Here are some things to remember when you’re speaking with a microphone.

1. If it’s available, actually use it. Whether out of fear or misplaced macho, a lot of people wave off the microphone. “I don’t need one of those things.” You may not need one, but your audience needs you to use one. Some of them have hearing difficulties. Even those who can hear you will hear you better if you use the microphone.
2. Figure out where the microphone “hears.” A microphone only picks up sound in certain places, called the acceptance angle. Before your audience arrives, figure out the angle for the microphone you’re using, and stay within that (usually) cone-shaped space.
3. Don’t tap it or blow into it. If you need to test for sound, lightly tap the body, not the screen. Tapping or blowing into it makes sound technicians scream as they hear the microphone lose lifespan.
4. If you have a choice, I recommend either a handheld or a headset mic. A handheld gives you the greatest control, while a headset is the least intrusive. Your preferences will vary, but figure them out.
5. Position the mic about 4 to 8 inches from your mouth (between the distance of a clenched fist and the distance from thumb tip to little finger tip of a fully opened hand). Angle it below the path of your breath about the level of the bottom of neck, pointed at mouth. It will pick up your voice without picking up “pops” when you say puffy words. Do not eat the microphone—you’re not a rock star. Do not hold it at waist level—that’s your belly button, not your speaker.
6. If you get feedback, get closer to the mic, not further away, and point it away from the loudspeakers (and learn where they are).
7. If you’re using a lavalier, clip it in the middle, pointed at your throat. Placing on a tie is perfect. You don’t have to have a tie—just place it where you would have one. Don’t clip it to one side, and don’t let it tilt to one side. As you move, your voice will come and go as you move your mouth into and out of the angle of acceptance.

Don’t be afraid of a microphone, but don’t treat one casually, either. When you’re using one effectively, your audience won’t even think about the microphone. They’ll just be hearing your message easily.

Lama Norlha Rinpoche

I heard Lama Norlha Rinpoche recount last night his harrowing escape from the Chinese invasion of his homeland, as well as subsequent events that brought him to our little corner of Tennessee.

His speaking situation was not one that many speakers would want to face. Speaking in what seemed to me to be a mixture of Tibetan and English, he had to wait patiently for an interpreter to tell the standing-room only crowd (I would estimate between 160 and 175 people gathered at the Blount County Public Library) what he had just said. Though the facilities were outstanding, the sheer number of people overwhelmed the air conditioning system.

The library’s host did a very calm, professional job of managing the crowd, but obviously knew little about the speaker (she completely mangled “Rinpoche,” which is more of a title than a part of his name–understandable, but also telling the speaker she is likely not familiar with Tibetan Buddhism).

The audience was a mix of supporters, the curious, the reluctant (at least one high school class attended in lieu of a final exam), and perhaps even the hostile (I picked up snippets of conversation indicating some folks where trying to figure out “what those folks are up to”).

Despite that, Rinpoche proceeded to hold the attention of most of the audience for 75 minutes.

Here’s what we can learn as speakers:

• Converse. Though he didn’t speak directly to audience members, Rinpoche simply conversed about his memories, and his translator likewise maintained a conversational delivery. Frequently, Rinpoche and his translator would simply talk back and forth a bit as she worked out his intention. That conversational feel came across to the audience.
• Understand your audience. Although the audience was diverse, Rinpoche understood they were mostly not Buddhists, but they were all human. He spent the time on things of interest to everyone.
• Focus on telling a story. Most of his talk consisted of him recounting the events of his life, from his entry into the monastery at 14 (after getting educated there from age 5) to the struggles of his country to his trip to our Smoky Mountains. Far from a dry recitation of fact, he followed the structure and cadences of storytellers that predate writing. He spent little time on background, getting straight into his experience as a captor of the invading Chinese. He painted verbal pictures that allowed us to “see” in our minds what happened.
• Use drama and humor. Rinpoche wove together heart-tugging scenes about his separation from his family and the privations he and his compatriots experience with descriptions of rolling down mountains and self-deprecating comments that drew chuckles from the audience.
• Don’t JUST tell a story. He used his own story to highlight the importance of his dedication to both peace and freedom, and to subtly strengthen his ties to an American audience. I’m not suggesting this was some sort of conniving strategy, but rather his awareness of the importance of connection. In other words, he told stories, but they were stories with a point, one that he made clear.
• There is a universal human language. Speaking though he was through an interpreter, Rinpoche freely gestured and modulated his voice as he described the scenes from his mind’s eye. Both through the skill of the interpreter and the natural ability to connect the interpreter’s words to the gestures, facial expressions, and paralanguage just seen and heard from Rinpoche, his nonverbal communication supported his words almost as well as they would have had the delivery been simultaneous. Once again, “out loud” has impact that goes beyond the mere delivery of words.

