The Eloquent Woman

Famous Speech Friday: Margaret Edson's 2008 Smith College commencement address

2012-01-27T05:45:00.000-05:00

Folks who work at universities have heard more commencement speeches than the rest of us--that's part of the job. So when reader Kathy Schuetz, a communicator at the University of Maryland, wrote to suggest Margaret Edson's 2008 commencement speech at Smith College and called it "remarkable," I took notice.

Edson, a public school teacher in Atlanta, also is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of the play Wit, about a scholar of English literature who is in the hospital and dying of ovarian cancer. (There's a current production of the play on Broadway at this writing.) Edson, herself a Smith graduate, uses the occasion to speak about what happens in classroom teaching. She uses anaphora, the rhetorical device that repeats a word or series of words at the start of a series of sentences--in this case, to tell us that classroom teaching is all about nothing, for both teachers and students:

We bring nothing into the classroom -- perhaps a text or a specimen. We carry ourselves, and whatever we have to offer you is stored within our bodies. You bring nothing into the classroom -- some gum, maybe a piece of paper and a pencil: nothing but yourselves, your breath, your bodies. Classroom teaching produces nothing. At the end of a class, we all get up and walk out. It’s as if we were never there....Classroom teaching expects nothing. There is no pecuniary relationship between teachers and students....Classroom teaching withholds nothing. I say to my young students every year, “I know how to add two numbers, but I’m not going to tell you.” And they laugh and shout, “No!” That’s so absurd, so unthinkable. What do I have that I would not give to you?

This is a speech by a lover of language, but even its eloquence is not the most remarkable thing about it: Edson never looks at her notes during this commencement address. That's because there are no notes. The speech, all 18-plus minutes of it, is entirely delivered without a script or notes of any kind. Here's what you can learn from this famous speech, which engages the audience in three ways:

Set up a clever contrast to make your point: Edson spends several paragraphs telling us about the "nothing" of classroom teaching, underscoring that it yields nothing tangible. Along the way, you realize that this "nothing" is yet substantial, meaningful, rewarding. Then Edson carries that line of thinking through and transitions it to the future that lies ahead for the graduates: "If you can point to something, you might lose it, or you might break it, or someone might take it from you. As long as you store it inside yourself, it’s not going anywhere -- or it’s going everywhere with you." Suddenly, that nothing sounds pretty good.
Sly humor suggests they're all in on the joke together: Edson builds a bond with her audience from the start, using the typical salutations to honored guests and her hosts humorously (speaking of her own class, she deadpans, "when the history of the college is written, the record will note that this class was the best looking"). She pokes fun at trite honorifics, gently, and uses an exaggerated tone to suggest she, too, finds some of the pomp a bit much. For college graduates and faculty who've heard one too many commencement addresses, it's just the right touch.
Speaking without notes: Whether you use notes or not is up to you and the speaking situation--there's nothing wrong with it. But here is a lovely example of what speaking without notes can do for a speech, particularly a commencement address with a big crowd to engage. The lack of notes lets her address the audience while looking at it directly, something every audience craves. As a result, she connects with this audience in a way many commencement speakers never do.

Read the transcript of the speech here, and do watch the video below, listening for the words she enphasizes vocally. What do you think of this famous speech? (Photo from Smith College)

2008 Smith College Commencement Margaret Edson from Smith College on Vimeo.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

What's the big idea? What those TED-like talks are looking for

2012-01-25T05:45:00.000-05:00

You want to give one of those big talks someday, maybe soon. An Ignite talk, a Moth presentation, a TEDx or TED talk--that kind of big talk. And there's just one thing standing between you and that goal: One big idea.

That's because if you're going to make the most of those 3- or 5- or 15- or 20-minute opportunities, you need to narrow your focus down to one big idea. To stay in the minds of the live audience and get liked and shared by the online audience, just one idea will do. Not 50, not 15, not even three, but one. And that's the tripping point for many would-be givers of big talks. What's the big idea? That's the question they can't answer. A big idea requires a point of view, an opinion, the ability to zero in on a target.

Close readers of the blog will recall that I advise breaking your message into three key points, as most speaker coaches do--that's because we remember things best in threes and are almost hard-wired to do so. (And that's true for both speaker and audience.) Here's the connection: You'll use your three key points to put across your big idea. They're the three reasons we should decide to do that crazy thing you just proposed, the three arguments against that popular trend, the three things you're missing when you decide to do x. But you still need to give us that big idea to move toward, even as you lay out the steps to get us there.

I know, you have lots of ideas. And lots of facts to share. And, oh, those opinions-by-the-score. I'll even let you work some of them into the three points you'll get to undergird your big idea, if you promise to just focus on one big idea for this big talk. For technical experts and scientists who are used to backing up and giving us all the background we might possibly need to grasp the big idea, this can be a particular challenge. But I promise, your audience will sit in the palm of your hand and do so more happily if you can winnow it down to one idea.

Don't forget that the audience you need to win over starts with the conference organizers, by the way. The folks who put together these high-stakes conferences want smart people who can share new thoughts and approaches...if they can focus on one big idea. Failure to focus when you are proposing a big talk, or when you're approached to give one, can mean you don't get the opportunity...or if you get up to speak and that big point doesn't come across, it may mean you won't be asked back.

Here's one example of a detail-filled talk with a wonderful big idea for cancer patients: A surgeon describes a way to make cancer tumors and nerves fluorescent so they can be surgically removed (or avoided) with more accuracy. It's worth taking the time to develop a message with your big idea in it before you pursue those big-talk opportunities--and so you're ready when the call comes. Let me know if I can help you work on that; just email me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Preparing a speech for a friend who's dying: 7 ideas & resources

2012-01-23T05:45:00.000-05:00

It's always instructive for a speaking coach when the shoe is on the other foot and she needs to ask for help with a speech. When a reader who also is a speaker coach wrote to ask "How do I help a dying friend with a speech about her life and illness?", she added that she was willing to cast a wide net and see whether The Eloquent Woman community had any tips or ideas to help her. "My sadness and our attachment are blocking my ability to think clearly about how to help her prepare - let alone write the script. I'll find a way to ensure my feelings don't overshadow our prep for this gig - I want it to be her triumph."

That willingness to ask for help has yielded many offers. I'm happy to say that our fellow speaker coaches, in particular, came up with a wide range of ideas, examples and options. Since many of them are available on video, I've included them here along with the generous thoughts and ideas these coaches shared.

"Let her dear friend shine"

Janice Tomich shared this short clip from Virginia Greene's presentation at an ovarian cancer awareness event held in her honor in Vancouver over a year ago. The event presentation is combined with an interview with Greene that was used as a public service ad. I think this comes as close as any example to the situation our fellow coach and reader is facing. Tomich wrote, "Virginia Greene was a force to behold in our community who sadly passed away not long after the event. I watched and listened to her speak many times and she was a no-holds-barred spitfire of a woman who also had a lovely big heart. Interestingly, in looking over the clip, she appeared very robust, but I remember thinking at the time she was a shadow of herself."

She added, "The woman who is requesting help in how best to serve her friend has answered her own question--not to let her own feelings get in the way. Simply let her dear friend shine...her friend will guide her. As her coach and friend she just needs to be there for support."

I'll add that this example offers some practical considerations for a speaker who is terminally ill. It's fine to speak from a seated position on stage, and to have water and a box of tissues handy for the speaker. It's extraordinary enough that she is willing to speak at this stage--no need to make it into an endurance test. In this case, there appear to be large-screen monitors on stage behind her, and those might be useful if the speaker needs to stay seated, but is addressing a large room. I'd ask her, however, whether she minds having her face projected large to the room.

The partnership between vulnerability and conviction

Speaker coach Jill Foster wrote, "Is the fundraiser raising monies to find a cure for her particular illness? I'm working with that assumption here. The partnership between vulnerability and conviction comes to mind. As in: even in our most fragile or precarious moments, we have the chance to stand up to the larger battle in some way. There are no guarantees that cures will come in time for our unique purposes. But the chance to research a cure for those yet to be diagnosed is still within our reach if resolve stays on course by the greater team, researchers, volunteers, advocates. The cause still deserves attention. She can build off that truth openly and let it be context to the greater need to hold steadfast even in the face of loss....sprinkled with a few Seinfeld jokes if at all possible. But now I'm deflecting my own emotion. Blessings to her and her voice."

Tackling sensitive subjects in interview format

Kate Peters recommended to the public radio series Story Corps, in which people interview one another about their lives in their own words. She found this example from René Foreman, who survived cancer of the esophagus and now speaks with an electrolarynx, interviewed by her daughter Michelle. Foreman says, “I am happier now without my voice than I've ever been with my voice.” That opens up a wonderful option for this situation: Perhaps, instead of writing a speech, our reader can interview her friend on stage. I think that's a smart option that would require less work for the interviewee in terms of preparation, yet would let her voice and message come through. The Story Corps interviews offer a wonderful example of how to ask the questions and handle the reactions that follow.

Tackling the talk as a 'last lecture'

The late Randy Pausch is famous in the United States for "The Last Lecture," a tour de force of a talk that played off of the conceit in academe, where professors give a lecture as if it were their last one, summing up what they know and believe--but in this case, Pausch was dying when he gave this lecture. Speaker coach Nancy Duarte wrote that this one is her favorite, and it was the first one I thought of to suggest to our fellow coach--but because she's not based in the U.S., this was a new example to her. Since the friend who will be giving the speech is a physician, the concept of a lecture might make the speech easier to pull off. A caution: Pausch's energetic delivery--at one point, he drops to the floor and does push-ups--may not be as helpful an example for someone who's not feeling as well as he did when he gave this talk. His motivation was to leave a record for his young children, something that summed up his life, work and philosophy, and that may be the motivation this speaker needs.

