I get that imposter feeling as much as anyone else. I wonder what I know and why people are interested. I worry that the next presentation, the next article is when I'll be unmasked as just another newbie. Sometimes I think that my enthusiasm is the main reason why people listen, because they already know everything I'm saying. I hate wasting time by not adding anything new.

You might recognize these things as reasons that stop you from standing up and speaking. Before you can think of improving your presentation skills or even becoming comfortable in front of the crowd, you need to find your _why_–your reason to speak, something worth talking about.

I struggle with this every time I see a call for participation or come across a conference I want to attend. These questions are helpful:

• Who will be at the event, and who do I want to get into my session? This gives me an idea of the audience.
• What do they care about that I also care about? If I can't find something that I'm passionate about and the audience is probably interested in, then it's not worth presenting. I'd like to avoid presenting on things I don't particularly care about, and no one's going to listen if I'm passionate about something and I can't show people what's in it for them. If I can find something we all care about, though, then it's easy to go forward.
• How can I help them? What can I do to save them time or help them work more effectively? If I spent a lot of time learning about something, I can save lots of people time by summarizing what I've learned, pointing out good ways to do things, and helping people avoid the pitfalls.
• What do I want to learn more about? Teaching helps me learn something new or deepen my knowledge of something I've learned. Every presentation should stretch me at least a little, even if it covers similar ground as a previous presentation. Each presentation is a good excuse to learn. I'll often submit stretch presentations where I know maybe half of the material, and this helps me learn even more in the process of preparing the presentation.

The next time an opportunity to share comes up–a call for participation, an educational community meeting–ask yourself:

• Who will be at the event?
• What do they care about that you also care about?
• How can you help them?
• What do you want to learn more about?

Chances are that you'll find something you want to share. Good luck and have fun!

One of the best ways to keep yourself enthusiastic and engaged when you're presenting a topic that you've talked about a number of times before is to keep changing it, whether it's by tweaking the content of your presentation or opening it up for more discussion. For my four GBS Learning Week sessions on "The Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools Every IBM Consultant Should Try" (available on the IBM intranet on Pass It Along), I decided to vary the structure. The first two times I presented it, I added a new tool to the list and consolidated two other items. For the third and fourth times, I presented it as a survey or quiz instead of a straight list of recommendations.

The third and fourth times felt a lot more effective for me because the new structure made it easier for people to reflect on their current practices and see the potential benefits of these new tools and new ways of working. I made sure that the session feedback for the third and fourth sessions were kept separately, so I could look for any differences.

Then it was time to put on my (very small) stats geek hat. The quantitative feedback didn't show any statistically significant differences, which I didn't mind because my average satisfaction rating was around 3.5 out of 4 (midway between "satisfied" and "very satisfied").

How satisfied were you with this session? (4 - very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied - 1)

I got practically the same ratings for the question: How relevant was this topic to your current role and/or interest for your career development?

The comments were:

• Well done, Sacha!
• Very enthusiastic. Well done!
• Partly about saving time, partly about filling your day 24/7 with work stuff–what about downtime?
• Great job, Sacha!
• So much good stuff presented in such a short period of time! Wish we could have had a little more time to see a short practical demo of each of the 10 tools. Very well presented.
• Pretty good list of tools.
• Excellent presentation by Sacha
• Good session
• Sacha made this dull topic interesting with practical examples. Thanks.
• Very informative.
• Very informative and good info on how to find and use some great tools. Instructor made topics interesting and had a good pace (not too slow)
• Good delivery, very enthusiastic
• Enthusiastic presenter, passionate about her subject. Good approach by question and answer.
• High energy! well done
• Sacha is very enthusiastic! Great job!!! Super tips!!!
• Fantastic–Sacha is a very engaging speaker!
• Super presenter - perfect length

I also changed the follow-up strategy for the third and fourth sessions, promising to e-mail people afterwards instead of just directing them to where they can download the presentation. We'll see how well that works. I might yet see significant differences in adoption and retention. =)

Speaking of session feedback, I've been meaning to post my speech feedback from the Technical Leadership Exchange session I gave on I.B.Millennials: The Net Generation and Those Who Recruit, Hire, Manage, Work With, and Sell to Us.

