One mistake is thinking that because you are a seasoned speaker, you can wing it.
I am not saying your presentation won’t be good, but how do you know if your timing is right if you aren’t prepared?
How do you know if your points are clear, well-developed, and obvious to your audience
Read More...Sales presentation skills expert Patricia Fripp has provided a sales sampler from her FrippVT.com web-based training. Enjoy!
“Back in 2018, we invited you to help us with an important sales presentation, which we won. You will be as excited to know, that it continues to reap dividends! Last year, we were awarded $1.6 million in business with them. We just received a $2.8 million order from them already this year and it is still January. Your advice and coaching are awesome. What an ROI!” Michael E. Stryczek, President & CEO, AB&R® (American Barcode and RFID)
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With well-chosen words, you can open your presentation and establish an immediate emotional bond. As a presentation skills coach, when I work with a group, I’ll invite individuals to come to the front and deliver their opening lines. On one occasion, up walked Stephen. He began to tell the facts of his experience of living with deafness since birth. After he spoke, the audience was sympathetic; however, he had not made a connection. He was also missing an opportunity.
I took him aside and suggested he try a different approach. Stephen spoke again saying, “Imagine how my parents felt as the doctor walked into the waiting room and said, ‘I am so sorry to tell you this, but your beautiful boy is deaf.’” He painted a vivid picture of this pivotal moment in his parents’ lives. Whether or not audience members were parents themselves, they were able to emotionally connect with the situation. You could feel a change in the room.
You have many theatrical choices in how you open your presentation.
Read More...Don’t waste your opening words. Prepare a winning opening and give it extra attention as you rehearse your presentation.
A relevant and compelling quote is one way to open a presentation and engage your audience. General Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the ability to decide what has to be done and then to get people to want to do it.” When I talk on leadership, I often begin with that quote. I’m also a believer in quoting others besides dead white men––although many of them have made wonderful, inspiring, and educational comments.
Consider quoting live individuals. When I’m talking about getting and keeping customers, I say, “As Bill Gates said, ‘When you lose a customer, you lose two ways. First, you don’t get their money. And second, your competitor does.’” I pantomime stabbing myself in the heart, which usually gets a laugh.
As the great philosopher, Raquel Welch said, “Style is being yourself, but on purpose.”
I add, “Every time you stand up to address an audience, you have to be yourself, but slightly larger than life. In other words, on purpose.”
A great source for quotes is the very audience you are addressing or people they are familiar with.
At a four-day Texas Instruments conference, I told the audience, “I’m here to tell you how to future-proof your careers.” Two days earlier, I had heard their chairman use the phrase “future-proof” when discussing their strategy and the results they expect for the company.
He said, “Our strategy is to future-proof the shareholders’ investment.” I borrowed his words to connect with the audience, as they were his associates, not investors. The phrase already had the company stamp of approval. What made that engagement a great success was the fact I quoted every single person who had spoken on the program before me over the prior three days.
Any important or recent quote related to the industry or organization you are addressing can get you immediate attention and establish a connection between you and your listeners. I often quote something from my client’s most recent corporate report.
Clients tell me, “We’re so glad you quoted our chairman. We always send the report to our associates, and we don’t think they ever read it.”
Unfortunately, speakers often go with predictable quotes from sports stars, writers, texts, and celebrities. Don’t bore your audience with familiar and tired quotes.
Get creative. Get ready to take notes. Make a list from your own sources as you ask yourself, “What quote, memorable saying, keen insight, or witticism can I take from…”
My father, mother, siblings, grandmother, grandfather?
My teacher or coach?
My first boss or manager who inspired me?
My successful or even brilliant clients?
Myself?!!
Here are some of my responses to this exercise that you may use if you like––just give me credit!
“Don’t concentrate on making a lot of money, but rather concentrate on becoming the type of person people want to do business with, and you most likely will make a lot of money.”
“Of course, it is the inner you that counts, but dress up and look good so you can attract people so they can find out how nice you are, how smart you are, and how valuable you can be to them.”
“Discipline is not an end in itself, but a means to an end.”
“Keep promoting––even when your appointment calendar is full. You need to resell to the clients you already have that this is still the place they want to come.”
“I will spend an hour editing an eight-word sentence into five.”
“All I ever wanted in business is an unfair advantage.”
“Don’t celebrate closing a sale, celebrate opening a relationship.”
“The answer is no if you don’t ask.”
When your quotes are new to your audience, your entire message will sound fresh and original.
For hundreds of Patricia Fripp and family Frippicisms that you can use in your speeches, articles, PowerPoint, and tweets––as long as full credit is given. www.fripp.com/about-patricia-fripp/frippicisms/
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Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.
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Understanding the difference between the written word and the spoken word was just one sign of Bill’s brilliance as a speaker.
