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