Here are five best practices of public speaking that speakers don’t always follow, but should resolve to in 2012:

1. Pick up the phone before you pick up the pen.

You can only learn so much from event planners and the demographic information provided by the group you are addressing. It takes actual conversations with expected audience members to get a handle on their interests, needs, and knowledge of your subject.

While e-mail is passable in a pinch, it is far better to pick up the phone and talk to five rank-and-file people who likely will be in your audience. Have a few questions planned, but only use them to keep the conversation going or ask for clarification.

Chris Lu, a senior official at the White House recalled, “When I was drafting my first college commencement speech, I called several graduating seniors to learn about their campus experiences – their triumphs and struggles, favorite professors and hangout places, and common bonding moments. Drawing on these references and vignettes in my remarks, I was also able to make my speech more relevant to the audience. Afterward, several long-time professors said it was the best commencement speech they had heard.”

As Lu successfully did, make sure to listen for stories and examples you can weave into your speech, as well as inside information or jokes you can allude to. This shows your audience that you have done your research and aren’t giving a canned presentation.

2. Have a laser-focused point.

No, not a laser pointer, a laser-focused point.

It may sound obvious, but too many speakers don’t have a succinct main idea. If you can’t explain your speech in a sentence, you certainly won’t explain it in an hour.

Use a short, clear phrase or sentence that summarizes the point of your presentation to tell your audience what to expect. It doesn’t have to be the first thing out of your mouth, but should come during the introduction and set-up of your speech. Then, make sure you relate your main points back to that central idea as your presentation progresses.

3. Rehearse six times for success.

We all know that practice makes perfect, but exactly how much? Rehearse at least six times. That’s right, a minimum of six times.

Why six? There is something special about the sixth rehearsal. It’s the rehearsal when speakers truly master their content, can recover quickly from hiccups in their delivery, and feel significantly more comfortable at the lectern.

A case in point is that of work-life integration coach Carolyn Semedo, a participant in a recent series of small-group coaching classes. During one session, she acknowledged feeling frustrated that she was stumbling over the content of a presentation she was slated to deliver.

She chalked it up to being a mediocre presenter. In response to a question about her method of rehearsing, she said that she had practiced once over the weekend and again on Monday evening as she was driving to class.

Of course Carolyn’s delivery was rocky! Even the most celebrated speakers don’t have their material down on a second run through. On the contrary, speakers who make presenting look easy are those who have practiced their material the most.

Carolyn is by no means a mediocre presenter. Like many speakers, she just needed some coaching on how to rehearse. She said, “I thought that by rehearsing two or three times, I should have it nailed. It was very helpful to learn that more rehearsals were the key to a better speech.”

4. Get feedback – before and after your speech.

You can learn a lot by asking listeners how your speech was effective… and how it was not.

Get a gut check before the curtain goes up; have a trusted colleague and/or a speech coach evaluate the content and delivery of your presentation. This will help prevent a situation where your presentation misses the mark or humor falls flat. It also will help you identify what works, as well as what needs refining. Make sure you ask for specific suggestions on how to improve the speech.

It is just as important to get feedback after the presentation. Written evaluations can be especially easy if the conference or event already is collecting data from listeners. Review the questionnaire ahead of time and ask to see the results. If the questionnaire isn’t thorough or specific enough, ask to add some questions or supplement it with your own form focused on the reception of your speech.

If a formal evaluation isn’t possible or appropriate, interview a few members of the audience after your presentation to see what stood out to them – asking about strengths as well as areas that need improvement. In some settings, like toasts and graduation speeches, it can be difficult to get specific feedback from members of your audience because they’re listening mainly for pleasure. In these instances, it is helpful to talk to a few known and trusted audience members beforehand, asking them to listen to the speech critically and provide an evaluation.

5. Get caught on camera.

Video is an unparalleled learning tool. Though some speakers find it painful to watch themselves on camera, reviewing recordings of rehearsals and presentations will open your eyes to bad speaking habits and other issues.

“Although I was initially apprehensive about watching the video recordings of my practice speeches,” admitted Kristie Patton, who works at the National Council on Aging, “I came to view this exercise as extremely helpful.

“It offered a valuable window into how I was communicating with my audience, both verbally and non-verbally. In addition to observing standard communication errors, like speaking too quickly or using filler words, it was also instructive to note that something as seemingly innocuous as my earrings could serve as a distraction to my audience.”

Furthermore, video is a great way to document progress. Like taking photos before starting a new diet and exercise regime, comparing video provides motivation when you see progress and the payoff for your hard work. And when you get more proficient in speaking and comfortable watching yourself on camera, recordings will become a useful tool for spreading your message well beyond your physical audience – whether you put them on YouTube, your website, social media, or other platforms.

Resolve to follow these best practices in the New Year, and your audience, undoubtedly, will see a dramatic improvement in your presentations.

What are YOUR resolutions for 2012?

In addition to these five best practices, what will you resolve to improve in 2012? Please share your resolutions in the comments.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Christine Clapp is president of Spoken with Authority, providing one-on-one coaching, small-group classes and workshops that develop the voice of experts who want to broaden their impact. She also is a lecturer in the Department of Communication at The George Washington University.

To design, prepare, and deliver a great presentation, you’ve got to commit yourself to the task. If you go in half-hearted or, worse, dreading it, your negative attitude will show in the final product.

This is the subject of today’s email from Melissa Cullen:

I’ve been a subscriber since 2010, and Six Minutes has really helped. I have to give presentations about once a month, and I get compliments on them now. However, every time another presentation gets scheduled, I’m filled with dread about having to speak, yet again. Does this feeling of apathy ever go away? What can I do to get rid of the speaking blues?

In this article, we’ll look at how to adopt a positive mindset about speaking.

Shift Your Vocabulary, Shift Your Attitude

As I was trying to choose between several reader questions for this article, I popped over to one of my favorite blogs by Michael Hyatt. His article — How a Shift in Your Vocabulary Can Instantly Change Your Attitude — addresses Melissa’s question.

Michael writes:

[...] several weeks ago, I was headed out of town to a speaking engagement. A friend called and asked me where I was going. I said, “Oh, I’m headed to San Jose. I have to speak at a convention.” I said it with a little resignation in my voice.

When I hung up, it hit me. I don’t have to speak. I get to speak. That instantly changed my attitude. [...]

