Six Steps to Becoming the Speaker Audiences Want to Hear

with Dr. Bill Lampton

In a recent presentation, I shared these six steps that help my Speech Coaching clients become the speakers that audiences want to hear. You will find them simple to use, yet powerful in the response they generate.

1. Don't start your speech with a joke.
2. Change your opinion about audiences.
3. Change your opinion of the speaking situation.
4. Use the best preparation method.
5. Share compelling stories, not statistics.
6. Support everything you say by your character.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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Dick Clark's Legacy For Leaders: Shorten Your Meetings

with Dr. Bill Lampton

Obituaries for Dick Clark reviewed how he changed the popular music scene by hosting American Bandstand for decades, helping singers catapult from obscurity to stardom. Also, the post mortem write ups spotlighted Clark as a true “media mogul,” holding comprehensive sway through Dick Clark Productions. With boundless creativity and limitless energy—consistent with his perpetual nickname as “the world’s oldest teenager”—Clark excelled in radio, TV, theater, and even the restaurant business.

How did he get so much done? What could be considered a major key to his astounding accomplishments? Quite possibly, the answer might lie in his unique rule for corporate meetings, which he chaired thousands of times. Consider his inflexible regulation: No meeting could last longer than twelve minutes.

Even if you cannot match his stringent standard, chances are good that you can shorten your meetings considerably. Use these seven simple steps.

1. Announce the reduced duration
2. Start on time, regardless of how many have arrived
3. Omit the time honored reading of the minutes
4. Allow no interruptions
5. Don’t provide refreshments
6. Eliminate chairs
7. Schedule meetings when people are in a hurry

In closing, you may be using some of these tactics already, and after evaluating the others covered in this overview you are ready to try them. When you shorten your meetings, morale and productivity will increase, which could lead to greater profits. And my guess is that Dick Clark would be delighted to applaud the improvements you have made in your business communication.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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3 Major Mistakes To Avoid At Networking Events

with Dr. Bill Lampton

For years we have been hearing about a widespread “sea change” in the business world. Certainly technology developments have made some of our former networking moves obsolete. You wouldn’t hand out 8 track tapes at a Chamber of Commerce reception, for example. Likewise, some of our spoken messages don’t attract new acquaintances as they once did. Worse, they drive people away. Let’s look at three of those outmoded approaches.

1. Scorekeepers

2. Deal Closers

3. Dull Describers

As you look back over these three distasteful and destructive ways to describe yourself at a networking event, make the changes you consider necessary. Forget about amassing numbers, and identify business leaders you need to establish bonds with. Forget about making sales-on-the-spot, and present yourself as a keen listener. Reshape your elevator speech to clarify how your service benefits your clients now and long range. Not only will your networking become noticeably more effective, you will enjoy the process more than you ever have.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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Informal Networking Can Generate Incredible Business

with Dr. Bill Lampton

When you hear the word “networking,” several organized activities might come to mind:

-talking with lunch partners at your civic club’s weekly meeting
-circulating among the crowd at a Chamber’s “Business After Hours” reception
-introducing yourself to headhunters at a job fair
-chairing a fund raising drive for a prestigious charity

These interactions will generate visibility and respect for you, so they deserve your regular participation. Yet while you are giving your time and talents to highly public events, make room in your schedule for smaller, less formal networking opportunities.

• Doug takes to the links
• Beau makes a coffee shop his headquarters
• Follow their example of creativity

As you consider how Doug and Beau built their businesses in more casual but still highly respectable ways, start thinking about how you can do the same. When you implement your refreshingly different approach, not only will you boost your profits, you will put some much-needed fun into your work day.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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6 Vital Tips for a First-Time Emcee

with Dr. Bill Lampton

Suppose your supervisor told you, “You know that we have our company banquet scheduled for next month. Before she transferred to another state, Evelyn did a fine job as master of ceremonies for five years. Of course, we need a replacement emcee now, and I have selected you.” Would that assignment intimidate you? Not if you followed these six vital tips.

