Public Speaking and Presentation Coach

Think Purple Cow!

:: Caution – This is not for the faint-hearted::

In the marketing literature, we learnt about the infamous 4Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. They are important variables to a successful marketing campaign. However not long ago, Seth Godin introduced the 5th P: Purple Cow. An equally, if not more important ‘P’ to transform businesses by becoming remarkable. Although this book was written for business people and entrepreneurs, I would strongly recommend all of you to get a copy of it too! The principles he shared in his book can be directly applied to public speaking too. How cool is that!

If you are looking for some fresh and exciting ideas of becoming a remarkable speaker, you gotta read on!

“Cows, after you have seen one or two or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though… now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.” (extracted from Purple Cow)

In my opinion, most of our speeches are brown cows. Safe, predictable and downright boring. You can already guess the ending when you are 1 to 2 minutes into the speech! The message is usually the same. Even if you religiously adhered to all the tips that experts had shared with you, you will become a polished speaker, just like everyone else. There is nothing unique.

That’s why I am a strong advocate of finding your personal style when it comes to speaking. And one way is to share anecdotes. They personalise your speech and make it unqiue. No two people have the same story to tell. Even if they happen to be in the same situation, each has their own perspective.

Most speeches fall into four categories: entertaining speeches, informative speeches, persuasive speeches and inspirational speeches. I will like to introduce the fifth type of speech: a “purple cow” speech.

A speech that is so remarkably different that everyone cannot help but talk about it. Ever experience a speech that is so powerful and unique that you find yourself raving about it to everyone that crosses your path?

Gosh, you should have come yesterday! The speaker was absolutely fantastic…
I have never seen or heard such a phenomenal speaker. Here’s the link to his speech, you gotta watch it.
He is good.. but he will never be as good as that guy who spoke last year in our annual event…
I found her website on the Internet and guess what, she will be speaking again next month at New Jersey. We must go!!!
You will not believe what happen yesterday. There was this speaker who did…

Get what I mean? Wish that speaker is you??? (grins)

Here’s the key. Giving a speech is ALWAYS about your audience. This is old news. But I want you to go one step further. Amaze them so much that they see it as their responsibility to tell at least ten people about your speech! You have to create a speech that is worth other people’s time and effort to talk about. Sometimes it may not be the speech or the message. It could be you!

But how?

By being a PURPLE COW of course!!!

Step out of your comfort zone and try something new, crazy, out of the box. Some thing that is unconventional yet fresh. Take the risk and do something different in your speech. It may flop. But hey it may also work wonders! You never know until you try.

Here’s a thirty day trial for all purple cow-wannabes! In the next thirty days…

1. Come out with ten ways to modify your speech and overwhelm your audience with its remarkability
2. Each time you think of something safe to do for your speech, reverse it!
3. Find things that are “just not done” in the speaking industry and go do it (for the fun of it!)
4. Ask “Why not?” Almost everything you don’t do has no good reasson for it. It is usually the result of fear and assumption. So why not?
5. Treat your next speech like a game! Have loads of fun with it!

So remember, the next time you prepare or give a speech, think Purple Cow… or indigo cow, gold cow, purplish with a tint of blue cow… you get what I mean!

::This entry has also been featured at Ezine Articles::

Seth Godin’s Presentation: Two key takeaways

Have you watched Seth Godin’s video presentation with Google? If not, you can find it here: All marketers are liars

As promised, I will share with you my thoughts on Seth’s presentation. Here are two things that he did extremely well and I would strongly recommend that you implement both of them in your next presentation!

1. One message per slide

Seth’s presentation was extremely easy to follow. He has only one message per slide, with most of them represented by cartoons and photos. Even after a weekend gateway at Poconos, I was able to remember his points effortlessly. Say the purple cow! He had a slide with a brown cow and a purple cow. And he was explaining to us the importance of being unique. No one will talk about brown cows because they are too common. But if you see a purple cow, you will tell every single person you meet. (The same principle applies to your speeches too by the way. I will share more in the next entry)

If you want your presentation to be more memorable, use lots of pictures. When the presenter flashes a picture on the screen, you register it with your right brain (the creative side). When the presenter explains his point, you interpret his words with your left brain (the logical side). The use of both sides of the brain keeps you engaged and attentive to the presentation.

