And what better way to start, than sharing my insights and experience on overcoming the #1 fear people face?
This is a simple, easy-to-read resource that addresses several myths relating to speaking with confidence, and how to develop long-lasting confidence by addressing both mindset and technical issues.
It’s a no-nonsense resource; I wanted it to be helpful and straight to the point.
And for a limited time, I’d like to offer it to you for free.
All I ask, is for you to drop me comment about what you think about it in the comments tab below, and what else you’d like me to write about.
To find out more about the eBook, or where to download it, simply click here or on the image.
Also, join our community on our facebook group page at www.facebook.com/groups/superinfluence to network with other reads, and have your questions addressed by my coaches!
It took me a long time overcome and manage my fears. Yes, I do this for a living, and I still get butterflies in my stomach. The difference between me now and when I first started, is I’ve managed to get those butterflies to really calm down.
How did I do it?
I subscribe to the mantra that Confidence comes from Competence. Naturally, experience helps too.
The key is, with experience and competence, I’ve managed to create a structured system on how to start and deliver, and reduce the uncertainty I face when I’m on stage.
Certainty is key to confidence. If you’re not sure about what to expect, then you’ll naturally be scared (of the unknown).
So, the best way to learn, in my opinion, is to not only learn about what works, but also to put it into practice.
That’s because, the more you experience it, the more you internalize it – and you realize that it’s really not so bad at all.
PS: I won over 25 Public Speaking Awards in the first 5 years of my public speaking journey. The skill is always work in progress. It doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect when you start. Neither should you deem yourself as terrible and hopeless if you can’t speak.
We’ve all got to start somewhere. The sooner we start, the better!
I cam across this video on Boosting Confidence by TED-Ed.
I must say they are simple and easy to understand, and I’ve personally used or adopted them when I was (and still am) learning about public speaking.
These are useful tips, as they are genuine principles that work.
The video takes slightly more than 4mins to complete, but will have significant impact on the way you approach learning, application and making decisions.
Update! As of 18 Nov 2015, we’ve over 341 students enrolled within a week of launching the online course.
Here is what some of them have said:
Concise yet comprehensive
Content is comprehensive and informative. The bite-sized information caters to the needs of people who are keen in picking up this art but don’t have time to commit to a face-to-face course. – Cai Feng 1Â days ago
Great content
Great content – straight to the point on what is required in performing as an emcee and valuable takeaways! Brilliant! –Â John Cho, 2 days ago
We’ve got a special deal for those of you who are serious about upping your speaking skills as an emcee, or to become more professional.
Any stage act or performance will involve an audience. That’s the whole point of the act. Performers know this, and a lot of them react to the audience when they are on stage.
For example, in a dance routine, the dancers cannot move out of their formation to interact with the audience. However, the choreographer usually plans the dance to have certain ‘wow’ points that are most likely to get a reaction from the audience, or at least keep the audience engaged.
Still, wondering how the audience reacts on stage makes a lot of performers nervous. They cannot break the fourth wall to interact with the audience directly. And truth be told, the audience can react in totally unexpected ways – this includes total silence.
That’s where you, the emcee, come in. As the person with the ability to interact with the audience directly, it is your job to manage the audience for the entire event.
You control the audience, not the other way around
I just learned that an interview I gave in South Africa, has been published in a the South African government magazine – Presidency Update.
The interview was done outside of the Union Building – essentially SA’s government HQ. An official was in the vicinity interviewing foreign visitors about their thoughts of South Africa,
I’m glad and humbled to know that… that of all the views and comments the interviewer gathered from the group of over 10 of us, he decided to include my insights in his final publication.
I say humbled, because all of us were business owners and entrepreneurs, and by virtue of that everybody has some wonderful insights to share.
This got me thinking about some principles and techniques one can use to increase the chances of getting quoted by the media and your interviewer is. So off hand, I came up with three fundamental tips and principles, and how they relate to the laws governing #theartofinfluence:
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 5 seconds. Contains 819 words
If you’re wondering about the key qualities great speakers share, look no further.
