Ep 1 Speaking with TJ Walker Premiere Episode

Happy new year. It's January 1, 2016 and this is the pilot. This is the debut of a brand new speaking show.

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public to the media, at work and in Life. Speaking with T.J. walker.

Hi, thanks for joining me. Some of you have been with me for more than 20 years and been watching my public speaking how to videos for the last decade. Some of you have perhaps just stumbled across this video or this audio today. I want to thank you for joining me. This is an experiment. It's something a little bit new. For years I have created videos, actually more than 10,000 how to videos on public speaking, speaking to the media, speaking in crisis situations, speaking in personal situations, and I've created online courses. This is a new experiment that it's going to be an actual show. It's going to be a daily show, probably 15 to 22 minutes long, and it's going to be available as a video and as an audio program. So those of you who are listening on itunes, you can continue to receive it there. You can subscribe to the itunes audio podcast. You can subscribe to it as a video podcast. You can watch it as a video on Facebook, on YouTube, Vimeo. It's really going to be available anywhere and everywhere. This is an experiment, folks. As I look at the landscape of podcasting and videos, I don't really see anybody doing a daily show on video and audio about public speaking. There are some people producing videos very sporadically. They tend to give up after seven shows. There are a few dozen people who've attempted audio podcasts. Most give up after a few months. One I should point out one of my friendly competitors, Lisa B. Marshall, has been doing a fantastic job since 2007, I believe, has millions of listens. It is an audio, it's a weekly. This is a little bit different. This is a daily show, video and audio. And another professional colleague you may have heard of before, Michael Port, does an excellent daily radio show, short format. Again, this is a little different. What I'm going to do is attempt to have a discussion, a conversation, a mini workshop about all aspects of speaking to live audiences, speaking to the media, giving PowerPoint presentations, sales presentations, talks, lectures, anytime you're speaking to people and trying to communicate. Now, let me just say this is not a get rich quick scheme. There are an awful lot of people out there about I could teach you how to be a professional speaker in 30 days or less and you'll be making $30,000 a speech by this time next month. That's not what this particular show is all about. Although I do think a lot of our audience members will continue to be professional speakers looking for extra tips and looking on how to get better and better. This show is specifically for people who believe in communication and want to get better. Now that could be a 65 year old CEO who got to be a CEO because he or she has always placed a premium on communication and wants to continue to get better and better and better. It could be an ambitious 13 year old who sees himself or herself as a future CEO, president of a country, a Prime Minister, and knows that speaking is going to be an essential part of that process. So this show is for people who want to become better, who want to learn tips, tricks, insights into the trade. Now a little about me for those of you who are tuning in for the first time, whether you're watching this or listening to this, I'm not the greatest public speaker in the world. Let me be brutally candid there. I'm not the best speaker in the world, but I'm, I do have a unique background. For 30 years I have trained presidents of countries, prime ministers, Nobel Peace Prize winners, Miss Universe's professional athletes on how to speak more effectively. I've worked with them one on one in small groups, large groups, seminars, day long workshops, and I have coached people on how to get better and better and better. So a lot of what I'm going to cover with you in this show on a daily basis are things I've learned from the real world. Now I've read probably more than a thousand books on public speaking, so I'm certainly familiar with all the theories and I try to keep up with it and I've written numerous books myself. But most of what I'm going to be bringing you here is based on actual real life experience. Experience. So I've trained more than 10,000 clients over 30 years from six continents. Mentioned some of the clients I have and I've also spoken thousands of times to large groups, small groups as a keynote speaker. And I've appeared on more than 2,000 national and international talk radio and TV news programs. So I've been in the media. I've hosted talk shows, traditional radio, syndicated radio, traditional TV broadcast shows and numerous, numerous Internet and web broadcast now coming to you here every day. So what I bring to you is real world experience and you can take with it whatever you want. Now a couple of premises about what we're doing here. This show is live to tape and we don't really use tape anymore. That's an expression. It's not edited. I'm not going to go back in and say, oops, I made a boo boo here. I made a or an um and edit that out. Because you can't do that in real life when you're giving a speech. That's part of what makes people scared when it comes to public speaking is there are no redos, there are no edits. You're standing in front of people. So I'm doing this for a couple of reasons. Number one, I want to show you how to react if you do make a mistake. I've already made a handful of mistakes today, but I didn't stop and apologize and do oops and have to redo it and all that. I just kept on going because that's how people actually talk in real life. And for the most part, audiences don't mind. They don't punish you for it. The other reason I do it is, frankly, resources. I don't want to spend tons and tons of time or hire a bunch of editors and go through and pick apart every single show. So these shows are going to be live, uncut. And I'm hoping this gives you a sense of how people really can operate when they're speaking, when they're doing media interviews, when they're doing a webcast or a keynote online. So I hope that is something you find helpful. Most of what we're going to do here is I'm going to answer your questions about any aspect of public speaking, speaking to live audiences, speaking to large audiences, speaking one on one, speaking on a job interview, speaking to the news media, speaking at a press conference, speaking in a crisis situation. That's my expertise. So don't write to me and ask for stock tips. Don't write to me and ask for advice on how to be the world's best writer. I have opinions on those things. But this show is about me sharing genuine insights based on experience. And I'm experienced on speaking and helping people to speak. So get your questions ready. You can send questions at any time on Twitter jwalker. You can also email me infoediatrainingworldwide.com and we'll be answering almost all. Unless I think the question is ridiculous or a total waste of time. We'll be answering all your questions because, hey, I've got time to fill. I'm doing this show seven days a week. One of the segments we will be doing on a daily basis is a segment on body language.

