Believing in Ourselves

Waring, Be careful taking photos on your iphones

2011-08-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

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Enhancing PowerPoint when Using Photo Templates

2011-06-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

How do you blank the screen for a PowerPoint presentation?

2009-09-14T13:07:00.001-07:00

How do you blank the screen for a PowerPoint presentation?

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Do you have doubts about the law of attraction?

2009-09-08T10:31:00.001-07:00

Do you have doubts about the law of attraction?

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Practicing your speech

2009-08-09T00:20:00.001-07:00

Practicing your speech

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The readiness to hear a no and a willingness to accept a yes

2009-07-15T01:43:00.001-07:00

The readiness to hear a no and a willingness to accept a yes

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Governor Mark Sanford's admitted transgressions

2009-06-25T09:33:00.001-07:00

Governor Mark Sanford's admitted transgressions

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Maintaining your inner strength during times of difficulty

2009-06-12T18:14:00.001-07:00

Maintaining your inner strength during times of difficulty

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Reducing filler words

2009-06-12T18:11:00.001-07:00

Reducing filler words

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Fear of public speaking vs.speaking in comfort or with confidence

2009-06-12T18:07:00.001-07:00

Fear of public speaking vs.speaking in comfort or with confidence

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Respect your audience

2009-06-12T18:00:00.001-07:00

Respect your audience

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Words, voice, or body language

2009-06-12T17:56:00.001-07:00

Words, voice, or body language

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You should write your speeches and presentations

2009-04-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

You should write your speeches and presentations

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You are what you think

2009-04-08T14:34:00.001-07:00

You are what you think

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Break through the crowds of the unemployed

2009-03-18T01:07:00.001-07:00

LA Presentation and Communications Skills Examiner: Break through the crowds of the unemployed

You deserve to save your job

2009-03-13T23:52:00.001-07:00

You deserve to save your job

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Discover your Inner Strength

2008-07-31T14:37:00.000-07:00

Frank S. Adamo
joins Ken
Blanchard,
Brian Tracy &
Stephen Covey
in a new book,

Discover Your Inner Strength

SEVIERVILLE, TENNESSEE— Frank S. Adamo, a communications coach, international trainer/instructor, speaker and published author, has been selected from a nationwide search to be featured in Discover Your Inner Strength, a highly successful book series from Tennessee based Insight Publishing. The book features best-selling authors Stephen R. Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People), Brian Tracy (Million Dollar Habits), and Ken Blanchard (One Minute Manager). Frank Adamo, Blanchard, Covey and Canfield, are joined by other well known authors and speakers, each offering time-tested strategies for success in frank and intimate interviews.

Frank, known to his friends as Francesco, the Godfather of Practical Reasoning, feared speaking to an audience, not for years, but for decades. He's made every excuse not to speak and experienced every symptom of the fear. He now considers himself the foremost authority on the fear of public speaking.

Frank has discovered his inner strength and now comes with his own unique perspective and understanding found nowhere else. He offers individual and group coaching sessions and a series of workshops on effective communications and presentation skills. A techie (M.S. Degree in analytical chemistry), Frank specializes in working with technical professionals and simplifying technical documentations.

For more information on Frank S. Adamo and to order your copy of Discover Your Inner Strength, contact:

Frank S. Adamo
1-714-408-9287
frank@fsadamo.com
http://www.fsadamo.com

I am looking for a career coach in the field of business management/procurement?

2008-07-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

I saw curious mom ask the question, "I am looking for a career coach in the field of business management/procurement?" She further stated:

"My aim is to enhance my career- and i am looking for a reliable career coach in NJ. Who can prep me up, establish my marketing/sales pitch, strategize my career moves and give my career a boost. I am a very qualified person- but i lack verbiage to sell my skill set. pls provide constructive advice or references. thx"

I was going to answer, but the question was closed. Perhaps she'll see my answer here or others will.

