Women Empowerment – Workshop 11 (Confident Speaker)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Women Empowerment is provided by Ms. Tull Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
If you would like to view the Client Information Hub (CIH) for this program, please Click Here
Learning Provider Profile
Ms. Tull is a Certified Learning Provider (CLP) with Appleton Greene. She has over 25 years of experience in coaching, consulting and training CEO’s and executives. She specializes in the areas of personal and professional development and leadership. She is passionate about empowering women in the workplace equipping them with leadership skills and helping them to reveal their unique value, so they can reach their true potential and make a bigger impact. She has industry experience in the following sectors: Technology, Financial Services, Biomedical, Consultancy and Healthcare. She has commercial experience in the following countries: United States, Canada, England, Mexico and Sweden. More specifically within the following cities: Austin, TX; Houston, TX; Dallas, TX; Los Angeles, CA; New York City NY; St. Louis, MS; Virginia Beach, VA; Chicago IL. Her personal achievements include 17 yrs. as Founder/CEO of Silverlining Concepts, LLC where she empowers business owners and leaders to own their value and earn their worth, Certified Money Breakthrough Method Coach, Best-selling Author of a book about owning your value, so you can earn your worth in the workplace, Executive Contributor to Huffington Post, Biz Journals and Brainz Magazine, featured on the Brainz 500 Global list 2021. She also is a co-host on a national TV show- that focuses on bringing more light and positivity to the world. Her service skills include; leadership development, executive coaching, business strategy, sales and marketing strategies, mindset shifting and advanced communications and presentation skills.
MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
Standing in Your Power and Becoming a Confident Speaker – Being an effective speaker can help you take your leadership to new heights. This is often an area where many leaders are uncomfortable. Learn how to overcome any fear you may have around speaking in public. You will learn how to stand in your power as the expert that you are, create your own signature story to build likeability and trust with your audience and how to dynamically deliver your message. You will discover the 4 components to a powerful speech/presentation. Finally, you will get access to powerful techniques to help you effectively sell from stage.
Objectives
01. Fear of Speaking: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Your Expertise: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. Signature Story: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Defining Message: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Signature Talk: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Speaking Skills: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Speaking Tips: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Stage Presence: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
09. Speak with Authority: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
10. Gaining Confidence: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
11. Selling on Stage: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
12. Engage and Inspire: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
Strategies
01. Fear of Speaking: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Your Expertise: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. Signature Story: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Defining Message: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Signature Talk: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Speaking Skills: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Speaking Tips: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Stage Presence: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
09. Speak with Authority: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
10. Gaining Confidence: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
11. Selling on Stage: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
12. Engage and Inspire: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
Tasks
01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Fear of Speaking.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Your Expertise.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Signature Story.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Defining Message.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Signature Talk.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Speaking Skills.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Speaking Tips.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Stage Presence.
09. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Speak with Authority.
10. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Gaining Confidence.
11. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Selling on Stage.
12. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Engage and Inspire.
Introduction
More and more business professionals are learning public speaking, and for good reason: delivering a speech at a professional gathering is a fantastic way to establish yourself as an authority in your field and spread your message to a sizable audience.
But those who are new to public speaking understand that speaking in front of a crowd of strangers can be nerve-wracking. Additionally, your authority immediately evaporates when you start to appear uneasy.
That’s why confidence is crucial in public speaking.
The secret to success is speaking with confidence. One of the most essential ingredients for great success in all facets of your life is communication. The more assured you are in your communication skills, whether in work, relationships, or business, the more successful you will be in those areas. Great communication will help you succeed in your quest, whether you are trying to make a point to a new friend or you are speaking in front of a big audience. The quickest path to long-term self-esteem and confidence enhancement is effective communication. One of the finest methods to boost your confidence is to work on your communication skills if you’ve lost it and are wondering how to get it back or you never had it in the first place.
Here is a great example of what speaking with confidence might look like – this is a TedxBrixton Talk with Caroline Goyder:
You must be able to communicate your ideas and views if you want them to be taken seriously. You also need to be assured enough in your delivery and demeanor to respond to any and all inquiries if you want action to be made on something you’ve planned. Your initiative or idea won’t succeed if you are unable to provide an adequate response.
Last but not least, speaking with confidence is crucial if you want to achieve your professional goals. There won’t be a job fairy godmother coming to magically transfer you to the division you’ve always wanted to work in. That has to be accomplished by YOU. Speaking with confidence can make people take you seriously and remember you.
Benefits of Being a Confident Speaker:
Believing in what you say is essential for speaking with confidence. Who else is going to believe what you’re saying if you don’t? In truth, you don’t have to be haughty to make your case and convince others of your validity. However, if you begin the phrase with “I guess” or “maybe,” you will lose the opportunity to boldly state your opinion right away. The easiest method to portray someone who exudes confidence is to be cool under pressure. When you speak shakily, you give off the impression that you lack confidence. For this reason, you must thoroughly prepare before speaking in front of an audience. You will have to just put yourself out there. There is no other way to develop confidence but to face your fear and move forward anyway.
In this workshop, we will address the fear that many have around public speaking and how to combat that fear. You will learn tips and strategies to develop your speaking skills. You will hone in on your expertise. You’ll craft our own personal signature story. We will also help you with your stage presence and how to speak with authority. How to sell on stage and finally how to engage and inspire your audience.
Executive Summary
Being a confident speaker in public is one of the most powerful skills you can possess.
What makes public speaking so important? Everyone runs into situations when public speaking skills are required, thus that’s why. It could happen in your personal life, at work, or in school.
A confident speaker is first and foremost someone who has faith in his or her own head and heart that he or she can make a compelling speech or presentation. Nobody can give you confidence, nor can you purchase it from someone or anywhere. Our previous positive experiences gradually build our confidence, which can then be bolstered and enhanced over time. How do you construct and enhance it? By taking every opportunity to practice. When you first do something, if you goof up or make a mistake, learn from it and keep trying. Keep in mind that even the most well-known speaker once began as a beginner.
Once you develop the skills and with the right amount of practice soon enough, you can hone your skills in front of a select group of trusted professionals. If you don’t have access to a dependable human audience, you can even practice in front of your pet. Anyone who is willing to practice speaking well can achieve this goal.
In the Confident Speaker Workshop, we have all the tools and strategies you need, whether you’re looking for advice on overcoming stage anxiety, trying to hone your public speaking skills, or trying to engage and inspire your audience and gain them as a client.
There are 12 courses (or focus areas) in the Confident Speaker Workshop that will assist in acquiring these skills.
Here’s what we’ll be covering:
1. Fear of Speaking: Speaking with confidence can make people take you seriously and remember you. However, many people are petrified of the thought of speaking in front of a large or even small audience. In this course, we will help you start thinking about what’s holding you back when it comes to speaking and provide you them steps to overcome your fear. Don’t lose your chance to reach your dream career; by letting a foolish limitation that’s based on fear hold you back from getting where you want to go.
2. Your Expertise: Understanding your expertise and the value you have to offer others is an essential part of being a confident speaker. Also, gaining the respect of your coworkers, peers, and clients as well as increased business (consulting engagements, speaking engagements, book deals, etc.) for yourself or your company can all result from being seen as an expert authority in your field. In this lesson you will learn 15 steps to clarify your expertise.
3. Signature Story: A signature story a powerful tool to connect to both current and potential target audiences. During the brief time we have with consumers, brands may win them over with the help of this persuasive and effective format. During this course, you’ll discover what a signature story is, why it’s important and 4 steps to create your own unique signature story.
4. Defining Message: It is impossible to overstate the importance of having a key message that is captivating, succinct, and clear for your presentations. In this lesson, we share explain what a key message is, why it’s significant, and how to how to develop and define your message so that will stick in the minds of your audience and help you succeed.
5. Signature Talk: Developing a powerful presentation that you have skillfully crafted is also known as a Signature Talk. It can be a wonderful way to share your companies vision, educate your audience around a new concept and attract new clients. Within this lesson, we will dive deep on exactly what a signature talk is and all of the components necessary to create your own signature talk.
6. Speaking Skills: The numerous professions that call for the capacity to talk to a group are in high demand for candidates with good public speaking abilities. Employers place a great value on dynamic, well-prepared speakers, and having this skill set may even help you get leadership and critical responsibilities. In this course manual, you will learn more about public speaking, its significance, and specific skills on how to become a better public speaker.
7. Speaking Tips: There are various techniques to overcome nervousness and develop memorable talk. In this lesson, we’ll give you some key tips on public speaking that can help you feel less anxious, bust some myths. You also get access to a few quick exercises will help you develop your abilities, properly prepare, and gain the confidence you need to succeed as a public speaker.
8. Stage Presence: How do you make your “tribe” energetically drawn to you by aligning your message with them? That my friend is Stage Presence! Everyone already has presence, whether it’s positive or negative, so the key is truly to learn how to increase it on stage. During this course you will learn 5 keys to level up your stage presence.
9. Speak with Authority: When you’re in your element, whether it’s in your job or your personal life, you must speak with authority. Your message needs to be delivered with authority and assurance when you speak. In this lesson, we will share the difference between being authoritative vs. aggressive, you’ll learn the 8-step process to speak with authority and discover powerful techniques to improve the sound of your voice.
10. Gaining Confidence: A confident speaker is first and foremost someone who truly believes in his or her own head and heart that he or she can make a compelling speech or presentation. Nobody can give you confidence, nor can you purchase it from someone or anywhere. Our previous positive experiences gradually build our confidence. How do you construct and enhance it? Anyone who is willing to practice speaking well can achieve this goal. Several tips and strategies on how to accomplish this goal are offered in this powerful course manual.
11. Selling on Stage: When it comes to learning sales methods for selling from the stage, there are two things you must comprehend: how to create the ideal offer and how to present it to your audience in a way that motivates them to take action and sign up with you. In this lesson, you will discover the 7 steps to sell from stage like a pro.
12. Engage and Inspire: Each of us present ourselves in one way or another on a regular basis. For example, sharing who you are and what you do, interviewing for a new job or presenting a PowerPoint presentation to a potential client or to your supervisor or board. All of these are great opportunities to shine and catapult your career or business. The key is to make sure that you’re ready to use each opportunity to the fullest and win over your audience. In this course manual, we will uncover how to inspire and engage your audience whether it’s during a talk or while leading your team.
Curriculum
Women Empowerment – Workshop 11 – Confident Speaker
- Fear of Speaking
- Your Expertise
- Signature Story
- Defining Message
- Signature Talk
- Speaking Skills
- Speaking Tips
- Stage Presence
- Speak with Authority
- Gaining Confidence
- Selling on Stage
- Engage and Inspire
Distance Learning
Introduction
Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Women Empowerment corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.
Study environment
You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.
Study tools & rules
Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.
Successful distance-learning
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.
Self-assessment
Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.
Accepting responsibility as a student
Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.
Planning
By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if you feel that you are in control and that things are going to plan. Even when things do go wrong, you are prepared for them and can act accordingly without any unnecessary stress. It is important therefore that you do take time to plan your studies properly.
Management
Once you have developed a clear study plan, it is of equal importance to ensure that you manage the implementation of it. Most of us usually enjoy planning, but it is usually during implementation when things go wrong. Targets are not met and we do not understand why. Sometimes we do not even know if targets are being met. It is not enough for us to conclude that the study plan just failed. If it is failing, you will need to understand what you can do about it. Similarly if your study plan is succeeding, it is still important to understand why, so that you can improve upon your success. You therefore need to have guidelines for self-assessment so that you can be consistent with performance improvement throughout the program. If you manage things correctly, then your performance should constantly improve throughout the program.
Study objectives & tasks
The first place to start is developing your program objectives. These should feature your reasons for undertaking the training program in order of priority. Keep them succinct and to the point in order to avoid confusion. Do not just write the first things that come into your head because they are likely to be too similar to each other. Make a list of possible departmental headings, such as: Customer Service; E-business; Finance; Globalization; Human Resources; Technology; Legal; Management; Marketing and Production. Then brainstorm for ideas by listing as many things that you want to achieve under each heading and later re-arrange these things in order of priority. Finally, select the top item from each department heading and choose these as your program objectives. Try and restrict yourself to five because it will enable you to focus clearly. It is likely that the other things that you listed will be achieved if each of the top objectives are achieved. If this does not prove to be the case, then simply work through the process again.
Study forecast
As a guide, the Appleton Greene Women Empowerment corporate training program should take 12-18 months to complete, depending upon your availability and current commitments. The reason why there is such a variance in time estimates is because every student is an individual, with differing productivity levels and different commitments. These differentiations are then exaggerated by the fact that this is a distance-learning program, which incorporates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program. Consequently all of the project studies are real, which means that important decisions and compromises need to be made. You will want to get things right and will need to be patient with your expectations in order to ensure that they are. We would always recommend that you are prudent with your own task and time forecasts, but you still need to develop them and have a clear indication of what are realistic expectations in your case. With reference to your time planning: consider the time that you can realistically dedicate towards study with the program every week; calculate how long it should take you to complete the program, using the guidelines featured here; then break the program down into logical modules and allocate a suitable proportion of time to each of them, these will be your milestones; you can create a time plan by using a spreadsheet on your computer, or a personal organizer such as MS Outlook, you could also use a financial forecasting software; break your time forecasts down into manageable chunks of time, the more specific you can be, the more productive and accurate your time management will be; finally, use formulas where possible to do your time calculations for you, because this will help later on when your forecasts need to change in line with actual performance. With reference to your task planning: refer to your list of tasks that need to be undertaken in order to achieve your program objectives; with reference to your time plan, calculate when each task should be implemented; remember that you are not estimating when your objectives will be achieved, but when you will need to focus upon implementing the corresponding tasks; you also need to ensure that each task is implemented in conjunction with the associated training modules which are relevant; then break each single task down into a list of specific to do’s, say approximately ten to do’s for each task and enter these into your study plan; once again you could use MS Outlook to incorporate both your time and task planning and this could constitute your study plan; you could also use a project management software like MS Project. You should now have a clear and realistic forecast detailing when you can expect to be able to do something about undertaking the tasks to achieve your program objectives.
Performance management
It is one thing to develop your study forecast, it is quite another to monitor your progress. Ultimately it is less important whether you achieve your original study forecast and more important that you update it so that it constantly remains realistic in line with your performance. As you begin to work through the program, you will begin to have more of an idea about your own personal performance and productivity levels as a distance-learner. Once you have completed your first study module, you should re-evaluate your study forecast for both time and tasks, so that they reflect your actual performance level achieved. In order to achieve this you must first time yourself while training by using an alarm clock. Set the alarm for hourly intervals and make a note of how far you have come within that time. You can then make a note of your actual performance on your study plan and then compare your performance against your forecast. Then consider the reasons that have contributed towards your performance level, whether they are positive or negative and make a considered adjustment to your future forecasts as a result. Given time, you should start achieving your forecasts regularly.
With reference to time management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual time taken in your study plan; consider your successes with time-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; consider your failures with time-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future time planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to time planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your time expectations. You need to be consistent with your time management, otherwise you will never complete your studies. This will either be because you are not contributing enough time to your studies, or you will become less efficient with the time that you do allocate to your studies. Remember, if you are not in control of your studies, they can just become yet another cause of stress for you.
With reference to your task management: time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan; consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case and take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning; re-evaluate your study forecast in relation to task planning for the remainder of your training program to ensure that you continue to be realistic about your task expectations. You need to be consistent with your task management, otherwise you will never know whether you are achieving your program objectives or not.
Keeping in touch
You will have access to qualified and experienced professors and tutors who are responsible for providing tutorial support for your particular training program. So don’t be shy about letting them know how you are getting on. We keep electronic records of all tutorial support emails so that professors and tutors can review previous correspondence before considering an individual response. It also means that there is a record of all communications between you and your professors and tutors and this helps to avoid any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. If you have a problem relating to the program, share it with them via email. It is likely that they have come across the same problem before and are usually able to make helpful suggestions and steer you in the right direction. To learn more about when and how to use tutorial support, please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide. This will help you to ensure that you are making the most of tutorial support that is available to you and will ultimately contribute towards your success and enjoyment with your training program.
Work colleagues and family
You should certainly discuss your program study progress with your colleagues, friends and your family. Appleton Greene training programs are very practical. They require you to seek information from other people, to plan, develop and implement processes with other people and to achieve feedback from other people in relation to viability and productivity. You will therefore have plenty of opportunities to test your ideas and enlist the views of others. People tend to be sympathetic towards distance-learners, so don’t bottle it all up in yourself. Get out there and share it! It is also likely that your family and colleagues are going to benefit from your labors with the program, so they are likely to be much more interested in being involved than you might think. Be bold about delegating work to those who might benefit themselves. This is a great way to achieve understanding and commitment from people who you may later rely upon for process implementation. Share your experiences with your friends and family.
Making it relevant
The key to successful learning is to make it relevant to your own individual circumstances. At all times you should be trying to make bridges between the content of the program and your own situation. Whether you achieve this through quiet reflection or through interactive discussion with your colleagues, client partners or your family, remember that it is the most important and rewarding aspect of translating your studies into real self-improvement. You should be clear about how you want the program to benefit you. This involves setting clear study objectives in relation to the content of the course in terms of understanding, concepts, completing research or reviewing activities and relating the content of the modules to your own situation. Your objectives may understandably change as you work through the program, in which case you should enter the revised objectives on your study plan so that you have a permanent reminder of what you are trying to achieve, when and why.
Distance-learning check-list
Prepare your study environment, your study tools and rules.
Undertake detailed self-assessment in terms of your ability as a learner.
Create a format for your study plan.
Consider your study objectives and tasks.
Create a study forecast.
Assess your study performance.
Re-evaluate your study forecast.
Be consistent when managing your study plan.
Use your Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) for tutorial support.
Make sure you keep in touch with those around you.
Tutorial Support
Programs
Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.
Support available
You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.
Support Process
Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.
Time Management
It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Women Empowerment corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Women Empowerment program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.
Distance Learning Guide
The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.
How To Study
The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).
Tutorial Support
Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Women Empowerment corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.
Tutorial Support Tips
Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.
Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails
Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.
Think about the impression that you want to create
Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.
Remember that quality is preferred to quantity
Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.
Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers
Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.
Keep a record of your tutorial support emails
It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Individual training workshops or telephone support
Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Tutorial Support Email Format
You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.
Subject line of your email
Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.
Main body of your email
Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)
Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.
Question 1
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 3
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 4
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 5
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.
Procedure
* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.
How To Study
Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.
Planning your study environment
Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.
Planning your program objectives
It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.
Planning how and when to study
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.
Planning your study tasks
You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.
Planning your time
You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.
Keeping in touch
Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.
Charting your progress
Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.
Making it work
To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.
Reading methods
Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.
Speed reading
When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.
Content reading
Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.
Making structured notes on the course manuals
When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.
Organizing structured notes separately
You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.
Question your understanding
Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.
Clarifying your understanding
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.
Question your interpretation
Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.
Clarifying your interpretation
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.