NSI Rating Scale:

Excellent: 85 - 100
Good: 75 - 84
Fair: 65 - 74
Poor: 55 - 64
Severe Problem: below 55

The value of the content       
Total Responses: 43    NSI Rating: 87.21 (Excellent)   Ranking: 64 of 317
The speaker’s ability to deliver the material       
Total Responses: 42    NSI Rating: 92.86 (Excellent)   Ranking: 47 of 317
Your ability to apply what you learned       
Total Responses: 43    NSI Rating: 70.93 (Fair)   Ranking: 115 of 317
This session will help me achieve my business goals       
Total Responses: 43    NSI Rating: 63.37 (Poor)   Ranking: 164 of 317

Comments were:

• Good background of case study. Questionable general recommendations may have missed pluses and minuses.
  more statistics, Study references?
  Quite interesting for an older generation and I think more info to get and retain employees should go out to IBMers
  Sacha is a fabulous presenter and handled everything thrown at her wonderfully.
  Very touched.
  Very well spoken, excellent presenter. Great energy.
  Great dynamic speaker, interesting topic. Will check out her  blog I am sure it will be interesting and informative.

I've got the "interesting and engaging overview" part down pat, and it would be even more effective if I can directly link it to people's next actions and business goals. That particular presentation was more about talking about issues and setting the stage for a discussion rather than helping people make immediate changes in terms of recruiting/hiring/managing/collaborating with/selling to Generation Y, though, so that's understandable. Presentations like "Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools ___ Should Try" are much more focused on next actions, and those seem to be okay.

So what's the next step from here? On the "building on your strengths" side, I'm working on more visual communication. You can check out my attempts on my Slideshare page. Three of my six public presentations have been featured on Slideshare Presentation of the Day, so I must be on to something here. =) On the "shoring up your weaknesses" side, I've been thinking about presentation topics that can lead to immediate next actions. I didn't feel that "Sowing Seeds: A Technology Evangelist's Guide to Grassroots Adoption" was as effective as it could've been. Reminds me of this:

Zander goes on to say "…if the eyes are not shining you have to ask yourself a question: who am I being that my player's eyes are not shining?" This goes for our children, students, audience members, and so on. For me that's the greatest takeaway question: who am I being when I am not seeing a connection in the eyes of others?

"Benjamin Zander: Who are we being?" Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen

Kaizen: relentless improvement. I want to learn how to help people's eyes shine with possibility.

Someday I'm going to be able to speak truth like that.

I am so going to earn that massage.

I did the first set of presentations today. About thirty people attended the first session, and about fifteen people attended the second.

Back-to-back sessions are tough. I felt more comfortable with the first session because I could chat with the audience before starting. The second was a bit more difficult because I didn't want to wait too long, but that meant that people filtered in during the start of the presentation. Next time, I'm going to give myself more time between presentations so that I can grab a drink of water, chat with people, and reset myself.

Good stuff, though. I'm tempted to radically restructure the presentation as a story. Might be worth trying–and it'll be fun! I should ask the organizers if I can get the feedback forms from the first day separate from the feedback forms from the second day. After all, how many times will I get to test presentation styles with the same layout, same type of audience, same timeslot, and things like that? =)

Ooh, this will be fun.

When I plan presentations, I always start by coming up with the key message based on the objectives and the expected audience. The key message needs to be something I can explain in at most 30 seconds, and it needs to answer the audience's question: "What's in it for me?" The key message also needs to give people a way to act on that message. (Yes, even FYI presentations.) If I can't explain what I want to say in 30 seconds, I mindmap and brainstorm and turn things over until I can.

There's no point in working on the rest of the presentation until you know what you want people to take away. If you can't say what you want to say in 30 seconds, think about the topic until you understand it well enough to say it in 30 seconds. When you figure out what your 30-second pitch is, you can use that as your abstract and you can use it in networking conversations at the conference/event/wherever. Very useful.

After I determine the key message, I pick three or so supporting points. This is also where I try to find a clever navigational structure or mnemonic to help me remember my points and to help the audience remember my points. Alliteration and acronyms are my favorite tools, but I occasionally come across a good metaphor, too. If I can't find anything that fits, I try to at least get the rhythm of the words to sound right. (No, I haven't given a presentation in iambic pentameter yet - but I'm tempted to! ). A thesaurus helps me find synonyms that fit, and a dictionary (I usually use a kid's dictionary) helps me spark the creative process with random associations and browsing. (Flip it open to a random page, pick a random word, and see if that's useful.)

Resist the temptation to cram lots of points into your presentation. Find the minimum that you need to support your key message, then get those across clearly.

So there's the 30-second pitch, the supporting points can be summarized over three minutes or so, and you can wrap it up and explain the next actions in another minute. When the presentation works as a 5-minute talk, it's time to flesh it out to a 15-minute to 30-minute talk. You can do that by adding stories to the supporting points, keeping the key message in mind. Stories can take varying levels of detail, so they're pretty flexible.

