Diane DiResta
The Thrilling Impact of Authenticity in Public ...

Authenticity happens when your words, voice, and behavior match who you are. Find out how to show up and be you!

Public Speaking

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No Boring Topics-Only Boring Speakers

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It was Day One of my presentation skills seminar. I asked the participants to talk about their passion. The presenters spoke about a vacation, a hobby, a sport, an event. It was evident that their presentations improved when they spoke with passion. Next up was Elliot. I asked, "What's your topic?" He replied, "Inventory control." A bit confused, I said, "No, Elliot, It should be something you feel passionate about. What excites you?" "Inventory control," he countered. I could tell that this was going to be a LONG day. Subscribing to the philosophy, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I acquiesced. After all, some people just have to learn the hard way. I hit the record button on the video camera, as I anticipated his painfully boring presentation.

Well, all of a sudden I snapped to attention. Elliot was so excited about his job in inventory control. As he described what he did, Elliot was animated, passionate, and truly enjoying himself. No nervous public speaker was he. As a public speaker, he came alive and was bursting with energy as he relived all his contributions and what he loved about his job. And in that moment I had an epiphany...

There are no boring topics. There are only boring speakers.

How often do we hear people in financial services or technology use their so called "dry topic" as an excuse to be boring?  I remember coaching a manager in a large financial services company. He had to deliver numbers during his monthly reports. He would drone on and deliver digits like he was reading a death decree. The audience would fight to keep their eyes open. Yet, people who knew him socially would call him a "good time Charlie". After work, he was funny and animated but somehow he'd lost himself during financial presentations. So we used his natural humor and applied it to his presentation. In the next meeting he started with a quiz.

He wrote a very large number on the board. Suddenly people were looking up at him with curiosity. "This number," he said, "is a) the national deficit, b) my wife's credit card bill, c) the current lotto winnings, d) our projected revenues. His peers started laughing. Soon, people looked forward to his attention grabbing openings. He realized that there are no boring topics, only boring speakers.

Fast forward to today. In New York City, during my morning commute, I see free local newspapers handed out. Some of the workers simply push a paper in front of a commuter, hoping they'll take one. They think of their jobs as pushing paper.

But there was one man who caught my attention as I was going into the subway. He positioned himself at the entrance so people would pass him on the stairs. He'd move around and start chanting, "Get you A.M. paper." "Get it here." He'd bounce along as he connected with the crowd. This man was having fun. He took what could be a boring job and used his creativity to connect with the morning crowd. He brought a smile to my face. Here's someone who knows instinctively that even delivering newspapers is a presentation. Watch him and you'll know you never have to be boring again:

AM New York

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Bill of Rights for Public Speakers

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July seems to signify freedom. July 1st is Canadian Independence Day, on July 4th  the U.S. celebrates its birth as a nation, and on July 14th, the French celebrate Bastille Day. I started thinking about the freedoms we enjoy-freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech.

We have this great gift of expression, the freedom to speak our minds. Yet some public speakers are anything but free. They approach the podium as if they're walking their last mile. Their bodies stiffen, their faces freeze,and their words trip over their tongues. These speakers are imprisoned by their own negative beliefs and shrink before an imagined enemy-the audience.  Well, it's time for all public speakers to assert their rights.

Public Speaking Bill of Rights

  1.  I have the right to be my authentic self.
  2. I have the right to be relaxed and in control.
  3. I have the right to smile and enjoy myself.
  4. I have the right to engage the audience.
  5. I have the right to not know all the answers.
  6. I have the right to make mistakes and recover with grace.
  7. I have the right to walk in like I own the room.
  8. I have the right to reference the slide without reading it.
  9. I have the right to own my power and not give it all to the audience.
  10. I have the right to establish eye contact and not get flustered if they don't smile.
  11. I have the right to speak with conviction.
  12. I have the right to enjoy my standing ovation!