Qualification Requirements
The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Women Empowerment corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Women Empowerment Specialist (APTS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.
Women Empowerment – Grading Contribution
Project Study – Grading Contribution
Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%
Qualification grades
A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.
When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:
Pass with merit
A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory
Pass with distinction
An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory
Preliminary Analysis
Opportunity for Change
Being a confident speaker in today’s corporate world is an essential skill set to have to continue to advance in your career and take on more leadership roles. You must be able to communicate your ideas and views if you want them to be taken seriously. There are skills that can be learned that will enable you to stand out, be heard, build credibility, gain respect, and inspire others.
The Women Empowerment Leadership Program is a method of accelerating women’s professional development at work. Women have made significant strides in the workplace, but there is no doubt that they continue to face challenges in climbing the corporate ladder. This program provides the necessary support and tools to ensure that these women have everything they need to succeed. This will in turn benefit the overall growth and profitability of the company.
In Workshop 11 – Confident Speaker, you will learn how to stand in your power as the expert that you are, create your own signature story to build likeability and trust with your audience and how to dynamically deliver your message. You will discover the 4 components to a powerful speech/presentation. Finally, you will get access to powerful techniques to help you effectively sell from stage.
Preparing for the Workshop
Participants are encouraged to continue to show up with an open mind and be ready for a transformation from the inside out. Once again, there will be a lot of mindset work that involves being open to change. You will also need to be ready to learn new skills and start adopting them into your current role in the company.
Be sure to assess your current speaking abilities – this will be helpful before you start making necessary changes to maximize improvement in this area.
Participants should also ensure that they are familiar with the major people-related processes of the company including the current communication processes. The workshop’s goal is not to change these processes, but rather to supplement them with the 5 Step Women’s Empowerment Business Transformation Process (Mindset Shift, Leadership Development, Personal Presence, Advanced Communications Skills and Creating and Implementing an Action Plan) to improve their effectiveness. This workshop falls under the Advance Communication step in the transformation process. Participants should compile a list of their most recent successes and failures in each of these processes. The list will be useful later on when discussing how to integrate the process into the existing model.
It may be advantageous to the participants if these processes are also examined from the perspective of the employees. One or two of the participants should meet with a few key employees to discuss the success of the processes. The effectiveness of these processes, rather than the method itself, should be the focal point of these discussions. When discussing the efficacy of the process, it is critical to consider the outcomes from the perspective of the people it is supposed to help. Ineffective processes, regardless of their efficiency, fail to meet the expectations of the customer. The Women’s Empowerment Business Transformation Process will be able to fill in the gaps discovered by identifying flaws in these procedures.
The Eleventh Workshop in our Women Empowerment Program is Confident Speaker.
How this transformation of this process will be achieved, is by implementation of the following strategies:
1. Learn key steps to overcome the fear of public speaking.
2. Discover 15 steps to clarify your expertise.
3. Identify an easy process on how to create your own signature story.
4. Learn the Core Message Framework used to define your message.
5. Discover the 10 components of a Signature Talk.
6. Identify Top Speaking Skills and how to showcase them.
7. Learn the top tips to prepare your talk and how to powerfully deliver it.
8. 5 Keys to level-up your Stage Presence.
9. Eight steps to speak with authority.
10. Discover 10 tips to becoming a confident speaker.
11. 7 Steps to sell from stage like a pro.
12. Access some great strategies to captivate your audience and 3 L’s to engage and inspire your team.
Preliminary Plan
It’s important to have a plan to start implementing the processes learned throughout the workshop. Here are the steps to get this “project” started.
• Define the scope and objectives. Why is this project being initiated? …
• Define the roles and responsibilities.
• Next, you need to identify the project stakeholders – the ones who are responsible for its success.
• Set milestones and create a timeline.
• Then, it’s time to break down the work that needs to be done into manageable blocks. …
• Hold regular meetings to check in on the progress.
Course Manuals 1-12
Course Manual 1: Fear of Speaking
Chances are you probably already know that people are more likely to have a fear of public speaking or presenting in front of huge crowds than to be afraid of the end of the world, death, or disease. You probably have even looked up advice online on how to quit being so anxious and deliver a stellar speech. If we’re being completely honest, most people would rather have a million bees sting them then give a lecture in front of ten people.
Unless you’re cool with a colleague using your ideas and work because they can speak in front of a crowd… We need to develop coping mechanisms for the failure or attention-related dread that hinders us at work. Determine why it even matters before you can begin to take action. The ability to articulate your ideas and plans in a clear, professional way can mean the difference between getting the promotion you’ve been hoping for and remaining in the same position for the rest of your career, even if you don’t have any plans to become an executive or your goals don’t lean toward becoming a leader.
So why is it crucial to feel at ease doing speeches and presentations? Although the causes may differ depending on your field, you can generally narrow them down to a few factors. The first is that no one will take your carefully crafted proposal or plan seriously if you can’t confidently communicate it. Your audience will stop listening if you stutter, blush, and pick at your nails while attempting to highlight the information on slide 12 that supports your thesis.
You must be able to communicate your ideas and views if you want them to be taken seriously. You also need to be assured enough in your delivery and demeanor to respond to any and all inquiries if you want action to be made on something you’ve planned. Your initiative or idea won’t succeed if you are unable to provide an adequate response.
Last but not least, speaking with confidence is crucial if you want to achieve your professional goals. There won’t be a job fairy godmother coming to magically transfer you to the division you’ve always wanted to work in. That has to be accomplished by YOU. Speaking with confidence can make people take you seriously and remember you.
In this course, we will help you start thinking about what’s holding you back when it comes to speaking. Don’t lose your chance to reach your dream career; by letting a foolish limitation that’s based on fear hold you back from getting where you want to go.
Understanding this Fear
There are many things that frighten individuals. They consist of spiders, snakes, heights, and clowns, in no particular order. The fear of speaking in front of an audience is another. This widespread phobia is more about the feeling of having to pronounce the words than it is about the words themselves.
The fear of public speaking is a common form of anxiety. From mild trepidation to paralyzing fear and terror, it can fluctuate in intensity. Many people who have this phobia either completely avoid public speaking situations or endure them while trembling and speaking shakily. But you can get over your fear if you prepare and persevere.
The Throughline Group found that once the initial nerves pass, this fear quickly dissipates for many presenters. Researchers from Texas Christian University, Amber N. Finn, Chris Sawyer, and Ralph Behnke discovered that speaking-related anxiety for most presenters peaks just before they begin speaking and subsides after the first few minutes.
Others who experience this dread develop chronic, all-encompassing anxiety that makes them avoid any scenario that requires public speaking. This may seriously impede both professional and personal development.
For instance, you might have a fantastic idea yet be too afraid to present it during a meeting. Or you frequently allow others to take the initiative when giving sales presentations.
Case Study: How Common is the Fear of Speaking?
How widespread is the phobia of public speaking? Simply said, very. According to some estimates, as many as 70% of people struggle with some form of public speaking anxiety. The most frequent fear isn’t always shared by everyone, nor is it dreaded more often than death.
For some persons, a more severe social anxiety condition may be linked to their fear of public speaking. According to some academics, between 15 and 30 percent of the general public suffers from this form of speaking anxiety.
In a poll conducted in Canada with close to 500 participants, it was discovered that one-third of the participants experienced significant nervousness when speaking in front of large crowds. One of their biggest concerns was “saying something embarrassing,” along with forgetting what they were going to say and having trouble speaking. Most people who indicated dread claimed they had been afraid of audiences since they were less than 20.
Why Is Public Speaking So Difficult for People?
When we are confronted with a challenging or dangerous circumstance, anxiety is a perfectly natural, automatic, and helpful reaction. It’s what keeps us incredibly vigilant and receptive to dangers. Too much anxiety can be crippling when it comes to public speaking, but the perfect amount can be beneficial.
Find out why you are afraid in order to reduce and manage your fear. Different people experience, develop, and express fear in different ways. It takes a lot of personal effort to get over speaking in front of groups of people.
Your thoughts about yourself, your subject matter, the context in which you are speaking, your audience, or any combination of these variables may contribute to your fear of public speaking. Perhaps you are more prone to anxiety because of some underlying predispositions. Perhaps a well-intended but ultimately damaging criticism that made you question your authenticity is what caused fear to take hold.
The term “communication apprehension,” coined in 1970 by the late professor and communications researcher James McCroskey, is now widely accepted to describe the larger framework in which public speaking anxiety exists.
Four Elements That Fuel Fear Of Public Speaking
Apprehension about talking or even just thinking about communicating with another person or group of people can cause anxiety or panic. According to McCroskey, this anxiety may be present in private, official, or public settings. Furthermore, the environment, such as whether it’s professional or informal, might lessen or intensify the worry or terror.
He came to the conclusion that speaking anxiety is complex and unique to each individual through his studies. To put it another way, feeling uncomfortable in a threatening scenario is a common reaction, but not everyone experiences the same level of anxiety when speaking in front of an audience.
He found four types of anxiousness that affect speakers in different ways.
There is a continuum here rather than set points, and certain speakers are more strongly impacted by one type than the other. You may feel uneasy if you are in an unusual environment or are studying new information, among other things. Your level of anxiousness may also depend on your ultimate objective. It’s completely normal for the tension to increase if, for example, a big speech is at stake.
Here are descriptions of the four types of anxiety:
1. Trait
Do you often make judgments quickly or do you deliberate? Would you rather be with a small group of individuals or a large crowd? Do you prefer familiar haunts or new experiences? The personality traits we’ve acquired along the way often influence how our bodies and minds respond to experiences. According to McCroskey, these psychological traits provide us a hint about how we react to communication in various settings. Due to innate tendencies and taught behaviors, certain public speakers may have difficulty speaking in front of an audience.
2. Context
Speaking in front of 100 or more people for a formal keynote event is never going to happen, even though you might not be concerned about doing so in front of the dozen or so members of your work team. Or it will be a difficult experience if it does. The context is more likely to generate anxiety than audience size or demographics. For example, you might be a relatively composed speaker up until you encounter a novel circumstance, like employing a piece of technology you’ve never used before. Alternatively, you excel in casual circumstances but are afraid to speak up or make a mistake in a more professional one.
3. Audience
Public speakers’ nervousness may be reduced or increased depending on the audience. Perhaps the company of your coworkers would soothe you, whereas the presence of strangers would make you feel more afraid. or the opposite. According to research, the speaker’s level of anxiety can be influenced by their perceptions of audience traits such perceived resemblance, social standing, professional status, and familiarity. Another consideration is audience size. Large audiences might be significantly more intimidating for some people than a small gathering. Others may experience the opposite.
4. Situational
This anxiety frequently refers to the circumstances that come together to produce a particular and singularly nerve-wracking experience. Perhaps there is a loud drum circle going on in the room next to you. Or you start out with a speaker who is confrontational and combative. Alternatively, you must inform your board of exceedingly awful news. Even if you are comfortable with the audience, which normally reduces anxiety, and you are confident in your subject, another aspect could have an impact on your capacity to control your fear in that circumstance.
Common Symptoms Your Fear Of Public Speaking May Bring On:
Shaking and Trembling
Your body may shiver and quake as your level of anxiousness increases. As you take a drink or hold your notes, your hands can start to tremble. You can experience “rubbery” or weak muscles. You might feel dizzy or fear that you’re about to pass out. Even though it feels scary, none of this discomfort is inherently harmful. It’s a normal bodily reaction to the intricate processes your body is going through to deal with the threat.
Excessive Sweating
Sweating prevents us from becoming too hot as our body temperature rises. Your body cools when your perspiration evaporations. Everything is extremely natural. Certain sweat glands begin producing sweat when the body temperature rises. Researchers have discovered that when faced with a stressful situation that causes dread or anxiety, body temperature rises, signaling the body to begin sweating like it does during physical activity or a hot day. Your stress hormones also tell other glands to produce perspiration, so this is an additional factor. Some refer to it as “stress sweat.” This may cause you to develop sweaty hands, shiny foreheads, and moisture buildup across your back and under your arms.
Dry Mouth
You might also experience dry mouth, which is characterized by a dry, itchy, or sticky feeling in your mouth. As if all that trembling, shaking, and extreme perspiration weren’t enough. (Xerostomia is the medical word for this.) In essence, your salivary glands don’t produce enough saliva. You may find it difficult to talk as a result, or your throat may feel sore or dry. While it is generally recognized that certain medical problems, like diabetes and stroke, as well as drugs, can result in it, researchers have shown that stress and anxiety are also important risk factors. This symptom may be lessened by overcoming public speaking fear, as well as by taking a few straightforward steps. Before you speak, drink some water, and keep some on hand for your presentation. Likewise, stay away from acidic and caffeinated drinks, and alcohol, which can worsen the condition.
Increased Heart Rate
Your autonomic nerve system, which is in charge when it comes to a fight or flight response, regulates your heart rate. That system is composed of two pathways: sympathetic and parasympathetic. The former gives you a boost, while the latter puts the breaks on. This cycle enables you to gain the energy required, for example, to run a mile, and then, once you are at rest, to lower your heart rate. It usually happens gradually. However, that “rev up” can feel like going from 0 to 60 mph in a matter of seconds when you are in a threat-filled or high-stress circumstance, such as presenting a presentation. This is what makes your heart rate increase.
Squeaky Voice
Few bodily functions are immune to the impacts of all that cortisol and adrenaline rushing through your body, including your voice. The larynx, or muscles surrounding your voice box, might tense up when you’re under stress. This may cause a voice to “squeak” or crack. It affects the tone of your voice and is referred to as muscle tension dysphonia. To assist presenters in avoiding voices that sound “shaky, squeaky, or choked up,” TED Ideas partnered with speech-language pathologist Jackie Gartner-Schmidt.
Steps to Overcome Your Fear of Speaking
You can conquer your fear if you prepare well and are persistent.
These 10 steps have been proven to be useful:
Know your topic. The less likely you are to err or veer off course, the better you will grasp what you’re talking about and the more passionate you are about the subject. And you’ll be able to find yourself again fast if you do get lost. Spend some time preparing your answers to any inquiries the audience may have.
Be prepared. Plan out your presentation in detail in advance, taking into account any props, audio, or visual aids. Your level of organization will determine how unnerved you are. To stay on course, write an outline on a little card. Visit the location where you’ll be speaking if you can and check out the equipment there before your presentation.
Practice some more, then some more. Several times over, run through your entire presentation. Ask for feedback from a few individuals that you feel comfortable doing it for. Practice with a few people you don’t know well may also be beneficial. Consider recording your presentation so you can watch it afterward and identify where it needs work.
Challenge certain fears. You could overestimate the likelihood of awful things happening when you’re scared of something. Describe your precise concerns. Then, directly refute each worry or the chance that your feared events will occur by listing plausible and alternative outcomes as well as any independent proof.
Visualize yourself succeeding. Visualize a successful presentation. Your negative feelings about how you behave in social situations can be reduced, and some anxiety can be reduced, by thinking positively.
Take a few deep breaths. This has a relaxing effect. Before you approach the podium and throughout your speech, take two or more slow, deep breaths.
Pay attention to your content rather than your audience. People focus more on fresh information than on how it is presented. They might not realize that you’re anxious. If the audience does detect your anxiety, they might support you and want your presentation to go well.
Do not be afraid of silence. It could appear as though you have been silent for an eternity if you lose track of what you’re saying, become anxious, or go blank. It’s probably only a few seconds in actuality. Your audience probably won’t mind a break to reflect on what you’ve said, even if it’s longer. Just inhale deeply and slowly a few times.
Recognize your achievements. Give yourself a high five after your speech or presentation. Although it might not have been flawless, it’s likely that you hold yourself to a higher standard than your audience does. Check to see whether any of your specific concerns materialized. Everyone errs occasionally. Any errors you make should be viewed as a learning opportunity.
Get support. Join a group that provides assistance to those who struggle with public speaking. Toastmasters, a charity with regional chapters that specializes in teaching individuals public speaking and leadership abilities, is one useful tool.
Consider obtaining expert assistance if practice alone is not enough to help you conquer your fear. A skills-based method called cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective in treating those who are afraid of speaking in public.
Public speaking is one of many circumstances where feeling nervous or anxious is normal. Other manifestations of what is known as performance anxiety include stage fright, test anxiety, and writer’s block. However, social anxiety disorder may be present in people with severe performance anxiety that includes significant worry in other social situations (also called social phobia). Cognitive behavioral therapy, medicines, or a combination of the two may be necessary to treat social anxiety disorder.
Working on your public speaking skills will always improves your general leadership and communication abilities, which can result in increased confidence (and more opportunities to show your professional worth).
You are more likely to volunteer to lead that presentation to a prospective client when you are self-assured. Alternately, you might improve your communication skills and respond to your boss’s questions in a clear and straightforward manner. You can better understand your nonverbal cues and read your coworkers, managers, and potential clients.
When you know how to get over your fear of speaking in front of groups, you may use those skills to enhance both your interpersonal and professional communications. At that moment you are asked to share a few words at your parents’ anniversary party, for example, you won’t have to let fear keep you on the sidelines.
Exercise 11:1: Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Course Manual 2: Your Expertise
• Do you want to be known as an expert in your field?
• Does sharing the stage at a conference with other industry experts excite you?
• Do you have the desire to be contacted by the media for a professional comment on a news story?
• How about receive recognition from your peers for your professionalism, leadership, and in-depth understanding of your field?
• Or do you want to be sought out by clients or executive recruiters because of your expertise?
Understanding your expertise and the value you have to offer others is an essential part of being a confident speaker.
Also, gaining the respect of your coworkers, peers, and clients as well as increased business (consulting engagements, speaking engagements, book deals, etc.) for yourself or your company can all result from being seen as an expert authority in your field.
Many people are unaware of how uncommon it is to be acknowledged as an authority right away. My 25 years in coaching entrepreneurs have taught me that the process truly entails a number of processes spread out across weeks, months, and even years. Furthermore, in order for an expert authority to continue to be relevant in our ever-evolving corporate environment, that reputation must be consistently sustained through regular expenditures in personal brand creation.
To put it another way, expertise is something that is developed and nourished over time between a person or organization and a clientele or following (including customers, employees, and other stakeholders).
The process starts with intention—the choice to devote one’s attention to a certain market or niche by putting one’s abilities, knowledge, and experience at its disposal. It takes more than just deciding on a niche and declaring yourself an authority in it. Finding your “why” — the axis between what you’re very excellent at and what you’re passionate about — is what it’s truly all about. “I can only sell what I believe in,” is a common statement we hear from people. What do you think of yourself, then? Because the first step in being an expert is to believe that you are so skilled at something that people would seek out your knowledge to further their own careers or those of their businesses.
