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5 Things NOT to do as a Public Speaker

7/21/2014

11 Comments

 
5 Things NOT to do as a Public Speaker
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What’s the best way to engage your audience when speaking publicly? Based on my personal experience speaking as an author at writing seminars and appearances on panels—and based on watching others make a complete mess of their “big chance”—here are 5 things you should NEVER do as a public speaker:

1) Don't Preach or Pontificate
Okay, if you’re a minister or teacher, preach away. Otherwise, if you preach at your audience, it comes off as a lecture, and you’re not engaging those who took the time off from their busy schedules to attend your grand performance. Yes, share important information related to your subject material (see #5), but involve your audience as if they are participating in a personal discussion. Make them feel like they’re a primary part of your presentation. By not preaching, you avoid coming off as arrogant or condescending.
2) Don't Scowl, Sneer, or Smirk
No matter how much you may wish to share and personify your disgust or disdain for people or methods that handle your subject matter the wrong way, don’t do it. Smile! Lively facial expressions are important in communicating your opinions and sharing your knowledge with your audience, but smile a lot when you do it. Laughter and chuckles are good too, just don’t make them come from a derisive perspective. If you scowl, smirk, or sneer, you will look like a sanctimonious know-it-all no matter how much your audience may agree with you. As the old adage says, you can catch a lot more bees with honey than you can with vinegar. Smiling makes you look like you’re happy to be there—just make sure it’s genuine. Don’t be embarrassed to practice in front of a mirror in preparation for your presentation. By doing so, you'll learn what works best for you.
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Lynda Fitzgerald and Kerry Denney at Local Author Day
3) Don't Stammer or Stutter
Seriously: don’t. Know your subject material inside and out, and be prepared to answer questions about it after your presentation. In fact, finishing up with a question and answer session is a great way to involve your audience and make them feel like they’re a vital part of your presentation, as well as provide additional information that you didn’t cover in your demonstration. Again, rehearse your material in front of a mirror and/or a friend or group of friends. There’s a good reason the Boy Scouts of America are well-respected for always being prepared. Make sure you are too. Don't wander off into tangents either, or you'll lose your audience's attention. Above all else, avoid the dreaded “uhh...” like you would an army of invading Orcs or a legion of hungry zombies.
4) Don't Make It All About YOU
Set your ego aside, at least for public appearances. Really, nobody likes a pompous egomaniac. Make your presentation about your subject matter as it applies to others instead, and what knowing more about it can do to help your audience improve their skills in personally implementing what they’ve learned after you step off that podium. If they leave feeling like they’ve learned something valuable about your subject matter instead of all about how good you are at utilizing it, they’ll come back for more in the future—and maybe even bring some friends or colleagues next time. Above all else, make regular eye contact—this makes your audience feel not only like they are a crucial part of your presentation, but also like they have made a vital connection with you personally. A Power Point presentation is a great way to share important information on your subject matter, but don’t let it be your only or even primary method—you’re a person talking to people, not a robot, mechanical device, or documentary on PBS. And for crying out loud, whatever you do, don't tell your audience you're getting tired, and that if they want to learn more to just follow you on Twitter, Facebook, and buy your book or whatever you're selling. (Yes, I actually witnessed a writer do this recently.)
5) Don't Read From a Prepared Text
If you do this, you won’t be lively, you won’t be smiling, and you won’t be making eye contact and connecting with your audience, no matter how interesting the prepared text may be. Reading from prepared text means you’re looking down, not at your audience, and likely boring them too. Occasionally scanning personal outline notes to keep your presentation structured in the way you intend it to be is fine, but minimize that as much as possible, and keep your audience engaged from start to finish. Actors rehearse their lines; you should too. Reading prepared brief quotes directly related to your subject material is fine, but keep that to a minimum too, and make sure they’re poignant and will stick in your audiences’ minds as a way to refer to the primary points you’re making or the knowledge you’re sharing.
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In conclusion, after you’re introduced, be sure to tell your audience that you’re honored to be there before them that day, that you’re grateful they attended, and when you're finished, be sure to thank them again for coming. And by all means, feel free to tell them about any future engagements you may have scheduled, how they can learn more detailed information about your subject matter, and how they can personally connect with you via your website(s) and various social media networks. If at all possible, prepare and bring multiple copies (including business cards, pamphlets, flyers, etc.) of printed material related to your subject matter that you can share as handouts, with all your contact info listed on it.

I heartily welcome any comments you wish to share, as well as any additional "do's" or "don't's" you can add.


I hope this list has been helpful in preparing you for your upcoming speaking engagements, and best of luck to you all when you’re standing in the spotlight!

* * * * *
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Kerry Alan Denney, aka The Reality Bender, is the multiple award-winning author of SOULSNATCHER (Lazy Day Publishing, April 2014) and JAGANNATH (Permuted Press, coming February 2015), as well as numerous published short stories and poems, all listed on his "Books" page of this website. Follow and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and LinkedIn. For more information, please write him at kerrydenney(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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Holly Jolly and Kerry Alan Denney at Ana Ruby Falls
11 Comments
Michael Varga link
7/21/2014 08:10:10 am

Great summary of do's and don'ts, Kerry. Reminds me of something we used to say in the Foreign Service: you can always tell when someone has done his or her homework.

