Jul 31
If you’ve been studying my Story Theater Method, listening to my Story Theater Audio Six Pack or working with my Dynamite Speech System, something wonderful is going to start happening when you speak. People are going to walk up to you afterwards gushing with praise. They’ll tell you how meaningful your story was to them or how you’ve caused them to look at their lives differently.
Some of them will have tears in their eyes. They’ll want to engage you in long conversations and tell you the story of their life. They’ll want to give you things that have meaning to them. In other words, they will connect with you and let you know that you made a difference in their life.
This is what you want, right? This is why you spent so much time on your speech. This is why you wanted to share your story in the first place. So, in the moment when you are standing there and people are lined up after your speech waiting to talk to you, here are a few tips on how to handle all of the praise.
- Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Have a comfortable and firm foundation from which to stand there and receive.
- Keep an open posture and an open heart as you graciously listen to what they have to share with you.
- Be patient and maintain eye contact. Love the one you’re with. At that moment, no one else is important.
- Simply receive. Say thank you. Say thank you again. Each time they praise you, accept it with a simple thank you.
- If they linger too long, more than three or four minutes, simply take their hand and say thank you and mention that there are other people in line and you want to “honor the other people in line as well.”
- If you do have time, ask them a question to gain feedback on your presentation, like “what one thing did I say that has made a difference for you?” or “what did I say that will stick with you?”
- One thing you should not do is negate their praise with a self-effacing statement. Don’t say, “It really wasn’t my best speech,” or, “I’m really not that good,” or, “Thank you but…”
At that moment, it’s really not about you. It’s about them. You just gave them a gift, now it’s their turn. Let them give you a gift. At that moment, they only have their thoughts and feelings to share, and because they may not be in the habit of speaking to people like you, be sensitive to their situation. Make it easy for them. Stand and receive. Breathe. Say thank you over and over again.
And my last piece of advice is this: Get used to it.
Mar 04
One of the most common mistakes speakers make is to plaster a smile on their face and keep it there, regardless of what they’re saying. This is as true for my public speaking students as it is for my corporate storytelling students. I encountered this situation twice in the last month.
One was in a Story Theater Retreat here in my home studio, and the other was in a one-day Storytelling in Business workshop for a training company. One of the students was a high-energy female, full of movement and energy. The other was a male student who was more subdued, but equally enthusiastic. In both cases, the “speaker’s smile” was ever present.
I call it the “speaker’s smile” because it was there all the time when they were presenting, but when they were off the stage, the smile came and went based on the topic of conversation. The problem of the “speaker’s smile” becomes pronounced and incongruent, especially in the context of storytelling. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 03
In this podcast Doug explores the difference between motivational speaking and simply giving speech. He discusses the subtle but powerful difference between trying to impress people with your content and providing meaningful context for that content.
Motivational speaking is an art. It’s more like an exciting movie than an informative lecture. When designing a motivational speech, the speaker must consider not just what to say, but how it will be portrayed.
In this podcast of one of Doug’s articles, he’ll explain how you can move beyond delivering content, to inspiring people to achieve their goals. You’ll learn a new approach to speaking that will not only change your results, it will help you change peoples lives.
Motivational Speaking podcast [7:54m]:
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Jan 22
As a proponent of the appropriate use of emotion in speeches and presentations, it’s been fun to see how, “emotion is the fast lane to the brain” is showing up on the campaign trail.
As the stakes get higher and the candidates get more and more desperate to create some space between themselves and their competition, the rhetoric has heated up. Romney is getting all red in the face. McCain is already red in the face. And Huckabee is cool as an ice cube in a glass of sweet tea.
Barack and Hillary are going at it with Edwards trying to get a rise out of either one of them. We all knew it would come to this didn’t we? What’s interesting is how anyone could have thought it would be otherwise. Whether the emotion is raw and angry emotion or teary and tender emotion, it gets people to pay attention.