“Experts were once amateurs who kept practicing.” – Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
Here are 15 steps for defining, establishing, and promoting your own expertise:
Clarifying Your Expertise
1.) Identify your area of expertise or specialty – You could consider yourself an expert in an area if you attended college to study it (for example, business management, chemistry, or neurology) and/or have worked in that field for a considerable amount of time. However, whether you’re an electrician or a lawyer, there are areas of specialization that further define skill within most professions. You might be good at several things in the field of communications, for instance, but you might excel at corporate communications (e.g., working directly with the C-suite). You might be skilled at installing many different kinds of roofs as a roofer, but building flat roofs is where you really shine. So, let’s begin here: Which three to five of your profession’s specialties do you excel at? Are you better knowledgeable than your peers about any of these topics or a particular practice?
2.) Determine your area of industry expertise – Although I’ve worked with customers from at least a dozen different industries throughout my career—from packaged consumer products and transportation to financial services and transportation—the majority of my clients have been concentrated in just a few industries. One industry, like health care or financial services, is where several of my friends have spent practically their entire professional lives working. What’s it like for you? Exists a certain industry in which you have a lot of experience. Are you also skilled at working with enterprises of a particular scale (small businesses, mid-sized businesses, Fortune 500 companies)? For instance, my neighbor, a controller for small- and medium-sized trucking enterprises, is a CPA by training.
3.) Determine the size of your local market – Geographical markets can be transcended through expertise. For instance, if you are a corporate lawyer with expertise in pre-IPO technology ventures, you might practice your profession almost anywhere in the world. But you can also decide to specialize in a certain region, like for instance J.C., who provides HVAC system expertise to clients in the North Carolina Outer Banks. All of J.C.’s business comes from word-of-mouth because he is known as the go-to guy. This has allowed him to buy a nice property next to a Boston neurosurgeon who visits the area for only a few weeks each year. Or you might reside and work in a smaller market, like Duluth, Minnesota, and decide to expand your knowledge to other surrounding regions in Wisconsin and North Dakota after recognizing that there aren’t enough healthcare facilities in your city or region to support your healthcare IT firm. The objective here is to locate a possible consumer base that will enable you to sustain yourself. Remember that some occupations have restrictions, including the need for a license to practice in a particular state.
4.)Identify your experiential knowledge – Not all expertise can be acquired by going to college and having a profession in the white-collar sector. Consider Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, one of the most well-known extreme skiers in the world, or Bill Sandy, the proprietor of Sandy’s Blackhawk Island, who has made a name for himself as one of the foremost authorities on muskie fishing in the United States and Canada. In the book The Third Door, author Alex Banayan argues why many of the most successful people we know did not take a conventional road to success through in-person interviews with well-known specialists and business leaders like Bill Gates, Qi Lu, Lady Gaga, Quincy Jones, and Jane Goodall. So even if you might be an excellent CPA or nurse, you should consider your skills with drone flying, climbing Colorado’s 14 mountains above 14,000 feet, or collecting 2,000 comic books as knowledge you can impart to others.
5.) Claiming your expertise- One thing you should know about expertise is that it isn’t based on how long you’ve worked in a particular sector or profession. Instead, it is determined by the distance you’ve covered and the number of detours you’ve made along the way. So, absolutely, a 23-year-old can be taken just as seriously as a 50-year-old who has worked in that particular field for the last 25 years as an expert on a certain issue (like social media) based on his or her experiences. Certain individuals have emerged as experts during the past 15 years as a result of the growth of numerous blogs, despite having publicly admitted when they first started their blogs that they knew little to nothing about the issue at hand (e.g., weight loss, running, digital photography, cooking, etc.). Getting the respect, you deserve is a necessary part of asserting your competence. That happens when your peers start to appreciate you in addition to how well-liked you are by your fans. That is frequently put to the test in front of the public while giving a talk, participating in a panel discussion, or in a live interview with a media outlet. It becomes obvious if you are knowledgeable or not in these situations.
6.) Sharing your expertise – Being willing to impart your knowledge and experience is another facet of being regarded as an expert. Because they suppress their expertise and/or refuse to work with others, there are many persons who we would consider experts but who are not. The whole objective of trying to establish oneself as an authority in your profession is your desire to lead by bringing others together to further the body of knowledge in that discipline. In other words, professionals offer. They seek out others (not just new clients) to share their knowledge and ideas in order to add value within their area of specialization. They consider not only the present but also the legacy they want to leave for future generations.
Establish Your Expertise
1.) Increase your social credibility – You need social credibility (or social proof) to be taken seriously as an authority. These are the authoritative traits or components of your personal brand that are accepted by your peers, clients, and other influencers. Depending on your line of work or area of expertise, this could change. A business lawyer might establish their social standing by taking on high-profile cases or by representing blue-chip clients. In relation to other professions, this might entail earning an MBA or a Ph.D. from a prestigious university like Harvard, Cambridge, or McGill, as well as publishing an article or research paper in a peer-reviewed publication based on your own unique research. For advertising experts, it might represent a campaign’s success in receiving a significant advertising prize. Working on a significant political campaign is frequently required of political advisors. Other professionals, like an HVAC specialist I know, increased their social standing by watching HVAC training videos on YouTube. A financial advisor improved her reputation by publishing a book and participating in a local radio program where listeners could ask her questions. Take a critical look at how other professionals in your industry attained the authority-speaking social capital they required.
2.) Find other authorities in your industry or profession – There will be a wide range of experts, including well-known ones, less well-known ones, and many in between. Determine your position among current experts and begin to build relationships with them. Even though you might compete with some of these individuals for clients or thought leadership (the adoption of ideas and concepts in the marketplace), the truth is that you and other professionals in your field share a common goal: elevating your profession or business. And that happens as a result of cooperation, knowledge sharing, and the development of new standards.
3.)Recognize what’s coming up – The top specialists in your area don’t simply consider today; they also consider tomorrow and even a very distant future. They apply their knowledge with a futurist attitude. They look for patterns and trends that will have a significant impact on upcoming advancements in their specialized field. They constantly learn new things and push the boundaries of curiosity. For instance, a knowledgeable intellectual property lawyer might be intrigued enough to inquire about the legalities of a future invention created by a robot powered by artificial intelligence or whether the U.S.’s intellectual property laws would apply to a future invention created by an American residing on Mars or the Moon.
4.)Build a platform to stand out from the crowd in the face of the abundance of expertise – How? by creating a distinctive platform from which to communicate your knowledge. Examine your profession or industry in detail. What do you notice that others don’t? Any patterns emerge? If you had the ability to change something, what would you do? Where does the threat reside? Are the alerts necessary? Spend some time writing out your opinions so that you may contrast them with what other professionals in your area are saying. To support your ideas and your own method of approaching your area, conduct your own research if necessary.
5.) Assume leadership responsibilities – Experts assume leadership responsibilities within their professions, industries, and communities. They act as spokespersons for their field, their neighborhood, or the causes they support. In addition to mentoring, they serve on boards and committees. They develop the interpersonal connections necessary to share their knowledge and work together with their peers through leadership.
Promote Your Expertise
1.)Express your ideas – Once you’ve established your distinctive points of view (POVs), start sharing them with your peers, clients, and potential clients. LinkedIn, which allows users to submit articles through LinkedIn Pulse, is one of the simplest venues to begin doing this. Consider posting blog posts on Medium or your company’s blog as well as brief messages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. At some time, you might wish to start your own blog to share your thoughts and skills, look for speaking engagements at conferences and meetings in your field, and provide webinars or seminars that let you impart your knowledge. Note: Don’t equate being acknowledged as an authority with the contemporary concept of influencer (someone with a large social media following). You don’t need a sizable social media following to be a highly sought-after expert.
2.) Speak on Stage – Public speaking is a fantastic way to enhance your own brand or even the reputation of your company. Public speaking is a fantastic method to share your knowledge and demonstrate your expertise and ideas. It distinguishes you in that business as a voice of reason and trust, and it’s a terrific opportunity to network and expand your relationships.
3.) Write a book – To solidify their expertise (their way of thinking or unique point of view) and expand their marketing platforms, many experts write and publish books. Being an author and having published a book remain highly regarded indicators of social standing. A book gives you the chance to stake out your area of expertise while laying the groundwork for further content (white papers, videos, and articles) that can be leveraged to draw in new readers. A book also presents a chance to attract media attention, lecture engagements, and social media posts.
4.) Seek editorial coverage from a third party – Author and sales specialist Bob Burg writes in his book Endless Referrals that, “all other things being equal, individuals conduct business with those they know, like, and trust.” Let’s focus on the word “know” in the first sentence. People won’t like and trust you, and eventually conduct business with you, if they don’t know about you and your skills. Experts must expose themselves to the public and offer their knowledge for this reason. Making yourself accessible to media outlets, especially bloggers, who are looking for knowledgeable sources of information, insights, and informed opinion for the stories they share with their audiences, is one of the most effective methods to achieve this. By doing this, you can establish connections with media figures like bloggers, editors, and reporters.
5.) Create a community – As you gain recognition, favor, and trust for your knowledge, you will create a group of supporters with whom you may interact directly on “owned” media (a blog, social media pages, or an e-newsletter whose content you control). Focus your efforts on developing an opt-in email list of people who are interested in receiving information and insights straight from you to hasten this process (vs. through a third party). If you’re unsure of where to begin, make a small list of the people you do business with, and then start by posting articles or videos you’ve made that you think will benefit their lives. This list may eventually develop into an official, opt-in email list that you may use to send out warnings or a daily, weekly, or monthly e-newsletter (e.g., corporate attorney sends alerts to people on her email list about new SEC regulations). Creating a blog is an effective strategy to communicate with your expanding fan base by providing free information on significant themes and issues.
The first step in a lengthier process that involves developing your own brand is to create your expertise. Your personal brand’s foundation, or “bricks,” is what will enable you to draw in and keep a growing fan base of people who value your thought leadership and are willing to share it with their network. After all, people identify you by the people you hang out with and the opinions you share.
Exercise 11:2: Share Your Expertise
1. Have each member of the group share what their expertise is.
2. Then have them share at least 2 ways (out of the 5 ways they learned in this lesson) they will promote it!
Course Manual 3: Signature Story
Every life has a story, and each story has the power to alter it.
Utilizing storytelling is something important for every leader, company, or organization to do.
A signature story a powerful tool to connect to both current and potential target audiences. During the brief time we have with consumers, brands may win them over with the help of this persuasive and effective format.
Watch this short video with Jennifer Aaker that demonstrates the power of creating personal signature stories:
It takes thought, study, and time to craft a signature story that will have a lasting impact on everyone who reads it. You must understand precisely what a signature story does and how it is written to do this.
Your “signature story” describes the REASONS FOR YOUR ACTIONS. In addition, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it,” as Simon Sinek so eloquently puts it.
People relate to your work’s essence or purpose — your mission, vision, or raison d’être — much more than they do to your technical knowledge.
What Exactly is a Signature Story?
For a very long time, signature stories have been a crucial component of both individual and corporate branding. Author of “Creating Signature Stories: Strategic Messaging That Energizes, Persuades, and Inspires,” brand strategist David Aaker, defined the idea.
An intriguing, genuine narrative that supports or conveys a strategic message that clarifies or improves the brand vision, customer relationship, organizational values, and/or business strategy is known as a signature story. Data points and statistics do not define the signature story. It may include or convey facts, but it does so within the framework of the narrative, according to Aaker. Strong messages are made in iconic stories, but they are accomplished through stirring up emotions and showcasing momentous, paradigm-shifting events.
The signature story is a tactical tool for businesses to leverage any point of their journey to guide and inspire people both internally and externally.
A personal story relates the tale of what occurred to modify, define, or alter the trajectory of your life and/or work, and it may or may not be dramatic. These are the experiences or moments that have molded who you are, challenged your strength, will, and imagination, or stoked your enthusiasm.
Signature stories work as manifestations of potential, instances of creative action, or fresh starts. They make it easier for your audience, clientele, or “tribe” to relate to you as they shed light on the reason(s), cause(s), or conviction that motivates you to carry out excellent work, which in turn can motivate others.
Why are Signature Stories Important?
Today, transparency is a vital and necessary component for brands. Before starting the purchasing process, many prospective and existing consumers want to learn everything they can about a company, its products, and services. According to a study by Stackla, 86% of consumers feel authenticity is crucial when choosing which brands to enjoy and support. Brand content plays a significant role in determining that.
Companies can satisfy this demand for openness by disclosing pertinent information about themselves, releasing reports on their activities and projects, providing details on their goods and services, and so on. All of those are significant. But none of those are signature stories.
Those product sheets and information are static; however, your company is a dynamic entity with a wealth of narratives. Use the who, what, why, where, and how questions to help your audience understand your business. The hallmark story provides an engaging response to these queries while also highlighting the goals and values of your company.
Signature stories can boost your brand’s external exposure and vigor. It goes without saying that on all digital platforms, a good tale will keep practically anyone’s attention (even if they aren’t your target demographic). Strategically chosen emotive elements are used in signature stories to cut through the clutter and noise.
Just a few scenarios when you need a signature story:
• In times of crisis, change the conversation.
• Promote your company’s strategic message.
• Assist you in establishing reputation and trust in the field.
Beyond just being a good story, your unique tale accomplishes more. It’s a differentiator that ties information to feeling while fostering brand loyalty in your audience.
Three Components of an Effective Story
Three fundamental components make up the hallmark story: it is genuine, it engages the audience, and it is connected to strategy.
Authenticity
The success of a story depends on authenticity. Nobody is interested in reading a tale that is false, manufactured, or created solely to promote a service or item. The unedited, essential reality behind-the-scenes stuff that the audience and customers seek is revealed in a great hallmark tale.
Don’t tell, show
You want to be drawn into a story when reading it. You want to experience every action and feeling the author experiences while reading the novel. A fascinating circumstance with conflict, a watershed moment, and a revelation that resulted in the brand as it is known today should be the focus of the signature story.
“A well-told Signature Story illustrates how your personal or business brand in part came into being through fate, fortune, coincidence or grace” explains Karen Tiber Leland.
This tale should, in most situations, inspire you to act in some way. Remember that having your audience retell and share your hallmark tale is one approach to motivate them to take action. No matter the media, make your tales simple to share so that your audience can speak out for you.
Strategic stories
If your signature story is unrelated to the tactical message you want to deliver, it will fall flat. While flawless stories are entertaining, they must also raise your brand, foster closer connections with your audience, or make the brand’s goal clear. Would the reader comprehend your brand’s purpose and goals if you explained them?
You can create a memorable story that will withstand the test of time with these three elements.
Case Study: Someday Is Not on the Calendar – Barbara Edie’s Signature Story
https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/whats-your-signature-story
You could say 1988 was the year that I lived like there was no tomorrow.
It had nothing to do reckless spending, learning to sky dive or being diagnosed with a rare, intractable disease; it had everything to do with making myself available… for life at full speed and spending time with those I loved, doing the things I loved.
We hear a lot about living in the present, embracing the moment and the power of now, yet often neglect to put the theory into practice; 1988 was my opportunity to change that …forever. The events of that year brought home the “power of now” with all the subtlety of a car accident—more accurately, two car accidents.
In February, a close encounter with a moving car brought life’s fragility to my attention. I was hit at a pedestrian crosswalk by a 16-year-old driver who passed a van, which had stopped to allow me to cross the wide boulevard of Portage Avenue. I bounced off the hood of her car like a bad dismount from a trampoline, was thrown about 15 feet from the point of impact and landed, smashing my right knee on the pavement. I was conscious throughout the entire “flight” and miraculously had no head injury or other fractures.
The ER doctor told me I could have been killed … I knew that. But a last-minute action-hero-inspired-instinct to leap on the car’s hood probably saved my life, and certainly my legs.
Shaken but awakened by the incident, I didn’t let a battered knee and some crushed cartilage keep me from a winter escape to California with my 23-year-old sister and my sixty-something father.
That was my second winter escape with my sister, after a thrilling week in New York City where I took her (for the first time) as a belated Christmas gift.
Later in the fall, she and I rendezvoused with some of her friends in Montreal for an Amnesty International concert and a few days of old-world charm in Vieux Montreal. There’s a photo of all of us overlooking the city from Mount Royal, looking like college kids filled with optimism and standing at the top of the world. That scene is forever etched in my mind.
My adventures that year with my younger sister in New York City, California and Quebec marked 1988 as a year to remember – the months imbued with a feeling of endless celebration and joie de vivre. We were living large, living in the moment, and enjoying the languorous luxury of time without taking it for granted.
In November, we took a weekend road trip to visit our older sister Elaine for a quiet family celebration with a rural setting and home cooking.
On the highway home, in a pitch-black November night, my sporty Toyota Celica was hit head-on, and crushed, by a drunk driver. I survived; my younger sister did not. She died instantly, six inches from my side, in the passenger seat.
Looking back, I realized that I seized every opportunity that year to celebrate life, and all its opportunities. It was as if I had some advanced notice, if only subconsciously, that 1988 would be the best year available to live flat-out, laugh loudly, travel widely, and cherish each moment with loved ones… like they might be my last.
Nineteen eighty-eight was the year that my younger sister and I made ourselves available for the people, places, and things that we loved.
We didn’t just read about being in the present, we lived it.
We said “Yes!” to everything the universe sent our way; we set dates, booked the time and, most importantly, showed up.
“Someday” was not on our calendar.
4 Steps to Create Your Own Unique Signature Story
Even though the components of a signature story may appear simple, writing one of these stories is difficult. Strategic, genuine, and compelling tales must be developed and communicated over time. Additionally, some brands are unsure of the stories they ought to be telling in the first place, let alone how those tales might move audiences and communicate the brand’s mission, values, and strategy.
How do you turn the narrative and values of your brand into content that is interesting, motivating, and easy to read? Here are a few guidelines for creating a successful signature story.
1. Begin by asking questions related to your “why.”
This is an essential step in crafting your narrative. All the necessary, occasionally juicy information that will give your story authenticity and compulsion may be found here.
Think about it:
• What motivated this business or brand? Why is this company so committed to its cause or mission?
• What distinguishes this company from your forerunners, contemporaries, and successors?
• What about your company’s name, goods, or services will meet the demands of the target market you’re aiming to draw in?
• What drives you- what is your why?
These are just a handful of the many possible questions, but they offer a wonderful starting point for understanding the story’s main idea. These inquiries without relying on dry factual statements also connect your unique story to the marketing strategy.
2. Find the Heroes in the Story
There are two approaches to find the heroes in your story. Either the consumer or the employee might be highlighted as the hero.
The value proposition of your business might be intimately related to the consumer being portrayed as the hero. This strategy puts the demands of the customer first, enhances their experience, and highlights their favorite interactions with your business. For instance, Dove has positioned client experiences at the center of their advertisements for decades. Instead of starting with a pitch for beauty goods, Dove’s “Beauty Sketches” and “Men Care” campaigns focused on the inner lives of women and fathers, respectively.
The value of the individuals who power your company’s success is demonstrated by portraying your staff as heroes. Your unique tale will be more memorable and will tie directly to organizational principles if you concentrate on them as individuals. Zappos.com, an online shoe retailer, is one illustration of this. Its catchphrase focuses on its basic values and tells tales of how its employees have lived up to those values.
