And it's not presented by subject matter experts in the workshops. The conference content -- speeches and workshops -- give people something to talk about. “Content isn't king. If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you'd choose your friends - if you chose the movies, we'd call you a sociopath. Conversation is king.

Tags: workshops women and public speaking speaker training audience issues public speaking tip I just trained a group of nearly 100 scientists in speaker skills and message development for public audiences, at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. The daylong training allows for plenty of questions, and I'm always eager to hear what speakers and would-be speakers have on their minds .

But this time, I’m holding a 3-hour workshop first on 1st of October to reward the participants who signed up early and to also give them a headstart. Photo credits to Neville I finally finished reading a book written by a magician.

in the dryer, or a silly joke in your child’s lunch box." Stick messages or silly questions relating to your topic under the audience's chairs and have them find them and read them out loud at the appropriate time (one of my clients does this). "Make a list of local shops, restaurants, hair salons, and other services for new neighbors." Give your audience a list of follow-up resources that includes websites, books and articles not just from yourself, but from other experts as well. "Take a dozen fresh-baked cookies to your local fire or police station." When I'm doing a long workshop,

One of the types of visuals that I review in my workshops is the Venn diagram. Here is an example I show in my workshops. Why might you want to use it in your presentation? These diagrams were created in 1881 by John Venn as a way to represent relationships in the branch of mathematics known as set theory. The basic Venn diagram used in presentations shows two partially overlapping shapes, usually circles or ovals, and text to show what belongs to only one shape and what is common to both shapes.

A speaker whose presentation I attended the other day said, right off the bat, "This is information I normally cover in a full-day workshop, so I'm going to try to get through a lot of stuff in 20 minutes," or something like that. If you do have a longer workshop that you're marketing, it's okay to mention it once, but in that case, this shorter presentation is now a "taste" of what you get in the longer presentation. She didn't say it just once. In the course of her 20-minute presentation, she mentioned that she didn't have enough time about five times.

And yes, visuals -- with "big pictures and big type and few words and scary thoughts and startling insights" all throughout the workshop, not just for ten minutes. Seth Godin recently posted his Nine steps to Powerpoint magic . Some of his "steps, not rules" are cheeky, like this one: "4. Pay by the word.

Pricey. Speakers, workshops, and panel discussions. It's a Conference. But not like we know it, Jim. The first rule of BarCamp? Talk about BarCamp. The second rule of BarCamp? Blog about BarCamp.

Conduct a mini workshop for your friends on a topic that you are an expert on (say cooking) 6. Photo credits to Slimmer Jimmer Let’s set things straight. There is absolutely NO way you can learn how to swim or cook from just reading a book or attending a seminar unless you are a genius.

In 2009, The Eloquent Woman blog will launch training workshops focused on public-speaking skills for women --and to promote the blog and the workshops, we now have our own custom version of magnetic poetry, shown here. For more information on our forthcoming workshops, or on training for groups and individuals, contact me at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz. ...Tags: The keywords focus on desirable skills and attributes of women speakers, and include a special message: I'm asking my boss for training today! We'll give away a free set of these special magnets