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How to Speak with Confidence in Public

At weddings, for example, I did not know how to balance satisfying couples, In 1999 my cousin paid N8,000 to a makeup artist to make her up for her wedding. Her mother screamed and screamed about how unimportant and unnecessary it was to pay for something any aunt, sibling or cousin could do…or so she thought. By 2013, the story had completely changed. That same aunt of mine, paid almost N100,000 for her last daughter to get a professional makeover on her wedding day. My aunt also got a professional makeover for herself as mother-of-the-bride, and would never go out as an event guest without a makeover by a professional makeup artist because it is now obvious that NOT everyone can do a professional’s job of understanding face type and structure, colour blending, contouring etc. By the way, that makeup artist who charged N8,000 in 1999, now charges as much as N450,000 for bridal makeovers…pheeewwwww… The MCing profession, is going through a similar transition, from family, friends, friends of friends and staff, to professionals who can clearly interpret the objectives of the event and help the event owner and audience, achieve these objectives. The MCing profession is leaving the hands of ill-prepared, untrained, self-proclaimed “masters”, to the hands of skilled, well-prepared, versed and vast, trained professionals – masters in title and in delivery. An untrained MC generally lacks the skill or direction to stir an event, while a professional MC is properly guided by the ethics of his/ her profession. An ad-hoc/amateur MC perceives the work as a hobby, and as such may not go the extra mile to make it grand. A trained professional on the other hand, knows what is at stake and ensures she performs her BEST, to ensure client satisfaction and REPEAT BUSINESS. In my earlier days as an MC, I did not understand the need to meet with my client ahead, in order to clarify and understand expectations. parents, chairman, guests and myself. Even when we did meet, I did not know particular questions to ask like: A trained MC maintains the flow of the event ensuring it takes the agreed path not going off point/track. A professional MC is smart to notice loopholes on time and cover them swiftly, especially if proper consultations have been made. I have been an MC full-time for 10 years. People ask, “Does it pay the bills”? Yes, it does. It paid little at the start, but pays a lot more now, with improved service rendition and clout, based on the application of professionalism. There is a common saying, “beta soup na money make am”, same way, ‘beta MC, na training make am’. To MC events like a professional, every MC needs good training, guidance and some mentorship. The good news is, you do not need to look too far to find a platform to get trained as a professional Master of Ceremonies.TALKADEMY Training School for Masters of Ceremonies provides you with the training and the mentorship you need. Waste no time, do it now, go to talkademy.joycedaniels.net to enrol.

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BUILDING COURAGE TO WIN IN THESE 5 EASY STEPS

Courage is not run on auto-pilot. Like musicians who play instruments, rehearse, you have got to develop it. The dictionary defines courage as, “the ability to do something that frightens one; bravery” or the ability to muster “strength in the face of pain or grief.” Courage is learned and improved upon with daily action. It doesn’t matter how much courage you lack, you can always apply trusted methods and steps in building the courage to win in any situation. Here are a few ways to boost and develop your courage levels:  1. Don’t do it once. Do it, and do it again. Repetition is the law of deep and lasting impression. Have you ever run a Marathon? How about a 10-kilometre run? How did you feel the first time you ran a 100 metre race? Like your heart would drop, right?  Maybe it was the first time in a long time you were visiting the tracks. Well, did you do it again?  You did!  How did you feel after you did it the second time? And the third? And fourth? And fifth? Now you’re a champion!  That’s it! That’s just it with Courage, it is a process! Courage is a state of mind; a lifestyle that has to be brought to the fore – grown, developed and worked. Consider courage a learned skill (anybody at all can learn it and apply it every day), hence your reading about building the courage to win in these 6 easy steps is setting you up on the right path. Knowing what Courage is, wouldn’t be so profitable in your life, until you know how to work it, build it and apply it to your situation.  When you apply it today, and after you have taken that one Courageous leap, you show up tomorrow and tell yourself, I did it yesterday so I can do it today. Then you rinse and repeat – come tomorrow. 2. Grow Your Capabilities/Capacities Consciously and Deliberately When humans see and believe that they are growing, there’s more encouragement to keep up the work. One way to grow and appreciate growth is to make clear commitments. Things like: There are so many examples to make but the point is to set your small goals; make your short strides; take your little steps (or the big, long and large ones). Whatever you do, make sure you are deliberate and consistent.  The key to building the courage to win through increasing capacity is to find your pace and enjoy it, while you keep at progress. If for instance, you need the courage to show up and speak in front of a crowd, and you made the commitment to begin speaking more than you ever did – even at your own reflection – then you pace yourself by starting with a small crowd.  You can start with maybe just a handful of the right people; friends, family, loved ones, peers. Start on a topic that’s within your area of expert interest. Remember you’re trying to pace yourself and enjoy the process as you build the courage to win.  3. Build Momentum. There’s a magic that comes with deliberate consistency; it is the magic that would eventually birth results. The more immediate results you get, the better boost your courage level gets. Did you know, with every successful stride comes an assurance of your capabilities? One positive result equals one step up your momentum ladder. Every step up your momentum ladder generates more power to propel you to keep doing.  Remember that courage is a doing word. Having set goals and made clear commitments, you’ll see that the bigger goal is more in view now that you are making efforts to build the courage to win than when you were being eaten up by fear. Using the public speaking example from before, a person who has committed to speaking consistently to a familiar audience can gain momentum by going further to speak to an audience with less familiar faces. Such a person can begin to curate small audiences of 5-10 persons who are not in your friends and family circle. Deliver a presentation to them every week or every other week. With each presentation, change the audience and if possible increase the number of your audience. Ask your audience for a review. Publicise the reviews if you wish.  Commit to this and be consistent! That will give you momentum. In other words, the more you do, the more you are able to do. The more results you get, the stronger momentum you build. The stronger your momentum, the stronger your courage, the surer, more assured of yourself you would be.  4. Leverage on your fears! Think about it this way; if you had ever done something or embarked on a project that frightened you, you were almost convinced that you were going to flop or the big plan wasn’t going to work, but you did it anyway.  You had your fears, yet you dared to try. You were probably forced into action by circumstances beyond your control. Therefore, you put on your best shoes, employed your best hands, and gave yourself all the necessary pep talks that you could. There was no other way; no other option. Either you did it, or you did it, so you did it. With all the fears and uncertainties, you went ahead and did it.  You actually did it!  Well, guess what? It wasn’t just your adrenaline pumping, it was that the fears were pointing you towards what you truly, really, wanted.  Remember these when fear knocks, If you ever achieved a feat in the midst of your fears, please, courageously and confidently wear it as a medal. It would remind you that you have won once, you can win again…  and you will win again!  5. Set your mind right! Ladies and gentlemen, we must agree on this; if you would walk your high lanes on your feet, you must first walk it in your

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