Essential Bret Dudl Speaking Tips
Tips For Public Speaking
Essential Bret Dudl Speaking Tips by Joe Cline.
Public speaking can be fun when your mind is it ease and you perform well. However, most people view their public speaking engagement as the hot seat, and work themselves up into a frenzy with fear and anticipation. The key to performing well is to be exceptionally prepared and really know your stuff. In addition, remember that your audience is not the enemy, and for the most part, you will be received well. And to take the burden off your next speaking engagement, try these five helpful hints to keep it all in perspective:
1. Outline.
To ensure your public speaking engagement goes off without a hitch, be sure you are well prepared on your topic. Make an outline of all points to be covered and use that text as a script to keep yourself in place. Even the best contemporaneous speakers can get distracted and drift away from key points, so keep your outline in front of you at all times with a pen ready to keep your place on the text.
2. Rehearsal.
Like any actor ready to take center stage, you will want to run a few rehearsals of your entire speech, top to bottom. The run through will give you a smooth finish, allow you to time the speech, and give you confidence with your vocal intonations and key word emphasis. Your rehearsal should be done standing up with your full energy and attention given to gesturing, posturing and anything else that you will use during the real deal.
3. Props and Tools.
If your presentation is to made with PowerPoint or you plan to use slides or props, make a clear notation in your outline for the proper placement and calculated pauses in your speech. You want to know exactly what image is coming up next so that you may set up the speech to present it. In addition to adding the props and such to your outline, it is wise to keep the display exhibits listed on their own notation sheet for easy reference.
4. Comfortable Clothing.
No matter how well prepared you are, there may still be some butterflies in the stomach just prior to stepping up to the microphone. Tight clothing and belt buckles will cut off your breathing activity which translates to anxiety. Remember to breath deeply, take your time, and wear clothing that does not restrict your freedom of movement.
5. Like Your Audience.
Like your audience and they will like you back. Public speaking is not always about staunch professionalism. Public speaking engagements within the workplace are often light hearted, casual and take place with a banquet meal, so remember to be yourself to mitigate the tension in the room. Try telling a joke before the presentation begins, or if that’s not your style, engage the audience with some light comments before you get down to business. The audience is all ears and they want to like you, so put your fears to rest that they will be critical. The best part of a meeting is to hear the keynote speakers, and today it is you, so have fun with your time in the spotlight.
May 30, 2010 Comments Off
Bret Dudl Practical Steps
Goal Setting – The Practical Guide to Setting Goals
Bret Dudl Practical Steps by Anthony D Carter.
Goal setting will play a vital part in your success. So it stands to reason that you want to start on a proper foundation. When it is done effectively goal setting involves four practical steps.
List Your Dreams
Write down whatever it is that you want to do. List all of your dreams. Whether it is writing the next great American novel, running a mile in five minutes or falling in love, you need to write it all down. You want keep that list of dreams in front of you so that you can actually look at it and build a plan around each item on that list.
Turn Your Dreams Into Goals
Break your dreams down into real, practical goals. This is best done by simply looking at your dream and thinking of what that really, literally means. So “being rich” means “having X amount of money, total”. Falling in love means “marrying the girl of your dreams”, etc. Dreams are broad and abstract. Whereas goals are literal and practical.
This plays to your advantage. Because with some good planning and forethought you can set the process on autopilot. You want to make a plan which includes the daily weekly and monthly work habits that are necessary to hit your goals. After you have it all mapped out then you simply set out to make it happen. You do not need to put much further thought into what needs to be done. You will do your work on a consistent basis, while occasionally checking your results for feedback to determine if you need to make any adjustments.
Break Them Down
Take your long term goal and break it down into chapters or a series of short term goals. For example, if you want to make that feature film, it would go like this: Learn about screenplay structure, make some short films to practice, write a script, get a budget, and finally, start filming. See, every goal, no matter how far off it seems, can be broken down into smaller, practical steps.
Put In The Work!
Just do it! You don’t want go through life just wishing, dreaming and hoping. Embrace the challenge. No matter what your goals are, there is certainly something that you can do RIGHT NOW to start to work towards them. If you want to write a novel, you can write the first page right now. If you want to start a business, you can begin earning your start-up money with a smaller business. Selling items on auction sites can give you some instant cash. So get started. The key to hitting your goals lie in your determination to just start from where you are and continue moving forward daily.