Dying doesn't mean you have to be trite.

I shared this clip from Sex and the City in which Samantha, the public relations rep who's fighting breast cancer is asked to speak at a fundraiser. But it goes wrong in many ways. The PR pro in her has written the type of speech a disconnected speechwriter would write, full of platitudes and trite observations about breast cancer ("If you want to see the face of breast cancer, look around you. It's the woman next to you at the drycleaner..."). But Samantha-the-patient is sweating profusely, a side effect of the drugs she's taking, and uncomfortable under the wig she's wearing because she lost her hair and still wants to look stylish. Finally, she pulls off the wig, mid-speech--and so do all the other women like her in the audience, making her point better than that speech ever could. From this, I take a couple of lessons and ideas. One is that your audience at a fundraiser might well include people like you, who are ill or dying, so don't assume that everyone at a fundraiser is there just to give money. The other is that when faced with these big moments in life and death, we often fall back on platitudes. But your own particular details and observations will always be more compelling. Just tell us what it feels like, what you regret, what you wish for, in your own way...even if that means showing us something ignoble.

If you can't say it out loud, flash cards are an option

This video also came immediately to mind. Ben Breedlove, a young YouTube blogger who gave relationship advice to his peers via online video, made this two-part video using flash cards to explain his heart condition and the different times in his young life when he cheated death. Breedlove died shortly after making this video, on Christmas Day 2011. It's a quiet and poignant, at times funny, message that turned out to be his last "speech."

The irony of death is not lost on the dying

I include this, the opening from the play Wit, as something our coach can use with her friend to acknowledge the ironies that come with terminal illness--the play is about a professor of poetry who has ovarian cancer and has to move from being a researcher to being the subject of research herself. "It is not my intention to give away the plot, but I think I die at the end," she says. If your friend chooses to address these ironies in her speech, that also can be an effective approach--it's black humor, but a type that points out how ill-prepared we all are for what lies ahead.

I'm so grateful to all the coaches who responded to create this collection of options for helping someone who's dying prepare a significant speech...it's the Internet equivalent of bringing over a casserole during a challenging time, and I'm honored that this blog has been the delivery system for all these great ideas about how to handle a true speaking challenge.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Famous Speech Friday: Jane Fonda's TEDxWomen talk on "Life's Third Act"

2012-01-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

"We're living, on average today, 34 years longer than our great-grandparents did. Think about that," Fonda told the TEDxWomen event in 2011. "That's an entire second adult lifetime that's been added to our lifespan." She uses her talk to discuss her current passion: How we use that "third act," the last three decades of your life, not only to improve your life, but to create a cultural shift.

The talk is based on a theme carried through in her book, Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit--making the most of all of your life. Fonda--now 74 herself--emphasizes in this talk that some studies suggest that people in their third acts are even happier than they were at other stages of life. "As I was approaching my late 40s, I would wake up in the morning and my first six thoughts would all be negative," Fonda said, noting that she comes "from a long line of depressives." She added that "now that I am smack-dab in the middle of my own third act, I realize: I have never been happier." Here's what you can learn from this famous speech:

Empathy plus data: Telling stories on herself without self-congratulation or self-deprecation, Fonda manages to weave her own experience into the speech without making it all about her. She balances personal anecdotes with an empathetic approach, speaking about issues that she herself faced, but without mentioning herself. Instead, she couches them as issues anyone might face. Finally, Fonda's done her research, finding data points to reinforce her stories and the empathy. The combination sings.
Using notes without reading: Many actors use notes for public speaking and abhor the extemporaneous--they're used to lines they learn in advance in their work. I don't know Fonda's preference, but here, she uses a written text, yet you don't see the top of her head much during this talk--because she refers to her text, but doesn't read it straight through. As a result, she's better able to connect with her audience. Notice, too, that while she stays at the lectern, she looks all around the audience: down in front, up in back, and to either side, another must if you are going to remain stationary on the stage. (By the way, it doesn't hurt that Fonda's already written a book on the same lines as this talk. She knows the messages she wants to convey, and that helps her avoid reading.)
Quiet delivery with great vocal variety: "It helps us become what we might have been" she says, with a suggestive, knowing, sidelong look at the audience. Fonda doesn't speak above a normal volume level, but uses outstanding variety in her inflections, tone and emphasis throughout this talk, hitting a wide range of low, middle and high notes, pausing and pacing, and making her voice an essential tool.

Here's a video of Fonda's TEDxWomen talk. What do you think of this famous speech?

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

It's 2012, and women are still having trouble getting on the program as speakers

2012-01-19T05:45:00.000-05:00

Forget a seat at the table, for the moment. I'm seeing plenty of evidence, still, that women are having trouble getting a place on the podium, as speakers at public gatherings, professional conferences and other forums.

The most notable example right now is in Israel. At a conference on gynecology, women were barred from speaking--or as feminist writer Katha Pollitt put it, "Men discuss vaginas while women can only watch." Eight speakers reportedly cancelled their appearances. The ban was prompted by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who follow rules that forbid women from speaking public or sitting with men in meetings or worship. The New York Times dubbed it a "seismic rift over the role of women," and noted the recent example is just part of a larger debate there:

Public discourse in Israel is suddenly dominated by a new, high-toned Hebrew phrase, “hadarat nashim,” or the exclusion of women....All of this seems anomalous to most people in a country where five young women just graduated from the air force’s prestigious pilots course and a woman presides over the Supreme Court. But each side in this dispute is waging a vigorous public campaign. The New Israel Fund, which advocates for equality and democracy, organized singalongs and concerts featuring women in Jerusalem and put up posters of women’s faces under the slogan, “Women should be seen and heard.” The Israel Medical Association asserted last week that its members should boycott events that exclude women from speaking on stages. Religious authorities said liberal groups were waging a war of hatred against a pious sector that wanted only to be left in peace.

We can get outraged over this extreme example, but keeping women speakers off the program is happening elsewhere--just quietly. Here are some examples that have come across my line of vision in the past week:

At the Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference, "... it’s been, again, a disappointing year for female involvement as speakers, in a conference where women make up at least half the audience and half the volunteers (but usually more)," reports Muslimah Media Watch. The post has been noting the issue of women speakers for several years.
TED 2012's lineup includes just 16 women out of 55 presenters, points out @cvharquail on Twitter, echoing a persistent criticism of the well-watched conference.
The Wall Street Green Trading Summit boasted on Twitter that it has "the most women speakers of any energy and environmental conference this year." That would be 11 women speakers out of 51 total.
Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise in Philadelphia has only 2 speaker of 40 who are women thus far, points out this observer.
The Techriti 2012 conference in India will feature speaker Deborah Berebichez, who tweeted that she was "honored" to speak there, "but I do wish there were more women speakers." That might be due to the fact that she is the lone woman speaker of a dozen speakers at this conference.
Edinburgh-based iOS developer Matt Gemmell, after attending several tech conferences with few women speakers, offers a list of suggestions for same.

The silver lining here, if there is one: Women and men are starting to report the gender balance in speaker lineups at conferences. Now we just need to work on giving women the microphone. Have you noticed women in the minority as speakers at your professional conferences? Let me know in the comments.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Tipsters: Can you contribute to Famous Speech Friday? Here's how

2012-01-17T05:45:00.000-05:00

If you like our Famous Speech Friday series and want to see more of it, I welcome your suggestions and contributions. Every FSF post winds up in The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, already a popular resource for speakers, speechwriters and even conferences looking for women speakers...or inspiration.

To get in on the action, you can:

Share suggestions for speeches for the series,
Propose a guest post, or
Point us to a similar post elsewhere.

Every Famous Speech Friday post meets certain criteria, so when you suggest an idea or propose a guest post for the series, here's what we will want to see:

Why the speech is famous: Whether it went viral on YouTube or changed the way a nation behaved, tell us what makes this a famous speech. It's not enough that the speech was delivered; we want women's speeches that are influential or that had a major impact.
That it's a speech: Whether the remarks are extemporaneous or planned, we want speeches for this series, rather than interviews, presentations or soliloquies. Within that limitation, however, we've covered almost every kind of speech: keynotes, eulogies, introductions, storytelling, awards acceptances and more.
Lessons for other speakers: Every Famous Speech Friday example includes three lessons that any speaker can take from the famous speech, so we're looking for speeches that include words, delivery techniques and more that's useful to speakers today.
Video, audio and transcripts: It's not possible to have these for every famous speech, particularly our historic examples. But where available, we strive for examples that offer readers access to how the speech was delivered--audio and video--as well as the text.

You can submit ideas to me via Twitter, on The Eloquent Woman on Facebook, or via email at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz. Some of our best posts in the series have come from contributors. I'm looking forward to your ideas and proposals!

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

"How do I help a dying friend with a speech about her life and illness?"

2012-01-16T05:45:00.000-05:00

Readers, today we need your help for a fellow reader and speaker coach who has written to me with a speech challenge unlike any she has faced before. Here is what she wrote:

I have been given a tough assignment. A good friend is terminally ill. She's smart, gentle, warm and quiet. She's not a speaker, and she's the wisest and kindest person I know. She's still up and about but may not be for long. She has asked me to help her with a speech for a big fundraiser. I've done tough things before, and if she weren't my friend I could laugh. Black humour, irreverence...they are all tools to help make an unbearable subject bearable. But my sadness and our attachment are blocking my ability to think clearly about how to help her prepare - let alone write the script. I'll find a way to ensure my feelings don't overshadow our prep for this gig - I want it to be her triumph. If you or anyone else have any tips or experience to help me navigate this particularly tricky professional path, I'd be most grateful.