However when the presenter have too many points on his/her slides, you will have to use your left brain to interpret these points while trying to listen to his message (with your left brain too). Very often, you will lose either the message or the points on the slide. This creates confusion and after a while, you will find yourself switching off.

So if you want your audience to remain engaged to your presentation, choose visuals (pictures, photos, comic strips, cartoons, videos) over words when you design your slides. And even if you have to use points on your slides, keep them succint. I would even recommend that you use mnemonics to help your audience remember your points. For example:

2. One story per point

In the entire 50 minutes presentation, Seth shared with his audience about over 15-20 stories. In other words, in every 2.5 minutes, he told one story. In fact, he had one story for each slide! This is extremely effective especially if your presentation is relatively long. People loves stories. The more stories you share with them, the more engaged they are in your presentation. Ideally, you want to illustrate every point with a story. If you have three points, tell three stories. They do not have to be long. As long as they underscore your point, it is a good story.

Learn how you can mine for stories from your everyday encounters: Things happen, Pay Attention

Related Posts
Watch this Video: All Marketers are Liars

Here comes Mr Murphy!

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and at the worst possible time!

Murphy lurks EVERYWHERE and if you are preparing for your speech, trust me… it will manifest itself right before you and at the worst possible time. I had to give a presentation to my program director and consulting professor a couple of days ago. It was a rather important presentation and there was no room for screw-ups. And as you have guessed by now, it did…

1. Class ended late on Wednesday and I got to office at about 1.30pm. (the presentation was scheduled at 2.30pm)
2. The guy whom I was suppose to collect my laptop from went missing.
3. I manage to get a laptop from him only at 2pm… and it was spoilt.
4. Went into the conference room to set up the projector and found that my room was being booked by another colleague.
5. Double-checked and realized that the system did not registered my booking (so I had no room).
6. Headed to the next meeting room, only to find that they removed the projector.
7. My director called and told me they were outside the office and it was only 2.15pm!
8. Scrambled and managed to secure the previous meeting room (thanks to my boss)

And guess what… I did not have a chance to go through my slides before the actual show… Thankfully, the presentation went relatively well and I heaved a sign of relief! If there is one thing I learnt that day, it has to be this: ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR SCREW-UPS!!!

So the next time you have a presentation, don’t assume you have time to run through them an hour before. Don’t assume that the room has been properly set up for you. Don’t assume that the audience will like what you say. Be ready for hiccups and plan beforehand!

More instances of Murphy’s lurking behind the walls… (credits from Wikipedia)

• A slice of buttered bread, when dropped, will always land butter-side down.
• When you need an item that is in a heap, it will always be the one at the bottom.
• The day you forget your umbrella, it pours with rain.
• If you make it idiot-proof, someone will make a better idiot.
• When you put your trousers on without looking, they will always be on backwards.
• Transport will always be late, unless you are late yourself, in which case it will be on time

The day you forget to bring your calculator to Math or Science class, there will be a quiz or test that requires one.

Afterword: How to make the butterflies in your stomach fly in formation

Hi folks! (grins) Yes, my graduation went amazingly well last night. It was an evening of fun, tears and LOTS of picture taking. We have definitely redefined speed – 500 pics per hour! No kidding.

As promised, I will do a quick review on the three tips I gave you in How to make the butterflies in your stomach fly in formation and evaluate its effectiveness.

Suggestion #1 – Forget about your speech!

Works very well for me. When I did my final rehearsal at the ballroom (about an hour before the actual event), some of my friends thought it was an impromptu speech. It did not feel like a prepared speech at all. As a result, I sounded natural and engaging. On my end, I felt as if it was my first time giving the speech. Words came out of my mouth effortlessly and emotions flowed smoothly with the words. It sure boost my confidence a great deal.

Suggestion #2 – Uncover the root of your nervousness

When I saw my batch mates that evening, all my nervousness dissipated. Somehow it did not felt a task anymore. There was hardly any pressure. It became more of a “I want to do it!” kind of thing. I think the lesson here is to know the root of your nervousness. Once you know the cause, acknowledge it. When you acknowledge the root of your nervousness, you automatically stop struggling and your vision clears out. You begin to see how you can take tangible actions to reduce your nervousness rather than just feeling helpless.

Suggestion #3 – Visualize yourself as a superstar!

