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 a teleprompter?

Your Corporate Communications Director: “Yes, this will ensure that we are all on the same page with our corporate marketing messages.”

Your Convention Technical Planner: “Yes, this will ensure greater consistency and control over time—we must keep everything on schedule!”

You: “My God! This teleprompter thing is the greatest thing ever created! Now I don’t have to memorize anything. Now, I don’t have to spend as much time rehearsing because everything will be right in front of me and yet my audience can’t see my speech. This teleprompter thing is a better invention than the iPod!”

***

Your audience: “Ugh!!! Have you ever actually listened to someone read off of a teleprompter who wasn’t a professional news anchor? They sound as energetic and engaging as Keanu Reeves on Quaaludes. There is a reason why the TV ratings for political conventions are usually lower than a test pattern running on cable access TV. Most people sound like robots reading without enough electricity when attempting to use a teleprompter. Instead of using a teleprompter, why don’t you just talk to us about what you know?”

I feel for former President Bill Clinton. He is, by all accounts, an indefatigable campaigner, often getting by with less than four hours sleep. Well, apparently even Clinton gets tired. Below is a video clip of Clinton snoozing and attempting in vain to stay awake while on the stage behind a speaker. My cheap easy advice is for everyone to get at least 8 hours of sleep, not only on days when you are speaking, but also when you are going to be near any0one else who is speaking and might have a video camera pointed at him or her. If you need motivation to get a good night’s sleep, then you need to watch this.

http://www.nypost.com/video/?vxSiteId=0db7b365-a288-4708-857b-8bdb545cbd0f&vxChannel=NY%20Post&vxClipId=1458_227094&vxBitrate=700