Next Saturday the 22nd of June the third edition of TEDxValencia is being held. This year the theme of the event is “rewriting the future“. With the team of volunteers, we are selecting the speakers, preparing the webpage and organizing all the details to create an amazing event!

This year I´m part of the “speakers team” and our objective is to select the speakers and to help them to prepare their talks: the content, the structure and the visual aids if they decide to use them.

What is the most important for the speakers at a TEDx event? The organization of TED has established some ground rules. These are every interesting for everyone who has to prepare a speech, not only for TED-speakers: the TED commandments.

Here we go:

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

I encourage you to apply these principles to your own talks and I hope to see you at TEDxValencia the 22nd of June!

Next Wednesday the 27th of February I am giving a talk at Ignite Valencia 3. Ignite is an event with short talks of exactly 5 minutes, each one with 20 slides of 15 seconds. Ignite is organized in more than 100 cities around the world. The speakers are people who would like to share their idea, story or vision.

As I am very interested in non-verbal communication, I´m going to talk about the science behind a smile. What happens in your body when you smile? And what is the effect of your smile on others?

Ignite Valencia 3 is held at La Rambleta the 27th of Febrero at 19:00.

I hope to see you there

“There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars.”
- Mark Twain

Your hearth starts beating faster, your stomach feels queasy and your palms are sweaty just before starting your presentation: you´re nervous. Are you going to succeed or will your mind go blank?

Including the best speakers and actors have those feelings and thoughts. It´s normal and it helps you to be focussed on your task and to be concentrated. I´m not talking about public speaking fear in the worst form, which can be a quite challenging psychological barrier, but about those trembling knees and sweaty palms everyone experiences.

Apart from good preparation and practise, there are some things you can do just before a presentation to feel more relaxed and confident.

• Drink something. For our brain it´s a sign that the situation is not life threatening, as there is still time to drink something. The adrenaline level will decrease.
• Do breathing exercises. For the same reason: to lower the level of your stress hormones. Some deep breaths can help you to relax.
• Tell yourself the group is made up of individuals. Talk to one individual at the time. Go from one to another.
• Think about the people you care most about. It will generate a positive feeling and relaxation.
• Try the power pose for two minutes: this will decrease your cortisol levels (stress hormone) and boost your testosterone (giving you confidence). Watch the TED video: how your body language shapes who you are. One of the most popular videos of the last weeks.

And most importantly: don´t apologize for being nervous. If you mention it you are calling the attention to it, whether most of the times your nervousness does not show at all. Remain silent and your listeners may not notice at all.

You can learn how to be a better presenter playing theatre. With the use of drama techniques you train the most important ‘instrument’ of a presentation: you. Activities based on acting help you to raise awareness on the possibilities of your body and your voice, teach you how to relax and ignite your imagination and creativity. Purple Presentations doesn’t provide acting classes, but uses theatre games and activities to create valuable experience based learning.

However, acting classes without a direct goal to obtain certain skills, help to improve your communication. Emma Dalmases, the founder of Coffi Teatre, gives acting classes to employees of companies in Barcelona. Below, she will describe what she does and what participants say about her classes.

Acting classes? OK, sign me up.

If you don´t leave your comfort zone, it´s going to be more difficult to improve an aspect of your life. So, brush up those creative skills. Put on some comfortable clothes and try what theatre classes have to offer you. I´m sure you will be surprised and that you will repeat.

Thank you Emma for for perfect explanation and for the great work you do!

In my work as a language consultant for everis, I am going to give more workshops Speaking English in Public for everis Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and… Brussels.

In Valencia I am going to give workshops Speaking English in Public open for everyone and a theatre workshop on communication skills for teachers. I will post more information soon.

Over the coming months you will find more tips on the blog, starting with: dealing with nervousness, how to take care of your voice and storytelling.

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In July I had the privilege to be at the Internet Start up Camp, organized by the Polytechnic University of Valencia. I gave a workshop on how to give an elevator pitch, together with Yanira Navarro, who organized all the networking activities for the camp, and Lluis Bueno who collaborated in the activities.

The elevator pitch
An elevator pitch is a very short presentation (one to five minutes). The name comes from the possible situation of being with a client or investor in the elevator. In a very limited amount of time you have to tell him about you and your project and raise the interest so that he wants to know more.

During our workshop I gave a short introduction on the key aspects of an elevator pitch. Afterwards, everyone prepared and gave a pitch.

Three key ideas
In this post I would like to share with you three key ideas to take into account when preparing an elevator pitch, In such a short presentation, there is no time for details, you have to come straight to point.

• You have to have the audience top of mind, always. Who is your audience? Are they possible clients, partners or investors? As each of them have different interests, you should know who your audience are and adapt the presentation to their needs. The most important question they want you to answer is: why? Why should they buy your product / service? Why should they work with you? Or why should they invest in your project?

• Use the word “you”. It is very powerful to use this word during the presentation. Your audience will really think you are talking about them. You have to make an effort to really tell them what they want to hear.

• Use emotion. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Explain how your product or service solves the problem they have.

In this chart made by Juan Pablo Cloquell Tomás of Cronoshare you can see our ideas on how to divide the time. Apart from this, don’t forget to start your presentation off strong.