All Speaking is Public Speaking!

As usual, the talks that I have delivered over this period have been wide and diverse. I have spoken to school children motivating them for exams,  discussed strategic thinkers over the last 40 years with master degrees students at university, been a key note speaker at a business conference, launched  a community initiative, undertaken commentary on Radio 4’s PM Programme, filmed for a documentary for ACCA, delivered several governance training sessions the list goes on…

I really believe whether you like speaking in public or not, it is one of those activities that is crucial to the success of any career or business and we will all be faced with having to do so. The ability to communicate, influence, educate or even entertain through the spoken word should be mastered by all. Speaking in public may be to just a handful of people in a meeting or an audience of several hundred. Regardless of this, the principles are exactly the same.

As soon as you open your mouth and start speaking to someone you are engaging in public speaking. The first bit of advice I would give is to try and remember this and treat a conversation with an audience in much the same way as you would a conversation with a group of friends. I do admit that depending on the talk the vocabulary may be slightly different but in essence you want to be yourself when you speak. Going about speaking in this way will help you adopt the right mindset and combat one of the greatest barriers to a good speech- fear. It is not just fear in most circumstances it is the fear of making a fool of yourself that people shy away from. Also treating a talk like a conversation with friends will help you to develop a more natural and conversational tone which will keep your talk authentic.

Here are my three rules for successful public speaking!

Rule One

The tell them, tell them, tell them. In other words you tell the audience what you are about to tell them and what you want from your talk. You then proceed to deliver your talk and conclude by telling then what you told them! This rule helps your listener to put into context what you are going to speak to them about, this will in turn help to keep them engaged and to recall what you have said.

Rule Two

Arrange your talk or presentation into three key themes. Decide on what your message is for the whole talk and try to articulate it into one sentence. This will give you clarity and ultimately the recipients will also receive and understand your message. Having accomplished this, it is now time to get the components parts of the talk into a three key areas. The human brain likes to gather information in chunks and there is something magical about the number three. If you can structure all talks and presentations this will leave a more lasting impression and help your audience to take away the salient points more easily.
Rule Three

The GRC – no this is not governance, risk and compliance for those familiar with my day job! GRC refers to the critical three a Grabber, developing Rapport and then rehearsing your Conclusion.

Every talk should start by grabbing the attention of your audience. This can be compared to the opening of the curtains at performance at the theatre. Your grabber sets the stage for your talk. I sometimes use a joke, a story or even a moment of silence to create the atmosphere that I want to create. You then want to build a rapport with the listener and we have a tendency to want to launch into the presentation. Nerves push you towards trying to just get your information out as quickly as possible and then getting away. To deliver an effective talk the opposite strategy is required; give the listener time to get to know you and an opportunity to get to like you. Use the time in the introduction of your talk to show what you have in common with your audience and take your time to prepare yourself so that when you start you are cool, calm and collected as they say.

At the end of your talk it is important that you leave the audience with a ‘bang’ in much the same way as you start with a ‘bang’! People remember things at the beginning of a talk, things at the end and outstanding things in the middle, so take the time to plan the ending in as much detail as you plan the rest of the talk.

Although I consistently get outstanding feedback for my talks and more importantly I have coached many people to achieve the same don’t just take my word for it. I have been reading recently the ‘Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs’. Arguably he was one of the greatest presenters and businessmen the world has ever known. This book will share some of those secrets with you endorsing much of what I have been preaching about so make sure you read it if you can!

So, enjoy preparing for the thing many people fear the most but we do every day remembering that all speaking is public speaking!