My answer would have been to join Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org, click on the [Find] button on the left). No matter where you are in your career, Toastmasters is a very low cost and very effective organization where you can learn, not only, to enhance your communications skills, but also your leadership skills. More importantly, IMHO, Toastmasters, can help build confidence and empower you to fulfil your dreams. Toastmasters has certainly changed my life.

Negative energy of anxiety?

2008-07-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

I came across a blog message on the fear of public speaking. Part of the message was:

"Try to stand on only one leg. Then shake the leg that is off the floor. Switch legs and do the same thing again. What you are doing is taking the negative energy of anxiety towards the floor and out of your body. Though this may appear and sound so out of this world, it actually works. For your information, actors use this as a warm-up exercise prior to attacking any scene.

Hold out your hands, shake them, fast. Put your hands over your head and bring them to your sides. Repeat the same process. Doing this continually will take the tension off your hands and arms so any movements you make with them during your presentation gets to appear natural.

Ease the tension present in the muscles of your face. In order to do this what you could do is chew in a manner that is exaggerated.

These exercises are done for the purpose of warming any part of your body that is edgy, uptight or taut from being too nervous thinking about how you will do in your presentation. Do not think too much though as it only adds unnecessary stress. Relax and your audience will relax along with you."

The exercises that are described are very similar to those I describe to my students so I don't disagree at all on doing the exercises. I disagree on the purpose of exercising before you speak. The tension and fear you have is not caused by negative energy. It is caused by the natural process of the body adjusting to fight or flight from danger. This is a natural process and should be seen as a positive transition. Why? Very simply, if our primitive ancestors didn't have the ability to fear, the human race would have been extinct eons ago.

Be thankful that we have these "negative" energies because they are not. They are positive energies. Now, why do the exercises above work? Because, when we are fearful, the body shuts down all unessential processes -- including the digestive system. That's why we get the symptoms of butterflies flying out of formation in our stomach, nausea, etc., thus you shouldn't eat immediately prior to speaking. During our bodies' response to danger, energy (in the form of glucose) and oxygen rushes to the muscles. That's why you have the trembling knees and hands and why you may have trembling lips and voice. Again, this is all natural and positive. By doing the shaking exercises as described above, you release the excess oxygen and energy (glucose), The adrenalin that begins the process of preparing our bodies to fight or flight, also lessens, which in turn, will relax you.

Embrace these symptoms and understand that this whole process is very natural. Just do the exercises to relieve the excess oxygen and energy. Lastly, join Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) to learn to transcend your fear in front of a supportive audience.

Use of warm or hot water for unecessary reasons

2008-06-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

How many times when you wash your hands or rinse the dishes, you turn on the hot faucet, or if you have a single, combined faucet, it is on the warm setting? I often rinse our dishes in warm water mode or wash my hands in the bathroom by turning on the hot water.

Often, when I turn on the hot water faucet, by the time I'm done with washing my hands, the water coming out is not even lukewarm. Does that make any practical sense -- particularly in the summertime? Perhaps it's simpler to grab the soap with my right hand and turn on the hot water faucet with my left hand, but what if the hot water heater turns on, even for a short minute or so heat the hot water which was dispensed? And then your multiply that by the number of times you wash your hands each day, times 365 days in a year, times the number of people in the U.S., and each wash consumes 12 gallon per wash, we will have consumed that is 182,500,000,000 gallons of water in one year that is heated by just turning on the hot water faucet to wash our hands or to rinse our dishes in warm water.

Most hot water heaters hold 50 gallons. Based on the above calculations, the nation will have heated 3,650,000,000 hot water tanks in one year, or 10,000,000 hot water tanks each day.

I'm now washing my hands with the cold water tap and moving the kitchen sink tap to cold water only to rinse the dishes. I would suggest that you consider doing the same.

Cheers, Frank

Lighting for Presenters

2008-05-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

I recently attended a convention. The hotel rooms were absolutely set up for presenters -- except for one thing. At least one (I only saw one but there may have been other presenters) of the presenters asked the room coordinator to dim the lights so that the audience could easily view his PowerPoint slides. Unfortunately, the presenter was lost in the darkness of the room and, thus, his connection to the audience, IMHO, was also lost.