To take a talk from the 30-minute mark to the 60-minute mark, add more interaction and deeper stories. Good interaction tends to require a longer presentation slot because you need some time for people to shift into discussion mode (and you have to be comfortable with silences), and you don't want to cut discussions off too early. If you're doing interaction, don't make question-and-answer the end of your presentation. Move question-and-answer into your presentation, then take advantage of the opportunity to summarize both your presentation and the discussion with a strong ending, emphasizing the next steps.

Longer timeslots such as 1.5 hours or 4 hours or even days need to be broken up with more interaction and variety. From my university classes (both attending and teaching), I learned that attention tends to flag after about 20 minutes. Mix things up and give people time to process the information. (And to stretch!) Resist the temptation to structure your presentation as one loooong presentation. Break your presentation up into more presentations, because it's important for people to have review and closure.

In this approach, you're building up from the core message. As long as you can make that point, you don't have to worry about leaving material out. If you don't overload your slides, you can quietly trim material in order to accommodate a particularly good discussion (or a long rant about something else) and people won't feel cheated. =) If you find out that you have to talk for longer than expected (say, the next speaker is having technical difficulties), then add more detail or more stories or more interaction. If you find out that you have to talk for shorter than expected (say, the previous speaker had technical difficulties ), focus on the key message and the supporting points.

Try it out for your next presentation. Start with your 30-second pitch, then build on it. When you get used to adjusting the timing on the fly, you'll always be able to end on time.

I don't know exactly why I started telling stories instead of listing bullet points. Maybe it was because of the never-ending march of bullet-ridden presentations. Maybe it was because I kept skimming through business books that were all numbers or pithy sayings without anecdotes to make those statements come alive. Maybe it was because I watched terrific presentations highlighted on the Presentation Zen blog. Maybe it was because of the books I read about telling success stories to deepen your relationships with people, influencing change through story-telling, and telling effective stories. Whatever it was, I started collecting stories and sharing my own.

I'd taken up writing flash fiction (really short stories, typically 55 words long) in 2005, and that turned out to be surprisingly useful. Reading other people's flash fiction stories taught me that you could tell a story with conflict and character development in a paragraph or two, and that it was fun keeping an eye out for story material. I had originally gotten interested in flash fiction because it felt like a code optimization challenge, and because the stories were short enough for me to write during lunch or a subway ride, on pieces of paper or even on my cellphone. I never felt particularly literary (and in fact had gotten Ds in my English classes in university for lack of effort), but finding and telling stories (or in this case, making them up!) turned out to be a lot of fun.

So when I came across the business applications of storytelling–from social networking to influencing technology adoption–and I saw how it dovetailed with my passions, I jumped right into it. I started collecting stories. For example, I started my master's research by collecting stories about how people used Dogear (an enterprise social bookmarking system by IBM) so that I could figure out how people were using it in their work and how they could use it even more effectively. I collected stories to help me not only convince people to try out new tools but also give them models to follow and people they could relate to. I also told stories about what I was doing and how I was doing it, and that helped me get to know a lot of people as well. Besides, I love "catching other people doing well"–telling other people's success stories, especially when they don't realize they're doing well.

The results? People act on what I share. They make my stories their own. Not only that, people also tell me that they enjoy my presentations and that my enthusiasm is contagious. Giving presentations - telling stories, having conversations - has become a lot more fun.

How do I find stories? I keep an eye out for things that happen in real life, like this conversation I had with J-. There's a seed of a story in there, and by telling part of the story, I make it easier to remember later on. I also enjoy reading people's blogs, because they tell stories from their experiences as well. I read a lot - it certainly helps to have a public library within walking distance. Whenever I come across a particularly good story in any of these sources, I write it down, I bookmark it, I add it to my notes. When I work on presentations, I've got a general idea of relevant stories that I've come across, and then I use my notes to look up the details.

For example, I was preparing a presentation about University Relations and the Net generation. I didn't want it to be a boring list of bullet points or advice. I could've rehashed the presentation I gave at the Technical Leadership Exchange, but I wanted to make the most of my opportunity to speak with a group that could really make the most of Web 2.0. I remembered that some months ago, I had come across a terrific internal blog post about how a demonstration of IBM's internal social tools got an audience of university students really interested. I had bookmarked it as a story about Web 2.0 and recruiting, knowing that it would be useful someday. Well, that someday had come! I checked my bookmarks, went back to the blog post, refreshed my memory, and added it to my presentation. I'm sure that the story will make my point more effectively than a list of bullet points.

