Three Explosive Ways To Grab Your Audience's Attention And Keep It!

Speakers can open their presentation using one of a host of methods. So why do most non-professional speakers begin their speech with those attention-grabbing words, �Ah, I am so-in-so, ah . . . um�? Beginning your speech with filler words such as �ah� or �um� immediately tells your audience that you are an untrained speaker. In a flash, you�ve lost credibility as a speaker, or even worse, as an expert in your field, and your audience has taken a mental exit. You might as well be talking to an empty room. Why do speakers self-sabotage their speeches by beginning this way? It�s simple. It�s because they haven�t clearly defined or prepared their opening. Consequently, nervously, they search for what to say next and fill in this awkward gap with a filler word, or um Your goal as a presenter is to grab your audience�s attention and keep it. Although there are numerous ways to open a presentation, I have found three methods to be the most effective, especially when making business presentations. 1. Enrolling questions. One of my favorite ways to open a presentation is with enrolling questions. Asking a question of your audience immediately gets them involved. Ask questions that are pertinent to your audience. Use close-ended questions, those questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no signified by a raised hand. The beauty of asking enrolling questions is that they engage your audience in both a physical and a mental activity. Stimulating these two activities often creates a higher likelihood that you will keep your audience�s attention throughout your presentation. Prepare your questions ahead of time and practice raising your hand to eliminate any potential awkwardness in front of your audience. Below is an example of enrolling questions an executive recruiter asked a group of business owners: How many people here want to hire the right people? How many people here want to hire the right people and keep them? The rule of thumb when asking enrolling questions is that you must enroll 100% of your audience. Rule 2: Always ask two questions. Why? Because one question alone is not as effective as asking two. So how do you ask these two questions? There are two different ways. If you know for a fact that your audience will be enrolled with the first question, the second question can be a building question. For example: How many people here need to talk in order to sell your products and services?How many people here would like to talk less and sell more? If you're not sure your first question will engage the majority of your audience, with the second question you ask the opposite or the complement of the first. For instance: How many of you like chocolate?How many of you don't? Or How many of you have children?How many of you don't? By asking two questions you have a better chance of engaging 100% of your audience and keeping them engaged. 2. Statement of declaration. A statement of declaration is a powerful way to begin any speech. A statement of declaration is simply an announcement with meaning. This statement can be a starting point from anywhere in your speech as long as it relates to your topic. What I love about this method is that this type of statement usually jerks anyone who may have mentally left the room back into their seats. Once I heard a speaker begin his speech with I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, He said it with such emotion that the audience could actually feel his frustration with being late and waited to hear more. Another memorable statement of declaration used by a young college student was, I'm tired of being a grunt. The entire audience fell silent because most of us could relate to that statement in some form or another. It grabbed our attention, big time. The rule of thumb when making statements of declaration is to say them with strong conviction. Say it like you mean it. 3. Staggering statistical statement. A staggering statistical statement is one that includes statistical information. This information is usually measured by a percentage, a number, or a dollar value. For instance: 80% of communication is nonverbal! Fifty thousand Americans suffer from diabetes! Or Our country has an all-time high deficit of sixty billion dollars!When using a statistical statement as your attention grabber, do your homework. The information has to be 100% TRUE. If not, you will lose your credibility and your audience. It doesn't matter which of these explosive attention grabbers you use to begin your presentation, as long as you use one. Experiment with using the three different types to see which one works best for you and your speech. Remember, your opening question or statement must be relative to your topic and appropriate for your audience. Memorize it, practice it, and own it. If you grab your audience's attention in the beginning, chances are you'll keep it until the end. By: Arvee Robinson Intl.

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Public Speaking - Example of a Persuasive Speech Outline to Sway the Audience's Opinion