When presenting, the focus should always be on the presenter, not the presentation, i.e. the slide show. In may major hotels and convention centers, the larger rooms, particularly those with stages, have the lighting equipment that is conducive to the speaker, i.e. the room lights can be dimmed to better view the projection screen while maintaining direct, focused, lighting on the presenter.

Unfortunately, in breakout rooms and smaller hotel rooms there is no specialized lighting. If the room is dimmed to better view a slide show, the presenter becomes lost in the twilight of the darkness.

What can we do? Many presenters will bring their own laptop and perhaps their projector as well as other equipment. How about adding one more item to the list of equipment: a flood light. We can purchase floodlights at major hardware stores or purchase lighting equipment at a camera store. Lighting equipment from a camera store may be better because we can also purchase diffusers to filter and soften the lighting. I have not tried this yet but I plan to. If a room is organized with the projector screen in a corner of the room and then the presenter can give his/her presentation from the other side of the room. We can then place the flood lamp on the side where from where we will be presenting. I would consider placing the flood light on the opposite of the room from where I would be speaking, but I'm not sure if the light will diffuse through the projector lamp -- if the projector is at table level. If the projector is attached to the ceiling, then there should be no problem and the opposite side would be the desired location of the flood lamp.

No cure for the fear of speaking in public???

2008-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

I came across an article that suggests that there is no cure for the fear of speaking in public. I totally disagree. First, we are born with only two fears. The fear of noise and the fear of falling. If we learn all other fears, then we can "delearn" fears.

If you have a fear of speaking in public, join Toastmasters at http://www.toastmasters.org. Members of Toastmasters has proven that we can transcend the fear of public speaking.

The article I saw suggested that we focus on our speech and not our fear. That's partially correct. Certainly, we shouldn't focus on the fear; however, we shouldn't necessarily focus on our speech, i.e. we shouldn't focus on perfecting our speech or hurry through our speech or focusing on how we deliver our speech. Rather, we need to focus on our message. What do we want to give the audience. Try to converse with your audience rather than just presenting.

Another suggestion that was stated in the article was to place your hands behind your back or clasp them together if your hands are shaking. I do not agree with this. Shaky hands is a natural part of fear. It is caused by excess energy in the muscles to prepare our bodies to defend ourselves from predators. Rather than clamping your hands together, which is a physical sign of fear, shake your arms and legs to dissipate the energy in your body. One suggestion: do this offstage before you begin your speech.

Though others may believe there is no cure for the fear of speaking in front of goups, I believe we can transcend our fear by joining Toastmasters and understanding why we have the fear.

Fear is a Positive Trait! Huh?

2008-05-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

When are we fearful? When we confront the unknown. Let me take you back 1,500 years to a small village. It's a bright, sunny day. Everyone in the community is enjoying the warm, balmy day -- until it begins to darken. They stop and look at each other in fear. As it continues to darken, the small community flock together in anticipation of great danger as they look up and see the sun disappear. Today, millions huddle together, but not in fear, but in anticipation and excitement of a solar eclipse. You see, we understand solar eclipse today and we look forward to seeing this rare phenomenon.

The same happens with the fear of speaking in front of an audience. If we are not familiar with speaking in public, we become nervous and fearful, but as we do it, speaking becomes familiar and less fearful.

But why is fear a positive trait? Very simple, the body physically changes to prepare us to fight or flight. Without fear, our primitive ancestors would have been killed. So every time you feel fear, embrace it, because without it, we would have been extinct eons ago. And the symptoms -- embrace them too, because these are signs the body is preparing you to fight or flight. For example, nausea and the butterflies are caused by the body shutting down the digestive system. Thus, if you are a bit fearful, don't eat before presenting. Eat afterwards. The shaky knees and hands, and the quivering lips are caused by the body pushing excessive oxygen and energy in the form of glucose into the muscles. Thus, consider going backstage and shaking your arms and legs to dissipate the energy and oxygen built up in your muscles. Also, just before you begin to speak, pause for 2 to 3 seconds. This will relax you (believe it or not) and it will get the audience's attention and they will be more relaxed and attentive.