Have you had to help a friend in this situation, or given this kind of speech yourself? What advice, tips or experiences do you have that will help this fellow reader coach her friend and write the speech of a lifetime? Can you point us to examples of other speakers facing the same situation? Please share your ideas and help in the comments.

Looking for great speeches by women? Try The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Famous Speech Friday: Actress Viola Davis: "What keeps me in the business is hope"

2012-01-13T05:45:00.000-05:00

I keep a search open on Twitter for "eloquent woman," and recently, @bevysmith's tweet showed up, saying "I'm a student of Viola Davis speeches, she is the most eloquent woman." A recent example happened at ELLE magazine's Women in Hollywood awards last October. For Davis, the night started when someone on the red carpet asked the star of The Help what set her apart from everyone else there.

"Well, I'm black," she replied.

A little while later, when she rose to accept her award, Davis delivered an extemporaneous speech of more than 10 minutes that brought the house to its feet--and continued to mince no words. She included that anecdote and much more. Davis revealed in a Vanity Fair interview that The Help was her first leading role, and in this speech, she holds her own as well as any leading actor.

"I don't have a speech prepared, by the way," she warned the audience. "I hate writing speeches--it makes me more nervous." So she begins with what she knows so well it needs no script, and takes the audience back to her childhood games with her sister Delores. They'd dress up and play with an air tea set and pretend to be famous Hollywood actresses leading glamorous lives, even though they lived in a threadbare apartment in deep poverty in Rhode Island. "The game would always inevitably end with us beating the shit out of each other," Davis said, noting that they both came back to earth realizing they really lived on welfare

From those childhood dreams, Davis makes a smooth transition, suggesting that she became an actor to continue "staying in the game" of imagination. But her remarks take a serious turn as she addresses a topic not often confronted via a microphone: The paucity of roles for black actors. "Frankly, what keeps me in the business, seriously, is not always the love of my work....sometimes I really don't love it....What keeps me in the business is hope, and that's the hope that women of color are also a part of the narrative, that our stories are just as potent, because we also have the power of transformation. We also have the power to be quirky, and sexy, and different, funny, heartfelt and all of those things."

Davis tells stories about her mother and grandmother, and tells the audience of Hollywood insiders that "Those are the stories I want to see on the screen." She continues with a gentle rant that ties her story and that issue together, noting how important it was to her to see actress Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman:

I believe and I really hope that we have the imagination, that we have the courage to bring those stories to life, because I want to do for other young women of color what Cicely Tyson did to me in that apartment with the slats showing underneath the plaster, and the bad plumbing, and no phone, and hardly any food, and rats....she allowed me to have the visual of what it means to dream....she threw me a rope. That's what we do as actors....we throw other people the rope.

Here's what you can learn from this famous speech:

Extemporaneous doesn't have to mean disorganized: There's as much an arc in this speech as there would be if the best scribes had labored over it, from childhood dreams to adult realities to turning that dream into an industry challenge. Rooted in personal stories, Davis doesn't need notes to recall her details, and so was able to focus on a map in her head for this inspiring talk. Think, at a minimum, about where you want to start, where you want to end up and what you want the audience focused on at the end.
Not mincing words makes for a great speech: The more noble and lofty and ten-dollar your words, the less we connect with them. If Davis had used that red carpet moment to talk about the "overall racial disparities we see in the industry" instead of just saying, "Well, I'm black," you'd be able to hear the yawns from here. Concrete words connect.
Use that invisible visual. Davis had an invisible tea set to play with, and made masterful use here of what I call "the invisible visual," the one your audience doesn't need a picture to see. She does that by sharing specific descriptions of her childhood home, what she and her sister wore, what "poverty" boiled down to in their lives, from bad plumbing to crumbling plaster. By the time she's done, that movie's playing in your head, and will stay there for a long time.

What do you think of this famous speech? Share your reactions in the comments, please.

Gearing up for that really big talk: 6 smart speaker considerations

2012-01-11T05:45:00.000-05:00

Congratulations! You've been asked to give a big, high-profile talk, that career-changing speaking opportunity you've been waiting for.

Now what? Big talks--whether the "big" part is the impact of your words, the size of the audience or the prestige of the venue--deserve a higher level of planning on the part of the smart speaker. Here are a half-dozen considerations I'd recommend if you're going to be featured in one of those finer gigs:

Is it the hall that's big? If you're not used to facing a crowd of hundreds or thousands, it makes sense to get some practice time or at least a few minutes to stand on the actual stage where you'll be presenting, in advance. Can't do that? Try to find a similar hall in which to practice before you get there. For a big space, you may need to move more or in a larger area on stage, use grander gestures or figure out a new way to connect with the audience, and all that takes practice and preparation. The more time you can physically get used to a big speaking space, the less it will throw you off when you're actually speaking. Don't just practice on the stage, either. Sit in the audience in different locations and stand at the back of the room, so you can see what your audience will see.
Is it the audience that's big? That might mean the audience in the room, in which case it's important to understand from the organizers whether you'll be projected on video monitors, how your sound will work, and any other factors that can help or hurt you in reaching a large group. Knowing where and how you will enter and exit the stage are important factors for you to anticipate, too--entering from the audience, for example, means you'll be seen in motion before you ever start to speak. Don't forget that other "big" audience if your talk is being record: The one on the Internet. Take the time to plan your gestures, vocalizing and facial expressions, as well as your wardrobe, so they work in the hall, on a big screen and on the small screen. Video practice is a must, in that case. If you need to adjust what you're wearing, for example, that's tough to do last-minute.
Talk to the technicians: Knowing the likely color of the background against which you'll be speaking, understanding how your "confidence monitor" and remote will work, sharing what colors you're wearing: All those are smart topics to discuss with the tech team in advance. Depending on your answers, you may need to let them light you differently due to your wardrobe, or use a special cue to toggle between video and slides. Ask, listen and adjust--in advance.
Listen to the organizers: I can't count the number of speakers I've coached before big talks who think that they are the Grand Exception to what the organizers told them. "I know they said 15 minutes, but I'm just going to keep talking" and "No one in the audience really needs to use that mic, so I'll just repeat the questions to the panel" can be recipes for disaster. Listen, instead, to what organizers want--certainly those who invited you, as well as what other organizers say. TED curator Chris Anderson has shared such insights, and your conference organizers will have plenty to share, too. Remember, these are the people who can invite you back again. No need for you to shoulder their responsibilities and reinvent the wheel. Ask, and listen.
Speak to the speakers: Other speakers who've already taken the plunge at your big event are a great resource, and you know they'll be able to share the behind-the-scenes experience firsthand. The TED blog recently shared a roundup of blog posts from speakers at TEDx events detailing what it feels like to give a TEDx talk. Ask the organizers if they can connect you to previous speakers.
Invest in coaching: If not now, when? Even experienced speakers can benefit from coaching that's specific to a really big talk, since speaking at a TED conference or mega-convention just isn't the same as lecturing or giving a high-stakes business presentation. You'll need a mix of eloquence, entertainment, poise and impact specific to this important gig. And if, as many top speaking opportunities do, yours comes with a strict time limit, a good speaker coach can show you how to make the most of every word. And before you invest, ask the organizers whether coaching is available to you through them. More conferences are making this available to speakers, but few can offer it to all speakers. Ask for help early, at the time you are invited, to help your organizers plan--and before some other speaker gets the help.

If you're looking for prep help or coaching before your next really big talk, email me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz for more information.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Stroke victim who's learning to speak again by singing vows public speaking career

2012-01-10T05:45:00.000-05:00

Lots of singers who also are public speakers and presenters will tell you they see a strong connection between singing and speaking. But so do the medical professionals who work with stroke victims to help them regain the power of speech.

NPR reporter Richard Knox dove into the science behind how singing can help patients relearn speaking after a stroke. Noting that we've known for more than a century that a stroke can leave you speechless yet still able to sing, he looked at "what may be the first rigorous trial of singing therapy." This former public speaker is one of the subjects:

Debra Meyerson, 54, is a volunteer in that study. Her aphasia is a cruel twist of fate. Meyerson is an expert in gender and race relations who was a dynamic and popular speaker before her stroke. After a year of conventional speech therapy, she couldn't speak more than a word or two....By next Labor Day — the second anniversary of her stroke — Meyerson wants to start public speaking again, this time as an advocate for better stroke care.

This story offers a fascinating breakdown of the components we take for granted as speakers--components that are lost to strokes and must be brought back, one part at a time, from the motor nerves that help you sense the rhythms of speech, to the tonal qualities in inflection, to how fast you are able to download what you're trying to say from your brain to your mouth.

I'll have an eye open for that speech Debra Meyerson is planning to give--I have a hunch it's perfect for our Famous Speech Friday series, don't you agree? You can hear the audio of this exciting story here.

Looking for famous speeches by women? Check out The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, with a wide variety of women speakers, types of speeches and topics to inspire your next speech. Each one comes with lessons for speakers, plus video or audio and a transcript, where available.

Launching the new Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches

2012-01-06T05:45:00.000-05:00

A year ago, The Eloquent Woman blog launched a new weekly feature called "Famous Speech Friday," designed to answer a question I kept getting from speakers, trainees and speaker coaches: "Where can I find examples of great women's speeches?" Often, the questioners would add that they could only find examples from long-past speeches from the most famous of now-dead women speakers, like Eleanor Roosevelt or Barbara Jordan. And many lists of important speeches only feature a handful of famous talks by women.

Not anymore. One year and 46 famous women's speeches later, we've got everything from Eleanor Roosevelt to Lady Gaga, among many others. Now I've collected all of them to create in one place The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, an index that will grow as our Famous Speech Friday series continues.