Have you heard a speech through an interpreter? What did you observe about effective communication still working in that situation?

(I know that's not Sleeping Beauty. Just don't want to ire Disney lawyers.)

If it were possible to have a conversation with a fairy godmother, I now know exactly what that would be like.

One of last week’s highlights was getting to hear Mary Costa as the commencement speaker for Pellissippi State’s graduation Friday night.

You may not recognize her by sight, but you have certainly heard her voice. Her distinguished career includes 44 operatic roles from the Metropolitan Opera to London’s Royal Opera House to the Bolshoi in Moscow; television appearances with Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, and dozens of other “big names” from the 1950s through the 1970s; and both the memorial service for President John F. Kennedy and the inaugural performance for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

But most of us know her as the voice of Princess Aurora in Walt Disney’s 1959 animated classic “Sleeping Beauty.” Disney himself offered her the role within hours of her audition. Born in Knoxville, she returned here in the 90s as her base for continuing her work inspiring teenagers and college students.

She gave a great speech, and I may say more about that in another post. For now, let’s just say that just as she mastered movies and television, just as she mastered live operatic performance, she has also mastered speaking.

But that’s not what tells me what it’s like to speak to a fairy godmother.

After graduation, I was visiting with colleagues and students at the reception that followed. I happened to notice Mary Costa behind a table, with people lined up to talk with her. Every individual in line received her full attention without a rush. Several families of three generations had their photos taken with her, and she spent time with each individual.

When she turned to me, before I could say anything, she looked into my eyes and said, “Congratulations!”

I must have looked confused, because she gently patted the medallion hanging around my neck and said, “For this, I mean. It’s one of the Foundation awards, isn’t it?”

I stammered a brief explanation and expressed my genuine gratitude for the Innovations award from the college Foundation. She listened as if I were telling her the most interesting story she had ever heard, and all the hustle and bustle around us just faded away.

I told her I taught speech for Pellissippi State, and how impressed I was with the craft with which she delivered her message. “Oh, I’m so glad!” she said. “I put hours and hours into preparing that message, and I would really love for it to have an impact on these young people.”

“I think you really reached them,” I said.

“I’m so pleased,” she said, and she looked as if she meant it. I fully believe she did. I believe this amazing woman who has visited with heads of state all over the world and shared the stage with entertainment giants cared about my opinion.

Although I worked in Arkansas media when Bill Clinton was governor, I never covered him in a press conference. But I heard from people who did that he had (and has) the ability to make you feel as if you are the most important person in the room. I never saw that in person from him, but I certainly know what it feels. Mary Costa blessed me with that kind of attention, and I saw her do it over and over again with college students and their parents, grandparents, younger siblings, and children, administrators, faculty, workers–everyone with whom she talked.

Pellissippi State Foundation Board member Mark Hancock watched her work her magic as well, and he’s the one who said it: “She’s just like a fairy godmother. That’s just amazing.”

I think this has a lot to do with her success in whatever she has turned her considerable energy to. (Side note: it is inconceivable that she is 82. I would like to have her energy now.)

When you can connect with people like that, you will have no trouble getting people to hear what you have to say.

Who do you know who has this kind of effect on people? How do they do it?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The following is a guest post from Katheryn Rivas.

The human psyche is a place of many quirks, idiosyncrasies, and phobias.  But of all the fears that loom in our collective minds, the fear of speaking in public remains the most terrifying to the average American, and is considered worse even than death by most.

Volumes upon volumes could and have been written about this peculiar fear, but what is often overlooked in these studies and inspirational tomes is the content of a speech and how it relates to the confidence one feels while delivering it.

It is true that a dull or timid performance of a speech can diminish its power, a bad speech spoken badly is even worse.  Examples of this abound, especially in popular media.  Consider a movie you expected to be excellent, given the actors and directors starring in it, but turned out to be trite, melodramatic, and cliché, even despite good performances. Even the most talented actors can only do so much with a poorly written script.

