What a day!
Last Friday was the first ever public speaker bootcamp for my business LiveYourTalk to host.

What’s a public speaker bootcamp?!
There are many iterations available in the industry, with some offered to very large crowds. Generally the bootcamp’s intention is to provide immersive training and resources to participants about public speaking skill.

People have been inquiring to LiveYourTalk (and myself to facilitate and coach) for a particular bootcamp experience which:

• involves a very small number of participants, no more than four;
• clarifies points of view and potential messages to represent as a public voice;
• offers expert training to exercise more confidence as a public speaker (and to build off their inherent strengths as communicators) ;
• teaches ways to utilize and manage anxious energy;
• trains on use of stage space, vocal variety & strength, breathing technique, and avoidance of inarticulates like the dreaded ums/uhs;
• provides technique for persuasive speaking skill, basic media training, and on-camera work.

This type of client insight and curiosity has been critical; and after shaping curriculum – LiveYourTalk’s first bootcamp went live last week.

And it was a blast.
It was a day of teachable risk, training, and speech history.
It was an addictive forum for me to teach in; and I can’t wait to host the next one!

First bootcamp debrief: (4) factors that stand out

1. Group support framed one-on-one attention.

It was a small enough group (3 bootcampers) where each received the benefit of group interaction, group stimulus, support, and also one-on-one attention from myself as coach.

2. A multi-tiered curriculum worked.

Curriculum was based on (3) values for shaping resonant public voice:

—> all of the above tenets with an emphasis on point of view and message discovery;
—> use of group feedback, anxiety management, theatre training, and on-camera work;
—> all set to the unique speech-history backdrop of Washington, DC, where the bootcamp took place and included a speech history excursion to two historical venues.

Was this too aggressive for a one-day bootcamp?
That was my initial concern.

But in light of the participants’ goals (and feedback since), these structured values worked well.

The day included a brief excursion to two historical sites in Washington, DC which have heavily influenced my thinking toward powerful public voice. It was motivating to engage with bootcamp participants in this way. Then the day culminated with an onsite video project where each bootcamper applied technique in timed conditions.

3. Trust was a conscious part of education.

As in, the bootcampers Lisa Byrne, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, and Nakeva Corothers chose each other to participate in the program together. They trust eachother professionally (they are friends too), and viewed this trust as a useful ingredient to their bootcamp results.

This shared trust made the bootcamp dynamic.
The program’s rigor & vulnerability invite a ton of emotional investment. It invites focus. And their confidence in each other made the difference toward achieving their bootcamp goals.

4. Anxiety was a useful asset to building strength.

Based on their feedback so far, there was a balance of content engagement, theatre work, play, and critique.

Each segment enabled them to exercise a key principle: anxiety is useful energy for engaging audiences if utilized (and managed) well.

By the time the final video project rolled around, there was a strong group focus to assert and conquer.

I’m still butterflies-in-belly exhilarated, and look forward to the next one.

Scenes from the day:

Engaging at the National Building Museum -pictured above too- during the bootcamp’s speech history excursion (first leg, with transportation supported by Uber DC).

Heading to the wonderful Willard Hotel to relive a moment in speech history related to the day’s training (second leg).

Lisa, Tinu, and Nakeva arrive at the main conference room …armed and ready with their LiveYourTalk ‘idea kit and archive’ complete with an (11) page resource-template guide.

Tinu asserts the day’s main video project, with great success.

“Bootcamper down! Bootcamper down!” Nakeva asserts the video project with great success, and celebrates in playful collapse.

The first ever LiveYourTalk Bootcamp graduates(!)

Congrats to all of you for your accomplishments (during the bootcamp, and beyond too). Thanks also for investing your unique voices and self-assertion through your day.

Have you ever experienced a public speaker bootcamp, or something like it?

What knocked your socks off about it?

Photo credits:

• Tinu Abayomi-Paul: National Building Museum (top).
• Nakeva Corothers: Conversation at National Building Museum; Willard Hotel; Tinu’s video project.
• Lisa Byrne: Nakeva’s playful collapse moment.

The courage to move ideas forward.

For years, an act of courage seemed something to use in the most extreme or vulnerable times …like our soldiers defending liberty.