You may want to persuade an audience to DO something, or you may want to prove to them that something is TRUE. But, there may times when you want to sway your audience to your point of VIEW, that a choice is desirable or is better than other options. To organize such a talk (sometimes called the "Value" method) , you still have the three parts of a speech - the intro, body, and conclusion. But the difference is in the Body. The Main Points of your talk would have two or ideally three points: (1) Establish criteria or ideal standards to define your proposal. (2) Measure your proposal against those standards. And if you want to persuade that your choice is better than other options, then (3) compare how your proposal measures up to other options. To see how this organization would work when you want to persuade your audience to your point of VIEW, let's use the example of persuading them that swimming is the best form of exercise. Let's say the group wants to get into an exercise program - they've already decided they're going to DO some kind of exercise. You want to persuade them that swimming is the best choice, better than running or biking or yoga. Here's how you might outline that presentation: I. INTRO A. HOOK: Get their attention and interest. You might share a funny personal anecdote about swimming, how much you hated lessons when you were a kid and how you almost drowned the instructor one time when you jumped blindly off the diving board because you were so scared.And today, you're like a fish in the water. B. REASON TO LISTEN: "It's been clearly established that exercise is crucial for our fitness and weight loss. We all know we will look better, feel better and be healthier if we exercise regularly. Yet it hasn't been established exactly what the best form of exercise is... But I believe I know the answer..." II. BODY A. ROAD MAP: I'd like to show you all the fantastic benefits of swimming, so you can see it's the best choice for your exercise plan. B. MAIN POINTS: 1. The criteria or "ideal" standards for your proposal: Present to the audience (or even get them to contribute) the characteristics of the ideal exercise program. For example, you might suggest its characteristics might be a good cardiovascular workout, help you lose weight, be easy on your joints, strengthen and tone all your major muscle groups, and build strong bones. 2. Measure your proposal against those standards. Show how swimming fulfills those criteria: it's a great aerobic workout, especially if you can swim for at least 30 minutes; it's easy on your joints because of the cushioning effect of the water; because it calls for use of your arms and legs and back, it works all the muscle groups, and it's overall conditioning and aerobic effect helps keep your weight down. Build strong bones? Well, not really, so we can't claim that one. 3. Compare how your proposal measures up to other options, in this case running, biking and yoga. (Plot this visually, if you can. On a chart, list of all the criteria on the left, and then have columns for each form of exercise:       Aerobic Swimming Running Biking Yoga    Lose Weight Easy on Joints All Muscle Groups Strong Bones Barbara Busey, president of the training firm Presentation Dynamics, has been a professional speaker, trainer and author since 1990. She does training and speaking on the "dynamics" of how people "present" themselves, is the author of the award-winning book, "Stand Out When You Stand Up," and is the creator of The Compelling Speaker, a unique presentation skills training program that combines advance audio CD instruction with a hands-on, ultra participative workshop. Sign up for her newsletter, Stand Out Strategies, on her web site: http://www.presentationdynamics.net/ and receive a gift of her "Top Ten Stand Out Tips." She now offers a Certification program, a three-day intensive workshop that certifies people in how to make a living offering the Compelling Speaker training. Go to http://www.compellingspeakercertification.com learn more about this unique business opportunity and sign up for the special report, "Do You Have What it Takes to Run Your Own Training Business?"

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Good Ways to Define Writing Style

Is writing one of the areas of life you are tremendously passionate about? If you are currently a writer, do you write with a specific purpose? It helps a great deal to know exactly what you want to do before writing something to define your writing style. The purpose of this article is to assist you in determining the type of style you should incorporate into your writing based on the specific results you desire. The first thing you must do when you write something is to make sure you will include everything that is on your mind. Before you write your draft, write down every idea you wish to talk about. Check your list to make sure you covered everything before you submit your draft. It is very important to avoid causing confusion for your readers. Clearly explain the focus of your piece in the first paragraph and follow up on that throughout your document. Do you possess the desire to write fiction or articles that involve featuring a dialogue or conversation between two characters? You can employ this admiration to define how you write your draft. One characteristic you can use to define a conversational writing style is incorporating a style that reflects a dialogue. Below is a strong example: John Doe: "I like to eat ice cream on my pie. What do you like to eat ice cream on?" Jane Doe: "I like to eat ice cream on my cake." It is sometimes helpful to attempt to get your reader's attention for specific parts of your writing. For example, if you want your reader to highly focus on a particular word or phrase, make it bold. When you want to encourage your reader to follow a list of things to incorporate into his or her life, you can break up your document or article into sections and use headers. The header should be short, concise and descriptive while letting the reader know you are starting a new section or covering a new area you want him or her to concentrate on. Do you sometimes like to teach readers how to perform a particular task or craft? When you create how-to writings, do a thorough job of explaining what to do and present complete step-by-step instruction. The type of bio or byline you write for yourself should depend on what you want to do. If you have an online business, you must describe what you do and include the link to your web site. If you want to leave a good first impression, define that concern by writing your piece professionally and doing what it takes to persuade readers to read your entire writing. Use short paragraphs. Avoid being redundant and do not write too many unnecessary words. Employ excellent grammar, spelling and punctuation. Carefully proofread your draft twice. I sometimes do not catch errors until reading what I have written the second time around. Take the necessary steps to write articles that require references and focus on facts. Conduct a library search or online search to get the information you need. Instead of merely rewriting a piece of work you find, simply focus on getting enough information to support facts. Only put a tiny portion of someone else's work into your own words and make sure you properly credit the source. It helps to mostly write your own analysis on information you discover. Follow these steps to define your writing style well! Todd Hicks owns Skill Development Institute, an enterprise that provides a keyboard typing lesson and academic study guide. To become a great typist or student, visit Skill Development Institute. http://sdinst.blogspot.com

