Insights
People always want to know more about whatever they are interested in. Can you give them some insights into the topic? Then make sure they know that up front!

• 5 Insights Into the Mind of Your Dog
• Research-Based Insights for More Effective Selling
• How to Gain Better Insights Into Your Clients’ Buying Habits

Answers
They’ve got questions … you’ve got answers! Let them know in your titles:

• Answers to Top Questions Women Have About Dating Men
• How To Get Answers to Your Sales Inquiries Fast
• 5 Answers to Your Most Pressing Diabetes Questions

Questions
As you can probably see from that last word, questions and answers often go hand in hand. Questions raise curiosity … so you can use the word or the action to get people curious about your presentation.

• Top 5 Questions About the Law of Attraction Answered
• Prepare for the Questions Your Tween Will Ask You About Dating and Sex
• Have Questions About Training Parrots? Top 5 Techniques Covered

Why
Ever have a conversation with a kid where each time you provide an answer you get a “Why?” in response (possibly to the point of wanting to say, “Because I said so!)? Well, of the 5 W’s and an H people can ask, they usually want to know why most of all. So pique their interest by including it in your presentation title.

• Why You Should Own a Chinchilla
• Why Men Are Like Mars
• Why Your Clients Will Buy More from You

Top
Everyone wants the best they can get, right? Well, when you can share the top whatevers with them, they’ll want to listen in.

• Top Techniques for Potty Training Your Toddler
• Top Ways to Banish Your Fear of Public Speaking
• Top 10 Tips for Using Facebook to Build Buzz About Your Business

Best
Just like “Top” … “Best” attracts an audience.

• Best Ways to Get Him to Chase You
• Best Fashion Tips for Business Networking Meetings
• Best Methods for Reducing Your Taxes Next Year

Bonus tip: Use a number
You might have noticed that many of the sample presentation titles listed above used a number. There is something about a list that makes people pay attention. And, because the brain is wired to understand odd numbers, especially 3, 5 and 7, those numbers are even more effective when used in the title of your speech.

• 3 Ways to Attract Ideal Clients with Facebook
• 5 Tips for Writing Effective Copy for Your Website
• 7 Techniques for Attracting the Man of Your Dreams

You want to keep each slide focused on a very small point, which means you may need more slides. The average number of slides in the most popular presentations on SlideShare last year was 65. But each of these slides was sparse in verbiage, averaging about 32 words per slide.

This supports what I’ve been saying all along: slides should be simple and point out only the most salient point that you are covering. They should not be a crutch that holds all your content. They should augment what you’re saying, not belabor it.

Another interesting note is that popular slides tended to use sans serif fonts such as Arial, Helvetica and Gillsans. Although serif fonts are more readable in small formats such as webpages and books, sans serif fonts are more readable (and clean looking) when presented in large formats or when the text is sparse.

• Do you want them to buy something?
• Do you want them to schedule a meeting with you?
• Do you want them to join a cause?
• Do you want them to invest in something?
• Do you want them to learn something specific?

Now that you know the outcome of your speech, you can more easily select the content that will best bring about that outcome.

Know what you want to accomplish will help you choose the right stories, the most compelling facts and even the correct organization that will move your audience to do what you want it to do.

As you create your presentation, always ask yourself does this piece … visual aid, story, anecdote, fact, etc. … move the audience closer to or further from the goal I have for them? If your answer is “no” … weed it out — no matter how much you like it!

Much has been written about the leadership (or lack of leadership) crisis in America today. No business is immune to this crisis, and some are even more susceptible to it than others. Real leaders today are few and far between. We have great technicians and great managers, but few great leaders.

To truly succeed as a leader today, we cannot simply “go through the motions.” We must charge ahead at full speed. In this hyper-competitive world, it’s not enough just to show up and look good. Leadership is a full-contact, sometimes risky position with no “hazardous duty” pay.

The term “full-contact” generally brings to mind the image of physical contact. But it presents itself in other ways as well.

First, as leaders, we must be fully in contact with ourselves. This is not the natural state of things for many of us, and it’s far easier to be out of touch with our thoughts, moods, and biases.

