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Speech Coaching

Be Brilliant at Panel Moderation

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During conferences, panel discussions could be boring or brilliant. They could keep the audience on the edge of their seats or make them leave their seats. The following are essential tips when you act as a Panel Moderator. And please note, when it comes to panel moderation, it takes all to tango!

Choose them. If you have an opportunity to influence the organizers of the event, convince them that you will select experienced panelists to participate in the panel. And by experienced panelists, I am referring to panelists who have relevant professional experience to the event and have the ability to convey their thoughts well to the delegates. In September 2016, I attended an event that had two panels. One was so dynamic and insightful while the other was so dull and boring thanks to the panelists!

Contact them. Never leave the chosen panelists at the dark until the last moment. Contact them early on to brief them about the event, its objectives, its theme and its topics. And most importantly send them the event’s brochure and official website. In 2010, I participated in a panel in an investors’ conference. Our panel moderator was brilliant, she emailed all the panelists and had a phone conversation with us to make sure that we have a brilliant show at the conference. And we did.

Educate them. As a panel moderator you have a big responsibility. You have to make your panelists look like credible as experts in their respective fields. Hence, you need to educate your panelists on how to write great introductions for you to use. Educate them that their protracted biographies in the event’s brochure are not necessarily their best speakers’ introductions. The introduction should be brief, interesting and make the delegates think: I better listen to this panelist and take notes.

Prepare them. Nothing beats diligent preparation. Nothing. Ask any professional whether in sport or in business. To be brilliant you have to sweat! Agree on the different themes or angles you will have at your panel discussion. Ask the panelists to suggest questions. They know their subjects best in terms of the latest trends and what should the audience get. Agree who would answer which questions in what order. You should have a staged panel performance without the delegates noticing this. Never start a panel discussion without this agreement. The outcome could be fatal.

Meet them. Meet your panelists before the panel to review the themes, questions and staging thereof. Stress the importance of adhering the time allocated to each panelist to give an equal opportunity to all panelists to address the questions you have and the delegates’ questions. Clarify any doubts the panelists may have. And finally, assure them that with all the diligent preparation you made you are bound to have a brilliant show and wish them luck.

Care for them. Coordinate with the organizers to provide bottles of water and glasses! You may think this is common sense. It is. However, recently, I attended a conference where no bottles were placed on the table for the panelists to drink from. The organizers only brought them when one panelist started coughing so loud and started looking for water. In addition, ask the panelists whether they prefer handheld microphones or lapel ones. Ultimately, make sure you make them comfortable to give a brilliant show.

Thank them. Thank them all the way. First, thank them when they accept to be panelists. Then, thank them for their time to prepare for the panel. After that, thank them when they take the stage. Then, thank them again for sharing their expertise with the delegates before your leave the stage. And finally, give them a call or send them an email to thank them once more. After all of these rounds of thanks, ask them what you could do better to have more brilliant panel discussions. With all the care and thanks, they are bound to share with you their thoughts willingly.

In 2014, I was blessed to moderate a 2-hours panel discussion at a Global Leadership Conference in Dubai with more than 800 delegates from more than 80 countries. I applied all the above essential tips and we had a brilliant show. It was the highest rated session in the entire conference. The delegates protested that we should not end the panel discussion because it was high energy, engaging and entertaining. The delegates were not at the edge of their seats but they were glued to their seats. Go ahead. Apply these tips. Be brilliant!

The Audience: Engage them or lose them!

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Have you experienced this before? You attend a conference with excitement to gain practical insights to improve your skills only to find the speakers are boring to death. I bet you did. This is a common phenomenon. The speakers may have prepared the content and slides diligently but they forgot about the importance of connecting with the audience and engaging them throughout their talk. Here are seven techniques to avoid this trap.

Speaking, Coaching, Speech Writing, Public Speaking, Bahrain, GCC, Middle EastArrive early at the venue. Meet & greet delegates as they arrive. Strike genuine conversations with them. Be interested in what they have to say. Show them you care, otherwise they will not care later on what you have to say. Pay attention to their statements as they might be relevant to your talk and use them in your talk. They will love you for that. And they will connect better throughout your speech.