Body language.

So let me give you a little background on my philosophy of body language. I do know that many of you are fascinated by body language when it comes to presenting. Amy Cuddy, the Harvard psychologist, has the first or second most watched video of all time on Ted.com where she talks about the body language of standing with certain poses to give people, women especially, confidence in speaking and full disclosure. I have a couple of online courses on body language for speakers. We will be giving tips on body language every day on this program. But I do want to give you a little bit of a caveat, and that is, I think in the big picture of things, most people put way, way too much attention on body language. You can have the best body language in the world if what you're saying isn't interesting or isn't memorable. Nobody's going to care about your body language. Now, if you've got a good message, but you're doing something really distracting. If I'm doing this the whole time and those of you listening, I'm scratching my face vigorously. If I'm scratching my face vigorously the whole time, no one's going to remember what I said. They'll be wondering, well, does TJ have poison ivy? Is he psychotic? So it's not that body language doesn't matter. It's just, I believe, first and foremost, the main thing you really need to think about when you're preparing a presentation, any presentation, is have you figured out a truly interesting message and a way to make your messages memorable for your audience. And then there are plenty of other ways of figuring out how to make sure your body language is straight. The easiest way is to, in fact, practice on video. Some of you are going to get tired of me saying that, but it is, in fact the number one way of using technology to help yourself become a better speaker. The number one way is not to sit there and type away. Type, type, type, type, type, type, type, type. Creating lots and lots of new PowerPoint slides. Lots of people like to do that. But the number one way is to actually use video to record. I'll give you a tip on that in a moment.

Technology Insights.

The number one, one technology you can use to become a better speaker is right in your pocket. It is simply a cell phone, a smartphone that captures video. Now, I've written numerous books on public speaking and media training, and I can lecture for a day, a whole week. But people often ask me, what's the number one tip? The number one tip to become a much better speaker is to practice your speech. Record it on video. You don't need a fancy studio, you don't need a fancy camera or A camera crew. Just practice your speech on your own cell phone. Watch it. Put it someplace close. Watch it. Figure out, what do I like, what do I not like. If I like this, let me do more of it. If I don't like this, let me do less of it. Next time, keep practicing on video until you actually like what you see. If you do that, you'll be using technology wisely. Now, I started in this business more than 30 years ago. I did my first training of a politician while in College in 1984. So yeah, that makes me old, but it also gives me some experience. And back then, most people didn't have video cameras. They couldn't afford going to a TV station or hiring a TV crew. These days, nobody has that excuse. We're all surrounded by video cameras. Cell phones, iPads, laptops. You've got all of these tools imaginable because we're all surrounded by video cameras. That really is the number one piece of technology. Now I'll be covering from time to time news about Prezi and the latest in PowerPoint and taking your questions about projectors and that sort of thing. But please don't forget, this is your number one technology tool. Do not, do not forget that.

A question for you.