Here's a flavor of what you'll find in the index:

Women speakers from many locations and many topics: Women from the U.S., Canada, England, France, Haiti and Kenya were featured, and their topics range from war, business, the environment and equal rights to cancer, orgasm, gender identity and family. All of them rock the house in their own way.
Women in a wide range of roles: There are First Ladies, presidential candidates, governors, members of Congress, a prime minister, an international banker, business executives, religious crusaders, cancer and stroke survivors, government agency heads, activists, feminists and anti-feminists, writers, actresses, singers, royalty, women who are old, young, black, white, Native American, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, liberal, and conservative.
The types of speeches also vary widely, with commencement addresses, eulogies, political stump speeches, lectures, tributes, awards acceptances, keynotes, congressional testimony, international declarations, TED talks, mock debates, convention speeches, speeches to interest groups, legal arguments, assessments of women's progress in professions, evocative fables and rousing union speeches on our roster.

I set a special goal for these speeches, looking for examples that not only hold good lessons for today's speakers--each example has at least three lessons for you--but also speeches that reflect women speaking about women's issues, at least in part. Wherever possible, we've provided links to the text or a transcript, along with audio or video of the speech or one like it.

It's not easy committing to a weekly series, particularly when the sources of information are scattered and sketchy; for much of our history, women were discouraged from speaking publicly, and the records of their talks were not preserved and made available. For that reason, I am grateful to the many historians, historic sites, government and university archives, women's studies programs and other sources of excellent information. Links to their offerings are in each post, and I welcome hearing from other sources of information on famous women's speeches of today and yesterday. And hear me, those of you with women speakers today: Please transcribe and record their speeches and make them publicly available!

I have made a permanent page on the blog for the index, so that, as we continue the Famous Speech Friday series, the list will continue to grow and serve as a ready reference. I welcome your suggestions for future famous speech examples by women, at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz...but first, go take a look at your new reference, The Eloquent Woman Index of Famous Women's Speeches, and please pass it around. Who's your favorite so far on the list?

4 quick ways to review that talk you just gave

2012-01-04T05:45:00.000-05:00

I always recommend taking the time to review your last speech, talk or presentation thoroughly--reviewing a video if you have one or thinking about three things you'd correct next time. But sometimes you'll want to take stock soon after you speak, so here is a quartet of quick things to review right after you've spoken:

How do you feel? Go beyond feeling relief that it's over. Did it seem easy this time? Tougher crowd? Are you feeling less nervous now that you've tried something new? Enjoying good reactions? Surprised? Upset? Your immediate reactions are worth thinking about and perhaps recording, so you can reflect on them and learn from them.
What did you notice, and when did it happen? Did the audience fall silent at some point? Did they laugh or react at a particular line? When did you start feeling comfortable, or uncomfortable? Did something fall flat? Pinpointing your first impressions and taking the time to recall when the events occurred during your presentation can help you get to the root of your successes, or mistakes you don't want to repeat. Then you can decide whether the cause was something you can change, or something over which you have no control in the moment.
What were you thinking when something went wrong? Often, when I'm reviewing a talk or a video with a client, she'll point out an error. "What were you thinking just then?" I'll ask. If it's something she can recall, we often can target something specific for correction. If you can do this quickly after a talk, you may be able to identify distractions, feelings of fear, or other factors that you can correct next time...and you'll better understand how they trip you up.
What did you hear? Sure, there are plenty of people who'll just say, "I enjoyed your speech." But if you get specific feedback, or just a general sense of the audience's reactions, both are worth noting quickly, so you can use them to plan ahead for next time. Don't forget to check for reactions on Twitter and other social networks, where your listeners may have recorded their reactions.

Actress Margo Martindale on having a lower speaking voice

2012-01-03T05:45:00.000-05:00

Actresses spend as much or more time thinking about their voices as speakers do, and actress Margo Martindale--featured in such movies as Million Dollar Baby and Secretariat -- has a low voice to ponder. In this interview with NPR's Fresh Air, Martindale talks about using her voice to convey power in her role in the FX series Justified. Host Terry Gross asks her to talk about her unusual vocalizing skills. From the transcript:

GROSS: I think one of your great tools is your voice. You have a really deep voice that you can make even deeper in roles like "Justified." You can bring your voice from really, like, deep within.

(Soundbite of laughter)

GROSS: And I have to say that this is at a time when a lot of women speak in much higher voices and when - often our voices get more trapped in our throats, you know, for woman. So I'd like you to talk a little bit about your voice and using how deep and full it can be in a role like your role on "Justified," where you have to express power. You have to convey - you've got the power.

Ms. MARTINDALE: Sometimes I worry that my voice is too mmmm, buzzy, too round, that when I'm on stage, I really have to lift my voice. I have to put it in another spot so that you can hear me because sometimes when you're down in this thing, you can't hear the enunciation as well.

I remember it when I was in high school, the biology said to his - my favorite teacher, Mr. Billy Gwinn(ph), said to the students: Now, listen to Margo Martindale's voice. Now she's probably got male genes in her. Of course, I thought what in the hell is that? Thank you Mr. Gwinn.(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. MARTINDALE: Oh, boy. My voice is lower than - I have one - both of my brothers, but one of them is not with me anymore, but my voice is lower than their voices. Texas men usually have a little bit higher voices like that. But my mine's lower than - my mother had a very low voice, too. So I don't know. I - sometimes I feel that it is a plus, and something I think that it gets in my way, my voice.

GROSS: Why does it get in your way sometimes?

Ms. MARTINDALE: And maybe "Justified" has changed that for me in my head. Sometimes I think I have to pretty it up, girlify(ph) it, make it more - make it a little sweeter, a little softer, a little more - you know, have a little more - because everybody I talk to on the phone said yeah, yes sir, no sir. This is a woman. I've said this is a woman, I must say it maybe 2,500 times in my life. And I get really pissy about it.

It's worth a listen to the Fresh Air interview with Martindale so you can hear her voice for yourself, and the clip that spurred this conversation, where she gives a speech in Justified. In the video below, she accepts an Emmy for the role--although her excitement takes her voice higher at first.

It's important to note that many women may be speaking too low, and need to think through whether they're straining their vocal cords in doing so. For others, it's just natural. Do you grapple with a lower-than-usual woman's voice? Is it a plus or a minus for you?

The top #publicspeaking and presenting posts of 2011

2011-12-30T05:45:00.000-05:00

From inspiring women's speeches to checklists, visuals and sexist speaking situations, 2011's most-read posts offer you a glimpse at what you and other readers found most valuable this year. Before we launch into 2012, take a look back at these popular posts:

Helen Keller's "I am not dumb now" and "Strike Against War," part of our Famous Speech Friday series, ran away with top honors as the most-read post of 2011, and is the our all-time most-read post overall. Included in the post is video of Keller speaking, along with an anti-World-War-I speech that highlights her career as an activist speaker.
Coretta Scott King's "10 Commandments of Vietnam"was our first Famous Speech Friday entry. The speech, given weeks after her husband's assassination and cobbled together from notes found in his pockets, challenged his widow to make the talk her own and set off another major series of events in the civil rights movement.
The quest to find women's speeches marked the halfway point in our Famous Speech Friday series this year, looked at why it's so tough finding women's speeches, and shared all of the famous speeches in the first six months of 2011.
Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech is one of the most-quoted women's speeches--but it's not at all clear that she actually said the words attributed to her. Find out more in this Famous Speech Friday entry.
Margaret Sanger's "The Children's Hour," another Famous Speech Friday post, looked at the early birth-control-rights advocate's major speech on the conditions of children in the U.S. early in the 20th century. A controversial figure with a speech you can learn from.
Maya Angelou's eulogy for Coretta Scott King, yet another Famous Speech Friday post, was irresistible: One of the most eloquent women of our day, speaking about another. A great example of how to do a eulogy right.
The all-in-one for eloquent scientists: Resources and role models shares a baker's dozen of tips on how to contain those details, translate from the technical and use your insider knowledge to advantage as a speaker. Share it with a data-driven speaker you know.
3 unexpected things Twitter can add to your next talk shares a few surprising but useful gifts you can get with a little tweeting before, during and after your talk.
"The perfect preparation:" A downloadable checklist for the whole speaker took one of our all-time favorite posts and made it into a resource you can download to keep handy. The checklist walks you through everything from your mindset and audience to your technology and wardrobe, with special items for introverted speakers.
Why speakers should use the invisible visual -- which is the strongest and most memorable visual of all -- pulls you away from slides, photos and props and challenges speakers to create something an audience member can picture in her minds' eye. This is one of my best tips for putting together a memorable talk.

Thanks, as always, for reading and participating in the blog this year--and happy new year!

Use the Evernote clip button, above, to save this post in an Evernote notebook. Go here to subscribe to Step Up Your Speaking, my free email newsletter that looks at a different speaking topic in depth each month...then become a fan of The Eloquent Woman on Facebook and join the conversation with thousands of other women (and men) about public speaking skills and confidence. Subscribers also get a 25 percent discount when they register for our next Good On Your Feet! workshop on dynamic speaking skills, March 2 and 3 in Washington, DC.

Famous Speech Friday: Caroline Kennedy's eulogy for Edward Kennedy

2011-12-23T05:45:00.000-05:00

(Editor's note: Writer Becky Ham took a look at this wonderful eulogy for The Eloquent Woman. The blog is on hiatus next week until Friday, December 31, when we share the 10 most-read posts for 2011.)

Delivering a eulogy is a tough task for even the most polished speaker, so how to judge a eulogy offered by a woman who has been upbraided famously for her poor public speaking?