That type of moment still sets the bar in my mind on how courage drives perseverance. In more recent years though, collaboration with folks on their speeches has taught a new view. Every person and every speech has revealed how courage moves ideas forward in creative ways.

The delicate route through creativity to voice:
Together we move through inevitably vulnerable times; creativity evokes that relevant but often rocky road which every public speaker heads down. Unearthing voice can be powerful and delicate all at once.

These experiences have shown:
It takes courage to get clear. It takes courage to realize the tricky thing called voice (…and overcome initial distaste with rough drafts and rough starts). The whole creative experience gets vulnerable, if not extremely so.

It’s a useful rough road, and takes everyday courage to move through to more resonant ideas as speakers. Asserting courage in this context gave way to a video project: The Deciding Courage series.

Can we study courage as an accessible habit to build?

This idea brings Gwen McKinney to mind. She founded McKinney & Associates, and as CEO has brought many social justice issues to light in our country.

(3) reasons why courage matters
Strong, convicted, and with wise humor — Gwen talks about courage as a frequent decision to make. Her wisdom from our (3) minute video conversation:

• Courage can be hard to recognize in ourselves as we summon the in-the-moment resolve to use it.
• Mistakes are a distinct part of the human dynamic in which courage plays a unique role.
• Our audiences (any audience!) can respond in an interesting way when we ‘fall on our swords.’

What do you think?

What’s a decision in your life which you thought required courage, or in someone else’s life you’ve observed?

Footnotes:

• I’m enjoying the new anthology Voice Matters by Gwen McKinney and her courageous community. The related ebook series just launched too featuring filmmaker Larry Adelman’s assertion: zip codes predict health outcomes more than any other factor.
• University of Maryland students and the courage to learn persuasive speaking skill.

In the spirit of new beginnings and perspective, Happy Good Friday.

Today started at DC’s Lincoln Memorial for some reflection as the sun peeped up. It was a vibrant moment. That sunrise and this Good Friday have stimulated new views toward Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address for me.

It’s oddly alluring and startling all at once to be struck by a favorite text or speech in a different way (…after perceiving it in a certain light for years).

Have you ever crossed a similar bridge?

That altered perspective happened with one idea in particular with the Gettysburg Address, more fleshed out in the video moments above.

Remember his thought here, with this line?
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation [our nation] …can long endure.”

His use of the word testing stands out anew here. It’s a strong assertion, truthful in light of the huge civil strife, and also daunting. For whatever reason, I hadn’t fully considered the fact the president could’ve been testing his own certitude for how we would prevail. This is startling, a concept I haven’t consciously digested. Naive though it may be to feel this — I crave a president’s certainty, especially one like Lincoln during this gigantic national pivot!

Grappling with and rethinking the world’s great speeches motivates this new video series “Rhetoric Relived.” Sunrise moments are irreplaceable for refreshed perspective; so it’s my fond hope to keep recording on site at dawn.

Lincoln’s speech is a pillar of oratory strength, with critique of it widely offered in our nation’s robust speech history. His efficiency with ideas, nobility, and sense of reverence has drawn my attention in the past. But for some reason, this Good Friday and living in DC have sparked a renewed take on what he asserted with that line.

Is it obvious he doubts, even slightly, the tenacity of our national life? Maybe! It’s taken me years though (and more coffee!) to really stop and look at his assertion there. It is beautiful, strong, and unnerving still…just thinking our decisions as a country henceforth from Gettysburg just may derail us.

Or hopefully instead our country’s decisions and nation will “have a new birth of freedom…and not perish from the earth.”).

What strikes you in a different light - an exchange with another, a decision, an outcome, or something else?

More from LiveYourTalk:

• a college student from outside the USA and her take on Lincoln’s Gettysburg;
• Speechwriting and the perils of soundbite addiction.

Happy Spring to you.

And here’s the 3 point takedown with more context and examples in the 3 minute video:

• 1. Prepare a distinct point of view in a one-sentence assertion.
• 2. Use that one-sentence assertion as a way to standout and distinctly introduce yourself to the audience at the start (vs leaning on background info like professional title, business sector, and client list).
• 3. Suggest (3) questions to the panel’s moderator beforehand and then serve as the lead respondent for those questions. Other panelists may offer supportive commentary for these certainly; but secure the opportunity with the moderator to take the lead — and answer first to these selected questions.
• What would you add?