The first expression (i.e., I have to do it) is the language of duty. Nothing wrong with that. I am all for responsibility. But too often, we say it with a sigh, like it’s a sentence—or we are a victim.

The second expression (i.e., I get to do it) is the language of privilege. It is as if we have been given a gift, and we are relishing the opportunity.

I agree with Michael entirely. While it may also be a duty, we must remember that every opportunity to speak is a privilege to be relished. It’s an opportunity to put our ideas forward. It’s an opportunity to start a dialogue to solve problems. It’s an opportunity to motivate others into action.

Adopting a positive attitude will reap a bounty of rewards for you. Not only will the effort to plan and prepare your presentation seem less onerous, but you’ll be energized and excited when it’s your time to speak. Framing the opportunity as a privilege also makes you more audience-focused, and that’s always a good thing.

More Vocabulary Shifts for Speakers

Framing a speaking opportunity as a privilege takes care of the big picture, but you can apply the same vocabulary switch to other elements of the speaking process.

For example:

Instead of: Editing my speech takes too much time.
Try this: Every revision makes my message crisper.

Instead of: I have to present a report on my team’s progress bi-weekly.
Try this: Management cares about the success of my project.

Instead of: I hate when people nitpick my speech.
Try this:  I am lucky to get feedback about how to improve.

Instead of: Text slides are easier to prepare.
Try this:  Visual slides are better for my audience.

Instead of: Everyone in the audience is judging me.
Try this: Everyone in the audience seeks value from me.

Instead of: My nerves show how much I want to flee.
Try this: My nerves show how much I want to succeed.

Instead of: I doubt many people in the audience will be persuaded.
Try this: If I persuade even a small group of people, it’s a success.

Instead of: I have to fill thirty minutes on the agenda with my presentation.
Try this: I’m lucky so much of the agenda is available to share my message.

Instead of: I fear getting asked a question which I can’t answer.
Try this: My Q&A session shows people are engaged, and is the first step of a continued dialogue.

Instead of: I’d like to be paid to speak.
Try this: I’m going to earn a paid speaking engagement.

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

What words or phrases in your vocabulary can use a shift?

Please share in the comments.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Moses Cherrington asks:

Is there a most common problem associated with public speaking, according to your point of view and experience in public speaking?

There is, sadly, an abundance of common problems which afflict speakers. In this article, we’ll focus on three of the worst which sabotage many speakers.

Problem #1: Lack of Purpose

I frequently have people ask me to review their presentation slides. Naturally, they want to open PowerPoint first, and dive into showing me their slide deck. However, I’ll ask them: “Before we dive in, what’s your message?”

When they respond “What do you mean?” (and they often do), I know we’ve got a problem much larger than poorly designed slides.

Reviewing your slides without having clarity on your core message is like critiquing your bombing technique without knowing why you are at war.

And this problem — failure to have clarity on your core message — is not confined to those who speak with slides. It’s very common among all speakers. If you don’t have clarity on your message, your audience won’t either.

Problem #2: Lack of Passion

The opportunity to speak to an audience is a wonderful gift.  Sometimes getting one person to listen is challenging, so having a full room of listeners is a blessing. But this blessing is completely wasted if the speaker has no passion.

In The Secret of Choosing Successful Speech Topics, we learned that to be successful, you must love your topic, and be passionate about sharing your knowledge.

When you speak without passion, your delivery is guaranteed to be flat. Your energy level, your eyes, and your expressions will all show your own lack of interest. Conversely, possessing great passion for your topic can mask many delivery flaws.

Problem #3: Lack of Preparation

The third common problem with many speakers is a lack of preparation.

I once spoke with a new employee about to give his first corporate presentation: a 30-minute project summary to the department. I asked him how much preparation he had done, and he responded that he “had spent all evening on it.” I reminded him that 25 people were going to be there, all of whom have busy schedules (not to mention salaries higher than his), and they were expecting a useful presentation.

He bombed the presentation. Half the audience walked out half-way through. The others survived long enough to enjoy the cookies and cake being served.

When a speaker fails to prepare adequately:

• Audience analysis is done hastily, or (probably) not at all.
• Research is minimal, and the content is just whatever was easily obtainable.
• Slides, if any, will be thrown together sloppily, and will probably be all text bullets.
• Little editing is performed, meaning the structure is murky and vague.
• The presentation will not be rehearsed, usually leading to haphazard delivery and poor time management.

Ultimately, failing to prepare represents a huge missed opportunity. Not only will the audience not be persuaded by the presentation, but they’ll probably be insulted that their time has been wasted.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking

For seven more tragic problems, check out the highly popular 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking article featured on Six Minutes a couple years ago.

Your Turn… What’s Your Opinion?

What are the most common problems afflicting public speakers in your opinion?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Have you ever thought about the foods and beverages that can improve or degrade your speaking performance?

Do you have any good luck foods that you consume before speaking? How about a food or beverage you avoid?

Gonzalo Diaz asks this delicious question:

A month ago, I attended a conference where one of the speakers left for five minutes right in the middle of his talk. He apologized, saying it was something he ate.

I had never given much thought to it before. Do you have a list of foods that you avoid before speaking, or any foods that give you extra energy?

In this article, we’ll consider what you should — and shouldn’t — eat and drink for maximum speaking effectiveness.

Food and Drink Do’s and Taboos for Speakers

Like much of the advice given on Six Minutes, you must adapt the guidance in this article to your own personal situation. Every speaker has different digestive habits, and what works for one speaker may not work for another. The key is to realize that your performance can be impacted by your diet.