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Save Speaking Time with Rhyme

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Giving a good  elevator speech is an opportunity to make  you and your company shine. But how do you stand out from all the others? Good public speakers know how to use presentation techniques such as speaking in three's, repetition, and alliteration. But rhyme? Last week,  I attended a BNI networking meeting. It was a large group and the introductions were limited to 20 seconds. It's always a challenge to be able to create a concise message which is also compelling and memorable. There were a number of clever taglines. A massage therapist said: "I won't rub you the wrong way." An accountant offered, "We make your life less taxing." A green real estate company announced, "Green sockets put green in your pockets."

But the most memorable person was Frank  Passantino, the owner of Printech Business Systems in New York City.  He stood up and in a Brooklyn "God Father"- like accent he started to rap:

I'm the rhyming Italian printer -Frankie P If you don't use me - I may Break your knee. I'm only kidding - That stuff ain't true. But some day you may end up- In a vat of hot glue. So if you don't call me - When you print the next time . I may not hurt you -  But I'll kill you with rhyme

He ended with this tagline: "We'll make you a brochure your customers can't refuse."

While Kanye and Eminem don't have anything to worry about and Frankie P is not going to quit his day job, he did get attention and laughter from the group. And he made the 20 second time limit. To be a memorable speaker you need to capture attention. While most people drone on about how wonderful they are, speaking in rhyme is a fun way to toot your own horn without blowing it. As soon as you do something unexpected the audience pays attention.

What presentation techniques have you used to make an introduction more interesting?

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Entrepreneurs "DIY" (Do It Yourself) Marketing Tips

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June is Entrepreneurs "DIY" (Do It Yourself) Marketing month. Speakers need to effectively market their speeches and presentations. Even if you work for a company, you may be called to speak at industry conferences and trade shows - and that means you need to promote yourself. Marketing doesn't have to be expensive. Here are some free or low cost ways to promote yourself and your business.

Marketing doesn't have to be expensive. No matter how good you are, it's not how many people you know, it's who knows you that counts. So try some of these low cost marketing tips to get your message and your name out there and make sure you know how to present yourself powerfully. When you're ready to take your presentation to the next level, click here.

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Is Your Diction Distorting Your Message?

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Certain speech patterns grate on people's nerves. It goes beyond a simple mispronunciation or grammatical error. Just like excessive "ums" and "ahs" in a presentation will distract your listeners, a distorted sound will cause them to focus on your diction, rather than the meaning of your message. Listen to this video to see if you have this common speech distortion - shared by both Carol Channing and former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:

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Are You Guilty By Omission?

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When a speaker or presenter leaves out a sound or a syllable, they are guilty of omissions. Otherwise known as deletions, these speech mistakes can cause the speaker to sound uneducated or unprofessional. Often, these deletions are a type of regionalism and frequently, the presenter has no idea that they omit certain sounds. I was recently asked to coach someone because her regional speech patterns were impacting her executive presence and opportunities for advancement. We discovered that omissions were one of her issues. Listen to the video to see if you're guilty of using any of these deletions.

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Do You Have Additions in Your Diction?

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Diction is an important part of public speaking. Mispronounced words become a distraction and your message can get lost. Effective presenters are mindful of their pronunciation. Certain regionalisms become part of the vernacular, but that doesn't mean it's correct. Inappropriate diction or sloppy speech can rob you of executive presence and impact your professional success.

Listen carefully as you watch this video to see if you make this verbal faux pas:

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Even Michelle Obama Mispronounces This Word

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In 2004 I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal about sloppy speech habits in the workplace. It hit a nerve and the reporter, Joann Lublin, wrote a follow up piece. It seems that employers favor good diction in the workplace. In honor of May being Better Speech and Hearing month, I'm posting some one minute videos to address the issue of poor diction. Even well spoken, high profile communicators express the occasional verbal faux pas or mispronunciation. Some of these diction errors are regionalisms;even so, they can undermine the speaker's credibility, executive presence, and leadership.

