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Last month in April 2019, I had the opportunity to be invited and presented the Essex-Kaplan Singapore "Symposium on Play and Pedagogy in Teaching". During the Questions and Answer segment, one of the participants asked, "How do I get the audience to ask questions after a lesson/ lecture?" I had similar experiences earlier in my speaking career. Throughout the years, I tried out many methods. And I realised that the basic way in a presentation is making connection and engagement with the audience. This is because human is a social creature. To answer the question above, one of the ways that could be done is to bring the audience on a journey. Start the session on "Gear One", get the audience slowly warm up, and end the session on a high-note. Once the audience are excited, the barrier to inhibitions are lowered, and audience will start asking questions. cheers
Hazriq Idrus Author, "The Stage Fright Antidote" + 8 other books Connect on: http://linkedin.com/in/hazriq http://facebook.com/hazriq It's always an honour (& grateful + memorable indeed!) to go back to the former organisation we once served and worked at; albeit this time in a different capacity as a speaker to share on the topic "Culture of Creativity: How to Wow & Engage the Clients & Customers." Thank you Bukit Batok Public Library (a branch of National Library Board) for the invitation. It's also nice indeed to reunite with some former colleagues & getting to know the new ones. Keep Moving Forward,
Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd What a final! The Nationals Debate Finals organised by the Malay Youth Literary Association (4PM) saw two finalists, Anderson Secondary School pitted against Commonwealth Secpndary School. A tough fight, I should say! In the end, Commonwealth Sec won, kudos to them. Congratulations also goes to Team Anderson Secondary who gave a tough fight in the final! You did the Anderson family and alumni proud, by being in three consecutive finals! Andersonians, the competition might have ended, but, this is the start of your journey! Cherish the learning process, for you will be asked to use those skills in time to come, albeit at a different platform. All in all, thank you, Anderson Sec, for entrusting me to coach the team these past three years and be part of your history. Keep moving forward,
Hazriq Idrus Author, "The Stage Fright Antidote" + 8 other books Connect on: http://linkedin.com/in/hazriq http://facebook.com/hazriq In partnership with Up Your Game (UYG) Personal Development Community, The Speaking Factory had the opportunity to share with the Muslim Kidney Action Association (MKAC) beneficiaries on the topic on "Overcoming Stress using Creativity" on 25 March 2019. For me, I did feel the 'stress' when I was invited to speak and share, especially when I found out that that the audience were going to be retirees. As the session progreesed, I was inspired by their humility, sheer grit and determination to learn. Some even attended after their dialysis session! They were very inquisitive. One of the audience, Mr Aziz, who claimed he's "27" years old (but i'm pretty sure he's 72!), said that "Learning never stops!" I admired them! Really! Keep moving forward,
Hazriq Idrus Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd  Hazriq Idrus sharing as one of the panelists. On 19 January 2019, I was invited to be one of the panelists at a Focus Group Discussion conference in Batam, Indonesia, organised by Matahati Foundation. The objective of the event was to gather insights from various professionals and thought leaders on how to turn Batam, Indonesia, into a key venue in creative and education tourism 10 panel sessions consisted of professionals, thought leaders, international networks, academicians, entrepreneurs, among others. I sat in Panel 2, together with fellow Singaporeans, Andrew Chow (Social Media Strategist), Daryl Chung (Project Director of E27, a tech media platform) and Tiziana Tan, Founder of Brain Juice Collective. The panel was moderated by Elmi Ong, the co-founder of Matahati Foundation herself. During the session, among the questions we received include “How to change the negative perception of Batam?” It was indeed an interesting question, for a fact that there were pre-conceived perceptions of Batam. In the panelist discussion, we recommended for Batam to acknowledge such situation but to focus more on building the brand that Batam is promoting. It is like a cup filled with coffee. To change its content to plain water, we need to focus in pouring plain water in it; and slowly, but surely, the coffee will be replaced by plain water. From the creativity perspective, I recommended Batam to look into the word ‘Creative” itself (from the phrase ‘Creative Tourism”), because Creative does not necessarily means ‘the arts”. Go beyond that thinking to identify what’s unique for tourists to come, experience and