“Hello. My name is Tom Dowd. How are you doing today? Today
we are going to talk about (insert boring topic introduction here)….”
How many presentations have you heard with this type of canned
opening? It is a mainstay in business presentations. Don’t lose your
audience before you truly get started. Avoid telling them what you
plan to do until you have already grabbed their attention. We have
most likely been taught to tell audiences what we want to tell them, tell
them and then rehash what we have just told them. Sometimes, we are
so literal that the introduction becomes, “I am going to tell you about
blah blah blah…,” which I have heard too often delivered monotone,
with no voice inflection.

Just dive in with your attention-grabbing introduction. You can tell
them what you are about to tell them, but get their attention first. I have
shocked more than one concerned audience when I’ve broken into a
coughing fit as an introduction to an inspirational speech about a childhood
friend with cystic fibrosis. Start a speech with a song, a bang, a
powerful quote, or a question that demands an immediate response.
There are so many more creative openings than “Hello, my name is….”
Your audience should be in for a surprise. You can give them one from
the start. It will set the tone for the rest of the presentation.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

I have consistently been coached to find my unique and differentiating
factors and to emphasize them during presentations. For example,
I have the luxury of having low-cost, professional posters available. I
was convinced that these posters would become my way to be remembered.
As a frequent presenter with these posters, I was receiving positive
feedback. I found my use of them got to a point of dependency. I
wouldn’t necessarily call it lazy with my writing, but my incorporation
of the props became a focal point, thus a distraction from the main
messages. I learned as a speech contestant that I would receive rave
reviews in the early stages because judges often thought the posters
were a nice touch and separated me from other competitors. As I progressed
further in the competitions, so did the judges. Their experience
level typically increased and they wanted a picture to be painted
vividly with words, not an actual picture. In a key competition, I excitedly
turned a poster around from its blank-white back to the high school
yearbook picture of a friend of mine who had passed away. I
lost the competition.

After losing, I received some feedback that although the poster
was nice, many people thought it took away from my message. Obviously,
I had leaned on my prop as a principle focus instead of just as a
supporting tool. Some feedback also indicated that right from the start
the audience was guessing what was on the front of the poster, so I
was losing their attention before I had even started. At the point when
I turned the poster around, it hit the stand slightly. Although subtle
to me, apparently the distraction was bigger in the eyes of the judges
because they saw the risk ahead of time, and I fulfilled their prophecy.
The most important feedback given to me on that day was that
the line I delivered in the speech before I turned the picture around—
“He was four-foot-eleven with a five-foot smile”— had described in
words everything people needed to envision this person properly on
their own. Unfortunately, I showed them the movie immediately after
they had just read the book. Whatever picture they had in their own
mind was instantly ruined. It was as if I had just stolen the audience’s
imagination. Finally, I was told that the audience at times felt my stage
presence was hindered or even predictable because the props dictated
where I was going on stage. Thus, the supporting props had become a
distraction.

I may have lost the competition, but I guess I really won going forward
if such caring people were willing to provide me substantial,
easy-to-act-on feedback. I learned a lot that day about ensuring that
visual aids and props support the message, but don’t take away from it.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

You will want to emphasize key points with the audience but in the
excitement of the presentation, the risk of leaving out one or more of
these key points is real. Have the messages you want the audience to
remember in an easily accessible spot to review before the presentation,
during the presentation, and at the conclusion, to ensure that all
pertinent points are covered. It is easy to get caught up in a discussion
or even go down a different path based on the interaction with the
audience, so it is important that the points you want taken away are
there to reference, to ensure that they are not forgotten.
These points should be written out, bolded, underlined, and reiterated
throughout your outline and eventual speech. They are the focal
points of the presentation, so you should also have indicators written
out for how you want the points to be made. Delivery of these points
can be critical in how your message is received and retained. Your cue
may be adding it to the story you want the point to support, repeating
the line, increasing your volume, or slowing down intentionally. You
don’t necessarily need to script out every move you make, although
this might be a good habit early in your speaking evolution. The key
is to ensure that your points resonate with the audience. The goal is to
build muscle memory through practice so that the key points become
so natural that the audience will be scrambling for their notebooks,
saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Good muscle memory starts with
a good plan.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

I once was in a Toastmasters divisional-level speech contest (for the
state of Maine and parts of New Hampshire), when out of the blue
came the boisterous noise of a jackhammer. The floor was thumping
and rattling, and my concentration was shot. I became flustered and
made several mistakes. After the contest, I analyzed my practice routine
leading up to the event: I would clear the room of any distractions,
put the dog outside, and close the doors for complete silence. In a perfect
world, this made sense. How do you prepare for an unexpected
baby crying (I’ve had this happen, too), papers rustling, or silverware
and glasses clanking? As a speaker, you can only control so much.

I began practicing with distractions everywhere. I have practiced
with the television and radio on. I have invited the dog in and
stepped over him on more than one occasion. I have forged ahead in
my speech when the phone rang. My favorite was practicing while my
ten-year-old daughter began her brand-new trombone lessons. Yes, it
does sound like a bunch of elephants, but the distraction challenge is
beautiful. You will become more nimble in your surroundings if you
prepare for anything. Your concentration level, having been put to the
test, will make you ready for the distractions you can’t predict.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

When I first started learning the piano, at the late age of thirty-eight,
my passionate piano teacher drove into my head that when I
hit the wrong note, I should keep playing through to the end. She
emphasized that if I stopped every time I made a mistake, I would
never make it to the last note. I would suggest the same with a speech,
once it is ready to practice in its entirety. You need to get it ingrained
in your head that you will not be perfect. You will make mistakes, and
that is a fact. When you stop at the point of the mistake, you will hurt
the flow and also probably influence how you react in the middle of a
real presentation if you make a mistake; you may be creating a habit of
stopping where you are and starting over, which will not be good for
you or the audience.

