It has been said, that if you want to upset a room full of people very quickly, talk about religion, politics or sex.

Relax. I’m not going to talk about any of these subjects. In fact if you ever see an advertisement where I am the expert on these topics, I have another one word answer – Run. It will not be a very good message on any of these subjects.

What I am going to talk about is how some of the best speakers from the pulpit have great speaking skills. Millions of people worldwide follow some form of religion. They are lead by a speaker from the pulpit.

In the United States, Billy Graham, TD Jakes, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen are among the most popular pulpit speakers.

Who is your favorite pulpit platform speaker?

What is it that he or she does that captivates the audience and drives their message home?

I’ve identified at least 12 skills.

1. They use Tools to help the audience understand the message.  The tools in their toolbox are stories, parables, analogies and metaphors. They seldom use facts, data, statistics or PowerPoint to make their point.  For example, Joel Osteen is pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. According to Forbes Magazine, it is largest and fastest-growing congregation in America. Joel uses two tools to make his point: the Story and Metaphor. This story is called “be a thermostat.”

Not long ago I called to order a pizza. I had called this restaurant dozens of times before. When you call, the first thing they always ask for is your telephone number. Since I was so familiar with the routine, when a young lady answered the phone and, I answered very friendly and politely said, “Hello. My phone number is (713)…” and I gave her the rest of my number.

When I did that, you would have thought I had just totally insulted her. She practically screamed in my ear in the rudest voice you can imagine, “Sir! I am not ready for your phone number. And when I get ready, I will ask you for your phone number!” I wanted to say, “Lady, I will give you my phone number whenever I feel like giving you my phone number! But down in my spirit, I didn’t want to hear it, I could hear that still, small voice coming up inside saying, “Joel, be a thermostat, not a thermometer. You may have walked into a room that’s 200 degrees, but you have the controls. You can bring it down.

But I realized she didn’t have anything against me. She was just having a bad day. Something was irritating her. So I decided I was going to do everything I could to cheer her up. I started thinking of everything I could possibly compliment her on. And God knows I had to use my imagination! I said, “Ma’am, I just want to thank you for answering that phone so quickly and taking such good care of me. You guys make the best pizzas in the world. Your delivery is always on time. You run such a great organization.” On and on I went telling her all these compliments. Do you know by the time I got finished, she was throwing in hot wings and Dr. Pepper and coupons for more pizza? I had won her over. What happened? I became a thermostat instead of a thermometer.

A thermostat changes the environment by bringing the temperature up or down. Through God’s self-control and wisdom, you can do the same in situations and in the lives of others around you.

Joel Osteen used a story and a metaphor to teach us the lesson that we have a choice in controlling out temperature and our temper.

2. Pulpit Presenters use Universal Themes. That is, a message or lesson that practically everyone can relate to and understand.  These universal themes transcend generations, gender, creed, race or religion. These themes include but are not limited to massages of hope, relationships, finances, friends, family, faith, health, forgiveness, culture, and truth – just to name a few.  For example, on my website, edtate.com, there is a story entitled, “Three Questions.” It is a story about telling the truth. Several years ago, I told this story to a 100% Jewish audience. Two days and several continents’ later, I told this same story to a 100% Muslim Audience. Their reactions were identical. Both audiences related to the universal message that there is no relationship without trust.

3. They take a concept and convert it into the concrete.  In other words, they make their messages Visual. Teacher and author Joyce Meyer does an exceptional job of this in her message entitled, “It’s time to unpack your baggage.”  On the stage there is a large pile of suit cases. Five feet tall. Ten feet wide. Each suitcase has a label as big as the suitcase: Guilt, Anger, Fear, Unforgiveness and Rejection.  She grabs a few of the suit cases and walks back and forth on the stage to illustrate the point, we carry too much baggage a daily basis and how it weights us down.  Her point is we need unpack our burden baggage on purpose and let it go. Joyce made the forgiveness and letting go– visual.