3. Evaluate, Discover, and Nurture Your Story
Even while we all strive to write the ideal story in a single sitting, it doesn’t always happen. It’s not necessary for your first draft to be flawless; rather, it should serve as a foundation from which you can edit, modify, or start over.
Before spending additional work on their improvement, test your unfinished stories to see if they are worthwhile. A professional editor will be able to show you what’s working, what isn’t, and how to proceed in this situation.
Heroes are important, whether they are customers or employees, as we just discussed. And this is where you check to make sure you’ve properly featured those heroes. Your hero is the subject of seven questions from Robert Rose, the last of which is “What is the truth?” As we’ve spoken about, a distinctive story needs to be real, which means your hero must experience and represent the central truth or the heart of the matter.
The best stories don’t just happen. They are created through a procedure, according to Aaker. To learn more about what draws people in and what turns them off, consider other famous tales. And have patience: To produce a high-caliber final result, you must nurture your story throughout the process.
4. Recognize the Components That Hinder Your Story
Keep in mind that your signature story should be engaging, real, and true. Leading with brand-related facts and figures does not constitute a signature story. However, your audience is searching for a distinctive story, not a distinctive statistic. Those data can support or add to your narrative.
Facts “do not capture attention, generate social activity, convince or inspire,” according to Aaker. Keep in mind that there are other ways to communicate your business other through signature stories. Raw data and in-depth statistics have their uses, but not in this context. The distinctive story has a unique format and components. Pay attention to some and disregard the others.
Don’t overdo it in the opposite direction either. Falsehoods and exaggeration won’t increase the impact of your distinctive tale. In actuality, they undermine the fundamental idea of authenticity. According to Aaker, “the tale and its message should have substance behind it in the shape of programs, policies, or transparency that support it.” When your most famous story is so dramatic that it can’t stand up to scrutiny, you can’t do that.
Exaggeration contradicts the objective of being genuine and open with your audience unless it is a true part of your story.
5. Make sure your signature story is solid.
You should edit your signature narrative one last time for big-picture concerns as well as for spelling, grammar, and other errors, just like you would with any other piece of material. Ask yourself the following questions before publishing:
• Is it a story? Does it have a narrative with a beginning, middle and end?
• Is it intriguing? Does it capture attention?
• Is it authentic? Do all the elements feel real?
• Is it involved? Does it draw people in or make them care?
The motivation behind your brand’s actions is revealed in your signature story. Keep in mind to take your time, experiment with different perspectives, and nurture it to tell an engaging story that has the desired impact.
Exercise 11:3: Brainstorm Signature Story Ideas
Course Manual 4: Define Message
It is impossible to overstate the importance of having a key message that is captivating, succinct, and clear for your presentations. In this lesson, we share explain what a key message is, why it’s significant, and how to how to develop and define your message so that will stick in the minds of your audience and help you succeed.
In the beginning of their careers, business professionals frequently struggle to develop genuinely compelling messaging to explain what they are providing, which has a significant influence on their capacity to raise capital, attract clients, and retain personnel. This is understandable considering how challenging it can be to create excellent messaging that is clear and compelling.
Conversely, in the lack of a clear message, in a presentation leads to a series of missed opportunities to reach your target audience, which results in a waste of time and money.
What is a main message?
It is a well-known reality that the majority of what you or any other presenter conveys in a presentation is only partially remembered by the audience. Making every effort to guarantee that your audience retains the most critical message from your presentation—your main point—is therefore imperative. They can read your handout later to learn the rest.
A key message is a succinct, no longer than 15-word, statement that captures the essence of your presentation. If people are only going to remember one thing from your presentation, you want them to remember the message. It must be concise, straightforward, and ideally compelling.
The Value of Powerful Messaging
Why is a compelling main message essential to your presentation’s success?
You should have a clear statement about what you are selling for two reasons:
If you don’t have a clear, engaging message, people won’t bother to learn more, which is important if you want to engage with consumers, investors, future workers, the press, etc. They won’t invest the time to research your product, fall in love with it, and spread the word about it. Furthermore, the market will create its own version of your product that may not reflect your vision if you don’t control how people perceive it.
Every interaction a customer or potential customer has with your brand will influence how they see you. Each of those touch points must convey the same information; this is crucial.
The full alignment of your team is ensured when you develop a clear brand message. By doing this, everyone starts to go in the same direction, tell the same story, and give customers consistent points of contact.
Therefore, if your presentation doesn’t have a compelling main message, stop, and don’t continue. There is a very good likelihood that you will be wasting your time.
The decision of what information to include or exclude from your presentation or speech must be made each time you draft one.
A powerful core message will serve as a filter or firewall to protect the presentation’s content, making the process of choosing that information much simpler and more effective.
In fact, the first indication of a strong main message is how simple it is for you to determine what to include or exclude from your presentation; if you find yourself debating whether a particular topic belongs there, your main message is insufficient. When that happens, you must return to the drawing board and improve your core point.
Consequently, a focused main message will enable you to:
1. Make sure that your message, product, solution, information, etc., will be remembered by your audience.
2. Simplify the process of choosing ideas and points of support for your speech or presentation.
How can you develop a compelling main message?
After years of assisting clients in developing powerful core messages, it has been discovered that the following scenario is the easiest to picture: As you prepare to begin your presentation, you learn that a significant audience member must leave. “Before I die, you have 10 seconds to tell me the one thing that is the keystone of your presentation today,” he or she adds as they walk out of the room. Your message must also be razor sharp.
Make your message explicit and simple to understand. Say just one thing, nothing more, to convey your message clearly. Talk to your audience’s wants and dreams in order to produce a captivating message.
Is the main message the same thing as the major foundational phrase?
Both terms are frequently confused, however they are not always the same. The purpose of a fundamental phrase is to help your audience recall your core point during your presentation, not to explicitly filter the information you’re providing. The filter is the main idea, while the fundamental phrase is a mnemonic.
Having said that, you might utilize a foundational phrase so that your main message is powerful, memorable, and sticky.
What Your Key Message Should Consist Of
Your key messages should accomplish the following:
• Express the key concept you want folks to comprehend and keep in mind regarding your offer.
• Resonate with the target audience so they pay attention and perceive the importance of what you are saying.
• Clearly and succinctly express what you need to say, such as what you stand for, why you are unique, what value you provide, what issues you resolve, etc.
Depending on the identity of the organization and what it hopes to achieve through the communication, the message’s voice, tone, and style may differ significantly. The main messaging and the construction of marketing communication artifacts are dependent on all of these components.
Start with the Basics – Who, What and Why?
The first step in developing a message is to research the objectives of the organization. To verify the results that the messaging is intended to contribute to review the company’s goals, objectives, and marketing plan. Because positioning establishes the groundwork for what the organization intends to say, refer to any related positioning statements the organization has created. It’s a good idea to assess any brand-platform content as you construct your messaging because it can support the organization’s identity, voice, and values.
Then, confirm who the target segments and stakeholders are for the messaging: who are they? Depending on which aspects are most crucial or persuasive for the audience, some messaging establishes distinct sets of key messages for various target audiences. For instance, when a company’s executives must make a public statement regarding weak quarterly earnings, they create distinct core messages for investors, employees, and customers. All of these messages are connected to one another, but the most crucial ones for employees may differ from those for investors.
Choose the important concepts and words you want people to associate with your business, offering, or products. These terms and expressions might be used frequently in the messaging you create to make it stand out and identify your company. In order to learn what key themes, words, and concepts other firms are employing, you need also do a competitive messaging analysis. You should strive to sound unique in your messaging.
Draft Message Statements
Write your essential message statements while keeping your audience and goals in mind. What would be the most important points you might convey to your intended audience? You should keep the following criteria in mind as you compose these message statements.
The main points should be:
Concise: Key message statements should be easy to understand and should not exceed one phrase in length.
Simple: The language used in key messaging should be understandable to target audiences. Acronyms, jargon, and overly poetic or official-sounding language should all be avoided.
Strategic: Your organization’s core messaging should distinguish who you are and what you stand for while defining your value proposition or major advantages.
Convincing: Information that is believable, significant, and fosters action should be included in messaging. Instead of using passive language, messages should be direct and dynamic.
Relevant: The audience should care about the key messages; they should convey helpful, relevant information that the audience finds appealing on both a logical and emotional level.
Memorable: The most important ideas should remain in the mind, making it simple to recall the impression they leave.
Customized: Messaging must effectively reach the target audiences it is meant for. This means that the messaging should take into account the specific requirements, priorities, problems, language, relationship to the business, and other distinguishing characteristics of the target audience that may assist the messaging better connect with that group.
A piece of advice: As you create the first draft of your essential points, don’t stress too much over word choice. Get your first ideas down on paper as soon as possible, and as you work to improve the wording, go back, and compare them to the aforementioned standards. Don’t worry about trying to cover a complete page; you only need one to three well-written assertions for your important themes.
Create a Framework for Messaging
Prioritizing and structuring your first selection of important messages into a structure that enables you to tell a cogent story is helpful once you have written them. For this, marketers employ a wide range of various frameworks. Below is a diagram that shows a straightforward, industry-standard messaging structure know as your Core Message Framework.
The brand promise, positioning statement, and target audience are important messaging elements that were previously covered in this section. By including these components in the messaging document, it will be simple to identify any discrepancies or validate any alignment between the organization’s values, the target audience, and the daily talking points (the main message and message pillars) (as expressed in the brand promise and positioning statement).
Sometimes referred to as an elevator pitch, the main message. Imagine it as the one to three phrases you would say to a person in your target audience if you just had a minute to speak to them in an elevator. You have a limited amount of time to convey the main points. Determine the most crucial concepts as you go over the original key messages you drafted. Refine them into a succinct sentence that communicates your main point.
Determine one to three messaging pillars that advance the main message in order to support it. The main benefits that the value proposition offers are often the messaging pillars in an elevator pitch that expresses a value proposition. The messaging pillars are the main arguments that the target audience should agree with when a position is being stated in the elevator pitch. Review the original messages you created in order to determine your messaging pillars. It’s possible that some of those pillars or points of support for your main point are covered in your earlier work.
Then, identify at least three compelling proof points, or justifications for why the target audience should believe what you are saying, for each message pillar. Proof points can be derived from a number of sources, including precise statistics or data points from research or your client base, product features and the advantages they provide, customer success stories, and so on. They serve as support for your arguments and lend authority to the words you want to spread.
The proof points also offer ideas for marketing material such as case studies, white papers, advertisement copy, and so forth as marketers transform messaging into marketing communication artifacts. They provide more information to support the narrative you are conveying to your target audience (s).
Finally, be sure to add a call to action. When you provide your target audience a call to action, you are telling them what to do after they have heard and understood your words. Typically, the verb is imperative: Sign up today. Try out this novel item. Take a trip here. Vote for this candidate. Choosing a broad call to action that specifies the behavioral change you want to inspire in your target audience will be helpful, even though each individual marketing communication item you develop for an IMC campaign may have its own unique call to action.
This call to action plays a crucial role in ensuring that the communications effectively persuade the target audience to alter their behavior and take the desired action. You should review your messaging and make it more engaging if it doesn’t seem to be compelling enough to get people to act.
The main goal of message framework is to ensure that everything you say ultimately connects to the key ideas you want audiences to understand and hold dear about you. Check for alignment at each level as you examine and complete your message architecture. The architecture’s many layers should support and be consistent with one another. Work to improve the messaging if you find any disconnects to ensure good alignment.
Refine Your Work
Set your message architecture aside for a few days after you’ve finished it. then revisit and go over the next checklist. Where necessary, revise and improve.
Use these areas as a guideline:
Alignment: Double-check the alignment of your messaging. Make that the messaging framework’s various layers are all coherent with one another.
Hearts and Minds: Determine where your messaging is effective on an emotional level in comparison to where it is effective on a rational level. It must captivate both in order to motivate a change in behavior.
Strategy: Verify that your organizational, marketing, and brand strategies are supported by the messaging. It isn’t doing its job if it isn’t leading you further down those roads.
Differentiation: Consider your competition when you review your messaging. Your messaging should be distinctive and convey ideas that only you can legitimately claim. More than just “me, too” catch-up to the competition should be the goal.
Tone: Your language should sound conversational and natural when you read your messages aloud. Your messaging should be authentic, sounding as though it truly originates from your company and the individuals that represent it.
Clarity: If any of your messaging seems hazy or ambiguous, see if you can restate it in a clearer, more direct manner. People who hear the message should have no trouble understanding what you intend.
Inspiring: Motivating and inspiring your target consumers to act is what your messaging should do. If it isn’t compelling enough to accomplish that, you must strengthen it.
Once your messaging framework is complete, test the messages with coworkers, internal stakeholders, and people of your target segment (s). This can be done professionally using marketing research methodologies or informally by testing the messages in conversations to see if they elicit the desired response. Through testing, you can identify what is working and where there is space for improvement quickly.
See Example Using Framework Here:
Exercise 11:4: Draft a Message Statement
1. Have the group pair up with a partner. Have them draft a message statement together around a particular product or service that your company offers.
2. Use the guidelines found within this course manual to ensure your message is strong.
3. Have the teams share their message with the group
Course Manual 5: Signature Talk
Developing a powerful presentation that you have skillfully crafted is also known as a Signature Talk.
The concept of a signature talk has only been around for 5 years or so. It can be a wonderful way to share your companies vision, educate your audience around a new concept and attract new clients.
In this lesson, we will dive deep on exactly what a signature talk is and all of the components necessary to create your own signature talk.
So. what exactly is a Signature Talk?
A signature speak is NOT a speech or a pitch. It is a business tool to attract customers. Your main business presentation, your trademark talk contains your brand’s fundamental message, themes, point of view, and story. It’s what you want to be recognized for, a way to establish your expertise, and a way to market your goods and services. This should be a staple in your personal marketing toolkit that you use to grow my list, introduce who you are and what you do, to new programs, and sign-up new customers.
How might a Signature Talk help you succeed?
When you deliver a hallmark speak, you establish your authority on the subject. In the room, you quite literally stand out. People think of you. delivering a trademark speech
• increases your visibility
• expands your list
• more individuals are exposed to your message
• gives you the chance to introduce your products and services to new customers.
• Additionally, all of these items will enable you to increase your company’s revenue.
Sharing your signature talk will present you with so many opportunities. This can lead to receiving requests for interviews and invitations to speak at additional gatherings. Your marketing becomes streamlined with a signature talk. There are numerous applications for it, ranging from live events, tele classes, online summits, interviews and more.
10 Key Components of a Successful Signature Talk
Everyone wants to come across positively, establish a connection with others, and perform flawlessly in whatever presentations they give at work or in public in general. Some people are excellent at it, while others struggle because they lack the necessary training and experience or, worse still, never ever attempt it out of fear as we discovered in course manual 1 of this workshop.
Before discussing how to start your talk, how to keep the audience interested throughout, and other topics, we must first discuss planning. A great presentation requires careful planning in order to be successful (like many things in life).
1.WHAT ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS GO INTO PLANNING YOUR STELLAR TALK?
• Learn about your audience
• Choose a relevant topic
• Have your Signature Story ready to go! (Course Manual 11:3)
• Know your Key Message (Course Manual 11:4)
• Organize the delivery process from beginning to end.
• Create a brief outline.
• Prepare some thought-provoking quotes and examples.
• Practice and practice some more!
• Finish within 10% of the time given for the Real Presentation.
• Be familiar with the location.
• Before beginning the delivery, get there early and test all the technology.
2. OPENING AND DEBUT
Your presence on stage will be established, and a successful entry will provide you energy and a strong connection with the audience.
Most presentations are frequently judged on how well they start; rarely will an audience be interested in what you have to say if they have already formed a poor impression of you.
Make a statement and start out large! You will be seated backstage, either at the foot of the stage or at the back, before going on stage.
When it’s your turn, walk confidently onto the stage without taking it too easy or too quickly, and make eye contact with the crowd as soon as you can (we will explain to you why this is crucial in a moment).
We suggest that you make your way to the center of the stage and gather yourself by counting to 3 in your head before you begin.
3. SHARE VALUABLE INFORMATION
Speaking about what you know so well that you feel comfortable doing so is the first thing that will ensure you have a successful presentation.
To prepare for your presentation, write down a few ideas that are brief and logically connected; this is the outline’s structure, which you should memorize.
In order to keep your attention, each of these topics needs to be understandable enough to be covered in less than 10 minutes.
4. PRESENTATION STYLE
Your story can be told in a variety of ways. Some people prefer to compose a text and read it out, especially if they are uncomfortable speaking in front of an audience. Others prefer to compile a list of topics they want to discuss.
Some public speakers can even make presentations without using notes.
5.GOOD ARTICULATION OF IDEAS
As you do presentations, you will learn the necessary skills to be a competent speaker. In addition to delivering your topic, you also need to sell yourself. Even if you’re not fully convinced, act confident in front of the public.
Being a great speaker necessitates some level of familiarity with the subject matter; failing to have anything to say is unhelpful. For this reason, we usually suggest beginning by establishing the main point.
Make sure the words you use are appropriate for your audience by paying attention to how you use them. Use their language while speaking to young people, for instance.
Depending on their hobbies, choose terms that will catch their attention; Be genuine in all you say, and avoid using slang.
6. CONNECT WITH THE AUDIENCE THROUGH STORY TELLING
When it comes to conveying a message and capturing the attention of the audience, telling a story is far more appealing and may be highly visual.
There are several ways to accomplish this, but none captures the audience’s attention and leaves a lasting impression like telling a compelling story.
Incorporating your Signature Story will make your message more memorable, appeal to each listener, and make the whole thing more relatable.
7. THE PRESENTATION’S CONTENT
Make sure to emphasize the three main points you want to make in your presentation; doing so will help you stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked. Use your Core Message Framework in Course Manual 11:4. (See chart below)
The clearer and simpler they are the better. The same is true of the visual aid, which we think is user-friendly without detracting from what you have to say. The general rule is that less is more.
The same strategy applies when using video conferencing; choose a brief presentation that includes opportunities for audience questions.
To avoid losing your audience’s interest, you can also send complex charts in advance if you must submit them.
Remember at the end of your presentation to include some call to action:
Think about what is one thing you can do to help them collaborate with you to achieve bigger and better results? Is the consultation free? a thing? the program? Select one and put a restriction on it to encourage individuals to act when the opportunity arises.
**Always express gratitude and show appreciation to your audience for their time spent listening to you! When it comes to forging stronger bonds with your audience, offer incentives like bonuses and gifts for simply sticking around for questions following your session. This will go along way!
8. EYE CONTACT
One of the most prevalent errors is speaking to the audience as a whole; the ideal method to engage an audience is to speak to each person directly for 3-5 seconds while switching to a new sentence or concept.
In order to avoid giving the idea that you are looking elsewhere during a videoconference, attempt to gaze at the camera rather than your own eyes.
If it makes you uncomfortable, we search the audience for an accepting stare that we can return to anytime our nerves take over.
