Life’s too short for dull presentations part 1…
“Ladies and gentlemen the groom Mr. Lee Jackson” – this was probably the best speech I have done, it just felt great, it should’ve done – it was the biggest day of my life after all. I remember starting with the classic line “unaccustomed as I am to public speaking” and that got a great laugh and a few heckles – mainly because even then I was ‘very accustomed’ to public speaking – I had spoken to thousands of people in that year alone. It was a good first line though. And *shock horror* I did all of my wedding speech without a single powerpoint slide!
Obviously, there are many different types of business, but in my experience, most, if not all of them involve some sort of presenting or speaking. That may be a regular team talk, a sales pitch or presenting a new budget to the board. Even though we all have to do it, the reality is, we don’t get much help or training to do it well, a bit like parenting. And even scarier…our job may rely on it, just ask a certain well-known jeweller!
As you probably know, according to many published ‘Top Ten Lists’, the fear of public speaking ranks number one in the minds of the majority of people. Far above the fear of death and disease, comes the fear of standing up in front of people. This is serious stuff.
So let me try and demystify speaking for you. How can we do our best every time we have to speak in public? Helping people speak well falls into three main areas…
Preparation, Delivery, Anxiety
But before we dive in – like I did with my wedding speech – just stop and think now of a couple of great talks you have heard over the last few years…Why did they impact you? What made them memorable? Was it the venue? The content? The passion? A particular story? I have sat through a three day conference before and only remembered three things. So – purposeful and memorable need to be our focus.
Gordon Brown was voted the most boring speaker in the UK recently – strange as he seems to “tick all the boxes” for a good speech maker but he somehow doesn’t deliver with passion. That proves that there is no magic formula – we can “do it all” and still miss it by a mile – so anyone who tells you there’s a ten point plan to speaking brilliance is lying – a few tips and lots of practice will nail it. Play to your strengths, watch others do it well and then be yourselves “in the moment”, not reading a script.
Speaking is more a learnt skill than a natural talent – most people can learn to do it well…
