Posts Tagged ‘Elaine Love’

Have you ever known anyone with a faulty thought filter?  Do you know a person who speaks first and thinks about the impact of the words later?  Even worse is the person who speaks without a clue as to the words being uttered or the impact of those words.

A dear friend of mine frequently quips, “You heard the thought at the same time I did.”  In an ideal mental and physical installation, there is a filter between the thought entering the conscious mind and that same thought exiting in audible words.  There are cases on record of both faulty installations and totally absent installations.

July 4, 2011 at 1 pm I had a blind date with a professional golfer.  Having achieved the rank of professional on the PGA circuit, one would expect a certain degree of class and social graces.

His offer of a putting lesson sounded like a good idea. The lesson was certainly needed.  “Yes, I live on the 13^th tee of a professional golf course.  Yes, a golf bag and clubs exist in the dark recesses of the garage; however, they have not even been dusted in 30 years.”

3.57965 minutes into the putting lesson he said. “You have a great body.  How much do you weigh?  125 pounds?”

Guys, be honest.  How many of you even ask your wife what she weighs?  Add insult to shock and volunteer a number and you may be sleeping on the couch for a week.  Plan on taking up permanent residence on the couch if you volunteered a number and you were high.

With a height of five foot one inch and wearing a size zero, obesity is not my issue.  Fortunately, a positive mental attitude exists to ward off the emotional ice water of such thoughtless remarks.

“Ralph, you are wrong, your number is high.”  Mentally, my cleats are dug in to the turf but my mind is racing for the safety of my car.  Totally clueless, he did not even bother to apologize.

A few months later he sent an email,”Do you remember me?”  Remember him?  Oh yes.  Respond to the email. .  .no!

In the interest of not being accused of gender bashing, come with me to a professional Realtor organization.  Keep in mind that my Real Estate Brokers license was issued in 1986; I have utmost respect for the industry.

The new President of the organization came up to me and declared, “Oh Elaine, the day I met you I went home and told my husband that I just met a lady with the most fabulous figure.  She must be in her 70s.”

Social error number two is commenting on a female’s age and volunteering a number over a decade high.

Once again, thank you for a positive mental attitude to see the humor in a potentially insulting situation.  Emotional ice water can be offset with a positive mental attitude.

Once again we have a serious filter installation issue.  Expertise in one area does not mean expertise in all areas.  Both individuals were accomplished professionals in their area of expertise.  Both committed grievous social errors.

Fortunately, maintaining a positive mental attitude provided ego salvation.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net.  Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote speaker or workshop leader for your next event.  Whether you are seeking to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you.  Your success requires a positive mental attitude.

Rich people have 24 hours a day.  Poor people have 24 hours a day.  What makes the difference in the results?

Could it be priorities?  Distractions?  Perhaps it is an overactive “yes” gland.  Yes, I will get the groceries, cook the meals, take the kids to soccer practice, clean the house, volunteer at school, volunteer at church and work a full time job.  Sound familiar?  Looking at my calendar; I am guilty as charged.

Are all of these worthwhile endeavors?  Yes.  Do each of these activities need to be performed?  Yes.  Do they all need to be performed by you every day?  Maybe not.

As a busy executive discovers, some duties can be delegated, some declined and some prioritized.  Look at your “to do” list.  What is the possibility of having someone else in the house cook one meal a week?  How about doing a double batch one night and freezing it for next week?  Anything super easy and fast which would work for one meal a week?  Be creative.

Write a detailed list of everything you do for a week.  Pick one item a day and explore the options available.  Who is available to help with that task or even take it completely?

Carefully examine everything you do.  Caution, take only one item to brainstorm a day.

Your busy brain is now saying, with so many things to do and no time to do them how am I supposed to find time to do this additional task?

Treat yourself to 15 minutes a day just for yourself.  Yes, at first, that may be in the evening or early morning.  How badly do you truly want to recover your sanity and get your time under control?  Is it worth 15 minutes a day?  Your decision.

