Well-timed impact phrases make your message memorable. Strategize your word order.
Great communicators are remembered and repeated. To make your message more memorable, pay close attention to how you order your words and phrases, even within a single sentence. Thoughtful choices in word order, give you the opportunity to highlight your most significant information and deliver this as “impact phrases.”
Audiences engage when we present information in a natural progression. It helps them “see” what we’re trying to convey. Like a miniature story, a single well-crafted sentence draws your audience in; they connect both intellectually and emotionally and follow your narrative to its conclusion.
Don’t panic. You can shorten your presentation without losing your impact.
Imagine, you’ve done all the work to prepare and rehearse a major presentation and at the last minute you’re told, “I’m so sorry, but we’re short on time. Can you give us the five-minute version?”
Is it possible to shorten a presentation without losing all of your impact? Yes. Don’t panic. After all, a sound bite is often more powerful than a lengthy dissertation. Here’s how to condense your speech without losing impact:
1. Don’t apologize or mention that you usually have much more time. Find confidence in the fact you’ve prepared. You can still get your central message across in five minutes.
Authentic stories are essential to connect with your audience and make your message memorable.
How often have you heard a great presentation where you left energized and enthusiastic, only to get sidewalk amnesia?
You forget why you were inspired. By the time you hit the car, the speaker’s message – and your excitement – is lost. Have you delivered a presentation like that?
An unforgettable presentation is “sticky.” It sticks with audience members and continues to influence long after the presentation is over. Vivid and authentic stories are central to presentations that “stick.”
Use your own stories.
Audiences tune out when you repeat others’ stories or use examples they’ve already read or heard many times before.
The majority of stories I use in my presentations are about what happens around me, what I observe, and what I learn.
Often, stories are based on fairly ordinary life experiences. We do not have to cure cancer or climb Mount Everest to tell a good story.
I’m a successful entrepreneur who learned from my parents, learned from my clients, learned from my friends, and relate the stories of these experiences to my audiences.
Early on in my speaking career, a major turning point came when I gained confidence in my own authentic stories to match the confidence I had in my speaking skills. Once we find the message in our own life experiences our audiences will se them through their own eyes.
Become a great presenter quickly, easily, and cost-effectively on your own schedule. I’m here for you 24/7 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, New York Times Best-Selling Author
If you want to become a great speaker easily, conveniently, and quickly, FrippVT can help. Enjoy three free chapters on Stories, Openings, and Sales: http://frippvt.com
Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote SpeakerPatricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.
Connect with your audience, regardless of how tech-savvy they are or aren’t.
When you’re an engineer presenting at a user meeting or customer conference, you are the expert on the topic you plan to deliver to your customers. Remember, your audience does not want to know everything you know; they just need to know about the subject of your presentation.
You can connect with your audience, regardless of how tech-savvy they are, or aren’t! This approach will help ensure that your message gets across.
Criticism, also known as feedback, can actually help us improve our presentation skills.
Criticism: How to Turn Gripes into Growth
Criticism, also known as feedback, can help us improve our presentation skills.
No one enjoys being criticized, but if you want to succeed, you must overcome your natural instincts and actively seek out feedback, good and bad.
After years as a professional speaker, I understand. Some years I faced my critics, also known as my audiences, every week. Not only do they rate me with their applause and laughter (or lack thereof), but frequently they’re also asked to complete written evaluations for the meeting planners. Naturally, all speakers want their meeting planners to look like heroes, so we do everything possible to keep in top form.
For me, this means that I embrace and value feedback. I would study those evals and listen to comments, no matter how off the mark they seemed. Even though I’ve been an executive speech coach and a professional speaker for decades, I still ask professional peers to be my toughest critics and give their feedback.
If you want to improve, you must develop a positive, flexible, and creative attitude toward feedback. Here are eight practical ways to make criticism a plus and harness the power of feedback for success.
FrippVT can equip you and your team with powerful persuasive presentation skills and give you a competitive edge.
Can Your Audience Understand Your Message? Not if you speak too fast.
Are you speaking too quickly? It can happen unconsciously. Sometimes public speaking can trigger an adrenaline rush. You might feel charged with energy or a bit nervous.
If you’re speaking too quickly, you are likely to lose your audience. You jeopardize the overall success of your message.
Even If You Are a Disney Fan…Don’t
For some speakers, speaking too quickly is coupled with a rise in voice pitch which makes even a knowledgeable speaker sound like Minnie Mouse.
Pay attention to audience feedback. If one person reports a problem with understanding you, this may be an individual perception or opinion. But if several do, you need to time yourself.
Eye contact is a proven factor in the persuasion process.
Your presentation can be powerful and persuasive when you connect with your audience both intellectually and emotionally. Eye contact is essential to creating an emotional connection with an audience of any size. This is true whether you’re speaking one-on-one or delivering a formal presentation from the stage.
Eye contact gives you an edge in business. It’s a proven factor in the persuasion process. It demonstrates confidence and increases likability. I explain the importance of eye contact, how much is enough, and how you can practice to improve the way you use eye contact in your business and sales presentations in this short video from Fripp Virtual Training. Enjoy!
By July 2018, Robert Fripp will have been getting out of vans and tour buses as a working musician for 57 years and a professional musician for 48 years. Would you like to know how he went from a tone-deaf 12-year-old with no sense of rhythm to an internationally acclaimed musician? In his own words?
While you might already know my brother, Robert Fripp as one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists,” you may not know him as a superb and entertaining speaker. He has an extraordinary ability to connect with an audience both intellectually and emotionally.
Robert captivates and reveals everything you ever wanted to know about him in The Wit, Wisdom, and World of Robert Fripp in His Own Words, available throughRobert FrippVT. Robert went from novice to master and you can too.
My brother Robert Fripp is an internationally acclaimed guitarist and a founding member of King Crimson. His discography includes an innovative performance on David Bowie’s Heroes. Remarkably, Robert is as brilliant a thinker, writer, and speaker as he is a musician. Experience The Wit, Wisdom, and World of Robert Fripp in His Own Words when you subscribe to Robert FrippVT.
I asked Robert to share his thoughts on what it takes to be a hero. He said that heroes aspire to embody three qualities:
Rehearse to ensure your presentation is a success.
You’ve edited and fine-tuned a written version of your talk. Now you’re going to rehearse it. You might think practicing your delivery is too much trouble. Or, maybe you feel like you don’t have time to rehearse? Rehearsal is essential to the success of your presentation. (Don’t think you can skip it.) You’ll be glad you did.
How to Rehearse
1. Record yourself reading your talk out loud to check on timing and emphasis.
2. Prepare outline notes. Even though you’ve dedicated significant amounts of time and energy to creating a written version of your presentation, you’re NOT going to read it! Nothing will put an audience to sleep faster. Instead, you’re going to speak directly and spontaneously to the audience, maintaining essential eye contact.
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How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World…and More
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