Category: Professional Speaker

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Distracted Audience Improving Your Presentations Podcast Professional Speaker Public Speaking Goals Public Speaking Tips Speaking at Conferences Virtual Presentations

Episode 9: The A-Ha! Method Podcast

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Fighting Distractions and Giving Quality Presentations with Robert Tercek

Robert Tercek, an experienced and innovative keynote speaker, shares his advice and tips for fighting off distractions and giving quality presentations that public speakers of all levels can apply during their own presentations. Audience members are very distracted these days, and it can be difficult to look out into a room and see all of your audience looking down at their phones or computers. The key is to frame your talk in a unique way so that it keeps their attention and also not be phased if it seems your audience is not looking at you anymore — just assume they are tweeting and making notes of all the great points you are saying! 

Robert is a dynamic and engaging presenter, and his passion for public speaking shines in this episode when he talks about needing to practice and know your material to make your presentation worth the audience’s time. He even had Dayna clapping and applauding at one point because he was so compelling and in his element! It was a privilege and a pleasure to speak with Robert. He left us feeling motivated and inspired to be better speakers and give quality presentations for our audience, and we hope you will feel that way as well after listening!

Find out more about Robert Tercek: 

Ways to listen to The A-Ha! Method Podcast:

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More About Our Guest Robert Tercek:

Robert Tercek is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and educator focused on the process of dematerialization and innovation.

In his professional capacity, Mr. Tercek is a seasoned business executive with deep expertise in digital media and internet services. He is a prolific creator of interactive programs and products. He has designed and launched successful consumer experiences on every digital platform, including digital television, game consoles, broadband Internet, and mobile networks.

In 2021, Mr. Tercek was recognized as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Media Excellence Awards for his leadership in designing and launching COVID SMART™, an interactive training program designed to keep workers safe on the job during the pandemic.

Tercek’s book “VAPORIZED: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World” was selected as the 2016 International Book of the Year at the Frankfurt Book Fair by the editors of GetAbstract from a field of 10,000 business books.

As a keynote speaker, Robert shares his vision of collaborative innovation at conferences, private corporate retreats, university symposia, and workshops around the world. 

He has participated as a featured speaker at many industry events including the CMPA PrimeTime, GSMA Mobile World Congress, E3 Expo, The Game Developer Conference, Billboard’s Digital Media and Entertainment Expo, the Consumer Electronics Show, the National Association of Broadcasters NAB Show, National Association of Television Producers, MIPTV, Tokyo Game Fair, Digital Hollywood and many more.   He served as  Chairman of the Future of Television Summit and the Mobile Game Symposium at GDC.

He has lived and worked throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas.  He currently lives in Los Angeles.

For more in-depth biography and information, please check out Robert’s website – https://roberttercek.com/.

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Building Confidence Improving Your Presentations Professional Speaker Public Speaking Course Public Speaking Tips Virtual Presentations

What I learned from The A-Ha! Method Public Speaking Course

Udemy Course Certificate

I completed The A-Ha! Method: Public Speaking in a Time of Distraction course on Udemy in April. It took me about 6 weeks to get through the course at a leisurely pace, and I was very happy and excited about what I learned. 

Full transparency: Gabe sent me this public speaking course to review before I started working with Speakers Alliance. I was a bit skeptical, thinking I already know a lot about general public speaking tips after 7 years in Toastmasters (Overconfident much?). What I learned from taking the course is: I still have so much to learn if I want to take my speaking game to the next level! 

I’ve asked Gabe why he calls it the A-Ha! Method. Is the A-Ha! Method mostly about the way to organize presentations with the different A-Ha! moments per talk, or is it about his public speaking techniques and advice? He said it refers to BOTH. The A-Ha! Method was developed with the A-Ha! moments per talk in mind, but it is also refers to what he has learned in his career as a speaker—the many A-Ha! lightbulb moments he has experienced throughout his professional public speaking journey.

His advice and lessons learned can help us as speakers too, no matter where we are on our own speaking journeys. I appreciate the tips and lessons learned, so that I don’t have to make all those mistakes on my own. While I will certainly make plenty of mistakes, I can limit my “newbie” mistakes at least by listening to and learning from professionals who have done this plenty of times before me.

