Issue No. 489 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a hot-off-the-press book that guarantees you can be in the Top-10 percent of public speakers—if you follow the author’s 50 laws of success. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for the new book John wrote with his son, Jason, Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned. See Mistake #14 below.
Ask a colleague to use the “Public Speaking Laws of Success Scorecard®” to evaluate your next presentation using the rating sheet from the new book, Public Speaking Laws of Success.
5 Grandkids Join Me for a Zoom Review of Public Speaking Laws of Success
About 60 years ago (yikes!) during Youth Sunday at my home church in Seattle, I was the designated preacher for the Sunday evening service. It would have been very, very helpful if Rick Goossen had already published his book back then. The members at Elim Baptist Church might have appreciated a better-constructed and delivered sermon. Trust me.
But at least I got one thing right according to Public Speaking Laws of Success for Everyone and Every Occasion—the importance of practice, practice, practice. (Thanks to our youth pastor, Ray Bakke, I practiced on the grace-giving congregation!) So better late than never, I’m still practicing—and I’m still learning. On Nov. 18, I’m leading a half-day board governance training seminar for The Barnabas Group/Orange County. (More practice!)
The good news/bad news: the 50 short-and-sweet chapters in Richard J. (Rick) Goossen’s book remind me that I still have room for improvement. But there’s hope!
“You only learn by doing—not by waiting to be perfect. You can be better than 90% of all public speakers by following and applying the laws of success in this book—guaranteed.”
Rick Goossen has taught these 50 public speaking laws of success to more than 1,000 college students—and he’s personally worked with over 200 of the world’s leading speakers. So…taking a cue from my youth pastor (practice, practice, practice), I inspired my grandkids to join me for a Zoom conversation (aka “public speaking”) on what they learned from reading Public Speaking Laws of Success for Everyone and Every Occasion. Click here to view the 25-minute video:
View the Zoom panel conversation with John Pearson and his five grandkids on the new book, Public Speaking Laws of Success for Everyone and Every Occasion (25 minutes).
Get your scorecard ready because our granddaughter, Helena (12), evaluated her four siblings as they presented their thoughts on their favorite chapters. (And what’s good for the Goossen is good for the Pearson, right?) I’m going out on a limb here, but at my Nov. 18 seminar, I’ll ask 10 people to evaluate my “public speaking” chops using the very practical scorecard in Goossen’s book (pages 179-180), “Public Speaking Laws of Success Scorecard®.” Listen to the video to learn more about the 10-topic rating sheet.
Listen to the big ideas on these four chapters:
• Chapter 3: The One-Minute Test (Emelia Pearson, 18)
• Chapters 45-46: Four Weddings...and a Funeral
• Chapter 43: The Interview (Anders Pearson,18)
• Chapter 24: Play to Your Strengths (Annika Pearson,14)
You’ll love this book! The 50 short chapters are spread across four sections: The Mechanics, The Key Principles, The Digital Environment (aka Zoom meetings), and The Applications. Goossen’s 10,000 hours of experience (per Malcolm Gladwell’s insights) deliver practical content wrapped in hilarious stories—with contrasting best and worst practices.
Rookies and veterans (including your pastor or priest) will find inspiration, helpful methodologies (like “the hook”), and humor. Goossen writes, “Years ago, my good friend Malcolm Gladwell and I spoke together at a conference for a combined fee of $100,000.” The rest of the paragraph clarifies that lead sentence in Chapter 25, “Embellishment.” Bottom line: don’t embellish!
Each chapter includes one of Goossen’s 50 laws. The “Big Mo” chapter summary:
“LAW #10: Always keep Big Mo on your side through the pace and momentum of your presentation, so the audience knows where you are going and how and when you are likely to get there.”
Listen to our Zoom panel—and you be the judge. Was “Big Mo” evident? For our presentation, my public speaking panelists each shared a favorite chapter. But we all agreed—it was tough to pick just one. I picked 20 favorite chapters:
THE HOOK
• The One-Minute Test (One minute after you speak, can people summarize your speech?)
• The Hook (Brilliant ways to “hook” your listeners at the beginning of a talk.)
• Story Time (Goossen’s story of arriving in hot and humid Hong Kong at age 25—sweating and interviewing at leading law firms. The big idea: how to tell your story in a compelling way.)
• Know Your Audience (A stunning example from Pat Williams, the co-founder of the NBA Orlando Magic basketball team—when he had to brush up on hockey to relate to his Canadian audience.)
• Be Present (Read how Mark Barnett, the producer of Survivor, Shark Tank, The Apprentice, and The Voice, allocates his time after he speaks. A superb example.)
