Stand and Deliver
by Dale Carnegie

  • Personal Development
  • Ashto = 5/10
  • Jonesy = 8/10
Stand and Deliver

Stand and Deliver – by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie, also the author of one of our favorite books How to Win Friends and Influence People, he gives us a great toolkit to take and apply to our communication and public speaking. Stand to Deliver is based on his course, the same course that Warren Buffet referred to as the greatest investment he’s ever made (and he’s made some pretty good investments!).

Some of the things we cover:

– what every listener really wants

– overcoming stage fright

– using humor effectively

– storytelling

– making a positive first impression

– the Magic Formula

‘How to become a masterful communicator and public speaker’

 

 

Stand and Deliver Summary

“Practice, practice, PRACTIS|CE in speaking before an audience will tend to remove all fear of audiences, just as practise in swimming will lead to confidence and facility in the water. You must learn to speak by speaking.”   

Dale Carnegie, also the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, he gives us the toolkit to take and apply to our communication and public speaking. This book is based on his course, the same course that Warren Buffet referred to as the greatest investment he’s ever made (and he’s made some pretty good investments!).

Your real keys not just for entertaining your listeners, but informing them, persuading them, and inspiring them to action based on your message. To become a masterful public speaker, you need to learn certain  key skills to create the illusion that your presentation is as personal as a one on one conversation.   

Keys to High Impact Delivery

Know what you’re talking about: If this is the case, 90% of the work is done. The purpose of the presentation is to not talk about you but the subject matter. You should always share your authentic view with the audience.

Counterintuitively, you must not memorize any of your talk, don’t even write it out! If you do, your presentation will sound like you’re reading rather than speaking. 

The way to rehearse, is to run through your ideas and thoughts when you are awake in any moment. If could be in your head when you’re walking, or saying it out aloud in the car or in your room. The way to rehearse is to repeat this process and eventually your thoughts will be organised into a great presentation. 

When delivering, depth of conviction counts for more than height of logic, and enthusiasm is worth more than knowledge.

Be your natural self: Your audience wants to like you, but you have to earn their interest and affection. They want you to win them over. 

Moving to the stage: Walk briskly, confident and purposefully to the stage.  

Win the first minute: You need to start fast. A dynamic opening that gets the attention of your audience right off the bat. Don’t start with a humerous story, humour is the dessert and not the main course. Don’t give it too soon if you think it is a quick way to win them, it can actually be the quickest way to lose them. 

Do not start out apologizing for making the speech. “I am not a polished speaker … etc”

Have a goal of the presentation: What can you offer your listeners that will raise the admiration they’ll get from the people that are important to them? Its not about what happens during the speech, its about what happens when they stand up leave the room. 

Make it about them: As in Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, understand that people’s favourite subject is themselves. Your audience will be interested if it is about them – about their interests, their problems, their hopes and dreams.  Express genuine, sincere appreciation for the opportunity to address your listeners. Find a way to be grateful and express it.  

Use your eyes: When you speak, it’s really your eyes that involve your listeners in your presentation. No matter how many are present, everyone of them wants to feel you are focused on him or her.    

Overcoming stage fright: People are scared of reflections of the past, lack of courage to try new things and lack of encouragement. You should:

  • Recognize that others have the same fears
  • Analyze the thing that you are fearing
  • Find something important to speak about (so you can take the focus off yourself)
  • Use the fear and nerves to overprepare
  • Talk on a subject you know well
  • Do a public speaking course under safe conditions
  • Focus on the benefits of conquering the fear and learning the new skill. Being able to express yourself in public will make you a leader more quickly than any other activity you could imagine.  

Use humour effectively: People are highly suspicious of those who take themselves too seriously. Humour can be used and be powerful, but at times it must not be used at all. What is essential is the desire to be funny and the ability to communicate that desire to your listeners. At least let your audience know you want them to laugh!

The most common way to fail in humour is when the audience isn’t sure what you want them to do. If they are in their serious mode, there is nothing that will make them laugh.  Make the humour appropriate to the situation and funny to you. If you don’t think it’s funny, you certainly can’t expect your audience to think so. Don’t let humour dominate your identity at the podium.

Stories and self: This tip can instantly transform you from a complete novice to a thoroughly professional speaker. People need to hear stories and anecdotes. Whenever you want to deliver a point, see if you can link it to a story, and then try and relate it back to your audience. By arousing emotions in yourself as a speaker, you can bring about the same emotions in your audience. 

Dealing with questions and answers: This can be the most influential and memorable part of the talk. It provides a chance to clarify your message. Some questions may be difficult if you’re not fully prepared. If you don’t know the answer, admit you don’t know.  

Conclusion: Know some of the words in your conclusion and rehearse. Endings should be motivational, challenging, thoughtful, respectful or humorous. Do not end with a thank you!

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