As leaders, we must also be in full contact with our own purpose. Our purpose is our vision of the future, our values and mission. The importance of purpose cannot be overstated. Our role as leaders is to change the status quo. We must always keep one eye trained on that future that we want to create. And we must have a fundamental sense of the actions needed to arrive at that future–to achieve that vision.

Next, we leaders must be in full contact with others in our organization. This includes peers, subordinates, and senior management. Leadership is about change but it is also about behaviors. Leadership involves a great deal of soft skills and interaction with people. These interactions cannot be casual if the leader is to be respected and to make an impact.

The leader must be in full contact with the values of the organization. Ultimately, the rest of the organization will live up to, or down to, the level set by the leader. In the absence of corporate values, that level is open for discussion and can vary. With firm corporate values, the people in the organization have sound principles by which to guide their behavior. Enron had values written on paper, but the leadership of the organization lost contact with those values….

Today, it is also essential to be in full contact with customers. They are demanding and have high expectations. Ultimately, they pay our salary. Yet, far too often, businesses operate in a vacuum and are blind to the customers’ needs. This data is borne out in many image surveys that indicate businesses are, in a word, unresponsive. The leader who is in full contact with his or her customers actively seeks them out and engages them in conversation–real talk about more than just the product at hand.

Finally, full-contact leaders are aware that the being in a position of leadership involves some risk. Like athletes engaged in full-contact sports, these leaders know they may take some hits (and give some out, too), but they don’t shy away from the impact. They recognize it as an integral part of a full-contact position.

Full-contact leaders must merge all these contact points into a single, unified effort. They set direction, articulate the vision, and know just where they want to bring the organization. They can visualize it in their mind, smell it, taste it, feel it. They are able to balance multiple perspectives because of their grounded perspective.

© 2006 FireStarter Speaking and Consulting

Wally Adamchik is President of FireStarter Speaking and Consulting. His new book is NO YELLING: The Nine Secrets of Marine Corps Leadership You MUST Know TO WIN In Business. Visit him online at www.beafirestarter.com. He can be reached at 919-673-9499 or wally@beafirestarter.com.

Photography: Still and Video
Invest in some good photographs of yourself. You’ll want both head shots and action shots. Once you have those, you want to use them consistently in your marketing. Places you should consider including or uploading your photos are:

• Your website
• Flickr
• Social Media

You’ll also want to include video in your “image” marketing. Record all your speaking opportunities and upload the best to YouTube and Facebook. Create tips videos. Create slide show videos. Post those, as well, on YouTube and Facebook.

Make sure you tag and label all these photographs and videos so that they are readily identifiable and are more easily found by search engines.

Social Media
There are plenty of social media sites out there, but the big ones right now are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Find out which ones your prospects are hanging out at and make sure you have a presence there.

Your Website
You need a website that focuses on your speaking business. It should focus on your message and, for better search engine results, it should be updated frequently (at least once a week). This is where having a blog hosted on your server (not a service like Blogger or Tumblr) comes in handy. Keep this website fresh and up-to-date.

An in-demand speaker often offers three things to their ideal target market:

• Products: books, CDs, video, special reports, etc.
• Services: coaching, consulting, speaking, etc.
• Information: both free and as part of their products

You want a clearly identifiable platform that is supported by these three things. When visitors see your marketing, they should be clear on what it is you do and what your message is.

You’re waiting your turn to make a speech, when suddenly you realize that your stomach is doing strange things and your mind is rapidly going blank. How do you handle this critical time period?

In all of my speaking classes, students ask me how to handle public speaking nervousness, fears, jitters, anxieties – and the physical symptoms these feelings produce. There is no single answer; you must prepare by anticipating your speech mentally, logistically, and physically.

Mentally
Start by understanding that you’ll spend a lot more time preparing than you will speaking. As a general rule, invest three hours of preparation for a half hour speech, a six to one ratio. When you’ve become a highly experienced speaker, you may be able to cut preparation time considerably in some cases, but until then, don’t skimp.