And the same holds true for a speech.  You might not be a brilliant orator, but if you craft an excellent speech, your audience will be much more likely to forgive your delivery, and will admire your rhetorical skills all the same.

To write a compelling, captivating speech, you need to be a master of the right rhetorical tools and techniques.  The following are some of the most common and effective rhetorical tools for speeches:

Figurative Language

Technical jargon is typically uninspiring and alienating to audiences.  The best speeches appeal to an audience’s emotions, and few rhetorical tools do this as strikingly as figurative language.  With figurative language you can simplify concepts, draw parallels between two things, demonize or praise something, and give your speech the quality of a narrative, especially if you carry one metaphor through an entire speech.  Figurative language technically comprises many tools:

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Imagery
• Personification
• Euphemism

Whatever you choose to use figurative language for, make sure that you are prepared for that to be the highlight of the speech, because audiences tend to remember images and metaphors more vividly than other kinds of language.

Repetition

A classic rhetorical tool, repetition is also extremely powerful when used correctly.  A perfect example is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  Repetition makes a speech memorable, almost like a chant, and has a way of hypnotizing an audience.  Furthermore, repetition drives the message of the speech home and leaves no room for misinterpretation.  Be careful not to overdo it, though.  Overly repetitive speeches are juvenile and can sound manipulative.

Antithesis

In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus explains to a frightened audience why he rose up against Caesar, famously saying, “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”  This is one of the most haunting and memorable examples of antithesis in any speech ever written.  It also provides an immediately accessible example of antithesis: Brutus contrasts his love for Caesar and Rome rhetorically, using the parallel arrangement of “I loved Caesar less, but that I love Rome more.”  The less/more parallel is antithesis, and is used to excellent effect in the play.  Another superb example is JFK’s imperative to US citizens to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”  Antithesis is hard to master but makes for some extraordinarily memorable phrases.

Allusion, Quotes & Anecdotes

The explanation of the previous rhetorical tool began with an allusion and a quote.  It alluded to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and quoted it as well.  Anecdotes are interesting or amusing stories (personal or otherwise) and can be very entertaining.  All three are great tools for capturing the attention of an audience — but make sure your allusions and quotes aren’t too obscure, and make sure that your anecdotes aren’t too long or obnoxious.

Structure

Probably the hardest to master of all the above rhetorical tools, structure is what usually distinguishes good speeches from great speeches.  Speeches should be structured so that there is an inherent progression of ideas, such as from small to universal or from past to future.  Turns of phrase and powerful images are good tools, but aren’t as potent if they aren’t held up in context of a larger structure.  The best way to develop a sense of structure is to read and listen to famous speeches and follow their progression.

This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes on the topics of online university.  She welcomes your comments at  katherynrivas87@gmail.com.

Budding politician?

You don’t have to know a lot about history to know that people used to think illness could be caused by too much blood, and so the way to cure illness was to bleed the patient. I heard that George Washington died as a result of being bled to treat pneumonia (turns out it was actually “acute epiglottitis“). We just shake our heads and sigh at the ignorance.

You may not realize that the idea of “having too much blood” made perfect sense, supported by evidence and observation.

(Note: a lot of the following is speculation. While I found historical resources to back up this speculation, the idea of the four humors is so old and runs throughout so many different civilizations, it’s impossible to track down the origin of the idea.)

Four humors

If you’re eating, you might want to read this later. We’ll wait.

OK, ready to plow ahead?

• Phlegm. People noticed that when you have a cold or numerous other diseases, you have an excess of phlegm. How do you get rid of it? Not much. Just thin it out to make its exit easier, since it naturally comes out the nose. When you do that, you feel better soon. So the excess “must” be the cause.
• Yellow bile. When the ancients referred to yellow bile, they were probably talking about what we might politely call stomach contents. The ancients observed that if you feel nauseated, and then throw up, you feel better. Obviously, the yellow bile causes the problem. How do you get rid of too much? Just get out of the way. Too much “yellow bile” comes out the mouth.
• Black bile. Since we’re gotten started thinking about exits, you’re probably ahead of me on this one. Abdominal pain and cramps, followed by diarrhea, followed by feeling better–obviously too much black bile. (You can probably figure out from this what “black bile” means.) How do you get rid of too much? We really don’t want to talk about that too much, but we all know where it comes out. That brings us to
• Blood. Of the four basic bodily fluids, this is the one that didn’t have a natural place to exit the body. It’s also the only one that didn’t have obvious associations with other symptoms, such as sore throat/stuffy nose, nausea, abdominal cramps, etc. Got a fever, and no other symptoms? By process of elimination (no pun intended), that’s probably a blood problem. So if we’re going to get well, and an exit doesn’t exist, then obviously we need to make one.