4. Use Humor. Joel Osteen begins each sermon with a clean joke.  He uses self-deprecating humor and occasionally will make fun of his brother. Pulpit presenters know how to deliver a punch line. This helps to break down walls and connects with the audience.

The next 8 tips are from Kirk Waller, a minister from San Francisco, California.

5. Pulpit presenters have Passion – They care about what they say and whom they are saying it to. They start talking to me first. This lets me know that they care.

6. Simplicity – They simplify the message without dumbing it down. Again, tools such as stories, analogies, metaphors, and humor help people to connect and get the message.

7. Short – Typically the message (30 minutes)  and stories are short (under 2 minutes).

8. Connection – You feel as if they are speaking just to you. Usually they are. Again, they use a universal theme.

9. Confidence – They never seem to be nervous. Confidence emanates from them.

10. Pace – They start off slow. I have taught many students “break preoccupation.” Begin with a bang. Many ministers start slow and end with a crescendo. “You begin low, continue slow, rise up higher, catch on fire, and sit down in the storm.”

11. Intensity – They vary their intensity from high to low, hard to soft.  It’s called vocal variety.
 
12. Decision – A call to action.

13. Bonus lesson: Stick the Landing. They bring the message home, make the sale. Tie it all together and sit down in the storm. You leave them wanting more.

Your religious background does not matter when it comes to speaking. There are many powerful presenters from the pulpit. And we can all learn from their skills.

Recently, I was coaching executives of a Fortune 500 company.  I help leaders, managers, executives and salespeople breathe life into their business presentations.  It was the end of the day and in the room next door, they were screaming and yelling; hooting and hollering; banging on the walls and stomping on tables.
In that noisy room was my friend and trainer, Elaine Dumler.  Later that evening I asked Elaine what was going on. 

“Elaine!  What was going on in your training room?”

“We had to go ‘over the top,’ Ed.”

“What do you mean, by going ‘over the top’?”

“Ed, I was having a hard time staying awake, listening to their presentations.  I had enough.  We had to go ‘over the top.’”

“My mother, Josie Adams, used to be a trainer.  She used to say, “In order to know what is enough, you have to experience what is too much.  After you’ve gone ‘over the top,’ you’ll naturally dial it down.”

“How does it work?”

1. Stop the boring presentation immediately!
2. Explain to the person you are coaching, “In order to know what is enough, you have to experience what is too much.”
3. Have them select one piece of content (PowerPoint slide).
4. Set a timer for 2 minutes.
5. They are to present this material completely ‘over the top.’  They can jump on tables; pound the desk, yell and scream.  Present the content in a way that they would never think of doing.  They must break through their mental glass ceiling / comfort zone.  It must be unreal and ‘over the top.’
6. After the timer has sounded, immediately have them present the same content, but this time, present it as they would normally.

“What happens?”

1. They naturally dial it down.
2. According to their peers, they present at the appropriate energy level.
3. It’s memorable!
4. The quiet people come out of their shell.
5. People have more confidence.
6. They deliver better.
7. They make better word choices – their vocabulary is better.
8. It loosens them up.
9. It’s transformational.  People are amazed at what they can do.

“In order to know what enough is, you have to experience what is too much.” After you’ve gone ‘over the top,’ you’ll naturally dial it down.

I had one of my very quiet students try this “Over the Top” technique.  She’s from Brazil and speaks Portuguese, Spanish and English.  English is her third language and she did not feel that comfortable presenting in English.  In fact, her voice was so soft, that when we replayed the DVD, the camcorder did not pick up her voice.

I explained to Susan (her name has been changed at her request) that “In order to know what enough is, you have to experience what is too much.”  I explained the “Over the Top” technique to her.

You should have seen the look on her face!  She was terrified.  I asked to go ‘over the top’ in the language she preferred.  She only had one question.  “Does anyone here understand Portuguese?”

Susan went completely ‘over the top.’  She rocked her head up and down, back and forth like a rock ‘n roll star.  She moved from one side of the room to the other.  Her pitch was richer, her rate was faster and her volume was louder.  She smiled.  Her coworkers were astonished.  I was shocked.  She was completely transformed.

