3 different but highly effective public speaking tips

Here are 3 different but highly effective public speaking tips you may wish to consider the next time you present.

1. Don’t speak from the heart

One of the most common reasons people don’t think they need public speaking training or coaching is because they think that all they have to do is, ‘speak from the heart’ and all will be fine.

It’s a good place to start but on its own, it’s not enough.

Your audience don’t want to see a slick, polished speaker on the platform. Equally they don’t want to see someone who hasn’t fully prepared for them.

They may know you’re an expert but what they really care about is how your expertise can help them.

Do your homework and leave nothing to chance

Find out as much as you possibly can about who they are, what they care about and the challenges they face. Don’t simply rely on their website, Linkedin or Google.

Pick up the phone or send them an email; make it personal.

Once you’ve done everything you can to put yourself in their shoes, then you can ‘speak from the heart’.

Now you’re full prepared for  connecting with theirs.

2. Make them an offer they can’t refuse

The quote from the classical film ‘The Godfather’, ‘make him an offer he can’t refuse’, has become something of a legend. However, it doesn’t apply to Hollywood blockbusters alone.

It’s the very essence of every great presentation or public speech.

Just because you believe in, and are passionate about what your message, how will it help your audience?

Why should they listen?

Why should they care?

What’s in it for them?

Your job is to make them a promise that you can comfortably keep which they will find very hard to refuse.

3. Prepare with PURPOSE

One of the most powerful public speaking tips we can share is to prepare your presentation with PURPOSE.

What is your purpose?

Once you are clear on exactly what it is and how it will help your audience then make sure you craft and deliver your presentation with it.

Primacy effect

Research suggests that when you give people a lot of information it’s quite likely that they will remember something you said very early on. That alone promotes an opportunity to make sure that the first thing we say is something that will capture our audience’s attention. Don’t spend the first five minutes telling them who you are and how pleased you are to be there. Say, show or do something that will immediately capture their attention, interest and curiosity.

Focus on making them feel that they are glad they went to the trouble to come to listen to you and they can’t wait to hear what comes next.

Unusual

Many people don’t look forward to attending or sitting through presentations because they believe that they have ‘heard it all before’.

One of the best public speaking tips we can give you is to make sure that your presentation is different; it’s unusual.

Don’t do what everyone else does.

Challenge the status quo, be creative and dare to be different.

Tell them short, relevant and powerful stories, use compelling visuals, ask thought provoking questions and make them smile too.

Repetition

As the late Zig Ziglar once said “Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment”

Imagine this, you have finished giving your presentation and your audience can’t wait to tweet your key message to the rest of the world.

Whatever it is you would like them to tweet, they won’t hear it until you’ve repeated it several times.

Make sure you repeat your key message and keep it short, simple and clear.

At Mindful Presenter our message is: “When it comes to presenting, connecting is everything”.

Personal

Regardless of your status, role, experience or expertise  we all have one thing in common. 

We really care about ourselves as individuals.

When we are presenting to an audience we have to make sure that everything we say, show and do is personal to them too. This is one of those public speaking tips I wouldn’t ignore. If you do, your audience will simply filter and completely disregard anything that isn’t personal to them.

The route to ensuring that your presentation is personal to your audience is imagining that they stop you after every sentence. Imagine someone asking, ‘so what, why should I care about that?’.

If you don’t have an answer that’s personal to them on some level they will soon tune out.

Open

Being professional doesn’t mean you have to speak as the ‘corporate spokesperson.’ It certainly doesn’t mean you have to be deadly serious all of the time. Your audience want you to be ‘open’; that means open gestures, open vocally, and open emotionally.

Give them a glimpse of the real you.

Let them into your world by sharing something personal about yourself that they can relate to.

Stories

If all you want to share is facts, data and insights then do your audience a favour and just send them an email. If you truly want to connect with them and be remembered, then tell them a story.  

Whatever you do though, make sure it is short, relevant and compelling.

Stories are how we learn and visualise information. If you view your entire presentation as a story board you are far more likely to connect with your audience. A great story takes people on a journey they haven’t been on before but will remember for some time.

Breathe life into your information with stories.

Energy/Enthusiasm

I believe that energy and enthusiasm is the jewel in the crown of public speaking. Giving your audience plenty of it is one of my favourite public speaking tips.

Craft and deliver your presentation with energy and enthusiasm, otherwise your audience will forget most of what you said before they return to their car or desk.

You are the expert and your audience simply want to learn about how you can help them with your expertise.

Your audience want the information, data and knowledge.

If you craft and deliver it a way they will not only understand but will make them feel something too you will connect with them.

“Connecting is everything”

If you’d like to learn many more helpful public speaking tips:

– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.

– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.

– Get yourself some excellent presentation training

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