It all makes sense when you think about it that way, doesn’t it?

But we’re smarter than that, aren’t we?

We may know now that disease isn’t tied to bodily fluids in this way. We understand, for instance, that rather than being the cause of a cold, having too much phlegm is simply an effect of a virus or bacteria.

However, we still fall prey to a common logical fallacy, called “Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc,” which means, “With this, therefore because of this.”

For example, it’s easy to show via a chart that as a child’s shoe size increases, his writing abilities also increase. Hardly anyone would assume the shoe size increase caused the improvement in writing (or that the improvement in writing caused the shoe size increase, either). Correlation doesn’t prove causation. But many speakers (and especially politicians) argue that correlation is causation, and most of their audiences are unaware enough of logical fallacies to be fooled by such arguments.

Establishing causation in complex interactions such as social situations, economics, or even medicine is very, very difficult, but there are lots of correlations. In one instance, doctors observed that women taking combined hormone replacement therapy had a lower incidence of heart disease, leading to a recommendation to take HRT to ward off heart disease. But later studies showed HRT could actually cause a slight increase in heart disease. They finally figured out that women who take HRT are more likely to be more affluent, so they get better diets and more exercise.

Lesson for speakers? Be careful of your claims. It will help your credibility when you only claim correlation unless you can find a ton of evidence for causation. And don’t just depend on common sense. After all, common sense is what led to bleeding Washington. (And a lack of common sense leads to Washington bleeding us, but that’s another post.)

Experience only goes so far. Observation only goes so far. Your own reasoning only goes so far. Be a skeptic, even of your own thinking. (Note: skeptics simply test everything; it doesn’t mean doubt everything.)

P.S. Remember, the next time you slam your thumb in the door, you may be able to shout “black bile” even in polite company.

The following is adapted from a piece I originally wrote a decade ago, but it certainly still applies today.

Not long ago I heard a student give a speech that I know would have killed her had she been forced to sit in a classroom and listen to a professor lecture that way. She stood still as a statue, holding her notes in front of her, and read most if not all of the speech in a flat, sing-songy tone, the kind that movies use to stereotype boring speakers and teachers.

If you read a written “speech” out loud to the audience, why are you bothering to speak to them?

Wouldn’t it be simpler, easier, less nerve-wracking, and more time-efficient to just photocopy your manuscript?

Speakers represent an investment

Meetings cost companies a lot of money. Assume an average wage of $10 per hour per person. If you have 50 people in the room, the meeting costs $500 per hour. Even a 10-minute speech costs $83.33. That doesn’t even include the cost of the meeting room or refreshments.

Why should they gather to listen to you read from your piece of paper in that sing-song, flat, hypnotic tone that would put someone on cocaine to sleep, when you could photocopy it for $3.50? Heck, you could mail it to them for $20, including photocopying and postage.

The average speaker speaks at 150 words per minute, and even a slow reader can skim material at 250 words per minute. Most business people can manage 300 to 400 words per minute with little or no problem.

We don’t go hear someone speak just to save money on paper and postage. We gather together to hear speakers because we want more than the information they share with us. We want to see their eyes while they speak to know so we’ll know whether they believe what they’re telling us, whether they care about what they’re saying—whether they care about us. We want to see their passion.

When we hear them speak, we get a better sense of the big picture and how the details fit into it (we can get lost in the details on paper). We connect with the human being.

Speaking adds power when done properly

We will forget the details the speaker tells us. But we will remember the impression the speaker makes with those details, when they are delivered with conviction. If we need the details later, we can get them from the handouts or the Web page or the book. But none of those will substitute for the deep impression the speaker makes when s/he speaks to us about something s/he cares deeply about.

We may or may not remember the proofs, but we will remember whether the speaker convinced us with the power of his/her logic–but only if we hear the arguments, and we won’t hear the arguments if we have been lulled to sleep. That’s likely what happens when someone stands up in front and reads to us or delivers a memorized speech.

Students fear they will forget what they want to say, so they bring their pieces of paper or their memorized performances and make speechlike sounds, believing they are making a speech. They have little or no effect on the audience that way.