Here are some of the key tips and lessons I learned from this public speaking course: 

Most Helpful Tips: Organizing and Editing

  • Organizing your speech using the A-Ha! moments
    • One way to organize your speech is think about your speech in Acts 1, 2, and 3 and then organize each act effectively with an A-Ha! moment, if applicable.  
    • The A-Ha! moments are strategically placed in your speech and have a recovery period afterwards. The A-Ha! moments are those parts in your speech that make your audience get chills or the hairs rise up on their necks and/or they are 100% focused on what you are saying. 
    • You have to be strategic about your A-Ha! moments though. If you place them one after the other in a bulleted list, they will get lost. You have to place them perfectly in your speech so the audience feels the effect. Then you can have a recovery period— not where you stop talking but where you keep reinforcing that idea without letting them lose focus on that idea. Then, you will ramp up to the next A-Ha! moment. 
    • I have probably done something similar to this without even thinking about it, however I probably did not do it well or effectively by using the recovery periods. Lots of improvement to be made there! 
  • The Speaking Event Checklist Resource
    • This was very helpful in understanding the amount of information you need to collect when scheduling your speeches with the event organizers. This is a great way to keep everything organized and make sure you have all the details needed before, during and after the event.
    • This checklist can be used for both paid and unpaid speaking events that you schedule and also for online and on-site presentations.
    • I plan to use this spreadsheet as I start booking more presentations! 😃

Most Relevant Tips: Slides and Virtual Talk Resources

  • Slides, Tech and Tactics Section 
    • There are over 2 hours of content about slides, tech and tactics that Gabe uses to take his presentations and pitches to the next level. 
    • Gabe suggests a general rule of 1 slide per minute and 1 idea per slide and explains this more in depth. I have worked on implementing this rule in my corporate presentations recently, and it has helped! 
    • Watching this section, I realized how much work my slides need. I like to do a long list of bullets sometimes, and the main thing to remember with slides is to keep it simple. 
    • I don’t put a ton of effort or thought into my slides. I know there is quite a debate about Powerpoint vs other presentation software. I feel comfortable using Powerpoint, but Gabe makes a good case to look into other presentation software and improve your slides with better images/graphics and less words and text. 
  • Virtual Talk Supplements 
    • There are 30 minutes of bonus content on this subject, which is very relevant right now of course.
    • Gabe has an excellent tip of restarting your computer and having a presentations user on your computer and using that for when you have presentations. This is such a simple yet powerful suggestion to help decrease the chances of computer freezes or hiccups. I have implemented this for my big presentations, and it has helped me feel more at ease!
    • Also, I always need a reminder about the eyelines and focus. I have a tendency to look at the gallery view. I know better, but that doesn’t mean I am always perfect at this.  

Biggest A-Ha! moment when taking the course: The editing process!

  • Iterative and editing process
    • Learning about Gabe’s editing and iterative process blew my mind! Good speakers make it look so effortless that I forget how much time and effort they put into each talk. I know speakers spend a ton of time practicing their content, but this course made me realize I have some major improvements to make in this area.
    • Gabe recommends his iterative process over straight memorizing because it will make you come off more natural and authentic. However, just because it’s not memorized, doesn’t mean he is just winging it. He practices over and over and over again until he knows his material so well that he could do it with his prepared slides or without them. That’s impressive! 
    • Recognizing the amount of organization and preparation it takes to do this job was very influential and helpful to me as I continue to grow in my career as a professional speaker. Even if you don’t want to be a professional speaker though, these tips are still helpful as you may have to give big presentations at work and conferences. 

There are so many tips and tricks in the course, and it would be a really long article to write up everything I liked about it. I found the course so helpful in thinking about my professional career, and I realized I have so much to learn, which is a good thing! There are always ways you can improve your speeches and grow your craft, and that is very exciting to me! 

Next Steps

I plan to go through the class again and take better notes and go through all the resources. The good part about the course is that it never expires or goes away once you purchase it. 

The course is great for being able to organize your speeches better and effectively. However, you need to also practice these new lessons learned. Each month the Speakers Alliance runs a few FREE Public Speaking Practice Clinics for people looking to improve their public speaking skills and practice their material. We will discuss different public speaking topics, answer questions, and provide feedback for as many 5-6 minute presentations and pitches as possible. Your speech or pitch doesn’t have to be fully prepped or memorized. The practice sessions are a safe place for you to practice, get your ideas out there and learn.

We will be adding practice sessions each month. Follow us on social media for the most up to date announcements.

Check out the public speaking course on Udemy and join us for a practice session or two or three (as many as you would like!). Practice makes great progress, and Speakers Alliance is here to help you with all your public speaking needs and practice resources. 