That being said, here are a few general guidelines:

1. On the day of your presentation (or perhaps the day before if you are speaking first thing in the morning), practice moderation. You should not consume too much, nor too little, because both extremes can leave you ill — and that’s going to degrade your delivery.
2. Avoid eating or drinking anything new, as you never know when your body might react badly to an unfamiliar ingredient. Beware of spicy and rich foods. This is a common affliction to speakers who travel to their speaking opportunities.
3. Avoid eating a particularly heavy meal an hour or two before you speak. It is ironic that the process of digestion requires a great deal of energy. Thus, your body tends to be lethargic at this time. This can have a distinct negative effect on your gestures and overall energy level.
4. Avoid alcohol entirely before speaking. While (I hope) it is common sense not to get drunk, I also recommend avoiding alcohol entirely before you speak. Even a small amount can impair your cognitive abilities, something which you need to be at peak efficiency. Don’t follow the advice that encourages a drink or two “to calm your nerves.” While it may calm your nerves, it will also have a negative effect on your judgment… and that’s always a bad thing with a microphone in your hand.
5. Avoid dairy and other mucous-producing foods. These tend to build up mucous in your throat, promoting repeated (and distracting) clearing of your throat. Some speakers have also told me that soft drinks or other sugary drinks have the same negative effect.
6. Avoid diuretics, notably caffeine drinks (coffee, tea, soft drinks) and alcohol. Before and during your speech, you want to be comfortable, and you don’t need this distraction.
7. Some speakers avoid ice cold beverages; some swear off hot beverages. In both cases, the rationale is that it negatively affects your vocal comfort. The lesson is that you should develop self-awareness of what works for you.
8. Drink water. I’m a huge believer that nothing is better for your voice (and, your overall health) than drinking lots of water. Ensure that you stay well-hydrated the day you speak. It’s also a good idea to keep a bottle of water nearby while you speak. Not only will it help you remedy a dry mouth, but the act of taking a drink is a good opportunity for you to pause, transition, and check your notes discretely.
9. Some speakers adhere to strict habits about eating a certain food before every presentation they give. For example, one speaker I know eats a banana about half an hour before every presentation. As long as you keep it light, I don’t see much harm in calming yourself with a small indulgence.

Speak well, and enjoy a treat… after you finish!

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

What foods do you avoid before you speak? Do you have a pre-presentation ritual that you follow?

Please share in the comments.

Similar Articles You May Like... Bookending Your Speech: A Master Technique How to Ace the Short, Impromptu Speech Why You Must Relish Every Opportunity to Speak How to Thrive When Speaking Outside 3 Common Ways Speakers Sabotage Themselves How to Weave Statistics Into Your Speech

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Imagine that you’ve spent weeks preparing your presentation supporting the construction of a new community center. You’ve got wonderfully persuasive material, and you’ve prepared a concise 1-page handout summarizing your arguments.

The only thing you didn’t plan was when to distribute the handout. At the beginning? At the end? In the middle? Or does it matter?

Kevin Wortman writes:

A vexing issue for presentations seems to frequently center on whether to hand out hard copy materials before or after the presentation. Even Toastmasters have expressed a desire to have materials at the start of a presentation to help them understand the subject, however, we know the danger of distraction for hard copy materials in-hand during a presentation. So is it simply situation specific or is there a general rule to follow regarding hard copy information hand-outs prior to or after a presentation? Thanks.

In this article, we will examine the timing of giving handouts to your audience and how it impacts your presentation.

Rule of Thumb: Distribute Handouts at the End

It’s generally to your advantage to distribute handouts at the end of your presentation.

Benefits include:

• You make it clear that the handout is meant to be taken away. There’s no guarantee that your handout doesn’t end up in the recycling bin, but your aim is give it a chance to survive as long as possible, carrying your message with it.
• If you plan to hand it out at the end, you will be more likely to make it a useful summary document (as opposed to making it a less useful transcript of your presentation).
• Your audience will not be distracted reading it during your presentation, when you need their eyes and attention with you.
• Your delivery can retain suspense, surprises, and case studies (which might otherwise be hinted at or spoiled by the handout).
• It is symbolic of giving a gift to the audience to thank them for their attention.
• There will be less rustling of papers to distract both you and your audience.

Let your audience know early on that you’ve prepared a handout, and that you’ll be distributing it at the end. For some, this will free them from feeling they need to take notes.

Why Should You Distribute a Handout at the Start?

You may feel pressure from audience members to distribute the handout early so they can understand the subject. If this is necessary, however, it is a often symptom of a poorly crafted speech introduction and structure.

Between the speaker introduction, the introduction of the speech itself, and introductory slides, there is ample opportunity to establish the context, provide a roadmap, and nurture understanding. Then, as long as the presentation is designed sensibly using a logical framework, you can build on that early understanding right on through to your conclusion. You should not need a paper artifact in your audience’s hands to do this for you. Indeed, if your presentation is engaging enough, your audience won’t pay any attention to a piece of paper in their hand.

Though it is tempting to lazily give in to audience demand to produce a handout at the start, the negatives outweigh the positives… most of the time.

Having said that, there are several cases when it is advantageous to distribute a handout early in your presentation. These include the following scenarios:

• Your presentation is very long, such as a full-day or half-day course. It is sensible to distribute course materials early, and refer to them as necessary.
• Your presentation focuses on a highly technical, detail-oriented review (e.g. a proposal review). When every word is critical, you want to put those words into the hands of your audience. Reading them from paper will produce far less fatigue than reading from the screen would.
• You have some content which is far too dense to be readable in slides, but which you want to talk about (e.g. a large table of data). Beware that you don’t ask your audience to absorb voluminous data during the presentation. One way to handle this is: “Please turn to the green sheet we distributed at the start for a moment. This is a reference sheet for you to take home, but I’d like to draw your attention to two of the numbers as an example…“
• Your handout is not a summary document, but rather material for exercises to complete in session. Handing these out early prevents the disruption which would occur in the middle of your presentation in trying to distribute copies throughout the room. This includes sparsely printed pages (perhaps with only headings that you’ll be covering) into which your audience can take notes.

What about the handouts of my PowerPoint slides? Shouldn’t I hand those out at the beginning?

In most cases, I urge you not to print out copies of your PowerPoint slides at all. Doing so gives the very false impression that your slides are your presentation, when they are only visual aids. These printouts are too small to read, void of any animation or progressive builds, and are a very poor substitute for a handout. Often, these get tossed in the recycle bin immediately, and rightfully so.

If you absolutely must print copies, then do that in addition to creating a useful summary handout.

How do you create a useful summary handout? Well, that’s a topic for a future article…

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

How do you handle distribution of handouts when you speak? When you are attending a presentation by someone else, what do you prefer?

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Suit or sweater?

Pants or a dress?

Does how you dress impact your effectiveness as a speaker? If so, how?

Eric Hudon (@erichudonca) asks this on Twitter:

@6minutes How should a speaker dress and in what circumstance? Casual, Formal, Other? What is to be avoided?

In this article, we examine clothing do’s and don’ts for public speakers.