Having spent over the last 10 years on stage, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to thousands of people over the years, via different mediums, at different functions and events… and taking notes on what worked and what didn’t. Continue reading Five Important Things You Must have to SHINE on Stage→
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 54 seconds. Contains 580 words
As an audience member, have you ever heard an emcee on stage introduce or close an act by describing it as “Awesome”?
That dance performance was … Awesome!
Up next we will have an act that is simply … Awesome!
That accounting presentation was so … Awesome!
Based on these, it seems like everything is “Everything Is Awesome”.
‘Awesome’ is an awesome word, and there is nothing inherently wrong with it. However, people have a tendency to keep using it over and over on stage. It boggles the mind, that of all the words in the world, people choose to use ‘awesome’ as the word to repeat. Maybe it rolls off the tongue better, or maybe it seems to be more impressive than just a simple ‘good’ or ‘great’. Either way, the “one-word-to-describe-it-all” problem is still the same, and it is most definitely not awesome.
The problems of the parrot
Among my group of emcee friends, we’ve begun referring to people who use the word ‘awesome’ to describe everything,  as “Awesome Parrots.” It’s a nice nickname (it sounds awesome!), but it’s also something you want to avoid being.
Be defined, not by the trophies in our cabinet, the money in our bank account; nor the clothes that we wear, or profession that we do.
But think and define ourselves as the person we are, for all the strengths and faults, quirks and abilities… the person you’re building – that is the bigger question, and the biggest challenge of our lives.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 26 seconds. Contains 889 words
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I’ve been revisiting the concept of one’s “self-identity” recently, and came upon the concept of being in-sync in with one’s vulnerability – which sounds very much like a paradox, really.
Aren’t vulnerabilities bad? It makes me uncomfortable. (It does!)
Why would somebody want to be in-sync with their vulnerabilities?
As I began probing deeper, I realized that accepting, displaying and working with (not merely on) our vulnerabilities helps to open up a new world to us.
Our fears to approach what we deem as unlikely, impossible or even likely to fail, are acknowledged, are embraced – we say to our fears, “thank you very much, but I’d really like to try that out, in spite of failure, (hurt) and embarrassment…” We get out there and try them out anyway – and often surprise ourselves with we what we see and find: freedom and even exhilaration.
Depending on the approach you take, praising an employee can actually have the opposite effect. The difference lies in whether we assume skill is based on innate ability or on hard work and effort.
Editors Note:
This post is written entirely for learning purposes. Any sarcasm and cynical comments found herein are included for entertainment purposes, and not meant to offend.
[C’mon… give me a break I head to go through the video 5 times!]
[5 minutes 46 seconds, if you average 3 words per second]
By now, if you live in Singapore, or have friends who are Singaporeans – you would have heard about the latest video controversy making its round on the internet.
I was asked by a local news paper, The New Paper to give my views on the video and the reasons for the reception it received.
Here’s my take on the misses and hits, and what we can learn from it.
MISSES:
1) Robotic “Personalities”Â
Go through the first 40 seconds of the video, and you’ll see bodies people largely standing still. Even for people who speak, their gestures and mannerisms appear largely controlled.
Having worked in front of the camera, I’m aware of the need to minimize distracting mannerisms.
Unfortunately, minimizing mannerisms in this case has swung to the other extreme, causing a number of people in the video to appear contrived and “emotionless”.
What really stood out for me, is how one person, apart from his/her voice, speaks and sounds almost the same as the other person – how’s that for personality and personalization?Â
What could’ve been better: Variation in tone, pace and hand gestures would’ve broken the seeming monotony of “robotic personalities”. They key is to present one’s personality and energy. Â
2) Synchronized Movement: An Irony of  Preparation
This is probably a sad irony of preparation. Where an audience demands sincerity and connection with the people who may eventually be their leaders, synchronized gestures throughout the video (ie, at 0:26s) suggests a rehearsed attempt and hardly suggests that actions from the activists (pardon the pun) “came from the bottom of the heart”.
Even the following segment by the West Coast Region YP, an apparent attempt at presenting a united front – backfired, when the actions appeared overly orchestrated.