Washington, DC offers rich archives about oratory, rhetoric, and the power of ideas.

It’s all gone down here: presidential inauguration addresses, worldwide movements (& the voices who marched them forward), and states of the union that comprise our nation’s history. I love this city so.

When near the US Capitol today:
I was a few hundred meters from where Elizabeth Cady Stanton first delivered her Solitude of Self speech to Congress back in 1892.

With it being Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8th, it was exciting to reflect on Stanton’s bold remarks so close to where they first went public.

Her persuasive ideas and what stood out:
There’s ample room to analyze this speech (her ultimate appeal for women’s suffrage to the Senate hearing committee). What keeps coming to mind is her focus on ‘individuality of the human soul’ and a pointed focus on the nature of self-dependence.

A favorite excerpt:

“The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in the government under which she lives; in the religion she is asked to believe; equality in social life, where she is the chief factor; a place in the trades and professions, where she may earn her bread — is because of her birthright to self-sovereignty. Because as an individual she must rely on herself. To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is to rob “the ostracized of all self-respect…”

What voices have influenced your thinking about access to opportunity and self-reliance?

Happy Women’s History Month!

And here’s to self-dependence, self-assertion, and celebration of progress.

More resources and ways to celebrate International Women’s Day:

• 9 tips for public speakers from the WomenWhoTech Telesummit;
• strong conversation and community for small business owners from Women Grow Business;
• a tribute by Shonali Burke with more on Oxfam’s eCards and eAwards to give to the women you value;
• Socialcam’s great mobile video app for the iPhone and Android (which published this video above).

Have you ever had that “hmmm” moment or moments where the idea of giving your TED talk plays out in your mind?

During the TED Full Spectrum live conference on Wednesday, 2/29th, many folks in the audience will ponder just that (me too!). People will gather to watch the Full Spectrum event via live stream in Washington, DC (thanks to the kind folks at TEDxPotomac). And I can’t wait for the tremendous exchange, conversation, and ideas.

A nudge toward self-reflection
Is some part of you waiting for a particular nudge or external deadline before preparing your TED-calibre story (sometimes that’s a productive block in my work or what clients confront too)? Which begs the question: what really keeps us from recognizing and shaping our prized ideas – and share with others whether it’s a TED community or other engaged, valued listener?

What really prevents us from preparing our ideas beautifully, honestly, and clearly for future yet-to-be named audiences?

A word about time & the talk of your lifetime:
From my TED/TEDx collaborations so far, a TED-calibre talk takes 30 to 200 hours of prep depending on the speaker’s starting point of clarity and available stage time for the talk itself.

So I vote we start.

Right now.

No matter what stage or type of audience you envision for this ‘talk of your lifetime,’ engaging your own preparation on your own time – right now without facing an immediate deadline – can be incredibly crystalizing. That type of initiative can bionically empower your ideas and self-expression — stimulating greater readiness for serving future audiences.

Great!

Also:
Clarity puts the mind in a position of presence and ownership — two pillar qualities for guiding an audience through an irreplaceable experience.

So let’s start our own guerrilla prep work right now.

Are you in for 30 minutes?

The primary purpose at this point is to assert an idea and start.

That’s it.

As in the mission here is to make tangible progress on your TED “idea worth spreading” — plus ultimately get your TED / TEDx talk in draft form.

These (4) steps will guide our exercise with an emphasis on asserting perspective and escaping fear of imperfection.

Only criteria: get a first draft down in 30 minutes by continually producing and resisting self-criticism in this timeframe.



• 1. Set the timer for 8 minutes.
  Then start putting notes on paper (please put electronics in another room; the pen and paper keep the mind in a stronger meditative state). Just start writing in response to this consideration: consider what motivates you – and how that motivation is teachable. And as it helps your brainstorming effort, let yourself consider these brainstorms in different types of context and impact: professional, personal, spiritual, analytical, and creative.

  Task 1:
  Then write down a one-sentence assertion about a belief which you hold true. If it helps, add the phrase “I believe” before your assertion – with an example as: “I believe public speaking is a timeless community builder.”