Projector Light - Blanking the Screen

2008-04-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

It happened again last night. The screen was placed in the middle of the front wall and the projector was positioned in the aisle between two rows of seats. This seems to be the typical layout of a room where a presenter plans to display PowerPoint slides, a video, or photos.

One of the presenters turned on the projector and kept it on during the entire presentation -- even though they used it for less than 1/2 of his presentation. Apparently, oblivious to them, they walked past the projector screen which blocked the screen while projecting a bright light onto their body. In fact, one of the presenters, stood directly in front of the projector during her talk and for the entire talk, the light of projector was shining the entire time on an rather inappropriate spot on the body.

As a presenter, you should blank the screen if you walk back and forth in front of the projector and when you are not using the projector. This can be a distraction from your presentation and it should be

If a presenter is not using the screen, there are 3 simple ways to turn off (or blank the screen). The presenter should:

Check the projector remote to see if the lamp can be switched off and on without turning off the projector.
If not, some of the newer presentation remotes for the computer may have a feature
to blank the screen.
If all else fails and even if you are not using PowerPoint but another visual aid such as a video, load PowerPoint and then immediately click on Slide Show and then View Show.
Finally, you can press [B] key to toggle between the show or a blank screen. Of course, if you are using PowerPoint, all you need to do is to press the [B] key.

Two important considerations if you are using a visual aid other than PowerPoint. First, the View Show must be activated even if it is a blank screen. If you simply load PowerPoint, you will be in edit mode and the [B] key will not work. You must have a slide show, even a blank one, activated.

Next, if you are using another visual aid, such as a vidio, photo slide show, etc., the [B] is not work. Thus, you should set up the alternate visual aid and then [Alt][Tab] to return to the PowerPoint show (not the PowerPoint application) if you want to blank the screen. Then if you want to return, [Alt][Tab] to your application.

Ciao, Frank

Conquering Fear of Public Speaking -- 5 Points

2008-04-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

I found these 5 points someone said on how to conquer the fear of public speaking. For the most part I agree with what this person said; however, I have some disagreements. To begin, I personally don't like to use the term "conquer" when discussing the fear of speaking in public. We conquer "real fear," i.e. the fear of a predator, earthquake, tidal wave or another circumstance in which we can loss our lives. The fear of speaking in front of a group is real for those who have the fear, but it is a perceived fear. We don't have to conquer this fear, but we can transcend this perceived fear.

Prepare, prepare, prepare! Don't wing it! Prepare an outline of what you want to say and practice it.
Absolutely, we need to prepare and I like this person's choice of "Prepare an outline" rather than writing a speech, which others do. I agree 100%.
Be specific and talk about the things you know best. Don't try to teach people everything you do. Focus on no more than two or three areas of what you want them to learn about. Most importantly, cover the topics you feel you understand the best. This will reduce some of your stress.
Again, I absolutely agree with the first part. Talk about what you know best. In that way, we can engage the audience by talking from the heart, and of course, if we know the topic, we should be less fearful of forgetting or saying something that is wrong. Also, I agree in not teaching our audience everything we know.