If you truly desire to take control of your time, it will require designing a success plan.  Design a plan you will actually follow through.  This is not a New Years Resolution which is broken in 3 days or maybe even 3 hours.  Design a success plan of your choosing which you truly believe you can follow through.  Implement the plan a if your life depended on its success.  Make the follow through an unbreakable priority.

Your 24 hours a day slips by whether you are harried, frustrated or organized.  The familiar saying “time is money” is simply not true.  If you lose money, there is always the possibility of making more money.  Once time is gone, it can never be recovered.

Email me with your time and sanity recovery success plan.  Success stories are wonderful!  The present is a great time to start!  Today in fact is the perfect day to start writing your new success plan.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net.  Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote speaker or workshop leader for your next event.  Whether you are seeking to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you.  Your success requires a success plan.

“But that’s not what I said, Matt.” “Maybe it is what I said, but you took it the wrong way.” “What you heard is not what I meant.”

Have you ever said something which was perfectly clear in your mind, but someone else heard an entirely different meaning?

It is perfectly natural to view situations through our own personal experience and knowledge filter. Since we all have a different experience filter, is it any wonder that we see the situation from a different angle and thus receive a different message?

Come with me to a recent speech to 50 young financial professionals. The scent of coffee and chocolate drifts through the air as the group settles in to their seats in the packed conference room. The group of 20 and 30 year olds deal with the public all day in their jobs. My topic was Emotional Ice Water – how to deal with negative behavior in a positive way. Phrased another way; how to remain sane and calm in the middle of an emotional ice storm. The event organizers had encouraged me to distribute my businerss cards. My words to the audience were, “If you prefer to discuss your situation privately rather than to say it aloud in front of your co-workers, call me. You have my card.”

During the debrief a week or so later, Brenda said, “Elaine, place yourself in the mindset of these young financial professionals. Their job is to offer financial advice for a fee. Naturally, their filter says “If you are offering me advice, you plan to charge me a fee.” View my offer to help them through their lens of “If I call her, she will charge me,” the offer becomes a business promotion on my part rather than an offer to help them.

Change the angle of your viewpoint and the meaning changes. “What they heard is not what I meant.”

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer

Miscommunication occurs in all aspects of our daily lives. One of the most frequently cited causes of marital discord are “We just can’t communicate.” Actually, the root problem is not a lack of communication but a lack of connecting. When two people connect, they both understand and receive the same message. Communication occurs when one expresses thoughts verbally or in writing; however, it does not mean that the other party receives the message as the speaker intended. The disconnect is not in communication but connection.

Have you ever experienced miscommunication in a relationship? Guys have you ever asked a woman, “What’s wrong?” “Oh, nothing. . .” You get that “Oh not, knot in your stomach that says “What did I do wrong? What did I say? How can I fix this?” “I dn’t even know what I did wrong.”

In John Gray’s book, Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus, he extols the challenges of male and female communication. Do you ever feel as if you are speaking an entirely different language?

What she heard was not what he meant. Lack of communication happens in our personal and professional lives.
Money can be a major stumbling block, especially when it appears to be in short supply. Not only do couples have differing viewpoints of the best use of money, but this stress is transferred to others outside the walls of homes.

With the current economic turmoil, financial professionals are encountering negative reactions far too frequently. Imagine the shock when this group of young financial professionals heard, “The answer to your emotional turmoil is the IRS.” I can hear your brains saying, “What? The IRS is the answer to my emotional turmoil? I don’t think so.”

What do you think of when you hear the acronym IRS? Internal Revenue Service, right? Perfectly natural reaction, and that is one correct answer, but not the only correct answer.

Yes, the answer to emotional turmoil really can be the IRS.

Do a subtle mindset shift. What if the acronym meant something different than Internal Revenue Service. What if IRS meant . . .

Identify your feelings and why you feel as you do.
Release the stress and tension
Seek a solution.

Change the angle of your viewpoint and the meaning changes..