How can you get started with storytelling? Keep an eye out for story material. Develop a system for filing those stories so that you can find them again when you need them. Tell stories. I've linked to some of my favorite books in this post - check them out for more tips. Storytelling is effective and fun. Enjoy!

Here are a couple of stories from the presentation.

Oooh, shiny

With only thirty minutes on the clock, the presentation was going to be fast-paced, and I had to have some way to keep track of what slide I was on. I considered standing near my laptop, but I nixed that because I'd have an even tougher time connecting with people behind such a massive podium. I didn't want to constantly look behind and up at the two projected screens a few feet above my head. Running through the slides in my head, I walked to the center of the stage. As my eyes drifted upwards, I caught a glimpse of something shiny.

Oooh, shiny.

The control room at the back of the amphitheatre was separated from the auditorium by a large one-way mirror, which was reflecting all that light. The mirror just the correct angle for me to see it–and was that a backwards image of my slides?

I hadn't noticed that the last time I gave a speech in the same amphitheatre. Nifty.

Thanks to a childhood spent reading everything and everywhere I could, I had picked up the ability to quickly read backwards. My slides were easy to distinguish even when flipped horizontally. I grinned and returned to my seat in the audience, looking forward to giving my totally small-scale "confidence monitor" a try.

After Julie Waterhouse introduced me, I launched into a whirlwind tour of the top 10 Web 2.0 tools the audience should try. I found it easy to make eye contact while avoiding the microphone feedback zones and occasionally glancing at the reflection to make sure I was flipping to the right page. It was like my keynote segment to 700 people using the Hilton Toronto's snazzy audio/visual setup. No, this amphitheatre was better. The Hilton's LCD panel had been in the lower left corner of my vision, and I had caught myself glancing to the side to see it. Here, the mirror was in the center of the back wall of the amphitheatre, slightly above the audience's heads, and visible anywhere I looked.

Now I'm wondering how I can set up a mirror like that in less-equipped rooms. A full-length mirror wouldn't be portable, but maybe a small mirror set up at the appropriate distance would work. I'm not talking about a double-mirror clamped to the podium, though–I really don't like standing behind podiums! Maybe a convex mirror like those car rear-view mirrors? Will the image be too distorted? Maybe I can make a totally small-scale confidence monitor. Hmm…

Reaching the Back Row

I wasn't quite sure if I had effectively reached people today. I felt that I was cramming too many words into too short a time. (If I'm going to do this again in 30 minutes, I'll probably focus on just 5 tools!) I made a few jokes, got a few chuckles, got plenty of nods of recognitions at the problems and pain points I described… but I didn't have time to turn it into the kind of open, interactive presentation I love. When I gave a similar presentation at another conference, the other tools that people shared during the discussion gave me plenty of material for follow-up posts. Due to today's time constraints, I didn't get to open it up, so I ended up doing all the talking. (Pity! I would've loved to find out what was on people's shortlists of tools.)

But people enjoyed it, and I think I convinced a few people to give some of those tools a try. =) I wish I could've stayed for the networking events, but I needed to hitch a ride back home for some other stuff. When I got home and reconnected to the intranet, I noticed that a manager had left a comment on my presentation. He mentioned that he had sat in the back row and that he really enjoyed my presentation and my contagious enthusiasm. If I can reach someone in the back row with my passion, I must be doing something right! =)

1. Chat with people before the presentation starts so that you can make personal connections and find out what people are interested in.

2. Always treat it as a dialogue.

3. Turn your presentation into a conversation and learn something new from your audience.

Stage fright - everybody has it

I had one hour left before my presentation at the IBM Regional Technical Exchange in Markham. I couldn't shake off my anxiety. The words felt heavy in my mouth, and my voice felt strained. The new stories I wanted to add didn't quite blend in with everything else. My phrasing was off. My energy was off, too–I was having a hard time making the shift from the morning's introverted-programming mode to the high-energy presentation mode I needed for the afternoon.

I headed over to the refreshments table to make myself a cup of mint tea, snagging a couple of chocolate-macadamia cookies along the way. I was savoring the chewy chocolate cookie when another IBMer walked up to me. She asked if I was anxious about my upcoming talk, and she said that she could never eat when she was nervous. I told her that a couple of cookies are remarkably effective at reducing stress. After my headless chicken impression at the IBM Web 2.0 Summit, I went so far as to pour milk into a glass and dunk cookies into it. (That worked. It's important to know what works for you.) We chatted briefly about the talk and about some other matters, and she wished me luck on the presentation. I felt my mood start to lift.

