Comments on: 7 Keys for Successful Public Speaking

By: garmah

garmah — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:16:08 +0000

hello,

first of,i’de like to say that we owe a huge thank-you to the writer of this helpfull piece of information.second,as a public speaker coach,i highly recammand join Toastmasters so as to master this skill and get red of that feeling of fear of being the focus of the crowd.

By: Tim Gonzo Gordon: Communication Specialist

Tim Gonzo Gordon: Communication Specialist — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:45:56 +0000

Steve you have many excellent points in your post. I wish I’d run across your blog months ago when this was first posted, but I still wanted to make a comment.

I’ve seen too many presentations where PowerPoint was a crutch and not a value-added tool like it should be. Ultimately - if your PowerPoint failes in the middle of your speech - you should be able to seamlessly finish your presentation so that hardly anyone notices the failure. You should know your topic that well…!

By: Chris Ng

Chris Ng — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 03:31:04 +0000

Hi there,
The best way to learn Public Speaking is to learn from the “Great Speakers” themselves, like Robert Kiyosaki, Brian Tracy, etc.. As a Pre-Sales Technical Consultant, my previous job required me to conduct seminars and roadshows in different countries in the Asia Pacific region.
I used to think that I’m quite ok as far as presentation is concerned. This is true until I stumbled a site that features all the “Greatest Speakers” in the world, with training at an incredible price!!Today, I’m still watching the video and continue to learn from these world’s “Greatest Speakers” in the delivering of presentation, not to mention about benefiting from the training contents.

For more information, you may want to visit: http://www.greatest-speakers.com

I guarantee you will not regret!!

Cheers ! :-)

By: Igor G

Igor G — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:17:08 +0000

Powerpoint can be your friend, Guy explains how.

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:58:47 +0000

Ed,
You are right. You don’t need a power point. I’ve given several successful presentations without any visuals.

I haven’t seen anyone do that in several years though.

You selection of tools should be based on the audience’s needs.

Thanks much for visiting Ed :-)

By: Ed Barks

Ed Barks — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:08:06 +0000

One other PowerPoint point to be considered even before step #1 above: Think long and hard whether you need to use slides at all. Your audience, message, personal preference, time of day, etc., should all be factored in to your decision. Never, ever default to using PowerPoint during every public speaking endeavor.

And a bit of a different shading on #6: I certainly agree that it takes much practice to make a full text speech sound natural. Yet it does make sense for some speakers in some situations — for example, an experienced speaker who wants to distribute written comments for the record. Here, as with PowerPoint, never select or reject any particular type of format out of hand.

Ed Barks
Author of The Truth About Public Speaking: The Three Keys to Great Presentations
http://www.TruthAboutPublicSpeaking.com

By: Josh Bickford

Josh Bickford — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:40:33 +0000

You should also add that if you aren’t in shape don’t run down the middle isle before you speak–thus being winded for the first 10 minutes of your speech!

I saw a guy do that once and I laughed all the way through what he had to say.

By: Steven Aitchison

Steven Aitchison — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:08:53 +0000

Very timely post for me Steve. I am not great on public speaking yet but it is one of my goals to become much better and some of the points you raised will certainly help, thanks.

By: Groon

Groon — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:52:14 +0000

As a public speaking teacher for a number of years, I have to say you’ve hit pretty much every important nail on the head! I always tell my students that the purpose of the power point is to augment the speach, not the other way around–too often it’s basically a “read this while I read it to you” deal, which is an immediate way to lose your audience. And also about your point of never writing the speech verbatim–I wish every student would follow your advice on that. I always tell my students to memorize their ideas, not their words, because it’s the ideas that are important. Great post!!

By: Craig Harper

Craig Harper — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:28:40 +0000

Great Post Steve!

The last point (#7) is where a lot of presenters fall down. Your audience do not want to read 37 bullet points crammed into one power point slide.

I’ve found that some short videos and pictures are a great way to compliment your presentation.

Keep up the great writing Steve!