In a video conference, you can place a photo of someone you feel at ease with above the screen.
9. BODY LANGUAGE
Good body language will make you feel at ease on stage and support the key points of your speech; the movements are actually lot easier than they appear.
Additionally, good body language is unforced, unguarded, and expressive. It seems natural because it fits your style. If you have a lot of space, you can make a lot of large gestures.
Every gesture has a purpose, so if you try to adapt one that doesn’t fit your usual communication style, others will notice and it will appear forced.
Before we describe how to use the gestures, let’s make a list of specific gestures to avoid:
One or both hands in the pockets conveys a lack of respect or flippancy.
Contrary to popular belief, crossing your arms does not signify that you are stand offish; rather, it simply indicates that you are comfortable yet it may be a bit informal.
When the speaker’s arms are behind their back, it’s a sign of some discomfort on their part.
No matter which finger is pointed, pointing with the finger is a gesture that is frowned upon or improper in many cultures.
It is preferable to extend your entire hand, use a picture, or speak when indicating a direction.
(Re-visit Course Manual 5 on Personal Presence where we dive deep into Body Language)
10. MANAGEMENT OF STRESS (Keeping Fear in Check)
As shared in Course Manual 11:1 in this Workshop, one of the most dreaded tasks is public speaking since it exposes us to the often unpredictable reactions of the audience.
We are all unique, so what works for one person may not necessarily work for another. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to manage this stress.
For instance, some individuals would practice meditation to unwind before giving a presentation, or in other circumstances, they experience anxiety or nervousness. For others, though, it will just make their stress levels higher.
However, the underlying causes are essentially the same for everyone:
A. The dread of failing, which can also be the fear of being judged by others and the public;
B. The agony of often intolerable waiting is caused by the fear of the unknown and the inability to influence the future.
There are numerous ways to address these two causes. Here are a few examples:
• As many times as necessary to ensure that you understand the material. One of the major causes of stress and a reason why people choose to read notes is a lack of preparedness;
• Avoid creating crisis scenarios or stressing about the future by counting each breath you take in and take out;
• To recall the information without concern because it is familiar, treat it as a casual discussion you might have with your friends.
• Never think you don’t know enough; share what you know while attempting to learn more about what you don’t. What you currently know could very well impact the lives of one or more people in your audience with just one sentence.
Each time we practice public speaking, we get better at it; your first presentation, in particular, won’t be ideal. Be genuine and embrace it.
Exercise 11:5: Power of Body Language
Here’s how it works:
• Put your hand to your nose.
• Clap your hands.
• Stand up.
• Touch your shoulder.
• Sit down.
• Stamp your foot.
• Cross your arms.
• Put your hand to your mouth (but while saying this one, put your hand to your nose).
Course Manual 6: Speaking Skills
The numerous professions that call for the capacity to talk to a group are in high demand for candidates with good public speaking abilities. Employers place a great value on dynamic, well-prepared speakers, and having this skill set may even help you get leadership and critical responsibilities.
In this course manual, you will learn more about public speaking, its significance, and specific skills on how to become a better public speaker.
What is Public Speaking?
Having strong communication skills, enthusiasm, and the capacity to captivate an audience are all necessary soft skills for public speaking. Soft skills are social and communication abilities that are less technical and more concerned with how you relate to others.
Various groups hear presentations from public speakers. Speaking to a small group of coworkers or addressing a sizable crowd at a national conference or event are examples of presentations. Regardless of the group size, the same skill set, and public speaking comfort level are needed.
Why Public Speaking Skills Matter to Employers…
There are various situations where public speaking is necessary. It is crucial for professional presentations, training sessions, and motivational speaking, in addition to speech delivery and public speaking. For instance, there are occasions when consultants, trainers, managers, clergy, salespeople, and teachers all need to talk in front of others.
A poor speaker can make a good idea or product look less than alluring, whereas a skilled speaker can make a mediocre idea more appealing.
The majority of professional-level and leadership positions involve some level of public speaking. Functions including presenting findings, presenting suggestions, training workers, and running meetings are frequently required.
Top Public Speaking Skills
Be sure to say more than just that you have “public speaking skills” when highlighting them in your cover letter, resume, or during an interview. Give specific examples of your abilities and skills in public speaking and elaborate on the parts of public speaking in which you excel.
The following are some of the most important skills for effective public speaking.
Clear Articulation
Obviously, good speaking skills are necessary for public speakers. This entails speaking clearly, loudly enough, and without overusing words like “uh” or improper language. Good conversational skills are helpful, but public speaking is a performance and as such calls for training and preparation.
Since many people can communicate somewhat spontaneously, memorization is typically not necessary. To avoid excessive pausing, repetition, or stumbling over your words, you must know your content well enough.
Additionally, you must be able to pace yourself so that you complete the task on schedule rather than early or late.
Presentation Style that Engages
Vocal tone, body language, facial emotion, and timing all factor into presentation style. A talk that would have been dull can become intriguing and engaging with the use of the correct style.
Identifying the Audience’s Needs
Different audiences like different levels of technical detail. Others won’t find comedy amusing. Some jokes are funny in some crowds but not in others. You must be able to evaluate the demands of your audience in order to write a good talk and adopt the proper presentation style.
Pro Tip
Consider your audience and what they hope to acquire from your presentation before you start speaking. This can assist you in determining their needs and help you make sure that your presentation makes the most use of both your and their time.
PowerPoint Proficiency
The software PowerPoint is frequently used to create slides. Although not all public speakers use slides, doing so is so popular that it is frequently referred to as “speaking naked.”
It’s crucial to comprehend the technical parts of utilizing the software, but it also helps if you can produce visually appealing and understandable slides. If not, you should collaborate with someone who can. In either case, you need to be able to seamlessly include your slides into the rest of your presentations.
Composition Techniques
You must be able to create speeches that are logical, clear, and simple to comprehend and that cover all the themes you want to discuss, whether you plan your talk in advance or just wing it.
You must understand how to use comedy and storytelling to be effective. Public speaking is a performance art form that also necessitates writing abilities.
Public Speaking Case Study: It’s All About You
Even though Arezoo Riahi knew that taking a public speaking class was the next step in her career, it didn’t make it any easier.
“I was terrified of public speaking,” she says. “It was to the point that it showed. It wasn’t just an internal thing. I shook …. It was just super uncomfortable.”
At the time, she was working for a U.S.-based international nonprofit and serving as a senior program officer for TechWomen, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program empowers and connects women from around the world, who are leaders in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), with their counterparts in the United States.
She recalls watching as her director addressed large audiences at leading technology companies and thinking, “I can’t do this; I really can’t.”
She knew it was time to seek some training. So, she did. Even today, six years later, she can recall the trepidation she felt on that first morning of the public speaking session run by Chief Executive Throughliner Brad Phillips. “I was nervous to even introduce myself.”
The experience was transformational. When she looks back, she recognizes how profound it was to her professional and personal development. Not long after the training, she became the director of TechWomen and found ample opportunities to use her newfound skills at speaking engagements all over the world, including SXSW and Technovation.
Now the first senior diversity and inclusion strategic partner for software maker Autodesk in San Francisco, she continues to live what she learned during her public speaking classes. While she picked up practical techniques and strategies, she says the most significant discovery came about as she worked with Phillips in honing her approach to public speaking. It required a new way of thinking about herself and her audience:
My biggest a-ha, and I think about it very regularly, is that I just need to be me.”
She notes that at the time of the public speaking class, she was early in her professional journey. As she sought a path to success, she looked for direction from others who were successful in her field. By acting, looking, and operating like others who were successful – whether at public speaking or at work – she also could manifest the success they had achieved. It was a worthy approach, but she now sees it was more about imitation than inspiration.
“Brad helped me, in a way, get out of my own head a little bit – and to basically think, ‘If you have been invited to say something, people want to hear what you have to say. They want to hear what you, not what somebody else, has to say. And you have to say it in your in your own way.’ I think that was my transformation.”
There were several other aspects of that public speaking class that stuck with her. She recalls a few:
Seeing is believing
Initially, when she realized there would be some videotaped presentation runs, she became anxious. However, by watching the different video clips from beginning to the end, she saw with her own eyes how her inauthentic delivery gave way to an authenticity that afforded her the freedom to be who she was.
“I found my own voice and was comfortable about letting go of the pressures that I had put on myself,” she says.
It’s a thought that echoes what she said right after the training itself. In going over what she learned during the public speaking class, she shared with Phillips that:
“I think seeing myself on camera and recognizing that’s not me was really shocking. I have an engaging personality, then I get in front of the camera … and I just clam up. When you gave me that tip about just being vulnerable to the audience and owning who I am, I was able to do just that.”
Breathing is relieving
She also learned that the physical aspect of presenting is as crucial as your mental game. Before her speeches and presentations, Riahi does deep breathing exercises and visualizes her performance.
“I put myself in that room or in that space and think about talking to the audience.”
Appearances are misconceiving
A public speaking class can benefit speakers with a range of personalities and abilities. It’s not just the wallflowers who need some tips and techniques to blossom as speakers.
For instance, heading into the public speaking class, Riahi knew some people were surprised that she felt discomfort while giving public talks:
“I have a pretty extroverted personality and I am, generally, pretty social and outgoing. I think part of the pressure in my life has always been that people expect that when I get on stage, I’ll show up in that same bubbly, extroverted way. They think only introverts deal with the fear of public speaking, for example.”
By honing her own innate talents and linking them to the commonsense techniques she learned, it gave her a confidence that she not only felt but was projected to her audience.
“That is your power up there … that is the authenticity that allowed me to really bring me up there and be proud of that and be OK with that.”
Seeing is achieving
Riahi is far from the days when a presentation, keynote, or other large address could bring about “crippling paralysis.” If anything, Riahi looks forward to the keynote, panels, and other talks where she can share her story and message.
Still, she knows this is an ongoing journey. Today, what she knows about herself and her ability to convey her messages will continue to evolve. She continues to incorporate what she learned as she learns more about herself. In other words, the training continues to resonate.
“I still get nervous doing it,” she says. “So, I still need a strategy.”
That strategy could include the attire she chooses for the event, the method she selects to deliver her talk, the slides she selects, and other things. Those are elements she adds to an already strong foundation – her own confidence as a speaker.
Beyond the lectern
When asked if the skills she learned in the public speaking class had an impact beyond public speaking itself, Riahi is quick in her response:
“Absolutely. This idea of not being the way somebody else was … (I learned) you can show up in your own way. It’s allowed me to be very courageous in my own work. I am not afraid to challenge the status quo, so to speak. I am just true to myself.”
It is a particularly apt lesson for Riahi, who has spent her career driving diversity and inclusion at the organizations where she has worked. She continues to be a mentor for TechWomen, now inspiring others to become their authentic selves.
She continued:
“Brad’s training offered me … that permission to be yourself. Nobody wants to hear your version of somebody else. They want to hear who you are.”
Other Public Speaking Skills
Public speaking requires more than just the previously listed abilities. You can improve your effectiveness as a public speaker by using the following abilities and advice:
• Managing performance phobia and anxiety
• Creating a survey that participants will probably fill out
• Capturing the audience’s interest with a strong opening
• Distributing copies of the slides in advance to reduce the audience’s note-taking requirements
• Making sure to look the audience in the eye and being physically active and lively
• Learning enough material from memory to prevent the speech from seeming like a reading from notes
• Changing vocal tone to highlight key points and prevent boring delivery
• Constructing a presentations logical progression
• Putting together experiences or examples that relate to the experience of the expected audience
• Providing convincing proof to back up claims
• Practicing the presentation and fixing any kinks
• Before delivering a presentation at a professional conference, doing research on the most recent developments in a certain industry
• Reiterating important points towards the conclusion of a speech to reinforce crucial ideas
• Reviewing suggestions and adjusting the strategy for future talks
• Providing context for participants by summarizing the topics to be presented at the start of a lecture
How to Showcase Your Skills
In addition to being a skill in and of itself, public speaking is a set of skills. You can discover which professions need the skills you possess by naming some of these in lists like the one above.
Pro Tip
Make sure to carefully study job descriptions. Depending on what the hiring manager is looking for, even positions that seem extremely similar can have distinct criteria.
Mention Your Skills in Your Resume and Cover Letter
These abilities can be used as search terms on your resume or other application materials when you apply. Making it apparent from the start that you have the desired qualifications is vital because hiring managers occasionally comb through applications looking for these keywords to make an early cut.
Then, use your cover letter to emphasize a few of your most important qualifications.
Share Your Skills During a Job Interview
Your interviewer will probably ask you about particular instances when you demonstrated these talents, so be prepared to provide examples. Inform the interviewer of any presentations you’ve given in public or to other employees of the organization.
Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking Skills
There are always methods to get better at public speaking, whether you consider yourself an expert at it or a novice. The following advice can help you improve your public speaking abilities:
• Attend a workshop or lesson in public speaking.
• In front of a mirror, practice.
• Ask for criticism after practicing in front of friends, family, or coworkers.
• Take notes while watching a video of yourself giving a presentation that you recorded.
• Watch examples of successful public speakers you respect
Exercise 11:6: Take the Stage
Course Manual 7: Speaking Tips
There are various techniques to overcome nervousness and develop memorable talk.
In this lesson, we’ll give you some key tips on public speaking that can help you feel less anxious, bust some myths. You also get access to a few quick exercises will help you develop your abilities, properly prepare and gain the confidence you need to succeed as a public speaker.
The best strategies to improve your public speaking skills are experience and practice. You can also try these hints and techniques for overcoming nervousness, preparation, and delivery to improve your public speaking.
7 Tips on How to Prepare For Your Talk
You will be able to give an effective presentation if you prepare a speech beforehand. Consider the following advice as you prepare your speech:
1. Pick your subject wisely.
Try to choose a subject for your presentation that both features your knowledge and piques your interest. Your passion will radiate to your audience, generating rapport and interest.
2. Adopt a creative strategy.
Write down anything that occurs to mind as you are preparing your speech. Avoid self-editing at this point. Some people discover that creating a mind map, also known as a mind map, which consists of thought, element, or fact bubbles connected by connecting lines or arrows, is more useful than creating a list. A list turns into an outline, which is a more formalized form of thought than you require at this point.
3. Sort your thoughts.
After brainstorming, sort through all of your suggestions to determine which ones do not relate to the theme or subject of your presentation. You could be surprised to learn that concepts you had believed to be unconnected or peripheral might really have more in common with your theme.
4. Produce vowel sounds.
Pronounce the following vowel sounds while facing a mirror: a, e, I o, and u. As you enunciate each syllable, make your mouth appear larger than it is. This activity can help you pronounce words more clearly.
5. Speak both slowly and quickly.
Choose a section from a book, read it quickly, then slowly. Listen to a recording of you reading the passage. You may enhance your pronunciation, enunciation, and fluency with the help of this activity.
6. Edit carefully.
First, draft your speech without modifying yourself. The first draft is here. Then, look over the speech and make any necessary improvements. Repetition of this procedure will help you improve your presentation as you go through the subject.
7. Rehearse
In front of a mirror or a companion, practice your speech. As many times as required, practice your speech until the words come easily. Avoid using filler words like “uh,” “um,” and “you know” during your practice.
Practice does not make perfect.
Nobody expects you to be flawless, and good communication is never perfect. But taking the necessary time to prepare will improve the quality of your speech. You might not be able to completely control your anxiety, but you can learn how to manage it.
12 Tips to Follow Before and During the Delivery of Your Talk
1. Feeling anxious is normal. Prepare and Practice!
Everybody experiences certain physiological reactions, such as racing hearts and shaky hands. Do not connect these emotions with the fear of performing poorly or embarrassing oneself. Not all nerves are bad. You become more aware and prepared to perform at your best as a result of the adrenaline rush that causes you to sweat.
Preparation—preparation, preparation, and more preparation—is the best remedy for anxiety. Spend some time reviewing your notes multiple times. Practice a lot after you’ve gotten used to the material. Make a video of yourself or get a friend to watch it and give you feedback.
2. Work on changing your vocal pitch, pace, and pitch of your voice.
A monotonous delivery can sour an intriguing speech. You can speak louder if you’re feeling enthusiastic. Lower it for defeat or dejection. If used properly, changing your speaking pace can stimulate the interest of your listeners. To accentuate your discourse, occasionally change your speed.
Choose a statement and alter the emphasis when practicing your speaking. “I can tell you how to strengthen your negotiation skills to close the sale,” for instance. Say, “I can teach you how to strengthen your negotiation skills to seal the transaction,” to change it. I may also advise you on how to strengthen your negotiation abilities in order to seal the contract. You can improve the polish of your delivery by doing this.
3. Work on breathing.
Breathing properly will put you at ease. Your pace and projection will both increase. Being out of breath can make you appear anxious and uneasy in front of the crowd. While exhaling, practice speaking. To relax, warm up, and train your breath control, do this exercise: Sit or stand up straight. Inhale for three seconds via your nose, followed by an exhalation for four to six seconds. Humming will help warm up your throat and is a good warm-up workout. These quick drills will get you ready to deliver a comfortable, crystal-clear presentation.
4. Understand Your Audience.
They are the focus of your speech, not you.
Think on the audience for your message before you start to write it. As much as you can, find out who your listeners are. This will assist you in deciding on your word choice, informational level, organizational style, and motivating statement.
5. Organize Your Information in the Most Useful Way to Achieve Your Goals.
Set up a structure for your speech. Topic, broad goal, detailed goal, main points, and central thought should all be noted. Aim to capture the audience’s interest inside the first 30 seconds.
6. Pay attention to feedback and adjust.
Keep your audience in mind. Evaluate their responses, modify your message, and maintain flexibility. Even the most loyal listeners will become distracted or perplexed if you deliver a prefabricated speech.
7. Allow your personality to shine.
In any form of communication, stay true to yourself and avoid becoming a talking head. Your credibility will increase if your personality comes through, and your audience will believe you more if they can relate to you on a personal level.
8. Tell stories, use humor, and language that is effective.
If you include a humorous anecdote in your presentation, your audience’s attention will be captured. In general, audiences appreciate speeches with a personal touch. That can be given in a tale.
Great Ted Talk video example of why it’s so important to use humor in business –
Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas: Why great leaders take humor seriously
9. Read only when necessary. Work off of a plan.
The interpersonal relationship is harmed when someone reads from a script or PowerPoint. By maintaining eye contact, you can retain the audience’s attention on you and your message. A quick outline might help you stay focused and stimulate your memory.
10. Effective Use of Your Voice and Hands Leave out tense gestures.
Most messages are communicated through nonverbal means. In contrast to drawing attention to itself, effective delivery simply and unobtrusively communicates the speaker’s ideas.
11. Hook Your Audience at the Beginning and Close with a Dynamic Conclusion.
Are speeches that begin, “Today I’m going to talk to you about X,” to your liking? The majority don’t. Use a stunning statistic, a fascinating narrative, or a condensed quotation as an alternative. Put a strong message at the end of your speech that your audience will remember.
