How to deal with audience interruptions
You’ve scarcely begun your presentation, and someone interrupts you with a question. And the interruptions just keep coming.
What do you do?
This question surfaces often in my trainings. Last week, when someone asked it, the chat box lit up with others echoing the challenge. All the heads were nodding.
If it happens to you, too, you’re in good company.
Here’s the upside: The audience is engaged. They want what you have and they believe you can answer their questions.
But pause to recognize why they’re asking: They’re not entirely sure you will answer them. And they’re not willing to risk it (or wait).
Four ways to address the challenge of being interrupted during your presentation:
Read MoreHow to hold on to faith in the midst of uncertainty
Let’s be real: we are coping with an abundance of ambiguity right now. 2020 taught us to live with open hands like we never have before.
And with so much loss in the last year, we might (understandably) be struggling to hold on to our faith. Trusting God with our needs, and the needs of those we love, might feel harder than it did when 2020 dawned.
So how do we hold on to faith as we look to the future?
The answer is surprisingly simple:
Read MoreHow to hook your audience’s attention—immediately
A speaker’s most precious commodity is their audience’s attention—a fact that’s even more important to recognize in the virtual setting where distraction is a prolific thief. Your audience will decide whether or not they want to pay attention to you in the first 30 seconds of your time with them. Don’t squander those precious seconds with pleasantries; cut straight to a well-crafted hook. (You can embed a nod of gratitude into your talk after you’ve earned their attention.)
How to start your presentation in a way that captures your audience’s attention immediately
As with all presentation preparation, it begins with the audience. If you haven’t first paused to reflect on who they are and why they’ll be in the (virtual) room, you won’t be able to grab their attention, let alone sustain it.
Analyzing your audience can be a rigorous process—one I recommend investing in proportionately to the importance of your talk: the higher the stakes, the more time and effort you’ll need to invest in understanding who they are and what they need from you. At its most basic level, answer the following questions to help yourself find the right hook for your introduction (and to provide the right content for the rest of your message):
Read MoreHow to refresh your signature talk—and why you need to
Lessons from turning 50… in a pandemic
I had a birthday last week. A BIG birthday. To celebrate (COVID-style), and nod to my 50 years treading the earth, I decided to walk 50,000 steps. (When I hatched this hair-brained scheme, I had no idea it would amount to about 22 miles. Yes, I was tired and sore when I was done.)
I invited some of my friends—from all chapters of my life and all parts of the globe—to “walk with me” by phone for part of my nearly eight-hour effort. The calls were sweet and all-too-brief but soul-filling (and blessedly distracting). This was exactly what I needed to mark the moment in a way that wouldn’t fade into the blur of sameness that 2020 has become.
Afterwards, reflecting on my calls with the wonderful women who joined me, I waxed philosophical. Below are 17 tid-bit insights extracted from a glorious day rich with fellowship-by-phone, recorded here for my posterity and—I believe—the benefit of us all:
Read MoreGift guide for the speaker in your life
Public speaking is a life skill… a skill you need if you ever utter words aloud when another person is in the room. It’s particularly vital to one’s career—so much so that it’s been dubbed a power skill. Help someone you love to improve that skill with a gift of any of the following resources from my toolkit. You’ll put a smile on their face and equip them to better communicate themselves: win-win!
Read MoreHow to improve your odds of being selected for a TEDx talk
After working with the TEDxBoise program for five years (and consulting with other TEDx programs), I’m often asked how one gets an opportunity to grace the famous red dot.
I was recently interviewed by the Nonfiction Authors Association on exactly this topic. They’ve graciously made the podcast available to my audience for free; you can listen to that here.
There are a few points from the interview that merit elaboration and emphasis, so here are some insider tips to help you chart a course to giving a TEDx talk:
Read MoreTrying again: Faithful perseverance in seasons of difficulty
We’re sitting amidst another COVID spike, wondering, perhaps, whether we’ll ever clear this thing. I’m not an epidemiologist (and I don’t even play one on TV) but I do see something in the Bible that might be helpful right now—whether you’re frustrated with COVID or dealing with an entirely different challenge.
I wrote earlier this year on some applications from Noah and the account of the flood. I recently revisited the same passage and saw something new:
Noah released a bird four separate times as the waters began to recede.
Four.
Only on the fourth time did the dove not return, serving as evidence that soon the land would again be dry and inhabitable.
Whether you are
- grappling with the fits and starts of a new business venture,
- launching your children into the world,
- taking on a new role in the workplace,
- making friends in a new hometown,
- or merely antsy for a post-pandemic reality…
Public speaking insights for entrepreneurs
Last week’s Boise Startup Week was a smorgasbord of helpfulness for anyone in the process of starting or building their entrepreneurial venture. I had the fun job of speaking to those readying themselves to pitch for funding.
While it’s not necessarily part of their core business, all entrepreneurs need public speaking skills to:
- win customers and clients, and secure suppliers,
- solicit the right people for your board of advisors,
- talk about their idea in professional and social settings,
- and, perhaps most importantly, to successfully pitch for funding.
The full talk can be viewed here and the slide deck can be downloaded here. For those preferring a synopsis in written format, here are the key principles:
Read MoreOvercoming our Divisions
These are difficult days on our planet and in our country. We’re divided over so very much. Frankly, the fractures in our community are making my heart ache. I mean it: this stuff genuinely keeps me awake at night.
Author (and fellow Our Daily Bread writer) Elisa Morgan generously offered me the opportunity to write to her readers about that ache and how I’m learning to lean in to differences between me and those I love. I trust those words will help you, my readers, too.
A Life of Addition
I wasn’t sure what her perspective was. Should I emphasize we were required to wear masks? Would that make her feel safe? Or was it more likely to cause her to decline the invitation if she didn’t agree? It was the first time we’d tried to spend time together in person since March when COVID sent us home.
I guessed incorrectly, tried to “sell” our gathering with the wrong assumption. The tension between our vantage points pulled heavily on my heart; the excitement at being together for a fun outing suddenly blunted by the realization that we held different opinions…
Read the rest of the post over on Elisa’s blog.
(And if you missed Elisa’s guest post here on my blog, be sure to check that out here.)