Introduction. If you will be introduced to the audience, and you should insist on this, create an interesting introduction to the audience to get them excited about your talk. To make it even better, plant some humor within it. In your introduction, do not boast about your achievements in terms of qualifications and experience, the audience will not relate to you. Establish credibility and then move on to explain why your talk will be important and valuable for the audience.

Pause. When you take the stage to speak, do not speak: Pause. A pause will draw the audience to you. When they suddenly feel the silence at the venue, they are bound to look at the stage and end their preoccupations whether with their fellow delegates or your arch enemy: Their Smart Phones. In addition, before saying something important, pause. And when you say it, pause. By doing this, you will give the audience a chance to think about what you said and be more engaged.

Questions. Ask the audience questions to draw on their experience. You throw a question and have one or few delegates answer it. If you are not comfortable doing this, plan ahead. Agree with one delegate to answer and once he or she does that, complement them by a round of applause. In addition, you may consider giving out awards like books or coffee mugs to make it more fun. This act will encourage more delegates to participate. This will create more audience engagement.

Discussions. Discussions can take the audience engagement to a higher level. It is simple and effective. Ask the audience to discuss a topic with each other; provide them with a specific timeframe. After that, ask them to share their thoughts with the entire delegates by handing to them the microphone. This two-level discussion builds the confidence of the delegates to share their thoughts with other delegates because they just shared them with other delegates.

Polls. The first time I saw polls being used was at the National Speakers Association (NSA) Annual Conference. It was simple, interactive and fun! We were asked to follow a link on the screen to vote for the best humorous speakers at NSA. And as we voted, we saw the votes being calibrated on the screen. We were not only engaged but we also had a lot fun. Google live polling websites or apps to find a suitable one for you. Polls are a great way to engage the audience. Use them.‎

These were seven simple techniques to engage your audience at a higher level. You do not have to ask them to close their eyes and imagine their perfect day or play loud music and ask the audience to dance over the tables to get them engaged. Keep it simple and focused to keep them engaged. And remember, if you do not engage them, you will lose them!

Your Speech Blueprint

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How do you build your dream home? You begin with identifying your basic requirements. The number of halls, kitchens, bedrooms and your garden with few tall palm trees surrounding your swimming pool. After daydreaming for some time, you are bound to face reality. You have a limited budget. Welcome to speech writing! Building your speech is just like building your dream home. You need to plan it in view of your allotted time and your audience’s needs and requirements.

Your Key Message. What is your main message? Once you identify it, your whole speech should support delivering this message to your audience. This will be your reference point when it comes to adding or removing supporting materials. Your message should be simple and focused. Here are three questions for you: Is your message Tweetable? Is your message digestible? Is your message repeatable? If it is not, refine it further to make it clearer. Let us assume that our main message is: A heathy mind is in a healthy body.

Your Supporting Materials. As the name suggests, what supporting materials or points you could use to support delivering your key message? These could be stories, case studies, surveys’ results or your own observations and experiences. For our key message: A healthy mind is in a healthy body. My main task would be talking about how to have a healthy mind by having a healthy body. To accomplish this, I will speak about two main points. First, the importance of nutrition. And second, the importance of exercise. Each of these could be dissected further but I should always consider my main constraint: Time.

Your Transitions. This is the most ignored aspect of speech writing. How do you move from one point to another in a smooth and connected manner to hold the audience’s attention? You should tease your audience about what is coming next. They should be eager to listen to what you have to say next. This is your homework. Listen to radio channels of your choice and see how they tease the listeners by having teasers about their upcoming stories. Think about teasing and revealing your material?
Your Q & A. Your Q & A is one measure on how well your speech went. When the audience is engaged in this session, it is a sign of success. Again, do not get carried away, you should stick to your allotted time and make way for your closing remarks. Indicate to the audience how much time is available for the session and let them know when you are taking the last question to close your speech. As a courtesy, tell them that you will be around after the speech to answer any further questions.