12. Make wise use of audiovisual aids.
Use them judiciously because using too many can sever the audience’s direct line of communication. They should either improve or clarify your material or grab and hold of the attention of your audience.
Case Study: Speaking Confidently
Over the last decade, Laura worked hard to establish herself in her career and become a critical member of her organization, but she still felt like something was holding her back. Although she had the knowledge and experience necessary to succeed and grow in her role, she struggled to demonstrate her unique skills and understanding in meetings, presentations, and in everyday conversations with superiors. Most importantly, she noticed that her colleagues who seemed to be able to speak up with ease were getting recognized for their contributions.
Laura joined a private coaching program where she was able to build her confidence.
During the sessions, she was able to receive immediate feedback from her coaches and from other participants in the program.
“I was struggling to get the words out of my mouth in the way I wanted, but I had all the knowledge and experience.” – Laura
Self-awareness is everything, Laura learned. This new virtual environment require new communication strategies. In person, we can more readily pick up on body language and non-verbal cues. In a virtual setting, it is easy and frustrating to get interrupted. Through the semi-private small group sessions, Laura learned strategies to bring the conversation back to the speaker and back to the topic at hand in a polite way that keeps the audience engaged.
“Public Speaking training helped me focus what I’m speaking about and answer with facts and reasons, rather than just a one-word answer.” – Laura
Exercise 11:7 Continuous Story
Instructions:
Course Manual 8: Stage Presence
When you hear the term “stage presence,” what comes to mind? Do comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, and Robin Williams come to mind? Maybe Broadway actors come to mind. Or perhaps you think of performers who can captivate an audience and put on a spectacular performance.
These individuals do, in fact, have excellent stage presence. But here’s something to think about: Everyone should have stage presence. This is due to the fact that, whether or not you ever appear on a Broadway stage, you will surely be called to the stage of giving a presentation.
Since speaking is the new marketing, it’s the best way to maximize the effect of your message.
In our previous lessons in this workshop, you have learned what to say and how to say it.
But how do you make your “tribe” energetically drawn to you by aligning your message with them?
That my friend is Stage Presence!
The Stage Presence Myth
Many people are aware of the value of stage presence, but they’ve given up hope of ever achieving it because it doesn’t come easily to them. After all, excellent stage presence comes naturally to outstanding speakers and performers, right?
Actually, it is not at all the case. It’s crucial to realize that stage presence is a skill even though it’s evident that some people are more naturally inclined to have it. It may also be learned and developed, just like any other ability.
It goes without saying that you’ll work on your performance, research the greats and their star power, and try to replicate their charisma and charm, but that still doesn’t tell you how to captivate the audience effectively. Let’s first define stage presence precisely before moving on to the 13 stage presence keys to success.
So, what exactly is Stage Presence?
The ability to command and guide an audience’s attention on stage is known as stage presence. This talent is demonstrated by an individual’s physical presentation, body language, charismatic speaking, and general mannerisms.
Eloquence, like a politician, respect, and intimidation, like a military leader, fun and silliness, like a comedian, authenticity, like an author reading a new narrative, or being the most charismatic person in the room, like a rock star on stage, can be used to do this.
How to Have Great Stage Presence
Our topic today is how to improve your stage presence. Everyone already has presence, whether it’s positive or negative, so the key is truly to learn how to increase it on stage. You only need to follow these stage presence keys we’ll be covering.
You’ll gain confidence and make your performance authentic if you use these suggestions as a starting point and add to them in your own unique style. Being genuine is the key to winning over people’s hearts, but you also need to add embellishments that elevate you above the average person.
You’ll come up with your own cool stage antics while performing, and they’ll all function within the parameters listed below. So, take your time, jot down thoughts and notes, and prepare to step up your game.
5 Keys to Level Up Your Stage Presence
1. Project the Most Ideal Version of Yourself – Bigger than Your Typical Everyday Demeanor
This means that you must first understand who you are and what makes you special. Once you realize this, you can imagine a fantasy version of yourself, but it must still correspond to reality. To be genuine, something must appear natural; otherwise, people will recognize a fake. Avoid doing that.
Your idealized version of yourself cannot be the funniest guy ever if you are not at all amusing. However, that doesn’t exclude you from cracking intentionally awful jokes in between songs. If you deliver them correctly, that will be very entertaining in and of itself.
You should enter the stage believing that you will be more than your normal self. This is maybe the most crucial aspect of stage presence.
Recall the performers with strong stage presence. Do you believe that these performers are the same on and off the stage? Naturally, they aren’t. When Robin Williams was performing, he made a conscious effort to amuse the audience. Performers approach their performances with a passion and vigor that is uncommon. You ought to follow suit.
Keep an eye on the word “project.” This means that you don’t have to buy into an illusion you have; you can still demonstrate to the crowd the attributes that you wish you possessed. They’ll believe it, and eventually you’ll develop these traits and start to believe it as well.
Your self-confidence and self-esteem will soar, which will cause you to feel at ease and at ease on stage. And magic will happen when it takes place. You’ll learn to think quickly, to be clever, and to look for creative ways to spice up your shows. Your stage persona will gradually develop from your genuine identity.
It requires effort to be great on stage.
Keep in mind that you cannot both be present and unseen. Even though you might not enjoy giving presentations, they are essential to your professional development. You can make a conscious effort to push yourself beyond your comfort zone, exude enthusiasm, and engage your audience.
The first stage is having the proper mindset.
2. Work the Entire Stage and All Sides of the Audience
What happens if you’re presenting a story to a group of five acquaintances while ignoring one of them? They’ll grab their phone, use the restroom, start talking in whispers, etc. There is a technique to keep everyone interested in the conversation.
You should prioritize occupying as much area as you can. That proves you are the sole owner of the space. You are free to wander around and do as you please in there.
That refers to “working the full stage” on stage. Create a mental diagram of the stage’s divisions. That could indicate there are three sections on a small stage or five sections in a large theater.
The key is that you must cycle through these sections and pause there.
And when you do, you’ll draw in that audience segment. Sing and direct your attention to the front-row audience.
Engage the people in the front then middle, followed by the people in the back and on the balcony. Don’t forget anyone. Continue to move through these crowd and stage areas.
Depending on the show’s energy level, go bonkers. You can run up and down the aisles, squat down and give the audience high fives, and even leap off the stage. You can also jump on the speaker monitors. If things go well, you can add it to your repertoire.
3. Keep Your Message Fresh
So, you have the mindset of a performer. You must now put effort into keeping your message current and your material interesting.
Keep in mind that no matter how talented the actors, a bad script will never be enjoyable. The presenter needs to have strong, current material in order to have a strong stage presence. The audience can tell when a speaker is just reciting information off PowerPoint slides and not contributing anything of their own to the presentation.
A proven approach to reduce stage presence is to deliver a dull message. We advise including what we refer to as “sparklers” in your presentation to prevent that.
For your presentation to remain engaging, sprinkle in some sparklers. They consist of data, narratives, anecdotes, analogies, and perhaps even free sweets. They are the parts of your presentation that will make people sit up and take notice.
If you can hold their interest, you are probably successfully connecting. And by our definition, that indicates that you are progressing toward having stage presence.
4. Display Physical Confidence
The phrase “stage presence” often implies a specific physical stance. It’s important to concentrate on how you might actively communicate this, even though a bodily sense of confidence frequently follows a mental one. The way you stand physically affects how the audience perceives you as a speaker.
Only around 50% of what you’re actively doing on stage influences how other people perceive you. The remaining 50% is implied by your body language. Be sure to work the stage.
The audience will be persuaded to follow your lead no matter what you do. Therefore, they will also love your performance if you are having fun. You must demonstrate to their unconscious thoughts that you are the real deal and worthy of their attention. And that can only happen if you’re actually having fun and feeling confident.
You can make this happen until it does so on its own. You should speak loudly, stand up tall, and make eye contact with others. Stand with your legs at least shoulder width apart, if not further apart, with your shoulders back and down, your head held high, and your chest out.
All of this exudes power and assurance. And without those two qualities, no one will even want to look at you for more than a few minutes. You need to be the dominant individual in the space who commands attention even when no one else is.
Refer to the previous lessons when we go deep into body language. Keeping in mind that some postures that have negative connotations. Anything that you observe other people doing when they’re uneasy, tense, or self-conscious is something you should avoid at all costs.
Here is the most popular and efficient posture for presenting with stage presence.
Best Posture: Arms at Sides, Flat Stance
This posture conveys confidence and openness. Take this position when giving a presentation; don’t shift your weight, cock your hip, or lean more on one leg than the other. You lose credibility if you do this.
It’s also appropriate to make natural gestures that are in accordance with your message. Keep your gestures above the waist and away from your own face when making them. Your face and your motions should be visible to the audience at the same time.
Last but not least, if you’re giving a presentation while seated, you should take a seat in front of your PowerPoint slides. You are the focal point of your presentation – not your slides. Clasp your hands in front of you and lean in slightly while speaking. This exudes enthusiasm and confidence.
***Have everyone stand up and practice the Best Posture for Stage: Arms at Sides, Flat Stance.
5. Develop Your Stage Presence
Finally, developing stage presence takes time.
Consider your favorite television program; it might be The Big Bang Theory. It sounds like such an organic joke, right? The actors have excellent timing and deliver their lines well, and the screenplay is excellent. But what’s this? First, the cast performs a straightforward read-through together. There wouldn’t be any stage presence if the actors didn’t practice the performance until they were confident with their lines.
Only because of the extensive practice that went into the final product does it appear natural.
You should perform your speech aloud at least three times before giving it. Start fusing your enthusiasm for the topic into your speech once you’ve gotten to the stage where you don’t sound stiff. Be energetic and confident as you deliver your point.
You Can Have Stage Presence!
Stage presence is not only a quality of famous artists. Stage presence is crucial for everyone because we are all called to present in various contexts. To deliver a message that your audience will remember, you don’t have to be a Broadway star or a used car salesperson, but you do need to keep them entertained.
These pointers will help you get going. Presentation training can be an option to properly improve your stage presence. Keep in mind that your stage presence will improve the more you practice the presentational skills and techniques.
Exercise 11:8: Make a Commercial
Instructions:
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Course Manual 9: Speak with Authority
When you’re in your element, whether it’s in your job or your personal life, you must speak with authority. Your message needs to be delivered with authority and assurance when you speak.
Don’t mistake authoritative speaking for aggressive speaking, though. When you attempt to communicate authoritatively and assertively but come off as aggressive, you’re doing it incorrectly. But don’t worry; we’ll show you how to easily speak authoritatively during today’s course manual.
We can attract employers and inspire individuals to act on our call to action by speaking with authority. It enhances our ability to persuade others, speak out at meetings, and communicate effectively at work.
However, we receive very little training throughout our lives to become authoritative, confident speakers. Without anybody instructing us, we navigate our employment and personal lives without learning how to lead people, strike up a conversation, excel in front of an audience, or be persuasive.
Show that you are an expert in your field.
When you speak with assurance, people can tell you have all the talents required to execute your work and then some. Speaking authoritatively and with conviction demonstrates your knowledge of your subject. It results in excellent communication, which is necessary for people to get along and build lasting connections.
Your body language, voice inflection, and the way you phrase your sentences all reveal who you are and how you think. Simply make sure that your linguistic brand reflects who you are.
Being authoritative should not be confused with being aggressive.
People that are authoritative weren’t always that way. Being in charge is an acquired trait, not a natural talent. These excellent communicators have made it a top priority in their lives to improve their communication skills.
Being authoritative should not be confused with being aggressive. You’re doing it wrong if you’re trying to sound authoritative but come across as harsh.
Many folks have told me that they meant to seem assertive but instead came out as aggressive. They’ve simply been employing the incorrect methods.
Avoid using your throat to force your voice out! Your throat needs to be relaxed.
8 Steps to Speak with Authority
Recognize the importance of your message and that you deserve to be heard. Delivering your message is a service you are providing to your family or business. If you’re the CMO, you shouldn’t be offering legal counsel. People can get useful information about marketing from you. Many of those people require your message because they have no marketing experience.
Be at ease. Eliminating stress from your muscles is the absolute prerequisite for performing anything well. Tiger Woods won’t be acting irrationally before a golf match, I promise. He’s a cucumber of calm. That’s only half the fight. Humans carry a great deal of muscular tension with us at all times. It is our duty to recognize it and get rid of it.
Keep your body open and smile warmly to establish trust. Check your face in the mirror to check if it’s stiff and twisted up. If so, let your muscles relax.
Remove words and phrases that are limiting. Filler words undermine your authority and strength. The phrases “I think,” “I believe,” and “I just” have no place in your discourse. They only aim to make you look bad.
Use breaks between phrases rather than every two words to break up your sentences. Have you ever heard someone use scurrilous run-on sentences? They go on and on so long that you can’t recall where their story began. You probably assumed that people exclusively used run-on sentences in written communication. Oh no, they impair your ability to communicate with authority. Here is one instance. Breathe in at the slash while you read this line aloud. Look at the minutes, then get back to me with any recommendations.
Speak with a rich, booming voice. Whiny voices that use glottal fry or go up at the end don’t sound authoritative; quite the contrary. Without hating yourself, listen to your recorded voice. Everyone else hears the same voice that you hear on the recording. The sound you hear within your head is bone-conducted, traveling from your mouth to your ears. Keep in mind that sound is the vibration of air molecules; therefore, the more air you use, the richer and more resonant your sound will be.
(In the section coming up, we will have tips for you to improve your speaking voice.)
Be Concise. Take pauses after each chunk of speech. Wordiness makes readers tune out. We are unable to pay for that.
Practice – Work on it until it becomes second nature to you. You won’t need to memorize every word you say. Segmenting your practice is what you want to do. Perhaps begin with your team, then your supervisor, and finally your spouse. Before moving on to the next communication circumstance, master the previous one. You don’t have to go it alone, of course. I’m here to help you. Have a conversation with me, and together we’ll create a program that runs seamlessly for you.
Warmth and authority rather than aggression.
Your life will improve if you can be in charge. The effect it will have on your relationships will astound you. They will continually improve.
Do not be concerned that seeming authoritative would make you come out as obnoxious or demanding. Using my methods, you’ll sound assured, knowledgeable, and kind. All of the love will be revealed. You’ll become prominent in the end.
Anyone who attempts to sound authoritative but instead comes across as aggressive is doing it incorrectly.
Being authoritative will improve whatever you’re doing, make it happen faster, and make it more significant. You’ll observe how much more effectively things will function when you project authority. Learn how to speak with authority by using my tried-and-true methods. You won’t ever be forgotten again.
You’ll be far more loving and spend less time trying to persuade others to do things.
Practice speaking with authority.
You should practice using the stages now that you are aware of them. I advise moving up to the more difficult situations in your life starting with the lesser stakes ones.
To speak to the CEO or for interviews on The Today Show or Oprah, practice in meetings with your team beforehand.
“If you are communicating your message it needs to come out with authority and confidence.” – Ita Olsen
You Can Improve the Sound of Your Voice
So, you’ve spent your entire life hearing your lovely, melodious, resonant voice in your brain. Then, all of a sudden, one day, you heard it on a recording. You wondered aloud, horrified, “How on earth do I have any friends? Why do people still listen to me? In this article, people despise their voices.
Did you perhaps consider, “That recorder is off! That’s absolutely not how I sound!”
So, the recorder wasn’t off, after all. You certainly sound like that. When you’ve been hearing that lovely voice in your head all day long, it’s startling. Unfortunately, people find it more difficult to hear and understand thin, higher-pitched voices.
It takes effort on their part to comprehend your message. Additionally, people won’t take you seriously and are likely to ignore your excellent advice because of your thin voice. Furthermore, a person’s voice alone can cause them to misinterpret your message.
How to make your voice sound better while you speak.
Everyone in the world can dramatically amplify their speaking voice. You must follow the instructions listed below.
*Release any tightness holding your vocal cords in place.
*Breathe in via your abdomen.
*Let your exhale carry your voice.
*Glue your phrases’ words together.
*Take another breath in between each of the phrases.
Let’s explore further:
The reason your voice sounds different in your head.
Are you surprised that your voice sounds completely different on a recording than it does in your head? Some of my clients claim their actual speaking voice is different from the one on the recorder. I’m sorry to break the news to you. You can hear your actual speaking voice on the recorder.
This is why: Air molecules vibrate during speech. Speech is sound, and sound moves through the air along molecules that bounce and vibrate as it does so. Bone conduction, which is denser than air conduction, allows you to hear what you are saying. And everyone else hears you because of air conduction. Remember that wonderful voice with the broad, resonant range? It simply exists in your mind. Welcome to the voice that you can (barely) hear in the rest of the room, which has a higher pitch, a thin resonance, and doesn’t project.
Your speaking voice can be improved!
But do not give up! There is a quick fix for this problem. You’re going to learn from me how to make your voice sound better! You can use your natural voice after only a few weeks of practice.
After training, you’ll always be able to utilize your natural voice! If you adhere to our method exactly (it’s simple!), you’ll develop a full, magnetic voice that others will like hearing.
Therefore, the exercises below are for you if you want to learn how to improve the sound of your voice because it sounds tinny, thin, or because you can’t be heard across the room.
How to Improve the Sound of Your Voice
Getting rid of the stress in your throat is the first thing you need to accomplish. Our musculature shows the effects of the tension and anxiety we experience on a daily basis. primarily the upper body muscles and the vocal cord muscles. Your voice mechanism still carries the tension from the high stakes circumstances you placed yourself in.
1. Take the tension out of your vocal mechanism.
We must first acknowledge that there is friction. The second step is to locate it. Making it is one way to discover it. Try this activity:
*Inhale deeply while tightening the muscles in your throat.
*Hold it for three seconds while concentrating on the tension.
*Then simultaneously release the tension and the air.
For a few days, try doing that a couple times per day. As a result, you’ll discover that you can start identifying and removing any existing stress. If you frequently lose your voice, you should adhere to the guidelines provided here.
2. Let that lovely voice be heard!
Utilizing abdominal breathing is the next step, after which you should speak while doing so. Allow your voice to go through the air. You’ll be startled by what you hear when you listen to yourself on the recorder. 🙂
Apps for voice notes are already installed on the cellphones. simply download the one of your choice. Why should enhancing the quality of your speaking voice be any different? Nothing you are good at has come without effort.
3. Resonate from the back.
The usage of a back resonance is the next step. You may be thinking -What the heck?
That powerful speaking voice with a full, magnetic quality is the product of back resonance. Here are some tips on how to communicate more persuasively. The information in the page includes infographics and instructions on how to get a back resonance to enhance your voice.
You’ll be able to grab and hold people’s attention with your voice alone!
Alright. Hurray, people can hear you and are paying attention! Now you need to sustain their interest and persuade them to follow your instructions. In this case, intonation is important. Excellent rhythm will help you keep listeners’ attention while also enabling them to fully comprehend your message and, as a result, respond to your call to action with the least amount of resistance.
Your verbal brand is displayed to the public through your speaking voice.