Caroline Kennedy acknowledges that public speaking is "unbelievably stressful" for her. During her short-lived U.S. Senate campaign in 2008, the media counted her "ums" and "you knows;" questioned her preparation; and generally gave poor reviews to her speaking style. In a family known for its eloquence, her speeches are rushed and emotionless compared to the greatest hits of her father and famous uncles.

But this post is about famous speeches, not perfect speakers. Kennedy rose to the challenge when she delivered the last eulogy of the day at her uncle Edward Kennedy's memorial service in 2009. Her remembrance wasn't delivered crisply or filled with lovely language. Instead, it was the right speech for her audience, her style of speaking and the needs of the occasion.

Many of us will have to deliver a eulogy at some point, and it's a perennial topic of concern on The Eloquent Woman. Our readers have offered excellent tips to speakers in this situation, and Kennedy provides a great example to those looking for inspiration and information on how to succeed at a fraught but important public speech.

It's OK to make them laugh. Not every story about a loved one has to be uplifting or solemn, even if he or she was a historic figure like a Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy's eulogy contains an anecdote about seeing a brighter-than-the-rest star in the sky after Edward Kennedy's death--a well-worn metaphor that could have been nothing more than trite. But Kennedy gave it a humorous twist by admitting that "I knew it was Jupiter, but it was acting a lot like Teddy." There are laughs throughout the speech, most of them gentle but true to her subject's outsize personality.

Don't forget the details. About halfway through the speech, Kennedy tells a very personal story about one of Teddy's infamous American history vacations for the youngest in the Kennedy clan. This tale is told with so many tiny details--from the sticky, 98-degree heat to the stench of low tide to the roar of planes taking off above the children's tents staked in the dirt--that it resonates as a treasured memory that only she could share.

Let your emotion show. Eulogy speakers often worry that they will be so emotional that they won't be able to speak well, or even make it through their whole speech. Keeping it brief is one way to approach this, if it's a concern. But speakers should also acknowledge that emotion can't and shouldn't be banished completely. Listen to the obvious tremor in Kennedy's voice at the beginning and end of the eulogy. That's the sound of someone holding back tears at the thought of a person who will be missed dearly--and that's entirely appropriate for the occasion.

Here's the full video of the speech. Have you delivered a eulogy? Let us know what you think, and share some of your tips for delivering a eulogy in the comments below.

Use the Evernote clip button, above, to save this post in an Evernote notebook or start an Evernote account. Go here to subscribe to Step Up Your Speaking, my free email newsletter that looks at a different speaking topic in depth each month...then become a fan of The Eloquent Woman on Facebook and join the conversation with thousands of other women (and men) about public speaking skills and confidence.

Speechwriters and coaches: Up your game when working with experts and scientists

2011-12-22T05:45:00.001-05:00

Speechwriters and speaking coaches spend plenty of time with smart folks--policy wonks, subject-matter experts, scientists and engineers. Now here's a chance for you to get smarter about working with them effectively. Be an Expert on Working with Experts is a popular workshop I'm offering on February 1, 2012 in Washington, DC.

The one-day session is designed to help you learn how to identify experts' default communications styles and behaviors; understand how they're likely approaching that next big talk or speech to a non-expert audience; and how to handle effectively the challenges they present you. If you've ever had an expert accuse you of "dumbing down" their content, walk out of a coaching session, or freeze at the start of a speech, this workshop will help you figure out how to better prepare them and work with them.

You get a break on registration if you book your space at the workshop no later than January 25, for $300; after that, registration is $350. The workshop is limited in size, so book your space today. You'll get the benefit of my experience working with all types of technical experts, scientists and engineers--this is the workshop I wish I'd had! Please email me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz with questions. I look forward to seeing you at the workshop.

How do you treat the true friends of the speaker?

2011-12-21T06:58:00.000-05:00

I was facilitating a big workshop for the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its annual conference, and I was there early, as usual, to check the setup. The convention center team working at our session had already seen some people fuming, fretting and ordering changes, so when I asked for the audio-visual guy, I got a hesitant reply.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Not for me," I said. "I'm the facilitator today. I'll be doing most of the speaking and just wanted to check in with you on how things should run and anything I need to know before we start." We shook hands and introduced ourselves by name. "Are you with the American Association for the Advancement of Science?" he asked.

"No, I'm a hired gun," I said. "But I know you're the president of the American Association for the Advancement of My Slides, and that's all that matters to me."

That got me a big grin and amazing help all day. I knew to ask for Jim when he'd stepped out of the room, and he knew--after we'd talked some more--that I planned to roam the room, so he could better manage my mic and slides, and I knew my roaming range and what to do if something went wrong.

I get a lot of surprised looks when I hunt down and introduce myself to the slide advancer, the man with the mics, the catering manager or head waiter, the audio guy, the secretary who's handing people packets. Even moderators and conference organizers find themselves occasionally ignored or snubbed by speakers. But when I'm conducting a training, that receptionist, engineer or waiter might just be able to save me in the pinched moments when something's gone wrong. I can learn all sorts of useful information, from headcounts and how long lunch service will actually take to whether we can get last-minute copies made or a spare mic. So I wonder: How often do you take the time to greet, thank, and listen to the support team when you're the speaker?

Sure enough, that morning, a speaker who didn't take the time to run through logistics or meet the AV guy couldn't get his slides to work. After a quick word with the tech team, this facilitator called an impromptu five-minute break--exactly the amount of time the AV guy told me he'd need to set things right. Who loves you like that when you speak?

Meryl Streep on Margaret Thatcher and public speaking

2011-12-19T08:07:00.000-05:00

Public speaking was a hallmark of Margaret Thatcher's career, long before she became Britain's prime minister--and public speaking is emerging as a strong theme in the new movie The Iron Lady, which debuts January 6 in the UK. Now CBS has featured the movie's star, Meryl Streep, in an interview that also zeroes in on several aspects of Thatcher's speaking and how Streep brought it to the screen.

Thatcher's hiring of an acting coach is noted in the interview. "Her voice was sort of lighter, like mine is," Streep said. "And they taught her to support it, to bring it up from the depths of her place, where the conviction lies, and to carry it through without a breath, until the end of a thought. And then not to give 'em a chance to interrupt her."

She objects when it's pointed out that she's played a lot of strong-minded women. "No one has ever asked an actor, 'You're playing a strong-minded man.' We assume that men are strong-minded, or have opinions. But a strong-minded woman is a different animal," Streep said.

The story also notes that Streep is active in the campaign to build a National Women's History Museum in Washington and shows her at a fundraiser quoting Thatcher: "If you want something spoken about, ask a man. If you want it done, ask a woman."

Margaret Thatcher's "Iron Lady" speech--the one that earned her that nickname--was featured in our Famous Speech Friday series earlier this year. For the 60 Minutes interview of Streep, read the script of this segment here, and watch it below. What do you think?

Famous Speech Friday: Lady Gaga's speech at Rome Europride

2011-12-16T05:45:00.001-05:00

Not every speaker will ask her audience to "put your paws up," but then not every speaker is Lady Gaga. The singer known as much for her outlandish outfits and performance staging as for her dance-ready music spoke before tens of thousands of people attending Rome's Europride festival, earlier this year. And that speech is still reverberating, online and elsewhere.

PR Daily just named Lady Gaga one of its top 10 communicators of 2011 on the strength of this speech, noting that "Gaga can own a stage not only with her songs, but also with her goosebump-inducing cadence when delivering a speech." Her message was one of social justice, and in sharing her observations, she made herself the crowd's messenger with lines like these:

The stories of all my beautiful fans, the young soldiers, the homeless LGBT youth, anti-gay violence, the effect that the denial of gay marriage has on real families worldwide — these are the stories that must be told to the world. These are the stories that will change the world. These are the stories that speak out in the defense of love. We are here today because we are not less valuable. We are here to proclaim our strength, our steadfastness, and our intelligence.We will not be treated as anything less than human.

What can you--you, without your green wig--learn from this famous speech? Plenty:

Do what's least expected of you for impact: Without giving up one jot of her originality, Gaga delivered an old-school speech, in terms of its cadence, rhetorical devices and even her more-subdued-than-usual outfit. She used a lectern, script and microphone in a stand, all unusual in pinning her to one spot on the stage. Her message was equally serious. In wrapping herself in the mantel of old-school speaking, her words could gain influence with those who might otherwise dismiss her and her fans.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do: Drawing from the playbook of every rock star who's ever uttered "Good evening, Roma!", Gaga plays to the locals over and over again in her speech, from her greeting and references to her Italian-American name and heritage to descriptions of seeing the crowds in the square earlier in the day. And the crowd eats it up. She's a natural relationship-builder with audiences, and this speech is as good an example of that as any of her concerts. Don't forget those little, local touches when you speak.
Draw us a picture of the future in terms we can understand: She's calling for some high-minded goals in social justice, but Gaga does a great job translating the noble into the everyday, making personal the cause she's advancing--and that helps her listeners relate better to it. "For the 15-year-old who struggles...with their identity...Who and what do they have to look up to? Where is their wedding day? Where does the dream of their potential end? And can it have no limits?" she says, near the end of her speech, in a series of questions that outlines both the struggle and the hopeful future.

You'll want to watch the video and read the transcript of this famous speech. What do you think of it?

(Photo from zio Paolino's photostream on Flickr)

Will you get a TED Live membership?

2011-12-15T05:45:00.000-05:00

Speakers who watch TED talks for pointers and inspiration should know about a new option for accessing the popular-but-sold-out conference: TED Live memberships.

