Introducing a speaker

An introduction for a speaker may barely be noticed if done well, but can be glaringly obvious if done poorly. This week I gave a speech at my Toastmasters club on the topic of Creating an Introduction. It is one of ten topics in The Better Speaker Series of educational speeches. I began with their prepared script, and then updated it.

An introduction is a brief speech, just a minute or two long, which should be prepared and practiced before it is given. Either the speaker or the session chairperson may prepare it. (Some professional speakers even provide a prepared introduction that must be read exactly as written).

Tips on inttroducing a speaker from the Joyful Public Speaking blog. Via Six Minutes on Twitter.

How to Deliver a Killer Technical Presentation

It’s presentation season – time when we start crafting our slide decks for the PASS Summit, the SSWUG Virtual Conference, SQLBits, SQL Connections, the QuestConnect Virtual Conference, you name it.  Today, I’m passing along my presentation tips, and starting at the end….

How to End a Presentation

Call to Action

Marketing gurus say that in order for audiences to really respond to your message, you have to finish up with a call to action: a specific thing you want your audience to go do.  At the end of a successful presentation, your attendees will want to act on your words, but they’ll need your words, your sample scripts, and your recommended reading links in order to do it.

Don’t make the audience scribble down a dozen long links and bullet points. 

Some valuable insight on technical presentations from Brent Ozar, who has the credentials of a technical wizard. Follow the link for the whole article.

Ann Medlock's "near-TED" experience

In this great post, Ann Medlock describes her "near-TED experience" speaking at a regional offshoot of the TED conference. She does a great job describing the high stakes the TED conferences set out for their speakers. Here's the list:

Speakers are given the TED Commandments, which writer Amy Tan called a prescription for a near-death experience. Said rules include: Be personal. Be vulnerable. Make people laugh/cry. Do something the audience will remember forever. Say something you've never said before. Share an idea that could change the world. Do not pitch for your company or organization. Do not go over your allotted time. Do not read. Rehearse and be spontaneous.

Even better,

It's not every day you can find this much perspective on speaking. Denise Graveline and Andrew Dlugan point the way from their blogs. Six Minutes relates the experience of Becky Blanton in a post titled How to Deliver the Talk of your Life.

Everyone gets paid on commission

from Seth's Blog by Seth Godin

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The Washington Post recently laid off a columnist because his blog posts didn't get enough web traffic.

Of course, in the old days, the newspaper had no real way to tell which columns got read and which ones didn't. So journalists were lulled into the sense that it didn't really matter. The Times quotes Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at NYU,  “It’s an unusual public rationale for serious newspaper people, that’s for sure.”

Wrong tense. It's not going to be unusual for long.

In fact, in a digital world where everything can be measured, we all work on commission. And why not? If you do great work and it works, you should get rewarded. And if you don't, it's hard to see why a rational organization would keep you on.

You don't have to like the coming era of hyper-measurement, but that doesn't mean it's not here.