learn. Focus on the "experiential learning" aspect. I cited an example where in Singapore, the country tapped on already-popular Formula One, and ‘rebrand’ its day races (conducted in other countries) into a night race (that’s a creativity technique) in Singapore; and attracted more visitors to experience the event. I hope the focus group discussion provided new insights and ideas to make batam achieved its plans of becoming a key venue in creative and educational tourism. Yours creatively, Hazriq Idrus Applied Creativity/Creative Leadership & Public Speaking Strategist Author of 7 books, including "The Stage Fright Antidote" Hazriq Idrus is a professional speaker on Applied Creativity/ Creative Leadership and a Public Speaking Strategist. Using techniques from the theatre he learnt as a stage actor, Hazriq delivers keynote talks and training programmes that are interactive and experiential in nature. He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to help people and teams innovate and communicate with impact by tapping on their inner creative genius. Hazriq is contactable at [email protected].  2018, what a year it has been! Started out slow, the year moved into fast momentum as the months moved along. In restrospect, here is the summary of my 3 learning points for this year: 1) Speaking professionally - it’s not about getting up the stage, take the mic and say the first thing that comes to your mind. Just like any other profession where learning and training are required to bring out the best in the profession, so do professional speaking. My speaker buddy, Jit Puru, reminded me of such when he made me diligently prepared before I could take the stage in his Ideas and Inspiration, a TED-like talk event. While my slot was slated for 16 October 2018, my mentorship under him started in July 2018! I would always be grateful to Jit for that opportunity to speak and be under his wings. 2) It’s all about giving - I learnt about this many years back, and had the best opportunities to do that when I met with another speaker buddy, Rahul Shah. Through his Up Your Game Personal Development community events, together with other speakers, we gave back to the community - doing what we are best at - speaking! At the various Southeast Asia’s UYG conference platforms, we travelled to Jakarta, Bangkok, Penang, and KL to speak (based on our expertise). And the events were free for the audience, especially suitable for those who would want to learn about personal development but cannot afford the fees. 3) The Power of Social Capital - one of my business mentors, Farid MN (who now runs a fintech firm, Walletku, in Jakarta) never stopped emphasising to me that in business, it is not enough if one has very good products. It is who you know, and more importantly, who knows you that will lead you to business growth. A very simple analogy, you don’t have to offer your services to Person A. Because Person A knows Person B who needs your kind of services, Person A’s recommendations could bring you to clients like Person B. When I applied this mindset in 2018, I pulled off two book projects where I co-authored with various other authors this year, making them my fifth and sixth books under my belt, something I never thought of when I first started in my speaking career. The power of Social Capital. How about you? What are your takeaways from 2018? Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus Applied Creativity & Public Speaking Strategist Author of 6 books, including "The Stage Fright Antidote" Hazriq Idrus is a stage actor-turned-professional speaker on Applied Creativity, Creative Leadership and Team Engagements. Using techniques from the theatre, Hazriq delivers keynote talks and training programmes that are interactive and experiential in nature. He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to help people and teams innovate and communicate with impact by tapping on their inner creative geniuses. Hazriq is contactable at [email protected]. Happy to share with you that the organisers for Ideas and Inspiration, have uploaded the videos. As one of the speakers for the day, here was what I shared: 1) The Misconception of Creativity - is creativity only meant for the arts 2) The (mis)habits of creativity - that causes us to get stuck 3) The solution: The 'Language' of Creativity that will help you get unstuck and move forward. Along the years, I have seen many great ideas were “shot down” by other people because of their "negative" responses. In my message, I recommended the audience to make creativity a culture and to use the ‘Language’ of Creativity every time. What is that "Language/ of creativity? Watch the video to find out? To watch the talks by other speakers, click this link: Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus Applied Creativity & Public Speaking Strategist Author of 5 books, including "The Stage Fright Antidote"  Were you in the audience? Were you inspired?