The candidates can drone on and on about health care and immigration for hours on end, but what people are looking for is emotion. We get a handle on the candidates true personality by how they handle their emotions. Do they lose control, remain poised or give as good as they get?
We can get a sense of what a president would be like in a crisis by how they handle being attacked in a debate. Right now, the hottest emotional fireworks seem to be between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Do we want a fighter or a smooth talker?
On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee never seems to get rattled while Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani enjoy the emotional give and take. John McCain has a tendency to smile when he’s mad, which makes him seem untrustworthy.
People want to see genuine emotion. Let’s see as the primaries continue, what role emotion plays in the results. My bet is on the candidates who aren’t so slick, but rather exhibit genuine emotion.
Jan 18
The Dynamite Speech System is a comprehensive approach to crafting a speech that inspires, motivates and teaches. If you ever wondered how professional speakers write and deliver speeches that are as impressive for their elegant design as for their inspiring delivery, this system will give you the answers.
http://www.storytheater.net/dynamite.asp
Jan 02
At a recent corporate storytelling workshop for Microsoft, I was asked a question that I hear frequently: “How do I open my speech?” Several others in the room agreed that the first two or three minutes of a speech are often the most awkward.
Is it that way for you, as well? Do you have a hard time getting started, but once you get going, you’re all right? If so – welcome to the club.
In this article, I’m going to share what has worked for me and helped me build a lucrative speaking business. I’ll also share the results of my research into what transforms a good speech into a Dynamite Speech.
I used to have a lot of anxiety before I gave a speech. I knew most of what I was going to say – not word for word – but in general. I knew what stories I was going to tell and what quotes I was going to use, and the overall sequence of things. What freaked me out was what I was going to say first. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 16
Deborah and I just returned from a month long trip to London and Germany. For the first 18 days we worked: a Story Theater Retreat in London, 2 Retreats in Munich, a keynote at the German Speakers Association annual conference and finally, a speech at a human resources convention in Cologne. It was a very busy, intense and absolutely wonderful time.
This was my first time presenting Story Theater in Germany and we weren’t sure what to expect. However, after doing two Story Theater Retreats and giving two speeches to audiences of Germans, Austrians and Swiss (many of them listening to me through an interpreter), the verdict was clear and overwhelming. The Story Theater Method works as well in Germany as it has everywhere else. Whew! We were in the right place. What a relief. And a blessing. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 16
Would you like to hear me discuss my Story Theater Method? Click on the link below to listen to this audio podcast interview with Jason Steinle.
http://www.uploadexperience.com/blog/?p=111
Aug 27
Ted Liss was my acting teacher in Chicago back in 1969. Once a week for 2 ½ years I attended his acting class in a smoke-filled room that smelled like coffee and pulsated with the tensions of youth. His acting studio was small and tightly packed with a variety of young adults in their twenties and thirties: models, dancers and actor wannabees like myself.
The format of the class was built around performing monologues and scenes from plays. He’d choose a scene from a play that he thought would stretch you as an actor and break down your inhibitions.
After you finished performing your scene, he’d coach you. He’d focus on moments within the scene that he wanted to polish – make better and more powerful. The coaching sessions were very intense. He’d push you to the very edge of your comfort zone and beyond, challenging you to “double the intensity.” Sometimes he’d make you do the same 60-second sequence three or four times until you gave him the raw emotion he was looking for.
Ted was an amazing teacher. He knew how to get you to give him your best. And in his presence, you wanted to give him whatever he asked for. Because when he was done pushing you and making you “do it again,” he’d step back and let you bask in the applause from the other students.
Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 06
In this article, I’ll discuss three critical components of motivational speaking. These three components also apply to leadership.
The best motivational speakers challenge their audience members to think and act. They take ideas and principles, develop them in new and creative ways and deliver them with passion. The best leaders challenge their employees/direct reports/audience members to think and act. They take ideas and principles, develop them in new and creative ways and deliver them with passion.
Successful speakers are successful leaders. If leaders are to become more successful, they must also learn how to be motivational speakers.
Read the rest of this entry »