Your Introduction. As suggested in an earlier article, start with a bang not a whisper. Grab the audience’s attention at once by asking a question, a startling statistic or a story. Now, after having decided on your supporting materials to support your key message, think carefully about your introduction. Experiment with few versions of it and try to link it to your first point in the speech. Test it for the transition effectiveness and decide on your best version to use. To continue with our example, you may say: Complete this phrase, a healthy mind is in a healthy … And then, continue your introduction.

Your Conclusion. After you have laid out your key message, supported it with your carefully chosen supporting materials, and you handled your Q & A Session like a maestro, it time to close to drive your key message home to prompt the desired action. It could be this: A healthy mind is in a healthy body. Yes, you know about it. But what are you doing about it? According to a London Business School study, living more than 100 years will be the new normal. You may live to 100, but will your life be normal. Make the right choices today. Eat well, exercise and enjoy the rest of your life.

Building your speech is just like building your dream home. Take the time to plan your speech structure. Think about your key message, supporting materials, transitions, handling the Q & A session, the introduction and the closing. When you do this, you will have a solid speech that will surely achieve its objectives to inspire your audience to take the required action.

Facing the Music: Handling Q & A Sessions

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In 2007, I gave an entire workshop on how to effectively deal with Questions & Answers (Q&A) sessions. Before delivering my final remarks, I opened the floor for the questions. I had to face the music. I had to practice what I preached.

A delegate asked me: “How do you address tough questions?” I replied instantly: “Thank you for the great question, your question requires a lot of response time and answering it would deprive the other delegates from the opportunity of to ask. Let’s meet after I end the workshop to talk about it. Next question please.” As the microphone was being handed to another delegate. I looked back at him and continued: “That’s how you address tough questions.” The audience erupted with laughter as this was totally unexpected!

It was that simple. I acknowledged the delegate, thanked him and promised him that I will address his question later on. This is one of the techniques to temporarily escape the hot seat.

For the purpose of this article, let’s assume that you are an investment banker who is about to launch a roadshow to raise funds for a mega project and you will do various presentations for prospective investors. Here’s I how I would suggest you prepare for facing the music using the Before, During & After (BDA) Formula.

The B deals with the old adage: Preparation prevents poor performance. Before hitting the road with your slides, reports and your expensive black suit; start a War Game. Invite your colleagues and other trusted advisors to a demonstration presentation with one purpose in mind: Gathering what questions did they have about your presentation assuming that they were an aggressive audience. Once you get the questions, prepare possible answers and practice them diligently. When you get them during your actual presentation, you will be able to answer with poise and confidence.

Let’s move to the D part of the formula: Addressing the questions from the audience. The first thing to do is to set the expectations of the audience. Tell them that you will have a dedicated session for Q&A so that they do not irrupt you during your presentation so that you remain in control and do not lose your chain of thoughts. In addition, you could say: We have time for three to five questions and if you do not get the chance to ask during the session, I will be around after the presentation for addressing your questions.

Secondly, listen attentively to the questions from the audience. You must get the questions right to give the right answers. If with all the attention, you did not understand the question; ask the delegate to paraphrase the question to get it right. Then, thank him or her, repeat the question for the benefit of the audience and give your answer. Be brief and do not ramble on because you might trigger more questions from the audience.

Thirdly, be patience with the audience. No matter how you try to simplify the answer. They may not get it. Once, I was speaking in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) Roadshow, a business journalist asked me a question. I answered him in three different ways and he just could not get. Ultimately, I told him: “We will have a private session to discuss the matter.” And he never followed up. Perhaps, he likes speaking in public!

Fourthly, here is how do you answer back when the audience throws two or more questions. First, answer the first question, briefly. Then, turn to the audience member, point at him and say: “You had another question.” By doing this, you tell the entire audience that you care about them and their questions and that you’re in full control of the session. The delegate will immediately repeat his or her second question.

Now, before we move to the last part of the BDA Formula, let’s address dealing with tough questions. When the going gets tough, I need you to get going. You can use an escape strategy just like the one I used above to move on without answering the question especially if you know that the audience members is trying to corner you. Or else, you could admit the fact that you don’t have the required details to answer back with a promise to communicate with him or her at a later stage.

