Public Speaking Classes

The Art of Public Speaking
Our Public Speaking training classes are designed for both the inexperienced presenter or as a refresher for more experienced members of your company or organization. Our public speaking classes are offered in most major US cities and across Canada. Our public speaking skills training classes are small which will give the Public Speaking Class Participants up to 10 Video Taped practice exercises as well as hours of instructor face to face interaction.

Our public speaking training classes (and our one day public speaking class) will eliminate any fear which is caused by lack of experience or nervousness due to inexperience in public speaking and will dramatically improve each participants speaking skills whether they are persuading, educating, or informing their audience. Our highly interactive classes focus on professional business communication including proper preparation, structure, delivery, and strategy, the correct use of visual aids, and handling questions & answers. Contact us today by phone at 713-627-7700 or via email: service@publicspeakingtraining.net

Public Speaking Class Tips: Storytelling in Public Speaking

“Boy! Do I have a story to tell!”

Believe it or not, those were the opening words of my presentation on "Accounting in Your Small Business" presented to a group of small business persons. After I said those words (with the appropriate body language and vocal variety of course) everyone put their glasses down and focused on me like a laser.

Naturally I delivered. I told them the story of how I decided I wanted to be the accountant to small businesses. Yep. My enthusiasm was high, I had identified my niche, and I was helping people while making money. What more could a girl ask for?

My first client was equally enthusiastic. He had not done his accounts from the time he had started the business four years ago, and he delivered the source documents to me in three large Cornflakes cartons.

Now that my story got your attention...

Telling a story, especially about a personal experience, is the best way I know to connect with you audience. Stories help your audience to visualize circumstances, understand complex information and hook them with emotion. Above all, they help people to remember what they have heard.

So what is the best approach to storytelling? Here's what I think.

Remember we're all storytellers. Most of the information we share is in the form of stories. Storytelling is the narrative telling of an event or experience. It links events in some kind of logical and believable sequence. Isn't that what we do most of the time? We remember our experiences in the form of stories and that is how we share them.

When you are making a presentation or giving a public speaking speech, your stories should fit in with context of your presentation. Telling an unrelated story just because you like it will have the opposite impact of what you intend. You see, the human mind has a need for closure and if it can't make the connection between your story and the rest of your public speaking speech, you will be remembered for the wrong reasons.

Make your stories relevant to the experience and interests of your audience. Each story should have a point to it that your listeners can easily grasp and readily identify with. If they need Sherlock Holmes to help them to find out what was the point your story wanted to make, they will have a story to tell about you.

Understand what makes a good story. Briefly: - it is short, two to three minute at the most; it paints a picture; it highlights information it does not replace it; something should happen in a good story; it should have at least one character.

Tell stories that you're comfortable telling. However good a story is, however well you think it supports the point, if you cannot tell it with sincerity, it will not achieve its purpose. You can take it to the highest level and learn how to tell stories. I did. But I speak everyday for a living and I just love to tell stories!

Use stories sparingly. Can you imagine what your meal would be like if the chef sprinkled ice cream toppings over everything? Well telling a story to illustrate every point will have the same effect on your audience.

The best stories are the ones that stay with the audience - long after your public speaking speech. So, when you're telling a story, put some feeling and enthusiasm into it! After all you're telling a story not reciting serial numbers for your appliances. Your eye contact, vocal variety, body language, gestures, posture are all so important to the delivery of your everlasting story.

Unless you're an experienced speaker, do practice your stories along with your public speaking speech. You do practice your public speaking speeches, don't you? Practice helps to fix the story in your mind and you don't want to spoil an otherwise good public speaking speech by "bumbling" a story.

I believe that if you put those eight tips to good use when you want to use storytelling in your public speaking, your public speaking speeches will improve tremendously. As for my career as Accountant to the Small Business Stars... it began and ended with those Cornflakes cartons. As a matter of fact, I now have a healthy dislike of cereal. In any form.

Lorna Barrow: link

Subject: Public Speaking Class