“Tell them what you’re going to say. Say it. Then tell them what you said”
And that is so true!! We have such short attention spans. And so do audiences. If we want to make a point that will stay with an audience after they leave the room, we have to repeat and reinforce it throughout the presentation.
Introduce your well defined theme. Present that theme. And repeat it to conclude.
You will have given your audience a great chance of remembering it.
You have a speaking presentation to make. You have been given a topic or have chosen one and there are a multitude of ideas buzzing around in your head. Or maybe there is a frightening LACK of ideas! Or maybe you can think of no way to organise those thoughts into something memorable. A mind map will help you.
Online Speech Bank
“Index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recorded media events, and a declaration or two.”
The website can be searched by subject, such as Christian rhetoric, movie speeches and 9-11 speeches. There are over “200 short audio clips illustrating stylistic figures of speech ranging from alliteration to synecdoche. Clips are taken from speeches, movies, sermons, and sensational media events and delivered by politicians, actors, preachers, athletes, and other notable personalities.” Check out the “100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th century, according to 137 leading scholars of American public address… Find out who made the cut and experience the power of rhetorical eloquence in this provocative list of “who’s who” in American public address.”
It is about reducing your submission and dependence: getting free, being yourself, slipping out of a wrestling hold so you can throw an elbow at the Beast.
You have a speaking presentation to make. You have been given a topic or have chosen one and there are a multitude of ideas buzzing around in your head. Or maybe there is a frightening LACK of ideas! Or maybe you can think of no way to organise those thoughts into something memorable. A mind map will help you.
By Marc Prensky
“Every parent, educator, and manager knows that “Nintendo children”–those born after 1970 and raised on video and computer games, Walkmans, the Internet, etc.–are different. Unfortunately, the Gen-X discussion has focused mainly on the youths’ supposedly short attention spans and attention-deficit disorders, ignoring or underemphasizing what is perhaps the most crucial factor–that this under-30 generation thinks, and sees the world, in ways entirely different from their parents.
…Speedwise, we effectively give them depressants. And then we wonder why they’re bored.…
technology has emphasized and reinforced certain cognitive aspects and de-emphasized others. Most of these changes in cognitive style are positive. But however one feels, it’s important that managers (as well as educators and parents) recognize that these changes exist so that we can deal with the younger generation effectively.Below are 10 of the main cognitive style changes, which raise a number of important and difficult challenges. We have already begun to see the development of new business structures, ideas, and products that take into account under-30 employees’ cognitive changes and preferences. It is likely that the full impact of these changes will not be felt until the younger generation fully comes to power, just as the movies were impacted by the coming-of-age of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. That time is not far off…. “
Read the whole article
Stuck in your chair?
Keyboard Yoga
Have you seen those wonderful inflatable ball/tube things that you can roll down a mountain in? What a ride! But the beautiful pictures on the Maisson Bisson blog are something else!!
I was reading an article from Jennifer Louden recently, where she commented on the names for … God, the divine being, Gaia….. and remarked that when she met this being she would first ask what happened to all the odd socks and then ask for the correct name. I suspect the answer would suggest that, we know this being, its existence and its reality. Why bother about a name so much? We humans need to have a name for things, and, I have been thinking, a lot of it is due to the need to communicate. Each language and each culture has a different name for horse, snow, beans – and so for the being. Fascinating stuff , language – and communication.
Is public speaking your number one fear?
It is for a lot of people.
I suffer from nerves, but have learnt to use them to create passion and to keep my mind focused.
But in writing an article recently on the causes of fear of public speaking, I had to include the fact that the fear, or at least aversion, runs in families.
This was something I had pointed out to me many years ago. It made me think about my situation and brought back memories. My grandfather and aunt taught “elocution” many years ago, and I heard stories about my grandfather reciting poetry at concerts and special events, so the concept of standing in front of an audience wasn’t alien to me – hence the lack of fear.
And I assume that the opposite occurs. If children see their parents avoiding public speaking, and expressing fear and lack of confidence, then they will take on the same behaviour.
Over the years of practice and research, I have learned there are strategies that overcome the fear and the nerves and I practice the ones that work for my situation, and train in the ones that apply to each individual case. So it was fun to put them all together in the article. You can read it online.