Well… the audience did not exactly gave me a standing ovation… but still, it served its purpose. I spoke as if I was the superstar! As a result, I was perceived to be extremely at ease with myself on stage. Some of the audience even thought I was having so much more fun than them!!! (grins)

In a nutshell, I thought these three tips worked really well for me. Perhaps it was also my passion for speaking that made it so much easier to speak in front of 120 people … or there could be other reasons. I don’t really know.

Nonetheless, it boils down to this: You never know until you try these tips for yourself! So throw yourself into the deep end of the pool and enjoy the exhilarating process of experimentation and growth!

How to make the butterflies in your stomach fly in formation?

The long awaited graduation is finally here; tonight 5pm at Downtown Club, Philadelphia. In the half an hour special segment, I will be giving a 7 mins long graduation speech. And boy am I nervous AND excited! Nervous coz’ you never know how the speech will turn out. Excited coz’ I will get to share with more than 120 people about the significance of our graduation PLUS I will get stage time! (Click on link to learn why stage time is extreeeeeeeemmmeeeeeeeeeely important!!)

Let’s get back to the nervousness. It is nothing unusual isn’t it? There will always be butterflies fluttering around in your stomach. And if you search on the Internet, you will find more than 101 ways to exterminate your butterflies. Yet, how many of us are really successful in getting rid of these butterflies? Here’s the irony: the more you try to eliminate your nervousness, the more it gets back at you. Trust me, it is not a pretty sight!

Today, I would like to invite you to try something new. Instead of exterminating your butterflies, make them fly in formation! Instead of getting rid of your nervousness, embrace it! But why??!! Let me give you two reasons.

Firstly, your nervousness is trying to tell you something important. If you listen hard enough, you will have something constructive to work on. Instead of just feeling nervous, which can lead to panic, fear and lots of pain, you have now open yourself to an opportunity to get better.

Secondly, you CANNOT destroy energy!!! This is simple physics. Energy can be converted from one form to another, but it can NEVER be destroyed. So if you think about it, there is no way you can eliminate your nervous energy. However, you can convert this nervous energy into positive energy that will push you to perform. Why waste the extra boost of adrenaline rush!

Ok so now that you are convinced that you should not exterminate your butterflies (and you can’t anyway…), what should you do? I have three suggestions and I am in the midst of testing them right now! (grins) So read it with a pinch of salt. Once the big day is over, I will tell you if they work or not. (Look out for tomorrow’s post) Sounds good?

Suggestion #1 – Forget about your speech!

I have another seven more hours to go before the graduation and here’s my game plan:

9 – 10: Breakfast + Clearing Emails + Reading Blogs
10 – 11: Blogging
11 – 12: Ironing my clothes
12 – 1: Lunch
1 – 2: Watching Apprentice I (don’t ask!)
2 – 3: Have a good hot shower + get ready

Notice I have allocated zero hours to rehearse. Before you follow suit, I want to make a disclaimer. I have started rehearsing days before the graduation night so I want to give myself a little break. It keeps the speech fresh! And I won’t be too bored…

But if you have yet to practice, then it is a different story altogether… Wait, don’t panic! Here’s what you can do. Spend an hour to run through your script. Do it in the morning when you are fresher. Psychologically, you are much more relaxed as well since you know that you still have a significant amount of hours left before your speech.

Suggestion #2 – Uncover the root of your nervousness

This is a very important step and I suggest you spend some time on it. Let me start by sharing with you the root of my nervousness. I am afraid that I cannot live up to my audience expectations and I feel pressurized to be as good as I was last year. The irony of success eh? It doesn’t matter if there is any truth in it coz in my world, it is reality. And it weighs a ton on my shoulders.

Great. So now that I have uncovered the root of my nervousness, what do I do next?

Simply accept it! And it goes away!! Allow me to explain.

When you accept the root of your nervousness, you have given yourself the power to transcend it. Once you know why you are nervous and acknowledge it, you automatically stop struggling. Your vision clears out and you begin to see how you can take tangible actions to reduce your nervousness. Isn’t this much more effective than feeling nervous?

Let me give you an example. A lot of people are nervous because they are afraid to fail. I’m definitely one of them. And it is normal. Question is how do you react to your nervousness? Some people chose to drown themselves in the whirlpool of nervousness and as you can guess, it is a point of no return. However if you acknowledge that nervousness and stop giving power to this emotion, you now have a choice to do something about it. In this case, you can start enquiring deeper into your definition of failure. How would you know if you fail?