She was then asked to do it again, this time in English and not ‘over the top.’  Just as Elaine predicted, Susan gave an outstanding presentation.

Here again is the “Over the Top” Technique.

1. Find a part of your presentation you’d like to test, using the “Over the Top” technique.
2. Set the timer for 2 minutes.
3. Record yourself.
4. Tell your family/friends what are you are doing.  The first words out of your mouth should not be, “I’ve gone ‘over the top’.”  You will wake up in an asylum!
5. Immediately after the ‘over the top’ session, present the content again.
With this counterintuitive technique, you will bring more energy, confidence, better delivery and vocabulary to your next presentation.

Have you ever said these words or anything similar, about one of your performances?  In my case it was a business presentation.  Perhaps it was an internal presentation before your boss and peers.  Maybe a critical sales presentation before a prospective customer or existing client.  What do you do when you know you blew it?  Do you beat yourself up constantly?  As if this would help.

Recently, I blew it.  I failed to give my best presentation.   From my standpoint it was awful.  From the audience’s point of view, it was good.  You see, I possess enough professional skills that even my worst is better than most.  A good friend of mine, Lisa Jo Landsberg said, “Your 50% is better than everyone else’s 200%.  You’ve got a lot of junk in your trunk.”  (How many of you know that real life is better than fiction. And you can’t make up what some people say?)  Now for those of you who are not familiar with this colloquialism or catch phrase, a lot of ‘junk in my trunk’ is a good thing.  What she meant was I have a lot of talent.  My ‘off’ day is better than most people’s ‘on’ day in front of an audience.

“People do not learn from experience.  They learn from reflecting on their experience.   The failure to debrief is the main reason why people fail to reach their full potential in performance.” – Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan

Step 1: Debrief your performance.

Let’s debrief the situation.  The first debriefing framework comes from Blaire Singer – Author of Sales Dogs.  This is step one, when you blow it on the stage (or any other life experience.)

1)  What happened (Facts only, no opinions)?  I gave a lousy performance on stage.
2)  Why?  There were these mitigating factors:

1. I was tired.  I was traveling internationally.  I was suffering from jet lag and had very little sleep.  By the time I got on stage, it was 2:00 am according to my body clock.
2. The audience was tired.  Again, by the time I got on stage, the audience had been at the venue for almost an entire day, with very few breaks.
3. I was speaking to another culture – Non-North American.  The audience did not relate to some of the idioms and humor.
4. I was over confident.  The day before in Montreal, I got a standing ovation.  I assumed that this standing ovation would follow me on the airplane.
5. I did not rehearse and practice as much as I normally do.  I have given this presentation over 100 times before.
6. It was a free speech.  My preparation showed that I thought it was a free speech.  I am the world champion of public speaking.  Many people are seeing me for the first time.  I don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

3)  What worked?

1. Analyzing my speech on stage.
2. I did get a do-over.  I made two additional presentations to the same crowd that were superior.

4)  What did not work?  Being on automatic pilot mode.  My speech was more of a performance than a conversation.  It was not genuine.
5)  What did you learn?  Not to taking any audience for granted.  Prepare for every presentation as if I were being paid a million dollars because poor performances are worthless.
6)  What can you do to correct or improve?

1. Prepare!
2. Provide original content.
3. Practice and rehearse as if it were the world championship of public speaking.
4. Stop beating yourself up.

“If you are not failing you are not trying.” – Alan Weiss, PhD.

Step 2: How to handle your mistakes in the future.
So how do you handle mistakes?  Authors Matthew McKay, Ph. D. and Patrick Fanning, in their best-selling book Self-Esteem (third edition) make the following suggestions:

1)  Realize that everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are the inescapable by-product of learning or trying anything new.
2)  Realize that even you make mistakes.

1. Make a list of your 10 biggest mistakes.
2. For each mistake, before you acted, ask, “What were you thinking?”  Were you hoping for happier consequences? Did you have any idea that this would turn out painful? What were your needs that pushed you into this decision?
3. Knowing what you know now and given the same thought process and needs, would you act differently?