By the time I finished my tea and munched through the second cookie, I was ready to set up the room. I plugged in my power supply, fiddled with the video settings, and tested the color scheme (no reds) and all the slides (legible). These little routines help me get into presentation mode.

(Yes, everyone gets stage fright. I think mine comes from the idea that so many people are trusting me with their time! Mine goes away when I start sharing my energy with people and people give it right back (in a good way). Neither my level of preparation nor the aesthetics of my slides matter, although having slides that make me happy helps. Nope, my stage fright depends on whether people in the audience are getting a good deal for their time. =) )

Chat with people

One of the key things that helped me tap presentation energy was chatting with the people waiting for the presentation to start. I really appreciated how people came up to me and wished me luck, or let me engage them in conversation–that helped me calm my stage fright. I made sure to ask a number of people throughout the room what they were interested in. I figured that if I could make those people happy, then I'd probably stand a good chance of making most people in the room happy. If people were interested in the session, then by golly, I was interested in it too! Hearing what a few people were interested in allowed me to see the hundred-something people as individuals and to talk about things in a way that felt (to me, at least) as if I was having a regular conversation (in which I'd feel comfortable making all these side comments). Establishing that initial contact with people throughout the room helped me remember to make eye contact and to talk about different perspectives. After all, you can't talk to only the front row after you've met some people in the back row who are curious about what you want to say. And did I mention that talking to people helped me handle my stage fright?

So the next time you give a presentation, get your setup time out of the way, and spend the rest of the time talking to people who have made an effort to be there early. They'll give you plenty of ideas, encouragement, and energy, and if you can engage them, you can spread that energy to other people.

Always treat it as a dialogue

Interaction is what makes an real-time presentation different from a recording. The presentation starts off with the energy you bring and the curiosity that people in the audience bring, and it takes shape as people interact with it. When people take the time to attend your presentation in person, give back to them by involving them in it. When you have the ability to see people's reactions or even engage them in conversation, listen to those people throughout your presentation. You are always in a dialogue, even if you're doing most of the talking.

How do you do this? You can use the same skills and instincts you use when talking to people one on one. You know how you can tell when someone's interested or someone's losing focus, even if they aren't saying anything? If you focus on presenting to one person at a time, you can listen and adapt just as instinctively, and you'll talk more naturally too. Just remember that there are lots of other people in the room, so talk to them too. If you're facing a big audience and you can't see people, you'll have to imagine them. Talk to people before your presentation so that you can go into your presentation with a sense of real people in the audience.

Turn your presentation into a conversation

Another thing that makes me excited about presentations is that I know I'm going to learn something new. I love including a lot of discussion in my presentations, and I'm always amazed by what people share. For example, terrific issues and insights came from the audience today. (I've got to retell some of those stories!) So I'm not an expert passing on knowledge, but rather as a facilitator who sets the stage and gets the conversation going. When I give larger, less interactive presentations (like that blue horizon 2008 keynote to around seven hundred people!), I like thinking about the internal dialogue people are having with me, even if they can't raise their hands and share what they're thinking with everyone else.

Next time you plan a presentation, try adding more dialogue. You need energy and openness in the room to get this going. People need to want to add something, see that they have something to add, and feel that you're open to it (and you'll manage the time and the rest of the discussion as necessary). It really helps to have some friendly faces who will take pity on you and jumpstart the conversation if needed. =) Have some backup questions based on what other people might ask you, and feel free to ask the audience questions as well. Most speakers are unnerved by silence (trust me, three seconds of quiet feels like an awfully long time!), but you need to give people time to understand what you've said and to think about what they want to say. A teaching tip I picked up before is to count to seven (silently) instead of moving on after just a few seconds. That seven-second gap helps people shift from listening mode to interacting mode, and if you can get people to share, your presentation will really sparkle.

So here are those quick tips again:

1. Chat with people before the presentation starts so that you can make personal connections and find out what people are interested in.

2. You're always in a dialogue. Listen.

3. Turn your presentation into a conversation and learn something new from your audience.

And don't forget to have fun! =)

I just got back from a presentation I gave to the Concordia University Alumni Association on blogging your way out of a job into a career. My voice is a little hoarse and my feet are slowly getting reacquainted with the ground. No, seriously–I must remember not to wear those heels to presentations. But I really enjoyed sharing those stories and tips, and I'm glad that people found the presentation not only informative but also entertaining.