  Please remember: encourage selection (and de-selection).
  Perfection is not the end game. What is? getting on the board with your ideas. If you have more than one assertion (again just one sentence in length), certainly write them down. Then choose one to champion for the sake of this draft exercise and carving out your TED “idea worth spreading.”

Check-in:
Do you have a one-sentence, teachable assertion written down now about what motivates you? Great. That’s your potential TED talk’s main idea. That’s the journey you’re taking a future audience on. Nice!



• 2. Set the timer for another 8 minutes.
  Now it’s time to think in story-based scenes. Ask yourself: what moments have shaped your one TED idea? What risk or discipline, what huge or subtle decision, what unforeseen experience, what trajectory, what observations, what research, what pivotal conversations, what gift, what anecdotes, what teachings – what is “the what” which influenced the teachable truth in your asserted idea? Reflect quickly but with permission. Write.

  Task 2:
  Then select (3) to (5) of these story-based scenes.

  Please remember: storytelling relationships
  View stories/scenes as the audience’s potential road map to understanding your asserted idea. Each story should exemplify and relate to your idea in some way. So your favorite memory of riding a sweet Shetland pony in the 5th grade should relate to your idea. If not, gently coach yourself to let it go. The Shetland pony will only distract your audience from your idea’s impact and merit.

  Creating structural integrity with relatable content is key here.

  Check-in:
  As you continue beyond this exercise in the days ahead, there will be ample chances to further flesh out, critique, and change your course as needed. For now though, the goal is to start thinking in scenic terms and to build a story archive from which to draw from. Build, build, build this archive for your storytelling power. Storytelling is rich, compatible food for the human mind. Done with keen attention by the storyteller, it can give the audience a chance to absorb, engage, and punctuate thought right along with the speaker every step of the way.



• 3. Set the timer for the next 8 minutes.


Revisit the stories/scenes you just selected. Now consider them in the context of useful, teachable conflict. As in, do one or a few stories reflect difficulty in some way? Is challenge, risk, pain, or potential disappointment revealed or acknowledged? Or simply, is consequence of what could happen if your idea is rejected apart of your perspective?

Task 3:
Be as honest and willing as possible to disclose a story that is difficult to tell.

Please note: The goal is not to be falsely dramatic or emotionally manipulative. At the same time, framing a core idea and point of view with 100% happiness or sense of perfection can disengage. It can compel the audience toward boredom or mistrust.

If conflict or some layer of contrast can be shared with your audience — it can be an irreplaceable trust builder and clarifying agent for your TED-calibre idea.

Please remember: honesty and clarity
Always be asking yourself with these stories/scenes: are they shaping enough context for my idea to be understood?

Check-in: a word about inspiration
It may be temping to refer to favorite TED talks to observe their voice, their perspective or creativity. Resist this. This exercise is the chance for you (us!) to see our truest conviction clearly even when an audience does not exist. This process must be authentically owned by our own desire to express and to achieve clarity of expression. Lean on your own inner reservoir of clarity, drive, and desire to understand (and to be understood).



• 4. Set the timer for the final 6 minutes


Consider your main idea, the scenic stories, and the compounding impact of what they mean. How do they uniquely convey meaning literally? Does the structural framework create a sense of journey? Does the structural integrity frame or undermine your intended meaning? How can your ideas create a sense of arrival for your audience?

Task 4:
Write down a vision of impact for your audience. Resonate’s Nancy Duarte (Holy Smokes an incredible resource and philosophy) calls this ‘the new bliss.’ As in how do you envision the ideal result, the ideal benefit, the ideal hope, the ideal outcome of your adopted idea and supportive material?

A kinder, more empathetic world? An accessible education for every human being? A sustainable standard of living for the disenfranchised? Violence replaced by social entrepreneurship?

Please remember: warts are apart of creativity.
Throughout this creative digging, possibly inner voices may crop up i.e. “This is dumb, a waste of time, I’m no Al Gore on TED’s stage, who do I think I am, I hate this rough draft, where is my IQ?!”

Please consider those thoughts as mental warts — and a useful indicator.

They indicate a sense of ownership.

They exist as a knee-jerk reaction to imperfection or a lack of clarity or both. Roll with it and continue. These creative warts indicate a sense of ownership for being clear. It’s a rough gig, the clarity business (…neat phrase from Content Rules). But that’s the business we are in when it comes to recognizing, asserting, and carving out ideas. It’s not a surface exercise.

