Does anyone know of an expert in starting ad networks? I am looking to start an ad network focusing on web sites that deal with the following topics: speaking, public speaking, presentations, powerpoint and media training. If you know of anyone, please have them contact me at tj@tjwalker.com.

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 is the single biggest difference between great speakers and average/mediocre speakers?

Your Speech Coach: “Practice, practice, practice!”

Your Marketing Director: “It is belief in his or her product or service that count s for the most.”

You: “Innate charisma, luck, the topic, I don’t know! Help!”

***

Your Audience: “A speaker can have perfect diction, perfect eye contact, perfect clothes, perfect hair, and perfect pauses and still be an awful presenter. Why? Because the presenter gave a data dump without stories or examples. The speaker was too abstract and to dispassionate. On the other hand, a speaker can have a button missing, messy hair, say “uh” and “um,” but if the speaker passionately conveys just a handful of messages using compelling stories and examples for each one, then that speaker will be considered a great presenter—every time.”

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.

Do great speakers have to have a certain type of look?

Director of Marketing: “Yes, great speakers need to have a polished look. Make sure you have hand-tailored suits and expensive shoes on when speaking.”

Chief Legal Counsel: “Only an expensive business suit will do. And best to have some distinguished gray hair too.”

You: “I had better look like Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher or Bill Clinton. Otherwise my audience will think I’m a joke. I’m going to be toast!”

***

Your Audience: “We don’t really care what you look like, or sound like. Just give us interesting and memorable ideas and do so with passion and stories. You can look as small and quiet as Mother Theresa or as big and rumpled as Michael Moore, we will give you are full attention for the next 20-60 minutes. We aren’t looking to marry you and we aren’t looking for a fashion role model. Just look and sound real and authentic to who you are and you won’t have any problems.”

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.

Who should be my role model for speaking?

Your Chief legal Counsel: “Johnny Cochrane or F. Lee Bailey.”

Your Public Affairs Director: “Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair.”

Your CEO: “Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet.”

You: “Joel Osteen, Oprah, I don’t know, help!”

***

Your Audience: “Nothing is more annoying than watching a non-actor trying to act like someone they’re not. When we talked to you last week in the lunch room one-on-one you were quite animated, passionate and interesting. When we had a drink at the pub two weeks ago with you, you were quite animated, interesting and passionate talking about your project. But when we see you giving a speech, you seem more subdued, low-key, low energy, and, frankly, a little boring. You need a new role model and that role model should be yourself. We don’t mean the “you” that is nervous and low energy in front of a group of people. We mean the “you” when you are talking to just one or two other people.”

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.

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.”

From TJ Walker’s upcoming book, “The Wisdom of your Audience.”

Should I tell my audience that I am very happy to be speaking to them today?

Your Speech Writer: “It is important to set the mood of you being gracious, so tell people you are happy to be there.”

You: “I want to be sincere and real, so I want to tell people that I am genuinely happy to have the honor of speaking to them today.”

***

Your Audience: “Boring! We don’t care if you are happy. Why don’t you spend your time making us happy by actually telling us something interesting? We are especially unimpressed when you read from a script with your head down and tell us that you are happy to be speaking to us in a wooden tone of voice. First tings first–tell us interesting stuff, create a shared experience for all of us, then we can all be happy together.”

The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”

How should I ask to be introduced to my audience?

What the experts say:

Your in-house communications expert: “Just print your standard 2-page bio and let your introducer read it.”

Your PR Representative: “Be sure to remind people of every media appearance you have made in the last 5 years.”

You: “I’m feeling a little insecure, so I better convince them of my credibility with credentials. Of course they will want to know that I made the honor society all four years in high school and they need to know about every single career accomplishment. Otherwise they won’t listen to me.”

*******

Your Audience: “For crying out loud, don’t let your introduction go longer than 30-45 seconds. Tell us the one or two things that make you an expert on the subject you are about to address. Tell us what you have donet that directly has an impact on what we do. We really don’t care about where you went to school, your children, your dog or where you like to vacation. Please be selective in what you have your introducer tell us about you. We know you wrote your own intro, so don’t make the it longer than your speech.”

Here is an excellent tutorial on how to place YouTube video into your PowerPoint Presentations. Personally, I use a lot of video in my presentations. However, I caution most people against this–There are numerous technical problems associated with video, even after you have figured out how to get it into your presentation.  Also, make sure you don’t use copyrighted material from YouTube in your presentation. YouTube has the billion dollar resources of the Google legal department to defend it; chances are that you don’t.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas) made the Democratic response to George Bush’s State of the Union Address last night. Sebelius looked professional, smooth, competent, and knowledgeable.

But…

She read from a Teleprompter, and the truth is, it’s darned hard to read form a Teleprompter without putting people to sleep. Why? Because when non=professionals read form a Teleprompter, they tend to speak at the same speed, the same tone, the same volume throughout. The result? Sameness, which means boredom.

I happened to be watching Sebuelius’ speech with people who supported her politics and agenda. But after five minutes, everyone in the room was complaining about how boring and how long the speech was.

If you are going to use a Teleprompter, just realize that it is harder to do than working from notes. It is crucial that you get comfortable not only with the words, but with where you will change your speed, volume, tempo and where you will insert pauses. If you don’t prepare and rehearse these, you will bore your audience to death.