Speak, don’t read!

Whatever you do, no matter how scary, have a guided conversation with your audience (a conversation, by definition, is not totally under your control). Do not write out your speech and read it to them! It wastes their time and yours, and it wastes your opportunity to harness the power of public speaking. Save yourself (and the audience) some grief. Either speak to the audience, or give them copies of what you’re written.

Because no matter your justification, without actor’s training it is really impossible to read to an audience; you can only read at them.

That doesn’t mean you have to do without notes. Make the same kind of notes you would take with you to the grocery store. When you make a shopping list, you just put “TP” on it when you need toilet paper. You don’t need to put what brand and how many rolls and how many ply, because it’s your list.

This isn’t an excuse to “wing it.” Prepare. Get your ideas straight. Plan your organization. Marshall your facts. All of that will create an impression on the audience and give power to your ideas. But it will all have no effect unless you speak it to them with conviction.

Experts only by kevin dooley, on Flickr (Creative Commons licensed)

Let me tell you right now that I am an affiliate for the Speaking Expert Teleseminar. But let me also tell you that I paid for it up front because I recognized five out of the seven experts and knew their work to be well worth the price, and I wanted to ensure I got access to every bit of their expertise.

And you don’t have to be aiming to become a professional speaker to get the full benefit. If you are planning that, though, it’s even more essential.

Here are the benefits to grabbing this teleseminar series as soon as possible:

1. You get downloadable MP3s of all seven sessions. I enjoyed getting to take part in each teleseminar as it happened, but the reality is that the nature of the teleseminar precluded live interaction. By getting the package, you can listen to the recordings as many times as you want.
2. There are three valuable bonuses. (I don’t know how long these will last!) All together, they are worth as much as the cost of the teleseminar.
3. The five experts I am familiar with and the two new ones I learned about are each worth the cost of the teleseminar. I’ll tell you my personal view on each of them in a moment.

Before I tell you about the experts I know, let me put my own situation into perspective.

Knocked off my horse

Over a decade ago, I was starting to develop a professional speaking practice “on the side.” I love teaching college students, and I will keep doing so as long as they let me. But I maintain my credibility in teaching speaking skills partly by putting myself “out there” as a speaker, and that’s what I was doing–putting myself in the trenches, and sharing real-world communication skills with audiences.

In fact, I worked with quite a few companies and audiences before I made the decision to leave the business to take care of family medical issues. Without going into a lot of detail: my parents got sick, and then my wife and I were blessed with a special needs daughter who required a lot of care (she was hospitalized 22 times in her first four years of life). There were other family issues as well that I can’t explain without violating privacy. Suffice it to say: I couldn’t be dependable to clients under those circumstances, and I needed to focus on college teaching and taking care of family. So I stopped accepting engagements.

By last November, though, things had changed. Dad passed away some years ago, and Mom died last summer.  My wife’s mother also died unexpectedly. We miss them terribly, but that also means life is a little less disrupted. Our daughter is much more stable, too–she will always have issues, but she’s only been hospitalized three times in the last four years. It was time to get back in the saddle.

Helping me into the stirrups

Let me tell you what I know about some of the experts in the series.

