Speak Like a Pro Without Looking Like a Jack@$$: A Practical Guide for Speaking Effectively in Any Situation

By Greg Smith

Business leader Greg Smith has spent his adult life studying public speaking best practices with the top speaker-trainers in America. Speak Like a Pro without Looking Like a Jack@$$ is a distillation of all he has learned over the years working with the masters… condensed in an easy-to-follow guide with useful advice for both novice and experienced speakers.

In the age of email, texting, and other digital communication, it's easy to forget that life's most important events happen when two or more people actually speak to one another. The ability to speak powerfully can change careers, lives and the world at large. That's because knowing how to use language, story and emotion to truly connect with others is fundamental to advancing all relationships—personal and business. Excellent speakers enjoy more fulfilling social lives, can persuade others to adopt new thinking and take bold actions. They can close more sales and earn new business. Simply put, great speakers create their own success with their words and voices.

Whether in front of one business prospect or an auditorium full of people—speak confidently. Speak powerfully. Speak Like a Pro without Looking Like a Jack@$$.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543921236

Greg Smith

Greg Smith is a certified ScrumMaster and a Senior Project Manager. Greg is also an instructor of Agile Project Management at Bellevue Community College. Greg has over 20 years of experience as a development manager, project manager, business analy

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Copyright © 2018 by Greg Smith

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN: 978-1-54392-122-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-54392-123-6

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

Discovering yourself

Chapter 2

Starting at the end

Chapter 3

Focusing on the one thing

Chapter 4

Getting their attention

Chapter 5

The emotional connection

Chapter 6

True emotion versus manipulation

Chapter 7

Sharing your personal story

Chapter 8

Voice

Chapter 9

Body posture and movements

Afterword

Chapter Summaries and Exercises

This book is dedicated to John C. Maxwell and his extraordinary team. For more than twenty years, they have influenced my life positively. They taught me to have a growth mind-set, which has led me to the creation of this book.

Thank you, John, for that mind-set!

Just over twenty years ago, I began a journey into the art of communicating with greater clarity, impact, credibility, authenticity, and, ideally, transformative effects on people. When I began this journey, I had no idea where it would take me. I didn’t know initially that I would become an author of home-study programs, a trainer, or a coach. Those three hats (and others) took shape over time. I hadn’t a clue what extraordinary people this journey would lead me to meet, how joyful it would be to support their evolution, or what a privilege it would be to do so. That journey continues to unfold.

My connection with Greg Smith, the author of this book, began several years ago with all three of my roles in sequence. Greg purchased one of my home-study programs and then brought me in for some one-on-one training at his family’s company, Compco Industries (an extraordinary company by any definition). Then, over time, he hired me to train his employees and for one-on-one coaching. During our work together, we’ve also become good friends.

Prior to contacting me, Greg was already a business leader in his community. He was then and remains the chairman of the board at Compco, and his list of personal and professional accomplishments is extensive and awe-inspiring. I won’t list his full resume here, but it includes sitting on several boards and being a sixth-degree black belt and martial arts instructor.

Some years ago, because he was being increasingly called on to speak in public, Greg decided to master public speaking. He doesn’t believe in half measures, so he began to collect a team of coaches, trainers, and advisers who would help him to reach his goal. When he wants to master something, he prioritizes and fast tracks, but without shortcuts; Greg puts in the work to build the chops! And for my part, it has truly been a privilege to be a member of his mastermind group, helping him not only to achieve his goal but to do so with honors.

Greg himself did it rapidly, from the ground up. If you ask him, he’ll be the first to admit that he wasn’t a natural public speaker at the start of his quest.

With diligence, focus, intention, and desire, anyone can become profoundly effective on a speaking platform. Greg believes that he has proven this, and he wrote this book to help non-speakers become speakers.

I’m grateful to have been invited to write this foreword, because I’m uniquely positioned to have witnessed Greg’s increasing mastery of the extraordinary skills and talent he now possesses in this area. Not only have I personally taught Greg and watched him wrestle with new skills, insights, and developments but I’ve also met with him periodically over a period of years and noticed the leaps he’s taken with other coaches and trainers during the gaps between our training sessions.

This book explores the evolving mind-set new speakers face as they develop their skills, and it provides an extraordinary overview of the particular skills and steps that are particularly important for speakers to develop. In integral fashion, the book demonstrates that by learning new skills in a piecemeal fashion, one bit at a time, the fear of public speaking dissipates. It metaphorically laughs in the face of any new speaker’s fear that I’ll never be a great public speaker.

Hogwash! Read this book. It will change your mind, and then you’ll change your tune!

If you’re not yet clear on what you want to say, go on a journey of self-discovery. Chapter 1 will help.