So I have a question for you and that is what would make you watch or listen to a show like this? I really want to know what would make you captivate because I know a lot of you have told me, tj, you know, I'm trying to get better at all sorts of leadership skills, career skills. I like to listen to podcasts and in the car, on the way to work, on the subway, on the train, the plane. And so I would listen to long form content if you had it in an audio format. So that's one reason why I'm making this show available in audio as well as video. But I want to know from you specifically, what areas would you like me to address as it relates to speaking? So that's my question to you. Please post your answers. JWalker on Twitter theat symbol JWalker on Twitter. You can also go to the Facebook page. You can also go to my blog@mediatrainingworldwide.com you can always just email me infoediatrainingworldwide.com now, this show is going to evolve. I've got a lot of different segments here and graphics and stuff. Three months from now, maybe I'm not using any of that. Maybe it's just talking to you. I have an open mind. I'm going to be listening to you. I'M trying to make it as polished as possible and as interesting as possible and is useful to you. But I'm going to be listening to you and I'm going to be taking your questions, your questions about speaking. That is, in fact, what will be driving this show. So I do get questions from a lot of you from time to time. This one's coming in from Cecily Beilak. She's one of my online public speaking students. She says she asked tj, when giving a speech not live, but via webcam or uploaded video, how do you know where to look to make it look like you are making eye contact with your audience and not looking up or down? Well, Cecily, I'm glad you asked that. No, I'm kidding. The main thing you want to do is look at the camera. Now, if it is a production where you're in charge, let's say you're giving a speech through Skype video, what I recommend is place the camera at your eye level or a couple of inches above. Right now I have a camera mounted on my wall in a little studio and it is just an inch or two above my eyes. That way I can stand up and it looks more like a regular newscaster broadcaster. What happens to most people is they're doing a Skype interview. They have their laptop. Their laptop camera is about 8 inches below their eyes. So what happens is it's kind of looking up your nose. It's shooting up to the ceiling. It's showing the light. So you have all these lights from the ceiling. A very unflattering look up your nose. And it almost doesn't matter where you look as far as your eye contact. I recommend, for the most part, just look in the camera. Now, you may have noticed from time to time I'm glancing away. From time to time, I'm glancing. And full disclosure, I'm looking at notes. Now, I'm not reading to you today, but I do have a brief outline. And because I wanted to get your letter just right, I cut and paste the entire transcript of the letter you wrote. So it's perfectly fine to occasionally look down. What you don't want to do is have your head frozen, have your eyes darting, or quickly, like you're ashamed or embarrassed or sneaking to take a peek. Just treat the camera like you're talking to one person, although you would give the contact, the eye contact with the camera a little more than if you were talking to one person. It just makes it easier for people to focus on you when they're watching you. For those of you listening and if you're doing your own podcast, you don't have to worry about where you're looking. You can just be looking right at your notes. But if you're listening on the podcast, what I'm doing is having my eyes dart back and forth to show what not to do, and then I'm looking right at the camera to show Cecily exactly what I think you should do. So thanks for writing again. I'll take all of your questions. It's going to be relatively easy for you to get your questions answered here, especially in the first six months as we are building an audience. So might as well go ahead and get it in. And I will try to not only answer it, but demonstrate best practices as well. We've got a number of features that I do want to share with you on this program. One of them is involving a well known organization many of you may be familiar with.

Toastmasters Spotlight.