May 30, 2010 Comments Off
How to Eat an Elephant by Infovest21
Goal Setting – 5 Basic Goal Setting Techniques
How to Eat an Elephant by Infovest21 article by Antionette R Tate.
How to Eat an Elephant
When I was growing up, I use to get so overwhelmed when I was faced with a project that I feared was too big for me to complete. I remember my teacher asking me “What is the best way to eat an elephant?” I closed my eyes and for the life of me I could not imagine eating an elephant. To a child an elephant appears to be humongous. While my eyes were closed, my teacher softly whispered in my ear “One bite at a time”.
From that point forward, I know longer feared having to face the possibility of completing a large assignment because I knew that if I could break the assignment down into smaller parts, the large assignment would seem small enough for me to complete and I would not be overwhelmed.
5 Basic Goal Setting Techniques
When you are overwhelmed by an assignment, there are 5 Steps that you can take to make your assignment more manageable. The steps are: 1) Set a goal 2) Break your goal down into smaller goals 3) Stay focused 4) Go Forward and 5) Reward your accomplishments
#1 Set a Goal
Your goal gives you something to aim for. You should make sure that you write your goal on paper and keep it where you can view it often
#2 Break Your Goal Down To Smaller Goals
If you perceive your goal as being too large then you should break your big goal down into smaller goals. For example: If your goal is to lose 30 pounds. You would not try to lose 30 pounds all at once. Instead break the goal down to losing 10 pounds for three months.
#3 Stay Focused
The best way to stay focused is to set an allotted time to work on your goals as well as an allotted place. Your place should be free from distractions and noise.
#4. Go Forward
If you do not meet your mark at the time you had specified you should not give up. Instead you should start right where you are and go forward. If you keep a moving forward attitude you will stay encouraged.
#5 Reward Your Accomplishments
Do not wait until you complete your big goal before you reward yourself. You should start rewarding yourself as soon as you complete the smaller ones. You can reward yourself by cooking a special dinner, going to the movies, or just sitting back and reflecting on your accomplishments.
May 30, 2010 Comments Off
Infovest21 Extra Efforts
The Importance of Motivation and Goal Setting
Infovest21 Extra Efforts by Susan Leigh.
Goals are an important aspect of enthusiasm and motivation. They provide a viable target to work towards. They can encourage us to go that extra mile, put in the extra effort needed. But they need to be tailored to suit the person or persons to whom they are directed.
Unrealistic goals can be almost counter productive. They discourage and make people lose heart. Sometimes unrealistic goals can result in people becoming badly stressed and negative about themselves and their capabilities. They can highlight peoples weaknesses and make them more visible.
Some people like to have a main goal, but with interim stages at points along the way. For example, with weight loss, or training for a marathon or a competition, it can be a positive part of the process to set a particular long term target, but also have short terms goals that recognise and appreciate what has been achieved to date.
In business, some individuals may be set work or sales targets to work towards or teams may be set in competition against each other. This is designed to provide stimulus and motivation to produce more and better productivity. For some people winning is success enough, for others a visible reward or inducement is an important component.
Motivation is a key part of goal setting. Some people are good at self motivation. They compete against themselves and can maintain the level of enthusiasm required to reach their goal. Any set back serves as a challenge to their determination, and stubborn doggedness and perseverance sets in. Other people may require the stimulus of a prize or even just the goal of having their name ‘in lights’ on a winners board.
Teams will often include people with different skill sets. Members of a team often work to motivate each other at different times. Difficulties can arise when one or two people are highly motivated and work hard, whilst other members sit back and let everyone else put the effort in. The knack with a team effort is in keeping everyone enthused, especially when there are different elements to the task.
Positive strokes can be used to great effect in goal setting. Praising someone for what they are doing helps to build confidence and reinforce the determination to continue making the effort. A positive stroke means that someone says ‘ well done, good effort, you are doing a great job’, and does not qualify the praise with an additional comment that reduces the value of the praise. So adding a comment like, ‘try to keep up the effort’, or ‘I hope you will continue to be this hardworking of all the time’, significantly reduces the value of what has been said.