3)  Forgive yourself. You need to forgive yourself for three reasons.

1. You did the best you could at that time.
2. You’ve already paid for your mistake.  You’ve endured the consequences and felt the pain.  There is no need to pay this price over again.  Pay for your mistakes only once.  I’m going to repeat this again.  Pay for your mistakes only once.  Guilt is paying for your mistakes more than once.
3. Mistakes are unavoidable.  They are part of the learning process, in fact, everything you have learned in your life was the result of countless mistakes.  How many falls did it take you to learn how to walk?  Did you give up?  Get the point?
4. Bonus Reason: Associate mistakes with learning.  Make mistakes faster so you learn quicker.

“Finish every day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin in…serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered [cluttered] with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Darren LaCroix and I put together a few video journals of our trip and I am excited to share them with you.

Video Journal – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlBta0v7PA

Contestant Advice – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52yqGsRWO2A

Pre-conference Activities – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BcE1yYEPsk

The convention peaked on Saturday morning with the World Championship of Public Speaking Competition. Ten contestants came together after months, even years, of preparation to compete for the title of 2009 World Champion of Public Speaking. Congratulations to Mark Hunter of Australia for taking the title this year. Great job to all who competed!

I would love to hear if you attended the convention and what you thought of it. What was the highlight for you? What did you take away from the experience?  If you didn’t attend, start planning now for 2010, I’d love to see you there!

-Ed Tate

There’s an often-quoted statistic that the fear of public speaking is right up there with the fear of death as the two events people most fear in their lives.  However, as a business owner, I can guarantee you that public speaking is a phenomenal way to grow your business, so if it’s an activity that scares you, you need to take the bull by the horns and start working past that fear.  As an introvert, public speaking isn’t something that comes naturally to me, although, I’m told I’m good at it.  It’s been quite a learning process, and I’ve had as many failures as successes.  My best learning experiences have come through the process of finding the courage to just do it and learn along the way.

If you’re a self-employed service professional, you work in a time-based economy.  You have only so many hours in the day to work directly with your clients.  Speaking to groups gives you the opportunity to reach out and touch, and impact, others who might otherwise never cross your path and for you to get them into your marketing funnel so that they can begin to get to know, like and respect you.  Once they’re in your marketing funnel, if you provide a solution that solves a problem that they have, they’ll ultimately hire you.

Here are ten steps I recommend to get you into action to use public speaking to fill your professional practice:

1.  Pick 3 topics on which you can present a 20 minute – 60 minute speech. These should be topics on which you love to speak and will readily showcase your expertise to your audience.  The topics also need to be ones that speak to your target market’s pain and provides a solution for a problem that they’re having.

2.  For each presentation, write a 2 – 3 sentence description of that provides a brief overview of your content. To add some meat to the description, create a benefits statement for each presentation and what they’ll learn or get out of your talk.  Remember, your audience will always be asking the same question, “WIIFM”, or “What’s In It For Me?”, so make your description so compelling that they think, “Hey, I’ve got to hear that!”

3.  Have a professional photo made, and create a 3-6 sentence introductory bio of yourself. Many bios sound the same and are pretty boring so, on my website, I decided to tell something of a story about myself to make my bio a bit different, http://www.onlinebizcoachingcompany.com/aboutdonna.htm.  Let your personality shine in your bio.

4.  With your topics, bio, and photo in hand, you can now put together in MS Word a simple speaker one-sheet that tells a prospective association program chair everything s/he would need to know about you. If you have a list of audiences to whom you’ve spoken previously, you will want to list some of those under the heading “Satisfied Clients”, and spread 2 – 3 testimonials from other speaking gigs throughout the sheet.  In order to get ideas for layouts of the one sheet, visit the National Speakers Association, http://www.nsaspeaker.org, and view the speaker one sheets of other speakers to jumpstart your creativity.