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Persuasive Speech Topics - Content is Key

Persuasive speech aims at affecting listeners' ideas, thoughts and beliefs and changing them through masterful or persuasive oratory. Before delivering a persuasive speech, the speaker must outline a list of persuasive speech topics that he might present. Choosing Persuasive Speech Topics A persuasive speech cannot be effective if the speaker chooses the wrong topic. The topic chosen must interest the speaker and the audience; otherwise, he runs the risk of a listless, uninterested delivery that will spell disaster for the speech. Audience members are quick to catch on when the speaker seems less than enthusiastic and will begin to tune you out before long. Choose a topic that you are passionate about and that genuinely fires you up. Such passion can be infectious and, before long, the audience will begin to share your enthusiasm. Additionally, keep audience interests in mind while scouting for new persuasive speech topics. They need not be topics that are excessively familiar to the audience, but they must have an element of surprise. Persuasive speech topics should also be selected keeping in mind audience needs. i.e. they should be relevant to listeners, their needs, and success. Choosing an irrelevant topic that no one identifies with is a sure way to disconnect with an audience and lose their attention. The length of the topic should also be carefully considered before selection of a persuasive speech topic. It can't be so small that you end up having to "fill in" content just to complete the length of the presentation and not so long that you run out of time. Persuasive speech topics must also be well researched and learned. A speaker who seems knowledgeable on all facets of his topic is more appealing to the audience than someone who seems less than sure about his overall understanding. Don't chose a persuasive speech topic that's not worthy of debate or change. For instance, a topic like, "Drug Abuse in School and Their Destructive Effect", is probably a no brainer since all of us know that drug abuse is destructive. There is no question about trying to convince anyone here. Instead look for a topic that has two opposing sides and try to convince your audience about the merits of your point of view. The speaker must be able to get across a motivating message to the audience. In other words, draw up on real life adversities that you have faced so they can see that it is possible for them to surmount challenges too. Draw from a wealth of real life experiences, stories, and examples to illustrate your points. The Right Persuasive Speech Topics Can Make All the Difference Selection of the right topics is crucial to a perfectly delivered speech. The speaker must not only choose an appropriate topic, he also needs to build up a framework around that topic and fill it with the right content. Any one of these steps in isolation will be ineffective. For example, a great speech topic might not be able to hold an audience's attention if it is not structured and organized properly. Similarly, using the most flowery language will not rescue a poorly chosen topic. Ultimately, it is a combination of all these factors that go into the making and delivery of a great persuasive speech. Michael Jeffreys is the president of Seminars on DVD, a premiere provider of video based training for businesses and individuals, featuring renowned experts and speakers. Learn more at: http://www.SeminarsOnDVD.com

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Persuasive Writing KS2 - 5 Things to Remember