I forget my lines.
My client refuses to sign my contract.
The audience laughs at me

Frankly it could be anything. But at the very least, you have now something tangible to work on. For example, you can work on shortening your script or rehearse more so that you won’t forget your lines. You can review your presentation and see if there are any information you need to add to be more persuasive. Not so helpless anymore right?

On top of accepting the cause of my nervousness, you may also want to revisit and re-experience your motivation for speaking (assuming there is). But seriously, if you have no motivation to speak, why bother in the first place?

In my case, my graduation speech is my way of expressing my gratitude towards my batch mates. No matter how sucky it will be, it comes from the heart and I mean every single word that I say. So how bad can the speech be?

This is also a golden opportunity to improve my public speaking skills! Even if the speech flopped, I am going to learn something valuable. And from my experience, I will get better. So what’s there to lose?

Suggestion #3 – Visualize yourself as a superstar!

Now to the fun part! All you need is imagination. Picture in your mind all the positive things that will happen before, during and after your speech. Don’t hold back. Use your five senses. What do you see? What do you hear? What can you touch? What can you smell? What can you feel? Keep adding positive imageries into your picture. And play the scene over and over again, until you are convinced that you are indeed a superstar!

So… the next time you feel butterflies in your stomach, please resist the temptation to exterminate them! Return to this post and try out some of my suggestions: Learn how you can make your butterflies fly in formation!!!

Wish me luck!

The Power of Body Language

Body language is one of the most powerful forms of communication. Unfortunately, a lot of speakers fail to harness its power in their delivery. Not sure where to start? Simple. Videotape yourself at your next speech! Playback the video but mute it. See for yourself if your body language is helping you or detracting you from your speech!

Here’s an article to get you started: Five Ways to Make Your Body Speaks

Start Small to Win Big

No… this is not a betting tip although there is some truth in it! (grins)

But seriously, if you are dying to become a much more competent speaker in the most effortless way, you gotta start small to win big! Starting something – say losing weight – is always the easiest because of the initial wave of enthusiasm and optimism. However as time goes, your balloon of enthusiam and optimism get pierced by the reality of your world. No time. No energy. No results. That’s why our new year resolutions rarely change…

My recommendation is for you to start small. Instead of reading the entire volume of public speaking books in a month, try reading one public speaking related article everyday! Or it can be one chapter from a public speaking book everyday. Just one. And if you have time, there is no harm reading more. In this case, frequency is much more important. Not only will you achieve more in the long run, your regular readings will become a habit after a while (which is even better!) And the best part, the task doesn’t seem that daunting! It is almost too easy!

Besides reading one article a day, I would also recommend that you apply one new tip to every speech that you make. Trust me, reading books and articles is simply not good enough. You have to try them out and see if it works for you. Otherwise, whatever that you have read is just pure knowledge. Just like swimming – it is almost impossible to master swimming just by reading volumes of swimming books. You may be an expert in 201 swimming styles but when I throw you into the deep end of the pool, you will most likely drown.

The same goes for public speaking. No amount of books is going to help you get better unless you put what they have taught you into practice. You gotta internalise what you have learnt and the easiest way is to just do it! So the next time you read an article or a book, note down the tips and then apply one (just one) to your next speech. See if it works. If it does, great! Keep it and try another tip. If it doesn’t, drop it and try another tip! In no time, you will amass an armory full of workable tips that are tried and tested! How not to wow your audience away??

So remember, starting from today…

1. Read ONE public speaking article a day
2. Try ONE tip/technique that you have read about in your next speech

Only by starting small, will you win big!

Related Posts
Scott has a more detailed explanation of the importance of learning by doing. You can read it here.

(BE) Your Audience!

Knowing your audience is simply not good enough. You have to BE your audience. Get into their heads and figure out what they really want to listen. Sounds obvious? Yes but trust me, we all forget sometimes. And it can cost you. In my case, the first place trophy and a chance to get into the finals of the International Speech Contest.