5.  Create a speaking link on your website and have the presentations you’ve outlined available on your site, as well as your speaker one sheet, and a separate link with your photo and bio. Many association program chairs will want to “check you out” online, even though you’re offering to speak to them free of charge, so give them the opportunity to read all about your speaking topics on your website.

6.  Now you need to find audiences filled with your target market. To start locally, approach the program chairs of professional associations to which you already belong and see if you can get on their speaking schedule.  Your local library or Chamber of Commerce may have a current list of professional associations in your area which you can also approach. Other sources for finding speaking gigs include the American Society of Association Executives, http://www.asaenet.org. On the website, click Directories on the left hand links column, and then Associations, and then select Gateway to Associations.  Once you’re in the Gateway, you can look up associations by keyword or by location. A second place to locate associations is Gale’s Encyclopedia of Associations.  This multi-volume encyclopedia is present in the reference section of all major libraries.

7.  You (or your Virtual Assistant) will then need to call these associations and get the name and contact info of the program chair. Some program chairs will want to talk to you right away regarding your speaking topics, so be prepared to have that conversation on the fly.  Being able to send them to your website to read more about the topics is also helpful.  Others will want you to send information, so you’ll need to draft an introductory letter that you can snail mail or email along with your speaker one-sheet.

8.  Once you’ve got a speaking engagement, ask the program chair some questions about the audience so that you can better tailor the speech to fit their needs. I learn best through hearing stories, so as I’m asking questions about the audience, I’m going through my own list of illustrative stories I’ve told to see which ones might best match my audience’s needs. Remember that your audience wants a full experience of you as well as the information that you’re providing, so be sure and inject a lot of your personality and wit and humor into your speech.

9.  Before your speech, determine how you want to get audience members into your marketing funnel. Do you want them to sign up for a complimentary consultation on the spot?  If so, bring your calendar or a sign-up sheet.  Do you want to get them on your mailing list?  Give away something at the end of your presentation that is compelling enough for them to part with a business card or to write down their contact info to enter the drawing.  If your goal is to get them on your email newsletter list, be sure and get their email address.  If you use direct mail, you’ll want to get their physical mailing address.

10.  The day of your presentation, just relax and have fun! This may be the hardest of any of the steps outlined here, but being authentic and being yourself will get you in the good graces of most of your audience, despite what you might say (or forget to say!).  Think of your presentation as the beginning of a great relationship that you’re establishing, and leave your audience feeling good about themselves and about you.

Try and book 2-3 speaking engagements per month, and soon you’ll become the “go-to” expert in your industry!

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.OnlineBizU.com

1. The common denominator of success – the secret of successful people – he or she has formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.
2. Successful people don’t like doing these activities any more than unsuccessful people.  They just do it.
3. Success is achieved by the minority and, therefore, unnatural and not to be achieved by following our natural likes and dislikes, nor guided by our natural preferences and prejudices.  Your natural likes and dislikes got you where you are today.
4. Successful people have a purpose strong enough to form the habit of doing the things they don’t like to do in order to accomplish the purpose they want to accomplish.
5. Habits form futures.  If we don’t deliberately form success habits then, unconsciously, you will form non-success habits.

An example of this appeared in the Wall Street Journal (September 9, 2008, “Snack Vendor – or Undercover Job Recruiter?” p. D1).  After numerous failed returned phone calls, Executive Recruiter, David Perry, staked out a leadership candidate’s favorite fly fishing spot in Montana.  He met another hard-to-reach recruit on a remote mountain bike trail.  On another mountain, a sales executive who is an expert skier, is tracked down by Mr. Perry on an expert’s ski run.  Mr. Perry is an amateur skier.  Finally, one recruit was mailed a $600 plane ticket, leaving that week, to the potential employer’s office.  In all of these cases, Perry was successful.

Successful people have formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.

Have a Tenacious Purpose,™ Ignore the Critiques and Break All the Rules

Successful people have a purpose strong enough to form the habit of doing the things they don’t like to do in order to accomplish the Purpose they want to accomplish.