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Va Bene: What the Italians Taught Me About Public Speaking

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It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. I just got back from vacation in Northern Italy. In the big cities, a lot of people speak English but in the smaller towns, it helps to speak a few words of Italian. We were in the town of Quinto, a suburb of Vicenza. While we were paying for our food, the cashier asked my husband if he spoke Italian. He shook his head and said, “No parla Italiano.

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What Are Your Presentation Disciplines?

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My coaching client was practicing his presentation. As he talked about the company process for managing a stock portfolio, he explained their stock picking discipline. Regardless of the portfolio manager’s expertise, it’s required to drop a stock when it dips below a certain level. In other words, they may carry big winners, small winners or small losers, but they don’t tolerate stocks that are big losers. This number or percentage is how they factor out emotions and manage risk. After explaining the stock picking discipline, he looked up and asked me, “What are my presentation disciplines?

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What Seasoned Speakers Know That You Don't

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National Speakers Association convention is where you'll find the top speakers in the world on the main stage. A number of years ago, I attended a convention. One of the keynote speakers gave an inspiring and tear jerking presentation. He spoke about how he and his wife couldn't have children so they adopted a couple of boys. They were brothers who were not well treated and were put up for adoption. He told the audience about how difficult it was to gain their trust and parent them. He recounted all the troubled times. In the end, the little boys flourished and his wife discovered she was pregnant. The speaker then brought the little boys on stage. To say there wasn't a dry eye in the house is an understatement. The tears were streaming down my face. My friend looked over and said, "Are you all right?" I told him "I can't take it." The entire audience was overwhelmed by emotion. This speaker was able to pierce each person's heart and trigger an emotional reaction. It takes skill to tell a story that has so much emotional impact. This is a good thing, isn't it? Well, maybe. But this speaker did the one thing you should never do from the platform...

On Sunday morning I watched Joel Osteen, the motivational speaker and pastor of Lakewood Church. He too, had an emotional story to tell. It was about a country singer.

At a young age this singer, had strayed from his values and started hanging around with the wrong crowd.  He got involved with alcohol and drugs. His name was on billboards everywhere and Joel's mother would notice the singer's name every time they passed the billboard on the road. Although, she had never met him, she would say a prayer for him. This ritual went on for more than a year. Then one day when the country singer was feeling down on his luck, he wandered into the church where Joel's father was the pastor. An usher recognized him and alerted Joel's mother. She immediately got up and embraced him. She told him about all the times she had prayed for him.

After telling this story, Joel pointed to the country singer who was sitting in the front row. As the camera zoomed in on him, you could see the singer wiping away his tears.   It was an emotional crescendo. The audience burst into applause.  And, at that moment, Joel said, "Aw, he's not that good." The audience broke into laughter.

Joel did something the first speaker forgot to do. The first speaker opened us up, raw with emotion, and left us there. It was like a surgeon opening a wound but forgetting to close it back up.   Joel used humor to break the tension. A seasoned speaker can take you on a roller coaster of emotions. You'll experience the exhilaration of the highs and lows. But they will always bring you back to solid ground. And one of the best ways to do this is through humor.

You may be a good storyteller who can open people to their emotions. But do you finish the job by closing them back up? As a speaker, you have the power of the spoken word. Remember you have the emotions of the audience in your hands. Use your power carefully.

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Public Speaking: The Power of 7

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7I just got back from a networking event.  Networking is a form of public speaking - it's your sales presentation.  If you're like me, you experience the speakers as unclear or they're so long-winded that you tune out.  In business, your elevator speech is the most important presentation.  Speakers who are unclear are leaving money on the table. So I decided to challenge myself to describe what I do in 7 words or less.  There's a magic to the number 7:  Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Seven Seals, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, and Lucky Sevens.

Here's what I came up with: Reduce speaking anxiety and monetize your mouth.