That's why you should write your speech. Not to read it or memorize it, but to make the speech as concise as possible. The first time, I had to present a report to FLACS (FLorida section of the American Chemical Society), I wrote the first draft. If I had read that speech, it would have taken at least 30 minutes, but I had 3 (three) minutes. Finally, after working on my speech-- and practicing it -- I gave a well-received presentation.
Use handouts, visuals or PowerPoint slides to support your presentation. For people who are worried about stage fright, these props can help carry them through the talk.
This is where I tend to disagree. Too often, a presenter relies on the PowerPoint slides, or other props, as a crutch to get him/her through the presentation. Certainly, these aids will carry us through the talk -- but at what sacrifice? If we rely on these aids, we are not engaging the audience. We are not conversing with the audience and the focus is on the visual aids instead of us. Though it will appear to be an oxymoron, we can lower our anxiety by conversing with, rather than presenting to, our audience. "But, I'm frighten to make eye contact. I'm more comfortable behind the lectern and showing slides." How and why do we talk one-on-one with comfort? By eye contact and engaging each other. When we are conversing with our friends, do we have a set of slides to show our friend? If we did, it would be more of a one way "conversation." Conversation is, inherently, two ways. Even though our audience does not verbally converse with us, if we converse with them, then they are engaged and relaxed, and in turn, we are relaxed.
Remember, you're the expert. Think about ways that help show that and are not threatening for you.
I, again, totally agree. If we know our topic, we are -- at least for the moment -- the expert. The best way, in my opinion, to show this is to converse with, rather than present to, our audience.
Be creative. Think of some way to communicate the information in a way you feel comfortable.
This is the one point I do not agree with. To me, this is an oxymoron. If we are creative, don't we step out of our "comfort" zone? I would suggest that we do not be creative until we have the experience and confidence in speaking front of groups. Simply be conversational and we will be fine.

Ciao, Frank

Business Opportunity Presentations

2008-03-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've attended 3 to 4 network marketing or other business opportunity presentations recently. Even if I received a free lunch or dinner, I'm beginning to wonder if these presentations are worth my time, particularly the one I didn't have a meal.

Let's take network marketing as an example. A typical presentation generally begins with the concept of network marketing with no regard to the guests' experience. I've been involved with network marketing off and on for several years, and during the first 10 to 15 minutes, the presenter repeats the same verbiage I've heard umpteen times in the past. I suspect that more than 75% of the other guests have heard the same thing.

Then the presenter may discuss the latest “trends” in network marketing while displaying a multitude of magazine articles and cover pages on the screen. Then the presenter will describe the products or services – which, for the most part, is fine; but then, we're called to listen to the long, drawn-out, detailed information on the compensation plan and all the many ways to achieve success, including a free Lexus and a free, 2-week Mediterranean cruise. Finally, we are asked to get together with the one who brought you.

Essentially, a presentation that could take only 30 minutes may last up to two hours. Now for some practical thoughts, in my opinion.

Your Guests: Wouldn’t it make more sense to know the background of the guests? If most of the guests are relatively new to network marketing, then, by all means, discuss the concept network marketing as usual, but if most of the guests have been in network marketing, then skip that portion of the presentation and let the person who brought the guest explain the concept afterwards.

Business Trends: If there are specific business trends which will enhance the presentation and will benefit the understanding for the guests, by all means, provide this information, but don't show the numerous magazine covers and articles showing the business concepts and trends. No one in the audience can see the fine print, and thus, the audience is glued to the PowerPoint slides, attempting to read the articles -- at least the headlines rather than listening to the presenter. If need be, the presenter can blank the screen [just by toggling the B key, a little known feature of PowerPoint for many], until he/she is ready to proceed with the slides.

Compensation Plan: Why in the world does the presenter, in nearly every presentation I've attended, go through all the details of the compensation plan? At times, the compensation plan takes up 1/2 or more of the presentation because it is usually somewhat complicated. First, a guest may be interested in knowing something about the compensation, but he/she will retain only a small percentage of the content. Why overwhelm the guests? The presenter should give the 1st, and perhaps, the 2nd level of the compensation plan in basic and simple to understand language. Then explain, "there are additional ways to build your business, but please get back to the person who invited you for more details."

Secondly, and more importantly, if the product/service proves to be beneficial to the consumers or new distributors, won't they recommend the product/service to others, and in turn, generate income? That is, the presenter should, in my opinion, concentrate on how the products/services benefit the consumer.

Training: Isn't it more logical to train the distributors to discuss the details of the opportunity and the compensation plan after a relatively short presentation? .

What do you think? I would like to hear from you