Author name: wpadmin_psai

First of all, congratulations to each one of you for reaching the other side of the two challenging years of the pandemic with grace. I am sure it must be a mixed feeling both personally and professionally as you look back at the two years that went by. While we wished these years to GO quickly and business and life to return to normal, we would agree that these years also helped us GROW in many ways. Carrying forward the learnings from the last two years and to help us continue being on this growth path, I invite you to ask these 4 questions to yourselves, as you ring the bell for the year 2022. How can I break my new comfort zone? It took us some time to settle with the challenges that pandemic brought with it for the speaking industry. Overcoming the initial discomfort, we learnt to navigate through the virtual world and some of us even mastered this art. With this, a new comfort zone of being a ‘virtual speaker’ has also settled for us. With the world slowly opening up and new ways of working and consuming content being explored by our audiences, it’s time to shake & disrupt ourselves again in 2022, to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and ask ourselves, how can I break my new comfort zone? How can I magnify my impact? Everyday, things are changing not only for us but for our audience too. While, we might think we know our audience well, it’s time to put on our empathy hats again and reconnect with the changing needs of our audience with a fresh lens to help us magnify our impact in 2022. What’s the legacy I wish to leave and how can I make the year 2022 count? Last two years helped us in getting grounded with the realization of what matters the most to us, both in personal as well as professional space. Many of us reconnected with why we do what we do! Let this grounding be your guiding light in 2022 and begin the year with ‘meaningful & purposeful stretch goals’ that will make you feel proud when you look back at the year gone by. And lastly, how can I GROW and not just GO through the year 2022? ‘Winners don’t do different things, they do things differently’, and when things are done differently the learning & growth follows. Be open, be curious to explore the possibility of new ways of thinking and new ways of approachingthe same problem that you have been solving for quite some time for yourselves and for those around you. Let 2022 be the year of exponential growth! AUTHOR Shreshtha Mittal

Are we chasing or even worse, fuelling a culture where certificates seem to trump learning gains? In this article, I am going to talk about a very basic yet very necessary topic i.e. “Why you shouldn’t be chasing certificates to be a successful trainer or coach” and how we can protect ourselves from the systematic spread of falsehoods associated with certificates in the Indian Training Industry. When you are building your training and coaching career, one very common insecurity that people have is “I’m not yet certified”. This is something even I was guilty of doing initially in 2006 when I started training. The only thing I used to tell in every client meeting of mine was that “I’m an NLP certified trainer and practitioner” and I soon realized that there was nothing special in that ‘declaration’ because essentially what I had done was I had just attended a practitioner program at the end of which they give you a certificate. I realized that certificates don’t bring you business. What brings you business are the skills of Marketing and Selling. But a lot of trainers get stuck in this thought or notion that, “If I get more certifications under my belt, my profile will grow and then I will get more clients, I can charge a premium and I can demand more money.” In fact, when you sit and tell your clients, “I’m PMP certified”, “I’m a certified Image consultant”, “I’m a certified NLP practitioner” or “I’m a certified life coach” or “I’m a certified whatever…”, what you are actually doing is, you are capping your brand because you are saying, “I’m one amongst those 10,000 people who went and got an ICF certification, or this certification, or that certification…” So, two things that I feel have to shift. Firstly, I’m not saying that people should not go to certification courses. I’m saying do the certification courses because you want to learn the skills, don’t do it because you live under this notion that by getting this certificate, I’ll get business. In fact, the moment you pitch your certificate you are restricting your brand, because when you say “I’m a PMP certified trainer”, the client automatically thinks, “Ok the PMP practitioner I get for Rs.5,000/- for one day” or “I can give Rs.2,000/- to an Image consultant…” and so on, they cap your value. So, it is a fact that when you use certificates to market yourself, you are only telling the client that you are insecure. Instead, just focus on doing the certifications for learning. Don’t market the certificate, market your capabilities and your understanding of the client’s challenges and their world. That’s what makes you relatable, that’s what makes you buyable. Secondly, learn the skills of Marketing and Selling. Heal your beliefs about Marketing and Sales. Embrace Marketing and Selling as an important skillset to develop because just being a good trainer is not enough to build a successful training and coaching business. AUTHOR Rajiv Talreja