Sometimes, you don’t have to answer at all. For example, I once was asked a very sensitive question regarding the company I used to work for as a Chief Financial Officer. I retorted: “I can’t give you any answers because I will violate the disclosure requirements of the Central Bank.” He simply couldn’t come back because he was an erudite investor.

The last part is A. It deals with what you should do after you’re done with your presentation and the Q&A session. Here are two suggestions for you. First, review your entire performance in the Q&A session. Did you address the questions of the audience effectively and adequately? How could you answer better next time? To take this to a higher level, record you presentation and listen to it again and again to uncover the areas of potential improvements. Moreover, you could ask your colleagues who are attending with you to provide you feedback about your performance. The bottom-line, what gets measured, get improved.

Now, with the application of the BDA Formula, you will be better equipped and prepared for facing the music. You will dance to the tunes and build your credibility as an effective speaker. I wish you all the best in your next presentation.

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach and Writer who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

Get Business Results by Telling Stories

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Shut up. Sit down. Get out. These were some of the sentences we kept hearing from few of our schools teachers. No wonder, we hated their classes and wondered away; far away. The preaching and teaching days are long gone! If you’re a leader who constantly wishes to lead his or her team into action, you better avoid issuing instructions and directions. You better start your journey with storytelling.

Think of great leaders in the present and past who led thousands and often times millions of people to take certain actions, good and bad, ugly and not. One such leader who is constantly in my mind is Kevin Havelock who I met when I worked for Unilever between 2001 and 2004. He was a great Chairman who always moved and motivated us with his words and stories. We were on fire and we accomplished great business results!

So, how can you become a more effective storyteller? Your stories will be memorable to your audience if you use the 5 C’s of Storytelling: Circumstance, Characters, Conversations, Conflict and the Carryout Message. If you examine eloquent speakers’ speeches, you’re bound to find these five elements. For example, you could watch Bill and Melinda Gates Commencement Address at Stanford University of 2014. You will find all the elements in their stories. Now, let’s explore the 5 C’s.

  1. Circumstance. When did your story take place? Where was is it? Describe the circumstance for us.
  2. Characters. Who were the characters in your story? Describe them to us.
  3. Conversations. Don’t narrate the story. You should relive it so that we relive it with you. Bring your characters to life by giving each of the character a voice. Let them talk and let’s listen to them.
  4. Conflict. If you don’t have conflict in your story, you’re doomed. It will not grab the attention of your audience. The conflict could be between you and one of the characters, the characters themselves or it could simply, between you and yourself!
  5. Carryout Message. What’s the point you’re trying to make by telling us this story? What’s the carryout message?

Here’s a quick story incorporating all the 5 C’s:

“In the summer of 1998, we escaped the humidity and the scorching heat by having a gathering in my friend’s house in East Riffa. It was me and my friends: Nawaf, Abdul Rahman and Talal. We were sitting around the dining table chatting and having strawberries, green grapes, pistachios, almonds and of course tea and coffee. We were having so much fun. We told jokes, we made fun of each other and we made fun of others! Late in the evening, Talal stood up, rolled up his sleeves and said: “Mohamed, let’s do for a pushup challenge!”

Now, before I continue I should tell you that my relationship with Talal is just like that of Tom and Jerry. He is Tom and I am Jerry. And I always win. On that night, Talal wanted to take revenge from the many times I beat him and what a better circumstance; he had two witnesses, Nawaf and Abdul Rahman, and he is been working in out in the gym for months. He told me: “Come on, be a man. Get down on the floor and do pushups.” I replied: “No man, we’re supposed to have fun; not pushups.” He retorted: “Come on, be a man.” I said: “Ok, but you go first.”

And he agreed. Talal struggled to do six pushups. When he finished, I started. With each pushup I shouted: One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Then I stopped, looked Talal in the eye, laughed and said: Talal, you lost. Abdul Rahman, Nawaf and I laughed so loud. We fell from our chairs. And Talal, was frustrated. He failed, miserably!

Ladies and gentlemen, the lesson here is simple and clear, never ever underestimate your competition. We should always up our game by constantly innovating to bring new products to our customers before the competition does. Let’s go to work!”

Here is the thing: You don’t necessarily need to have a profound story to make it work. You can use everyday situations. Many speakers think that they should have great stories with great triumphs and conflicts such climbing Mount Everest or fighting with a shark. It doesn’t have to be like that! Start thinking about the stories in your life so that you could create a story file to keep it handy for your future speeches.

Your takeaway, don’t be a teacher or a preacher. Become an effective storyteller and you will be able to inspire your team to get the business results you desire.

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach and Writer who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

Start with a Bang not a Whisper!

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“When I told few of my relatives and friends that I was planning to quit my job and study to attain a higher degree, they all told me to go to the hospital to check my temperature! I do not blame them because they see the present and I see the future.” These were the first three lines of my personal statement when I applied to King’s College London. I designed it in a way to grab the attention of the Admission Committee. And it surely did! I received the acceptance admission letter from this prestigious university!

This is exactly what you should do when you start your speeches – grab the audience’s attention at once so that they end their preoccupations and focus on what you will share with them in your speech. Be creative. Be different. Be profound. You need to think and rethink about your opening because it could make or break your speech. This is the case because the audience will decide in the first 30 seconds whether to listen to you or to tune out!

In December 2015, I was attending an entrepreneurs’ conference in Berlin. As part of the program, more than 20 entrepreneurs were trying to raise capital by delivering a three-minute sales pitch. They had interesting products and services but not so when it came to their speech openings. They all started with a whisper: “Good morning ladies & gentlemen, what a beautiful weather today, thanks for the opportunity to speak to you today about my project which is about …” What a lost opportunity to impact and influence!

So, how do you start with a bang and not with a whisper? There are number of ways of doing that and starting a firecracker is not one of them! We discussed the first way in the previous article: Getting Business Results by Telling Stories! Just begin with a story that has a conflict in it and the audience would be hooked to listen to how the conflict was resolved. Then, you can continue with the rest of your speech. To see an excellent example of this technique, watch President Obama speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

The second way is to use a shock tactic. Shock the audience with a startling statement. For example: “None of all the Prophets sent by God used PowerPoint. Yes, you heard it right. None of them used PowerPoint. They all used stories to convey their messages.” And then I could continue illustrating this point by sharing with the audience how to deliver their messages effectively to the audience without using visual aids.

Another great way to open a speech is to start it with a powerful quote. Here is my favorite quote by Martin Luther King: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” It is a great opening for a speech that promotes a charitable cause or for a fund raising event. In addition, the question could serve as a foundational phrase that could be repeated throughout the speech to stress the message. And not only that, it could be used as a powerful closing: “So, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you again: What are you doing for others?”

Let us continue with the theme of Questions. Asking Questions is an effective way for opening speeches because they engage the audience at a deeper level. They make your audience stop their chain of thoughts to focus on answering the question whether verbally or in their minds. To be effective the question has to be simple. For example, I used this question in one of my speeches: Are you hungry? That is it. Just three words. Then, I continued with my speech on the importance of being hungry at all times when it comes to personal growth and achieving your dreams.

These were four effective ways to open your speeches to grab the audience at once. I began this article by sharing the first three lines of my personal statement I sent to King’s College London. Let me end it with the quote I used to end the statement with: “Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity.” Every time you speak to an audience you have an opportunity to come across as an effective speaker, prepare well and success will be on your side.

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach and Writer who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

How not to get a ‘D’ for your Delivery!

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They have a saying in the real estate industry: Location, location, location! In speaking, it is: Delivery, delivery, delivery! No matter how good your content is, your delivery will be the deciding factor on whether your speech is a success or a failure. So, let us discuss how not to get a ‘D’ for your Delivery in your upcoming speech!

One of the common mistakes speakers make is moving on the stage like tennis players. They confuse moving around with being dynamic. Instead of just moving for the sake of moving, think and plan your movements so that you use them to illustrate your points more effectively. For example, if you are telling an audience a story, you could use the stage as a timeline indicating the different segments or scenes of the storyline or the placement of characters on the different areas of the stage. By doing this, you could use call backs and gestures to refer the characters and scenes. One caveat is worthy of noting. Do not over plan your movements or else you will appear like a robot!

Another mistake is to step on the thoughts or laughs of the audience. One of the way of engage the audience is to ask questions so that you trigger their thinking process about the points you are sharing with them. When you ask a question, pause briefly to provide the audience with an opportunity to think and reflect. They would appreciate this because you are giving them a chance to think on how to apply the concepts you sharing with them back in their businesses. Similarly, when you pull the trigger on a punchline and the audience laughs, pause and let them laugh. Do not step on their laughs. Let them have fun! They will love you for that. I use this strategy constantly and one time I got a 14 seconds laugh and I have it on video!

Now, let us talk about a mistake that not a single audience will tolerate and appreciate which is to sync your lips to your PowerPoint slides. It is the unforgivable act of reading your slides to the audience. All the audience will be wondering: “Why didn’t he or she just send the slides in advance; we all can read!” If you have encountered this situation before, it means you have not prepared well and you are abusing the slides to overcompensate for your lack of confidence and preparation. Use the slides as a visual aid not a teleprompter to help you deliver your speech. They are there to help the audience to grasp the speech and tap into their visual senses and nothing else.

The fourth common mistake is putting your audience to sleep. Yes, this could happen if you speak in monologue at the same rate and volume your entire speech. Think about it, how do you put an infant to sleep? Simple, you sing a lullaby. You sing with the same low volume and rhythm until the infant falls asleep. Do this in the bedroom not in the auditorium! When you speak to an audience, vary your tone, pitch and rate to keep the audience engaged and interested throughout your speech. One of the best ways to have this come naturally to you is to include more stories in your speeches so that you give your characters a voice and show their emotions when the say their respective lines in the conversations.

Finally, this is a mistake that I have observed many times by many speakers especially the novice ones. They imitate the speaking style of other speakers who they admire. They copy them in everything! I am sure you heard and read this phrase countless times: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” There is nothing wrong with emulating the best of the best. However, instead of copying them, reach out to them. Ask them questions: How did you develop such a massive and impressive vocabulary? How do you develop such a vocal variety when you speak? And then, develop your own speaking style and personality and remember this: Be inspired by many but be a copy of none!

Remember, you are not like most speakers who commit deadly mistakes when it comes to their speech delivery. Now, you know better! Here is my promise to you: Avoid the common mistakes and apply the delivery techniques I shared with you and your audience is bound to give you an ‘A’ for your delivery! All the best.

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach and Writer who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

Meet Your New Best Friend: Mr. PARTS!

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Who is your best friend? You must have few best friends who you met during different stages of your life. Today, I would like to introduce you to your new best friend when it comes to public speaking. He is Mr. PARTS and he shall assist you in creating compelling contents for your speeches so that they become dynamic speeches that speak to the minds and hearts of your audience. PARTS is an acronym for five tools to help in your speech development efforts. Let examine each tool briefly.

P stands for Phrase. What is your message? Can you frame it in a sentence or a phrase to make your speech repeatable, digestible and perhaps, Tweetable! Think very hard about this. Think fast and slow. Engage your active mind and sub-conscious mind to come up with this phrase. It is very important to leave your audience with a phrase. In 2005, I delivered a speech entitled: WhoZanGa! People who saw it still remember it and I bet you they will never forget it. Going beyond my speeches, I think the most memorable speech ever is the one delivered on 28th of August 1963 in Washington DC by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled ………………… Yes, you are right! This is the magic of having the right phrase.

A stands for Anchors. How do you intend to anchor your message in the minds of the audience members? There are few tools that could help you do just that including acronyms. As I highlighted above, PARTS is an acronym for five tools that will help you in creating compelling contents for your speeches. Recently, I created ALI as an acronym for what a typical leader must do to be successful: (A) Anticipates the Future, (L) Learns Forever and (I) Inspires Others. What acronyms could you create?

R stands for Reflection. Whenever you speak, provide the audience with opportunities to think and reflect about what you are saying. Pause, often. My friend Rena Romano, said: “If there is no reflection, there is no connection.” The last thing you want as a speaker is to lose the audience. One way to have the audience reflect is using rhetorical questions. For example, you could ask: When was the last time you reflected about your personal and professional achievements? Or going back to your best friends, when was the last time you hanged out with them? We hang out regularly. We had dinner in a fine restaurant. The food was mouthwatering and our jokes were eye watering so to speak. We remained until the owner kicked us out at midnight!

T stands for Technique. Audience members love techniques. What useful techniques can you share with them? I still remember a speech made by an event management specialist on how to host successful events. He told us to answer the following five questions: When is the event? Where will it be held? Who will attend it? What will be the agenda? And finally, why it is being held? Now, whether you are hosting a conference or a birthday party, you can use this simple technique to plan your upcoming event. I ensure all my speeches have this element so that the audience picks up techniques they could use immediately. For example, I speak about the 3 R’s to employee engagement: Recognition, Rewards & Recreation.

S stands for the Sale. Every speech is selling something, a thought or a product or a service. So, what are you selling and how will you put it forward to your audience? I vividly remember the worst sale pitch in my life. It was 2004 and I used to live in Dubai, I saw an advertisement in a newspaper for what the clinic proclaimed to be an effective hair loss treatment. I made a visit just for fun! The Doctor was the worst salesman I met in my life. He tried to sell me a customized wig so that my personal confidence is boosted. He was wrong, totally wrong. Did I complain about being less confident due to my hair loss? Not at all. He wrongly assumed that. Always research your audiences’ needs and then frame your speech around meeting these needs; never use your imagination.

I hope you enjoyed meeting your new best speaking friend: Mr. PARTS. Rest assured he is a friend you can rely on all the time. He will help you in creating compelling contents for your speeches regardless of your speaking topic. Try him out! He will make your messages more memorable, digestible and Tweetable!

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

Now, Then & What Happened!

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Would you like to connect better and deeper with your audience? Would you like to hook them with every word you say? And would you like to have a lasting impact on the audience after you leave the stage? Then, you better start applying the powerful – “Now, Then & What Happened” Technique – for developing a faster and a stronger connection with your audience.

In 1998, Bill Phillips, an American entrepreneur, produced an extraordinary documentary film entitled “Body-of-Work” documenting the transformation of 10 individuals who participated in a 12-Week Physique Transformation Challenge. The film was a huge success and made Bill millions of Dollars. It was entirely based on this technique – “Now, Then & What Happened.” Bill was cleaver in having 10 different individuals from different walks of life in the film to maximize the target audience so that each person who watches the film would identify himself or herself with one of the heroes in the film and then start their own transformation process using Bill’s dietary supplements line.

So how do you apply this in speaking? Let me give you a real example. I have a keynote called the 4 C’s of Professional Success. And depending on the audience’s sophistication level, I immediately like to come across as a credible speaker who knows the subject of professional success very well and not only that but also could demonstrate that I am a professional success too. So here is what I usually do. I jump right into a story and if you remember from the previous articles, stories are powerful to establish a connection with the audience and keep them engaged. I begin with this story:

In 2015, I spoke in three different continents – North America, Europe and Asia and not only that I was interviewed by CBS News in Washington DC. Can you believe that! This is my reality now. Traveling to different countries to speak and meet interesting people like you all the time. In 1996, I had another reality. I worked in an investment bank at the UGB Tower in the Diplomatic Area in Bahrain. I worked as a cleaner. Yes, as a cleaner to pay my university fees and expenses. I was responsible for various tasks including polishing the windows and making sure that they are shiny just like my head. So, today, I will share with you my story on how I went from sweeping to speaking using the 4 C’s of Professional Success.

My “Now” is being a speaker or my current reality. My “Then” was being a cleaner or my past reality. And the “What Happened” or “How” my application of the 4 C’s of Professional Success. I am sure you came across the “Before and After” pictures of people who lost weight. This technique is similar to this concept. You tell the audience about your “After,” then the “Before” and then tell them about how did you achieve the end results in terms of steps or solutions.

Recently, I was approached by a global consulting firm that specializes in customer experience consulting assignments to review its slides. I was very happy for it because its consultants apply this technique in their PowerPoint Slides to showcase their past clients projects successes and stories. Each slide had a three boxes: The before, the after and how the consulting firm helped its clients through its services.