Tanjong Pagar Region YP (3:44) upped the ante with their segment with an even more uniformed recital of what they wanted to say and with their eyes all over the place except the camera.
Eyes at the camera, please?
What could’ve been better: Â Have close ups of individual activists from within the group, present shortened, specific segments. So everybody gets air time, but there’s less “group” coordination required for the recital.
It’s also perfectly fine to look at the camera to simulate eye contact with the audience.
By the way, having one’s eyes moving systematically, from left to right gives people the perception that you’re reading off a script/teleprompter and not speaking from the heart… so doing that is also highly discouraged.
It’s hard to convince people that you truly believe in and care for something, when the delivery appears to be devoid of emotion, scripted and prepared.
3) Language: Can you Connect with the Common Man?
I noted a couple of instances, when the words used by the presenters weren’t naturally relatable to or immediately understandable by the man on the street.
In short, we don’t use them as part of of our daily conversations.
Take for example the segment presented by Holland-Bukit Timah Region, where it was said, “We must continue to be responsive to the ever-changing social, political and economic environment, by distributing resources in a caring manner, and balancing  market forces and government intervention for Singaporeans to better cope with living expenses.
That’s a lot of big words there.
Instead of that, how about, “We must continue to be sensitive to the needs of Singaporeans – by sharing with them the fruits of the country’s labour and help them with the costs and challenges of living.
(I don’t like the word “challenging” here… but hey, I came this at the top of my head and it’s still better than the original version, no?)
Then there are  terms that even I find confusing… such as East Coast Region YP’s “Diversity in Social Mindset” – I understood the explanation that came after the term… but I did find myself scratching my head wondering why that can’t be replaced with the phrase “Having more members from more diverse backgrounds” (… other than doctors, lawyers, etc).
If only the other YP branches heeded the advice of Choa Chu Kang Region YP, who called for communication to be simple, concise and easy to understand…
===============================================
Okay, now that I’m done with the misses… let’s consider the hits.
Content: Pretty sound there – there’re no surprises here. Every thing is spic and span and no controversy erupted over a message that could’ve been misconstrued etc. At least the PAP doesn’t have to be embarrassed by a message.
PartyDiscipline: Say what you like, the teams still pulled together to deliver a consistent message/direction is still commendable. Achieving that by itself is a feat, considering the massive machinery that is the PAP.
A for Effort and Putting Yourself Out There: Trying to be ‘natural’ and coordinated… you’ve got to say, the people tried and they’re really NOT actors!
It would be great if the speakers could achieve the level of unconscious competency in the area of public speaking, communication and connecting with their audience.
Hey guys… just in case you’re wondering where you can learn that, I know of a coach who does a great job at helping people with that! *winks*
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Summary:
To be fair, I truly believe getting the different branches to send in a “proper” video for compilation is a mammoth task.
The PAP, known more for its discipline accuracy (think engineers and lawyers) and assuming the role of the ruling party would naturally place greater emphasis on the content of its message.
Still, try as they like, the call for people to focus on intention and the message is expected… but will very likely fall on deaf ears.
After all, people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
Therefore, although I believe that there exists real concern (and passion) hidden under the cloak of nervousness and unrefined performance, the art of communication and connecting with the audience is a skill the PAP needs to work on, if they wish to really soften the blow of their (hard) policies and move the audience into believing that they know what’s best.
This is old news. If you haven’t heard, an insanely addictive game going by the name of “Flappy Bird” swept through the world over the last year. Rumour has it that it garnered over 50 million downloads across both the App and Google Play stores. The game was so successful, that it began raking in $50,000 per day for its developer.
Yet early this week, its developer decided to pull the plug on it. News has it that the game became so popular… because it looked so simple, and yet was so difficult to play, made it exceedingly addictive to play.
I should know. I played it too – two days before it was taken down.
Since my acquaintance with the game, I’ve come across a wide array of people people who’ve celebrated as well as condemned it. I can see and appreciate both perspectives – and I refuse to be drawn into taking sides.
Why?