We are evangelists with a message. We bring about positive change and action through our words. Should there only be the spoken word? As professional speakers, we are very clear on: When I communicate with my mother, I use Whatsapp or direct communication; Facebook chats with my wife, Instagram with my elder daughter, and Telegram or Discord with my younger kid. My core message might be the same, but how I communicate differs. It is the same with our clients, for whom we exist. Those who listen to us and take action: Our clients. Those who book us: Associations, Corporates. And those who refer us or talk about us in their circles: Influencers. Our talk cannot be the only product in offering. That is what I call “Insular Thinking.” We need to think like the clients. We need to have products to create deeper awareness about our brand and our message. “Hi, hello” products that allow our potential and current clientele to get a feel of what we stand for. Here are a few products that dovetail into our speech. The speech that we deliver becomes the foundation for each of these products. The products become a touchpoint to strengthen our connection with our micro- market. I am talking about products as something tangible. Layered speech (not a one-trick pony): Do I have multiple messages to give? Can each of them be a separate speech? When they buy one speech, are they motivated to look for other talks I can deliver? Do I have multiple speeches ready and listed on my website and collateral? Speech to book: This is the simplest. Check out the two images that are attached. These are concise books that accompany my talks. Instead of saying, I will share the ppt, why not share the crux in a talk book? It is practical, a ready reckoner, and something that the clients would be happy to pass on to others – to those who matter. Of course, it is not a simple transcription and copy-paste work. There is scope here to add on content, to add value. Standalone book: A well-written book is a must, in my opinion, for a professional speaking business. This is one product line that continues to help book more speeches for me. Book to course: Do not listen to the voice in your brain that tells “Oh, but there are so many courses already!”. Yes, there are. But do you have one? Why not? I use my video courses as a follow- on to my talk. I direct people to check them out as it has more exercises and scope to continue our interaction. A quiz or a game: Directly connected to your speaking niche, do you have a quiz or a game that your clients can play? This is used as a teaser for them to get a feel. And as a follow-on to the talk. I mostly use it in the middle of a masterclass as a disruptor! Community Subscription Model: Do I have content that I can make exclusive to a small set of my clients? Will they be willing to pay a subscription to this effect? This is a recurring product model specific to one group of clients. Masterminds: Another subscription model variant with a small subset is dedicated to my clients. After my talk, a group interaction is signed on for a prescribed period. This particular product allows me to bond better with the clients. Flashcards: Reminders and flashcards, Affirmations, Action statements – all towards underlining your key message and forming another connection with your clients. Downloadable cheat sheets and value-add material: This is a non-negotiable product line. Does your website have these connecting points? The devil inside your brain is screaming right now. “Oh, I am a speaker. I cannot do all these!”. Shout out back aloud. “I am a professional speaker. I am an evangelist. I will get my message across through various products and touchpoints, for my specific client segment.”. I am a creator. I am an evangelist. Unashamedly so. AUTHOR Pravin Shekhar

What’s the secret behind world-class speakers? Many world-class speakers and conference curators have varied responses to the above question; but arguably one of the most consistent responses is that “CONTENT IS KING”. During my research on “World-Class Talent & Performance”, I found that world-class professionals constantly challenge their abilities and take up complex projects which requires them to dig into deep study in their respective subject. Here are three best practices to dive deep into your content and make it world-class Latest Research Papers: Websites referring to the latest research on the topic of your interest. Websites like Google Scholar, researchgates.net could be the starting point for the same. These papers might be hard to understand for a beginner but do remember that we don’t become world-class by doing SIMPLE things as world-class are known for doing COMPLEX things with simplicity. Best business publications: Publications such as Harvard Business Review (HBR) hold a special status in the business world. Hence always look for various articles related to your topic on resources like HBR. Also, it’s not just about “Reading the article” but deeply studying them. To take your research to the next level, go through the articles which are referred to in a given article through hyperlinks. Bestseller books on your topic: In today’s day and age, there are many books written on every topic & very few of them become best sellers. But how does one find the best seller books? Go to amazon and look for a topic and refer to “Number of Reviews”. A regular book might have 10 or 100 comments but best seller books usually have more than 10K review comments. Reading a book takes a few days but doing a “Deep Study” of the same content may take a few months or even years. This is definitely not an overnight success plan but a “deliberate practice” of a few years to become world-class in your industry. AUTHOR Vikas Jain

