FRONT OF THE ROOM
Brian Lange
Professional basketball player, coach and Hall of Fame member Steve Nash may have said it best: “You can’t skip the practice and rely solely on talent. Practice is the bridge between your abilities and success.”
My wife, Lori, and I were recently walking across the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and I noticed the maintenance crew appeared to be setting up for some sort of gathering. The workers were setting up metal crowd barriers, staging and other needed items. What caught my eye was a gentleman pacing back and forth beside the temporary stage. Upon closer inspection, I could see his mouth was moving and he occasionally looked down at some note cards.
He was practicing his speech!
This simple endeavor sparked some reminders about successful speaking — and here are some tips to ensure outstanding results.
Experience the venue beforehand: I loved that the gentleman was practicing at the site of his future speech. He got to take in all the nuances of the site, make note of any visual barriers, get a sense of the acoustics and ultimately just get “connected” with the vibe of the location.
Consider bullet points as visual cues (not word-for-word script): Assuming you practice your delivery beforehand, it’s helpful to remind yourself you know the material! As you deliver, if you need a prompt it’s so much easier to glance down and see a bullet-point message than to try and decipher which paragraph you’re supposed to be at within a full script. Some people like to do initial prep runs using a word-for-word-script, but it’s important to then start streamlining into practicing with just the bullet-point ideas.
Openings are opportunities for emotional connection: Skip the background or bio details of you (or your company) — grab the audience with a compelling story, statement, question or even an “imagine if” scenario. Identify any protagonist(s) or challenge(s) or decision that needs to be made; get the audience emotionally invested in the struggle and opportunity. Identify antagonists as well.
Bring energy to your platform skills: Some people have the gift where their physical movements and use of voice align naturally with the message their mouth is conveying. For the rest of us, we likely would benefit from watching a video of ourselves in action. My litmus tests are always: Am I interesting to watch? Am I interesting to listen to? Purposeful movement combined with comfortable moments of stillness and audience member eye-contact work well. Elevating your voice volume and ensuring there is vocal inflection (highs and lows) and changes in pace also help add energy to your delivery.
Be deliberate in creating moments of contemplation: It won’t be the content of your talk that generates any action or change as a result of your delivery; it is what your audience chooses to do with your information. You need to find opportunities for your audience to think! Use compelling questions and let them “land” (give pause). Prompt your audience to contemplate: How does this compare to your world? What would it be like if…? What could be the impact — if any — of this information? What do you find yourself thinking about this?
Connect the dots: Your conclusion should help your audience tie together all of your points. Refer back to examples you shared, themes you highlighted and problems or opportunities identified. A neat device is to connect back to your original, opening story or premise. It helps create nice closure for your audience. And then, send them off with some big question that leaves them thinking!
It’s funny that our stroll across campus sparked some reflection on my part about public speaking. It’s also a reminder that paying attention to what’s happening around us can often provide unusual sources for content or reference when we speak (and write!).
What observations have you seen today that could be woven into and used creatively for your next talk?
Brian Lange is with Perim Consulting and serves as lead facilitator for LTEN PrimeTime! For Trainers workshops. Email Brian at blange@perim.com or connect with him on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/brianplange.