Doing a mindset shift from assuming IRS meant Internal Revenue Service to the new possibility that it meant Identify feelings, Release stress and Seek a solution changes your entire viewpoint.

What other facts do you know which may look different when viewed from a different angle.

Feelings and experiences serve as a filter for our perceptions of events in our life.

Change the angle of your viewpoint and the meaning changes.

Look at all events in your life from different angles and you will create more harmony for yourself and everyone around you. Looking from different viewpoints creates understanding and less hurt feelings. Understanding removes un-necessary tension and opens the door for solutions.

Change the angle of your viewpoint and the meaning changes.

Who knows? The future view of your life could improve from dismal gray to sunshine and gold.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote or workshop leader for your next event. Whether you are seeking to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Speak to connect, not just communicate.

“Elaine, my issue is a lack of patience.” “Tell me more, Jeff. Patience is what context?” “It is a lack of patience in everything.” Have you ever been impatient with co-workers, family, friends or other drivers on the interstate?

Imagine you are rushing out the door from work and suddenly your boss adds one more assignment to your already bulging briefcase. Perhaps you are exhausted at the end of a long day and come out to find a flat tire. How many other scenarios come to your mind of times when your energy was already low and one more incident added to the precarious pyramid of eggs which represents your tolerance level? After all, we are human. We do have a limit.

Incidents accumulate until your tolerance reaches that magic point that says “enough, I’ve had it.” Have you ever regretted words said in haste or words said in frustration?

Would you like the 3 keys to peace of mind which will reduce or perhaps even eliminate that lack of patience?

Would it surprise you to know that the answer lies in the IRS? Yes, the answer really is in the IRS.

Identify your feelings and why you feel as you do

Relieve the tension

Seek a solution

You have just experienced a subtle mind shift. Was your first thought the Internal Revenue Service? What is the lesson? There may be more than one way of viewing an acronym or a situation. A slight change in your workplace attitude or personal attitude could make a monumental improvement in your results.

What would it be worth to you to learn the details of those three keys – the IRS?

Imagine you life with increasing stress and lack of patience until your world comes apart at the seams? Loss of family, loss of your job, or even severe health problems result from too much stress and pent up tension.

By learning and following this formula you can have more patience, peace of mind, happier family, more productive work and peace of mind.

Choose the pain or the gain, the choice is yours.

Contact me and let me help your. Go to www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net and send me a note. When you reach the point you are ready to change your workplace attitude, personal attitude or patience level, contact me – preferably before you are at the breaking point. Hire Elaine Love as the keynote speaker or workshop trainer for your next event. Hire Elaine Love as your personal coach and mentor.

“If I would just get out of my own way, there is something so much greater out there for me.” Peter J. Gomes, renowned theologian, paused in mid sermon with his deep baritone voice trembling to confess that “I am tired of my own excuses and of my own small mindedness. I know there is something so much greater for me if I would just get out of my own way.”

Where are you in your life right now? Are you living up to your potential or settling for what is currently at hand? Why settle?

Individuals come to my workshops or speeches every week lamenting the woeful state of their life. When asked “What are you passionate about doing? What is really important to you?” All too frequently, the answer is either “I don’t know” or on the rare occasion that they do know, they are not doing anything even close to their passion. A litany of excuses pours forth about why they can not or are not even toe testing their passion. (Toe testing is when you go to the beach or swimming pool and gently touch your toe to the water to test the temperature.) They do not have a success plan or even know how to create one. Let’s face it; there is virtually zero risk in toe testing. Find your passion, form a success plan and at least start toe testing it.

Have you heard the expression that time is money? Well it isn’t. Time is time and money is money. Have you ever made a mistake and lost some money? Certainly, everyone has lost money on a purchase at one time in life. Was it fatal? No, probably not. If it was a small amount, you worked a few extra hours and made the money back. When money is lost, it can be regained. Yes, even in this economy. You will always be your most productive, most profitable and most emotionally peaceful when you are doing something you love.

Time is another issue. When time is gone, it is gone. Time can not be recovered. How many people do you think have reached the end of their life and said “I wish I had spent more time at the office and away from my family?” Few if any. How many people look back on their life and regret not spending more time at their kids’ school activities or just spending time with their family? That number is undoubtedly much higher. Time is not equal to money. Time, because it is unrecoverable, becomes far more precious.  

How long do you choose to wait to finally begin at least toe testing your passion? Time is slipping away; in some cases, time is rushing away at the speed of light.

Steve Jobs, noted icon of Apple Computers, said it best. “You will spend a great deal of your life at work. The only way to be totally fulfilled is to do really great work. The only way you will do really great work is to do something you love. If you don’t love it, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

I have had more than one very successful career: teaching, Candy Mountain Culinary Creations, Mountain Castles Property Management and financial education. Even though I enjoyed each one and was very successful, it was not until the world of public speaking and coaching burst into my life that I discovered my true passion and purpose in life. Once the realization enveloped me, I immediately formed a success plan and started implementing the plan.

You will know when you fall in to your stride. Suddenly what you are doing comes easily to you and you know you are doing what you are destined to do.

Last Wednesday evening after speaking to a delightful audience, a wave of satisfaction enveloped me. There was such a beautiful feeling of gratitude and accomplishment because the ladies told me I had inspired and empowered them. When the feeling totally settles into your soul and you know you would do that again even if you were not paid, then you know you are in your element.

Reach for your dream, your passion, and your unique niche in life. Time ticks away every day. At the very least, toe test your dream. Everyone has a special talent or niche in life, find yours. Stuff the excuses in a closet. Dust off your dreams and bring them out of the closet. It is all about what you feel and do. If you don’t love what you are doing now, keep looking. Don’t settle. It is your life. Reach for what totally fulfills your soul.

Having questions finding your true passion and niche in life? Let me help. Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote speaker or workshop leader for your next event. Whether you are seeking to improve your career situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Time is slipping away, find your niche and life the life you are destined to live.

Are you connecting with your audience or just communicating?

The “Presentation Skills Quiz” helps clarify your individual presentation style. Are you truly connecting with your audience? Do people respond to your opening statement with a question for you or do they start telling you about their business? If they start telling you about their business, chances are you have not created the connection you desired.

How will your business, bank account and successful image change when you increase the connection with your audience? As a business development coach, many personalities and attitudes reveal themselves to me. Today’s interview with a successful businessman revealed interesting data. “Elaine, out of 652 people I presented to last year, only 25 converted.” “Ralph, that is 3.8% conversion. How did it rank with other managers on your comparable level?” “My boss thought 25 conversions was good.” “Ralph, how do you feel about being good?” “Good feels like average to me and I don’t like thinking of myself as average.”

Ralph is not only wise, but honest. In the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, he details why some make the leap and others do not. Numerous articles have expounded the attitude that good is simply not good enough. Industry icons have never settled for “just good enough to get by.” This ‘settle for the status quo’ attitude is socially polite terminology for “lazy.” Industry leaders and top producers in every field of endeavor stretch themselves to be the best possible.

Research is even beginning to show that people who remain mentally active and are constant learners have less incidents of Alzheimer’s disease. Why? The brain is one of the few organs which actually becomes stronger with use. The more connections you form by continuing to learn, the more connections which are available. If you lose one or two connections through aging, it is far less significant when you have multiple connections still available. Learning increases your quality of life in the short term and the long term.

Whether you are presenting to your board of directors, your potential clients or your kids, you want to be your most effective. This “Presentation Skills Quiz” was created as a module for use as a business development coach program. The quiz is directed more toward business presentations, but the same principles apply to all presentations. The core premise is connecting rather than just communicating.

For your free copy of the “Presentation Skills Quiz” and other helpful information, go to www.Elaine4Success.com. Anyone who completes the quiz and forwards the completed quiz with their contact information (name, email and telephone) will receive a free 30 minute coaching session. How will your business, bank account and success image improve when you increase your rate of connection rather than just communication?

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote or workshop speaker for your next event. Whether you are seeking to grow as a speaker to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Take control of your presentations.

Is it enough? Are you enough? Are you living the life you were destined to live?

Today I am speaking on a topic near and dear to my heart, and I hope to your heart as well. “Possibilities” otherwise known as opportunities exist for all of us. Mel Robbins, author, syndicated radio host, and executive producer reminded us in her Success magazine cd interview for September 2011 that over one third of the people in America are dissatisfied with their lives.

Jim Collins echoed this theme in his book, “Good is the Enemy of Great.” It is easier in the short term to make excuses and settle for “what is” at the present time rather than reach for “what can be” in the future.

What gives me the right to encourage you to reach for your dreams?

I’ve experienced enough Emotional Ice Water to cause the second world-wide flood. At age3, my father told me “Neither your mother or I wanted you. We wanted a boy who would be worth something. You’re nothing but a ____ girl.”

He refused to sign my college scholarship for the same reason; “You’re nothing but a ____ girl. You don’t deserve an education.”

The easy path would have been to say, “That is the end of all opportunity for me. Nothing is possible for me in this situation. I just have to accept it.” On the contrary, those incidents were just the start. Have you heard the old expression, ”If it is to be, it is up to me.”

Create your own success plan and work it. Listen for the opportunities. Expect possibilities and then find a way to create positive results. Possibilities exist for everyone. It is a matter of listening for them, sorting out the best and taking action on those opportunities.

It was decision time. Stay in that toxic atmosphere and give up on life or find a rope to climb out. My coach and mentor told me “Get to climbin’ baby.” The next few decades are history and testimony to climbing up to self respect and achievement.

My success plan included a college degree: mission accomplished at age 21 (It costs the same amount for a dorm room with an enrollment of 10 credit hours as it does with an enrollment of 18 credit hours. Food costs about the same per day regardless of enrollment. Studying for 18 credit hours certainly keeps the mind on books rather than booze; not enough time to waste any of it.)

Part two of the success plan was acquiring an excellent job. Graduating earlier meant earning a full time income sooner.

Possibilities exist for the under achiever and the over achiever. The ambitious person earns more rewards and earns them sooner; ambitious people have a success plan. You do not have to be the smartest, the fastest or even the most attractive person. Unless you inherit money or have it given to you in the lottery (or other such non-earned manner), plan on working for your income. FAME AND FORTUNE DO NOT GO TO THE LAZY.

The under achiever may get and perhaps hold a low paying job and squeak by an existence. Is that what you truly want? I don’t think so or you would not be reading this right now.

Look seriously at your life and determine if you are an under achiever or an average person who is getting by but not doing great. Opportunities exist for all of us The ambitious recognize the opportunity and take action. The average person analyzes and thinks about it and does nothing. The under achiever may not even bother to think about the opportunity.

Leadership speaking opportunities flash through our lives frequently. Are your ears tuned to hear, recognize and take action? Have you turned a deaf ear to the voice of opportunity because it is just too much trouble to take action? Do you have a success plan? Are you on track or is the plan in a closet gathering dust?

Possibilities exist for all of us. The difference between the successful and the “just getting by” individuals is who is listening and taking action. Unless you are on target and moving forward, you may not be living the life you are destined to live.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote or workshop speaker for your next event. Whether you are seeking to grow as a speaker to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Take control of your possibilities.

Would you like to know the secret of successful businesses? It is a commonly accepted fact that it costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer. The same is true of employees. It costs more to recruit, interview, hire and train a new employee than to develop and retain an existing productive employee. What would it do for your customer retention and employee retention if you knew the secret to business success?

As a business development coach, the symbiotic relationship between employees and customers is a major key to business success. Employees and customers really are not so different; they have a symbiotic relationship. I hear your brain saying, “What? I disagree. They are very different.” Are they? The role of an employee is to support the company and thus the customer; they must be an enthusiastic and productive member of the team. The employee contribution is their time, energy and expertise in exchange for their pay check.

The customer or client contributes the funds necessary to pay the employee in exchange for receiving the goods and service of the company. The customer contributes money, energy and enthusiasm about the high level of value they receive. The productivity and profitability the customer achieves as a result of the product and service they receive from the company is a major factor in whether they continue to buy from the company.

Without the employee or the customer, the company does not survive. Perhaps you are a solopreneur; in that case you are your only employee. The solopreneur must perform all of the functions of the employee or the company folds. The company can not exist without customers purchasing; customers will not purchase or continue to purchase without receiving value commensurate with the money they spend.

If the company is a quarter, the customer represents one side and the employee represents the other side; the coin does not exist without having both sides.

As a business development coach, this relationship between customer and employee retention emerges consistently. The secret to successful business is providing high value to the customers in order to attract more customers and thus more income. At the same time retaining excellent employees provides more consistency for the customers. Employees and customers become acquainted with each other and form a solid business familiarity. If there is a new employee each time a customer calls, what does that say to the customer? It says possibly growth but certainly re-explaining what they need and expect. Busy people like to work with those with whom they are familiar; people resist change. More likely the new voice on the call each time conveys the message of company instability.

Have you heard the expression “rats run from a sinking ship?” (I found the line used numerous times but can not seem to locate the original source of the quotation.) The run on banks and the plummet of the stock market are all examples of the herd mentality of people fleeing from an entity which is unstable and perhaps teetering on the precipice of plunging toward failure. Employee retention and consistency provides a source of confidence and familiarity to customers. By the same token, employees feel more confident when they continue to speak with familiar customers as well as new customers.

At Rotary this morning, the owner of a very successful law firm stated that his legal assistant, receptionist and over 90% of his staff had been with him for at least the last 15 years. It is no surprise that his law firm is a highly successful business. He is retaining high quality employees and high quality customer. His company represents one more success story expounding the value of employee and customer retention.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your business development coach, presentation coach and as the keynote or workshop speaker for your next event. Whether you are seeking to grow as a speaker to improve your employment situation, improve your business or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you.

Resonate with the audience. Speak to be remembered and repeated. After all, that is one of the main goals of a speech – to be remembered and repeated by the audience 3 days, 3 weeks and even 3 years later.

Design your message to connect with the audience, not just communicate. Have you ever heard a speaker who appeared to be “winging it” or “mailing it in?” Have you ever given such a speech?

Granted there are master storytellers who can stand up at a moment’s notice and tell a story. There are other individuals who have a charming gift of gab and can speak with seemingly little preparation or forethought about their topic. Unfortunately in some of these cases, the speaker has a tendency to ramble. Rambling keynote speeches can frequently be all over the subject map with very little organization. Certainly, finding the point or a core message can be over the top of the challenging scale.

How do you avoid the appearance of lack of preparation? How do you avoid the “rambling racket,” more noise than cohesive message?

Decide on the core message to be delivered to the audience. At the conclusion of the speech, what do you want the audience to think, feel or do? Once you have determined the core message and core action desired from the audience, you are ready to begin crafting your message.

There are numerous structure styles for your speech. The simplest form for keynote presentations is:
Opening
First point
Second point
Third point
Conclusion

This can become slightly more advanced by adding the element of story to the points. This structure is credited to Patricia Fripp; her credentials and accolades would require an entire page. Two of which are “first female president of National Speakers Association” and “certified professional speaker.”

Attention attracting opening
Make a point – tell a story to emphasize the point
Repeat the process with the second point backed by the second story
Repeat the process with the third point backed by the third story
The conclusion story ties all 3 points together and leaves a strong “walk away” message.

Another advanced structure is credited to Judy Carter, humorist and author of “The Comedy Bible.”

Opening
State the problem to be addressed
State what the audience will learn
Present your credentials
Give 3 – 5 action steps
Summary story

The cohesive thread in all of these formats is that they all have a specific structure. No rambling prescribed. Know the main point you desire to convey to the audience and systematically substantiate your case. When you know in advance the point you desire to make and the resulting action you desire from the audience at the conclusion of the speech, you can organize your thoughts and delivery of the message.