It’s always wonderful to be asked to speak, and I am sure we all get excited at the opportunity. But how do we prepare for it in the best possible way? Here are a few tips. The Message What do you want to convey, or what do you want the audience to remember? When are you delivering the speech and to whom? How much time do you have? Speeches are broadly classified into informative, inspirational or humorous- your individual personality will decide how you will combine these and deliver them. If it is informative, what are the data points you want to cover, and in how much detail? If it is inspirational, what are the stories or anecdotes? If it is humorous, what kind of humour and what kind of jokes? The Audience What is their demographic profile, their level of expertise, what kind of visual aids will be the best? An audience of peers will require a higher degree of expertise rom the speaker, as in a technical seminar, but a college audience might require more motivational and aspirational examples. Humour is entirely dependent on the audience, in terms of references, language and anecdotes. The Time Factor This has two elements- the occasion and the duration. The occasion could be a national or international seminar or industry event, an annual College Day celebration. You may be the only speaker, as the Chief Guest, or one of the many lined up for the event; the time allotted will vary accordingly. Overstepping time is unprofessional and disrespectful to the audience and the organizers. The actual content planning comes only after all these factors are considered. Plan your presentation – tailor the number of points you are going to deliver and organise your slides and other material. Technology plays a huge part in the presentation–use only as much as you are comfortable with. If you are a tech whiz who can have special effects, go ahead with all the bells and whistles. If not, stick to plain text on slides, or even eschew them altogether. Remember the online platforms can ruin a presentation with technical glitches. Keep these in mind and your next presentation will rock. AUTHOR Nina John

When conceptualised and executed well, professional gatherings (especially virtual) are worth every second and dime. When we got on the job of conceptualising Professional Speakers Summit 2022, we were very clear about one thing – PSS2022 shall be different and not a series of monotonous presentations that often leave the audience in a daze. We went all out to experiment and bring in variety in order to make sure that the audience had a reason to stay hooked to their screen. Given that the world was opening up by March 2022 and an air of virtual fatigue had set in, engagement and participation was a high priority for our team. Due to this very wake, we at PSAI put in a lot of thought and brought in speakers from across the globe talking about a gamut of topics ranging from inspiration to gamification, from rhetoric of language in a speech to the usage of technology for speakers, from the ROI of a free speech to leveraging theatrics as professional speakers etc. What resulted was an amalgamation of speakers and professionals from different walks of life who fought the lethargy that often plagues a weekend and came together to make Professional Speakers Summit a success. Our heartfelt gratitude to the Professional Speaking Community across the globe who supported our endeavour and encouraged us in all ways possible. We also express our gratitude to our partners who made it possible for us todeliver this experience immaculately. We hope we have been able to add value to the lives of our audience, because as an organising association, we surely found mmense value in the entire process that was PSS022. AUTHOR Kiran Padhi & Anupriya Chowdhary

The PSS2022 was many things! The brightest burst of PSAI energy. Our most commercially successful convention till date. The tightest teamwork ever displayed in our association. It was both a sprint and a marathon with gold waiting at the finish line. There were energetic flag bearers, the torch bearers, the PSS warriors, the emcees, the executive committee members and the shining speakers. Smiling faces, optimistic language, upbeat WhatsApp chats and unabashed ambition! The summit exemplified its core theme with aplomb – The Power of Uncertainty; Embrace the Future. Well, we all watched the team gallop astride the horse of uncertainty and embrace the triumphant close. I get an adrenaline rush every time the colour and momentum and emotions flash in the mind’s eye. And through the kaleidoscope beam two faces: Bavani Periasamy and Jessica Breitenfeld! Our incredible international members, completely at home and buzzing with as much fervour as the home members. But I will tell you what! Underneath the clever playbooks, the cautious budget plans, the glitzy sponsorship decks, the relentless social media combat, the detailed run-sheets, the last-minute hiccups… it was the triumph of the human spirit. It takes a lot of courage and heart to own a project in an association held together by self-nominated volunteers. And the icing on the cake! PSAI experienced its “first ever” zoom bombing at the pre-summit event. No one knows who the curious intruder was but quite clearly, despite such intrusion the summit made waves. I would call it PSAI’s richest summit ever. You know why? Because no one can afford the ready, robust and rich spirit of volunteering we saw at play. The hearts that serve are priceless. It is the volunteers who put their reputation at stake. It was their life’s work on display there. We all reaped the fruits of their faith in themselves. “There is nothing that can’t be accomplished when the right people are swept up in a worthy cause, divorced from who getscredit for what!” Cavett Robert built the National Speakers Association (NSA) in 1973 on this belief. PSS2022 gave a sterling proof of this concept. AUTHOR Neerja Singh