Let us dig deep and true.

Check-in: Our audiences owe us nothing.
Keep going with your reflections, uniqueness, and process — empathizing with the audience’s experience 150% of the time.

Always be asking: Is there enough context in my talk to frame my conviction and deliver meaning?

Are you delivering as unconditionally as possible? Or do you really, really want the audience to think you are smart and inspirational and brilliant and the new Steve Jobs?

Our audiences owe us nothing.

I invite you to consider:
We as speakers are here to serve audiences with our clearest, most original, most resonant, most integrity-rich best.

I invite us to share ideas in this light, for an unconditional offering of a cherished idea is a beautiful thing.

Congrats for diving in and realizing the talk of your lifetime (I’ll dive in too!).

Really, really exciting.

What would you add to get your ideas off the ground, and into talk-of-a-lifetime shape?

More resources and perspective:

• TED’s 10 Commandments for speakers;
• Anti-TED sentiment in light of our social era;
• How to prepare a TED or Ignite talk;
• Why to love TED talks;
• Audition for TED2013.

“Big Idea” image by Kerr Photography, Creative Commons

“Lightbulb arrow” by Vistavision, Creative Commons

Today’s post is available via a 2 minute audio clip; or the written content follows too just below.

Frustration, frustration frustration.

A few colleagues and clients recently shared they were mentally caving to frustration. They were preparing for their next talk and realized: they didn’t know what to say.

They have deep funds of knowledge.

They have specific and creative expertise.

They’ve been speaking to public audiences on and off for years.

They are intelligent, driven people with plenty to offer a range of listeners.

Yet their ideas were stuck, as in really stuck…like an elephant caught in spandex. As in, no idea and no sense of permission were escaping the inner workings of their mind.

The ‘It’s Not Good Enough” syndrome: a common cause of blocked ideas
In each conversation with these great professionals one trait unified each person’s predicament: in every attempt to even casually brainstorm a point of view for their speech — each person immediately criticized themselves. Whatever idea they tossed out as a potential vantage point from which to develop their presentation – it wasn’t good enough to them.

Image Unstuck by MC, Creative Commons

Getting beyond cycles of criticism: a 20 minute exercise to help
Even with heaps of expertise to draw from and share, this often happens — that cycle of ideas/delete/ideas/delete.

This whirlwind of self-criticism builds off itself, making the self-perception of “my ideas aren’t good enough” as the only type of creative development possible.

This is a cycle to break.

For our ideas to progress as public speakers at this type of crossroads, the main goal (stat!) is to create a sense of permission with how we express (and assert) ideas.

Here’s a favorite exercise to get unstuck:

1. Set your timer for 20 minutes.
Your iPhone, Android, or old time tomato timer on the stove. Please grab it and set it for 20 minutes.

2. Commit to zero self-criticism.
Before diving into this exercise, dedicate your mind to a criticism-free zone. Grant full authority to your hand, the pen it is about to hold, and the paper it will write on.

2a. Which leads to: turn off your computer and find paper and a pen.

3. Start the timer.

4. Then write down at least (3) assertions in 20 minutes — one or two sentences each — about your expertise and related to the gist of your speech.
Keep writing until the timer rings.

Judge not, judge not, just write write write. And ideally: consider these assertions as points of view too. As in, write down what you hold true about your industry with your expertise in mind, again in one or two sentences per assertion.

Start each assertion with the words “I believe…” if that helps to dislodge thought.

Raw example:
“I believe public speaking is a self-assertion game and a clarity game…and it takes time to achieve both.”*

*Is that a run-on sentence? Yes. Is it perfect grammar? No. Is it an assertion that I hold true as a public speaking professional? Yes.

Does it satisfy the perimeters of this exercise? You bet.

Because the goal is to get unstuck, out of your mind, away from delete-every-idea-syndrome and onto the page before you.

Another raw example:
“I believe social content is an interactive and strong way to build community online.”
or… “I believe public relations means stimulating social voice around your company.”

How about you?
What tactical ways help you liberate creativity when preparing for a speech (and abandon self-criticism with ideas)?

