Speakers Weekly Tune Up: How To Improve Your Speaking Skills Every Day by Madeline Frank, Ph.D., DTM

At the end of your speech give your audience “one next step to take.” Tell your audience, before they leave your speech, what you want them to do. Do not confuse them by giving them several things to do! When I tell my story of   “Quietly Walking Away”. I’m talking about walking away from a snake or walking away from a bully! When you see a snake, the safest way to survive is to “walk away”. So be observant and listen. If you hear a  sizzling sound   “walk away”. The snake is making the noise to get you to "walk away". If you see it “walk away”. Don’t get closer to the snake and start poking it with a stick. Just “walk away”! When you are dealing with a bully, like my story of “Negotiating My Life On Top of The World”, you need to "walk away" and not escalate the conflict.  The Roofer in the story is trying to throw me off the roof to extort more money for the job. He is deranged and possibly on drugs. I don’t escalate the situation. I let him ran...

Craig Valentine, Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking and one of my coaches says, “Share your failures, flaws, and frustrations so you are similar and not special to your audience.” By sharing your “failures” with your audience, they can relate to your experience, and they will want to know what process you used to succeed. Every failure is a new opportunity to grow and change! Darren Hardy, Success Mentor and visionary force behind the rebirth of Success magazine as its publisher and editor, says,   “Use your failures as your fuel”.  Keep moving to reach for your success! Don’t give up!! What frustration do I share with my audience? Our company was re-negotiating a new loan with a local bank on a piece of property the company owned. We already had a verbal agreement with the banker and had agreed on the terms of the loan. When the Banker arrived to have us “sign” the loan papers, the details of the loan had been “significantly” changed!  ...

Every person has a unique story to share with a particular audience. For instance when I was asked to speak at a teachers conference I shared the following true story with them: I had finished giving my last exam of the day at a College in Virginia and was in the parking lot getting into my car when one of third year education student’s ran over to me and said, “Dr. Frank you can’t leave, I need your help!” I got out of my car and asked, “How can I help”? She said, “My friend is going to be thrown out of the college. Her professor says she’s not talented enough to be a teacher. They are having a meeting in the auditorium right now to determine her fate! Can you go in and help her?”   This student was hard working and honest. I asked her to show me where the meeting was taking place. I went into the auditorium raised my hand and asked the faculty committee, “the men’s club”, as I was the only women present- “if I could address them.” They agreed. “I asked th...