I am a regular contributor to the American Society of Appraiser's Business Valuation E-Letter. My latest column (Issue 15-39, September 28, 2011) originally appeared as a blog post here. For the article, I added to the original post by fleshing out the featured story and then admitting to my own guilt. Read the whole thing to find out what I'm talking about.
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Continue reading ""Professionals Rehearse. Amateurs Jump the Couch" (Part 2)" »
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Peter "Deuce" Bradshaw, a student at Stetson University College of Law, begins this presentation with "... So ... while sitting through a Trusts & Estates lecture, I started feeling annoyed. Because I was being hit in the face with information And then an analogy happened ..."
I love the ideas in this presentation and understand all too well that feeling of annoyance. If you are interested in taking your presentations to the next level, view this Slideshare and think.
I hope Mr. Bradshaw continues to bring his creativity to the practice of law.
Designing Information: Making it Immersive
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Love this article from Dr. Nick Margan at HBR. Titled "Why You Must Rehearse," he tells the true story (details changed to protect the guilty) of a CEO who had a great story to tell and wanted to tell it to a large crowd and got that chance and then ...
The speaker began at the podium, but soon left it to roam the stage.
A couple of minutes in, he jumped up on the couch [on stage because the stage was so big] and executed what everyone figured out later must have been a half-remembered Kung Fu move. It was dramatic; the audience was riveted. Then he jumped down, uttered a few lines from the speech, and jumped up on the couch again, performing another semi-martial-arts maneuver, and a few more lines from the speech.
He kept up this astounding mixture of speaking and martial arts ballet until he had managed to get through — incoherently — about half the speech. Then he (mercifully) stopped and asked for questions.
There were none. 6,000 people in the audience were stunned into silence.
You see, the CEO/speaker who had this amazing story of success and apparently a "compelling" speech written for him didn't think he needed to rehearse.
Once everyone was happy with the speech, we proposed that the speaker rehearse. The CEO resisted, saying, "I'm very comfortable under pressure, because of my extensive martial arts training. I'll be fine."
So, what was the legacy left by this mangled presentation?
The CEO has never spoken in front of a large audience again. ... The organizer of the event has a 'bootleg' tape of the speech which is played at late night 'after event' parties to riotous laughter. They coined the phrase 'jumping the couch' from this incident to describe a speaker who melts down during a speech. [emphasis mine]
"Jumping the couch." I love it. I thought only Tom Cruise did stuff like that.
Don't let this happen to you. Don't ever believe that you can do your best without rehearsing, and then rehearsing again, and then again, and ... well, you get the picture.
Resource: The BEST book I've ever read on public speaking is Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun. It's not the typical rah-rah, superficial stuff you get from many professional speakers. It's real, it's funny, and it contains great lessons. If you're serious about using public speaking as part of your marketing strategy, you should read it. It will make you better.
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I might be behind the times but I just found this remote control for speaking engagements - the Logitech Cordless 2.4 GHz Presenter. It has all the bells and whistles that most other remote controls have. However, this one has a countdown timer (silent vibration warnings at 5 minutes and 2 minutes).
I've been on the podium and know the value of a good wireless device. I love the fact that this Logitech model has a countdown timer on the remote. Too many venues have the clock only on the lectern. Good speakers, I believe, don't use a lectern but if the clock is either there or on your wrist, I will use the one on the lectern. Having to circle back over to the lectern to peek at the time to make sure I'm where I need to be in my presentation just gives me something else to worry about. When you are speaking, the only thing you want to worry about is delivering for the audience.
The Logitech is under $70. Read the reviews here.
Hap Tip: Found the device while reading the excellent book, Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun.
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For those of us who give presentations (and who will give presentations), this simple yet powerful graph can make you a better speaker. Print it out and tape it to your forehead - or better yet tape it to your speech notes as you prepare. Thanks Indexed!
Source: thisisindexed.com
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Great presentation by Nick Smith of AdvanceYourSlides.com.
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Tom Kane writes the Legal Marketing Blog. He has been blogging for years and provides consistently solid marketing and business development content for attorneys, yet his advice is applicable to CPAs and business appraisers as well.
A recent post - Speaking Engagements REALLY Work, If You Work At It! - caught my eye. Speaking engagements made Tom's top 10 list of best marketing practices. He is right. Speaking engagements do work if you are strategic in choosing the right venues, deliver a winning speech, and most importantly, follow up.
Read Tom's post here as well as a recent article of mine entitled "How to Get Started Speaking" if you need inspiration to begin using speaking engagements in your marketing mix.
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Feedback on the column, as well as ideas for future columns, are appreciated.
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I have the honor of being the new practice development columnist for NACVA's publication, The Value Examiner.
The first column has been published and is entitled "Keys to Growing Your Practice." It is linked here along with the Tactical Planning Spreadsheet referenced in the column. (Note: the Tactical Planning Spreadsheet is an Excel spreadsheet.)
Both are also available in the "Free Downloads" section of the blog.
Feedback on the column, as well as ideas for future columns, are appreciated.
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