I was contesting in the division level of the International Speech Contest recently this year, which was three levels away from the finals. My speech was about my life threatening rappelling experience in army and how I triumphed over my fear of heights. The message was straightforward. Sometimes in life, you have to let go (of your fears, doubts and assumptions) to see if they are worth holding onto. I left my audience entertained and inspired. It was obvious that they enjoyed my speech. The applause lasted the longest compared to the rest of the contestants. (Upon reflection, I suspect it could be because I was the last speaker) It was clear that they got my message. A lot of them came to me during the break to thank me for the thought provoking speech. But alas, I did not win. I was placed second. The first place trophy went to Douglas whose speech was titled “Sorrow, Solace and Sunshine”. He shared with the audience about how his family coped with the death of his mother. And he skillfully related it back to the September 11 catastrophe. His message was unclear, subtle at best. But he won. And he deserved to win.

In my opinion, he won because he knew the audience inside out. Apparently, many members of the club have experienced losing someone dear to them. And there was no doubt about how every American felt about the September 11 catastrophe. So if you think about it, he has already won the contest even before any of the contestants spoke; just by his careful selection of a subject matter that the judges feel obligated to vote for.

On the other hand, it was difficult for the audience to relate to my rappelling experience. Out of fifty, only five in the audience had ever rappelled! And out of which, only two had the fear of heights. Effectively, my speech had only reached out to two, compared to fifty in Douglas’s case. Now who’s the clear winner?

How can you leverage on my painful lesson to raise your speaking competence? Simple. ALWAYS make sure you get into the heads of your audience and think like them. If you have to do some research, do it! If you have to make some phone calls, do it! If you have to conduct a survey on your audience, do it! What are some things you have to know about your audience? I say EVERYTHING (just to be on the safe side)! This isn’t really helping right? (grins)

Here are some questions that will help you understand your audience better.

1. What are the demographics of my audience?
2. What are my audience’s needs right now?
3. What are some of the taboo topics to avoid?
4. What are some of the common topics the audience talks about?
5. What do the audience like and dislike?

Once you have a better understanding of your audience, you can then begin to craft your speech by asking the next three questions:

1. What message will create the most impact for the audience?
2. What stories can the audience relate best?
3. What is the best way to put my message across?

By answering these questions, you will now be able to share with them a message that is timely for your audience. You will be able to incorporate stories that your audience can relate to. You will be able to make your audience love you without breaking any sweat. Doesn’t sound too difficult anymore right?

It shouldn’t. Now get out and wow your audience!

Things happen, pay attention!

Telling personal stories or anecdotes is one of the easiest and most effective way of connecting with your audience. It is fool-proof. You can be the most boring speaker in the entire universe but when you tell a personal story, you will automatically be forgiven. Not only do your stories build rapport with your audience, they differentiate you from the rest of the speakers. In the eyes of your audience, you are unique!

However many speakers fail to take advantage of their wealth of stories that they have accumulated over the years. It is like a gold mine waiting to be tapped! And I urge you to START MINING FOR STORIES!!!

“But I don’t have great stories to tell!”

Not true. If you open your eyes and pay attention, you will find tons of stories to tell. As Jim Key, 2003 World Champion Speaker emphasized – “Things happen, pay attention!” They may not necessarily be of Hollywood quality but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough. In fact with all the hype over Hollywood flicks, we are dying to hear some everyday stories that can happen to any one of us. Think back to your last dinner with your friends. Didn’t everyone has some stories to bring to the table?

Just this morning, something funny happened at my house. And I paid attention!

Room-mate 1: (complaining) My life sucks!
Room-mate 2: (earnestly) Don’t worry. It would be over soon.
Room-mate 1: My life??!!

There you go. A piping hot story that I can share with my friends and audience. And I can use it to prove a point. Instead of telling the “Is the cup half full or half empty” story (which is extremely cliche!), I could replace it with the above anecdote. 100% original. Who would have thought of it? Things happen, pay attention!

So here’s what I would encourage all of you to do. Things happen all the time. If you open your eyes and pay attention, you will be overwhelmed with stories to tell. Always keep a pencil and paper in your pocket. Every time something interesting happens, write it down. It could be a conversation with your mum. It could be an incident that happened at a restaurant. If you find it interesting or funny, write it down. Transfer it to your computer and save all these stories into one folder. You may even want to categorize your stories in whichever way you want. This folder is going to be your treasure chest. The next time you speak, open up your treasure chest and pick a couple of stories that you think would relate to your message. Incoporate them into your speeches and see how you effortlessly wow your audience away! Trust me, it works ALL the time!

p.s: Interested to win a free ebook that teaches you to become an effective and charismatic speaker? All you got to do is share with us something interesting that happened to you this week. This would be an opportunity for you to apply what I have just shared with you – things happen, pay attention! You can post it via comments and remember to leave me your email address too. I look forward to reading your stories!