Dress Like Your Audience is Dressed

Different speaking situations call for different clothing styles, but you are usually pretty safe if you are clean, tidy, and dressed as your audience is dressed. Why?

1. Ethos (your credibility) is one of three pillars of persuasion.
2. To develop ethos, you emphasize your similarity to your audience.
3. One practical way to achieve this is by dressing similarly to them.

So, how do you know how your audience will dress? Do your audience analysis! If the venue is a recurring conference or setting, go with what people wore last time. If you are presenting at a venue which is new to you, ask the event organizer what the usual dress code is. If there is a strong dress code, adhere to it!

This doesn’t mean you have to wear the identical suit or dress that everyone in your audience wears. There’s obviously quite a bit of latitude here. The point is that you don’t want to be significantly over-dressed or significantly under-dressed.

But I’ve heard that I should dress better than my audience?

Conventional wisdom says that you should dress one notch higher than your audience is dressed. Why a notch higher?

• To stand out?
• To earn respect?
• To hint at your success and affluence?

I don’t think any of those are particularly strong reasons for dressing above the level of your audience. Instead, I think the motivation for the “dress one notch higher” advice is that it buys you a little insurance in case your audience analysis was flawed.

• If you dress one notch higher than your predicted audience dress code, and the audience is dressed fancier than you predicted, then you are still safe.
• Of course, if your estimate is wrong the other way, you can show up significantly over-dressed.

I wouldn’t worry too much either way. The key is that you look professional and respectful. Once you start talking, they shouldn’t be noticing what you are wearing anyway.

Public Speaking Clothing Taboos

If a good rule of thumb is to dress at (or just above) the same level as your audience, what would the opposite of that be?

The worst thing you can do is dress in such a manner that makes you stand out… for all the wrong reasons.

In Speak Up! A Woman’s Guide to Presenting Like a Pro, Cyndi Maxey cautions:

Any area you emphasize will be noticed — most often in a distracting way. [...] Do you like the fit of the lower-cut neckline of your new wraparound blouse? You can bet your cleavage will be noticed. Think about what you’re emphasizing as you dress. Consider what you can emphasize that stresses your professionalism and your expertise, not your sexuality.

Another general taboo is shirts with sayings on them, especially if the saying is potentially offensive to any member of your audience. Again, you want the attention to be on the words you speak, not the words on your shirt.

• Exception: If the saying on the shirt is tied to your presentation, this may be appropriate. For example, if you are speaking to raise money for cancer research, then a “I’m a survivor” t-shirt may not only be appropriate, but may cement your authenticity.

As suggested earlier, be sure you show up clean and tidy. Failure to do so may be interpreted as a lack of respect for your audience.

Plan for Clothing Malfunctions and Mishaps

Nobody wants a clothing malfunction to occur to them. A few ways to guard against these negative events include:

• Consider taking a second outfit, particularly if you are travelling or if the presentation is really important. You’ll want that insurance in case something happens (e.g. an untimely spill) before your presentation.
• Be careful with what you eat or drink just before your presentation. Grape juice and spaghetti sauce are probably not wise choices.
• Don’t tempt fate with clothes that are too tight. Speaking is (or should be) a physical activity, and you don’t want to pop a button or rip a seam when you’re moving around. (I’ve seen both happen.)
• Similarly, you may wish to avoid overly loose clothes or accessories which can get caught in odd places, like on a lectern or a flip chart stand.

But what if, despite your best efforts, a clothing malfunction happens anyway?

Roll with it. Fix it discreetly, if you can (e.g. an undone button, or an unzipped zipper). Sometimes, you’ll be the last person in the room to notice. Just laugh it off and get back to providing value for your audience.

When is it Okay to Go Against the Grain?

In certain (rare) situations, it may be appropriate for you to throw out all of the conventional wisdom and use your clothing to capture attention.

In Boring To Bravo (the Six Minutes book review), Kristin Arnold suggests that you might try dressing in (partial) costume which is in some way tied to your theme. The idea is that your clothing (or perhaps an accessory) is purposefully used as a prop.

If you give this a try, I’d suggest doing it in the early part of your presentation. By the time you are bringing the powerful messages, you’ll be dressed “normal” again so the audience can take you seriously.

Other Speaker Clothing Considerations

The clothing you wear can have an impact beyond the way you look standing in front of the room.

• Avoid noisy clothing or accessories. It’s not good if your shirt, pants, or jewellery distract your audience every time you move.
• Comfort is important too. Your energy level and delivery can be negatively impacted if you are wearing really uncomfortable clothing or shoes. This is especially important if you are speaking for a long keynote, or an all-day course. Pyjamas are not appropriate, but there is middle ground.
• Will you be wearing a microphone? If so, consider where it will be pinned.
• What gestures, actions, or props do you have planned? Will they work with what you are wearing?
• Before you get called up to speak, remove any potentially distracting items (e.g. ID badges, cell phones, sunglasses, hats)

In summary, do clothes make the speaker?

In Lend Me Your Ears, Max Atkinson summarizes his section on public speaking attire with words that mirror my own thoughts.

The point here is not that clothes don’t matter at all, but that we should not be drawn into thinking that there is some scientifically based recipe that is guaranteed to enable us to convey a favourable impression to every member of the every audience, regardless of the particular circumstances of the occasion.

Perhaps the best advice I can give on what to wear is simply this: Wear a smile, because that will probably carry more weight than any piece of clothing.

Your Turn: What’s Your Opinion?

Do you have a clothing preference when speaking? Can you share a story about a speaker who was or was not dressed appropriately?

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Yet this cultural icon has many lessons for you to improve your effectiveness as a speaker.

In this article, we examine eight key speaking insights that speakers can learn from Disneyland and the entire Disney entertainment empire.

1. Commit to Quality

At Disneyland, there is a total commitment to quality which oozes out everywhere you look. There is obviously quality in the rides and attractions. The costumes are flawless. The light shows in the evening were sublime. The music and sounds throughout the park are superb.

The Speaking Lesson…

Commit to quality in every speaking aspect, whether it be your preparation, your timing, your delivery, your slides, your handouts, or your message. Producing quality isn’t easy — it’s lots of work! But consistent quality, more than anything else, will guarantee applause from your audience and requests for you to speak to them again.

2. Don’t overlook small details

Disneyland doesn’t just do the big things well; they deliver on the small details too.

