To the Speakers...

These folks would be genuinely exited to help you out.

http://www.toastmasters.org/

I think I would open with one of those machete twirling displays I've seen in your videos. That should get their attention.

Was taught in FFA to always look just above the heads of who you are facing, they think you are looking at them.

Imagine they are all naked, helps keep the humor in it.

Then close with one of those tornadoes whisking you away, or the crashing helicopter.

I'd probably pay to see that.

Having had the pleasure of hanging out with you in person, my advice is 1) just be yourself, 2) imagine you are talking to a small group of friends, 3) don't sweat it. !!! People would probably pay just to hear your accent, the stories of your travels are just a bonus!!

> Having had the pleasure of hanging out with you in person, my advice is 1) just be yourself, 2) imagine you are talking to a small group of friends, 3) don't sweat it. !!! People would probably pay just to hear your accent, the stories of your travels are just a bonus!!

Andy got it just right. The crowd is not 200 hostile natives. They are your friends and fellow professionals. Talk to them just like you would chat with Andy and I in a small room.

You will do fine.

Oh and lastly, if you need an on site coach, have them call me as well. I'll back you up.

Larry P

imagine them all naked..:'(

> imagine them all naked..:'(

I have heard that advice many times before. It does not work. In fact, with a group of surveyors, the thought is very counter productive.

Larry P

Put it all into perspective. In the scheme of life there are many, many things worse than embarrassing yourself in front of your friends & colleagues. Feel honored. You have reached a point in the surveying profession where your friends & colleagues want to hear from you, and this is the chance for you to give back to the surveying profession. Make eye contact. Look at the individuals -- not the crowd,look for those people that are smiling at you and smile back. Prepare ahead of time and then relax -- and enjoy!

Evelyn

it's probably bad enough seeing what they wear on a cruise.....o.O

> ...how do you stand in front of a crowd and give your spiel? ...
>
> Whats the hardest part and what tips would you give to a newbie...?

My suggestion would be to recognize that the seminar is a highly inefficient means of information transfer. The basic format of (1) tell'em that you're going to tell'em, (2) tell'em, and (3) tell'em that you told'em, with whatever humorous asides can be worked in between is a good model.

Keep in mind that expectations are low and most seminar attendees will be satisfied if they come away with two nuggets of information that they retain. Those nuggets don't even have to be related directly to the nominal topic. For example, the most memorable part of a talk that I once heard Knut Hermansen deliver was that he had used GOLD PAINT on the rebar stakes he set to make his clients think they were more valuable than the ordinary surveyors's stakes. It was total hucksterism, of course, but the point that it unwittingly made was that what a client thinks is quality and what a surveyor does are quite different things.

The other thing to consider is being sure that your audience has a tangible product of some sort to take with them that relates in some way to your talk.

So, (1) keep it simple, (2) try to build the talk around a number of nuggets of information, (3) see that a souvenir is provided, and (4) recognize how inefficient the whole speakership deal is as a means of actually imparting knowledge. Infotainment is the normal model.

piece of cake.

1. introduce yourself.

2. Say "the center of section is the intersection of the line between the N and S 1/4 corners and the line between the east and west 1/4 corners.

3. ask for questions.

4. after the question, say- "that's certainly something to consider." (or some variation thereof)

5. ask for the next question.

6. repeat steps 4 and 5 until the end of your session.

last friday, I spoke at my childs elementary school for Career Day - i too asked for advice on this board - I am perfectly comfortable talking in a conference room with attorneys and real estate agents- but standing in front of 4th graders and talking surveying and trying to bring it "down" to their level was a little nervous for me- after a few moments, I was fine and all went well - I showed a lot of pictures- somenthing you can obviously do very well - make your video/picture log a part of your presentation and talk about your surveying experiences like others have said- you will do great! good luck!

