Librarian of Fortune

How to become a great speaker in one easy step

Standing up on stage in front of a roomful of strangers isn't naturally comfortable for most people. It sure wasn't for me. But I gained an insight a while ago that I think captures how to take your fear and turn it into great speaking. Sounds woo woo, but it sure worked for me. Here goes...

Everyone has adrenaline coursing through their veins before they get up in front of a crowd. It's been hard-wired into us as homo sapiens. You’ve got a range of choices on how you react to that adrenaline..

You can name it Fear, and tell yourself that you’re so frightened that you can hardly talk, or that you’re just a fraud, or that you’re a terrible speaker.

You can name it Creativity, and remind yourself that this energy serves to speed up the thinking processes in our brains. That means that your creative mind is working at warp speed, while you’re talking with mere mortals in human time. You’ll discover new insights as you speak. You’ll welcome questions as a way to explore the idea further. You’ll be a much stronger speaker..

You get to choose what you name the adrenaline – Fear or Creativity..

Likewise, at the end of a presentation, you’re tired and wired at the same time. Your brain is programmed to run through what just happened. Had you been chased by a tiger, your brain would have reviewed what went on, in order to avoid being chased by a tiger again..

How you react to your brain’s programmed behavior is your choice. You can use it to criticize yourself, tell yourself you’re a terrible speaker, and berate yourself for ever having considered speaking publicly..

Or you can use that energy and review your presentation from a creative and kind point of view. “Hmmm, I completely forgot to make that point. How can I change that slide to remind myself next time? Or, hey, it wasn’t that critical to the presentation; maybe I’ll change it to this other point.”.

You get to choose how you look back on the experience and what you learn from it..

And yes, I'm both a speaker and a coach on this kind of stuff...

What would Sue Rugge do?

From my latest Info-Entrepreneur Tip of the Month:

Quite a while ago, I sat myself down and decided that I wanted to move my business up a level – to work fewer hours and bill more per hour. I realized that I had to see myself differently, in order to have others see me in a new light. So I identified several long-time info-entrepreneurs whom I highly respected and decided that, in all my actions, I would make the choices that those people would make. Sue Rugge, one of the pioneers of the info-entrepreneur business, was one of those models for me, so I began constantly asking myself, What would SuRu do?

I was surprised by how quickly I started making different decisions and seeing myself in a new light. I began thinking bigger than I had before. When I was given an opportunity to describe myself, I started describing myself in terms that emphasized the high-end services I provide. When a prospective client called, I started responding with more confidence - not necessarily because I believed it but because I knew this was how Sue Rugge would have talked with the client. The wonderful thing about this is that it quickly becomes a virtuous cycle; as I started sounding more confident, my clients started sending me larger jobs and expecting me to provide more analysis and other value-added services.

[...]

"What does 'added value' mean?"

I do a lot of talks and writing about how critical it is for info pros to provide insight, not just information. I'm always on the lookout for good descriptions of what "added value" means in a research context.

I also always read the monthly newsletter of Access Information, a Denver-based research and information management company. The April 2010 issue has a great summary of what "value added research" means.

Adding value involves:

• knowing (really knowing) what would be most useful for you client
• communicating regularly with your client
• providing distilled deliverables
• offering primary research
• providing project management for large jobs
• following up, showing you care

Nice job, Wanda, Judy and Marcy!

The medium is the mAssage

Am I the only person who remembers McLuhan's The Medium is the MAssage? http://ow.ly/1yRCx Amazingly ahead of its time!

Going to a conference soon?

As we approach the conference season, it's a good time to read social media consultant Chris Brogan's handy guide of the 27 Things To Do Before a Conference. He emphasizes the collaborative-web aspects, such as review someone's Tweetstream before you meet up with them, strategically tweet about your attending the conference and -- most importantly -- remember to give your family a bit of extra love before leaving for the event. (I hear a huzzah! in the background from my long-suffering partner...)

And, while he mentions using Flickr to see photos of whoever you are meeting at the conference, another use of Flickr in terms of conference prep is just making sure you know what the dress code is (am I wearing Crocs or heels?).

I'm going to print this out as I get ready to attend and speak at Computers in Libraries, Web Search University, and the annual conferences of the Association of Independent Information Professionals and the Special Libraries Association.