The new option offers individuals or groups the chance to sit in--virtually--during the TED and TEDxGlobal conferences as they occur. You'll also get a subscription to books by TED speakers, a Kindle Fire tablet (useful for watching talks), and year-round special content on the TED online community. If you miss the live broadcast, you can watch a catch-up version within a couple of hours.

According to Mashable:

The membership will have tiered prices depending on the institution. It costs $995 a year for individuals and primary or secondary schools and $2,500 for colleges, universities and small businesses. Up to 10 people can watch the talks with the individual membership and 50 people can watch with the business package.

Read more about it in this article and see the package details here. Will you or your company sign up for a membership?

How do I establish credibility when I'm the only woman in the room?

2011-12-13T05:45:00.000-05:00

There are plenty of professions, meetings and situations where you'll find yourself the only woman in the room. Many times, you'll get the sense right away that being the "other" in a group is uncomfortable, without the shared experience you might expect from a room with women in it. Take these factors into consideration to establish and hang on to your credibility:

Don't give your credibility up in the first place: If you apologize too much, tell jokes that deprecate yourself, or avoid the bold for the tentative, you'll give away your authority and credibility, fast--and that would be true of a man as well as a woman.
Target the decision-maker: When you're presenting, make sure you know who's the decision-maker in your audience and gear your remarks in their direction. If you can establish yourself with that person, you're 99 percent of the way there. Too many work presentations fail to do this, whether by men or women. Make it clear you know the score.
Find out what you do have in common with the guys: You may be the "other" when it comes to gender, but that doesn't mean you don't share experiences or expertise to which the group can relate. Use your commonalities to establish your cred.
Jump right in: As Madeleine Albright counsels, women need to learn to interrupt. Her suggestion: Use a question to do so.
Know your personality preference: If you've taken the Myers-Briggs assessment (or a similar one), you can find out whether you prefer a more analytic style of processing information--more typical of men than women--or an emotional approach to information, more typical of women. Factoring your personality preference and style into your presentation will only help you communicate more clearly.

How do you establish your cred when you're the only woman in the room? Leave word in the comments.

To beat tired or brick-wall arguments, use the speaker's switcheroo

2011-12-12T05:45:00.000-05:00

You're making a passionate, eloquent case for something you want to put across: a new idea, a bold proposal, a change to the status quo. Then here come the counter-arguments, the same-old-same-old objections you can recite from memory, they're so familiar. What speaker trick can you use to come back to that brick wall of naysaying?

I'm dubbing your best bet the "speaker switcheroo." This works best with predictable, time-honored objections that have no basis in reality. Things like "Everyone who uses Facebook is going to lose their job someday over some picture they posted" or "women can't handle the stress of these senior-most jobs." The objections you can counter with the speaker switcheroo are sweeping and erroneous, but also familiar to your listeners, and you can upend them simply by replacing a word to show how off-base those objections are today--and always have been.

Here are two examples that will get you thinking about how you can use this rhetorical trick of turning your opponent's arguments to your advantage:

Nellie McClung's "Should Men Vote?" speech, featured in our Famous Speech Friday series, is a classic example of this technique. The suffragette took common objections to giving Canadian women the right to vote, swapped the word "women" for "men," then put a parody hearing together in which the question of whether men should vote was debated--using her critics' own objections. "Man is made for something higher and better than voting" is just one example.
A more recent example can be found on Twitter in Pencilchat, in which education pros are combating tired objections to technology in the classroom by swapping the words "computer" or "Internet" for an older, revered technology, the pencil. Using the hashtag #pencilchat, teachers are posting objections to new technology with the pencil twist, yielding funny results like "I don't know why we have to let them have pencils. All they are going to do is cheat" and "Too many teachers need additional training to integrate pencils into the learning environment."

Why do these examples of the speaker's switcheroo work? They play it for laughs without having to overwork the humor, for starters. They swap the current objectionable item with one that's already widely accepted, familiar, even beloved by the naysayers. And they point up a discrepancy in logic, whether it's discriminatory in the voting example, or mixing up tools with content, as in the technology example. The humorous angle adds another advantage, allowing you to look thoughtful and reasonable at your opponent's expense, without getting angry or flustered. It's a great tool to have in your back pocket when you're making arguments or cases for a cause or proposal.

If you've used this speaker trick or will use it, please share your examples in the comments and let us know how it went!

Famous Speech Friday: Kayla Kearney comes out to her high school assembly

2011-12-09T05:45:00.000-05:00

Many high school students get through four years without ever asking so much as a question in assembly, that all-school gathering that can be the most daunting audience for the budding speaker. But 17-year-old Kayla Kearney, a student at California's Maria Carillo High School, reached far beyond the hall in which she spoke earlier this year when she used her assembly appearance to come out to her peers and identify herself as a lesbian.

This particular assembly was planned as part of observances of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, according to local coverage, and the theme had its roots in a King speech about "time to break the silence:"

Carrillo students for years have prepared a special assembly honoring King's birthday, built around the theme of an annual countywide oratorical contest to be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at Santa Rosa High. This year's theme is “Time to break silence...about things that matter,” based on a 1967 speech in which King embraced a clerical movement to speak against the Vietnam War. The 75-minute Carrillo assembly was presented to students six times Thursday and Friday and was scheduled for a public airing Friday night for parents.

Kearney spoke for just over eight minutes, captured on video that's now been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, and covered and commented on by thousands. Here's what you can learn from this famous speech:

Be bold: Instead of being hesitant or too respectful as a speaker, Kearney goes for a bold disclosure and topic, albeit one in keeping with the assembly's theme. Talk about public speaking courage, knowing that her admission might lose her friends as well as listeners. And here, bold doesn't mean angry or flamboyant or out of place with the nature of the assembly. You can speak with courage and meaning without fireworks.
Be personal: I know plenty of speakers more senior and experienced who couldn't do eight minutes on any topic without notes or slides-as-cue-cards. But because she's telling an intensely personal story, one she's thought about over and over, Kearney needs no notes. Speaking personally doesn't work in every situation, but here, it allows her to be extemporaneous and in control.
Difficult stories make the most compelling content: Part of finding your voice as a speaker involves telling difficult-for-you stories. That's emotionally tough for the speaker, but yields great results in dramatic impact and in audience reaction--and makes your speech memorable.

Here's Kearney's speech in full:

And here's a recording of the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech that inspired the day of oratory and gave Kearney the opening to break her own silence:

What do you think of this famous speech?

Start a speaker study group

2011-12-08T05:45:00.001-05:00

I like to create public speaking workshops where small groups work together to learn tasks and get them done. Often, the large group includes smaller groups of co-workers from a particular team, unit or department--and by the end of the training, those teams are the envy of the other participants. That's because they can go on to practice and help each other long after my training is over. I'm pleased to say that many of my workshop trainees do just that, in a homegrown effort to continue improving.

And so can you. Why not start a speaker study group to help yourself improve, with support? You can certainly join a local Toastmasters group, but there's also no reason you can't find some like-minded speakers and presenters at your church, workplace or community group. Your group might be just you and one other trusted colleague or friend, or several people. You and your group can help each other by:

Serving as a friendly practice audience that can give you feedback in a safe way;
Watching videos with you of your practice sessions;
Offering ideas for phrases, gestures, movement and more;
Sharing good resources and reads on public speaking.

Do you work with a group--formal or informal--to practice your speaking? Tell us about it in the comments.

The all-in-one on fear and public speaking: 15 resources

2011-12-07T08:07:00.000-05:00

It's one of the most common fears, they tell us. So why are we so nervous about our public speaking fears? Use these tips from the blog, along with examples from some fellow fearful speakers, to think about your public speaking fears and overcome them:

Take this jitters quiz from psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers, which gets at your own perceptions of yourself as a nervous speaker and what that means.
When the speaker needs to catch her breath looks at a common physical reaction to nervousness at the start of a talk. One of the most-read posts on the blog, this one is based on a smart reader question.
Do you talk too much when you're nervous? That makes you look nervous. Try the tactics in Speakers: 7 reasons I want you to talk less to balance it out.
Do you talk too fast when you're nervous? Take the time to figure out how to hit the brakes when you're a speedy speaker.
Learn from some famously nervous women speakers: Princess Diana used to giggle when she got nervous during a speech, but overcame that. Lady Bird Johnson prayed that she would not be her high school's valedictorian (and came in third in her class, avoiding a speech). Elle Group senior vice president Carol Smith made it a point to overcome her speaking fears. You also can listen in on two psychology experts analyzing their own public speaking fears and approaches. Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the top all-time political speakers, feared speaking and did it, anyway.
Does being a newbie always mean you're nervous? First-time speaker Jennifer Cohen talks about leaving her planning to the last minute, due to nerves. Georgy Cohen says she "more or less felt like I was going to throw up" and offers a thoughtful look at how a shy speaker feels before high-pressure presentations.
It's your little secret: Most audiences can't tell whether you're nervous, so when it comes to confidence, in public speaking you can fake it until you make it.
Want to know whether you really look as nervous as you feel? It's one of my top reasons you should practice your presentation on video.
Avoiding eye contact with your audience and swaying are two signs you may be more nervous than you are admitting to yourself. Find out how to secure your stance and your eye contact to look more confident.
Understand what's behind your nervousness by getting a handle on your speaking self. Gender, personality preferences and other factors can play a role, and it makes sense to know them before you speak.
"I'm not nervous when I speak, but..." is one of the phrases I hear most often from trainees. But really, it's okay to be nervous about public speaking. Here's why.
Do you overprepare for speeches and presentations? It's another sign that you may be more anxious than you're admitting, and you can take steps to reduce the extra pressure that overpreparing brings.
If your pre-speech anxiety is serious, you may have a social phobia. Find out more about how this is diagnosed and treated.
Do you fear the Q&A? Some speakers fear the extemporaneous part of speaking, especially questions from the audience. I've got 17 reasons why you should welcome questions instead.
"Visual aids scare me!" said one reader. Here's how to embrace visual presentations.