In a conversation, the friend would likely respond with a question. Your audience would recognize that as a conversation, even as you deliver a speech. Important: The secret of making an emotional connection is to speak to the audience as if you were having a conversation with one person––50 or 100 or 300 times.
In other words, what if you said to your audience, “How often have you had the experience . . .” Or “If you had met me when . . .” Or “I don’t know what your experience is, however….” Everyone in the audience would feel that you were talking to them. No, a speech is not a conversation, but it needs to sound conversational. This principle is exactly the same in a recorded message.
Every year, I send a video of welcome to the parents and an introduction to the year ahead. I just watched my performance from last year, and I was very disappointed. Can you help?”
I asked, “Have you prepared a script?”
She answered, “Yes.” With a short message, every word counts. As her message was prerecorded, that was a great idea.
After looking at her script, I explained, “You are a very good writer. However, your script is written, and it doesn’t sound spoken.”
For example, she thanked parents for responding to her survey. I explained the power of delivering the dialogue, not reporting on the dialogue. My advice was, “Why don’t you speak as if to one person in your office? Then, use the parents’ own words from the survey as if they were speaking to them. Use quotation marks to highlight their comments. This will make your presentation sound conversational. With shorter sentences, it is easier for the audience to reflect and remember what you have said. In the brief pauses, you are able to breathe and the opportunity to smile.”
The bottom line is that you may be a brilliant writer, but do not assume you’ll be a brilliant speaker.
Effective speaking involves more than a script.
On the other hand, you may be a great speaker but not necessarily a great writer. You might transcribe what you think you want to say and then enlist the services of an editor to look better on the page. Use the most comfortable technique, learn to adapt it, and reach out for help if needed.
The best, easiest, and most convenient way to become a great speaker is through Fripp Virtual Training.
“I wanted a Super Bowl-quality coach, and I was lucky to be introduced to Patricia Fripp. Her help in coaching and scripting was world-class. With Patricia Fripp on your team, you can go places.”
– Don Yaeger, Long-Time Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, Award-Winning Keynote Speaker, 13-Time New York Times Best-Selling Author
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Just a few of the many complimentary resources on Fripp.com to help you deliver powerful presentations:
Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with those who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.
Read More...Memorable messages are now more important than ever, especially in today’s virtual world. What techniques can lead you to the results that you want? Patricia Fripp is one of the world’s foremost speech coaches working with executives from the Fortune 100 and the top professional speakers on how to make more powerful presentations, and Patricia joins us now in the studio to talk about how to get amazing results from your next presentation. Welcome to Be Amazing Or Go Home.
Shep Hyken: I’ve got a number of questions, first of all, yes, you are the speech coach to the stars, both in the corporate world as well as the professional speaking world. Hall of Fame speakers, speakers that have won awards have come to you to get their coaching, … including myself, I’m a proud client. I hope I’ve done you good service. Let’s begin with this.
Dr. Qubein is the President of High Point University, a great speaker, corporate advisor, author, and past president of the National Speakers Association. He asked me, “Can anyone become a good speaker?” “Why do so many fear public speaking?” “What is important to know about putting together a speech?”
When you have 25 minutes you can listen to my answers.
Read More...I have been coaching people virtually for at least 10 years. Even before Zoom was invented, I had my own virtual studio.
Although I still speak professionally, my major business now is helping other people with their presentations, whether they are executives, salespersons, engineers for technology companies, or other successful speakers and experts.
Many of my large Silicon Valley clients engage me to prepare their technical experts to speak at their customer conferences. Last year and this, they are virtual. In future years, I predict they will have both online and in-person conferences.
If you do not understand the technology, nothing else works. Certainly, Zoom is a popular platform; learn how to use it. You must up your game. It’s perfectly fine to work from your office, but I advise my clients to straighten out all the books on their bookshelves. It might be a bit busy, however, you need to make it tidy,
Recently at a client’s conference, one of my roles and responsibilities was to introduce other speakers, all of whom I had recommended. A couple of them spoke multiple times to the same audience.
The toughest slot of the day is that of the concluding speaker before the cocktail party and buffet at the hotel’s trendy nightclub.
Imagine sitting in the audience in a large ballroom in a fabulous Las Vegas hotel. You have been locked at home for almost two years. Not far outside the ballroom door are shops, shows, eateries, bars, spas, slot machines, and games of chance. Even walking to your comfortable hotel room is an adventure for watching exotic-looking people you do not see in Iowa. It is 4 pm and you have been in the ballroom since 8 am.
My introduction of the concluding speaker had to keep them in their chairs long enough for the speaker to engage them. I began,
I introduced my long-time friend, Nacole Schapiro before her speech to the Golden Gate Breakfast Club. Although she is a professional keynote speaker who often presents on negotiation and change,
Her family lived in fear that they would be shot if it were discovered that every night they would go into their basement and read a book about America.
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