The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Will I steal my own thunder if I email my PowerPoint presentation to people in advance of giving my speech?

Your Speech Writer: “Yes, let’s keep the element of surprise on our side. Don’t send it in advance.”

Your Communications Director: “No, why would someone come hear you speak if they have already received the presentation in advance? Let’s not cannibalize our audience.”

You: “What will by audience need me for if I have already given them all my material? They will know as much as I do if I send them the presentation in advance. Worse, they will have had time to think of tough questions based on what I’ve sent them. And worse still, they might find a factual error! This has disaster written all over it.”

***

Your Audience: “One of two things will happen if you send us your presentation in advance. One, we don’t read it, but we are at least impressed that you cared about us so much that you prepared in advance and sent us something. Or, two, we will read your presentation in advance. If we read the whole thing, chances are you engaged us and interested us at some level so that we are even more psyched to hear you speak. You now have more credibility in our eyes, we have a better understanding of your key concepts, we grasp your concept more easily during the speech because we are already familiar with them and we ask even more thought-provoking questions. Either way, you win. So yes, please send us your presentation in advance.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

How should I end my speech?

Your Boss: “Once you have finished your main points, then shut up and sit down.”

Your Conference Organizer: “We are running behind schedule. Just sit down quickly after you’ve hit your main points.”

You: “I know I should end with some heart-warming, pithy story, but I can’t think of one. So I will quickly shut up and sit down.”

***

Your Audience: “Nothing is worse than a speaker who just quickly and abruptly finishes the last bullet point on a presentation and says ‘that’s-it-any-questions-thank-you-and-goodbye’ as they run off the stage. End with a purpose. End with finality in your voice. Don’t throw us off guard. Don’t be like a car that is going down the highway at 70 miles per hour and then suddenly runs out of gas. You don’t have to be funny or poignant, but at least re-state your main points, summarize, or ask us to do something. Leave us with one final thought—and that thought should NOT be that you are desperate to get out of the room!”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I use stories in my presentation?

Your Speech Writer: “Yes, you should open and close your speech with a heart-warming story.”

Your Public Relations Director: “Yes, if there is time, let’s put in a few stories to flesh out our points.”

You: “Of course I’d like to put some stories into the presentation, but unfortunately, there’s no time because of all of the data points I must cover.”

***

Your Audience: “It is highly unlikely that we will remember anything from your speech other than your interesting and relevant stories (if you doubt this, just ask us five minutes after your speech is over to tell you what you said during your presentation and you will be greeted with a blank look). If you have an important point or message you want us to remember, you’d b e an absolute fool or imbecile not to tell us a story involving a conversation you had with a real colleague, client, customer or friend that makes this message come alive in a tangible way. If you don’t want us to remember anything from your speech, then by all means, leave out the stories.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

What should I do with my hands?

Your Speech Coach: “Keep one hand in your pocket at all times and you will be less distracting.”

Your Public Relations Chief: “Place both hands on the lectern in front of you. That way they won’t be distracting.”

Your Webcast Technical Adviser: “Hold your hands together in front of you. That way they won’t be distracting.”

You: “Maybe I’ll hold a pen in my hands to keep myself calm. This will make ME feel better.”

***

Your Audience: “Your hands? What? All we know is that it’s more interesting to listen to speakers who are conversational and don’t look and sound like stiffs. Our favorite speakers sound and look like they are talking to their best friend at a bar. Have you ever seen yourself talking to friends at a bar? Guess what, you move your hands a lot.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I stand behind the lectern while giving my presentation?

Your Director of Corporate Communications: “Yes, stand behind the lectern. It will make you look presidential.”

Your Director of Public Affairs: “Yes, stand behind the lectern because it will allow you to place your speech text so that no one will notice it.”

You: “Thanks goodness for the lectern! Now, I’ll have something to grab on to with my hands so that no one will see them flying around uncontrollably. Now, no one will see my knees knocking together. Now I can anchor myself and look rock solid.”