Apps and video updates from TED, TEDxWomen and TEDMED

2011-12-05T05:45:00.000-05:00

Making great talks available widely is the hallmark of all the TED conferences, and this week, you have three new ways to access outstanding talks from three different TEDs:

TED now has an iPhone app that's similar to its iPad application. Now while you're mobile, you can request talks by subject or by length, listen to "TED radio" in a continual stream of talks, share talks with your social media pals, and more. Get the app here.
TEDxWomen took place December 1 and is already posting videos. It's a treasure trove of eloquent women speakers and eloquent speakers about women's issues. You've got to love Gloria Steinem's line: “I was in a taxi the other day and I didn’t have my iPhone so I tried thinking instead.” She's just one of an impressive lineup of speakers from this daylong event.
The first wave of TEDMED videos from the 2010 conference are online, talking about big challenges and new findings in health and medicine. I was fortunate to attend this TEDMED, and am happy to share one of my favorite talks, by Pfizer Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Freda Lewis-Hall. She proposes getting beyond your typical networks to build networks for meta-collaboration, and at about the 15:46 mark, reveals one of her personal motivations in improving health care: Her grandmother's struggle with Alzheimer's. In a brilliant moment of audience engagement, she asks the audience in one third of the room to raise their hands to show the proportion of the population that will eventually suffer from age-related dementia--then tells the other two-thirds of the audience that they represent the people who'll be taking care of them. Watch the talk in the video below:

Famous Speech Friday: Elyn Saks on her schizophrenia "Please do send flowers"

2011-12-02T05:45:00.000-05:00

Elyn Saks had a family, a successful career as a University of Southern California law professor, and a secret: She's a schizophrenic. And while her condition is well-managed with a combination of psychotherapy and medication, she wanted to let the secret out, against the advice of her family, friends and colleagues. She went ahead, anyway, in order to reduce the stigma and secrecy around schizophrenia, publishing The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.

But after decades of hiding her condition, it was the speaking tour for the book that really made her career take off. As this New York Times profile notes, her courage in speaking publicly about her condition actually helped move research on it forward:

For psychiatric science, the real payoff was her speaking tour. At mental health conferences here and abroad, Dr. Saks, 56, attracted not only doctors and therapists, but also high-functioning people with the same diagnosis as herself — a fellowship of fans, some of whom have volunteered to participate in studies. “People in the audience would stand up and self-disclose, or sometimes I would be on a panel with someone” who had a similar experience, Dr. Saks said. She also received scores of e-mails from people who had read the book and wanted to meet for lunch. She told many of them about the possibility of participating in a research project. She now has two studies going, one in Los Angeles and another in San Diego, tracking the routines and treatment decisions of these extraordinary people. The movie producer Jerry Weintraub has optioned the book.

The book became a best-seller and Saks later was awarded one of the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grants, with which she began a research institute. She continues to speak out about the stigma of mental illness, as she does in the speech below in which she's accepting one of her many awards, this time from the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. Here's what you can learn from this famous speech:

When your message involves stigma, invoke the ordinary: The taboo topic, by definition, is foreign to your listeners because they've been avoiding it. Speakers can make it familiar and manageable for an audience by breaking it down to ordinary situations and behaviors--as Saks does early on and at the end of her speech, when she urges the audience to visit or send flowers to friends hospitalized for mental illness, something most people avoid. At the very end of her speech, it's a sweet reminder of a practical thing they can do.
Know your audience: Saks's overall message in most of her speeches involves giving the audience members practical things they can do to accept and help family and friends with psychiatric illnesses. In this audience, she pays particular attention to mental health professionals--those working for the center that's giving her the award--but also speaks directly to those in the audience who aren't working for the field. Each one can do something, and her entire speech is clear enough that anyone can understand it, a nod to the fact that she's not just addressing technical experts.
Use contrasts and comparisons to make a foreign subject clear: Saks compares physical illness, a topic both familiar and more comfortable, with mental illness to illustrate stigma and public reaction: "No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness."

What do you think of this famous speech?

From the vault: 6 stealth ways to find time to practice #publicspeaking

2011-12-01T05:45:00.000-05:00

(Editor's note: One of our all-time most popular posts, this topic gets at the heart of any would-be eloquent speaker. Without time to practice, your improvement will be slowed or stalled. Fortunately, you can sneak it in. This time around, I've added a bonus sixth option for truly last-minute practice...)

When you first start working on your public speaking skills, the idea of finding time to practice seems almost impossible. At the same time, I can tell you that improvement just won't happen unless you do practice-- and practice regularly, focusing on each thing you need to improve, as well as on your next presentation.

How do you make practice a priority, and fit it into your busy schedule? Try these 6 stealth ways to find the time for your speaking practice:

Do it in the commercial breaks: When I started learning guitar, the instructor suggested that I practice only 5 to 7 minutes at a time, to keep my fingers from getting too sore and discouraging me. "I don't normally recommend watching TV," he said, "but it's easy to work during commercial breaks with the sound muted, then stop when the program starts again." The same can work for you: choose something short to practice -- like your opening line, your closing lines, or short anecdote -- then be ready with that mute button. You get about 10 minutes of practice each half-hour this way.
Schedule an hour a week: If you want to do your practicing in the office, put it on your schedule. Start with an hour a week to practice basic skills on a regular basis. Before presentation, don't wait till the last minute to schedule a rehearsal time; instead, put in our day on your schedule for the two weeks prior.
Break it down to focus on one part of a thorny issue: If you find yourself stumbling over a particular issue in your delivery, break it into manageable parts, and focus on just one of them at a time. That way, each small area of focus will fit into a shorter, easier-to-schedule practice time. For example, if you're having trouble delivering an anecdote in an efficient way, then spend one hour brainstorming a tight beginning. In the next session, figure out your ending. In another, work on getting from point aA to point B in an entertaining fashion
Use your drive time: Second only to video practice is audio practice, something you can easily use in your car, on a subway train, or on yoor walk home. Spend part of your in-office practice recording yourself delivering a presentation all the way through, perhaps more than once. You may think of this as wince-able drive-time listening, issued in damages feedback: after listening to yourself several times, you'll come away with a sense of what you need to change, what takes too long to say, where you need to slow down, and much more.
Use that hotel room: The time-honored practice zone for traveling speakers everywhere, hotel rooms have a lot going for them--you're hidden from view, have access to a mirror, and often, plenty of time to kill. If you find yourself with waiting time, use your hotel room as a private practice zone--even if you're not doing a presentation this trip. It's a great way to work in practice time.
Take the last 10 minutes: Ten minutes before your actual talk or presentation, duck into a stairwell or nearby restroom for a few minutes' worth of nailing your beginning, plus some deep breathing to calm you down. Just don't make this your only practice time!

November's top 10 #publicspeaking tips & issues

2011-11-30T05:45:00.000-05:00

This month kicked off a season of holidays, with all the activities that come with them. But readers still came here to get inspiration, information and ideas about public speaking and presentations. This month's cornucopia of popular posts come from the readers' favorites. Here are our most-read posts for November:

Five invisible speaker tricks to improve your presentations and speeches ran away with top honors this month. We'll just keep these tips between us, okay?
Kindle v. tablet for public speaking: What's on your gift wish list? revised recommendations for which device you should use when speaking, given all the new options. Santa checked this post, I'm pretty sure. Did you?
What to use instead of a pointer when you speak drew lots of readers seeking alternatives. No need to cling to that laser device.
Hillary Clinton's "women's rights are human rights" speech, featured on our Famous Speech Friday series, was an international sensation when delivered, and a big hit here this month.
A guide to slides for non-designers offered tips anyone can use to modernize and improve their approach to slide presentations. Irresistible.
The all-in-one on gestures for public speaking: 12 great tips pointed the way for lots of readers this month. A jam-packed post.
Last-minute prep: What can I do if I just have 5 minutes before a speech? was so popular, I figure it indicates we're all eager to keep improving, right till the start--or just a bunch of procrastinators. Either way, this post will help.
A great line when you're a woman who's a "first" shared IMF chief Christine Lagarde's clever response to the trite question "Does it matter to you to be first?" Steal this line.
Sandra Day O'Connor on "Portia's Progress" looks at how women have fared in the legal professions, part of our Famous Speech Friday series.
Frances Perkins on the roots of Social Security, another Famous Speech Friday, was a one-of-a-kind experience for its audience, and an historic example for us.

Thanks so much for reading and contributing to the blog this month!

A great line when you're a woman who's a first

2011-11-28T05:45:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the heart of eloquence involves having the right response ready at the right time--especially for those hard-to-answer, almost-trite questions. That happens a lot to women who are "firsts," the first in their field, position, or specialty.

Recently, Christine Lagarde, the first woman to head the International Monetary Fund, was featured in a profile on the CBS News program 60 Minutes. In her in-depth interview with reporter Lara Logan, the inevitable question about being a "first" came up--and Lagarde managed a refreshing and thoughtful response. From the transcript:

Logan: In lots of the things that you've done you've been the first woman. Does it matter to you? Is it important?

Lagarde: Well, what matters to me is that I'm not the last one.

If you're a first, that's a line well worth borrowing when you need it. It's a "keep your eye one the ball" statement, one that suggests "I'm not as important as the change becoming permanent."