What did I do well?

The combination of blogging, social networking, writing, and self-development in a single talk made this one really pop with passion. I love sharing my experiences and tips on social media because I can't wait to see what other people will do with it, and if there's anything I can do to help them get over that rut, that's awesome! This passion and all the practice I've had talking about these topics made it really easy to get up there and focus on making a connection.

I used the rule of three all over the place: passion, skills, and network; "I don't know what to do, I don't have the time, I don't know who'll read it;" remember, reflect, reach out; start a blog, share regularly, reach out. This fractal structure helped me prepare the presentation (not too long, not too short), remember what I was going to say, and show some semblance of order in the presentation.

I put in some effort and a few dollars into visually fixing up this presentation with stock illustrations from stockxpert.com. Most of my presentations have been plain text (white on a black background, usually), but I felt like giving graphics a try. The coordinated graphics I use helped make my presentation feel more fun for me. Practice will help me get better and better at communicating visually as well as verbally…

I rehearsed the entire talk while reading my speaker notes, recording it as an MP3. I looped over this recording during my commute today. This helped keep the topics in my mind. I also printed out a few pages of slide handouts (9 slides per page) to visually anchor my talk as I rehearsed it mentally. During the actual presentation, this practice helped me remember the key points I wanted to make for each slide. Giving myself permission to say things differently helped me not only avoid anxiety (which would have made it even harder to remember what I wanted to say!) but also work within that flexible framework to match the interest of the audience.

I built interactivity into the talk, with two networking breaks and a number of shows of hands. One of the things I love about speaking to a small audience is the challenge and experience of listening while I'm talking. I'm not always good at this. My own enthusiasm sometimes makes it hard for me to slow down! But the physical experience of listening to people's eyes, people's postures, people's smiles, feeling that itch in my hands and in my bones as I find myself attuned to their energy… Wow.

What can I do better next time? (Yes, see, I really do this!)

The key thing that will make this even better would be to make sure someone else is in charge of recording. You know, someone who'll remember to bring fresh batteries instead of dead ones, someone who'll remember to actually start the voice recorder, someone who'll get all of that sorted out. When I'm out there, I'm just too caught up in the moment, in the opportunity to connect with people,

I could use some more planning. I'm glad that people felt comfortable asking me questions throughout the presentation. I completely forgot about defining what a blog is in the first place, silly me, and other things like that which I inevitably discover right after the projector's turned off. Such is life. Next time, I'll try listening to my recording with my newbie hat firmly on.

And I should probably bring along a fishbowl and collect people's business cards or e-mail addresses so that I can make it easier to keep in touch after the talk! =)

I'll need to work extra hard to balance all these conferences with paying work, and to show the business value of all of that. It's a bit of a challenge in the consulting world where we're supposed to maximize our utilization, but maybe it will work out well.

To help keep track of all the conferences, articles, and other significant events on my horizon, I've added an upcoming events widget below the calendar on my blog. I used MagpieRSS and PHP to read the XML file from Google Calendar, and I did a little regular expression magic to get just the dates and locations. Maybe you'll find it useful too!

Business responsibilities come first. If my clients aren't happy, I may just have to pull out of some of the conferences. I think everything will work out, though, and the conferences will help me bring even more value to my client work!

Does the thought of speaking in public make you anxious? Want some tips on how to deal with the butterflies in your stomach? Come to the Toast I.T. Toastmasters Open House on Oct 10, 2006 for a fun, informative session!

I'm giving one of the Toastmasters International educational modules called "Taking the Terror out of Talk". It will be part of the 229th meeting of Toast I.T. Toastmasters, so you'll also get to see a little bit of what Toastmasters is like.

This is free, so come on over!

Toast I.T. Toastmasters
Metro Hall
55 John Street, Toronto, Ontario (map)
Oct 10, 2006 (Tuesday)
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

(And even if you're a polished public speaker, come anyway to show support and share tips! ;) )

Photo credit: Cherie, Creative Commons Attribution License, from Flickr.

On Technorati: toastit, toastmasters, speaking

My accent grows thicker the longer I stay here—or is it just that I notice it more? I pause more, gesture more, stumble over words more than I remember doing. And yes, from time to time, I say things that people don't understand until I repeat myself or spell things out. It distracts them from what I'm trying to say. (Although it does show that they're paying attention! =) )

One way to deal with this is to learn the phonetic alphabet and read the dictionary. Computer-based dictionaries tend to not have pronunciation guides. Web-based ones don't let me flip through them for random words, although I think I should scale back on that a bit and focus more on great combinations of words. I sound too bookish already.

