The first time I sat in on an NSA (National Speakers Association) meeting I heard the master storyteller, Lou Heckler, speak.

I was instantly addicted.

In subsequent meetings, I heard dozens of other speakers who could hold an audience with their words and presence and elevate our spirits and our actions.

In my years since as a presentation designer (words, actions and slides) and coach I would often be asked to take an in-person, live presentation and help modify for video or online.

Online, there are many differences from in-person presentations. Some large and some subtle.

The one that trips many people up as they move online is the idea that making the same personal, human connection with your audience or viewers is almost completely nullified. Real, online connection is difficult.

Focus instead on engagement.

If you want to deliver your content, solve problems, change lives or sell stuff – think engagement.

You must keep their eyeballs on you and their screen. Not their phone, not their email and certainly not their cat.

The first tools at your disposal are to change your script and your slides to provide a stream of value that your viewers cannot afford to miss. Maybe tease them with something valuable at the end. Keep your stories short and pointed. Use the platform tools like chat, surveys, whiteboards and breakouts to move the conversation along.

Perhaps your message should be simpler and more concentrated. Your pace quick and varied.

There are dozens of ways to play this. Who knows, these skills may even translate well when we get back to speaking to a room of living, breathing people.

But for now, focus on engagement. Keep ‘em watching.

To your success,
Tom
Ready2Speak.com

P.S. I have been busy finishing my brandy-spanking new 4-Day Crash Course: How to Present Online. It is loaded with solid step-by-step strategies and techniques for building and delivering your pitch, presentation, interview, livestream, video or whatever you are doing online.

It is super cheap. Check it out at https://ready2speak.com

It will be available starting Monday, June 15^th. But if you are crazy enough to sign up now, I will give you 50% off this week only.

It will cover all sorts of cool stuff like how to get better on-camera, how to build a pro studio in your spare bedroom, how to modify your script and your slides, how to learn about your audience, even how to practice for maximum effect and become the real you. There are 5 amazing bonuses worth the price all by themselves. And there is a no-risk guarantee if you are still unsure.

Go to https://ready2speak.com and use the code 4DAY50 for your discount.

You will become an online superstar.

Way in the past, my wife and a few of our friends would gather for a game of Scrabble. We turned it into a drinking game. If you could create a definition for whatever crazy word you were attempting to put down on the board, no matter how outrageous, you got the points. We built some very unique entries.

But it was a game with no rules. Except that maybe the rule was to have a good time. And get a little sloshed.

That seems to parallel what we are in now — a game where, instead of no rules, the rules haven’t been written yet. So we are all trying to survive in a game without knowing how we should play.

This time it’s not fun. People are dying. People are scared. People are trying to get back to earning a living and put food on their table.

Yet we don’t know the real rules.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs has had the top 3 layers torn off. We are all back to survival skills. We are trying to guess what will work, what will help us get through this in a game where we don’t know the rules.

Here’s a thought. We may have to learn new skills to survive. Which ones? Where should we start? We not only don’t know — we can’t know. The rules haven’t been written yet.

Perhaps our basic abilities will help us. Flexibility. Being agile. Creative. Positive.

We are in uncharted territory. With no rules. No compass. Not even a flashlight. We just have our wits. Our grit. Our humanity.

The only way is forward. Let’s go there.

If you are like most professionals, educators or subject matter experts you have spent your life building your expertise. You may even be the best in the world.

But that may not be enough.

If you don’t effectively deliver your message to the people or organizations that can benefit from what you offer, then you are a best kept secret.

Being a best kept secret means you are laboring in obscurity, having little influence and depending on others to take the credit. You are playing small.

And you are probably not earning your worth. Not a great place to be.

To fulfill your mission you know you need to communicate.

And today, that means being online.

Capable of appearing in webinars and interviews and being the expert others look to for your special take on your world.

Or delivering lectures, talks and presentations online for organizations and associations.

You must look professional, knowledgeable and comfortable. You must deliver your wisdom effectively and powerfully. So that it changes things.

Don’t be the best kept secret in your field. Being an expert is not enough.

It’s time to get good online.

To your success,
Tom

P.S. All that blah, blah above is meant to convince you that you can turn your expertise into brilliant online presentations. And I can help. With focused one-on-one coaching we can develop your strengths, build on your weaknesses, fine-tune your message and supercharge your delivery skills.

Be the expert you have worked so hard to become — book a discovery call here. https://calendly.com/ready2speak

Our mothers always reminded us. Stand up straight and smile.

She knew the value of this simplest of facial expressions. How a smile can immediately warm up the connection between people — even strangers. As community-based animals, it is our most powerful tool.

Yet, it is often lost and we often forget to use it. Especially online.

Online is where we need it most. When we present through a camera we lose so much of the small connections we have when we are in front of live prospects or peers or any audience. We cannot afford to lose our smile.

I envy those of us who have that wonderful, engaging natural smile. It is always there. They have a special advantage in the connection arena. The rest of us miserable people have to remind ourselves to put on that happy face — when appropriate.

So when you practice (you do practice, right?) and then review, make sure you look for as natural a smile as you can muster. Try it out. Get used to it. It is a critical connection tool.

Now, go make your mama proud. (and make sure you send her flowers for Mother’s Day)

Be well my friends,
Tom

PS… Wanna chat about delivering powerful presentations online? Presentations that can help you sell more and influence more? Your survival as a communicator and business person will depend on it.

Book a 45 min. discovery call with me: https://calendly.com/ready2speak

The world needs you. Get going!

T

I am attaching a great little video my good friend and superstar speaker buddy Jennifer Kahnweiler shot a few months back where she and I discuss why introverts should push themselves a bit to become good, confident presenters at work or wherever.

She just reminded me of it and I realized it is more relevant than ever with our crazy world getting totally reorganized because of this virus thing.

If you are an introvert (and many of us are at least partly that way), then you are looking a primo opportunity right in the eyeballs. Everybody just got thrown into the deep end of the icy pool in terms of communicating online. Almost no one is good at it. (Just check out your latest team meeting on Zoom).

The bar is set super low. To stand out you just have to look a little bit more professional and a little more confident than your peers or competition and you will be the star.

You don’t have to jump around the front of the room and be Mr. Energize Guy. You can be your calm, collected, thoughtful self. Just push your comfort zone a bit, don’t wear your Superman PJs, organize your thoughts and you will blow past everyone else.

Here’s a secret — many of the world’s greatest professional speakers are actually quite introverted. They have learned to use their particular skills to become superstars.

You can do this.

Don’t let this opportunity slip away…

How Introverts Can Become GREAT public speakers

Be well my friends,
Tom

PS… Let’s talk about you and where you want to shine in this new world we are inventing. Book a 45 min. discovery call with me:  https://calendly.com/ready2speak

The world needs you. Get going!

T