What? You’re not familiar with your verbal brand? Your voice immediately conveys a great deal of information about you to others. Does your voice convey a sense of warmth and authority? With the workouts mentioned above, your voice will continue to sound better.
Your tone and choice of words affect how other people perceive you. People feel great just by hearing “Hello, how are you?” said in a beautiful, completely resonant voice. They only want to spend more time with you if you combine it with a smile! This post will help you develop your linguistic brand.
To sum up: Everyone can benefit from enhancing their speaking voice because no one is born with a perfect voice.
Exercise 11:9: Articulation Exercises
Objective:
Instructions:
Course Manual 10: Gaining Confidence
A confident speaker is first and foremost someone who truly believes in his or her own head and heart that he or she can make a compelling speech or presentation. Nobody can give you confidence, nor can you purchase it from someone or anywhere. Our previous positive experiences gradually build our confidence, which can then be bolstered and enhanced over time. How do you construct and enhance it? by taking every opportunity to practice. When you first do something, if you goof up or make a mistake, learn from it and keep trying. Keep in mind that even the most well-known speaker once began as a novice.
Anyone who is willing to practice speaking well can achieve this goal. Several tips and strategies on how to accomplish this goal are offered in this lesson.
Speaking to groups of all sizes is a crucial aspect of my profession as a consultant, business owner, and author, and I’ve been through the journey of getting over my fear of public speaking.
These changes to behavior and thought worked for me, and they should work for you as well:
10 Tips to Becoming a Confident Speaker
1. Be yourself! Give up attempting to be someone you’re not.
If you’re humorous, show it. If you’re informal, keep it that way. To be a great speaker, there is no one right method to do it. Think of it as sharing your thoughts and experiences to benefit others rather than as a performance.
I’ve witnessed a lot of fascinating folks don masks before entering a place. You may be speaking while wearing your “speaker disguise” if you express yourself substantially differently from how you do when speaking to your coworkers.
Allow your true personality to emerge, and the audience will relate to you warts and all.
2. Avoid seeking affirmation. Concentrate on giving.
This one was significant to me. You will maintain an interior focus if you are thinking, “I want to be good.” Instead, consider how you might influence just one audience member to view a familiar issue in a new light, hear a brilliant idea they can utilize, or receive the encouragement they require.
Get out of your head and into your heart!
Inquire, “Did I have an impact?” It’s all about them, not you, which is the opposite of this perspective, of I hope they like me.
3. Practice. A lot.
I wish there were a simpler method, but I haven’t discovered one. I find the more I speak the more at ease I become. It’s like playing Major League Baseball in that if you are at comfortable at the plate, the crowd won’t affect you.
Look for easy methods to practice that. I know individuals who have joined organizations like Toastmasters to gain additional experience. Or one of my clients offered to conduct the leadership meeting so that she could gain more experience as a speaker and leader. Additionally, you can offer to speak at regional conferences or association meetings about your area of expertise. These more intimate settings away from the workplace might be a secure place to study and train.
Nothing can match going out there and doing it.
4. Watch TED Talks.
There are several TED movies available that act as a speaking tutorial library. These presenters have been practicing for weeks in order to give it their all. Observe how they interact with the audience and share their ideas. What about what worked for them seems good to you. How did they quickly capture the interest of their audience?
The visual reminder that there is no one best way to deliver an engaging presentation is another aspect of TED that I adore. Not just the entertaining extrovert can keep you interested; people of all types and styles can.
5. Record yourself presenting.
Before you say that, I lack the funds and resources. This is easy. Next time you address a crowd, just bring an iPad and set it up. Ask a coworker to assist you. It may be extremely understated. Nothing can match a video of you in action since how we perceive ourselves is frequently different from how others perceive us.
I prefer to walk around when I talk since, I am a conversationalist. I discovered from the video that I occasionally wander too much. Thus, I had to somewhat restrict my “travels”. I’ve had coworkers and customers discover that they were speaking too quickly, inflecting their comments to seem like questions, or paying more attention to their slides than the audience. This client discovered the value of slowing down and pausing effectively. She merely watched a video of herself to improve her influence.
Only video will show what we cannot see, and others can.
6. Know your content inside and out.
This doesn’t imply that you should memorize what you intend to say, but rather that you should repeat your main points several times until they are solid in your memory. Plan beforehand. Knowing what you want to say will help you relax if you become anxious.
Even when I’m speaking on issues I know extremely well, I always practice a few times. I improvise and make adjustments, but before I begin, my main points are foremost in my thoughts.
You are capable of completing this. Get your thoughts away from your own performance evaluation and toward the impact. also, exercise. It will get easier and easier each time.
7. Don’t panic if a member of the audience asks you a question for which you have no idea of the answer.
Take a time to carefully record the query, request the questioner’s name and contact information (including email address), and assure them that you will send them the requested information no later than two business days. Of course, even if you think the inquiry is dumb or stupid, make sure you keep your word and carry it out.
8. Show your audience how much you value and appreciate their thoughts and intelligence.
Never lose patience with your audience, no matter how challenging they may be or how many may disagree with what you are saying. Keep in mind that you are the one speaking, thus you need to project authority and control. At all costs, maintain your decorum and composure. The troublemakers will end up sticking out like a sore thumb in their rudeness if you approach them properly and in a respectful way, while you will come out as kind, patient, and magnanimous. There will be plenty of time for you to let those emotions run wild and commiserate with your friends as soon as you are finished with your talk.
9. Always acknowledge the audience’s greatness at the conclusion of your presentation.
Gratitude is due for their time. Everyone in the crowd wants to believe that they are appreciated. It brightens their day.
10. Always remember to smile.
No matter how anxious you are at the time of your discussion, this is a crucial point to keep in mind. A smiling face naturally attracts others, which bodes well for the course of your conversation.
Pro Tips:
• Remember to show consideration for your audience. You can get a long way with it. People that attend presentations are typically encouraging and helpful. They don’t get out of bed planning to humiliate their speaker today. It is up to you to maintain composure and handle the issue with great grace and respect if that occurs, which frequently does unintentionally.
• Always be sincere. Be honest and express your ignorance even if you don’t know something. It will function much more effectively than fumbling for a “non-answer” response.
• When possible, use humor, but keep it in check and keep it sophisticated. Don’t go overboard. It’ll appear incredibly unprofessional.
• Do your research, but don’t forget to provide your personal viewpoint as well. Maybe a few of tales from your own experience? If you use this approach rather than merely presenting facts, you will come across as more authentic and human.
Case Study: 18 Examples of Top Female Speakers
1. Felecia Hatcher
Hatcher is a self-admitted “horrible student in high school who created her own luck.” She was honored at the White House as one of 2011’s Empact Top 100 Entrepreneurs under 30 and the author of five books. She uses failure as a motivation for business success.
“We have everything that we need in order to be successful.” -Felecia Hatcher
2. Terri Trespicio
Trespicio served as a senior editor and radio host at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for nearly 10 years. Currently, she’s a stand-up comic performing at clubs in New York City. She’s also a writer, branding consultant, and national speaker. She believes focus and success help create passion.
3. Sylvia Baffour
Can you imagine cheating death and surviving an attack by an orangutan in Cameroon? Baffour has lived it. After the death of her father, she found the courage to leave her stable job and become a speaker, trainer, and executive coach. She uses courage as a weapon to live a more fulfilled life.
4. Zain Asher
Raised in a single parent home after her father was killed in a car accident when she was five years old, Asher currently works as a news anchor at CNN International. Oh, and her brother, Chiwetel Ejiofor, got a Best Actor Oscar nomination for “12 Years A Slave,” in 2014. Life has taught her hard work, talent, and brains are not the only keys to success — Asher recommends trusting your struggle.
“Most people wait until they get the call for a job interview before they begin to prepare … my brother taught me to prepare, well before you get that call.” -Zain Asher
5. Christine Hassler
Hassler worked as a Hollywood agent until 25. She experienced a massive quarter-life crisis when she lost her job, engagement, health, and money. Later, she earned her master’s degree in spiritual psychology. Christine is an author and speaker obsessed with human optimization. She also identified and trademarked the phenomenon “Expectation Hangovers”.
6. Mel Robbins
Robbins started her career as a criminal defense attorney and went on to launch and sell a retail and internet technology company. Mel is an author and is currently one of CNN’s on-air commentators and opinion writers. She believes there’s only one rule to getting everything you want.
7. Paula Stone Williams
When she was the CEO of a large religious non-profit organization and preacher, her name was Paul. Today, she’s the Pastor of Preaching and Worship Ministries at Left Hand Church, in Longmont, Colorado. As a transgender woman, Paula Stone Williams has lived on both sides and, according to her, “the differences are massive!”
“My father is 93 years old and he’s willing to try … One man willing to give up his power, because he knew what he knew: that he loved his child. And he was willing to do whatever it takes to honor the journey of another.” -Paula Stone Williams
8. Oprah Winfrey
Born in rural Mississippi in 1954, Oprah has lived her life out loud and is now a well-known media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She views failure as necessary nudges that move you in the right direction.
9. Casey Brown
Brown created a business that helps companies improve profits through better pricing. She’s fluent in Spanish and holds a U.S. Patent for light bulb technology. She believes if you better communicate your value, you can get paid for your excellence.
10. Susan Robinson
Visually impaired, or, as she prefers, “partially sighted,” Robinson gave up her dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon and chose a career in organizational leadership. When speaking, she combines serious issues and humor to address difficult topics with openness. She believes relying on your best strengths yield tremendous outcomes.
12. Sarah Kay
A performing poet since she was 14 years old, Sarah Kay is the founder of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry as a literacy and empowerment tool. She has very clear ideas on what she would say if she had a daughter.
“This isn’t my first time here, this isn’t my last time here, these aren’t the last words I’ll share, but just in case, I’m trying my hardest to get it right this time around.” -Sarah Kay
13. Jane Fonda
Fonda earned two Best Actress Oscars, an Emmy, and a Tony Award nomination. She revolutionized the fitness industry in the 1980s with an all-time top-grossing home video. She believes a staircase is a metaphor for aging.
14. Amy Purdy
Purdy became a professional snowboarder, despite losing both her legs below the knee to meningitis. She rebuilt her life after asking herself, “If my life was a book … how would I want this story to end?”
15. Iyanla Vanzant
She’s the author of 15 books, and she transformed her life from the Brooklyn projects to an Emmy Award winner. Iyanla embodies a no-nonsense approach in her message and teaching style. It was in a Home Depot, she realized her worth.
“I matter, and how I show up in the room matters.” -Iyanla Vanzant
16. Vanessa Van Edwards
Van Edwards is lead investigator at Science of People, where she has developed a science-based framework for understanding and communicating with different personalities. Check out her talk below on how to talk to anyone.
17. Maysoon Zayid
A self-described “stand-up comedian who can’t stand up,” Zayid is co-founder of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival and an advocate for the disabled, especially those working as actors. In her TED Talk below, Zayid shares her perspective on casting disabled actors and how that translates to inclusivity elsewhere.
“Disability is as visual as race. If a wheelchair user can’t play Beyonce, then Beyonce can’t play a wheelchair user.” -Maysoon Zayid
18. Kenyona Matthews
Matthews is a diversity trainer who believes we have to do better at diversity and inclusion. She challenges, “Diversity will always give us space in the room. But it leaves no room for our thoughts and our ways of life. Inclusion will change our rooms. Inclusion will make sure we all have a seat and a voice … once you hear the voice, you have to act to make some changes. That’s inclusion. That’s what matters.”
“Diversity to me is kind of like a fruit platter. All of the parts are present, all are represented. But they’re kept separate. They’re not involved in any meaningful way. It looks cute, it looks good, but it’s superficial.” -Kenyona Matthews
Exercise 11:10: Observe and Learn
Course Manual 11: Selling on Stage
Have you ever thought about getting paid to speak?
There are two ways to get paid to speak. The first is to be a compensated keynote speaker. For presenting at a conference in the US or Australia, non-celebrity speakers might anticipate receiving between $5k and $15k.
The second method is what we refer to as selling from the stage. In this scenario, you provide your speech for free (or a little fee) but close the presentation by selling a product or service.
This selling from stage concept can really turn some people off. But the truth is – if someone is really resonating with your message and you deliver this tremendous insight and value and provoke new ways of thinking. For the people who are really excited and jiving, it’s offering them the chance to go deeper in your content or get access to a solution they have been seeking. A chance to get a full transformation versus just a taste. It is our responsibility as a speaker to help make an impact this means offering them what are audience needs and wants.
When it comes to learning sales methods for selling from the stage, there are two things you must comprehend: how to create the ideal offer and how to present it to your audience in a way that motivates them to take action and sign up with you.
Your key to a measurable difference in your business and career is learning how to sell. Additionally, these methods will help you how to create a strong and persuasive offer. You’ll learn how to connect with your audience and the value you provide so well that you can invite people to join in your programs or buy your products or services without feeling any hesitation or worry.
We’ve got 7 steps you must follow if you want to succeed in making offers that convince your ideal clients to accept your offer.
Steps to Sell From Stage Like a Pro
1. Recognize your ideal clients and what they hope to accomplish.
People actually agree to the outcome when they purchase a program or product. What is the outcome your audience is searching for should be your first consideration when crafting your offer when learning how to sell a product to a consumer.
Take some time right now to sit down and make a customer avatar if you’re not yet completely certain about this. Consider both the current and future selves of your customers. What are their hopes, worries, and aspirations? What occurs in their minds?
You are not pitching them on yourself or your program when you make your offer. Instead, you are selling their ability to develop into the kind of person they wish to be.
Selling someone on their potential future selves, potential future selves, and potential future selves are extremely effective strategies. Selling someone on their future self has greater impact since individuals desire to become more than just a consumer of a good or service. You’ll be able to sell more effectively if you understand how they want to change. For instance, they might aspire to financial independence and a business that supports their lifestyle, but eventually they want to succeed as a motivational speaker who changes the world.
Throughout your presentation, you should refer to that identity, remind your audience of their capacity to adopt it, and entice them to adopt it while paying attention to you.
2. Use Direct and Indirect Seeding
Implementing a call to action at the conclusion of your presentation is merely one aspect of your offer. Throughout the presentation, seeding or making an offer is another method for effectively selling a product.
Every time you bring up your offer, you’re laying the groundwork for a decision and influencing your audience. Your audience won’t be ready for your offer if you don’t seed it before you make your calls to action.
Direct and indirect seeding are the two types:
With direct seeding, you inform your audience in advance that an offer is forthcoming. Here is an illustration of how to pitch a product:
Here is an example of Speaker/Sales Trainer Ted McGraths seeding example:
“I’m giving you some pretty good information here, but I only have 90 minutes to spend with you. You should continue your study with me in my Message To Millions program if you want to truly master Passionate and Profitable Presentations. Later, I’ll go into more detail on how you can sign up for that.”
An even more subtly mentioned method to increase interest is indirect seeding:
An example from Ted McGrath for indirect seeding:
“I’m very excited to share this Blueprint with you today. Because I’m the one delivering this during one of my Message To Millions events, it always has such an impact since I’m able to coach them and help them find their message.”
You are not required to pick one over the other. Using direct seeding at the start of a presentation to let people know that an offer is coming is a significant component of learning how to sell. Utilize indirect seeding throughout your presentation to ensure that when you return to your offer at the conclusion, people are already familiar with it and want to learn more.
3. Inspire your audience’s imagination.
“When you know your client’s vision, you can inspire them to take action on it.” — Ted McGrath
The process of making a sale is always made simpler when you help someone see themselves how you want them to. As your audience watches you give your presentation, you want to motivate them to realize their own brilliance. Storytelling is the most effective method for doing it.
The goal of effective storytelling is to take the audience on a journey from the Call (the beginning of the story, when you recognize you need to make a change), to the Pit (your lowest moment), to the Search, and finally to the Results. You tell a story that guides folks through the steps your teaching them.
People are listening, feeling your vulnerability as you speak, and searching with you. They have firsthand knowledge of the breakthrough outcomes from your tale, which gives them hope that they too might achieve similar outcomes. People are motivated to act when you share your experience because you establish connection and trust with them.
A key story type to help make an offer effective is the client story.
The client story, or stories about your clients and the struggles they faced in order to achieve their breakthrough outcomes, is a crucial story type for you to use. With the help of these tales, your clients can motivate potential customers in the future. They demonstrate to your audience that there were folks seated nearby who were similar to them.
Making sure that everything you say and do has a purpose is crucial. The audience should be paced and led by you as you smash objections. Don’t just tell a story just to tell a story.
All stories ought to flow and guide the viewer to a single logical conclusion…
Invest in your offer.
4. The Transition
The changeover is really easy. Throughout your presentation, you used stories, client testimonies, and seeds to engender desire.
You must now move your audience into the presentation’s formal offer section.
Possibly something along these lines:
“Now, you’ve heard me talk about my Message To Millions program, you’ve heard me mention it throughout this presentation, so what I’d like to do right now is invite you to attend my live event, Message To Millions.”
5. Detail Your Program Content
One common mistake people make while learning how to sell is bringing up the price right away. Inform your audience about the program’s structure and substance before discussing pricing. They will know how to learn and what results to anticipate as a result. Step-by-step breakdown of your plan. Give specifics about the material you will teach at each step.
Always keep in mind that people prefer to become something to possess something. As a result of their education, who will people have the chance to become? Permit them to identify with the persona they aspire to.
Your audience’s worries and fears will unavoidably surface when you discuss the program’s subject. Understanding this provides you the chance to allay their worries by addressing their objections before they’ve ever voiced them. Because of this, it’s crucial to identify your audience clearly so that you can specifically address their issues.
For instance, if your audience is afraid that their program won’t work for them because they don’t have any experience, you may offer a customer success story about someone who had no experience but overcame their own worries to achieve fantastic success.
Direct your words at the inner voice in their thoughts. People need to feel as though you are communicating directly to them, and you can ensure that happens by demonstrating that you comprehend what is going through their minds.
1. Address the ROI
Most customers will want to know the return on investment before you discuss pricing.
Discuss the ROI they can expect.
An ROI is not required to be guaranteed. Inform your clients up front if the ROI of your program depends on the effort, they put in. Use the customer success stories you’ve been dropping throughout your presentation to demonstrate what is feasible for them and what they might be able to accomplish if they put in the effort. Can they develop into who they wish to be? Or can they get the results they are looking for when implementing your product or service?
After that, you can compare it to the COI (Cost of Inaction). What happens if your audience refuses to accept your offer because they let their worries stand in the way? What kind of life will they lead? How will they develop? Who will they fail to develop into? Show them the consequences of their decision.