I remember the times when geography used to play an important role in what opportunities a speaker got. Time was, when, simply because you were the only one close enough, you got the speaking gigs and training engagements. Today, with the advent of technology and the prevalence of virtual and hybrid events, you get chosen not because you are the nearest, but only because you are the best! The time of the truly global speaker is upon us! There are three things we can equip ourselves with, to face this onrushing future with confidence. Cultural Awareness Times are changing, old values are getting reinterpreted, and new ones being born to reflect the global go-getter mindset of the millennial generation. It is important for us as speakers to understand the ethos of our audience and be the bridge that connects their questions to the answers hidden and latent in their own culture and heritage. Technological Readiness From speech preparation to presentation, from audience engagement to feedback gathering, tools are abound. And, they are threatening to create a divide between the tech-savvy speaker who uses AI to analyse her audience and remote-presence tools to reach a far larger group, and the tech-newbie who is still grappling vainly with Powerpoint slides and Zoom passwords. Collaboration Willingness Man is a social animal. And, now, more than ever before, there is widespread realisation of the benefits of collaboration. There is too much out there for one person to master in a lifetime. The key skill for one to imbibe is the art of collaboration and complementary support. Come together. Work together. Learn together. Get better together. At PSAI, our constant effort is to equip you with the aforementioned three aspects. You get to meet, work with, and learn from professionals, each a specialist in their own right. Writers, speakers, trainers, evangelists, gurus, masters of every ilk, volunteer their time and effort to boost the collective capability of the community. I wish ProSpeak, one of many such initiatives, all the very best! AUTHOR Rajendran Dandapani

Humour is undeniably a must have tool in a professional speaker’s toolkit. It instantly draws and holds audience’s attention; it brings life to the talk; it embeds the speaker’s message in the mind of the audience. Having said this,there is also another reality which cannot be ignored – “there exists a thin line between laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humour and hurt” (Erma Bombeck). Before moving ahead, I invite you to “pause” for a moment and recall an incident when someone said something to you or about you in jest and fun, but you felt hurt. Just like you perceived what was said as hurtful, similarly your audience can perceive your humour differently. Two such cases come to our mind in which difference in perceptionscreated crisis: 1. Oscar 2022 Slapgate incident: Compere Chris jokingly compared Jada to Demi Moore’s bald avatar in GI Jane and remarked “Jada, I love you – I can’t wait for GI Jane 2”. Since Jada is suffering from ‘alopecia’ (a disease in which you lose hair), Wills Smith perceived the remark as fun being made of his wife, got angry and slapped Chris.2. Turkey Threatens Germany: German comedian Jan Boehmermann jokingly made fun of Turkish President on TV. His humour was acceptable in German culture, but not in Turkish culture. Turkey took offence at it, resulting in a diplomatic crisis between the two countries. Both the incidents were avoidable. Chris needed to show sensitivity towards Jada’s medical condition by avoiding comments on her baldness; and Jan had to be mindful of the differences in German and Turkish cultures. Both unknowingly crossed the line between humour and hurt. Since humour cuts both ways, as professional speakers we need to remember:1.One size does not fit all – what works for some, may not work for others.2. Sexist, racial, sexual, gender, country, religion, culture driven humour is often suicidal.3. Double meaning humour, no doubt evokes laughter, but also creates controversies.4.Understanding the composition of the audience is key to use humour effectively.5. Not to force fit humour.6. Lastly, humour being a double-edged sword, use it cautiously and judiciously. AUTHOR Sandeep Gupta & Mona Mehra

A burst of heartful belly laughter on a regular basis has positive physiological benefits which can be easily measured. In his book “As Anatomy of an Illness”, Norman Cousins described Laughter as creating an analgesic effect for pain relief. To experience Humour, you may have to buy expensive Tickets to Live Comedy, Theatre Shows, or Standup Comedy Acts. Often jokes are written to pull someone’s leg, and not everyone has a good sense of humour. Some celebrities and politicians don’t take the jokes about them so lightly. Therefore, comedians may have to face the fire when they crack jokes about these people. For the consumption of humour, an understanding of the culture, context and current affairs are essential prerequisites. Otherwise, the joke may fall flat or even hurt someone’s feelings. Humour based on cultural symbols, artefacts, genres, language, clothing, rituals may be seen as a medium for dominance, exploitation, and transculturation. According to the “Release Theory”, Laughter caused by humour is the physical manifestation of repressed desires and motivations. The “Superiority Theory” on the other hand, states that humour is created by showing off one’s self-esteem at the expense of others. Your body does not know the difference between Spontaneous Laughter (caused by humour) and Simulated Laughter (which I practice as well as teach). Therefore, we get the same benefits from these two types of laughter. Spontaneous Laughter, is momentary but Simulated Laughter has a method, a direction and is done with a purpose. In my Laughter classes, I coax the participants to get Health benefits, Mood enhancement as well as Psychological benefits, such as relief from Stress, Anxiety and Depression without using any humour at all. Humour delivered atinappropriate times can be devastating, insensitive or derogatory, but Laughter, even without humour, creates hormones in the body which reduces stress and pain. With no downsides, side effects, or risks, perhaps it istime to consider laughter more seriously. And that’s the reason I say, “Laughter is 100 times better than Humour”. AUTHOR Happiness Coach C. K. Arora