• In five days of walking the park, I saw just three pieces of trash on the ground.
• The benches, the walls, the ceilings, and the ride queue areas are all decorated.
• There was no cracking paint or rusty metal (except where it was part of the design style).
• 3-D glasses are custom-designed for each attraction which requires them.
• There was not a single power cord to trip over (as in so many amusement parks).

The Speaking Lesson…

It isn’t enough to have a strong message and delivery. The little things are important too, such as:

• Make sure you’ve prepared enough copies of your handouts for everyone in attendance.
• Arrive early so that you can rearrange the room to improve sight lines.
• Thoroughly spell check your slides.
• Rehearse until you’ve got your timing down.
• Check that you’ve got pens for the white board or flip chart.

3. You want a great new idea? Reinvent an old one.

Disney has done well in reinventing old ideas. Many of Disney’s fairy tales have their roots in European folk tales, for example.

Disneyland continues this pattern by continuing to reinvent its own stories. While some of the attractions are fairly literal interpretations of the stories or movies which inspired them, many are fresh reinventions. For example, one of the highlights of our trip was a wonderful stage performance of Alladin. The same basic story was present, but it was wrapped in a modern, musical production.

The Speaking Lesson…

One of the most common laments I hear from speakers is “What do I talk about? Every topic I think up has been done before.” While there are new ideas out there, there is also a rich minefield of old ideas waiting for you to add a fresh spin. You can take a timeless message such as “Never give up on your dreams,” and breathe new life into it by telling it from your unique perspective with your unique stories.

4. Take care of your audience

In several ways, Disneyland is not my kind of place. There are crowds everywhere, lengthy lines await you for every popular attraction, and the hot weather saps your energy.

But… Disneyland has a well-developed set of solutions to lessen the pain of these drawbacks. For example:

• Most lineup areas are shaded, and many include things to watch and do while you wait;
• After major shows, an army of staffers direct foot traffic away from congestion; and
• Disney’s FastPass system offers you a way to avoid lengthy lines altogether.

The Speaking Lesson…

In several ways, listening to speakers is not an ideal environment either. Chairs are usually uncomfortable, rooms are often too hot or cold, lighting conditions are not ideal… the list goes on.

All of these factors drain the energy of your audience and draw their attention away from you and your message. You should do everything in your power to create the best environment possible for your audience, including:

• Make sure your venue is an appropriate sized — too small is uncomfortable, too large derails your ability to connect
• Do what you can to control distraction factors, like extreme noise, temperature, or bad lighting
• Design your slides, sketches, props, or gestures so that everyone can easily get the meaning.

5. Everyone loves a story

There was no single demographic in the crowds of Disneyland. Sure, there’s a large number of families with kids between 5 and 10 years old, but every demographic was represented. Lots of (excited) teenagers. Lots of grandparents. Lots of all-female groups. Lots of all-male groups. Lots of couples with no children. Lots of people from all races. Lots of people speaking many languages.

Why? What is it about Disneyland that appeals to such a broad array of people? I think it’s the same thing which supports the success of the entire Disney empire: everyone loves a story.

The Speaking Lesson…

Successful speakers understand the engaging power of stories, and weave them throughout their presentations. Stories add emotion and realism to otherwise sterile facts and abstract concepts.

6. Stories need villains and heroes

Mickey Mouse, the princesses, and other heroes may draw the most attention at Disneyland and in Disney movies, but villains are featured right alongside them. Disney understands that stories needs villains as a source of conflict.

The Speaking Lesson…

In a similar way, your speech stories need villains too. Without villains, there is no conflict. Without conflict, stories lack suspense, intrigue, and interest.

Remember that story villains come in many forms, including:

• Individual people (e.g. your nosy neighbour, the office backstabber)
• Organizations or groups of people (e.g. a rival sports team, your industry competitor)
• The villain within (e.g. apathy, fear, pride)
• Our environment (e.g. a thunderstorm; aging; disease)

7. Signposts are everywhere

Disneyland is large, consisting of a complex maze of paths, attractions, sights, and sounds. Yet, despite this complexity, it’s very easy to get around. There are signs everywhere, directing you to major attractions and from land to land. Consistent designs (decorative elements, costumes, color schemes) also let you know which area you are in. Employees were everywhere, happy to provide you with copies of maps, or direct you on your way.

The Speaking Lesson…

As a speaker, you must recognize that, to your audience, your speech can be a complex maze of facts, ideas, stories, and acronyms. Your job is to provide a simple, understandable structure, and guide them along.

There are many ways that you can create virtual signposts to help your audience navigate your speech, such as:

• Be explicit and reveal your outline in your introduction.
• Count off items which form a list (e.g. “First … “, “My second point is…”)
• Use repetition to reinforce key statements.
• Use transitions words (e.g. because, however, unfortunately)

8. Frame of mind

Employees at Disneyland are referred to as “cast members”. This is true not only for those dressed up as characters, but also those working in stores, restaurants, and attractions, as well as greeters, janitors, and all other staff members.

It may seem like a little thing (or, it may seem like a stunt), but I think it’s a wonderful way to instill more pride in employees and remind them they are part of the entire entertainment experience.

The Speaking Lesson…

When you speak, are you just “a person standing at the front of the room”, or perhaps simply “a speaker”?

Or, are you a leader? A life-changer? A role model? An inspiration? A problem-solver? A trusted resource?

Your frame of mind will influence your performance and your audience’s view of you. Put on a positive frame of mind!

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Have you ever thought about the relationship between time and public speaking?

On the surface, you engage your audience second by second, stringing together words into sentences that, over the duration of your presentation, may last minutes or perhaps hours.

Yet, the impact of your speaking experiences may last days, weeks, months, or even years — for you and for those in your audiences.

In this article, we examine time scales ranging from a tenth of a second to hundreds of years, and consider how each of these scales is relevant to you as a speaker.

One Tenth of a Second

A typical speaking rate is 150 words per minute, or 2.5 words per second. This means the average time between words is just four tenths of a second. When you consider pauses, a syllable leaves your lips in about a tenth of a second. (Your brain, of course, has to operate on a much faster scale to keep up.)

In one tenth of a second, perceptions form in your audience’s mind – either positive or negative. It could be an inflection that makes them cringe, or a visual that evokes a warm memory. It could be a facial expression which betrays a lack of sincerity, or a crackling voice which signals genuine emotion.

