At a party a woman was asked if she had ever had her ears pierced. “No” she replied, “but I’ve had them bored.”
The worst sin you can commit as a presenter is to be a bore!!! Add zealousness to your speeches.
The audience is giving you their time, their attention. You owe it to them to be as entertaining as possible. I like the term “EDUTAIN” coined by a trainer in a Fred Pryor seminar. I believe we are in the business of “edutaining.”
Offer good edutainment, be zealous, and you increase your blue-book value as a speaker, a trainer, – as an employee or employer. Now THAT is something to be zealous about!
There are many ways to add color, appeal, persuasiveness, engagement and zealousnessment to your speeches. “Edutainment” to your presentations, as I like to call it. Some of these have been discussed in other sections of this site:
- Epigrams
- Aphorisms
- Quotes
- Facts
- Stories
- Statistics
- Vocal Variety/Rhythm
- Music
- Visuals
- Humor
- Games
- Analogies
- Questions
- Puzzles
- Illustrations
- Contrasts
Another crowd-pleaser is audience rewards, such as candy, success stickers, or merchandise. Do a Google search for promotional items whereby you can personalize your goodies. They add zealousness to your speeches.
Sound Effects and Music
Another way to add zealousness to your speeches is by using music and sound effects to enhance PowerPoint slides or underscore your speech.
Wayne Choate, a Toastmasters accredited speaker, often ends his keynote with background music while he recites a meaningful poem. Very powerful. There are many royalty-free music sites where you can purchase and download music tracks to add to your presentations. Adding a zealous element like music to your presentation can make it unforgettable, and giving an unforgettable presentation is PRICELESS!
I think the master of this technique, as well as the effective use of visuals, is Steve Jobs. If you want a good read and never again give a boring presentation, I highly recommend The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
Learn by observing and studying from other zealous presenters
I recently attended Craig Duswalt’s Rockstar System for Success program and was delighted in Craig’s high-energy, participatory, FUN style of teaching us how to achieve Rockstar status in our chosen field.
Another extraordinarily zealous presenter (and Intenet Marketing multi-millionaire) is Tom Antion. He was so successful as a speaker he couldn’t keep up with the demand from others to teach them his secrets. So he decided to put his speaking system on the internet and the rest is history.
Of course, one of the most powerful and influential speakers is Anthony Robbins. Talk about zealousness!
Craig Duswalt, Tom Antion, Steve Jobs and the influential speakers in American History! There are many speakers and presenters to emulate!
ZEALOUSNESS WINS OUT – BY TOM ANTION
I was hired to critique and improve the sales presentation of program staff working for the government. The audience was nearly asleep from the boring presentations. I had been watching one particular presenter before his segment, and I was thinking to myself, “I’m going to have to tear this guy up on his evaluations.” He was poorly groomed, including big dandruff flakes on his poorly fitting sports jacket. His tie was hanging out over the top of his jacket button. His pants were way too short – I mean WAY too short. He appeared to be just a goober of a guy. When it was his turn to present his boring legislative issues topic, I got the shock of my life. He virtually flew up on the stage. He was running around like Groucho Marx. He was spouting off facts and figures. He made a perfect ad-lib when the electrically operated overhead screen started to go up by itself. The audience woke up and they were laughing and learning from this man. He actually got applause in a meeting that wasn’t even a setting where applause would be appropriate.
From this experience I learned the value of enthusiasm. This man-made almost every technical error a presenter could make, but I gave him the highest evaluation of all the other presenters. If you are ultimately enthusiastic about your topic and let it show, many of your errors will go noticed. Your enthusiasm can make or break your overall performance.
