Meeting Places

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I met with Maureen, the marrying woman, this morning. Marrying people is her business, one she fell into when she bought a Victorian house that had been used as a wedding chapel. People kept showing up at her door asking about weddings, so she figured she might as well give them what they wanted. She’s been very successful at growing her business over the past five years.

We get together every other week for a couple of hours to talk about our business goals and accomplishments and to share ideas and resources. When people work at home alone, they lose the social connections that most people enjoy on the job. For each meeting, we choose a different coffee house or restaurant in our North Denver neighborhood. Most of the time we enjoy the company, the ambiance and the information exchange. Not this morning.

Today we met at a yuppie gathering spot just three blocks from my house. I’ve been wanting to check it out, but since I don’t drink coffee, I don’t hang out much at such places. It is in a nicely renovated 100-year old building at the intersection of two busy streets. The space is tiny, noisy and overly crowded. It’s also overpriced. We struggled the whole time to keep the sun, which streamed in through the 14-foot windows, out of our eyes. I can’t figure out why it’s so popular. We won’t be going there again.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Talking Points Part III

“Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand”. ~Author Unknown

The very worst thing you can do when giving a presentation is also the one thing you are most likely to do: talk too long. Beginning speakers almost always think that the problem will be talking long enough to meet the minimum requirement, but they usually talk too long instead. I know you don’t believe this will happen to you, so you will just have to take my word for it.

When you are speaking in front of a group, you are in some weird kind of time warp. The first time I gave what was supposed to be a 10-minute presentation in a college class, I was mortified to discover that I spoke instead for 30 full minutes. The teacher wasn’t very happy, and your audiences won’t be either if you go on and on. Even if you time your speech as you are practicing (and you should definitely do that) you also need to time it as you are giving it.

This is one more thing to pay attention to when you are already nervous about remembering everything you want to say and not making a fool of yourself as you do it. However, it is absolutely essential. Get a small timer to place on the lectern with your notes. Mark your notes with times when you should reach that part and check the timer to make sure you are on track.

Remember the Gettysburg address was only two minutes and 269 words long. It is considered the best speech every given by an American. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech lasted just over five minutes. You should do so well. Cut out everything extraneous, even if you think it’s fascinating. Your audience will appreciate your brevity.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Talking Points Part II

I worked with my crazy friend, Kathy the other morning, designing a two-day workshop on presentations. Apparently, corporations need their managers and executives to improve their speaking skills. The seminar company Kathy works for can’t find enough trainers to keep up with the demand.

Probably my biggest pet peeve is that people use PowerPoint as the presentation. PowerPoint is a terrific program, but it is NOT the presentation. It is an audio-visual aid to reinforce and enhance the spoken word. If you put your entire speech on the slides, we don’t need you. Just email the slide show to your colleagues and save everybody some time.

In his popular blog, How to Change the World, author and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki recommends using the 10/20/30 rule. That is, no more than 10 slides for a 20-minute presentation using a 30-point font. That sounds like a good guideline to me.

Remember that PowerPoint is best at presenting images—photos or graphics that illustrate your key points—not words. Putting the same words on the slide that you are saying might seem to provide a visual reinforcement, but the truth is that people can’t read the words and listen to them at the same time. They do one or the other.

Back to Kathy, who has been speaking professionally for thirty years. Her cardinal rule for speaking is “Don’t compete with yourself.” Don’t give people handouts or show slides that compete with what you are saying. When you’re giving a presentation the focus should be on YOU and what you are saying.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Tools for Readers

I like to read when I eat and I have found the perfect tool to help me do that. This book stand is made by Fellowes and is available at amazon.com for under $5.

It holds the book open, adjusts to fit most book sizes and lets you keep your hands free for eating, typing or writing. I keep one on my desk and next to my computer as well as in my briefcase.

When I have to teach across town from 6-10 p.m., I always go early to have supper near the campus, read and relax before class. Frequently, another customer or a restaurant employee will stop to ask me where I got it. I should probably carry a supply of them in the trunk of my car to sell to everyone who asks.

If you’re already on the lookout for Christmas gifts, this would be a great stocking stuffer for any bookworm.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Talking Points

One of the best ways to promote your business (any business) is to give short talks and presentations. Unfortunately, speaking in public remains the number one fear in the country. Fear of dying only ranks number 6. The good news is that if you give a speech and die of fright, you immediately drop from number 1 to number 6. At a funeral, most people would rather be the person in the coffin than the one giving the eulogy. :)

The best way to get past your fear of public speaking is to do it as often as possible. I recommend joining Toastmasters International which operates low-cost local clubs all over the world. You will have the opportunity to learn and practice public speaking in a supportive environment, giving you the confidence to graduate to speaking to service groups, professional and other organizations about your products or services.

I’ll be posting more tips over the next few days, but here are two for today:

1. Pick a topic that you find fascinating and show your enthusiasm. If you are bored with your topic, the audience will be, too.
2. Start with an introduction to grab the audience’s attention. This might be an anecdote, a startling fact or statistic or a related quotation.

Of course, the very best way to make sure your presentation works is to practice, practice, practice.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved.