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Thursday, March 10, 2011

opening speaker du jour

speaking at 2009 tranquil space foundation event
photo by the talented sally mannix

wowza. this saturday morning i'll be giving a 50-minute opening speech to 250 lovely ladies at the 16th annual gettysburg hospital women's and health conference on my 5 tips of tranquility. le beau and moi are heading to gettysburg tomorrow afternoon and enjoy a few hours saturday perusing the historic town. excited!

joining toastmasters has been on my to-do list for a decade. when i had the opportunity to work with them at n street village by serving as the liaison between our lovely ladies and toastmasters, i jumped at the opportunity. we're 6 weeks into the program and i'm finding that while i enjoy speaking, i need to organize my thoughts before before launching into my topic. conscious communication

any tips, tricks, or suggestions for saturday's speech? anything you do or have seen done that seemed to work well? i won't be using any AV, but hope to pull together a small gift for everyone if time allows. merci beaucoup in advance for any feedback. this is sure to help my vidcasts and podcasts, too!

bisous. x

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9 comments:

Unknown said...

super! which toastmasters group did you join?

Unknown said...

oops, looks like you helped set up a chapter at N Street?

BekahDrey said...

I always recommend watching Steve Jobs give presentations. There are some very subtle things you can learn from him that would add a lot to any speech or presentation. There may even be some youtube videos that use Steve Jobs as an example to teach some great presentational tools. I am sure you will do a great job!

kimberly wilson said...

great suggestion, rebekah. will do! x

carol, i'm simply the helper at n street village. the lovely toastmaster dupont volunteers are working the magic. love being a part of it! x

Unknown said...

Take a few deep breaths and remember you know this topic inside and out! Get out from behind the podium and speak from the heart.

Sarah said...

My biggest tip is something you already do--wear black. I tend to spritz a bit when I'm nervous, so black clothing hides the sweat. This worked well for my 3 hour presentation a couple days ago! Other tip, be confident and speak about what you know.

Britt Bravo said...

When I'm nervous about speaking in front of people, it's usually because I'm worried about if they'll like me, if they'll think I'm smart enough, if I'll be clear enough, etc.

The best remedy I've found is to focus on them, instead of me, and ask myself, "How can I speak/teach/train in the best way to serve them?"

It always works.

Also, after reading Lovingkindness by Sharon Salzberg, I've been inspired to say a little lovingkindness prayer (to myself) for my audience before I start:

May they be free from danger.
May they have mental happiness.
May they have physical happiness.
May they have ease of well-being.

That also helps me take the focus off of myself, and onto serving them.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll do great.

kimberly wilson said...

thanks for ALL your great input. the speech went well and it was fun to share with so many amazing women today. i'll share snippets on this week's vidcast. x

Britt Bravo said...

Yay! Glad it went well.