Part of your preparation will be to memorize your opening and closing — three or four sentences each. Even if you cover your key points from notes, knowing your opening and closing by heart lets you start and end fluently, connecting with your audience when you are most nervous.

Logistically
Go to the room where you’ll be speaking as early as possible so you can get comfortable in the environment. If you will be speaking from a stage, go early in the morning when no one is there and make friends with the stage. Then, during your presentation, you can concentrate on your audience, not your environment.

Physically
A wonderful preparation technique for small meetings is to go around shaking hands and making eye contact with everybody beforehand. For larger meetings, meet and shake hands with people in the front row at least, and some of the people as they are coming in the door. Connect with them personally, so they’ll be rooting for your success. We as speakers are rarely nervous about individuals, only when faced with the thought of an audience. Once you’ve met the audience or at least some of them, they become less scary.

It’s totally natural to be nervous. Try this acting technique. Find a private spot, and wave your hands in the air. Relax your jaw, and shake your head from side to side. Then shake your legs one at a time. Physically shake the tension out of your body.

Try not to sit down too much while you’re waiting to speak. If you’re scheduled to go one an hour into the program, try to sit in the back of the room so that you can stand up occasionally. It is hard to jump up and be dynamic when you’ve been relaxed in a chair for hour. (Comedian Robin Williams is well known for doing “jumping jacks” before going on stage to raise his energy level.) Sitting in the back also gives you easy access to the bathroom and drinking fountain. There’s nothing worse than being stuck down front and being distracted by urgent bodily sensations.

Patricia Fripp is an award-winning speaker, sales trainer, and executive speech coach who delights audiences, electrifies executives who speak, and transforms sales teams. Meetings and Conventions magazine calls Patricia “one of the country’s 10 most electrifying speakers.” For more information on her speaking schools; executive speech coaching; books, CDs, and DVDs visit: www.fripp.com or contact Patricia: 1-800-634-3035 PFripp@Fripp.com.

Patricia Fripp offers this article on a nonexclusive basis. You may reprint or repost this material as long as Patricia Fripp’s name and contact information is included. PFripp@Fripp.com, 1-800-634-3035, http://www.fripp.com

Recently I had the opportunity to hear an international speaker address a large group of women. The women’s ages ranged from their 20′s to their 60′s. While the speaker used the F-word once, the silence in the large ballroom was much more apparent when he then used a 4-letter word that begins with ‘d.’ And he was not referring to a duck!

The use of questionable language when addressing an audience is not in good taste and is offensive. In case you were unaware of this little tidbit, the 4-letter word that begins with a ‘d’ may be considered slang but, according to the dictionary, it is a vulgar term. Vulgar language is “lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste.” It is also coarse and morally crude.

I can appreciate that there is a generation of young people who may not be offended with ‘colorful’ language; however, if you are addressing an audience of mixed ages, it is to your benefit to avoid certain words that the majority of people still consider indecent. This is why knowing your audience in advance is paramount to your success.

Back in April of 2009, a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, “upheld the government’s crackdown on ‘fleeting expletives’ and said broadcasters could face heavy fines for airing the F-word or the S-word even once during prime time.” They considered this ruling to “offer families a ‘safe haven’ from foul language.”

How do you know which words are acceptable and which are not? If you are addressing a mixed or all-female audience, or if you have been invited to speak to a business, corporation, non-profit organization, or a place of worship, the following rule should apply.

• If it cannot be printed in a national newspaper; i.e. The New York Times, then do not use it in public speaking.

Another way to look at this situation is to consider the following:

• If it is a word that you would not use in front of your mother, then it is unacceptable.

[If your parents are 'baby-boomers,' then it is possible that you do speak in vulgar terms in front of them. If such is the case, stick to the above rule dealing with a national newspaper.]

Remember, no one will be offended if you do not swear; however, some will be offended if you do. Public speaking is a tough business and becoming successful at it is difficult. Don’t jeopardize your success because of vulgar or indecent language.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. For more information on upcoming workshops, visit Nancy’s Voice Training Workshops.