Small Business Stories - Speak Out Inc.

Ivy Hartman: Welcome to SBTV.com exclusive coverage of The NAWBO Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m Ivy Hartman and with me is Anne Brigman who is the president of the Speak Out, Inc and Speak Out, Inc helps people with–what is it? Every person in the world, one of the speakers today say would rather die or-- Anne Brigman: Rather give the eulogy. Ivy Hartman: Yeah! Anne Brigman: Rather die than give the eulogy themselves. Ivy Hartman: So, public speaking is the number one fear in America and that’s where Speak Out Inc comes in. Talk about your business. Anne Brigman: And to that point as the client once she said, she’d rather eat glass and have to stand in front of the group. Can you imagine that imagery? What I like to say is we help people own the room when it’s their turn to stand up in front of a group. And also small group presentations because not everybody has do to a big group, sometimes it’s a conference room and people couldn’t be just intimidated getting up in front of the board of directors as be can in front of 300 people. Ivy Hartman: And the technique that you use in those different settings is quite different. So, you know first of all give us some examples you’re not projecting as much or anything like that in a room and just different things when you’re communicating with the smaller group versus the larger group. Anne Brigman: Part of it is the small theater with a larger group, you have a bigger motions with your hands or you need to think about if you’re using Power Point. The images need to be larger and everything is that you have to appear to be connecting to everybody when you really can’t. Ivy Hartman: Right. Anne Brigman: In a small group you really can use your eyes and skin, in the bigger group you couldn’t give the illusion that you’re talking to everybody. Ivy Hartman: You make it sound so easy, so, let’s talk about the process from start to the finish when you work with the client. Anne Brigman: When we worked with the client we do three areas, one I call the science and that is what do you want to happen and what would they want to hear and how to you pull together because they’re usually not the same. How do you structure your message so, we look at six ways to open, how to put the ideas together and how to close which is the science. The art is the theater that’s what every thinks of a public speaking how to stand, how to hold yourself, what do you wear, how to deal with different personality types that might be in your audience. How to deal with props and visuals and all the fun part of speaking and your nerves. How you do deal with your body that doesn’t necessary cooperate when you’re in front of a group. Ivy Hartman: Yeah. Anne Brigman: And so, and then the last area we help people with is what I called the law of beverages. The more you speak the more likely something awful will happen and it statistical, the more you’re there, you’re going to loose a button., the electricity is not going to work something terrible. So, I written workbook which I take people through the process and they practice. The only way really to become good is to practice so much to that it seems natural. Ivy Hartman: Right. While you give me a few scenarios there though that maybe a some of our fear about public speaking, you just mention lights going out, button falling up things like. Anne Brigman: All kinds of things that happened to me and it happened to clients and so I prefer to say what happens to me because clients for them as is it happens. You wash your hands, you going to the ladies room and you come out and your clutch is full of water. And you’re in front of 40 or 50 people and you know they’re going to see it. I always recommend you bring an extra suit with you. Even locally, I have secret emergency kit, so that you have everything back up notes, back up everything. And if you’re using the parameters, the set of parameters sometimes they fail, you got to know your presentation. Ivy Hartman: Better be prepared. Talk about your work with small business owners. Anne Brigman: Entrepreneurs, I loved to work with small business centers because they’re so knowledgeable but often they don’t know how to get out of their won way, making a presentation, they want to tell you everything about their business. And the challenge for most of them is to – it back down and through just a couple of points and then really make those points interesting. Tell me a story. Don’t leave me from your brochures and that’s the hardest part from most of us who have–there are other babies that for moms or business is another baby and so we want you to know everything and it’s very difficult. Ivy Hartman: Now, there’s much more of this public speaking thing other than doing a speech or something. We’re talking about public appearances on television, offline radio. How do you prepare some of your clients for those kinds of things? Anne Brigman: The best advise and I think you shared it in your presentation earlier is say less and to learn to speak in sound bites and to practice ahead of time in smaller sentences. Most of us are used to running on our sentences and we don’t worry about it, but it is acquired skill anybody can become better with it. Ivy Hartman: And that’s what always nice to bring in the third party, log in from Speak Out Inc where they can say, hey, I like what you’re doing but let’s change a few things. To reach Anne or to get more information that Speak Out Inc you can go to www.speakoutinc.com or you can email Anne at speakoutinc.com. Anne thanks for being here with this. Anne Brigman: Oh, thank you so much. That’s great you are wonderful. Ivy Hartman: You know what coming from a true professional, I love that compliment. Anne Brigman: No, you made me feel very comfortable and I appreciated and I wish you all the best and thank you for all your doing here and I look forward to watching and– Ivy Hartman: Well, I’m going to let Anne keep complementing me, why don’t you continue and check out our coverage of NAWBO 2008 and you’re on SBTV.com.