I did! I must admit that those few moments before any speech, I still feel butterflies in the stomach. And I remembered what I learnt from theatre, “Do it for the audience. Appreciate their attendance, love them and you’ll be fine!” Such an amazing turnout and appreciative audience last evening. I must thank you, the audience, for being in attendance and being very supportive at the second edition of Ideas and Inspiration event at Lifelong Learning Institute’s Theatre, organised by Jit Puru and Company. For me, it was indeed an honour to be sharing the stage with such wonderful speakers, Peter Morgan, Anji Hallewell, Ori Takemura and Go Ashok Menon. (And I must add that the rehearsals we had before this kept us bonded in the process!) Even while waiting for my turn, I was blown away from the other speakers with their delivery and content (even though I had seen their presentations during rehearsals!), so much so that I took notes! Here are my take-aways from the other speakers: 1st Speaker: Peter Morgan - a retired police commissioner based in Hong Kong. He shared 3 main key points he learnt during his time in the police force: Look and assess situation before you take action and lead Learn to Ask; and you shall receive Leverage on our network while think out of the box to solve problems 2nd Speaker: Anji Hallewell - Mindfulness Coach/ Founder of Hidden Lava. Anji highlighted that life need not be perfect, but it is important to be real. For we can rise to our highest heights if we follow this system: Remember: Your journey and how far you have come Intention: Set it right, set it straight Stabalise: Stay focus and on track Engage: Execute without excuses 4th Speaker: Ori Takemura, founder of an interaction design & game studio QIXEN-P. Ori emphasised that designing success is akin to establishing system and taking repeatable steps. He de-constructed the famous Why-What-How into the following formula: (Why) x (Why) = need two strong whys to push us (internal and external motivations) What = Be clear on the target How = Break it down into small steps and repeat them 5th Speaker: Go Ashokh Menon, a change agent and a certified practitioner & master facilitator of the People Centred Implementation (PCI®) methodology. Ashokh emphasised that Leadership is not titlle, rather it is a moral duty to influence the team members. He recommended the following to achieve positive team outcomes: O: Oneness of workplace environment N: Narrative change from “carrot and stick thinking-system” to ‘focusing on team members’ strengths E: Empathise with team members’ challenges and render assistance proactively And, as the third speaker for the day, here was why I shared what I shared: Along the years, I have seen many great ideas were “shot down” by other people because of their “Yes, But …” responses. “Yes, But” is actually a polite way to telling No to someone, thus halting that someone’s idea to grow. In my message, I recommended the audience to make creativity a culture and to use the ‘Language’ of Creativity every time. The Language I was referring to is using “Yes, And” (instead of “Yes, But”). Because, when we use “Yes, And” as part of the creativity culture, three elements are present: A- Acceptance; Your idea, even how ridiculous it may sound, is accepted with open arms B- Build On; Use the first idea as trigger and build on from it into an even better idea C-Collaboration; In the process, people are more collaborative and cooperative, resulting in less conflict, more positive vibes and makes everyone adaptable to changing situations. Hope this article is useful for you as you value add your life. What do you think? Would love to hear from you. Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus Applied Creativity & Public Speaking Strategist Author of 5 books, including "The Stage Fright Antidote" Hazriq Idrus is a professional speaker on Applied Creativity, Creative Leadership and Creative Presentations. Using techniques from the theatre he learnt as a stage actor, Hazriq delivers keynote talks and training programmes that are interactive and experiential in nature. He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to help people and teams innovate and communicate with impact by tapping on their inner creative genius. Hazriq is contactable at [email protected].  A few months ago, I was invited to speak and conduct a creative presentation skills workshop for the volunteers from one of the ministries. The session took place on a Saturday morning at Singapore Botanical Gardens.
One major challenge that I would be facing would be that for a workshop of such nature, a classroom size of 15-20 is a good fit, so participants can have ample time to practise. However, for this workshop at the Botanic Gardens, there would be about 70-80 participants in all. After speaking with the organiser, having a small class is inevitable, given that the event was an annual affair and had to be done on a Saturday morning where the volunteers could come and gather. Furthermore, there would also be a speech by the Minister, which means grouping the volunteers into different time slots would be logistically challenged. I deliberated on the challenge for awhile. Tapping on the ‘deconstruction’ model of my creativity-thinking process, here was my facilitation process for the day: - The participants were divided into small groups of 6-8 person - There would be 1 ‘captain’ in the team to oversee the ‘discipline’ of the team members so that they would be focusing on the content - More intra-group activities (to link to the topics) were introduced (more than my usual workshop games) so all participants could take part - One of the important segments to have was that there would be intra-group presentations: where each participant would be presenting to their group members. That would provide a ‘safe zone’ especially for first timers to practise their speeches - speaking to groups of 6-8 instead of speaking to all 70-80 people! - We then ended our session with some volunteers coming forward share on their speeches using the techniques that they have learnt; before Minister Desmond Lee took the stage and addressed the participants. All in all, it was a wonderful session. As for me, this was something new too. I could put that on my records and implement it for my next session, should a similar situation arise. The organiser had put together a wonderful videoclip on the event. Such memorable experience. View here: https://www.facebook.com/desmondtslee/videos/2370806286263633/ How about you? How did you manage to creatively overcome some issues at work or at your recent presentation? Would love to hear from you on how did you do it. Towards your continued success, Hazriq Idrus www.thespeakingfactory.com www.hazriq.com  It was a brainstorming exercise in polytechnic where I tasked my students to generate new ways of using the drinking straws ideas .
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