Tom Antion: Hi! I am Tom Antion, a veteran of over 3000 paid speaking engagements around the world. I've seen a lot of great presentations and I've seen a seen a lot of bombs. So if you're not great on stage, you'll never be invited back to speak, your evaluations will suffer, you'll feel bad and the audience will feel bad. It's not the reason you probably went to speak. So I am going to give you 10 ways to be great on stage every time you speak. Number 1: Research your audience, if you know what the audience is all about, every word that comes out of your mouth can be tailored to peak their interests, they'll think you are an industry insider. Number 2: Practice. Even with my experience the night before I speak, and the morning before I speak, I'm practicing my stories; I never take anything for granted. So if you're beginning, you certainly don't want to either. Number 3: Deal with hecklers in advance. There's always someone in the crowd that thinks they know more than you. Before I get there, the meeting planner will tell me those people; I call them up and interview them. I given them the kind of interest they want, the attention that they crave, and they always say that I was the best speaker they ever heard. Take care of them in advance. Number 4: Use emotional language. Use words that push people's emotional buttons and you'll get way more interest in your speech. If you just go through with the buzzwords of the industry, it doesn't normally move anybody to action. Number 5: Review yourself. Tell a little bit about yourself. When I speak, I show pictures of my dogs and my girlfriend on stage. Reveal some of yourself in any kind of business presentation, and people will view you as more human. Number 6: Incorporate props. Oh wow! This can be a lot of fun and can really get your point across. You can use oversized props, you can use small props, you can use surprise props, they certainly make a great points, and really, indelibly edge themselves in the minds of the people in your audience. Number 7: Use humor. You can't get through a presentation and get high evaluations without some degree of entertainment value. There are so many ways to do it, you could use audience gags, you can tell stories, you can show funny visuals, you can hold signs up that are funny. So there are all kinds of ways, but it's your job to learn how to use appropriate humor in every presentation. Number 8: Make sure there is a call to action. If you bother to go and speak somewhere, the audience should do something because of your appearance. If they just are there and they waddle back to their cubicles and don't think twice about you after you leave, you haven't given them a call to action or some challenge to go do something with the material. Number 9: Bring solutions to their problem. If you've done a good job at pre-program research, you'll know the main things that are on their mind, you take your experience and research and bring solutions that they can try, you'll always be welcomed back. And 10: Pay attention to logistics. Your microphones, your projectors, the heating and cooling in the room, the seating, all add up to make a great presentation.

So use all these tips I've given you today and you'll make your presentation the best that it can be.