Giving an After-Dinner Speech

One of the toughest kind of speeches to make is an after-dinner speech since everyone will be feeling sleepy after their meal. And worse, they may not even give you their full attention. There are many things that can go wrong and as an after-dinner keynote speaker, there are a couple of things you have to observe in order to be successful or at the very least, to sit down without feeling embarassed.

1. Find an appropriate topic

As a speaker, you have to find a topic that ALL your audience can relate to. And this applies to all kind of speeches, particulatly after-dinner speeches. There are many things that are against you. At most dinners, tables are rounded. That means to say that a percentage of your audience has their back facing you. Circular tables also facilitate small talks which gives them another reason not to listen to you. Your audience’s attention span is also not at its highest. Many of them may still be enjoying their desserts. You have waiters and waitresses walking around to clear the dishes, which can be both distracting for your audience and you! As you can see, there are many reasons for them not to listen to you. You do not need to give them another one.

So spend at least 30% of your time researching your audience. Find out more about the organization. Find out more about your audience – what do they do, what are some of their concerns, what are the taboo topics. The organizer would be a great resource for you to understand the audience. Sometimes they may even propose some topics that you can talk about. It also helps to be aware of the current trends in the world because very likely, your audience knows about it as well, and they would be able to relate when you talk about it.

Let me give you a specific example. Last night I attended a dinner that was commemorating the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. The audience were made up of various Asian ethnic communities that come together to promote understanding and acceptance of the different Asian cultures and heritage. I thought their vision was commendable and the keynote speaker could emphasize on the importance of collaboration and acceptance (since that was what drove them to set up this association)

However one of the speakers took the entire 15 minutes his tribulations in Vietnam and how he was invited to be part of the association. Quite frankly, the entire speech was about HIM, and not about the audience. That’s a major turn-off. What he could have done is to explain the increasing importance of the association and how each and everyone of them can benefit from being part of this association. Notice how the focus changes. It is more audience-centric and there is a take home message. What I got our of the speaker’s speech was “Wow… he was imprisioned for three years in Vietnam…”

2. Own the space!

Right after the war survivor was yet another keynote speaker. He started off well with a story about how people would always ask about his nationality. That created some laughs and he was off for a good start. And then the entire speech went crashing. At the end of his speech, I felt extremely embarrassed for him.

Firstly, no one except for the three tables in front (out of courtesy) were listening to him. Everyone else was busy chattering away, walking in and out of the restaurants to make phone calls. It doesn’t help that he stood behind the podium. It doesn’t help that he was reading from his script with his eyes down most of the time. It doesn’t help that he was inaudible. It doesn’t help that he failed to salvage the situation. Amidst of the chaos, he gave his speech, oblivious to the fact that he is losing everyone. And the organizer has to go around shushing everyone. How embarassing and unnecessary!

One advice for him: You got to own the space!

When you come up on stage, you got to consciously tell yourself that you are in charge. You own the space! Every inch of the room belongs to you. Every single one of your audience is obliged to drop everything that they are doing and listen to you. Even the waiters and waitresses will stop in their steps and listen to you. Every thing that you do or not do commands the listening of your audience. In other words, nothing else matters except you. That’s how powerful a speaker can be if he effectively manages the “energy” of the room. One way to do that is through a visualization exercise before your speech. Imagine yourself walking confidently up on stage. Hear the reverberating sound of your foot steps as you walked up on the stage. Feel the anticipation of your audience as you walked towards to the podium… Make use of all your five senses to create the best speech you can ever made. You can even add a standing ovation at the end of your speech! And guess what, you have almost won the entire game even before you start!

And among all other things, avoid standing behind the podium and project your voice to the back of the room. Make sure that everyone can see and hear you. Only that will they be able to feel your speech and be inspired by your message!

The next time you listen to an after-dinner speech or give one yourself, watch how these two principles manifest itself. Good luck!

:::This entry has also been featured at Ezine Articles:::

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