As you go back to certain sections and repeat them over and over,
you are fine-tuning portions of the presentation but limiting your ability
to look at the speech holistically. There is more to a speech than
just content. Flow and rhythm are built throughout, and stopping
each time you make a mistake makes them harder to recognize. In
some of my earlier speech practice habits, I started over again whenever
I made a mistake. This made the beginning of the speech flawless
because I had said it so many times. There have been times, because of
the added pressure of the actual performance, where I lost my place in
the body of the speech that had been practiced less. I surprised myself
with the mistakes I had never made before in practice. I am convinced
it was because I did not take my piano teacher’s advice. I have made
considerably fewer mistakes since I have learned to practice all the way
through.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Be a Student of Yourself

Only you control the final touches you will make to the presentation.
After receiving feedback from anyone and everyone, don’t forget the most
important person to get feedback from: yourself. Be a student of yourself.
Use the simple tools of a mirror or a video camera to improve in all aspects
of speaking, whether it is speech content, delivery, stage usage, non-verbal
gestures, voice inflection, or the many other facets. Video is often difficult
for people to accept as a valuable tool, probably because it says so much. To
see, hear, and analyze ourselves is tough because most people are harder
on themselves than on anyone else, due to the pursuit of perfection.
Once you get past the uneasiness of watching yourself, you will
immediately see the benefits of video because you can rewind and
watch it multiple times for further reinforcement. More importantly,
you can target the feedback for yourself. When you review the video,
break it down by isolating certain aspects. For example, turn off the
sound. Because you no longer need your hearing senses for this part of
the exercise, you will make crucial observations about the non-verbal
and physical aspects of the speech that you might well have missed
otherwise. Invest time to be critical of yourself and you will be amazed
at how much you transform. The ability to study yourself drives home
the best in you because who knows you more than you?

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job (2014 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention), The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Practice—This is Not an Option

If you are giving a prepared speech, then ensure that it is prepared.
You can’t check over notes right before you go on to present and consider
that preparation. You should practice in front of family, friends,
cats, and dogs. Find anyone and anything to be in front of to ensure
that you have practiced more than just the words. You should practice
pacing, voice inflections, and places to pause, stage usage, and physical
aspects of the speech. There is too much left to chance without
preparation.

There is no such thing, in my opinion, as too much practice. There
is some risk of too much of a staged presentation, so you should use
caution to make sure your movements remain natural. However, practice
is required to get better. When practicing for speeches, if I am listening
to the radio in the car, I practice during commercials, or if I am
transitioning between tasks at work, I may find a few minutes to run
through a speech or presentation. The amount of positive feedback I
continue to receive about my obvious improvement in confidence and
skills is validation enough to keep practicing.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job (2014 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention), The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Be a Secret (or Not So Secret) Admirer

There are plenty of people we look up to. Whether it is a family
member or a historical figure, we get strength from the success of others.
The same should be said for people who speak well. If people you
know—from work, from an organization, or simply from crossing
paths—have a skill you want to work on, try to find an opportunity to
connect with them formally or informally. If you can seek them out as
a mentor or find ways to at least get some tips from them to improve
yourself, it will make you stronger. You don’t want to admire from afar
when it comes to improving your public-speaking skills. I have found
that successful people in the field tend to be open and supportive in
sharing suggestions. You should take in everything that will continue
your positive learning trajectory. Clearly, we should not go about it
independently. We need support and help along the way for our continued
growth.
I have connected with many great speakers who produce routine
newsletters, and have found formal and informal mentors who have
shared what they do well with me. These little things begin to add up
to a much greater success when we start to implement their feedback.
Even if you don’t know someone personally, are there other ways to
connect with him or her? Can you connect with the person through
LinkedIn or through other professional groups? Do you go online and
read well-known speeches and analyze them or even attend a webinar?
You can go to YouTube, Google, or other websites to find great
speeches and great speakers who can meet your needs. Do you take a
unique learning perspective to see the strengths of the speech structure
and purpose? Can you easily understand the intended message?
Finding individual speakers whom you can emulate and learn from
should inspire you to reach further and perfect your craft. Finding the
right connections and immersing yourself in their teaching can only
make your own presentations stronger.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job (2014 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention), The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

[audio:https://www.transformationtom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/43Chapter-57.mp3]“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Research Your Material

I realize I am stating the obvious, but we are lucky to be surrounded
with so many tools, like the Internet, to research our material, and it
seems so natural to use these tools to strengthen our messages. The
benefits of research range from keeping your material current, to
ensuring that it is accurate and not trademarked by others. If you are a
frequent speaker on the same topic, ask yourself when you last updated
your material. Pay attention to your information, and keep it timely by
scanning relevant websites, news media, and books. I used to tell a
story about the word “chillax,” a made-up combination of “chill out”
and “relax.” Over time, I found that the impact waned as the use of the
word dwindled in popular culture. Besides keeping you and me up to
date, researching even simple facts may yield further information for
expanding your material or creating spinoffs to existing information.
As obvious as it is, don’t forget to use the tools that are at your disposal
to research your material to strengthen your message.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job, The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby