Speak Well and Prosper

Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations

Frank DiBartolomeo

• Publisher: Frank DiBartolomeo
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781646632411
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Communication & Public Speaking

Your success in life is largely determined by your social skills-by your ability to interact positively and effectively with others and ensure their cooperation. This interaction is greatly dependent on presenting your ideas to your direct reports, colleagues, and superiors in a cogent, clear, and convincing manner. This is where Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations comes in. This book

• covers all aspects of presentation preparation and delivery, the future of public speaking, and tips for specific speaking situations.
• takes a conversational approach to teaching the fundamentals of great public speaking.
• addresses methods to reduce the fear of public speaking, what to do after you have your presentation topic, and how to practice your delivery.
• provides "calls to action" after every chapter that will significantly improve your public speaking ability and thus increase your ability to influence others.

Earl Nightingale once said, "Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity." Prepare yourself with Speak Well and Prosper. When your opportunity comes, and it always does, you will be ready to shine! YOU CAN DO IT!

PART I: SPEAKING IN PUBLIC: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

WHY IS BEING ABLE to speak in public important? Since prehistoric times when language came about, human beings have been trying to convince other human beings to their way of thinking. We see it in our schools, our politics, and our homes, along with a million other places. It is the stuff of human communication discourse. It defines us as human beings.

We admire the great speakers who cause us to think, change our viewpoint, and dream of what we can become: the inspiring pastor, the encouraging father or mother, the emboldening teacher. We look up to them. We emulate them. We seek their wisdom.

This is the power of the spoken word. It moves us, inspires us, and causes us to take action to better our lives, the lives of our families, and maybe most importantly, the lives of others. In a literal sense, it is responsible for all human achievement since the dawn of human history.

Part I of this book speaks to this importance of public speaking. It talks about:

• Speak Greatly to Lead Greatly!
• Great Writing = Great Speaking!
• Speak Positive – Gain Power!
• Do You Have the Will to Prepare to Win?
• Speak Greatly in Times of Crisis!
• Are You a Go-Giver Speaker?
• Where Are You on the Speaker’s Hierarchy of Needs?
• So Where Can I Speak?
• As a Speaker, Do You Have an Attitude of Gratitude?

Speak Greatly to Lead Greatly!

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”

—Michelangelo

IS GREAT SPEAKING ESSENTIAL to great leading? Think about it. Can you think of any great leader who was not a great speaker? Great leaders use their great speaking ability to influence their followers. Because of this, great speaking is indeed essential to great leading.

Below you will find out how great speaking significantly enhances your leadership in the following qualities: integrity, resolution, and having the strength of their convictions.

GREAT SPEAKING IS INTEGRAL TO DEVELOPING UNQUESTIONED INTEGRITY

Earl Nightingale in his audio album Lead the Field talks of an American Army General captured in the Korean War. He was subjected to all types of physical torture, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation. The general was ordered several times to sign a confession admitting he was a spy for the United States. He refused every time.

One day, his captors told him if he did not sign the confession by daybreak, he would be executed. Thinking he was going to be executed the next day, he wrote a letter to his wife that night. In the letter, he wrote, “Tell Johnny the word is integrity.”

The general was later repatriated to the United States in a prisoner exchange. But thinking he would be executed the next morning, he asked his wife to tell their son, Johnny, the word is integrity. What would be your last words on this earth to your son or daughter? These would be the words you want them to remember through life. Would it be the word integrity?

Dictionary.com (www.dictionary.com) defines integrity as “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” I was pondering this the other day and thought how your public speaking greatly supports your integrity.

You are your most convincing to your audience when you adhere to high moral and ethical principles. How can you do this as a speaker? Prepare your own presentation, and when you use someone else’s words, attribute them. It is entirely appropriate to support your presentation with quotes from other speakers if, and only if, you attribute the words to the rightful speaker.

***

Integrity is the bedrock of your speaking life. Modern audiences are incredibly perceptive and can catch when a speaker is being less than honest with them. Your integrity or lack of your integrity will be obvious to your audience.

Adherence to high integrity will bring you much appreciation from your audiences. In addition to integrity, audiences are looking for leaders that are resolute.

GREAT SPEAKING SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCES A LEADER’S RESOLUTION

George Washington is a perfect example of the resolute leader. He agreed to lead a ragtag group of farmers, merchants, and part-time militiamen in a struggle for independence against the most powerful military on the face of the earth at the time: Great Britain.

George Washington was a man of few words. He never wrote a book and wrote few letters. However, after the War for Independence was won, he led the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which established the Constitution of the United States, which we still live under today. In his capacity as the President of the Constitutional Convention, he had many opportunities to speak to his fellow delegates about the eventual shape of the United States.

Why do you as a speaker need to be as resolute as George Washington? Dictionary.com defines resolute as firmly resolved or determined; set in purpose or opinion; characterized by firmness and determination, as the temper, spirit, actions.

Do you as a speaker have to firmly resolve what you are going to say in your presentations? Do you as a speaker have to have determination to prepare and deliver your speech? Do you as a speaker have to have a strong opinion on what the audience should do with what you are presenting them? I hope you answered a resounding “yes” to all of these questions. This enhances your leadership.

Final question: Are you now convinced you a leader when you are speaking? I hope you answered yes, because people in the audience are following you because you are influencing them through your ideas in your presentation. When you speak, you are a leader.

Integrity and resolution are key attributes of speakers and, therefore, leaders, but people will not follow you if you don’t have the streng...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise For Speak Well And Prosper: Tips, Tools, And Techniques For Better Presentations
• Title
• Copyrgiht
• Foreword
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Part I: Speaking in Public: Why is it Important?
• Part II: Presentation Preparation (General)
• Part III: Presentation Preparation (Specific)
• Part IV: Presentation Delivery
• Part V: The Future of Speaking
• Part VI: Presentation Tips for Specific Speaking Situations
• Final Thoughts
• Resources
• About the Author
• Acknowledgments