Toastmasters community that helped him excel as a professional communicator.
Mark earned a BSEE at The Ohio State University, an MBA at Santa Clara University, and a Ph.D. in Marketing at U.C. Berkeley.
The very first speechwriter to help write a STOU speech was Judson Welliver, hired by President Warrren Harding.
Lehrman explains why the speech is inevitably a laundry list of topics, and the process by which speechwriters approach the task.
Changes in technology have had a profound impact. Early in the 20th Century fewer than 1,000 people actually saw Woodrow Wilson deliver his SOTU. Last year 48 million watched Barack Obama on television or the web.
No matter how Obama’s speech is received this evening, somewhere in Washington DC a team of speechwriters will already have moved on to their next assignment.
Kurt Shaver delivers high-impact sales training and consulting to companies seeking increased production from their sales force. Kurt’s live training classes are followed by reinforcement sessions and exercises that insure the lessons become lasting habits. Consulting includes areas such as sales systems (CRM) implementation and effective compensation plans.
Kurt brings 25 years of real selling experience to each client. His “street credibility” is critical to being accepted by a room full of seasoned salespeople. As a sales rep, Kurt learned how to build rapport, uncover needs, and differentiate his solution to win the business. Kurt won numerous Top Salesperson awards in his role as an individual contributor. Major accomplishments include closing a $5M deal for AT&T’s first private satellite earth station for a corporate customer and selling some of the first electronic catalogs to companies like IBM, Sprint, and Texas Instruments.
As his management responsibilities grew, Kurt built sales teams at a number of fast growth companies. One of them made it to No. 11 on Fortune Magazine’s “100 Fastest Growing Companies” list for 2004. In the process, he developed the systems and skills to motivate and train salespeople to be successful.
After 25 years of corporate sales success, Kurt started The Sales Foundry in 2008 to share his knowledge with businesses seeking to accelerate their revenue growth. The name “Sales Foundry” was chosen to represent the blue-collar, roll-up-your-sleeves nature of Kurt’s work. It is not board room strategy. Kurt focuses on teaching salespeople the tactical skills they need to succeed. Kurt has completed just about every well-known sales training methodology there is and he feels that it is less important to pick the right one than it is to pick one and embrace it completely throughout the organization. Kurt was named a “Top 25 Channel Sales Executive To Know” by VAR Business magazine and received the “Partner Excellence Award” from Salesforce.com. He holds a Master in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology but he has never let his knowledge of complex integrated circuitry get in the way of closing a big deal.
Pro-Track Profile
I interviewed Kurt at the January 22, 2011 NSA Northern California 30th Anniversary meeting, the week before the 2011 Pro-Track class kicks off.
Kurt shared with me the reasons he is investing in Pro-Track. To hear what he told me, click on the podcast icon below.
Alan Stevens is the current President of the Global Speakers Federation. He is a PR Professional and expert on media and communications. His company ,The Media Coach, covers both traditional and social media. He’s also a member of the British Computer Society, and broadcasts regularly on technology and consumer issues. This posting appeared in his weekly newsletter.
Opening Up
The first line of your speech is crucially important. It may be the only line that every member of your audience hears, so it needs to be good. The more engaging it is, the more people will listen to the rest of your speech. If you’ve done your homework well, you will know what interests them. It won’t be the same for every audience, so don’t just have one option.
Firstly, here’s what not to do:
Tell them your name. They know that already.
Say how glad you are to be there. That’s a given.
Start with a joke. You don’t need me to tell you why not.
List your credentials. They will already have seen your bio.
Tell them how funny your speech is. If you do, it won’t be.
Make fun of them. It’s OK to make fun of yourself, not your audience.
Now we’ve got that out the way, what are some positive openers? Here are a few ideas, with examples:
An intriguing promise “You will improve your memory by 10% in the next hour”
Something contrary to popular wisdom “The Internet is finished…”
A puzzle “How could you find the secret of success?”
A simple piece of value “Three simple steps to double your business this year”
Of course, you have to deliver what you promised. Remember you have give something of value every time you speak. Tell people right at the start what it will be, and you will grab their attention.
This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in “The MediaCoach”, his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk
Carrie Vawter-Yousfi, founder of Mommy’s Coach has unlocked the secret to successfully running a busy household, while ensuring plenty of quality time. 
At the end of the month, I’m off to Anaheim, for my 7th NSA Convention. The theme this year is 
At twelve, Clare was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Years later after an accident at a gym, the diagnosis became traumatic brain injury which affected her ability to speak. She had to learn to speak again as well as learn the many new ways to live a successful life. She taught herself how to speak through a structured program she calls ColorWheeling™ – a program she now shares with others as a way to plan for success. 
Born and raised in Australia, 
Brian is a “corporate humorist” with a unique blend of communications expertise. Over a 25+ year career, he’s been an advertising director, marketing & sales director, radio & TV commercial producer, copywriter, communications manager, presentation coach, video producer, management trainer, consultant and professional speaker. He’s even a Guinness Book of World Records holder for producing the world’s shortest TV commercial. Brian has earned the elite Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) from the National Speakers Association, and is a member of Meeting Professionals International.
Planning an event isn’t rocket science. It’s harder. You have to be the master of 1,001 details—everything from negotiating the hotel room block to deciding on the typeface for the program. After so much planning and effort, the last thing you need is a speaker who makes your attendees yawn, shrug their shoulders, and think, “Hmmm—I guess it’s going to be another one of those meetings.” A speaker like that can kill your event before it even gets off the ground.
Kurt Shaver delivers high-impact sales training and consulting to companies seeking increased production from their sales force. Kurt’s live training classes are followed by reinforcement sessions and exercises that insure the lessons become lasting habits. Consulting includes areas such as sales systems (CRM) implementation and effective compensation plans. 