• Lois Creamer. I heard Lois’s program at a state chapter meeting of the National Speakers Association when I started speaking professionally over a decade ago. She worked with professional speakers who want to book more business, make more money and avoid costly mistakes. She helped me get my business off the ground back then, and had I stayed with professional speaking that help would have continued. When I decided to hit the platform again, I can’t tell you how pleased I was to find that through her Book More Business consulting she has continued to help speakers develop, and has advanced in her own skills for giving such guidance. When I read that she was one of the experts, I was pretty much hooked.
• Bob Bly. Before I was a professional speaker, I was a writer. I began as a newspaper reporter 40 years ago! (Yes, I was very, very young.) I’ve since written for newspapers, small magazines, regional business publications, corporate advertising, Web sites, non-profits, blogs, and newsletters. Throughout much of that time, I kept coming across solid “how to” books by Bob Bly. Some of them were about freelancing; some were about telephone sales; all were about some aspect of business communication. Even when I couldn’t keep up my speaking, he helped me continue writing at least a bit. I had never heard him speak, so you can imagine my delight in hearing him in the series. He is as effective “out loud” as he is on the page.
• David Newman. The Web developed a lot after I stopped speaking, and Twitter exploded. One of the first people I found when I looked around the Web for current speaking expertise was David Newman. A marketing expert who focuses on intellectual property producers, he just kept posting solid information designed to help people like me, and I kept running into him on Twitter. Then he showed up as one of these experts. Seemed like fate.
• Fred Gleeck. I can’t remember when I first came across Fred Gleeck’s material, but I quickly figured out that he is an expert at putting himself “out there,” making his material available in every possible form. I downloaded one of his free offerings, then later another one, bought an ebook or two, sometimes a short audio program, and after awhile I realized this guy really knows what he’s talking about! He’s been at it a long time, and was one of the first to help me realize the need to stop thinking of myself as a “writer” or a “speaker,” and instead to think of myself as an intellectual property producer who has developed expertise in a topic and will share that expertise with people in whatever form they need to access it. Everybody in this series supports and develops that idea–Fred was just the one to open my eyes to it. He also gave me a clear view of how to start from scratch. Although I’ve done this before, the techniques for building from the ground up make the most sense for me.
• Avish Parashar. I can’t tell you when I first was exposed to Avish, either. He’s not as omnipresent as some other speakers, but his name and smiling face kept showing up on Web pages and tweets from other people I did already know and respect. I subscribed to his newsletter, and the material just made sense. Then I picked up an audio program featuring Avish along with Fred Gleeck! Wow! These guys knew each other! I was already hooked on Fred’s material, so I started paying even more attention to Avish’s material. When the Speaking Experts Teleseminar series was announced, and it turned out that Avish was not only part of it, but had organized it, I knew I had to get in on it. (I have since gotten to know Avish more, and the more I know, the more impressed I am.)

That was enough to get me solidly committed to the teleseminar. I don’t mean to ignore the other two experts–I just didn’t know them at the beginning of the series. I’ll tell you about them in a minute.

Why I paid for it

As you can imagine, with a special needs daughter and ongoing medical challenges, money is a bit scarce around our household. But I understand the difference between spending and investing. I knew the teleseminar was worth its price. I decided the investment more than made sense because:

1. The unexpected has a way of popping up around our house. I’ll bet it does around yours too. I had the chance to listen to each teleseminar for free as it was being recorded, but I just knew that unless I ensured my access, something would inevitably crop up around 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings that would prevent me from hearing at least one of the speakers. In fact, I missed two of the live sessions because of something that came up at the last minute that had to be addressed. But since I had ensured access to the recordings, I was able to take care of the unexpected without missing the valuable insights and information of those experts. I’m glad I did, because now I can listen to each of the seven experts as often as I want, to think about and figure out exactly how to apply their insights to my situation.
2. The “bonus” offerings interested me almost as much as the main teleseminar series, and they were only available as part of the paid version–and they were immediately available too. Talk about the best of both worlds! I got the bonuses immediately, and I also ensured access to a seriously useful series! It was like getting to open a present every week, while still satisfying the need for immediate gratification.

Whether you want to be a full-time information professional, want to supplement your “regular” job, or want to use information channels to promote another business, the Speaking Expert Teleseminar will give you solid guidance.

I discovered two new mentors!

Shari Alexander, one of the folks I didn’t know before, turned out to be a highlight of the series since she used her theatrical background to develop solid presentation skills for herself and for her clients. I should have known about her before, since my work in training people for effective real-world speaking has continued unbroken throughout all the family challenges, and her material would have given me useful insights. I’m so glad to have learned about her!

Michael Goldberg cut through a lot of my misunderstanding about the nature of networking. I discovered networking is simply about finding ways to build genuine relationships. I knew it wasn’t just sleazy self-promotion, but Michael showed me practical techniques as well as attitudes to make networking just plain fun and useful for all concerned.

While not all of us seek to become full-time information professionals, none of these experts will waste your time! Full-time, part-time, or embedded inside another business, you’ll find the material to be extremely practical and useful.

This is not ad copy. This is just me telling you I have genuinely benefited all seven of these experts (and the bonus material). I bought the Speaking Expert Teleseminar, I’m very happy with what I have received, and I think you would find it worth your while as well. I’d like to hear your experiences, and invite comments on this post. Go get it, before you miss out!