Reply
Kerry Alan Denney link
7/21/2014 08:19:27 am

Hi, Michael, and thanks for your comment. I heartily welcome any constructive criticism from any and all. I'm confident that you and many others can add valuable advice to this post, which I will happily share in a future blog post, with accreditation listed to those who shared. Thanks again!

Reply
Barbara Barth link
7/21/2014 03:18:19 pm

Kerry - A great post with very cogent advice! I've copied it to keep in my files to remind me how to behave if I get a speaking engagement. My favorite above is number 4. Exactly! It is not about self-promotion - but a learning opportunity for your audience. I'd love to hear you speak someday! You have a way with words. Thanks for the great advice.

Reply
Kerry Alan Denney link
7/21/2014 11:23:42 pm

Hi, Barbara! Thanks for your comment. By all means, please feel free to share it with anyone you like. Writers helping writers, I love it. Want to help in any way I can -- Karma has a way of circling back. You've certainly done your share and more helping others. Hopefully (thanks to you) I'll get that gig on the Doug Dahlgren Show. I'll keep you posted on that, and tell him you sent me his way. Thanks again for the advice, something you have a treasure trove of. Can't wait to get my next speaking gig -- after 30 years of performing (music) in front of crowds, I'm not shy; I have a Jones for it, lol. Would be great if the Atlanta Writers Club hooked me up with one -- I'll see what I can do about that. Thanks again for everything you do to help writers and dog lovers (and dogs!). Holly Jolly sez "Woof!"

Reply
Rosemary Montgomery
7/21/2014 05:06:35 pm

Love (and totally agree with) your post, Kerry. Perhaps I could share a little bit of history on the issue of public speaking. Winston Churchill, the wartime British prime minister, who was famous for speeches which strengthened his nation in the darkest days of the Nazi onslaught was once asked if he ever practiced beforehand. Eight hours - he told his interlocutor - at breakfast, in the bath, in front of the wardrobe mirror. It seems that even the best speakers like the extra confidence of practice.

Reply
Kerry Alan Denney link
7/21/2014 11:41:29 pm

Hi, Rosemary! Thanks for your comment and interesting anecdote. Mr. Churchill was truly a great man, with a plethora of famous quotes. "Good on ya, mate" over there in Australia! Hope I got that right, lol. :)

"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." - Sir Winston Churchill

Thanks again for sharing!

Reply
Michael Varga link
7/22/2014 01:42:27 am

My favorite Churchill quotation is: "When you're going through hell, keep going."

Ken Schmanski
7/21/2014 07:22:46 pm

You have brought up some very good points in your blog. Too many authors start to believe their own hype and feel their audience should feel gifted to merely be in their presence, regardless if they actually convey the knowledge they may have on their chosen topic. The focus should always be on the presentation and not the presenter.

Any (good) presentation is part lecture and part entertainment, Your audience is not required to be their as in school or work and you must make it enjoyable, and as Kerry points out, the presenter should show they are enjoying the presentation as well and would rather be no where else than sharing their knowledge with their audience at that moment.

Making that positive personal connection with their audience is what builds a platform for the author.

If you fail, then Kerry will blog about you!

Great job Kerry, unfortunately, presenters like the one you saw would rarely recognize themselves as the focus of your blog.

Reply
Kerry Alan Denney link
7/21/2014 11:56:15 pm

Hey, Ken! Thanks for your comment. I don't mention names because I truly don't want to trample on anyone personally. But yeah, I have seen a number of public speakers stumble in a deep hole and get a shovel and try to start digging themselves out of it. I'm confident knowing that if I ever do that, my friends and colleagues will bitch-slap some sense into me, lol.

And yes, a public debacle is always great fodder for a good blog post! I just make sure to leave the names out -- good grief, we don't want to start a blog war, now do we? ;) That would be Armageddon of a whole different color.

Thanks again for sharing your excellent insight!

Reply
Lynda Fitzgerald link
7/21/2014 09:40:07 pm

Well, I was all set to get up in front of a group and do a presentation, but now I'm scared. Will I inadvertently slip in an "uh"? Maybe I could do it when Kerry's out of town. Uh...hmmm...

Seriously Kerry, you make a number of great points. Selling books is lovely, but when you're making a presentation, you're there primarily to share knowledge, not to sell. I've been to a number of (so called) presentations where it was obvious that's all the speaker cared about. Talk about a turn-off.

All of us writers have received a lot of help over the years. At the risk of sounding stuffy, I think we have a moral obligation to give back. Writers Helping Writers. That's what it's all about. What we give comes back to us a hundredfold.

If what you say about bad speakers is true--and I know it is--a hundred times zilch is... uh, what they deserve.

Reply
Kerry Alan Denney link
7/22/2014 12:11:45 am

Hi, Lynda! We had a great time at the Local Author Day event, yes? And even managed to inadvertently sell some books too, lol. Our panel rocked the library that day. We made our proverbial fifteen minutes about our craft, not our books. Interesting how the four best presenters (or three, at least) got paired up, instead of getting stuck with some of the other "stumblers."

And yes, sometimes a famous Chicken Soup speaker who shall remain nameless borrows your battery that you were using for your palm-held recorder to use for their Power Point clicker because they weren't prepared and brought a dead battery, and then doesn't return it after their presentation.

Writers helping writers, yes! Interesting that you brought that up, as I made nearly the same observation in a comment earlier. Great minds and all that.

As for Karma, I have no doubt that guy spilled some of his next bowl of Chicken Soup (snicker) on his expensive suit, wink wink. :)

Thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts!

Reply



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