“You’re trying to ruin us.”  This is what Roy Disney said to his brother Walt in 1934.  Walt decided to produce Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (the first full-length animated feature film), motion picture critics went into shock. Who would watch a cartoon for over an hour?  Half-way through filming Walt ran out of money.  Bankers refused to fund it.

The extreme pressure and anxiety caused Walt to suffer his third nervous breakdown in 1935.

In mid-1935, he convinced Bank of America to loan him $5 million dollars to complete the film.

The rest, as they say, is film history.  Snow White was seen by twenty million people in the first 18 months.  It took in a record-breaking $8 million its first year (at 25¢ per ticket!) and had made over $100 million.

Successful people have a purpose strong enough to form the habit of doing the things they don’t like to do in order to accomplish the Purpose they want to accomplish.

There are critiques in the executive recruiting industry with this brazen approach to headhunting.  “It cheapens the reality of the hard work that goes into executive search,” says Peter Felix, president of the Association of Executive Search consultants. “If you’re in the business of recruiting leadership candidates, you have to bring tact, grace and integrity to the profession,” adds industry pundit Joseph Daniel McCool.

Mr. Perry earns about $500,000 annually, in an industry where the average partner earns between $350,000 and $400,000.

The secret of the successful people – he or she has formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.

Let’s hear from you.  What are your success habits or the success habits of successful people you have witnessed?

What is your Tenacious Purpose?

Keep those Mindset Shift™ stories coming!  A client of mine shared this one with me recently.

His teenage daughter worked at a cookie store at the mall.  While her co-worker was on a break,
a senior citizen had come into the shop.  This woman was taking her time making her selection and as a result a long line stated to form.

The young sales lady as well as the other customers were becoming frustrated and impatient with the delay and some of the customers walked off in a huff.  Finally the elderly woman completed her order.  She said, “I want to thank you for your patience. I wanted to be sure that I picked my son’s favorite cookies. He leaves tomorrow for Iraq.”

What was the mindset of the teenager and the other customers now?  Embarrassment?  Shame?  Compassion?  Empathy?  How long did it take to make a Mindset Shift™ from frustration and impatience to shame and compassion?  Seconds!

Keep your Mindset Shift™ stories coming and thank you for your support.

The first friend, Carrie Perrien Smith (http://www.soarhigher.com), told me to separate my ideas/content from my grammar. This was an eureka moment for me.

“You can hire an editor to correct your grammar. But only you can come up with your content.”

“It just haunts me that you don’t have more in print because of something a teacher told you years ago.  You are way smarter than that teacher will ever be and doing really important things. I don’t think teachers really have any idea that things they say innocently or by accident can shape a person’s personal truth. Even if you were a crummy writer (which I know you aren’t), editors make their money turning great content (which you have in your head) into digestible books for your target audience. Your time is now!”

Thank goodness for friends.

My other good friend, Darren LaCroix (http://www.humor411.com), convinced me in two sentences and a question.

“A blog is nothing more than an email sharing what you’ve learned. You do this for a living. Can you write a two paragraph email about what you’ve learned?”

Darren pointed out that I’m a copious note taker. It’s true. Whatever meeting I attend, I take lots of notes. I want to make sure that I get the key ideas… the Key Notes. I’m also a keynote speaker. So the name of my blog is “Key Notes.” Yes, it is a double entendre.

Thank goodness for friends.

Presto!  There it was a Mindset Shift™. It took years to develop this phobia about writing and I’ve created an amazing story about how I do not like to write. But my friends dissolved that excuse in seconds — like Alka-Seltzer in water.

Have you ever experienced a Mindset Shift™ in a matter of seconds? That is, you felt one way and in a matter of minutes or seconds, your mindset shifted? So what’s your story? What cherished beliefs (excuses) are you holding on to that’s keeping you from growing? What area(s) of your life needs a Mindset Shift™? Maybe you need a people-shift. Write me your two paragraphs (or less).

P.S. I welcome your comments if you catch any grammatical errors.  But you must give your Mindset Shift™ ideas first and the corrections second. It’s my blog. My rules.