Presentation Hack

Want a quick way to develop a presentation? Need a tool to be prepared if you're ever asked to speak on a topic of your expertise? Here's a great presentation hack to keep in your "back pocket" for any occasion. 

I call it the PREP formula for speaking. The P stands for POINT, the R stands for REASON, the E stands for EXAMPLE, and the final P stands for POINT. This formula can be used for a one-minute talk, a 90-minute keynote, or for an all day training.

You begin by stating the point you want to make to your audience or your listener(s). You then back that point up with one or more reasons as to WHY you're making that point. Your next step is to provide one or more examples to support each of your reasons. And your final close to your presentation is to restate the point you started out with, in a way that will motivate, inspire or entertain your audience.

So, the next time you're asked to give the toast at a wedding, provide a blessing for a meal, give a project update at work, or give your elevator speech at a networking group, you have a speaking hack that works every time. I even use it to build my training presentations for the work that I do.


Bill Corbett is the founder of the HARTFORD SPRINGFIELD SPEAKER'S NETWORK and an award winning professional speaker who has been speaking since 1995. He has been on stages across the U.S. for everything from brief lectures to keynote speeches to multi-day training events, and was the featured speaker at a conference in The Netherlands in the Fall of 2015. He is a regular contributor to network television affiliates and provides one-on-one speaker coaching for business professionals. Learn more about him and his top-selling Amazon books.

Pro Speakers

Hello Speakers, Business Owners, Future Entrepreneurs and Big Dreamers,  

 In this months article I would like to discuss Pro Speakers, which is an organization that is very near and dear to my heart. Pro Speakers is an advanced Toastmasters Club. The Club organized back in 2007 and that is when I joined as a Charter Member. There are two other Charter Members that are still active. When I first joined this club in 2007, I had made it through most of the Toastmasters manuals and achieved ATM-G as it was classified back then. I made a goal that year to stretch my speaking skills by either joining a National Speaking Firm or Hiring a Professional Speaker as a coach. In June of 2007, I was invited to a meeting where the Pro Speakers concept was introduced. The concept was to bring in members that were focused on speaking professionally for a fee or to accentuate their speaking skills to help move them further along in their career. For me, It boiled it down to this: "We were out to find uncommon speakers with incredible desire to push the envelope of greatness and deliver extraordinary presentations that will propel them onto their ultimate goal in speaking."

The entry to the club has a couple of prerequisites. If you were a Toastmaster you were welcomed to join as long as you completed your first 10 speeches out of the Competent Communicator Manual and secondly, you had to have a passion to be hired as a Professional Speaker for a decent speaking fee,. From my stand point I was rubbing elbows with the best, this was exhilarating. 

The first years membership held at least 12 members and most of them highly polished  and motivated speakers. At least six of the members drove 60-90 minutes one way to attend these meetings. That along intrigued me. The meetings consisted of 2-3 speeches that averaged 7-10 minutes long. You were then strictly critiqued for 2 minutes by each member with succinct purpose, advice and what you needed to do to improve. When you were about present a speech to grammatical experts and professional speakers you knew you had to be prepared and on your game. The critiquing absolutely made you better.The term "Shark Tank" was eventually coined for our club. In the eight years that have since passed, many of the original charter members have moved on, most of them achieved the goals and their purpose from this club. There are many great stories of success! I could cover another page of the successes that have been spawned because of Pro Speakers but I will save that for my Demo Speeches that I am giving for the Club this year. Pro Speakers is searching for new members that would want to push the envelope with speaking skills, being hired as a Professional Speaker, or moving up in your particular firm to do training and other skill set meetings. If your club or organization would like me to do an introductory presentation about the group please get in touch with me to schedule a presentation. If you have that inner passion to stretch your abilities in speaking come and visit us. 

Next blog: February 25, 2016

Contact Information:

PROSPEAKERS

Club Number:1029995, District 53, Area F61

Location: Agawam Senior Center
954 Main Street Agawam, Massachusetts 01001 United States 

Meeting Times: 1st & 3rd Thursday 7:00 pm 

http://www.toastmasters.org/Find-a-Club/01029995-prospeakers




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5 apps to help speakers have great presentations

As a speaker, competition is fierce and business dynamics are ever changing. In order to keep up with the competition and run a financially healthy business you may need to continually update your presentation and use of technology. There are apps for just about everything today including apps for you to conduct an interesting, colorful and impactful presentation. Below are a few to consider.

mPrompt - is a "teleprompter" style note reader for the iPad. It is easy to use and offers an editor in app, or you can download previously prepared speeches from a url. Fully customizable font sizes and speed of text flow make mPrompt a great tool for delivering memorable speeches.

Quote Book - All speeches need a little seasoning with some great quotations. Quote Book is a handy app with over 3,000 quotes from 400 different authors. The quotes span numerous categories from the humorous to the philosophical. Quote Book allows you to search and bookmark your favorite quotes and add your own gems of wisdom. You can even use it's integrated text to speech function to have your iPhone read the quote out loud! A feature that makes this a great app is the integrated Wikipedia articles about each author.

JotBook Free allows you to display an iPad Whiteboard on an external monitor or video out device. This will enable you to display your whiteboard notes on a larger screen. You can email your notes to your audience as well. The free version only allows 3 separate "books" with three pages each. But if you find you like it, you can upgrade to the unlimited version.

SpeakerClock helps to time your speeches, make transitions, and end on time. Speaker Clock works well with the iPhone or iPad. Consider using it with your iPhone while you're using your iPad for video presentations.  Use Speaker Clock to make sure you manage your “stage time” effectively.

Crowd sourcing through mobile audience polling devices can be used to capture opinion, generate audience analysis, and provide real-time feedback to assist in changing the course of a presentation.

About Nancy D. Butler

After building a business from scratch as a single parent with no other source of income and only $2,000 to her name, to approx. $200 million in assets under management, in 2007 Nancy sold her practice and became a national professional speaker, business coach and award-winning author. She now helps business owners do a better job for their clients and improve their bottom line and helps individuals live more successful, fulfilling lives and realize their dreams. 

Nancy has been quoted in many local and national publications including USA Today, Money Magazine, Playboy magazine, The Chicago Tribune and The Day and has been a speaker for major corporations such as Pfizer, General Dynamics and Dow Chemical. Nancy has also been a guest on several television and radio shows.

Contact Nancy for a free consultation at nbutler@aboveallelse.org.