More ideas you might like:

• 3 ways to prepare an Ignite talk with help from fuzzy bunnies, word counts, and passion;
• How to energize your stage presence with social apps;
• The sobering truth about what an audience remembers by Olivia Mitchell.

That hilarious 80 second video is just one part of Social Media Week’s story!

It’s a worldwide festival where at least 12 cities across the globe are hosting events online (and offline too), looking at this question:

How have societies, cultures, and economies become more integrated & empowered through a global network of communication?

Want to learn more?
No matter where you are in the universe – if you have web access at your fingertips, you can engage with conversations and festivities by following #SMW12.

There are diverse, fantastic ways to participate offline too. Just take a look at what events are unfolding in or near your city.

Are you in the Washington, DC region?!

Look out! This is the inaugural year for DC as a host city. The dynamic team at iStrategyLabs is leading the way. And I’m excited to be an advisory board member too.

Here’s our local schedule of events with a fun summary of what’s to come this week from DC Event Junkie’s Lisa Byrne.

And are you in DC, ready for fun this week on Feb 15th?!

Please join Women Grow Business editor Tinu Abayomi-Paul and good ole Live Your Talk this Wednesday, Feb 15, as we go offline to get social and have some fun in honor of the week.

How to RSVP for a soiree!

We’re celebrating women’s leadership in DC business and co-hosting a happy hour soiree.

Just visit here to RSVP and join us for great conversation on innovative ideas in the area.

On that note, a big hearty thank you to our fantastic friends and sponsors for Wednesday:

• Joanna Pineda, CEO and Chief Troublemaker at Matrix Group International
• Nicolette Pizzitola, CEO of Compass Point Associates and leadership education advocate
• and co-host Tinu Abayomi-Paul, longtime entrepreneur, founder of AskTinu, also doing strong work at the top ranked blog community of Women Grow Business hosted by Network Solutions.
• …with congrats and appreciation to Bonnie Shaw over a iStrategyLabs who has been a leading DC voice for the festival (and a great steward for the advisory board here).

Look forward to seeing you along with these vibrant business minds!

And no matter where you are this week, enjoy – and please remember there’s a place for you in these worldwide events.

There are so many great ideas on how to start a video blog and express one’s self to the camera. From the perspective of growing as a public speaker, I heartily see videoblogging as a fantastic development tool.

It exercises our ideas, our vocal control, how we handle vulnerability (and can be a strong teacher for stage presence). Love me some video blogs. And this morning, new videoblogger Lisa Byrne published her first video with a lot of honesty.

I really enjoyed it because of her genuine, comical nature which she shared.

Her video also demonstrated these three tips for getting a video blog off the ground (which can apply to shaping your mindset when talking to the camera in general).

And the 3 tips are:

1. Seek honesty vs perfection.
The camera is a 100% truth finder. Faking it? It sees it. Doubting your ideas or words? The camera (and thus audience) sees that too. She (Lisa) didn’t shy away from the fact she was nervous about talking to the camera. Expressing her anxiety openly fit into the topic of her overall video blog.

2. Assert clear intent.
Did Lisa have a distinct message, as if giving a media Q&A? No and that was absolutely fine (and more natural). She did however assert clear, simple intent and purpose for the video i.e. to share her big goals to improve physically and professionally.

3. Create momentum through editing, a layered viewpoint, or storyboarded structure.
Stimulating energy in the cut itself can be done with different editing decisions. It can be achieved by showing enthusiasm and conviction for your topic. Choosing a specific content structure enables energy to come across too. This was Lisa’s approach: choosing a simple consecutive structure. Lisa conveys uncertainty about her structure in the video itself. It works however.

She relayed one-by-one different goals she wants to accomplish this year. That added vocal variety and thus stimulus from an audience’s vantage point (yet without losing focus on the main purpose of her cut).

What ideas and tips do you like to use when “getting your video blog on?”

More ideas:

• from Steve Garfield on YouTube’s editing tools and video’s impact;
• from Joanna Pineda and me where we talk shop on quick videoblogging tips (from her Matrix Minute video series);
• from Simple Vlogging Tips and their 7 editing tricks.

This insight was fun to experience.

Behind The Scenes: Writing the 2012 State of the Union Address from The White House on Vimeo.