There is nothing better than speaking and coaching professionals who pay for the seminar themselves, fly to another city to attend, and are in the room an hour early to network and get the seat of their choice! One of my good friends, associates, and collaborators and I have been learning from each other for years. It was exciting to see what Dan Janal had to say in this review notes to his community of loyal devotees! In case you are not familiar with Dan he is famous for getting his clients terrific results from PR.
Dan Janal’s followers always want to know where he is. This Monday he reported on our three days together. Hope you enjoy his remarks!
Dan writes “I am basking in the glow of a speaking job well done in Las Vegas at Alan Weiss’ and Patricia Fripp’s Odd Couple Seminar. How can I tell? Well, I attended Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School on Friday and spoke on Sunday by using a number of her very interesting and powerful techniques to tell stories, create content and bond with the audience. It must have worked because half the people in the room came up to me to give me their business cards – and half a dozen people left their business cards at my seat! That’s never happened before. And here’s the kicker – I didn’t try to sell anything. I just wanted to share ideas and teach them how to become thought leaders!
You can read a number of my “keepers” from Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School below.
Keepers from Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School
Points of wisdom from Patricia Fripp’s Speaking School in no particular order:
• It is better to be consistently good than occasionally great.
• Our goal is to speak to be remembered and repeated. To do that use short sentences, or speak in phrases.
• Use personal stories.
• A good speech is not a conversation, but a good speech is conversational.
• In a speech we need to be more clear and concise and uses more specific words.
For example: Not “a bunch of business cards” rather “a handful of business cards.”
• To develop content, mine your life for turning points and influences. What do your friends laugh about at the dinner table?
Review your life story, where was the conflict?
What was your decision? What did you discover? (Max Dixon’s advice)
• To emotionally connect with your audience don’t say, “I’m going to tell you.” Instead say, “You are going to learn.” Or “You will hear.” Or “You will experience.”
• Use specific words because they create pictures in a person’s mind and makes you sound more intelligent and well educated.
• Before you close review your presentation by asking a rhetorical question that relates to your central theme or what Patricia calls your premise.
• Within the presentation ask audience to summarize what ideas they have learned or been reminded of. This is called “an internal review.”
• The creative process is messy. Therefore creating a speech is a free forming process. Your PowerPoint is tidy. Develop your visuals after you have created your outline.
• The audience doesn’t know how you feel. They only know how you project. Never tell them you are nervous. Stand firm, smile, and know your opening lines cold. Make good eye contact. They will feel you are confident and so will you!
• To make your stories more powerful make sure you populate them with flesh and blood characters that the audience can relate to. Give the best lines to your characters.
• The answer to life is discipline. Patricia’s brother Robert Fripp’s aphorism is “Disciple: Not an end in itself rather a means to an end.”
Hope you enjoyed those notes.
Dan Janal helps small businesses get publicity so they can sell more products. His clients get terrific results from his coaching, consulting, done-for-you services and do-it-yourself tools. For information I highly recommend you see what Dan Janal has to offer www.prleadsplus.com or call him at 952-380-1554.
Dan Janal was one of my early mentors in understanding how to use the Internet to sell your products and services.
Watch for the announcement of when the downloads of the speaking school and Odd Couple are ready.
I enjoyed reading your article, gave much food for thought. I am a public speaker and appreciate reading what others in the same profession are saying. I’ve grabbed your feed to stay up to date with posts. Thanks a million and please keep the info flowing.