The second common element of all speech structures is that if you desire to include questions and answers, do so after your main point and before the conclusion. Audiences tend to remember the first words and the last words. Every successful speaker prefers to have their core point and “walk away” message be the thought lingering in the audience’s mind after the speech. How many people do you know who want “the last word” in a discussion? This same principle applies to keynote speeches. Having a rouge, off the wall, question or comment be the last words an audience hears can destroy the impact of a perfectly crafted speech. Last words do linger; be certain the words which are remaining in the mind of the audience are the words you choose.

Decide on your main message, structure your speech to logically flow from point to point toward your desired conclusion. Craft an attention getting opening and a comprehensive conclusion to tie all of the points together. Using an organized structure helps assure that the audience walks away with your core message. Always speak to be remembered and repeated in a positive way.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the keynote or workshop leader for your next event. Whether you are seeking to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Speak to be remembered and repeated.

Keynote speaking is an honor. Someone believed in you enough to offer you the privilege of the platform. While your message and knowledge entitled you to step up to the microphone, your first impression is conveyed when you enter the room. Your attire, attitude and personal poise establish the first impression.

Toastmasters, National Speakers Association and every speech coach I have ever encountered emphasize customizing the message to the audience. This theme resounds and repeats throughout every speech training. Learn about your audience, interview potential audience members and event organizers to be certain the message dovetails to the audience interests and high expectations. Changing only the title on a canned speech does not constitute customizing. More on this subject later.

Information about customizing the message to the audience is a familiar theme in training for keynote speaking. The subject of energy, attire, and attitude are infrequently addressed. Your energy, message and attire should be crafted to match the audience. Attitude and attire are obvious before the first words of the message are ever uttered.

Since your attire and personal poise first attract the eye of the audience, those are the first issues to address. If you are speaking to a beach party on a tropical island, high heels and an evening gown would look a bit out of place. As the speaker, you are in a position of prominence; reflect that image. Dress appropriate for the gathering and just a small step more toward the well dressed.

Patricia Fripp, first female president of National Speakers Association, recommends that women not wear white slacks as it draws the eye down and away from the face and the message. Patricia also cautions, “Avoid wearing sleeveless tops on stage;” there are very attractive sheer sleeve tops which are appropriate even for a beach speaking engagement. Another tip of Patricia’s is, “avoid any attire which will be distracting” such as dangly, bangly, dangly earrings. Classic “understated elegance” has always been my preference. Men you might select a nice sports shirt with an open collar instead of a tee shirt. Women, select an attractive pair of sandals with a nice sundress rather than a tank top and shorts. These may appear obvious or exaggerations; however, caution and consideration are preferable to appearing overly casual. The platform is a privilege. Dress to demonstrate respect for the honor of speaking and the occasion. Continue that respect by matching the energy, attitude, of the gathering.

Craig Valentine, the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking, encourages speakers to match the energy of the audience. When speaking to a more subdued audience do not come out bouncing off the walls with pogo stick enthusiasm, “the audience will feel like jumping out of the window” even from a high floor. Match the energy of the audience and then you can take them with you as you gradually increase the energy in the room. At a recent sales conference, the previous speaker had the audience pumped up and ready to do the Scott Alexander “rhino charge.” In that instance maintaining high energy in the opening would be absolutely appropriate.

If your energy and attire are appropriate for the occasion, the audience will be more receptive to listening to your message. Being cognizant of energy, attire and message will enhance your inclusion into the event and the attention of the audience.

Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com or www.ElaineSpeaks.net. Hire Elaine Love as your coach and as the workshop or keynote speaker for your next event. Whether you are seeking to grow as a speaker to improve your employment situation, gain more expertise as a public speaker or be more effective persuading your kids, hiring a coach will assist you. Take control of your image as a keynote speaker, leader and business professional.