DANGER AHEAD!
• The Most Dangerous 15 Seconds (what might happen if you go off script!)
• The Next Most Dangerous 15 Seconds (keys for ending well and not going off script)
• Play to Your Strengths (“…only speak on topics you know something about…don’t try to bluff your way through any topic.”)
• Murphy Is Your Friend (as in…Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong, may go wrong.”)
THE KLEENEX OF VIDEO CONFERENCING
• When you’re on Zoom—what’s the same and what’s different? Plus, tips for conference panels, webinar presentations, business meetings, and board meetings.
• Warning, says Goossen: “Video conference technology has created the biggest dilution in company brand value since the dawn of the Internet.”
• Why your people may be ill-prepared (without serious training) to represent you well on Zoom (the author tags Zoom, “the Kleenex of video conferencing”).
• See my reminder from Bloomberg: “Zoom-call Blunders Led to Someone Getting Axed, 1 in 4 Bosses Say.”
SHUT DOWN YOUR OPEN MIC!
• Introductions (When asked to “Please introduce yourself and share something interesting about yourself,”—most people are not ready, and they’re boring. Be prepared and “treat it like a mini-speech.”)
• Open Mic (This is pretty funny. Learn why Goossen no longer has an “open mic” at the meetings he leads.)
• Spontaneous Combustion (What to do if you’re called on, without warning, to say a “few words” to the group. Memorize the author’s five helpful points.)
• Hands-On Presentation (Attn: Grandkids and Slow Learners! Here are eight “etiquette” rules.)
SHUT UP!
• The Interview (How to interview others: “A good question hits the mark; ask the question, and then shut up!”)
• Four Weddings…and a Funeral (You’ll love the savvy speaking tips and hilarious stories; plus what NOT to say at a wedding!)
• The Perils of Panels (How to moderate a Zoom panel, including “as a last resort, muting someone!”) I can hear it now: “Grandpa John, thanks for moderating this Zoom panel, but you SHOULD HAVE READ CHAPTER 48 before attempting this!”
Rick Goossen is founder and chair of the ELO Network (the Entrepreneurial Leaders Organization) with programs worldwide including Wycliffe Hall at the University of Oxford. He has organized more than 60 business conferences for entrepreneurs—and the best and worst public speaking stories from those events add color to this page-turner. Goossen is also the co-author of Entrepreneurial Leadership: Finding Your Calling, Making a Difference. Click here to read my review.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Public Speaking Laws of Success: For Everyone and Every Occasion, by Richard J. Goossen. And thanks to the author for providing an advance review copy.
BONUS VIDEO! Click here to view our Zoom panel discussion on the book, The Art of Writing (June 16, 2020).
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Chapter 7, “Structure & Symmetry,” Rick Goossen discusses the fundamentals of a good presentation. Don’t be a comedian, he warns. (Oops! See Mistake #14 below.) Goossen preaches, “Without the scaffolding of a good talk you merely have a collection of hard-to-remember points.” How many hours have you invested in the last three years—learning and practicing the art of public speaking? Plus, ask a colleague to evaluate your next public speaking gig—including counting the number of “filler” words, such as “uhh,” “uhm,” “like,” and “you know.”
2) What other books have you read to enrich your public speaking skills and/or delivery of relevant sermons? Check out these reviews:
• 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations (read review)
• How to Deliver a TED Talk (read review)
• You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard: The Complete Book of Speaking…in Business and in Life (read review)
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Mistake #14 of 25:
Ignoring My Annoying Workplace Habits
Insights from Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned, by John Pearson with Jason Pearson
Don’t make this BIG MISTAKE! Read Mastering Mistake Making—especially Mistake #14. John confesses, “My ‘inner compass of correct behavior had gone out of whack.’”
Much too late in his career, John read the bestseller, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break, by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter. (Read the review.) John’s mistake:
“I did not create space for receiving feedback on my own work or behavior—which then prevented my giving authentic feedback and coaching to others.”
Read Mistake #14, “Ignoring My Annoying Workplace Habits,” to learn how a thoughtful wake-up call from Don Cousins, then the associate pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, positioned John away from trying to be funny all the time (an annoying habit)—and moved him toward greater effectiveness. John notes “That may have been my most important day during my Willow staff years.”
Click here to view the list of all 25 mistakes and read the introduction to Mastering Mistake Making. To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Do your less-than-professional PowerPoint decks and homemade videos distract from your public speaking presentations? Need a messaging review and refresh? Contact Pearpod Media (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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