The following diagram shows how you could present your idea on slide for your future talks:
Screen Shot 2016-09-05 at 1.19.54 pm

Finally, be creative when you use the “Now, Then & What Happened” technique. For example, you could manipulate the equation above to suit your speaking occasion. You could start by sharing your vision of the future or the “After” and how would you like to achieve it by using certain steps or processes to move from your current reality. Use this powerful technique and you will be delighted by the results!

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach and Writer who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.

Ships, Anchors and Your Points!

By | 3D Speaking, Business, Life Lesssons, Public Speaking, Speech Coaching | No Comments

When I was 14 I had my only overnight fishing trip with my father and his cousins Mohamed and Hassan; and few imaginary great white sharks. It was windy, cold and it rained most of the time. I did not want to go with them but my father insisted and issued a decree in line with his Constitutional Powers. I had no option but to obey. The trip was frustrating to me because I never caught a single fish. However, I am proud to say I was responsible for anchoring the boat by throwing three anchors on to the seabed to make sure we are not cast away! Likewise, in speaking, if you do not anchor your points, they will fade away! So here are four techniques for anchoring your speech points.

Anecdotes. Anecdotes are simply stories that you share with the audience to attach your points to them. So if the audience remembers the story, they will remember the point. If you recall from a previous article, there are few crucial elements for a story to be effective like the Circumstance, Characters, Conflict, Conversation and the Carry out Message. In the above paragraph, I used few of these elements. Your story does not have to be profound but rather help you in achieving your purpose which is to anchor your points in the minds of the audience. Build your story file now and thank me later!

Activity. When you engage the audience in an activity, they are immersed in it and chances are that they will append your points to the activity. In 2002, I moved to Jeddah to join the Lipton Team. In my first management meeting we needed to decide the fate of a project. The Brand Manager, distributed Yellow Post-it notes to everyone and asked us to write either a “Yes” or a “No” to indicate whether we thought the project will succeed. The majority said: Yes. The Manager was smart to involve us in the activity so that we do not wander away with other preoccupations and to check on the sentiments of the team members. I am not surprised that I still remember this meeting until now. It was a simple but yet a great anchor. What activities could you use to anchor your points?

Analogy. Analogies are great in illustrating your points and making them unforgettable. For example, one time we had a management meeting and I used a boat to illustrate my viewpoint on a critical decision. The company received many plaques and trophies for sponsoring various events and one of them was a miniature boat. I placed the boat on the table and asked: If this boat were sinking, what should you do? Accept more load or off-load goods to survive? They all said: Of course, off-load. Here, I retorted: Exactly. But what the company is doing now is the opposite. So, ask yourself, what analogies you could use to anchor your points? I am fascinated by the pearl diving journey and I use it to illustrate my points across a spectrum of management topics.

Acronyms. Acronyms are great tools for anchoring your points. Be creative. Come up with your own sets of acronyms. Few years ago, I created an acronym that can help you become more energized to achieve more in your life. I dubbed it: CLAP. Celebrate Little Achievements Promptly. Most people do not celebrate frequently. Are you one of them? When you celebrate more, you achieve more because you build momentum. Join the movement, whenever you make an achievement, celebrate it promptly. Your passion will be fired up.

Look at your main points, identify the keywords, and try to come up with a thread or a theme to create you next acronym. The audience will appreciate it and you will get a bonus. Your acronym will help you in managing the transitions between your points. This will make you appear as a proficient speaker who moves smoothly through his points. Sounds great, right? You bet. That is what I am looking for. To make you a more effective speaker in fact and appearance.

Experiment with these four techniques to anchor your points permanently in the minds of the audience. You could use one or all four of them in one speech to make your messages stick. And remember if you do not have anchors, your messages will fade away in the ocean, never to be found again!

Mohamed Isa is an Executive Speech Coach who guides his clients in designing and delivering dynamic speeches so that they get laughs, applause, and their message across. He is the Co-Author of Amazon’s Best Seller: World Class Speaking in Action.