Old Mutual, Southgate mall. The DDCT Tour, Part 36 - Grab Attention Early

   How your presentation begins matters a lot. This is the time to take your listeners with you or to lose them.

   When we start off our work day by listening to a speaker give a talk, it is sometimes not easy to give them our full attention. Some of us may have queries that we need to urgently attend to that very morning. Occasionally, we may not have had enough sleep the previous night and therefore a monologue may just send us back to sleep( right there in front of our esteemed guest).

   What works well from the speaker's side, in my opinion, is to get your talk attendees to do something physical right from the start. Make them do something that will shake off whatever remains of the sleep cobwebs, early in the talk.

   In our case, I start off by teaching the audience members the F-G clap. This clap is a light exercise that helps to get the blood moving in the body. I have also found that this clap focuses the listeners' attention. From appearing half interested in the proceedings sometimes, they will suddenly be all ears after doing the F-G clap. In addition, there will be a few smiles in the room, as if to say, "If this guy starts off this well, maybe, just maybe, his talk is worth listening to." 

                                                    SOME THANK YOU's

- Ausi Bessie( the Manager) - For okaying this talk.

- Old Mutual staff(bo-Ausi Elsie et al) - For lending me your ears.

                                              ======================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"...there is a tendency for people, for the most part,

to be negative. The inner voice is self-critical, limiting and

is often in the 'I can't' mode, holding most people back. The

task before us is to silence the negative and the 'I can't' and

to build the 'I can'."

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                                                =======================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                  ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

          

   
        

Standard Bank, Southgate mall. The DDCT Tour, Part 35 - Challenges of a Mixed Audience

   A public speaker here in South Africa at some stage will have to address an audience made up of people from other races in addition to one's own. And because of our country's recent past, this situation adds to the pressure while up there.

   Yours truly so far has been giving these motivational talks( DDCT) to mostly African audiences. And it has been relatively easy to do so because I was speaking to my own kind, so to speak.

   At this Standard bank branch, however, it was a true rainbow nation of staff members. Africans, Indians, Coloureds( of mixed ancestry) and whites were all in the house. In facing such a mixed grouping, I automatically felt an immediate need to do well.  

   And to deal with this added pressure, I  kept telling myself - before the talk started - that if indeed I have done my homework( i.e. I know my material, I have had a good night's sleep etc), I will come across well. Then, it won't matter to the audience if the speaker is African, Coloured, White or Indian. They will be happy because the speaker has delivered.

And I think the audience was in today's case.

                                                      SOME THANK YOU's 

- Mr Robert Thomson( the Manager) - For giving the go ahead.

- Ausi Farida - For organizing the logistics for this talk, and for those kind pre-talk and post-talk words. For buying a copy of our book(Feeling Good), as well.

- Standard bank staff - For that rousing welcoming applause before the talk commenced.

                                                       ===================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"It has been my experience that there is one constant underlying
force that is ever-present regardless of status, background or situation.
For me this force explains human existence and all its limitations of
hopelessness and outstanding success: a persons's attitude or, to put 
it another way, the quality of the inner voice."

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                                                 ====================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                  ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

          

                              

FNB Easy Plan, Southgate mall. The DDCT Tour, Part 34 - Being Topical Does Not Hurt

   We started off by wishing all the ladies in the house a happy St Valentines Day for this coming Friday 14th February. Later, I briefly touched on the upcoming Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

   Th above two topics were weaved into the standard motivational talk that I normally give. The idea was to add some currency and freshness to the talk.

   Your content may be timeless( like we think ours is - LOL!), but adding to it something about a current news item or a subject currently in people's minds is not a bad idea. This will tell your audience that you are aware; that you read and are up to date news wise. You should have seen the smiles on the faces of the ladies when I started off with that Valentines Day wish. And just from these smiles alone, I can safely say this talk was a success.

                                                   SOME THANK YOU's

- Bra Xolani( the Manager) - For the permission.

- FNB staff - For lending me your ears.

                                                =====================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"It may seem silly, however under the influence of 

positive words people are even stronger than

 normal, while negative words seem to sap their energy."

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                                                ==================== 

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                  ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

          

                                                        
              

FNB, Dobsonville. The DDCT Tour, Part 33 - Do With What You Have

   It does happen sometimes that there are time constrains when you give a presentation. You may have budgeted to speak for a certain amount of time, but find that you have to do with less.

  This is an opportunity to improvise on your content. Cut out all the non-essentials. The joke that you thought was going to bring the house down, may have to be abandoned because telling it under these circumstances will eat into your core message. The essence of your talk - the 4 Steps Plus 1, in my case - is not negotiable. It must come out no matter what. 

   Listening with rapt attention by the Dobsie staff members and seeing ex-colleagues( bo-Ausi Faith) are some of the highlights I took from this Dobsonville talk, in addition.

                                                      SOME THANK YOU's 

- Ausi Yonela and Ausi Faith( the respective managers) - For the permission.

- Dobsie staff members( bo-Ausi Siphokazi, Amanda, Khosi et al) - For the enthusiastic reception of my message. 

                                                       =================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"Many today find that as they become stressed they are

tempted to work harder, to put in extra hours and drive

further, thereby exposing themselves to more and more

stress. This leads to distorted perception, causing them not

to realize what is happening. The end result of course is 

fatigue, exhaustion or even collapse."

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                                            ====================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                             ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

          

                                      

FNB, Dube. The DDCT Tour, Part 32 - Good To Arrive Early

   I am tempted to start this post by saying, "Nice one, Ausi Rachel and your staff." But then I will be guilty of saying something I may have said before about other places. In this case, however, I do not mind to sound like a scratched vinyl record, because it needs to be said.   

          "A very, very nice one, Ausi Rachel and your staff. What a talk!"

   Now back to Public Speaking 101. Arriving at a gig early is invaluable, I am discovering. An early arrival gives one an opportunity to acclimatize. This acclimatization process helps one to come across well during the talk because you will be more relaxed.

   I was at the Dube branch as early as 7.15am for a talk that was to start at  8am. While waiting outside the premises I got a chance to get to know the security gentlemen( bo-Bra Mike and Tsatsi). The chat to Bra Mike was interesting. He wanted to know why I left FNB. To him a steady 9-5 job - at a bank nogal - was priceless. But I explained that what I do now - motivational speaking, running a blog and selling our book - are my passions. These three I am prepared to pursue despite there being no guaranteed income as yet, I told Bra Mike.

   Once inside, there was also still enough time for one to have tea/coffee or a glass of water, and to make small talk with the staff members. All of these pre-talk actions are great tools for making one feel at home in a new environment. And this familiarizing bore fruit during the talk.

                                             SOME THANK YOU's

- Ausi Rachel( the Manager) - For the 'Yes'. And for collating those book orders. 

- Dube branch staff( bo-Ausi Marvelous, Progress, Bongi, Gugu, Omphile, Yvonne, Thulisile and bo-Bra Thabo, Shepherd et al) - For the hugs scene that went on forever, and was a thrill to witness.

                                                    ====================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"An event has no meaning until we make sense of it

through our belief systems and trigger a reaction in our

bodies that will be either negative or positive depending

on the status we give the event."

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                                          =====================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                             ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?