Speak Up!
Andrea Johnson
Community Representative
aka “The Blood Lady” or
“The Goddess of Bloodletting”
 The
number one reason people do not
donate blood?
 The number one fear of all time?
Is it needles? The scary part is the
general public would rather donate
blood than do what we do!
Let’s have some FUN!
In order for recruiters to increase units,
add drives or build relationships they
need to Speak Up!
 Analyze
Your Audience!
 Public Speaking!
 E=MC!
 WIFM!
 Closing the Deal!

Research, do your homework
› Don’t be afraid to ask: What do you
want/need/expect?
Know who they are
Treat it like a job interview – learn who they are
and have appropriate follow-up questions for what
you couldn’t find
 Pre-plan!
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› What is the speaking situation? One-on-one, teaching
situation, group presentation?
Get Ready for Audience interaction!
 Andrea’s
motto: A boring recruiter
doesn’t get blood, but an enthusiastic
one does!
 Andrea’s
philosophy: You don’t have
to be a perfect speaker but you have
to be genuine and passionate.
Broad Overview - no works cited –
successful tidbits picked up along
the way
 Voice & Diction
 Eye Contact
 Movement
 Props
 Pet Peeves
Andrea’s Pet Peeves
Common Pet Peeves
Let’s name a few first

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Um’s/you know what I
mean
Pacing
Talking too slow or fast
Arrogance, not
connecting
Monotone
Standing behind podium
Not aware of
mic/volume
Rambling
Jumping from subject to
subject
Bad jokes
What drives me crazy !
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PowerPoint dependency
Memorized presentations
Saying Thank You
What are my faults?
› Too much hands
› Too many crazy facial
expressions
› Talk to too fast
Lets analyze me – scary!
 Be
aware of your faults – we all have
them and always seek to improve
 Accept feedback
 Know your material frontwards and
backwards
 Have fun no matter what you are
speaking about
No this is not math class 
Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
Speakers Committee
- original idea I created to enhance
speeches given to area schools and
businesses. I have used the concept for
years in blood banking.
Captivate – Engage – Motivate

Captivate
› Kick your speech off in high gear
› Keep them begging for more

Engage
› Don’t let them fall asleep in your speech
› Keep them focused on what you want

Motivate
› Close the deal
› It’s about what you want, in a way they
understand
 What’s
In It For Me……… I mean
the audience?
 What do you mean this is a sales job?
 We all have motivators or “hot
buttons”
 You did the research, know how to
weave it in
 What
are some common blood
donor/CP motivators?
› Prizes: t-shirts, gallon mugs, other gifts
› Helping someone/community
› Helping personal family member/friend
› PR – my company saves so many lives…
› Being # 1 at blood bank
 What
are some common blood donor/CP
de-motivators?
›
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Not good enough prizes
Competition between blood banks
No directed donations/credits
Recruiter turn-over/customer service
Bad sticks
Bad drives –incompatible crews
 Learn
their “hot button” and work
with it
 The biggest recruiter mistake of all
time: Don’t focus on selling other
features they could care less about
just because you or manager like it
more
 Be
yourself – we don’t sell used cars….
though I guess it is used blood 
 Build relationships
› Any managers in the house?
 I don’t care what they say: people do business
with people - not business: CP’s do business
with recruiters not blood banks
 I have seen drives stay with our blood bank but
do worse when they are forced to change
recruiters and they don’t build relationships
 Don’t
be afraid to ask what you want
 Leave
with a punch
› Referred to as a kicker in journalism
 Make sure they can’t live without
 Get some sort of commitment
you
› It could be exactly what you want or a simple
follow up call
› But also be savvy enough to know you may not get
it in the extreme case, especially if you were not as
prepared as you should have been
Let me practice what I preach!
What questions have I not
answered?
Andrea S. Johnson
713-794-1362
asjohnso@mdanderson.org
The University of Texas
MD Anderson
Cancer Center
Blood Bank