If you're looking for some quick fire tips for success at persuasive writing ks2 level, then look no further. Here are the five you need to ensure work gets completed to the highest possible standards. For starters, use the introduction properly. A lot of students make the mistake of jumping head-first into discussing points and bombarding the reader with evidence and statistics. Make sure the first paragraph is a clear introduction of the point, the writers stance and go from there. Make sure there are at least three of four relevant points in any persuasive essay. There's no set amount you should include to achieve higher grades and quality is more important quantity, but three points is a good minimum to work towards, especially in timed exams. Each point should be presented in the same format in persuasive writing. Firstly, make your point, and then present your evidence to support your point and then finish by tying the two together to hammer home your point of view. Persuasive writing ks2 level requires some stylistic elements to achieve higher grades. By this age, students need to be able to attract their reader, hold their attention and demonstrate a sound knowledge of persuasive language. Finally, the conclusion of any persuasive writing essay needs to be strong. It's a writer's final chance to leave a lasting impression on their reader, and is the thing people marking the work will remember most. Students should make sure to repeat their main point and tie everything up with a strong final sentence. Persuasive writing can seem quite complicated to many students at ks2 but when it's broken down into a simple structure, it's much easier to digest. There's more information on persuasive writing KS2 level at the Writing Arena.

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Persuasive Speech Topics - 3 Hot Tips on Choosing Your Persuasive Speech Topics

Writing a persuasive article can be quite fun yet challenging. However, before you even get to that point, you have to deal with choosing the right subject. Persuasive speech topics are usually more serious than subjects of other essays. You have to think of something that has weight and has two sides to it. You may think that choosing persuasive speech topics is a piece of cake. But know that whatever you choose can greatly affect how your article is going to turn out. The wrong topic can backfire on you and all your hard work. In order to prevent that from happening, here are some pointers on how to choose the best persuasive speech topics. 1) Watch the news. It's highly important to keep up with the current events. Watching the news will give you a good range of topics to choose from. You'll even get bonus points for writing about something that is timely and significant to your readers and your time. So the next time you find yourself eating dinner in front of the television, why not switch to the news channel every now and then? 2) Find your comfort zone. When choosing persuasive speech topics, you also have to consider where you are comfortable. After all, the words and delivery of the speech will rest on your overall perspective of the issue. If you're not comfortable with writing about sending soldiers in Iraq, for example, you might miss out on all the important details. 3) Read others' works. One way you can choose great persuasive speech topics is by looking at other such works. Right now, a lot of people are writing about global warming. Other examples include the teaching of Creationism in schools, the war in Iraq, smoking and animal rights. Once you've accomplished all three pointers, you can now go about choosing the greatest persuasive speech topics for you. Remember, whatever you choose will have a significant impact on the overall result of your article. So keep up with the news, find your comfort zone and familiarize yourself with other pieces. Discover compelling persuasive topics and powerful conversational hypnosis techniques to easily persuade anyone to your way of thinking. Get a FREE course that reveals groundbreaking persuasion secrets at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/secrets.htm

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A List of Informative Speech Topics

When making an informative speech, your goal is to be able to impart some information to the listeners. At the end of your speech, you expect your listeners to be able to retain the pertinent information in your speech. When you are preparing for an informative speech, in-depth research is necessary to create the body of speech. This is what differs this type of speech from other types. Although your speech will still include your personal views, you need to be subtle in expressing them. Delivering an informative speech is similar to giving a lecture on a specific topic. You need to carefully choose your words so that they are appropriate to the audience and the topic. Therefore, it is important that you also need to research on the professional backgrounds of the audience during your speech. If you were asked to give an informative speech, your choice of topic is usually limited to the theme of the event, the type of audience and your professional expertise. However, if you are giving a speech as part of an oral exercise or a class presentation, you may choose from the following topics when preparing your speech. * Health The popular informative speech topics include those that are related to health and well-being. Encourage the listeners to have a healthy lifestyle by discussing the facts and issues related to health and proper diet. You may also discuss a new exercise program for losing weight and a diet plan that will help shed excess body fat. You can also tackle methods of health measurement including taking body weight, measurements, body mass index and glycemic index. * Environment Another popular topic during speeches are those on environmental preservation. Representatives of environmental organizations discuss the effects of genetically modified organisms in different forums. If you would like to create a similar speech, you may also include a list of toxic substances and give the details on how they affect the environment. * Other researches This type of speech is best for giving the audience the details of personal researches. If you have done a laboratory experiment, it's results are best discussed using this speech format. One of the challenges when giving an informative speech is how to keep your listeners interested and how to keep their interest. In will help if you can inject some relevant humor into your speech. You can also relate your topic to popular issues that can catch the interest of your listeners. As much as possible, limit your speech to about thirty minutes. Please click these links if you want to know more about list informative speech topics or a list of interesting speech topics in general.

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