After I sent this out to our listserve, a number of people commented about how much they loved it and how well it describes what I do as an executive speaking strategist.  So, I decided to offer the same challenge to people in my network.  Admittedly, it was difficult.  But I was proud of some of the responses that came in.  Here is a sampling:

What about you?  What do you do in seven words or less?  Let us know in the comments.

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Confidence Class for Teens: Focus on Image

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Public speaking is taught too late, if at all. Confidence results from a good self image and from developing skills. Good public speaking skills are paving the way to a confident self image for these girls.

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Video Marketing-The New Interview Presentation

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How do you make your job interview stand out in a crowded interview? In a previous post I blogged about a woman who was getting ready to pitch her boss for a promotion.  To make her and her presentation memorable we decided to create a short video. Why? Because I see a change in the market. Youtube.com is the number two search engine after google.  Video creates that personal touch and ups the trust factor in presentation marketing.  Well, now it seems that interviewers are catching on.  Is the resume becoming passe? Probably not. But a video presentation can sell you better than any piece of paper. An expert can write a professional resume but nobody can speak for you. Speakmarketing is one of the most powerful ways to promote a business and create visibility inside the workplace. So it makes sense that video presentation would be the next wave in job interviews.  Now more than ever before, everybody must have good presentation skills. Speaking is the new competitive weapon.

Read this WSJ article about the impact of digital media.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203750404577173031991814896.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Speaking to a Grieving Audience

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The other evening I was preparing for my next Confidence Class for eighth grade girls in my community when an email came across my desk. A mother warned me that the principal of the school died yesterday afternoon suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack.  She alerted me that the girls were shocked and broken up by the news and she wasn’t sure how responsive they would be in the class. I thanked her for letting me know and planned my strategy. I recalled a professional speaker who spoke before an audience that was not responding. No matter what he did he couldn’t get a reaction. They just sat there with blank faces. Finally, he played his last card and said with exasperation, “What’s going on? Did somebody die?

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Stop Setting Speaking Goals That Fail

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You want to be a great public speaker and communicator. So you set your goals. And it doesn't happen. Why? You may be sabotaging your speaking success without even knowing it! The top public speakers and presenters know the secret to communication success is setting the right goals. Whether you're speaking to the media, presenting to the board, or leaving a voicemail, good presentation skills start with a goal.

In this video you'll learn the two types of goals and how to choose the goal that will let you succeed.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/CY_z889b-SI[/youtube]

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Political Presentations: The Double Standard Continues

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GOP DebatersIn June, I blogged about Michele Bachmann and the double standard for women politicians. It seems that the media continues to display sexism toward women candidates. Whether it's Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, or Michele Bachmann there seems to be an element of sexism even as we approach 2012. First we had to hear the commentary each time Hillary had a new hairstyle. While this may be appropriate for a First Lady, when a woman is running for political office she ought to be taken more seriously. How often do we critique a male candidate's hair? (Donald Trump doesn't count).

During the Republican debates, Michele Bachmann was accused of not knowing her facts - even when she did. In one debate, she bested Newt Gingrich regarding his involvement in Fannie Mae, yet the media did not make much of her win.

The most recent sexist remark was by John McLaughlin of the McLaughlin Group when he said we have a "Gal Candidate".  A GAL?  A friend asked me if I would find it offensive if his 87 year old father referred to a woman as a gal. I replied, "No. He's a product of his times. But a journalist and moderator knows better. He's on national TV and is subject to professional standards.  He didn't refer to 'guy candidates'".

Language is a mirror into how one thinks. It's difficult to be taken seriously as a woman candidate when you're called a "gal". It's amazing that this kind of double standard is going on in the U.S., when other countries have elected a woman president or prime minister.

As a public speaker and debater, Michele Bachmann has handled  herself well by sticking to the facts and not showing a lot of emotion.  Will gender always be a factor?  Is it possible to evaluate the candidates on their merits, without considering gender?  Or will it always color our perceptions?

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