Photo modified from original

Some colleagues and I are exploring the possibility of setting up a mutual support community for up and coming speakers. This would include new speakers as well as experienced folks who are seeking to “move up” in the world of professional speaking where we can share what we’re discovering. I’m grateful for the mentoring that comes from more experienced speakers, many of whom are very willing to provide guidance. But there are some things that we all have to work out on our own, and we think mutual support might help that.

In a sense, speakers are competitors, but much more true is the fact that each speaker is so unique that no one really competes with anyone else. When we share what we’re learning, it’s like the rise of the tide: everyone’s boat floats higher.

You may want to become a full-time speaker, or you may already be speaking full time and want to improve your skills or build your business. You may want to speak part time, or to support some other activity. There are all kinds of situations that could describe that of the “up and coming speaker.”

So we have put together a survey that will help us see how much interest there might be, and if there is sufficient interest, how we should go about setting it up. If you have any interest in this community, would you please take the survey? While it asks for an email address so we can get back in touch, we promise to respect your privacy and not abuse the address you share.

Please take the survey at http://kwiksurveys.com?s=LOENHK_1c9bf1fc

"Dear God, he's right behind me, isn't he?"

If you have a speaking habit that gets in the way, you can obsess it, or you can fix it.

Vicious dog, aka Tinkerbell

I’ve been fighting a situation in my house for months. I have a chihuahua and two cats. (The picture above isn’t my chihuahua, but she’s very close. The one to the left is my chihuahua.) They don’t like each other. As far as the dog is concerned, the main use for the cats is exercise. The only things on earth that the dog isn’t afraid of are the cats.

Whenever one of the cats ventures near, Tinkerbell nips at it. The cats are always nimble enough to avoid her. One cat, Angel, the classic “fraidy cat” stays as far from the dog as possible. The other older cat, Annie, tolerates the dog, humors her mostly, although she weighs twice what the dog does, and will shred Tinkerbell if she is ever so foolish as to actually push it.

But Tinkerbell has developed a bad habit regarding food. If she attended a 12-step meeting for dogs, she would introduce herself this way: “Hi, I’m Tinkerbell, and I’m addicted to cat food.”

When I get the dog food out, she dances around like the cast of Pee Wee’s Playhouse when someone says the secret word. But she ignores it, waits until I have fed the cats, then tries to sneak in and eat their food. I don’t know if she just likes their better, or if she figures she can eat theirs and save her own for later. But this has gone on morning after morning for at least two months.

I watch for her to trot back to the laundry room, because she has no business back there at all. She just goes back there for the cat food. As soon as I see her cross the threshold, I fuss at her, remind her she has her own food, point to her food, and tell her she needs to leave the cat food alone. She obviously knows she’s being reprimanded. No matter. She goes back to bed and waits until I am busy doing something else, and then sneaks in and eats the cat food.

At least, she did until today. This morning, I put the cat food on a foot stool. Even Annie, the fat cat, can jump up there to eat when she’s ready, but Tinkerbell can’t (or she’s afraid to). When she trotted back there for her usual routine, I just kept quiet. She looked back and forth a couple of times from the floor to the bowl on the stool, sighed, and went to bed. About midday, she ate her own food. Both Annie and Angel have made a couple of trips back there, eating at their leisure.

Problem solved.

What’s the takeaway?

I realized 20 years ago, based on audience feedback, that I had a habit of jiggling coins in my pocket while speaking. I tried to change the habit through sheer will power. It was a fruitless, frustrating effort. What’s more, my obsession with breaking the habit sometimes took me off message and away from my connection to the audience. But I really needed to stop the habit, since it’s both annoying and distracting.

Not dad's, but very similar.

Ultimately, I just sprung a buck and bought a coin purse like my dad used to use. He had a habit of pulling it out and tossing it up and down while he talked. I managed to resist that part of it, and having the coins contained in this little squeezable bit of plastic corralled it so I wasn’t tempted to jiggle it.

The plastic on mine cracked after a couple of years so that it ultimately came apart, but by that time it didn’t matter. The habit was broken.

Is there something you annoy yourself or even your audience with that you could easily fix, but you try to “gut it out”? Get creative and think of some action you can take that will change the circumstances so you don’t have to think about it. The more you can do to automate something like this, the more you’ll free up brainpower that you can then apply to something else.

Your value to your audience doesn’t come from your ability to control yourself the way you might control a car. Look around and see where you can find a way a put a bowl up on a footstool. It’s easier to dissolve a problem than to solve it.