Gone in 60 seconds

Gone in 60 Seconds is a 2000 American action film, starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie. Randall "Memphis" Raines (Nicolas Cage), a retired master car thief, is forced to return to Los Angeles to steal 50 cars in 72 hours for British crime boss Raymond "The Carpenter" Calitri. Raymond is threatening to kill Memphis' younger brother, Kip, after Kip and his associates did not make the deadline to deliver the stolen cars.

The reason I suddenly thought about that movie was because earlier today, I was listening to a speech by a speaker and even though he was doing his best, he was losing his audience's interest....fast.

So I want to share with you 3 things that you can do if you want to lose your audience....fast!

No. 1

Bore them with facts.

The speaker was speaking about travelling. He was telling the audience about the benefits of travelling. Yawn....we all know about the benefits of travelling. Who cares?

Instead of telling us the benefits, why not share with us the adventures that you had gone through while travelling? Tell us an exciting story about one of your travels and we will be your fans.

Once you shared your travelling stories and adventures with your audience, the audience themselves will be convinced of the benefits of travelling, without you having to tell them.

No. 2

Keep a serious face

Seriously, you got to loosen up your facial expression if you want the audience to stay with you throughout your speech. Audience switch off their attention when they are feeling uncomfortable and nothing is more uncomfortable than looking at a speaker who has a serious face on throughout his speech.

So please, smile a little more and you will notice that the audience will want to warm up to you :)

No. 3

I, I , I....We, We, We

Using too many I's and We's in your speech will not engage the audience. Consider these 2 sentences. Which one do you think is better at engaging the audience?

a) Ladies and Gentlemen, when we travel, we get to enjoy a different view of the world.

b) Ladies and Gentlemen, when YOU travel, YOU get to enjoy a different view of the world.

Remember, less I's and We's. Use more You's. (It rhymes...yeah!)

So there you have it.

3 fast and easy ways for you to lose your audience. Do it and your audience will be gone in 60 seconds.

Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Flirting with the audience?

I must admit. I picked up a very bad habit lately and that is reading too many books at the same time. It has gotten so bad that I am now on a self-imposed ban from entering any bookshops. FYI, I am now reading 4 different books.

One of my friend by the name of Kassim said, "Bernard, read one book at a time until finish. What you are doing now is like flirting with four women. You won't win any of their heart."

Hahaha....I like the way he compare what I am doing with flirting. Very creative.

I don't know. Somehow, I felt that when I read 4 books at once, it gives me a refreshing feeling. What I normally do is that I will read a few chapters and then I will let the lessons sink into my mind while I picked up another book and read. It gives me variety and a new level of appreciation for all the books that I am currently reading.

So yup...it is like flirting with 4 different women and for those of you who have participated in the flirting game, you will know what I meant by having a refreshing feeling.

Somehow, I find that this technique works well for me. I am a person who gets bored easily and by having a variety of books to read, it actually helps to ensure that I finish reading all of them.

Variety is a good medicine to fight against boredom.

So, how do we apply this to public speaking?

Do we add variety to retain our audience's attention?

The answer is Yes and No.

Yes, you should add variety in your delivery by adding the following to your presentation:

1) Interesting stories
2) Humor
3) Visual aids
4) Dialogue
5) Vocal Variety

and the list goes on.

BUT, when it comes to your overall speech, it must be centered to ONE main theme. Even though it is good to add variety, when it comes to your main message, there should only be ONE.

If not, your audience will be confused and they will leave the room feeling like someone has just wasted their time.

Therefore, when it comes to your speech delivery, add variety. But when it comes to your speech, make sure it centers around ONE main message.

Do it the other way round and you will be flirting not with the audience but with disaster.

Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Magic Mirror On The Wall

Magic mirror on the world, who is the fairest one of all?

This is the quote made famous by the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Even though it was produced by Walt Disney in the year 1937, it is actually a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm.

In the story, Snow White is a princess living with her stepmother, a wicked Queen, who is now in charge of their kingdom after the passing of Snow White’s father. Every day, she will ask the Magic Mirror who is the fairest in the land. The Magic Mirror will always reply that she is the fairest of them all.

