Nick R Thomas - A Public Speaker's Blog

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Monday, December 24

The Twelve Public Speaking Tips of Christmas

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Mon 24 Dec 2007 07:57 PM GMT

Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers! web page

Considering the fact that the first post on this blog only appeared in mid-August, I have been delighted with the impact it is already making in terms of traffic, enquiries about work and compliments received about its usefulness to public speakers.

As a Christmas gift to readers who have never picked up a copy at one of my speaking engagements, I am posting my very popular leaflet 'Twelve Tips for Terrified Speakers!' on this site.

Rather than make this a sticky post which would be confusing when included with the other numbered Public Speaking Tips in the blog, I have decided to put it with the other web pages over on the top left as a separate 'crash course!'

Thank you for reading Nick R Thomas - A Public Speaker's Blog in 2007 - I hope it has helped you.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Nick

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The Royal 'I'

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Mon 24 Dec 2007 12:23 AM GMT

The Queen watches her speech alone

An ITV documentary on 25 December celebrating 50 years of televising the Queen's Christmas Day message reveals that she sometimes leaves the room at Sandringham when her pre-recorded speech is being broadcast so she can watch it away from her family and see whether it has come across in the right way.

It is certainly much easier to concentrate alone on watching a film of yourself speaking. Many famous actors hate to watch their performances, even with loved ones; some never watch them at all!

When I started teaching public speaking classes, I was asked by one of my bosses why I didn't video students' presentations and then show these films for the whole class to watch and comment on. My reply was simple: because I wanted them to come back the following week! I know there are presentation skills training firms offering intensive courses which involve using video in this way but I always found that gentler alternatives achieved excellent results - without embarrassing students so much that they dropped out!

I told my students that they would never be asked to do anything more embarrassing than give a short talk in front of a small class who were all 'in the same boat'. I mentioned that they were welcome to tape their own talks in order to study these recordings at home later, along with anything I said, but not the presentations of others present.

Back when I was training as an adult education tutor, I was on a teaching course and a lesson was being filmed. The whole class, including some highly experienced lecturers, clammed up. Then we learned that there had been a fault with the camera so nothing had been recorded - and it was as if a cloud had lifted!

Public Speaking Tip #105: A public speaking course should be challenging enough to greatly improve your presentations but should not embarrass you to the point where you no longer wish to participate. Find out what is involved in any training before you enrol and, if you are happy to meet these challenges, throw yourself into them wholeheartedly for some astonishing results!

Over the years, I have been filmed a few times and have watched - and benefited - from seeing these recordings but I would not have felt comfortable viewing them for the first time in the presence of others. Facing a large audience and speaking for up to an hour is just so much easier than sitting watching yourself for a few minutes with a couple of other people!

Public Speaking Tip #106: It is useful to see a film of your presentation and study and learn from it - in private.

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Thursday, December 20

Wellow, it's me again!

by Nick R Thomas A.L.A.M. (Public Speaking) on Thu 20 Dec 2007 04:25 PM GMT

Chandler's Ford Civil Service Retirement Fellowship

On Tuesday, I completed my last speaking engagement of 2007 and it was for one of my favourite clubs - Chandler's Ford Civil Service Retirement Fellowship. I had spoken there on three previous occasions since 2004 and at my last talk on Good Friday, they booked me for their Christmas lunch at Wellow Golf Club near Romsey. I decided that my new Great Comedy Quiz would be the best choice for this event.

This club is always well attended and there were about 60 members and guests there. After enjoying my fourth turkey meal this month (and my first since the previous evening!), the quiz got under way. I had added some more questions since I tried this out for the first time a few weeks ago, bringing the total to 16, and, with the inclusion of anecdotes, it filled the allotted time perfectly.

Quiz questions have to be chosen carefully; include too many easy ones and the whole exercise becomes pointless, make them all too difficult and people get stroppy! You have to strike the right balance, especially taking into account the age of your audience.

Public Speaking Tip #102: The choice of questions in a quiz can affect the whole atmosphere of the event so you need to put time and effort into this. The results can be well worth it!

Two of the eight tables came top with good scores so I included a tie-breaker.

Public Speaking Tip #103: If you are setting a quiz, have extra questions ready in case of a tie; no-one wants to be joint winner!

I was relieved that, once again, the cough didn't interrupt the talk.

The Chairman gave me a super vote of thanks and when we chatted afterwards, he said how well it worked with me including anecdotes connected with each correct answer. I was also relieved that, once again, the cough didn't interrupt the talk.

I am very pleased with this quiz and I can now set about marketing it for special events, perhaps even annual lunches and dinners where they don't usually book a speaker.

Public Speaking Tip #104: Your list of available titles should include something different such as a quiz so that you can be booked for a wider range of engagements.

There's a bit of extra setting up to do with a quiz and I really must thank the lady who acted as Speaker Hostess for distributing papers, pens, etc, leaving me free to concentrate on my notes.

All in all, a very pleasant end to the year's bookings.

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