2. Present your offer
The real process of making your offer and inspiring folks to enroll involves multiple steps:
a. Price Contrast
You begin your offer in this manner. When I do this, I compare the time and substance in my program that I’m delivering to the investment of working with me one-on-one for a full or half day with my audience.
b. Price Reduction
Inform your audience of your program’s regular price and the exceptional price you’re offering today but withhold the precise amount of their investment for the time being.
c. Bonus/Incentives
List the benefits (and their worth) that customers will receive when they sign up for your program before you discuss the investment.
d. Promise/Guarantee
A guarantee gives your potential customers a sense of security and assurance. It lessens their danger and aids in overcoming potential objections.
e. Investment
You can now tell them about their investment. Before you tell them what their investment is today, remind them of the program’s normal cost.
Some folks will continue be concerned about prices even after you share the investment. Inform those people directly about the payment schedule you provide. Demand that your audience act right away.
f. Bonuses on a Limited Offer
Offer a limited number of additional benefits to the first 30 or 40 signups to instill a sense of urgency.
g. Use Multiple Calls To Action
When learning how to market, you should always keep in mind that one CTA is never enough. People are asked to face their fear when you ask them to take action. Resistance will likely exist for the majority of people, therefore, address this in your call to action. narrate a tale. A great tale engages audiences, takes them on a journey, and removes the burden of decision-making.
Giving a CTA shortly after an emotionally charged regret story is among the finest times to do it. Your consumers will be able to relate to the feelings expressed in the tale you presented, and you can use it to motivate them to take action.
Case Study: Tony Robbins Delivering a Part of his Signature Talk on Stage
The overall theme so far is that Tony is getting people to see that what they’ve been doing doesn’t really work.
He started out by ‘telling them their problem’ and now he’s ‘agitating the problem.’
So far, Tony is mostly talking about how it’s possible to transform yourself. He did it and so can you.
(Tony also makes people laugh…if you can make people laugh then they open up to you and like you)
“All of us inside our heads have an unconscious belief about what we deserve” …he says this, and it makes us want to ‘deserve’ more.
To better describe what he means, he relates it to a thermostat, so we really understand what he’s saying.
It’s not enough to just say something, the audience has to truly understand it and agree with it. So, by making a comparison to a thermostat (something we easily understand), the audience is much more likely to agree with his statement.
Then he goes on to ask a question that agitates the pain. He asks ‘how many people have had this roller coaster ride in your life where you do really well and then things drop down again’… this is something that happens to everyone, so no one is going to say no.
Tony then goes on to talk about how that’s exactly what he used to do…this builds rapport with the audience because if Tony did it then they don’t feel as bad about themselves.
Now Tony goes into a story where he got a ‘wakeup call’
Just so happens…he wants the audience to have this ‘wakeup call’ too.
Tony is basically creating a speech that goes from where they are…to where they want to be. And he tells it like a story…his story…of where he was (e.g., exactly how the audience is right now) and what made his life transform (where he is today).
The ‘in between’ are the secrets he learned to make the transformation. And these are the transformation secrets you can learn…if you attend his event.
***Remember: Your key to a measurable difference in your business and career is learning how to sell. Additionally, these methods will help you how to create a strong and persuasive offer allowing you to connect with your audience and the value you provide so well that you can invite people to join in your programs or buy your products or services without feeling any hesitation or worry. This will give you the opportunity to allow them to have a bigger impact in their lives or businesses.
Exercise 11:11: Create An Irresistible Offer
What is the offer (a product, a service, an event).
**Make sure it’s something your ideal audience need/wants.
Include a story (possibly a personal story or a client testimonial/case study)
What will it cost?
Create a Limiter.
Create a Bonus(s)
Create a Limited Time Bonus
Course Manual 12:
Each of us present ourselves in one way or another on a regular basis. For example, sharing who you are and what you do, interviewing for a new job or presenting a PowerPoint presentation to a potential client or to your supervisor or board. All of these are great opportunities to shine and catapult your career or business. The key is to make sure that you’re ready to use each opportunity to the fullest and win over your audience.
In this course manual, we will uncover how to inspire and engage your audience whether it’s during a talk or while leading your team.
Engage and Captivate Your Audience with These 8 Simple Speaking Strategies
Each of us present ourselves in one way or another on a regular basis. For example, sharing who you are and what you do, interviewing for a new job or presenting a PowerPoint presentation to a potential client or to your supervisor or board. All of these are great opportunities to shine and catapult your career or business. The key is to make sure that you’re ready to use each opportunity to the fullest and win over your audience.
Here are 8 simple speaking strategies that will allow you to stand out, engage and inspire you’re audience when you are presenting.
1. Engage Your Audience from the Start
Listeners want to be actively involved – not bored. Give them a reason to engage. You typically, have 30-90 seconds to grab their attention. Some people start with a joke, this works for some, but only if you have comedic skills does this actually work. If this is not a skill that you possess, don’t go there! What works for most, is to start with a powerful and relevant question. I’ve seen how this can be extremely effective. It brings your audience into the discussion and helps to set an informal and positive tone. Be sure to also share a story about yourself in the beginning of your presentation that allows you to be vulnerable. This will allow your audience to connect with you on a deeper level. Another technique is to refer to one or two of your audience members by name. (I always make sure I spend some time prior to my presentation getting to know some of the people that are there that I might reference later.)
2. Be Animated
The best presentations are given by people who are animated in both body language and vocal delivery. Resist the temptation to hide behind the podium or stand in one place. Here’s something to try, next time you speak to an audience of 20 or more, walk among your audience when you speak. Stop and every once and awhile put your hand on the shoulder of one of your listeners. (It might help to do this to someone that you have met before.)
Walking in the audience will help you to not only retain their attention but it will also allow for a closer connection making them feel like you’re one of them.
3. Provide Value
Be sure you are addressing a specific problem or challenge that your audience most likely is currently experiencing or has faced before. Then, be sure to offer a solution to that problem or challenge during your presentation. Give them actionable steps that they can use and implement right away. Also, make sure that you have a clear call to action – what action should they take moving forward of they are ready to take the next step?
4. The Delivery
The delivery of your message is very important. No one wants to listen to a stiff or monotone person. Attempt to have a pleasant vocal quality. There are four main areas to focus on this throughout your presentation: Vary the tone of your voice, vary your volume, vary the speed at which you talk and learn to pause when appropriate to create greater impact.
Avoid distracting habits. A habit will often distract the audience from focusing on your message. The best way that I have found to identify if you have any distracting habits, is to either practice your presentation in front of a friend or family member and have them share any constructive feedback or you can video tape your-self and watch it. By catching yourself in a bad habit or at least being aware of what you’re doing you can learn to break the habit.
5. Accommodate many learning styles
Everybody learns differently. While some of us learn best visually, preferring images, films, and diagrams, others learn best orally and in writing, via music, logic, and reasoning, or even through physical activity.
Try to mix up the way you learn by incorporating standard language teaching techniques with written handouts, interactive exercises, and group projects. This will guarantee that no one is left behind and provide an inclusive atmosphere for all learning preferences.
6. Dress the Part
Do you look like a leader that others will want to follow? Does your attire make you feel confident about yourself? Be sure to wear clothing that is appropriate to the industry culture you are presenting to, but a little nicer than those in your audience.
7. Keep Your Content Fresh
Avoid sharing the same stories over and over again, mix it up or put a different spin or twist on it. A powerful tool is to weave current events into your presentation when possible – perhaps something that happened that day or week might reinforce the reason for the discussion.
Make sure that you modify your presentation to appeal to your specific audience. Another way to keep it fresh is to mention the latest trends in your industry or even in pop culture this will help to keep your audience engaged.
8. Keep it Short
Not overwhelming your audience with information is one of the best ways to keep them interested. When you talk for too long, the brain just shuts off, and people stop paying attention.
Make sure to schedule lots of brief breaks if your lesson will last more than two hours or is spread out over a day. Along with providing attendees with a chance to stand up, move about, and drink some water, you should also make learnings available for “downloading.”
Leading with Inspiration to Encourage Engagement
One of the keys to leadership is to pay attention to your impact. We call it “productive interaction”—engaging with others in ways that inspires action and commitment. We think of it as being intentional in every interaction you have with people so that they are left more inspired and ready to take action than they were before you interacted with them.
A few years ago, there was a story that came out that illustrates this beautifully: Queen Victoria had two great prime ministers, William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. Someone once observed that when you had dinner with Gladstone, you came away thinking he was the wittiest, most intelligent, most charming person you had ever met. When you dined with Disraeli, on the other hand, you were sure you were the wittiest, most intelligent, most charming person ever.
Do your team members feel smarter, funnier, and more endearing after speaking with you, such as after a team meeting or one-on-one? What is the focus of your attention? How you interact with others is crucial. A person’s decision to stay in their employment is frequently influenced by how you perform your duties as the boss.
Employees and consumers have several options to voice their unhappiness about the quality of an engagement via various social platforms, which presents a challenge for leaders who are not mindful of the trail they leave behind them. Consider GlassDoor.
What are some easy strategies to start engaging more effectively?
1. Find out from others what you are doing that is successful and unsuccessful.
Finding out how other people see you is the first stage, usually through a 360-degree leadership assessment. This enables you to comprehend how people see the persona you convey to them—the attitudes and actions your demeanor inspires.
You can start working on raising your awareness and enhancing your answer once you get this picture of people’s perceptions. For instance, you may need to work on your patience, slow down, and listen more carefully if you consistently receive feedback about being hasty and distracted in meetings and one-on-one conversations. You might need to develop your focus so that you don’t become sidetracked by all of the upcoming duties. By requesting comments once more in a year or so, you can gauge your improvement. This lets you see where you’ve made progress and what needs to be done.
2. Become more adept at having difficult conversations.
Avoid letting a dispute fester. Even if you don’t feel prepared, speak to it immediately and decisively since it won’t go away on its own. Pick up the phone, go to that person’s office down the hall, and have the important chat. In a four-step procedure known as Clean Communication, we train leaders. I won’t go into detail about how to have important talks because there are numerous books on the subject, but the key takeaway is this: Practice having difficult conversations without causing unintended consequences. You don’t want to exacerbate the situation. Because of this, you might need to develop new communication techniques when the stakes are high.
3. Admit your mistakes—and don’t make the same ones again.
Say so if you did something that didn’t work. This is not a complex subject. Declare your regret. But after you’ve expressed your regret, take action. Make every effort not to repeat that action. If not, your apology is pointless.
Case Study
Here is a story of a manager who discovered how to interact with her staff more productively. A financial services firm vice president named Karen was having issues because her direct reports had ceased approaching her directly. She was smart, educated, and focused on getting things done. She was able to influence events and produce desired outcomes.
The issue was that Karen’s numerous accomplishments and unwavering confidence made her conceited. She was judgmental, condescending, and impatient. You’ve missed the point; she would say while tapping her pen on the table. She was consequently losing good individuals.
She enlisted the help of coaching and feedback to strengthen her leadership and reduce the high turnover. She gave it her all. She modified her style in response to criticism from her coach, coworkers, and peers, and strived to foster more beneficial interactions.
After three years, Karen’s staff still enjoys working with her. She is now recognized as a skilled listener who is understanding, personable, and impartial. She has mastered the abilities to interact more productively and has a remarkable capacity to advance things under duress.
You may imagine the dramatic effect of this interpersonal style by multiplying Karen’s narrative by the dozens or hundreds of leaders at one organization.
When a leader is loved, others will want to work for them. They will remain and put in a lot of effort for a manager who can inspire the group to accomplish great things. You want to be the kind of leader who does this.
How Great Leaders Motivate and Engage Their Teams
It is well recognized that managers are responsible for guiding a group of individuals toward a common objective. Although each member of the team has a different function to play, their combined efforts are what lead to the final product. To reach that goal, it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that every employee performs flawlessly, but someone has to motivate them to do well. The role of a leader, in contrast to other roles, is the key to this motivation.
Engagement in your team begins at the top of the organizational structure and filters down to those who give their all to their task. Although the captain may be at the helm, it’s crucial to keep in mind that the sailors are what keep the ship afloat.
Each person has their own leadership style, but there’s a great technique developed by Christian Valiulis, Chief Revenue Officer of APS that has worked wonders for him in motivating his staff. It centers on three leadership behaviors, or what I’ve come to refer to as the “three Ls of leadership”: love, listen and laugh.
These three Ls stand for both an effective leadership approach and the engagement-promoting environment fostered inside our employees. Every team member plays a part in deciding the success of the project and each group has a specific goal in attaining the company’s objectives. Here’s how you can motivate your team by using the Ls: Love, Listen and Laugh
1. Love Encourages Loyalty
In challenging circumstances, demonstrate empathy to lead your team with love. Never withhold good emotions or pass up opportunities to highlight a team member’s achievements, and never be hesitant to occasionally administer tough love. As in personal relationships, it’s important to consider individual styles and preferences when communicating with your team.
You can provide the same message to every member of your team but deliver it to some team members in a different way depending on their communication preferences. Some of my bosses prefer to hear “excellent job on that transaction,” while others place more significance on one-on-one conversations than just my verbal compliments. My efforts to understand my team’s communication style have paid off with devoted workers who are dedicated to the team’s and organization’s mission.
2. Listening Promotes Respect
A motivating leader is aware that respect is earned and that it takes time for employees to fully respect a management. The first step in this procedure is to encourage candid conversation among your peers. Having those talks with them requires paying attention to what they are saying. Your team is able to develop and implement effective ideas with outstanding results through listening to others.
“Feel free to challenge me, but …” is terrific phrase managers of sales teams use in meetings. This is powerful as it shows that they aren’t scared to express their opinions while allowing for open conversation, further developing an engaged culture. In addition, we don’t always get the greatest information from a spreadsheet; instead, you can get it from your colleagues. With the assistance and backing of your team, you can make better judgments.
3. Laughter Promotes Equality
One area of business management that many people frequently overlook is the human factor. Individuals who make up teams have emotions and personalities; no two team members are the same. Laughter makes executives more approachable, flattens the organizational hierarchy, and sets the tone for the atmosphere you create. If your team members aren’t having fun and laughing at work, something isn’t right there.
Case Study
One example of the importance of laughter comes from Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. When the two first met, their dueling strong opinions kept them from getting along, but it didn’t tear them apart. “We had a kind of bantering thing going,” Brin said. They were boisterous, yet they constantly pushed each other’s ideas, like one knife sharpening another. To this day, employees at Google — which is known for its great culture — say that if the pair leads a sales meeting, they typically start with dad jokes. That’s not to say they’re being unprofessional; on the contrary, they put everyone at ease and show that they enjoy the work they’re doing.
**Discover Your Leadership L’s**
George Washington is a wonderful example; his illustrious career has inspired many leaders in their managerial approach. Washington was a wonderful leader because he respected his subjects for who they were as people and not just as means to an end. This represents a powerful methodology as well as the caliber of the Washingtonian ethos.
Leaders who must constantly reaffirm their authority to everyone are vulnerable. You will motivate your team and foster an engaged culture through your actions as a leader. These three pillars of leadership can help you succeed in your quest; they can assist in guiding decisions and lay a strong foundation for the accomplishments and resilience of your team members. Be willing to consider their needs, pay attention to what they have to say, and cooperate with them. They reciprocate your devotion and respect by acting similarly.
Excellent managers are aware that they can only manage tasks, not people. People need to be guided and given a purpose that makes them feel like they can change the world. It is entirely up to you whether or not these three Ls will be effective for your company, but the lessons learned are universal for leaders. Discover your own brand, motivate your staff, and you’ll soon see the value of an engaged workforce for everybody.
“As soon as you seek to inspire others, it will inspire the best in you.” – Brendon Burchard
Exercise 11:12: Positive Statements
Project Studies
Process Review:
As a whole, the Women Empowerment Program aims to create a better culture and a level playing field for women in your organization. Each workshop is designed to delve deeply into a specific topic so that we have a clear understanding of how to apply the information in our daily personal and professional lives. This Workshop on being a Confident Speaker – focuses on Step 4 of the Business Transformation Process – Advanced Communication and Presentations Skills.
After completion of the Confident Speaker Workshop, and after going through the implementation exercises in this Project Study it will be clear to see how to best incorporate these new processes into your organization. Once you develop your own set of skills and tools necessary to become a powerful dynamic and confident speaker.
This Workshop and Project Study focuses specifically on the following areas and strategies:
1. Learn key steps to overcome the fear of public speaking.
2. Discover 15 steps to clarify your expertise.
3. Identify an easy process on how to create your own signature story.
4. Learn the Core Message Framework used to define your message.
5. Discover the 10 components of a Signature Talk.
6. Identify Top Speaking Skills and how to showcase them.
7. Learn the top tips to prepare your talk and how to powerfully deliver it.
8. 5 Keys to level-up your Stage Presence.
9. Eight steps to speak with authority.
10. Discover 10 tips to becoming a confident speaker.
11. 7 Steps to sell from stage like a pro.
12. Access some great strategies to captivate your audience and 3 L’s to engage and inspire your team.
Personal Implementation Exercises:
**Complete the exercises below after you complete the following courses in this workshop.
1. Share what type(s) of speaking you’re interested in doing. (Key notes, work presentations, podcasts, workshops).
2. On a scale from 1 -10 (1 being not good at all to 10 being awesome) how would you rate your speaking skills.
3. After completing the steps in Course Manual 11:3 – Follow them to write your own unique personal signature story.
4. Use the Message Framework outlines in Course Manual 11:4 to create e you own key message that you can use in your signature talk. Make sure you are following the specific criteria provided.
5. Use the following 2 websites to help improve your voice.
Project Study (Part 1) – Customer Service
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 2) – E-Business
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 3) – Finance
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 4) – Globalization
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 5) – Human Resources
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 6) – Information Technology
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 7) – Legal
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 8) – Management
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 9) – Marketing
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 10) – Production
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 11) – Logistics
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Project Study (Part 12) – Education
The Head of this Department is to provide a detailed report relating to the Confident Speaker process that has been implemented within their department, together with all key stakeholders, as a result of conducting this workshop, incorporating process: planning; development; implementation; management; and review. Your process should feature the following 12 parts:
01. Fear of Speaking
02. Your Expertise
03. Signature Story
04. Defining Message
05. Signature Talk
06. Speaking Skills
07. Speaking Tips
08. Stage Presence
09. Speak with Authority
10. Gaining Confidence
11. Selling on Stage
12. Engage and Inspire
Please include the results of the initial evaluation and assessment.
Program Benefits
Marketing
- Customer experience
- Sales support
- Effective communication
- Positioning power
- Market growth
- Increased ROI
- Increased productivity
- Competitive advantage
- Improved image
- Accelerated growth
- Cutting edge
Management
- Increased collaboration
- Leadership excellence
- Improved communication
- Happier team
- Empowered employees
- Positive environment
- Innovation
- Augmented skills
- Valued skills
- Increased productivity
- Increased engagement
Human resources
- Improved culture
- Happier workplace
- Greater retention
- High-impact teams
- Growth mindset
- Increased engagement
- Improved management
- Leadership excellence
- Improved skills
- Strong Communication
- Empowered employees
Client Telephone Conference (CTC)
If you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a Client Telephone Conference (CTC) to discuss this particular Unique Consulting Service Proposition (UCSP) in more detail, please CLICK HERE.