One Second

Pauses in your speech range from a short “comma pause” (about one second) to longer pauses for rhetorical effect (lasting several seconds). The duration of pauses is critical; if it’s too long, you’ve got an uncomfortable pause.

The enemy of the pause is the filler word: utterances which include “um”, “uh”, and “ah”. Everyone has a few filler words, but they are more common among speakers who are inexperienced, unprepared, or especially nervous. Skilled speakers understand that, instead of filler words, you can simply pause while you collect your thoughts; you don’t need a filler word to mark the moment.

Although the audience perceives slide visuals on the sub-second level, slide recognition occurs on the order of a second. Well-designed slides are recognized easily, and their meaning is associated the words of a speaker quickly. Particularly confusing slides can cause several seconds (or more) of high cognitive processing.

Ten Seconds

Effective eye contact is achieved when your gaze finds an audience member, and then stays there for perhaps a sentence or two — generally in the ten second range. Eye contact which is significantly shorter — like a ping pong ball — will seem insincere. Eye contact which is significantly longer may be uncomfortable, and perhaps leave other audience members feeling “left out.”

Ten seconds is also the range in which complete sentences are spoken, including most memorable phrases and quotations. You should be able to clearly summarize your main message within ten seconds.

One Minute

One minute is about the length of good story which a speaker might tell. Stories significantly shorter probably do not develop adequate conflict, emotion, or a significant message. Stories significantly longer could likely benefit either from aggressive editing (removing superfluous details which detract from the story) or splitting in two (in case more than one point is being made).

One minute is about the maximum time needed to introduce a speaker in most contexts. Any longer than this, and the introducer risks boring the audience and stealing attention away from the speaker.

Ten Minutes

Ten minutes is the upper limit for what many people might call a “short” speech. In ten minutes, you’ve only got time to properly develop one central idea, while supporting it with several stories and supporting points. It requires precise focus and discipline from a speaker.

Many popular formats hover around this average.

• Speaking formats such as Pecha Kucha (six minutes forty seconds) or Ignite (five minutes) restrict speakers down further and yet are wildly popular social events.
• TED talks (which have been reviewed numerous times on Six Minutes) come in various lengths, but the longest top out at 18 minutes.

Ten minutes is long enough to read most articles on Six Minutes, or another speaking blog. These bite-sized lessons are intended to motivate, instruct, and challenge you to improve your skills.

In a longer speaking session (e.g. a training session), ten minutes is a rule of thumb for switching gears. It’s wise to vary your technique, switch formats, and otherwise add variety to your session to keep the energy of your session high.

One Hour

One hour is a common length of a keynote address or the corporate staple known as the noon-hour seminar. One hour provides time for a speaker to cover their topic in much more depth and breadth, as well as allowing for an extended question and answer (Q&A) period.

One hour is the most common length of a Toastmasters meeting. It’s short enough to allow members to fit it into their hectic day, but long enough to cover the core elements (prepared speeches, evaluations, and impromptu speaking).

One hour is also a convenient duration for speech coaching sessions. A good speaking coach can work with you to explore your strengths and weaknesses, and one hour provides lots of time for repetitive practice as well.

Ten Hours

Ten hours is the upper bound for a daily seminar, or the daily program at many conferences. Most people will get pretty fatigued with 10 hours of listening to speakers. Speaking in this environment requires special skill in balancing valuable information with lighter, less cognitively draining activities.

One Day

One day is a practical upper bound for someone in your audience to act on your call-to-action. Nick Morgan claims that “the only reason to give a speech is to change the world.” I agree, and that starts by changing the thoughts and actions of individual audience members. Your speech should be designed with a clear and emphatic call-to-action. It should be challenging enough that opting to do it truly does represent change, but simple enough that it can be started within a day of your speech.

• For example, “losing 20 pounds” is not a call-to-action,
  but “starting an exercise habit tomorrow” is.

One day is also the outer range where you can receive useful feedback on your presentation (assuming it was not recorded, of course). The best time to solicit feedback is during (e.g. a feedback form) or immediately after (e.g. mingling with your audience) your presentation. Asking for feedback days or weeks after a presentation is not likely to reap many rewards as the feedback you receive will tend to be generic.

One Week

One week is a healthy period to practice your presentation. You certainly don’t need to practice twenty-four hours a day for a full week; thirty minutes per day will usually suffice. Rather than cramming all of your practice into the night before your presentation — or worse, the morning of your speech — consider spreading it over a week to allow yourself the time to become more comfortable with the content.

One week is also a good interval during which you should try to devote some time to developing your speaking skills. Like any habit, it’s hard to built momentum if you don’t get regular exposure. This includes both speaking before an audience, as well as support activities like working on speeches, gathering speechwriting material, or reading speaking blogs and books. It is not a coincidence that Toastmasters clubs (and most other extra-curricular activities) are designed to establish weekly participation.

Ten Weeks

Ten weeks is about the length of time it takes to establish a new speaking habit. Most of us resist change, either consciously or subconsciously. If you want to develop a new habit (speaking or otherwise), doing it once or twice will not suffice.

Ten weeks is the also upper limit needed to fully prepare for most major presentations. Do you think that’s too long? Well, let me bound it a bit.

• By “major presentations”, I’m talking about the ones which can make or break your career (like landing a new client) or help you achieve a personal goal (like making your case before city council for a new bylaw).
• By “fully prepare”, I mean the time from your initial idea that you’d like to give a speech to the time you deliver it. You might spend the first four or five weeks just brainstorming or researching content. Then, you might spend the next few weeks writing, practicing in front of a test audience, and honing your delivery.

One Year

One year is long enough to set yourself on a new speaking path. The new path depends a great deal on where you are now, and what your goals for the future are:

• Maybe “I’m terrified of speaking” gets replaced with “I’m scared, but I speak”.
• Maybe “I’m scared, but I speak” gets replaced with “I feel nervous, but I harness that energy”.
• Maybe “I speak when I am required to” gets replaced with “I enjoy speaking whenever I can”.

In one year, you could recognize an opportunity, develop a course, market yourself, and launch supplementary income or a whole new career.

Ten Years

Over a span of ten years, you can completely reshape yourself with a disciplined, committed approach to improving your communication skills, and translating that into becoming more effective at whatever path you choose to pursue.

For example, maybe devoting yourself to becoming a master communicator will launch you into management and steer your career to new heights.

