How To Get YOUR 15 Minutes Of Fame (Speak for Yourself - Richard Denny)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Speak for Yourself - Richard Denny
Date:	25/01/02 (147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, Loads of practical tips

Disadvantages: You may not want to speak in public

One of the most intimidating things that most people encounter in their lives is public speaking. The very thought of standing in front of an audience is enough to turn the strongest of characters to jelly. The good news is that there are ways to overcome this debilitation and that’s what I want to talk to you about now.

***Where am I coming from on this?***
Sadly, I had rather a problematic upbringing, which I won’t go into here. This meant that when it came to going into the big, bad world of work I arrived with all the self confidence of a mouse that’s had its holiday lodgings confirmed as Fat Tom’s Cattery. In terms of public speaking, school simply didn’t help. There were few opportunities to present to groups and those rare occasions that did occur were usually situations to be feared. The culture didn’t support this sort of thing in my day. Present day, things are very different with US style parallels present through projects like "show and tell" where children talk about a chosen subject in front of their fellow pupils.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the people that get on in the world are those that know how to present effectively. This soon became apparent in my job and was a real problem for me for a number of years. I remember going on a management assessment board at which I had to do a presentation to a group of assessors. The whole of the 5 minutes consisted of me reading from cards whilst never once looking up to glance at my onlookers. Needless to say, I didn’t get a high score!

***Why are folks scared?***
Essentially, we are basic creatures with basic instincts. There is a primeval reaction in us called "fight or flight" that is a throwback to the days when we needed to be more alert. This basic survival instinct was a way of dealing with being threatened by wild animals and other aggressors. In these situations, the brain would stimul
ate a chemical reaction that triggered a release of adrenaline designed to speed the body’s reaction and aid a rapid flight from danger. Relating this to a presentation, these feelings manifest themselves as a quickening of the heartbeat, rapid pulse, faster breathing and increased perspiratory activity that can lead to sweating brows or clammy hands.

Modern management philosophy now talks about comfort zones and this provides a key to the solution. For those that haven’t come across it yet, we are meant to operate in one of 3 zones – comfort zone, challenge zone or panic zone. If the comfort zone is the centre of 3 concentric circles radiating outwards then the panic zone is the furthermost. The trick is to get from the comfort zone in which you do things almost automatically to the challenge zone in which your abilities are stretched without slipping into the panic zone where you are out of control.

Worth a mention here is how we arrive at decisions. Basically, decisions are either programmed or non-programmed. Programmed will be one’s we are comfortable with as we can use previous experience of that situation to arrive at a conclusion. Akin to the challenge/panic zones, non-programmed decisions are situations faced where no prior experience exists. For example, the first time that you ever get on a train all sorts of insecurities will spring up. "Is this the right train?" "Shall I ask someone?" and so on may lead to a state of anxiety. By converting non-programmed decisions into programmed then we build up a bank of knowledge that helps to cope with future events.

Public speaking can be seen as operating in the panic zone and may be due to the decisions involved being based on non-programmed criteria. Put more simply, you may be put in a situation that is totally alien and with a lack of experience to draw on can result in total fear and potential paralysis.

So how do you get *Andy Wa
rhol’s 15 minutes of fame? Well, go and buy "Speak For Yourself" by Richard Denny. It won’t solve your problem overnight but it will give you a great start

***The author***
Richard Denny is a recognised authority on sales management training and personal development. He started out in agriculture but discovered that he had panache for public speaking. He soon diversified into selling and marketing various products. He is now the chairman of his own group of companies, which produce a raft of management training material. He is considered to be an inspirational speaker with the power to motivate through his presenting skills.

***The book***
It’s only 128 pages and is written in an interactive style with plenty of opportunities to check your progress. With only 12 chapters it is possible to give a brief outline of each one.

1 Sell your speech
This gives the background to speaking and really drills down into the fundamentals that go into it. Written in an easy to understand and, at times, witty style you’ll soon find yourself whizzing through the pages. A basic tenet of this chapter is that all speaking is selling and the case is made in a powerful manner with lots of examples from everyday life e.g. wedding speeches. Each chapter concludes with a pocket reminder covering the key points.

