Never REad a Speech

TJ’s Insights

May 19, 2005

New Books, TJ Walker’s “Media Training A-Z”
http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/mediatrainingaz.html
“Presentation Training A-Z” http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/presentaz.html

The Power of Bad Examples

“Help TJ! Jim (the leader of our organization) never prepares for his speeches because he is always running a million miles a minute. So he just reads the bullet points right off of his PowerPoint slides. It is a boring disaster. But that’s not the real problem. Now everyone in our organization is doing the same thing. They think they are SUPPOSED to do it this way. We now have a culture where everyone has been infected with the disease of DEATH-BY-READING-POWERPOINT-SLIDES.”
Anonymous Media Training Worldwide Client

If you can relate to this statement above, you are not alone. In fact, I hear it at least once a week from people who call my office. The problem is that there is no one to tell the head boss that he or she is horrible at public speaking. Worse, people will compliment the boss in an attempt to curry favor. Thus, inflating the boss’s view of his or her own speaking abilities.

If you are the boss, you need to ask yourself if you are setting a good rhetorical example in front of your employees. You already know you have influence. If you want a suit and tie culture, you can’t wear jeans and a t-shirt each day to the office. If you want your employees to be strong and forceful communicators to clients, customers and others in your industry, you must lead by example by being an interesting and forceful communicator—not by being a boring hack who insults audiences by reading to them.

If you are the leader of your organization, ask someone from the outside to give you an honest appraisal. If your boss is guilty of being a horrible speaker and infecting the rest of your company, then anonymously leave a copy of this column on his desk tomorrow and perhaps he will take the hint.

Do you need a keynote speaker? http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/keynote.html

Please visit the Media Training Worldwide store at http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/learningtoolsonlinestore.html

Media and presentation training workshops http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/workshopcalendar.html

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Author of Media Training A-Z
& Presentation Training A-Z

TJ Walker
Media Training Worldwide
212-764-4955

Media Training Worldwide provides more media and presentation training workshops and seminars (54 separate courses) than any other company in the world. Media Training Worldwide also publishes more than 100 presentation training books, DVDs, CDs, and other information products and is the largest presentation/media training publisher in the world. For a product catalog or more information on training services call 800-755-7220 or visit http://mediatrainingworldwide.com/mediatrainingcatalogapril2004.pdf.

Media Training Worldwide
110 West 40th Street
Suite 203
New York, NY 10018
212-764-4955
www.mediatrainingworldwide.com

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