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Improving Your Presentations Podcast Professional Speaker Speaking at Conferences Speaking Hygiene

Episode 6: The A-Ha! Method Podcast

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Speaking Hygiene

Most public speakers focus only on the time they’re up on stage, presenting. But the 24 hours before your speech are just as – if not more – important than the 20 minutes itself. Find out what you can do to keep your speaking hygiene 💯 and maximize your chances of getting invited back to speak again and again. 

Join hosts Dayna Gowan and Gabe Zichermann of the Speakers Alliance for another in-depth conversation about public speaking.

For more details and tips, check out our blog post about Speaking Hygiene.

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Improving Your Presentations Professional Speaker Public Speaking Tips Speaking at Conferences Speaking Hygiene

Speaking Hygiene – More than showering and looking good!

Woman speaking at conference
Picture credit: Canva.com

You’ve been preparing for this speech or pitch for weeks, maybe months. You’ve followed the lessons of the A-Ha! Method and developed a talk that’s going to get you that promotion, land you that funding, or raise your profile among your peers. The night before your talk you’re probably filled with excitement, nervousness and dread. You practice, practice, practice and go to sleep, ready for whatever comes tomorrow – the big day. 

Professional public speakers know something very critical: your “big day” actually starts the night before. The entire 18-24 hours before your talk, pitch or keynote requires special care and planning, in an effort we describe broadly as “speaking hygiene.”

No, speaking hygiene is not about showering and smelling good (though that’s also important and the subject of another article), but it is about ensuring that your time before the talk is carefully curated to ensure you’ve got the right energy level, the right focus, and the right amount of good stress. In short, you need to think like a rockstar, and put everything into the big moment. Here are some of the most important considerations:

Sleep

Make sure you know when your talk is, and ensure you’ve got enough sleep to maximize your alertness and calm. Time changes can wreak havoc on your body, so these must be factored in as well. If your talk is late in the day or you have an immovable scheduling issue, take a nap several hours beforehand. You’d be surprised how many major performers nap shortly before taking the stage – the key is to make sure your rhythms are in sync and you can do your best.

Eat

Eating is probably a major part of your day, and it can be tempting to just treat the day of your talk as any other day for food. But because too little food can leave you jittery and your stomach growling, and too much can leave you tired and sluggish, it’s crucial to time your meals appropriately. Eat well, but not too much and leave enough time to digest. Don’t eat anything heavy or carby right before, and definitely don’t walk out on stage with stuff stuck in your teeth (e.g. from a really recent bite). But do have something sweet nearby for after your talk: cognitively challenging activities deplete the energy in our brains and glucose is the cure. 

Caffeinate

Caffeine may or may not be part of your daily routine, but you’ll definitely be tempted to slam some back an hour or two before your talk as your energy flags and you worry about being at your best. Just as with food and water, make sure your caffeine intake is optimized for the talk you’re about to give. You want to make sure you don’t go overboard and end up jittery, or go under and laconic. If you want the caffeine to kick in right before your talk, plan to consume it approximately 20 minutes prior. Similarly, if you’re giving a really long talk, you might want to have some right before getting up on stage. Regardless, don’t overdo it. I’ve been there and it’s not cute. 

Investigate

I’m sure you think you know where to find the venue, your specific speaking location, and what time to be there. But don’t assume: it’s happened to me plenty of times where I get lost or the meeting point is non-specific, and I’m rushing to make it to my call time, out of breath and anxious. Whenever you can, do a walkthrough of the precise locations you need to be at and when. If you’re at an away event, you can do this the night before. If you’re somewhere local, do it the day of. Make sure you always leave yourself an additional 30 minutes to account for any hiccups, and don’t plan your flights or drives such that you’ll arrive right before your start time. Even celebrities build in contingencies. You should too. 

Isolate

You should do as little as possible before your talk begins. If your talk is first thing in the morning, you’ll have all day afterwards to socialize, network and the like. But if your talk is later in the day, you should focus on conserving energy for your performance. Wherever possible, don’t make significant intellectually-challenging plans for the time before your talk, and keep your socializing to a minimum. Again, think like a rockstar: the performance is the priority – and the point. Focus everything you’ve got on that one goal.

And therein lies the rub: the sooner you think of yourself as “performing” when you’re up on stage giving a talk, the better. Many speakers get caught in the loop of thinking they are Marketing Director first and speaker second, but on the day of a major and significant talk, embrace your inner diva. Prioritize your hygiene and watch your performance improve.