-Don't rush.
-If you are thinking of the right words,:-S just think, don't fill the void with "um, ah, um":-X
-Handouts, Pictures, Reference material. It takes the focus of eyes off of you a bit.
-Powerpoints are worth their weight in gold, for me they help my presentations stay on track, and or get back on track if you have to go off on a tangent for an audience question.
-If you get a question that relates to a later point of discussion in your presentation , try to hold off on answering it until its appropriate. This saves your speech from sounding repetitive. (Unless you want that, and some speech's require it.)

Most my presentations are geared towards high school students, so I bring candy.:-D

Next Oregon PLSO conference is Jan 23-25, Love to have ya there as a presenter.
Cheers

Speaking to a group was terrifying to me when it was required in school and I had nothing I wanted to say, and that carried over to the first few times I did it in a work setting.

Then I realized that I knew more about what I was speaking on than my audience, or they wouldn't have had me speaking to them. If I have prepared well so I have confidence in my message, then the presentation is easy.

The format that we mostly used was PowerPoint with bulleted lists. I found that I needed the reminders so I didn't leave anything out, but just put the points in my own words or explained the pictures and graphs as if I was telling it to one co-worker. I didn't read the exact words off the slides. Same if you are using notes. This comes across better for most people than reading a written-out speech, since hardly anyone gets practice at reading a speech in a way that doesn't sound dull and, well, being read.

> The format that we mostly used was PowerPoint with bulleted lists.

When feasible, what I think is more effective is distributing a hardcopy outline of the talk to the audience members. If you're speaking to surveyors, chances are your audience will be mostly made up of folks who are interested in knowing the whole pattern of what you have to say, which is what the outline provides.

As others have mentioned, referring to the outline when discussions follow the sorts of strange tangents that surveying discussions can, is a good way of convincing your audience that the whole effort is organized, which is a good thing.

Just set your camera on a tripod out in front of you and talk to it.

keep looking to different areas of the room
do not concentrate on people or expressions
just look like you are

like all things, it will get easier with practice

i like the good comments
where can i go to one of these events?

would you mind if i heckled?:-P

I am similar in NOT being extroverted enough to want to be a public speaker. A couple of people and I am okay. Up to about 10 people and I can manage it alright. You get beyond ten people and I am very very nervous.

However, I ended up doing four hours of a seminar in 2011, for our chapter of the state surveying organization. I am also working on another 8 hour presentation for 2013.

My suggestions are:

1. Have a highly detailed outline of what you want to present. This is a 'cheat sheet' for your use and should be more detailed than any power point presentation. This helps keep you from loosing sight of the objective when getting tense or nervous.

2. Speak on a subject that you are very comfortable covering. This will help you when questions are posed.

3. Engage the audience. If you can get some audience participation, it will be more like talking with friends instead of 'presenting'. Ask questions of the audience and encourage questions from them.

4. This is the most important point - if you decide to hit the presentation circuit, let me know as I want our surveying organization to book you. Your posts indicate a sphere of surveying that many (basically everyone) in my area would not be familiar with doing. From the photo blogs, I expect you can put out a highly entertaining and informative presentation.

If you are preparing a handout do not just put together a compendium of pp slides.

Take a look at JB's handouts and do something like that - something that can be used for reference later on.

Use PP - lots of images, light on text.

Move around - do not just stand in one place, by moving you keep the audience focused on you and your words, facial expressions, etc.

Open with a joke or interesting story.

Have fun!

> If you are preparing a handout do not just put together a compendium of pp slides.
>
> Take a look at JB's handouts and do something like that - something that can be used for reference later on.
>
> Use PP - lots of images, light on text.
>
> Move around - do not just stand in one place, by moving you keep the audience focused on you and your words, facial expressions, etc.
>
> Open with a joke or interesting story.
>
>
> Have fun!

Be aware that you can not please all the people all the time. I have started trying to do a handout that is much more than copies of powerpoint slides. Did that at one state conference earlier this year. Several people complained that they wanted the handout with the powerpoint slides rather than the narrative.

This does not mean I am going back to the old way of doing handouts.

Larry P