2 Mastering nervous tension
A big issue for most folks, this section helps you to understand the reasons why you feel nervous and moves on to methods used to overcome them. The suggestions are both practical and simple to use e.g. breathing techniques, physical exercise and do’s and don’ts about alcohol.

3 Preparation
Written in stages, this gives the reader a route map to take when preparing your speech. From stage 1 – preparing a file – to stage 6 – practice – you’re given the basics needed to prepare the groundwork. As Dale Carnegie once said &
quot;Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident".

4 Content
Included are some great tips on things like how to attract attention, using visual aids and even using humorous stories. These help to create the main bulk of your presentation. A number of techniques are covered such as making a desire statement and using extraordinary facts.

5 Holding attention
Not always easy bearing in mind the average attention span is 20 minutes. Handy hints include how to project enthusiasm, removing negative thoughts and regaining attention. Case studies are included with instances that Denny has observed. Example 1 tells the tale of how one speaker knocked his flip chart and easel over and how he dealt with it.

6 Prepare yourself
Great advice on how to make sure your physical appearance is at it’s best in order to project the right image. There’s nothing worse than what appears to be somebody that’s just clambered off a park bench turning up to present. It’s kind of hard to win your audience’s respect.

7 Delivery
The life force of your speech is put under the microscope and the breakdown of key stages will help provide the dynamo for an engaging presentation. Sections on eye contact and pace are just 2 of the areas covered. Often overlooked, even the use of silence is reviewed which can form a powerful part of any set.

8 Avoiding bad habits
Key crater holes to avoid including some fascinating reflections on the use of inappropriate jokes, use of jargon etc combine to make an interesting section. Again, real life cases are included such as the time a friend of Denny’s used an amusing, philosophical Jewish story only to alienate his audience which included Jewish people.

9 Developing good habits
The anti-thesis of the last chapter includes how to use empathy, the importance of timekeeping and so on. Suggested best practices like the use of the word "tr
ue", how an accent can impact on your speech and keeping speeches for future referral come together to form a sound section that will prove invaluable.

10 Questions
The potential trip wire in any presentation is dealt with including taking questions from the audience, what to do if you don’t know the answer to a question and even handling hecklers. The key is to maintain control of the situation and Denny gives a number of pointers that help to do just that.

11 Function speaking
Maybe beyond most of us but tips for the accomplished speaker who attends formal functions.

12 Visual aids
This is dedicated to those physical factors that can be overlooked. For example, microphones, overhead projectors and so on.

There is a final checklist, which is designed to be used as a tick box check to validate your last presentation.

***In summary***
For those still awake at the end of this presentation then possibly the most inspirational part of the book is actually the introduction. Denny explains how he had the same fears of speaking in public as everyone else and how he overcame them. What most people fail to realise is that public speaking is a skill to be worked at. Few, if any, are born with the natural ability to just stand and speak to an audience without first having some sort of training.

I keep this book with me always. It doesn’t take long to read and, having played a big part in my overcoming my fears; it also tops up my confidence when called for. I haven’t got a fear of public speaking now although I would still be pushed if asked to present to a room with 200 people in it. In fact, this did happen to me 18 months ago. All of the inhibitions from before came rushing back as I took the lectern when I was my time to speak. I managed to control my nerves and deliver the few words called for. At least now I’ve got the experience to help me if this situation arises again (a
non-programmed decision becoming a programmed?).

If you are considering any aspect of speaking to an audience I would strongly recommend this book. It can be obtained through Amazon.com and WH Smiths.co.uk for £9.99. More information about Richard Denny is available at denny.co.uk

Good luck and thanks for reading.

Marandina

*More info about Andy Warhol can be found at warholfoundation.org. Andy Warhol is probably the most famous of all contemporary artists and associated with the saying "Everyone is entitled to 15 minutes of fame". Whether he actually said it I’m not entirely sure.

ISBN 0 – 7494 – 0964 – 9.

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