One Hundred Years (and more)

You may not live this long, but your words can live one hundred years or longer.

Maybe you’re going to give a political speech that is quoted for centuries to come.

Or, more likely, you’re going to inspire your children, your grandchildren, and your audience members with a message that continues to become more and more powerful as the years pass.

Individual syllables, which last only tenths of a second on your lips, can last for hundreds of years if they are carefully chosen. Consider that the next time you are writing your speech.

Inspiration for This Article

You may be interested on know that the inspiration for this article is Powers of Ten, a classic documentary by Charles and Ray Eames which can be viewed below.

As a science geek, the documentary is fascinating, but there are lessons to be learned for speakers too. Some particularly effective techniques include:

• The use of a common, everyday occurrence to set the initial context.
• The frequent use of comparison to easily understandable distances (e.g. 100 meters: the distance a man can run in 10 seconds)
• The simple, repetitive use of 10 and the consistent pace of the documentary.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

There are times when applause makes you think you’re the greatest speaker in the world, and there are times when the silence of the audience makes you want to crawl into a hole.

In short, the mental game for speaking in public is a jumble of thoughts, experiences, and emotions.

In this article, we apply the wisdom of the Six Thinking Hats to provide a framework for sorting out this jumble and gaining useful perspectives which can help us improve.

What are the Six Thinking Hats?

Six Thinking Hats is a thinking framework for use by groups or by individuals. It was popularized in the 1985 book Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono. Dr. de Bono is a world-renowned author of dozens of books on lateral thinking. In the last 25+ years, the Six Thinking Hats method has been adopted by organizations around the world as an aid for individual and group decision-making and other problem-solving applications.

To apply the six hats method, an individual (or a group) looks at an issue from a series of perspectives, one at a time. Be separating the perspectives in this way, a much more complete and balanced view is achieved.

In Six Thinking Hats, de Bono writes:

The main difficulty of thinking is confusion. We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic, hope and creativity all crowd in on us. It is like juggling with too many balls…
The six thinking hats allow us to conduct our thinking as a conductor might lead an orchestra.

The six hats each represent a frame of mind or a perspective that one should adopt:

1. White Hat - Neutral and objective; facts; figures; missing information
2. Red Hat – Emotional; gut feeling
3. Black Hat – Caution; points out the weaknesses
4. Yellow Hat – Optimism; hope and positive thinking
5. Green Hat – Creativity and new ideas
6. Blue Hat – Control; organizing the thinking process and the other hats

When we wear each hat, we focus entirely on the goal for that hat. The entire process involves moving from one hat to the next (and quite possibly revisiting hats as we move along) until a complete, well-rounded understanding is reached.

Applying the Six Thinking Hats to Public Speaking

I was introduced to six thinking hats framework six years ago, and I have turned to it in a wide range of situations to help sort out my thinking. I’m now preparing to deliver seminars on how to apply the six thinking hats. (Interested? Contact me.)

You, too, can apply the framework to a diverse range of situations. Let’s look at how the six hats can be used to sort out our thoughts and feelings around public speaking.

Blue Hat – Organizing the Thinking Process

When you wear the blue hat, your task is to define the situation, set the parameters, decide how you will proceed with the other hats (which ones to wear, and in which order), and otherwise control the process until a satisfactory resolution is reached. Thus, the blue hat is generally the first and the last to be worn.

Example: A speaker wearing the blue hat might produce one of the following:

• I am an okay speaker, but my growth seems to have stagnated. I’m looking for answers about how I can jump start my progress again. I’m going to start with the white hat to establish the facts, explore my emotions with the red hat, and then wear the yellow, black, and green hats, and then I’ll decide whether to continue or stop.
• My audience feedback is outstanding, but I’m getting very few repeat bookings. I’m going to go through the black and yellow hats first, and then use the green hat to discover possible causes I had not thought of before.

White Hat – Objective Facts and Figures

When you wear the white hat, you take an objective perspective. List facts that are known, and identify facts which are not (but could be helpful).

Example: A speaker wearing the white hat might produce information such as the following:

• I have been delivering presentations regularly for 11 years.
• Most presentations I deliver are half-day or full-day courses.
• Feedback forms show my average rating is 3.6 out of 5.
• My current fee is $1000 per appearance.
• About 20% of my speaking engagements results in a future booking.
• I don’t know the industry average for repeat bookings.
• I don’t know the cost of running an ad in the local chamber of commerce directory.
• I don’t know what the Lessig Method is, or whether I could adopt it in my presentations.
• I don’t know the nomination process or the criteria for selecting speakers for the annual industry conference.

Red Hat – Emotions

When you wear the red hat, you explore your feelings and intuition, whether they are “positive”, “negative”, or (most often) somewhere in the middle.

Example: A speaker wearing the red hat might produce the following:

• I get energized by feedback from the audience, both during my presentation and after a successful presentation.
• I’m frequently afraid of making mistakes in front of my peers.
• I enjoy being up at the front of the room and sharing my knowledge.
• I am sad and embarrassed when I am asked a question that I don’t have the answer to.
• I am amazed when I watch other speakers who seem to be so eloquent and effortless.
• I feel shy approaching high-profile clients.

Black Hat – Caution and Pessimism

When you wear the black hat, you are cautious and careful, and looking for reasons to retreat. You are seeking weaknesses in the available options, and thus have a bias toward inaction.

Example: A speaker wearing the black hat might produce the following:

• I tried a speech coach two years ago, and that didn’t produce any tangible results for me.
• I am too busy right now to spend more time on speech preparation.
• I cannot afford to put more money into marketing.
• I don’t have any experience in developing keynotes.
• If I raise my fee, I might get fewer bookings.
• Client X has a reputation for not paying on time, so it may not be wise to commit to their event.

Yellow Hat – Optimism, Hope, and Positive Thinking

When you wear the yellow hat, you can find the silver lining in any situation. Your glass is half full! You can see all the positive benefits which might be realized by action, and you are optimistic of a successful result.

Example: A speaker wearing the yellow hat might produce the following:

• If I raise my fee, I might garner more serious attention of event planners with larger budgets.
• If I volunteer to teach a course within my company, it will raise my profile.
• I’m reading a great new book, Resonate. I can be more effective if I apply the lessons to my own presentations.
• Adding video clips to my presentations will add excitement.
• Improving my slide design skills would improve my overall effectiveness.
• Updating my website and increasing my marketing efforts may result in more bookings.