Goal setting helps us to raise the bar and provides an extra dimension to our effort making. Used effectively, goals can significantly improve performance and keep motivation levels committed and enthusiastic.
May 30, 2010 Comments Off
David Daniels about Wild Plants
Eating Wild Plants
David Daniels about Wild Plants Author Diya Sood.
There are a number of reasons you might want to use wild plants as food.
Wild plants have some unique flavors that can be among your enjoyed favorites. Watercress with something sweet such as pancake syrup in a peanut butter sandwich is one I particularly enjoy. Dandelion greens pesto mixed with spaghetti sauce are another.
Since the taste of many wild edible plants is so different from the usual cultivated vegetables, you likely will at first not accept some of them as a delicious flavorful food. Just about any food flavor other than sweet, salty, starchy, and fat are, I suppose, acquired tastes. It takes time for your mind to recognize an unfamiliar flavor as a ‘tried and true’ favorite. Introduce a wild food into your diet by eating a small amount when you are most hungry. Repeatedly doing so can make the new food one that you especially enjoy.
The amount of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in wild food, according to many sources, is on the average greater in wild foods. Domesticated vegetables have been selectively bred for looks, production quantity, taste, length of storage and other qualities other than nutrition.
The fruits and vegetables sold in the supermarket have been chemically fertilized; exposed to herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and a variety of other chemicals; and they may have been genetically modified and/or irradiated. The safety of eating such produce is of concern to many people. Wild foods for the most part, avoid those concerns. If you do gather wild foods avoid taking them from along roadsides, lawns that have been treated with chemicals or any other areas that may have been treated.
There is the possibility that supermarket food can be contaminated with pathogens. Dozens of diseases can be spread by an infected person handling food anywhere from the time it is harvested until it is put into your grocery bag. Plants growing in the wild are untouched by human hands.
Wild plants can be prepared in many ways. Greens can be put through a food processor or blender to make pesto. Add just enough oil and/or water to let the mixture process well. The pesto can then be easily mixed with other ingredients such as peanut butter, tomato sauce, or syrup for flavoring. Some greens such as lambs quarters, chickweed and purslane can be used anyway spinach is prepared. Strong or bitter tasting greens can be boiled changing the water once or twice to reduce bitterness. This is sometimes done with dandelion leaves. Then other ingredients can be added for flavoring and texture.
Wild fruit can simply be mixed with nuts or seeds such as sunflower seeds or almonds.
Some plants such as cattail tuber shoots and burdock root can be boiled to increase tenderness or to reduce strong flavors and then simply eaten as is.
Be sure of what it is that you are going to eat and be sure that it is edible. Consult a good reference book. If possible have someone who is familiar with a particular plant point it out to you. Most photographs are not of high enough quality to be relied upon to positively identify a wild plant.
Some edible plants have poisonous look-alikes. Some plants have edible parts and have poisonous parts. Some plant parts are edible only after being prepared in a particular way. It is common that a small quantity of a plant can be eaten without problems but if you eat too much your digestive system will protest forcefully.
There’s about 6 or 8 disaster scenarios that I can think of that seem likely to happen at some time. Most of them seem unlikely to happen in my lifetime. But you never know. Isn’t it prudent to be prepared, at least to some extent, in the event the normal food supply is interrupted? Examples of disasters that seem likely to happen are an asteroid hitting the earth, a massive nuclear war, a global epidemic, and the failure of one or two major crops such as corn and wheat due to a widespread disease or climate change.
The gathering of wild foods is interesting and enjoyable. Foraging for a favorite or new addition to your menu may take you through woods, through open fields and meadows and other places of beauty. It is a great way to get out into the natural world and enjoy its complexity and majesty. It adds to the perception that the world is a good place that is to be enjoyed. It is emotionally pleasing to find something that seems free and of exceptional value.
Making use of natural foods gives you greater awareness of the inter-relatedness of living things to each other and to the environment. That greater awareness helps us more appreciate the weather and climate, the abundance of nature, agriculture and the food supply, and the importance of protecting those things.
If you are interested in a few detailed recipes and a couple of other general preparation methods see www.bobcatswilderkitchen.com
For more information on wild edible plants and recipes see Foraging the Edible Wild community.webtv.net/Taimloyd/FORAGINGTHEEDIBLE
May 21, 2010 Comments Off