On TV’s The Office, Creed challenges Michael’s grammar: “Michael, he wasn’t inferring, he was implying. You were inferring.”
Infer and imply are often confused, but in this case Michael was technically correct. He was doing both, first inferring something and then implying it. He could hardly imply something that he didn’t know or hadn’t thought about.
Read More...Some experts contend that the subjunctive is now obsolete in English, yet we should cling to it for its elegance and to win bar bets. Without it, we wouldn’t have one of the most perfect verses in the English language, written by A.A. Milne, creator of Winnie-the-Pooh:
Read More...Five Memorable Moments
Patricia Fripp, Glenna Salsbury, Dee Jolly looking HollywoodIf you want a hit movie, it’s not the advertising; it’s five moments. Your five moments and my five moments might be different. That’s when you walk out of the movie with your friends and you relive the high points. And then you go to work the next day and you say “You’ve got to see this movie…and there’s this scene with…and you’ll know that…and when you think of the hair gel…and you’ve got to see this scene in the restaurant… trust me…you’ve got to go and see this movie.”
It is the advertising and the promotion that gets us to the opening weekend. Hollywood knows even if the movie isn’t good the opening weekend can get their money back. It is the word of mouth that makes a movie a blockbuster success.
If you want your audience to say… “wow, you have to hear this speaker…” or “I hope our sales people represent us as well as that sales team represented their company…”, or “Wow, we really are working for the right company” use Hollywood techniques and makes sure there are five moments in your presentation, the ones that make it memorable.
Read More...As David Garfinkel said, “We have to populate our stories with flesh and blood characters the audience can relate to.”
Read More...Who do you have on your side to help you with your presentation skills and public speaking? THE Executive Speech Coach Patricia Fripp can help.
Patricia Fripp adds Hollywood to Presentation Skills
Keepers from Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School
Points of wisdom from Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School in no particular order:
• It is better to be consistently good than occasionally great.
• Our goal is to speak to be remembered and repeated. To do that use short sentences, or speak in phrases.
[More…]
• Use personal stories.
• A good speech is not a conversation, but a good speech is conversational.
• In a speech we need to be more clear and concise and uses more specific words.
For example: Not “a bunch of business cards” rather “a handful of business cards.”
• To develop content, mine your life for turning points and influences. What do your friends laugh about at the dinner table?
Review your life story, where was the conflict?
What was your decision? What did you discover? (Max Dixon’s advice)
• To emotionally connect with your audience don’t say, “I’m going to tell you.” Instead say, “You are going to learn.” Or “You will hear.” Or “You will experience.”
• Use specific words because they create pictures in a person’s mind and makes you sound more intelligent and well educated.
• Before you close review your presentation by asking a rhetorical question that relates to your central theme or what Patricia calls your premise.
• Within the presentation ask audience to summarize what ideas they have learned or been reminded of. This is called “an internal review.”
Read More...Here’s a Frippercize: Count how many characters appear in your speeches. They are what make a Hollywood production–flesh and blood personalities that the audience can relate to.
Read More...Be creative. Think Hollywood! Tell stories and give examples as you go through your program, the same way you would in person. However, your Webinar needs more visuals to help engage the audience. Use more slides than with an in-person presentation. Add bullet points one at a time as you “build.” Don’t present a list of all your points before you discuss them. Keep it simple, keep it moving, and interact often.
Read More...Put your impressive credits right up front. If you don’t have credits yet, find something that could impress the audience even if it’s from another field or your mother.
Read More...Most speakers if they know their subject are not bad once they get going. However very few know how to get off to a really good start. My recommendation is that you script your opening. However, do not write in paragraphs. Write it as phrases down the page not across. As my early mentor Bill […]
Read More...
Receive free, on-going Fripp webinar invitations, sales and presentation skills information, and special discounts from Executive Speech Coach, Sales Presentation Trainer, and Professional Keynote Speaker, Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE. As an added bonus, sign up now and receive a free copy of Patricia Fripp’s How to Present and Teach in the Virtual World.