In Chapter 2, you’ll learn how to craft your message for best results. Chapter 3 will help you to simplify your message. Chapter 4 will give you ideas for how to capture and lead an audience’s attention. Chapters 5 and 6 show you how to connect emotionally with your listeners. Chapter 7 will convince you that your personal story is your deepest truth—that is, you’ll always be the world’s best expert with 100 percent credibility on your own truths, your own story! Chapter 8 will help you to improve the sound and impact of your voice, and Chapter 9 offers valuable clues as to how you can use your stage or platform to best effect.

Although I no longer have the perspective of a completely new public speaker, I still found myself fascinated as I read this book and learned from the chapters reflecting the contributions of Greg’s other expert mentors. Thus, I believe that all of us, at any stage in our development, can learn something from some (if not most) of these chapters, because Greg has collected (and internalized or integrated) genius strategies from a multitude of experts, mastered them, integrated them, and finally distilled them into this extraordinary high-level resource.

Truly anyone can make progress in any or all of these areas and thus become a better speaker!

If my thoughts help to convince you that this book will be a helpful source of inspiration, insight, direction, and motivation, I will be only too pleased! Like Greg, I too believe that anyone can do it.

Listen to your inner voice, the voice that tells you what you know to be true!

Why not use that voice to intentionally say things like I can do it! All I need to do is take one step at a time and actively learn from mistakes as I go! Even if I’m not ‘a natural,’ I can work and practice to become really good at this!?

And if you catch that voice whispering things like it’s too hard, I can’t do it, or I’m not good at this, know that these are just doubts and hesitations that don’t have any real substance behind them. It may help initially to add limits to those limiting beliefs, like yet or at the moment, and then to direct your attention to things like the strategies in this book—that have been shown to help thousands of others before you. That will take you from inertia to faster moves in the right direction!

I believe strongly in the value of this book because its purpose is to lift up those who, although they feel a need to communicate, are currently holding themselves back for any number of reasons. It’s an enabler and a case-study in one man’s rapid success. In short, it’s an inspiration.

For me the book reflects my own personal journey to communicate more effectively and authentically in any context. Further, I feel that it has already added value to my future explorations in areas worthy of development.

Invite this golden knowledge into your own mind and body—and enjoy the ride!

Jonathan Altfeld

Business NLP Trainer and Coach

Author of the CD set Creating the Automatic Yes

Tampa, Florida, 2017

If you’re looking for a user-friendly, comprehensive resource for discovering and developing talent in public speaking, you’ve come to the right place.

You should know from the beginning that I consider myself a knowledge connoisseur. It’s a better title than expert because, in the Socratic tradition (which argues that The only true wisdom is knowing that you know nothing), I respect the fact that I will never know everything there is to know about public speaking or any other topic.

After spending my adult life studying the art and science behind great public speaking, I remain a student of the craft, still learning, still developing. In fact, the prospect of having arrived—or having learned all there is to learn—is unappealing, because then this exciting journey would be over. Why stop and settle?

The following pages are offered with the hope that you, too, after reading this book, will decide to enter on a path of continued exploration and lifelong learning.

I have been fortunate enough to work with some of the very best thinkers in this field and world-renowned masters of the craft.

My friends, collaborators, and mentors blazed the trail that led to this short work. Speak Like a Pro without Looking Like a Jack@$$ is a distillation of their cumulative knowledge. It is a summary of what I have learned from them over the years. Think of this book as a compendium of best practices created by someone with a deep love and respect for excellence in speaking.

I offer you my own thoughts on speaking and presenting as well, along with observations born from my experiences as a student over the years. Having already seen the road now before you, I can point out useful shortcuts and help you to avoid dead ends. Or, if you prefer, show you the magnificent scenic trails, where the hike takes longer but the views are spectacular. We’ll take this journey together. My sincere hope is that you will learn more, and learn it faster, because of my experiences.

This book would not have been possible without the valuable contributions of several key individuals. In no particular order, I’d like to acknowledge them here:

John Maxwell, a legendary leadership trainer and prolific author who has been a source of inspiration and friendship over the last thirty years. www.johnmaxwell.com

Jonathan Altfeld, an NLP trainer, genius mapper, and coach who, in my opinion, is one of the very best speaker trainers in the country. www.altfeld.com

Bo Eason, a dynamic speaker trainer and coach who helped me to appreciate the power of personal storytelling and the necessity of always training with the best.www.boeason.com

Mary Kincaid, the brilliant story consultant, speaker, and writer who has the great gift of helping others find their unique special qualities and bring them to the stage. www.marykincaid.com

Tony Robbins, who taught me the quality of a good question and to model the best at a young age.www.tonyrobbins.com

Roger Love, the king of vocal coaches. Thank you for the books, seminars, and private lessons. www.RogerLove.com

Ken Davis, a brilliant professional speaker, comedian, author, and teacher through his creation the SCORRE method. www.scorreconference.tv

Scott Mann, LTC, Ret., the CEO of