How to be an effective public speaker

Executive Summary - Here are my four tips on how to be an effective public speaker:

1. Show up to contribute: Show up with a desire to contribute, to share your ideas, your thoughts, and perspectives with others.  Start your speech with this notion of giving and wanting nothing in return. 
2. Be situationally aware: Have an awareness of what is going on around you and adapt your communication approach to the forum in which you find yourself.
3. Be bold but authentic: Be yourself, be real! Authenticity engages, so speak from the gut and the audience will feel the realness and connect. 
4. Be personable: You will need to make an emotional impact, appeal to people’s feelings. Try to relate to them. I find that the best way to do that is by sharing stories and personal anecdotes. A good story can speak a thousand words!

Recently, I was invited by imh to be a keynote speaker at the 17th CFO Management Forum and CFO Awards 2021, held in Cyprus the end of September. Thank you again imh for giving me the platform to share my insights. Inspired by this recent, and may I say wonderful experience, I was reminded once again the importance of being able to communicate successfully to large numbers of people.  This article is an attempt to share with you my tips on how one can be an effective public speaker/presenter.

Never underestimate the power of great communication! 

Effective and impactful communication can help you attract investors, influence analysts, convince your board, or land your dream job. All extremely important and consequential tasks. However, as you may have noticed by now in your everyday work lives, not all leaders are great communicators and not many (leaders) are great public speakers. Public speaking remains something most people dread although it is a necessary evil, especially as you climb the corporate ladder. 

Indeed, as our careers advance, we will be asked often, to present, either internally or externally. The experience is daunting and can strike fear into the hearts of many people, a fear of public humiliation, a fear that while standing in front of people and delivering a speech, you will somehow screw up and embarrass yourself!

But we must learn to conquer our fear and deliver presentations that make an impact. Public speaking is, unfortunately, part of the job description of a leader!  Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learned and with practice one can get better and better!

My article is not about presentation tips that I consider ‘common sense’ and which most leaders with some basic experience, are well-aware. For the sake of completeness though, I list them here:

·      Develop your content / Know your subject by heart

·      Keep your slides, aids simple / Use photos, images

·      Speak clearly, don’t rush / Be concise and confident

·      Arrive early / Check the venue, equipment

·      Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse / Practice, practice, practice

Instead, I will focus on four tips that can set yourself apart and transform you from being a good speaker to being a great one!

1. Show up to contribute

You are presenting, because you know, or you’ve developed some ideas and concepts that somebody thinks other people must hear! So, come to your presentation hall with a spirit of commitment. 

Show up with a desire to contribute, to share your ideas, your thoughts, and perspectives with others.  Start your speech with this notion of giving and wanting nothing in return. And watch . . . a special bond between you and the audience will start to develop. The audience will start trusting you and they will be more receptive to what you have to share.   Care for your audience and 'live' the moment. Be genuinely glad to be there! 

Avoid talking about yourself, reciting your qualifications, experience, and credentials. This is off-putting to say the least. The organizers have already done that in their website and/or in brochures and programs they sent out. Instead, shift the spotlight from yourself to your ideas and be there to give and convey your point across. Keep thinking, this is not about you but about what you have to say, what you want to share, to give. If you keep that in mind, your presentation/speech will be much more effective!

2. Be situationally aware

We communicate in many, vastly different, forums. To be effective, you need to have situational awareness and you need to adapt your communication approach to the forum in which you find yourself. Situational awareness means knowing what is going on around you . . . it means taking into consideration and contemplating your prospective audience. Although you may not always have the luxury of having answers to these questions in advance:

·      Who are you talking/presenting to?

·      What do they know about your subject and how might they feel about it?

·      How might your presentation impact them?

·      Are you there to inform, teach, stimulate, or provoke?

Try gathering as much information as possible because situational awareness will help you appreciate and connect with your audience. Focus on tailoring your presentation to the specific audience you are addressing. 

Always remember that when you speak/present, sometimes things will not go as planned. You need to be fluent and ready to maneuver . . . you need to be as situationally aware as possible.

3. Be bold but authentic

More important than anything else is to be yourself, to be real! If you are not, unless you are an Oscar winning actor, people can tell. Authenticity engages, so speak from the gut and the audience will feel the realness and connect. 

Be honest, if you are a bit nervous, tell them, remember audience respond best to authentic, even flawed, human behavior because they can relate to it. They will sympathize with you as most people hate public speaking and will be patient and give you the benefit of the doubt even if your presentation is not 100% interesting.

At the same time, you must be bold and audacious. If you want to present/deliver something that will last and be transformative, you have to be bold. Boldness informs and inspires.  However, do not brag, be noble and humble.   Being the most authentic version of yourself will also best transfer your messages across naturally and with personal conviction. 

4. Be personable

You will need to make an emotional impact, appeal to people’s feelings. Thank people, the organizing team, your host. Acknowledge, recognize other speakers. Empathize with your audience. Try to relate to them. If you build a rapport with the audience your speech will leave a lasting positive impact.

I find that the best way to do that is by sharing stories and personal anecdotes. A good story can speak a thousand words! People may not remember what you said in your speech, but they will remember your stories.  Stories are powerful because human brain operates in pictures and the story has the ability to paint the picture in the minds of the audience. So, use stories to drive home what you try to convey. A good story will give your audience something extra to ponder . . . maybe an ‘a-ha’ moment.

 Some people who are comfortable doing it, may throw in a joke or two, aiming to get a smile or a laugh from your audience and in this way ‘break the ice’.  However, most people do it poorly and there is nothing worse than telling a bad joke or telling a good joke badly! So, unless you are Jerry Seinfeld, avoid jokes.

Finally, being asked to give a presentation or a speech, is an honor not a chore! You are presenting not by right but by invitation. You therefore have a duty and the responsibility to put in the time and effort to ensure that you deliver what your audience wants. It takes hard work and dedication but it’s all worth it. The feeling of seeing everyone amazed by what you’ve shared is probably one of the most gratifying and rewarding experiences in the world.

I hope my four tips above will help you excel and get you an invitation back to give another powerful speech. Like everything in life . . . practice makes perfect!