The best thing to do, I suppose, is to listen. I need to listen to more things. I need to listen to people with wide vocabularies and well-expressed thoughts. I really should format that iPod or do some other magic so that I can connect it to my laptop and make the most of it.

I need to be exposed to the sound of other people's voices. My media diet is almost entirely print and web. I don't watch television, and I hardly listen to the radio. I should fix that at least with audiobooks and podcasts.

And maybe I can pay more attention to the experience created by sound... It takes a certain skill to form sentences that sound good. I should learn that. It'll be fun. =) Right, there's something I need to work on.

On Technorati: communication, speech, speaking

Today I also have a chance to watch Take the Lead for free. Well, nearly free. TTC fare round-trip. Whatever. Antonio Banderas! Ballroom dance plus hip-hop moves! Antonio Banderas! Dancing!

_ARGH!_

Decisions, decisions. I'm the only person who's even somewhat prepared to represent my club at the speech contest, as no one else volunteered for the thing. If other people are bad (unlikely!), I might even win and go on to the district conference, etc. Even if I don't win, though, I'll have a chance to listen to other speakers and learn a little bit more about style and technique.

From the take-the-first-circus perspective, Toastmasters wins hands down. This particular contest will occur only once. I can always watch the movie when it comes out in the cinema or six months from now during some Graduate House movie night. I'll probably end up watching it by myself. It's one of those cheesy feel-good movies that my guy friends would probably not be caught watching.

But I'm _still_ going to wish the two events were on different days, and I'm still going to hate performing. I'm not excited about this contest. I'll just to have to grit my teeth and turn up the energy. I'll go to the contest, give my speech, listen to other people's speeches, and maybe learn a lot about what I like and don't like.

The last contest wasn't that much fun, either. I joined the humorous speech contest six months ago. The first speech relied on scatological humor, which was a bit crass. My speech was so-so, although I got a few laughs. I didn't really find the last speech funny, but it was more of a speech - used more of the techniques, had more special effects.

I know competitions are nice for forcing myself to grow. I learned so much because of my programming competitions. In terms of speaking, though, I much prefer listening to and interacting with the speakers I meet at conferences. I don't like competing head-on with people. I'd rather measure myself against a standard, competing against myself to get better.

I'm just not excited about my upcoming speech. Come to think of it, I'm not that excited about learning from the other speakers, either, not if the speech quality's like the last contest.

I had drafted talks for all sorts of things: lifehacking, the Philippines, even the weather. None of them seemed to fit. Then Pierre Duez of IBM CAS suggested that I talk about pets. Come to think of it, he may have been joking. Anyway, I told myself, it's the ice breaker. They don't mind non-serious topics. They want to get to know who I am.

Right. I could get away with a story about my cat. I threw together the talk in the corridor. I knew I could tell plenty of stories about Neko, who's quite a character. I picked a couple, came up with a nice beginning and a nice ending, and went for the thing.

I had so much fun bringing a few laughs from my seasoned audience. They weren't belly laughs or anything, probably just I-know-what-you're-talking-about laughs. But that was good. I wasn't sure how reactive people were because the past few talks were mostly serious, but it was fun.

It was my first time with a U-shaped arrangement. I don't like having anything between me and my audience. I stepped in front of the lectern, but I didn't know what to do about the hulking large projector in the middle of the room. I ended up going in front of it, which cut off eye contact with the people on the ends of the U. Doug Vowles suggested that I move all the stuff out of the way next time. I still have to figure out how to properly do blocking for U-style arrangements.

I remember how the all-around stage we performed Junto al Pasig was an interesting blocking challenge in grade 4. I should read up on theatrical blocking for plays in the round, and maybe ask Tita Naty and Mrs. Castillo as well...

I also need more lead-up to the punchline. I told them about ensuring my cat's safety in the household by telling my parents I'll petition my cat and my cat can petition them. ;) That went by too quickly because I was already overtime. Hmm, must work on my timing.

I say "like" way too much. Must work on my filler words next time.

I also need to work on my resonance. (Err, must find out what they mean by that, too. Yes, voice. But how?)

Whee... =D

On Technorati: toastmasters, speaking

I have no idea why people thought that was the best table topics speech. But hey, I love speaking, and I'll do it at the drop of a hat... <laugh>

My icebreaker speech is coming up next week. I'm going to have so much fun preparing for it! =)

On Technorati: speaking, toastmasters

For the table topics game, we had one minute to prepare and one minute to present. Topics were randomly drawn from an envelope, and people could pass if they wanted to. Everyone would vote, and the winner would have the privilege of keeping the club trophy/mascot for the meeting.