Green Hat – Creativity

When you wear the green hat, your challenge is to seek out creative ideas that you have not thought of before, regardless of whether these ideas are feasible in the end. To borrow a tired cliche, this is thinking outside the box.

Example: A speaker wearing the green hat might produce the following:

• What if I quit my day job to focus on a speaking career full-time?
• What if I found a partner to co-facilitate with me?
• What if I stopped speaking to live audiences and focused exclusively on webinar presentations?
• What if I threw out my current slide deck and started from scratch?
• What if I started my next speech out of view of my audience?
• What if introduced music into my presentations?
• What if I changed the “standard” seating arrangement in the room?

Trying Out Six Thinking Hats

The above examples were varied and intended to give you a flavor of what types of contributions are made while wearing each of the six hats across a range of scenarios.

The real value of this method is when you or your group focuses on a single specific scenario (e.g. Should I raise my speaking fee, lower it, or leave it unchanged?), and wears each of the hats in that context.

I encourage you to learn more about Six Thinking Hats and applying the methodology to your personal speaking challenges, whether your priorities are on developing delivery skills, designing better presentations, or shaping your speaking business.

Give it a try!

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Whether your resolutions are health-related (exercise more), family-related (spend more quality time together), or career-related (become a more effective speaker), there’s a proven way to set yourself up to succeed — make SMART resolutions.

S.M.A.R.T. Resolutions

Smart resolutions, or smart goals at any time of year, have five characteristics:

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Achievable
• R – Relevant
• T – Time-bound

As we’ll see, these criteria are not entirely independent, but they are all critical.

Let’s look at each characteristic in more detail.

Specific

State your resolution and its expected outcome as simply, concisely, and explicity as possible.

Attempting to achieve a vague goal is like trying to steer a boat across an ocean without a compass. Which way do you go? What’s the best way to get there? What small steps will lead me there?

Be stating your resolution in specific terms, you provide sharp focus for yourself. What exactly will you do?

Examples

• General – I resolve to get healthy.
  Specific - I resolve to lose 10 pounds and eliminate alcohol.
• General – I resolve to become a good public speaker.
  Specific - I resolve to design, write, and deliver a 60-minute seminar on time management.

Measurable

Define the criteria that you will use to measure your progress and eventual success.

Think in terms of criteria which can be counted, or those which lend themselves to answering a clear “yes” or “no” question.

Examples

• Not Measurable – I resolve to lose weight.
  Measurable - I resolve to lose 10 pounds.
• Not Measurable – I resolve to exercise.
  Measurable - I resolve to exercise for 30 minutes, 3 times a week.
• Not Measurable – I resolve to spend more time writing my speeches.
  Measurable - I resolve to devote five hours to writing and editing each of my speeches.

Achievable

This third factor is perhaps the most tricky.

Goals which are too large given your current situation, resources, and available time are likely to be discouraging from day one. It is unwise to set a goal which requires you to spend many hours a day (if your existing commitments don’t allow it) or which requires you to spend a great deal of money (if you don’t have it) or use advanced skills (if you haven’t learned them).

When setting many simultaneous goals (as we tend to do at this time of year), be aware of how they may conflict with each other. You may have an hour a day to devote to a single goal, but not multiple goals. Be honest with yourself. It’s better to make and succeed in one goal than to make and fail on several goals.

At the same time, greatness is achieved by those who dream big dreams. If the goal is too easy to achieve, and if you know you can meet it with little effort, then it isn’t much of a goal at all. Don’t let fear of the unknown prevent you from stretching.

Find the balance that works for you. Reach high, but reach within your grasp.

Examples

• Improbable – I resolve to triple my consulting income this year.
  Achievable - I resolve to increase consulting income by 30% this year.
• Improbable – I resolve to spend 5 hours a day reading marketing books.
  Achievable - I resolve to spend 1 hour a day listening to marketing audiobooks during my commute.
• Improbable – I resolve to raise my speaking fee from $500 to $500,000 for a speaking engagement this year.
  Achievable - I resolve to raise my speaking fee from $500 to $2000 for a speaking engagement this year.

Relevant

Goals which are relevant to your personal or career development and tied to your core values are more likely to be achieved. It is this relevancy which will keep you going when failure seems imminent.

Are you losing weight so you can see your daughter on her wedding day? Or perhaps your granddaughter on hers? When you don’t feel like going for a run on a rainy, cold morning, a vision of that white dress which will propel you forward.

Examples

• Irrelevant – I resolve to take a course in Swahili, just because.
  Relevant - I resolve to take a course in French, to prepare myself to attend a French culinary school next year.
• Irrelevant – I resolve to learn to play the harmonica, because I may find myself alone on a deserted island.
  Relevant - I resolve to learn accounting skills, so that I can contribute to my local not-for-profit organization.
• Irrelevant – I resolve to develop a full-day course on tying knots, because the world needs more sailors.
  Relevant - I resolve to develop a full-day course on change management, to raise my profile and attract coaching clients.

Time-Bound

Humans are wired to work toward deadlines. Fixing your resolutions to a date on the calendar makes them real, and separates them from all those “Someday, I’ll get to it” dreams.

Failing to attach a timeline to your goals means you have no way to track progress. Are you on pace to reach your goal? Do you need to speed up? “I’ll work on it tomorrow” becomes a chronic excuse preventing you from inching forward.

Examples

• Unbound – I resolve to lose 10 pounds.
  Time-bound – I resolve to lose 10 pounds by July 1st.
• Unbound – I resolve to find a club and join Toastmasters.
  Time-bound – I resolve to find a club and join Toastmasters by January 31st.

Achieving All of Your Resolutions

Making your resolutions SMART gives you the best possible chance of success. But there’s one additional key: tell your family and friends about it!  Sharing your goal with others helps in two ways:

• It makes you more accountable. Knowing that you’ll have to answer to your friends if don’t stick to your exercise program may keep you from adopting your sedentary habits. (Note: This won’t help much if your goal isn’t SMART in the first place.)
• It provides an invitation to them to help you, probably in ways that you can’t imagine. Your friends and family want you to be successful, but they can’t help you if they don’t know what you need.

What Are Your SMART Resolutions?

Here’s your chance to go on record… share your SMART resolutions — for public speaking, or for anything else — in the comments.

Good luck!

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Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.