When I was a young boy, I used to watch this animated movie over and over again. During my childhood days, cartoons are limited unlike the selection kids have today. All we had were Walt Disney’s cartoons. Having said that, I learnt a lot from Snow White compared to Ben 10.

The reason I write about Snow White today is because of one word and that word is ....... obsession.

In that movie, the wicked Queen is obsessed about her looks and being the fairest in the land to the extent that when the Magic Mirror suddenly revealed that Snow White is the new candidate for the fairest in the land, she wanted Snow White to be killed.

Obsession is a double edged sword.

It can provide an individual with drive and a high level of determination. Yet, it can also make an individual gullible towards the blind spots surrounding him or her.

In the public speaking arena, I have seen many forms of obsessions.

Some speakers are obsessed with how they look on stage. They pay so much attention to their physical appearance that they forgot the main reason why they were on stage in the first place.

Some speakers are obsessed with the perfect speech! These group of “speakers” never made it to the stage because they are forever waiting and re-writing their speech to make it “perfect” before they will ever deliver it on stage.

Some are obsessed about what their audience will think about them.

The lists go on and on.

Personally, I never like to use the word obsession because of its extreme tone.

In the book, Fooled by Randomness, the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote of a Yiddish saying that says, “If I am going to be forced to eat pork, it better be of the best kind.”

Therefore, if forced to choose one form of obsession when it comes to public speaking, I will choose to be obsessed about delivering the highest value to my audience. As speakers, whenever we are on stage, it is never about us. It is always about the audience. Without the audience, there is no need for a speaker. In other words, I am obsessed with being “audience-centric”.

What are you obsessed about?

Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Don't Be a Wanna-Be

John......Just finished gym. Heading for dinner.

John......Checked in Spring shopping mall.

John......Arrived in KL airport. Departing to Singapore tomorrow.

I am sure all of us have friends who regularly post this sort of status in Facebook, telling the whole world their every movement in town. I used to wonder why they need to let us know where they are or what they are doing every few hours or so. To me, some of them (heaven forbid...not all), are what I called caught in the "wanna-be" syndrome.

They "mistakenly" thought that they are celebrities and we are all their die-hard fans. Therefore, they are actually doing us a favor by letting us know what they are having for dinner and when they are exercising. Some even go to the extend of posting the pictures of their biceps after giving it a few pumps in the gym.

Ahh...the "wanna-be"s of life....

Speaking of which, I read a very funny post about President Obama in Facebook the other day. A friend asked, "Why does Obama always speak with his chin high up in the air?"

Many comments were given. Some say because Obama is confident. Some say because he feels he is superior than others.

But the comment I found funniest was this..."Because he is suffering from an eye disease called "Keratoconous", which requires him to look using the lower part of his pupil."

Hahaha....imagine that.

I am not sure what is the real reason but I want you to think about something here. I have seen many speakers trying to imitate the speaking styles of famous individuals. From imitating the hand gestures of President Kennedy to the cadence of Martin Luther King or even the slow paced Winston Churchill, the effect that these wanna-be speakers achieved are nothing but embarrassing flops.

When you try to imitate someone, the audience will know it and no matter how great you are, to them, you are still a fake. Trust me, nobody will place a high value on fake goods, and that includes "fake" speakers.

Therefore, the next time you stand in front of an audience, forget about trying to impress them with Martin Luther's rhetorical style or Obama's chin high up in the air look. Just be yourself. Express instead of trying to impress and you will find that the audience will resonate to you.

The fact is this: No style in this world can beat something called ....authenticity.

Be authentic, Be Yourself, Don't be a Wanna-Be.



Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

What has football got to do with public speaking??!!!

There are many things that we can learn from sports. Today, let’s look at a football match.

Imagine there are two teams, the blue team and the red team.

The blue team has 11 adult players.

The red team has 100 players consisting of teenagers.

A football match is being played between the two teams where 11 players from the blue team will play against the 100 players from the red team simultaneously. (11 vs 100)

Now, if you were to choose, which team do you think will win?

Watch this funny video and find out for yourself :)



Remember my dear friends, if you squeeze too much information into your speech, it doesn’t necessary mean that you will be able to score more points with the audience. As a matter of fact, you might end up confusing your audience. Your speech presentation will be just like what the 100 players in the video produced. Total chaos.

Try to adopt a different approach. Go for less points but pack it with more quality. You will find that it will be much easier to drive your message home.

Indeed, less is more.

Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Gone Blank!

Your palms are sweaty, your knees are weak and there is a frog stuck in your throat. The emcee announces your name and as you step up on the stage, you wondered why you agreed to give a speech in the first place.

You take a deep breath, open your mouth and .......you forgot what you wanted to say.

Going blank while giving a speech is a nightmare for anyone who has ever dared to speak in front of an audience. It is one of the worst fears that have stopped many people from speaking in public.

However, there are a few strategies that you can easily adopt to ensure that you will always remember your speech. Applying these strategies will allow you to minimise the risk of forgetting what you wanted to say, thereby making you a more confident and convincing speaker.

Today, I am going to share one important strategy and that is:

Don’t memorise!

I have seen many speakers do this. They print out their 800 words speech and try to memorise it word by word. When they are on stage, there is a high chance that the nervousness will cause them to forget some of those words. The moment that happens, they will start to panic and they end up forgetting the whole script.

Therefore, don’t memorise your speech word by word!

The trick is to internalise.

Ask yourself, what is the main message that you want to share with your audience?

Once you are sure of your main message, remember the key points about it that you want to share with your audience. Try to keep those key points under 3 main points. Some speakers have 10 points in a 7 minutes speech. Trust me; the audience would not be able to grasp so many points if your speech only lasts for 7 minutes.

If you really need to have more than 3 main points, then use acronyms to link them. It makes it easier for you and your audience to remember them.

After you have done that, rehearse how you are going to elaborate on your 3 main points. You will find that after a few rehearsals, your speech will start to form itself and your delivery will get smoother. Let’s face it, it is a lot easier to remember 3 main points than trying to memorise 800 words.

By knowing your main message with clarity and identifying the 3 main points that supports your main message, you will find it easier to grasp the overall essence of your speech.

Therefore, in the worst case scenario, if you do go blank on stage, ask yourself, what is your main message? What are your 3 main points? Elaborate on it and you shall do fine on stage.

Speak To Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong

Go Fish!!!

I am a person who hates being reminded of the same thing over and over again. In every public speaking course that I have attended, the speaker will always start by saying, “The first and foremost thing in writing a speech is Audience Analysis.....”

The moment I hear that, my mind would go, “Oh God, here we go again....”

However, after attending a 3 day convention over the last weekend, I am afraid that today, I will be the one nagging on the importance of Audience Analysis.

The convention was attended by well over 300 delegates and as with tradition, during the closing ceremony; a speaker came up on stage to invite everyone to attend the next convention which will be held in a very beautiful island in Asia. Everyone in the audience was very excited and eager to find out more information about the next convention.

But instead of providing information about the next convention and how beautiful that island is, the speaker spent too long talking about how he was initially born in that island and how he spent many years of his life travelling around the world and then finally coming back to settle down in that particular island.

As he continuing talking about his own life, most of the people in the audience began to shut off their minds while others began to pay more attention to their i-phones. His saving grace was that when he actually started to present about the island, his powerpoint slides are indeed attractive and generated a lot of interest.

To me, the whole episode proved one point. No matter how many times we were nagged on the importance of Audience Analysis, it is still not a common practise.

So, to avoid the risk of sounding like an old nagger (is there such a word?), let me share with you this wonderful phrase by DTM Papa Gerald Green, professional speaker and the first and only Accredited Speaker outside USA.

He said, “Public Speaking is like fishing. You need to use the right bait to hook the right fish.”

Therefore, the next time you are writing your speech, find out who your audience are and what they are interested to know. Tailor your message along that line so that your audience are hooked not to their i-phones but to your every word.

Happy Fishing!


Speak to Inspire and Be Inspired,
Bernard Yong