1. Spotlight others, not yourself
2. Be clock conscious
3. Remain totally alert
4. Be careful with humor
5. Check the technical equipment beforehand
6. Use your natural conversational voice

To sum up: Your employer honored you by asking you to emcee the annual event. You can make your first time effort both successful and enjoyable. Put others in the limelight, be clock conscious, refrain from using intoxicating beverages, use humor cautiously and tastefully, make sure the technical equipment is working, and speak conversationally. When the evening ends, you’ll start looking forward to your next opportunity to emcee an event.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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Civic Leader Gets a Valuable Lesson In Listening

with Dr. Bill Lampton

Recently I spoke to the Rotary Club in Clemson, SC, at the invitation of a lifelong friend from my hometown of Columbia, MS, Dr. Jim Woods.

As a retired orthodontist, Jim enjoys using his newly created free time to serve as a volunteer for worthwhile organizations in his community. He told me that he learned something valuable about communication during my Rotary speech, which he applied with highly satisfactory results a few days later at another group’s planning session.

My Rotary speech focused on three essential steps for becoming a highly effective communicator:

1. Using clear language

2. Making the most of that unique instrument known as your voice

3. Listening intently and non-judgmentally.

A couple of days later, Jim called me tell me how my tips about listening had revolutionized his style as a moderator—and how rewarding the results were. Jim said, “Maybe you wonder if audience members ever follow the advice you give when you speak. Well, I can assure you that at least one person—me—tried what you recommended on Monday. And I guarantee, the change in the group’s response was so magical that I have overcome my tendency to do all the talking when I give a presentation. I’m going to remember, and act on, that advice you gave from Stephen Covey: “Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.”



Clearly, the lesson Jim learned about listening brought a permanent improvement in his communication. So put the power of listening to the test, as he did. The results will amaze you, and all those you lead.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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4 Communication Traits Shared by Masterful Managers

with Dr. Bill Lampton

When you read about the habits and styles of well-known managers, you realize that they don’t all fit the same mold. Some are workaholics with no outside interests, while others live balanced lives by reserving time for family, hobbies, and community service. Some flaunt their wealth by living in mega mansions, while others live so conservatively that they become the invisible millionaires Thomas J. Stanley profiled. Yet despite the variations in personal behavior, when you analyze professional actions you discover several striking similarities. Definitely, masterful managers share four communication traits that help them succeed as leaders.

1. Visibility

2. Informal presentation style

3.Open to fresh ideas

4. Ability to use tasteful humor

Conclusion: So whether you are a new manager or a veteran manager, increase your visibility, reshape your presentation style until your colleagues forget you are giving a speech, assure every employee you will consider recommendations from every level, and use humor to relieve tension and help people enjoy their job in ways they wouldn’t in a stodgy atmosphere. Make these communication traits your trademarks, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a masterful manager.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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Calling With Uncommon Courtesy
with Dr. Bill Lampton

There are 6 billion cell phone subscribers scattered around the world. Yet judging by what we see and hear in both business and social settings, only a small percentage of those subscribers use their phones without offending other people.

Stated more positively, you will become a caller respected for your uncommon courtesy by following at a minimum five rather simple steps:
1. Limit your listening audience to one person.
2. Respect the other person's convenience, not yours.
3. Remember, it's a phone, not a megaphone.
4. Mention the caller's name when you answer.
5. Tell only part of your story on your voice message.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

Communication Consulting Radio :: Episode 2

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Three Unconventional Ways to Improve Your Business Writing
with Dr. Bill Lampton

1. Read articles and books by the most popular business writers.

2. Watch spellbinding movies.

3. Learn a foreign language.

Summary: To add vigor and clarity to your business writing, read a popular business book every couple of months, analyze the tactics movies use to keep viewers enthralled, and discipline yourself to study at least one foreign language.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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The Five Things You Want Them Saying After your Speech
with Dr. Bill Lampton

You can be sure that audience members will share their opinions about your speech afterward. Some will evaluate your presentation as they are leaving the meeting site, and others will be telling their family, friends, and colleagues about your presentation during the next couple of weeks.

Here are five comments you hope they will make after every speech you give:

1. Expert on the topic

2. Gave useful advice for my business

3. Very interesting

4. Highly motivational

5. Sounded like a conversation, not a speech

Conclusion: Ask yourself, "What are they saying about my speeches afterward?" Keep improving until they say the five comments that have been spotlighted.

Links: ChampionshipCommunication.com

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