Lagarde was featured in our Famous Speech Friday series with a guest post from speaker coach Marion Chapsal. Watch this outtake video from the interview in which Lagarde talks about women's issues in business, the glass ceiling and helping other women to succeed:

Famous Speech Friday: Sandra Day O'Connor on "Portia's Progress"

2011-11-25T05:45:00.000-05:00

(Editor's note: I've been wanting to include Sandra Day O'Connor in our Famous Speech Friday series for some time--and since our regular contributor Becky Ham hails from Arizona, as does O'Connor, I figured she'd have the best perspective. She's turned up a gem of a speech, with the full text for you to see.)

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, couldn't find work at a national law firm after her graduation. She finished third out of her class of 102 students at Stanford Law, but the closest she came to a job offer was the position of legal secretary.

That kind of rejection wasn't likely to deter a woman who kept a pet bobcat as a child. Raised on the Lazy B cattle ranch in Arizona and often left to fend for herself, O'Connor grew up resourceful and focused on getting the job done--whatever the job might be. She worked as a public attorney in California and Arizona, took five years off to raise her children and finally sat on the Arizona Court of Appeals before President Ronald Reagan named her to the nation's high court in 1981.

O'Connor handled the intense press surrounding her appointment with humor, while never downplaying the historical significance of her new job. When the New York Times carelessly referred to the "nine men of SCOTUS" (the Supreme Court Of The United States) in a 1983 editorial, she wrote a playful rebuke signed by "FWOTSC" (the First Woman Of The Supreme Court).

Like most Supreme Court Justices, O'Connor soon became a frequent public speaker. Some of her earliest speaking lessons came at the El Paso, Texas, Radford School for Girls, where one of her elementary teachers, Miss Fireovid, made her recite poetry, read aloud and give speeches before the class to help her overcome her shyness. "It is something that probably helped me the rest of my life," O'Connor said.

Her most-quoted speech is "Portia's Progress," delivered at the New York University Law School in 1991 on the 100th anniversary of the school's admission of women. The occasion and the topic--focused on the history and prospects of women in the law--was a natural for O'Connor. What can you learn from this famous speech?

Don't be afraid to be contrary. Ten years after her appointment to the Supreme Court, O'Connor had learned confound expectations. The speech skewers the myth of the "True Woman"--unsuited for argument, best kept at home and out of the public fray--that barred women from the law for hundreds of years. But O'Connor also disappointed many women with this speech by rejecting what she called a "new feminism," which suggested women had different (and perhaps more useful) aptitude and style than men when it came to the law.
Take advantage of speaking opportunities when you're the ultimate insider. Who better to give a speech about the progress of women in the law than the first woman to reach the pinnacle of the profession? O'Connor shares her personal experiences behind most of the topics in this talk, from her rejection by private firms to the difficulties of blending work and family. She also gave the audience an insider's perspective on how and why the Court ruled on the latest cases regarding women in the workplace.
Use quotes that say it all. Like most lawyers, O'Connor layered her talk with case names and decision minutiae that can make a non-legal mind wander. But the talk remains lively with her choice to include colorful, often stinging quotes from the people involved. My favorite comes from Clara Shortridge Foltz, the first woman lawyer in California. When an opposing attorney suggested Foltz should be at home raising children, Foltz replied, "A woman had better be in almost any business than raising such men as you."

Since her retirement, O'Connor has given several forceful and surprisingly candid speeches about judicial activism and the need for an independent judiciary. The most pointed of these speeches, delivered at Georgetown University in 2006, was not recorded at O'Connor's request. But here's a shorter take on the topic from 2008:

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Thankful for you, readers...

2011-11-24T05:45:00.000-05:00

In the United States, today is our Thanksgiving holiday--the perfect time for me to let you know how much I appreciate you as readers, tipsters, and followers of the blog, The Eloquent Woman on Facebook, and the Step Up Your Speaking newsletter. I'm grateful for your comments, ideas, questions and participation; for your shares and retweets; and for your recommendations, tips and good reads that wind up here so others can find them. It is no surprise to me that the most-read posts on this blog come right from readers' questions--and readers send them everywhere, on email and Twitter, in person, on Facebook, even handwritten notes. Keep them coming! You're helping me make this blog an eloquent expression of the public speaking goals we're striving to achieve--and a real reflection of your needs and wishes. Thank you for reading and contributing.

Now's your chance to be eloquent: What are you thankful for? Post your thoughts in the comments.

(Photo from Litandmore's Flickr stream)

The toast post: Tips for speakers on making a celebratory toast

2011-11-23T05:45:00.000-05:00

'Tis the season for toasting, which means it's time for all sorts of advice on how to raise your glass without also putting your foot in your mouth. One of the better guides we've seen on this topic is in this month's Cooking Light magazine.

Their tips on how to give a good toast work for any speaking occasion: know your audience, be brief, and practice, practice, practice. I'd add to that some advice on the importance of eye contact and ways to quiet your nerves.

The guide also helpfully suggests that you might want to skip the toast altogether, especially if you don't have something different or personal to say. (Author Dan Okrent, quoted in the article: "My failures as a toaster have always been for people I didn't know well enough, and I'll never do that again.") But if you do have to stand up and say a few words, here are some ways to make sure your toast offers something unique.

Have you given a toast that went over well--or brought the occasion to a crashing halt? Share your stories and advice in the comments.

(Regular contributor Becky Ham wrote this post. Let's toast to her!)

Kindle v. tablet for public speaking: What's on your Black Friday gift wish list?

2011-11-22T05:45:00.001-05:00

Tablet computers are expected to be a hot item when holiday shoppers start taking advantage of the "Black Friday" deals that will start later this week. But should speakers ask for tablets or a standard Kindle e-reader? Close readers of the blog know that I recommend Kindles for public speakers, who can use them to:

replace note cards or text;
adjust type size when reading a speech;
store quotes, notes, and references related to a speech;
email speeches and other notes or documents to the device and read them;
hear your speeches read aloud;
avoid lugging lots of paper when you travel on a speaking tour;
create a makeshift teleprompter for video recordings; and
refer to and read notes in direct sunlight for outdoor events or well-lit rooms.

Today, there are several new Kindle models as well as a new Kindle Fire tablet, as well as the Nook and iPad tablet computers. For speakers and presenters, your choice of tablet or e-reader will come down to these considerations:

Price: The least expensive new Kindle is just $79; the iPad comes in at $500 or higher, depending on the features and model.
Color v. black and white: Only the Kindle Fire has full color, but the standard Kindles do just fine with text.
Back lighting: A huge advantage for the speaker is the standard Kindle's lack of a backlit screen. It's better for your eyes, and allows you ease in reading outdoors as well as indoors--the closest thing to text on paper. But if you find yourself needing to read aloud from a text in a dark room, those backlit screens on tablets are for you.
Photos and video: If you also want a camera in the device, the iPad's your choice. Want to show slides, photos in color and video--perhaps when demonstrating something at an exhibit or other informal presentation? Then a color tablet, such as the iPad or Kindle Fire are your targets. The standard Kindle does well reproducing graphics and black-and-white photos.

Amazon helpfully includes this comparison of Kindle versus iPad features to help you along. Can't wait for Black Friday? Shop Amazon's "Holiday Countdown to Black Friday Store." Will you be asking for (or buying) a tablet or Kindle to help with your public speaking? Leave your questions and wish list in the comments.

The all-in-one on gestures for public speaking: 12 great tips

2011-11-21T05:45:00.000-05:00

You carry three important sets of tools with you into every presentation, speech or informal talk: Your arms, hands and fingers. With them, you can use gestures to add color and emphasis to your words. The advantages are twofold, since gestures not only help you produce words, but they help your audience to understand what you're trying to put across--and that's true whether the gesture is generic or specific to the point you are making. Think of gestures as a way to help the audience "see" your point, and use these 12 resources to do a better job with this important speaking tool:

Gestures don't just contribute to your message. They may actually help you to think while you're speaking, says this book from a researcher who looks at gesture and how it helps us to speak.
Understand where gesture began: When you shrug your shoulders and turn both palms up, you're repeating what might be the oldest gesture of all, one that signals you're not going to hurt the person in front of you. Researchers think it might have been the start of helping humans produce speech.
Want to persuade? Gestures (as well as vocal patterns) that mirror your audience's gestures--whether that's one person or a crowd--can contribute to your ability to put your point across, research says.
If you think you're losing the audience, gesture is among the tools you can use to bring their attention back to your remarks.
Planning gestures in the course of your talk is a smart move, particularly if you want to emphasize certain points, or aren't sure whether you use gestures too much or too little. Marking your text to remind yourself when and how to gesture is one of my 7 bite-size ideas to get you speech-ready.
What gets in the way of your gestures? Perhaps jewelry. Check my list of 4 things to remove before speaking to find out.
Trying to master gestures? Be sure to record yourself on video. Gesturing is among my 9 not-to-miss reasons for video practice. You might be like the trainee in one of my workshops who was convinced she was gesturing too much; a review of the video showed she gestured just once or twice. But you'll never know without some video practice.
Why gesture? Here's the speaker's secret: If your hands are immobilized (gripped tightly, or in your pockets), you'll stumble verbally more. If you gesture, it actually helps you to speak better.
Pointing can be considered impolite by audiences in many cultures, so try my 5-finger exercise to avoid pointing while still directing your listeners.
Left or right may have meaning. Researchers who looked at politicians' gestures found that they use one hand more often when making positive points, and the other for negative points--regardless of whether they were right- or left-handed. (This is tough to control, but good to know.)
Don't lock on to the lectern. In fact, gestures can help you use--or lose--the lectern to good effect.
Who needs that pointer, when you brought two perfectly good ones into the room with you? Use your arms and hands instead.