***

Your Audience: “Why are you afraid of us? Why do you need a barrier between yourself and us, the audience? It’s not the end of the world if you want to stand behind a lectern, but it makes you seem scared, almost like you are afraid we are going to throw rotten vegetables at you. You don’t have to walk around the room and gesture. You can stand stiffly in one spot if you want. But you are going to make it that much easier for us to fall asleep. Is that really what you want? Get out from behind the lectern; it is the training wheels of speakers.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

How can I best establish my credibility with my audience?

Your Speech Writer: “Start by listing your title, position, and most historic accomplishments followed by your most recent accomplishments.”

Your Mother: “Tell them that you were on the honor roll for 4 years in college and that you were an Eagle Scout and that everything you have ever touched has turned to gold.”

You: “What if these people think I’m a complete fraud or a phony? I’d better really establish myself as THE expert. I’ll start by telling them my name, my position, and my educational credentials. Then all follow up with a detailed list of all of my professional accomplishments.”

***

Your Audience: “We already know your name, title and organization. Are we clairvoyant? No, but the person introducing you already told us, plus it’s written down on the program for us. Here’s the shocker—you already have credibility in our eyes because you somehow garnered a position to talk in front of us today. So stop talking about yourself already!!! We are sick of hearing about you. Instead tell us something about us. The number one way you will seem more credible in our eyes is if you could actually tell us something that would be useful in improving our lives, businesses, productivity, or happiness.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Should I play it safe by avoiding humor?

Speech Writer: “It’s good to open a speech with a joke. This will loosen you and your audience up.”

Chief Legal Counsel: “Humor? Are you crazy? Do you want to get us sued?”

You: “What do I look like Jerry Seinfeld? Joan Rivers? I think I will play it safe and avoid humor all together.”

***

Your Audience: “Nothing is worse than a speaker who is trying too hard to be funny by telling stale or canned jokes. On the other hand, nothing is better than receiving that unexpected surprise of laughter. A speaker who can have fun and make fun, especially of himself or herself, will always have a special place in our hearts. Here is the one thing as a speaker that you should know about us audience members: if we are laughing, we aren’t sleeping, daydreaming or checking our Blackberries. Enough said.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

Is it OK to read from my PowerPoint slides?

Your Marketing Director: “Try to read 20% or less of the time.”

Your Speech coach: “Try to read 10% or less of the time.”

You: “In an ideal world, I won’t read at all, but I don’t have time to rehearse and I want to get each word just right, so I will read 50% of the time.”

***

Your audience: “How insulting that you would read to us! What? You think we are too stupid to read on our own? You must think we are illiterate! For the love of Pete, just talk to us and tell us what you know. If we want to read stuff later, we will.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

How many PowerPoint slides should I use in my entire PowerPoint Presentation?

Corporate Communications Director: “Let’s use no more than 30 slides. We got criticism for the old presentation we did with 50 slides.”

PR Director (who read one book on PowerPoint): “Ten! The magic answer is ten. Thou shalt use no more and no fewer than 10 slides. Ten is the perfect number.”

You: “The more slides I prepare, the smarter and more well-prepared I’ll look. I’ll try to limit the slides to 50, but if I put more in, this way people can use the PowerPoint as a resource in their office for the next year.”

***

Your Audience: “What a stupid question!!! The correct number of slides could be one or it could be 100 or it could be zero. If a slide will help us understand and remember your message better, then use it. If not, don’t use any slide. Follow that principle and the number of slides will take care of themselves.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.

How many bullet points should I use on each page of my Power Point Presentation?

Your Marketing Director: “I’d like to limit the number, but we have to be realistic. We are going to need to put at least 20 bullet points per slide.”

Your PowerPoint slide producer: “We should limit the slides to three bullet points per page.”

You: “I’d like to limit the bullet points, but what if I forget something important. I’d better play it safe by putting 15-20 points per slide. That way I’ll never run out of intelligent things to say.”

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Your audience: “Why do you think we want to stare at bullet points? Is that really the most creative thing you can do with a giant screen? We can read text on our own time. We don’t need you to read to us. Why don’t you actually do something that isn’t incredibly lazy and boring, i.e., show us pictures, images, or graphs that convey information visually.”