Darren Lacroix Interview 2011-07-19

Bob Hooey Interview 2011-08-09

Julie Steele Interview 2011-06-28

Sheryl Roush Interview 2011-06-14

Jana and Robert Barnhill Interview 2011-06-21

Darren LaCroix and Ed Tate Interview 2011-09-13

Arvee Robinson Interview 2011-09-20

LaShunda Rundles Interview 2011-09-06

Croix Sather Interview 2011-08-23

Bernadette Vadurro Interview 2011-07-05

Yancey Unequivocally Interview 2011-04-19

Johnny Campbell Interview 2011-08-16

Rory Vaden Interview 2011-07-12

Craig Valentine Interview 2011-05-03

Doug Krugar Interview 2011-05-10

Maurice DiMino The Sicilian Mentor 2011-05-31

DeWayne Owens Interview 2011-07-26

Kristin J Arnold Interview 2011-10-04

I just wanted to thank you for coming to Prince George, British Columbia and entertaining us. It was a great show.  The graduates are still talking about it. I also wanted to thank you for your upbeat manner, especially the way that you ended the show with a group hug and a rallying speech about the great future that is ahead for this next generation.

It seemed the day was full of gloomy and uninteresting speeches. Yours, although short, was the only one my daughter commented on.  It made her feel good and positive about the future.  She said, “Now that is a grad speech to remember.” You did the right thing at the right moment.
Thank you.

All the best for the future,

the Mother of a Graduate

They have provided me with a lifetime of wonderful memories and as a speaker, they’ve given me more material than I could possibly have imagined. Kali will attend Nursing school in Sept 2010, Alex wants to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and become a police officer. To say that we are proud of their choices would be putting it mildly.

I often think about our conversations. I’m not sure why I do that, but I rerun them in mind over and over. I love sitting in Kali’s room and talking with her about her day to day activities. She has matured so much during the last three years. We talk about people a lot, and why people act in certain ways and do certain things. Lately college has been on her mind a great deal. She wants to know what to expect, hours of study, parties, boys. I’ve had to relive many great memories of my own college days because of those conversations.

The next couple of years will be interesting. Kali will be living on her own in the fall, and Alex will start high school. Our time together will become even more precious because I know my time with them will dwindle. Alex turned down a hockey game with me just last week to hang out with friends… that was a first… won’t be the last.

My goal for this blog post is tell you some stories about our little family… if there is one thing I have learned is that you can’t always pick your family, sometimes they pick you.

1.) To bounce ideas off of.

2.) Experience…
….Your coach has probably been there!

3.) Shorten the learning curve.

The last one is very important. In the past I used to ask everybody for advice. If you were within ear shot, I’d probably have asked you, too. After a while I started noticing that everybody has an opinion. Good or bad, they have an opinion. When I first met Craig I noticed he got to the point very quickly.  He found the errors and make comments that were quick and easy to implement.  I hired him to coach me over a two day period in his living room. I left two days later having learned more in 16 hours than some speakers learn in 1000 hours of trying to figure it out themselves or by asking people who aren’t professional speakers.

Who is coaching for? It’s for anybody who has to stand before an audience and sell an idea or product. It’s for people in sales, architects, engineers, lawyers, politicians. I saw a prominent politician address a crowd two years ago and was astounded with his failure to look into the crowd. I wish I could have had 20 minutes of coaching time with him.

I hope you take the time and get some coaching… your bottom line, political career, and list of clients will thank you for it!

Here are two tips you can use to keep audiences on the edge of the seats.

1) Dialogue… Dialogue… Dialogue.

100% of audiences love to hear what was said and how it was said. For example, which of the following do you think is better?

My father and I sat in the waiting room. My wife had just given birth to our first child and my dad told me he thought I’d make an excellent father.

- OR -

My father and I sat in the waiting room. My wife had just given birth to our first child. My dad turned to me and said, “Son, you make me so proud, I have no doubt you will be an excellent father.”

Can you hear the difference? The version with the dialogue will help you bring the audience much closer to you and add in your connection with them. Imagine how effective this would be if you added some emotion behind it…paused after you said it, and really let it sink it for the audience.
During a seven to ten minute speech I like to make about a third of the speech dialogue.

2) Conflict.

The most valuable lesson I learned while competing and reaching the finals of Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking in 2008, was that conflict is the heart of any story/speech. During your speech try to get to the conflict as quickly as you can. I like to get to it within the first 90 seconds.

Why conflict? Conflict is the reason we watched The Titanic is complete rapture. How quickly will the water rise, will they live or die, will they make it to America. We all knew the great ship sunk but we wanted to hear the stories and see how the conflicts were resolved. Every great story must have some conflict that must be overcome otherwise is just a story where everything is perfect and everybody is happy all the time. Does that sound realistic you to, of course not…. so go ahead, get to the conflict!

Could you do it?

One of the many challenges we face as speakers is our ability to speak at a moments notice on any given topic.  If you’ve been speaking for any amount of time or if someone knows you want to be a speaker, you’ll be asked to speak at a moments notice.

A number of years ago while watching television I saw a reporter interviewing someone claiming to be a rap artist. The reporter said, “I hear you’re quite good…let’s hear something…” The rapper started rapping and within 10 seconds she started giggling nervously… and stopped. The interviewer said, “oh come on, I can do better than that.” He rapped for about 30 seconds about what he had for breakfast that morning. I have to honest with you, I felt sorry for that young artist.  This was her big moment but she wasn’t ready and unfortunately the reporter was…

My speech coach, Craig Valentine, always says, “Martin, don’t get ready to speak… stay ready.”  That means I keep story files on all sorts of topics.  I suggest you do the same.  If an idea pops into your head, write it down. Within a few short months you have dozens of stories you can pull out of your “speaking hat” when asked to address a crowd.  It’ll look amazing how you just seem to come up with original material all the time.

So remember… don’t get ready to speak… Stay ready!

Martin

Good question. To begin, every speaker still gets nervous. Some events make you more nervous than others. Some audiences frighten you more than others and some days you just don’t feel right about your speech. Thankfully the more you speak the fewer days you’ll have like the ones I mentioned above. Why is that? Speaking is a muscle, the more use it the better and stronger it becomes. The more you speak the more comfortable you’ll become being in front of different types of audiences, whether they be college students, businessmen or engineers…eventually you’ll be so confident that you’ll actually look forward to delivering your message. You’ll still be a little nervous but it’s a good nervous.

In 2008, I was fortunate enough to reach the finals in Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking. What a thrill it should have been… unfortunately it wasn’t. I gave a very lackluster speech, disappointed myself and many of the people who had driven many miles to come see me compete. It took me months to get over that dismal performance. It was probably the single greatest thing to have happened to me… What??? How is that possible, you ask… how can a dismal performance be the greatest thing to have happened? Simple… I failed when the moment counted most and I still had supper with friends that night, I got up and met other friends for breakfast, drove home and went back to work… the world continued. I went to New York and gave a speech a few months later… again, another bad speech… and the world moved on. I learned that the world doesn’t revolve around whether or not I have a good or bad day. I learned what’s most important is to keep doing what I love and to keep learning…

In 2009, I rededicated myself to becoming a student of speaking and it’s paid off tremendously. So, my advice to you is to keep speaking. When you have a bad day, know that it was necessary, learn the lesson and move on.

Keep speaking… somebody needs to hear your message!

Martin