It’s because I see the value behind the game, and have drawn important life lessons from it. Here are my top five:
#1 Flappy Bird Teaches You the Value of Persistence
I’ll admit… the game has probably ‘stolen’ up to four hours of my life. On a late Saturday night out with my buds to catch a football match on TV – all it took was for one of us (okay… me) to download the game. Before we knew it, all the mobile devices had flappy bird on it… and we spent close to two hours on the game… and by game, I didn’t mean the football match.
For close to two hours, the five of us us strived to outdo each other in high scores department. There were moans, groans and lots of swearing each time ‘flappy’ died.
Did we give up?
No.
I’m no super high scorer, really. In fact, I’m not keen to get into triple digits just for the sake of it.
Instead, I recognize that through persistence and practice, we get better at some thing we put our minds to… and that makes a difference.
Lesson: Persistence matters.
Lesson #2: Practice is Only Half the Story
Instead, our scores got higher. The few of us who banded together even shared learning ‘secrets’ to outdo “the other”.
I’ll admit, my progress was really slow. But until my pair of buds decided to let me in on a little secret of theirs (they were the top two scorers) I was close to the bottom… constantly frustrated and annoyed by another irritating friend of mind.
One simple little tip later, I doubled my score and I became the annoying bugger baying for blood.
Lesson: Practice doesn’t make perfect if you don’t know what to do.
The same goes to the many things we aim to do in life. We can spend hours practicing… but until you know what to do, you might not be doing it right.
#3 It’s ‘Fun’ When You See it as a Challenge
I use open inverted commas here because I know some people will disagree.
I understand the game can be is incredibly frustrating. The curious question however, how did so many of us get addicted to it?
I believe the secret lies in seeing it as a challenge.
We believe that we can do it – and so we put our hearts, minds and souls into doing better each round.
The result (after many hours) is that there will be results – because we’ve invested time, effort and thought into it… and witnessing progress can be really gratifying and addictive.
Lesson: Our our personal development journey can be so so much more gratifying once we start looking at it as a challenging game.
#4 It You Get the Hang Of It After Awhile
I’m going to admit that I kept crashing into the pipes, I struggled to get pass the 10th point on several occasions (to put it nicely).
Looking back, I realized my rhythm was off and I struggled with my timing to ‘tap’. That’s, in comparison to how I approach the game now.
I realized I can easily get beyond the 30-40 mark now without actively thinking about when to tap. I’ve worked up a rhythm… a routine on when to tap so that I do not crash and navigate through the maze almost seamlessly.
Lesson: Like most skills in life, practice makes progress. Once you commit the process to the sub-conscious level, you don’t have to actively think about it any more… and that makes working the skill so much easier.
Think of how you learned to ride the bicycle, drive or swim – the process is similar.
# 5 It’s All About FocusÂ
Again, I’ve another admission: I struggled with my ability to focus my attention on the game when I first started. Mainly because there were so many things going through my mind.
Yet through consistent practice (trials, to be exact), the process took effective and my mind became conditioned with the routine. Like #4 – I don’t have to actively think about what I need to do any more, my hands get the job done, and I’m able to block out distractions that render me ineffective.
In a related article, I’ve read about how so many people have written extremely critical letters to the game creator blaming him for their addiction. I find it ironic… because (I feel that) the game has taught me how to cure my own addiction to distractions.
It’s for that reason I’m comfortable and able to put my phone down to pen this article.
Lesson: A key to getting things done is the ability to focus. The ability to “focus” is a skill – and by that definition it can be honed.
Don’t blame your addiction / inability to focus on somebody else. The buck stops with you.
Summary:
Too many people give up, not due to of a lack of knowledge, but due to a lack of commitment… due to a lack of belief – either in the outcome, or the effort they’re putting in.
The key however, is recognizing that time, thought and effort do pay off as long as we we’re willing to acknowledge the progress we’re making, and continue to push our boundaries.
The fact that we are willing to put up with such an incredibly frustrating game… and push our boundaries on it… is enough proof that as long as we put our minds to something, we can become better at it.
The same principle applies to confidence building, relationships and public speaking.
As the saying goes, it’s mind over matter. If you don’t mind it, it doesn’t matter.
The Shy Speakers' Guide to Success 