Folks, I am a fan of Toastmasters. I'm often asked to speak at them anywhere I am in the world, whether I'm in the Middle east or other countries. I'm often asked to be a guest speaker at Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a great organization because it gives you an opportunity to speak where there's no pressure. If you don't do a great job, you're not going to lose an account, you're not going to lose an important client. The stakes are low and it simply gives you more opportunity to stand up and speak and build your confidence and your skill. So there will be various times in the program where I'll be talking about what's happening in Toastmasters, sometimes people who win their various contests, and also tips on how to get the most out of Toastmasters. In general, I'm very positive about Toastmasters. The one caveat I have for you is if you're in a club or you're thinking of joining a club, try to form a buddy relationship with somebody there where anytime you're speaking, you hand them your own cell phone and ask them to capture you on video and offer to do the same for them. You get so much more value out of watching yourself. If you go to a Toastmasters meeting, every single speech you give, rather than just talking and sort of getting feedback, where people say, oh, you did a good job. There's nothing like actually watching yourself and seeing what you don't like. That's the easy part. The more important thing that you do by watching yourself is figuring out what do you like, what's working, where do you sound Good. Where are you making sense? Because when you see that, it's easier to do it in real life. It's easier to repeat yourself and to get better and better, better and better at. That's what builds confidence. People ask me all the time, TJ to get nervous when you speak. And the answer is really no. It's not because I'm arrogant. It's not because I just think I'm the greatest speaker in the world. It's because everything I've said about speaking, I've said before on video and watched it, most likely. So I already know how I'm coming across. I know that I'm coming across the best I can. I already know, for example, that I have bad hair. Most of it's fallen out. I already know that I'm getting some loose skin around here so I don't have to worry about, oh, do I look like my hair? I already know how I look, and I know how I come across my best. I'm going to come across my best moving, leaning forward a little, as opposed to sitting back or going way, way back and showing a double chin. Those of you listening on the audio podcast may want to capture or look at the video just for that segment. But that's the real key to gaining more confidence. And that's why I think if you're going to take the time to go to a Toastmasters and drive across town, spend an hour or two talking to people about speaking, take it up one notch and beg people to actually record you every single time you speak. Okay, folks, let's pay some bills. I do want to introduce you to a couple of the other segments on our program.

To hire TJ Walker as a keynote speaker or workshop leader for your next conference, call 212-764-4955.

Part of what we'll be doing on this program also is debunking a lot of misinformation out there about public speaking. Public speaking. If you go to Amazon, last time I checked, there were about 70,000 books related to public speaking. That is a massive amount. If you Google public speaking, you will find hundreds of millions of citations on the web. This, as far as I know, is literally the only show in the entire world that is a daily video and audio show explicitly about public speaking and speaking in business situations. So part of what I feel is my mission to do is to clean up the misconception. There's so much bad advice out there. I mean, I could do and probably will do, if not a whole week, at least an entire day's worth of information and a show on all the bad information on what to do with your hands when you speak. I can tell you right now, all you need to really know about your hands is that you need to move your hands. You need to move both of your hands when you speak. Complete, utter lie baloney. That somehow moving your hands is going to be too distracting and you need to hold your hands down. Absolutely horrific advice I've seen so called experts say, well keep one hand in your pocket and never point and keep your fingers and your thumb mashed down. Nonsense. I work with audiences from six continents. I tape speakers sometimes without them realizing it, when they're just having conversations during trainings. And I can tell you right now, everybody in the world, every culture, old, young, male, female, any religion, I don't care. When people are comfortable and they're talking about something they are interested in and they care about their hands, move. Second you stop moving your hands, you freeze up, you tense up. So I will be talking about that from time to time. I'll also be pointing out good advice because there is a lot of good advice dealing with public speaking in the world too. So I'll be showcasing some of the colleagues I respect the most, all throughout the web, giving you more information. You can get other places as well. And in the show notes which we'll have, you'll have links to those places as well. So again, the big thing I want from you, questions on anything from public speaking. And also I would like to know, what exactly would you like to see as the format for this show in terms of general topic areas? I know some of you have asked me in the past, well, tj, can you show video examples from the news of what not to do? It's a perfectly fair question. It is interesting. The problem is logistically it takes a lot of time to capture that edit that I don't even know how to edit. Full disclosure. Embarrassing, number one. Number two, I can't put it on a show on YouTube and Facebook and other places without violating the copyright of those news organizations. If I were a huge news organization, I could have my lawyers call up, gather rights, clearances and all that. Wildly expensive, beyond the particular scope of this program. So that's why I realize it may be a little boring not to see lots of quick cuts and lots of edits and hear Donald Trump saying this thing and people getting upset. That would be more interesting. But it's simply not possible for the type of in depth daily show I'm doing. So please keep that in mind, but any other suggestions you have, I would absolutely love to hear from you. I'm TJ Walker. May all of your speaking opportunities in life be a huge success and I hope to see you tomorrow. Please Please subscribe.

Behind the News. Speaking with TJ Walker is the number one rated daily streaming TV and radio show devoted to all aspects of speaking and communication. If you received value from this show, then please subscribe to it@mediatrainingworldwide.com Please review the show, leave comments and share it with your friends and colleagues today.