Speech Coach Deirdre Van Nest Helps Chiropractors Generate More Leads at Public Seminars

MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Chiropractors can get more patients at public seminars when they follow presentation techniques from executive speech Coach Deirdre Van Nest, president of Fire Your Fear (http://www.fireyourfear.com).

"Chiropractors are putting on thousands of public seminars for educational and marketing purposes. But many meetings fall short of goals. That's because chiropractors are not trained to structure and deliver content in a way that emotionally connects with the audience and inspires prospects to take action," said Van Nest, who specializes in teaching chiropractors how to effectively use public speaking to generate leads.

Van Nest, author of Fire Your Fear: How to Grow Your Business by Changing the Way You Think and a sought-after coach and speaker, offers these speaking tips to help chiropractors get more business.

• Don't be the Milli Vanilli of slides (Milli Vanilli is the 80's band who got caught and lost their Grammy for lip-synching their songs). Slides should enhance your presentation, not be your presentation. If you are repeating everything your slides say, the audience does not need you.
• Critique each slide. Ask yourself: "Will this slide enhance the audiences' experience with me?" If not, toss it out.
• Open with a bang. Ask a question or tell a story that is relevant to the audience. Get them thinking about themselves and they will be hanging on your every word.
• Don't say too much. This is hard to believe but no one wants to know as much as you want to tell them! As a content expert you want to give them everything you have but most people don't want to know that much. If you give them too much they will be overwhelmed. You've heard it said before, "a confused mind says no."
• Pick a few salient points and expound upon them. In general, each point takes 10 minutes to deliver. Keep this in mind as you plan your presentation. Have 30 minutes? Plan to deliver 2 points and allow 5-8 min for the opening and closing. This leaves a few minutes for spontaneity.
• Allow for questions throughout your presentation or put the Q and A near the end, but not at the end. After the Q and A, wrap up your talk with a pre-prepared thought provoking and powerful ending.
• Don't offer too many next steps or leave the next steps ambiguous. Instead, offer one specific next step for the audience to take. Maybe it's to sign up for a New Patient Exam with you, or for a special report, or a newsletter. Whatever it is, be specific and give them clear directions on how to engage with you.

A chiropractor praises Van Nest's training in public speaking.

"We signed up 103 new patient exams, plus 29 women signed up for our lifestyle makeover program. She took Dr. Matt from a decent speaker to a masterful presenter," said Dr. Becky Hanson of The Family Wellness Institute in Edina, MN.

"The energy level and excitement from me and the audience was higher than it has ever been, and I felt the audience took my recommendations more seriously," Dr. Matt Hanson of The Family Wellness Institute said of Van Nest's coaching lessons.

For more speaking tips and learning how to overcome the fear of speaking in public, go to Van Nest's blog at http://www.fireyourfear.com/blog.

About Deirdre Van Nest

Deirdre Van Nest is President of Fire Your Fear, LLC. She is a speaker for a variety of Fortune 500 companies and a performance coach for service professionals. As a Certified Fearless Living Coach, a World Class Speaking Coach™, and a Get Clients Now!™ facilitator, she is committed to helping sales and service professionals grow their businesses by eliminating fear and excuses, giving presentations that get results, and getting into focused action. She has a Masters degree in Occupational Therapy from Nova Southeastern University and a BA in Communication from Boston College. She can be reached at [email protected].

SOURCE Deirdre Van Nest