Tonight's topic: superpowers.

The table topics master started the game going. His superpowers were encyclopedic knowledge and lightning-fast computation, and he made us laugh by pointing out all of the everyday things that such superpowers would solve. At what point does buying a transit pass make more sense than buying tickets individually? How much would you need to pay for gas in order to get somewhere? How much would you have to pay in taxes? I'm sure he was thinking on his feet, but he was thinking so quickly that the words flowed as smoothly as in any well-prepared speech.

The group was surprised when I chose to rise to the challenge of public speaking. I guess most guests are terrified of speaking in front of a crowd of strangers. My superpower was the ability to win beauty contests. I wracked my brain for a good use for that and I couldn't find any, but here's sorta what I came up with: (can't remember that clearly)

I'm five feet one-fourth inch tall—and that one-fourth inch is very important, mind you. I have glasses and pimples. But it doesn't matter, because I've got a superpower. I can win any beauty contest I want. (pause) Who'd have figured? I love using my superpower to make a point... and it certainly helps me promote my projects!

Back in the Philippines, there was an IT pageant. A search for role models. (pause) The application asked for, of all things, bust size, waist and hip measurements. (pause and shrug) With my A-cup, my waist—let's not even talk about my hips—I could go right in there, win the thing... and _then_ show them that it's not how you look but what you _do_ that counts.

Much fun. =)

There was a girl who could catch and control fire, a guy who could produce gadgets from somewhere, an old man who said that a forcefield would be incredibly useful for deflecting the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes—or rotten tomatoes and lettuces from other Toastmasters on the occasion of a really bad speech...

Good stuff! I voted for the forcefield guy because he was funny. =) The sergeant-at-arms was happy to announce that someone had won by a landslide...

... but not as happy as I was. ;) Well, that made my day. I can't wait to go to the next one!

私は父からコンピューターゲームがあたえられた。 I was given a computer game by my father.

On Technorati: toastmasters, speaking

I WANT TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER.

I love sharing ideas with people. I love bringing my enthusiasm and my passion to a hall and infecting as many people as I can. I love learning about presentation techniques and fascinating ideas. I love getting people to think. Besides, speaking is a great way to get to meet other fascinating people. I've made friends and learned about opportunities at post-conference dinners.

I love attending workshops and conferences, even for things that I don't immediately need. My conference notes focus more on speakers' delivery styles than actual technical content. My books aren't about programming in Java or writing HTML, but business and public speaking.

I love the challenge of providing value to a whole hall of people. As a wet-behind-the-ears teacher, I've presented alternative teaching techniques in front of veteran educators. I've talked about technology in front of students and professionals. I've survived the scrutiny of a college classroom.

I've had my bad days. Unresponsive audiences. Technical problems. Lackluster content. All of those things just keep pushing me to learn more, practice more, be better.

I've been giving presentations for four years. I've turned talks into articles and blog posts into presentations. I want to learn more. I want to entertain people the way Dean Alfar made hundreds of people laugh during the iblog.ph summit. I want to teach and inspire people the way Zig Ziglar and other business speakers do.

I want to share what other people and I have learned. I want to talk about education. Productivity. Technology. I want to raise questions. I want to provoke thought and action.

I can learn by watching people at conferences. I can learn by listening to audiobooks. I can learn by reading transcripts, artciles and books. But if I could find someone to mentor me, who knows how much faster I'll learn and how much more value I can give right away?

Who are the best speakers you know? Would they be willing to mentor a geek more than willing to swap technical knowhow for presentation mentoring?

そのコンピュータは大変役にたった。 The computer was very useful.

Renan says:

there's always the toastmaster's club. there should be one in the philippines; since you're moving to canada, there should be one too. find one that suites your needs. some are topical; for example, some talk of nothing but politics, others are free-form and tackle whatever topic the member brings in. i attended a couple of these, and it did help. bucause of schedule conflict, though, i had to quit.

it toastmaster's international (toastmasters.org) is not for you, there's always the speech class. i have a friend who was a communications major in college and he told me they had a class on public speaking where each one of them give a speech on different topics—-impromptu, extemporaneous, a eulogy, acceptance speech, etc.

of course, as you said, you can learn a lot by listening to people, especially charismatic speakers, and learn about the psychology of it.

On Technorati: speaking, toastmasters