Captivate like a Motivational Speaker

You don’t need to be a motivational speaker to own the audience. YOU can do it. Today I give you a few little known tactics for holding an audience.

A little more than 2/3 of the people I present to across the world will also be giving public presentations to others at some point this year. Some will be live, more will be on Zoom. (Covid habits are hard to break!)

Sales people of all kinds including insurance agents, realtors, online marketers, people using video online as part of their business and so on. In fact people using video online for marketing or group presentations is growing rapidly in 2022. About half of these people will become the subject of pity from an audience. Those that aren’t, usually end up disliked more than when they got up in front of the group. Such is the reason why speaking in front of another or a group is the greatest fear there is today in the English speaking world.

Why?

Because no one has shown them how to be a captivating presenter. No one has taken the time to show them the skills of the master.

Today I want to give you some tips and strategies along with a complete mindset that will boost your success in front of an audience.

Prep Like a Pro

About 1/3 of all problems in presenting to an audience come down to preparation in one way or another.

Thorough preparation and proper presentation are prime factors.

First and foremost, there always should be a good reason for making a presentation or “giving a speech.”

Your talk must be timely. Too many speeches not only are poorly planned but also are lacking in purpose. They bore the audience and often leave them wondering what the presenter was thinking…

If you have a choice about what you are going to present, think in terms of “timely.” People are in the moment more today than they were 15 years ago. Select timely subjects and discussion points. Whatever subject matter you are going to speak about, learn all you can about it, for persuasively communicating knowledge that can be used by another, is power.

Speaker Mastery

Until you master your subject you cannot master your audience, for a speaker deep in doubt carries no conviction. He not only must believe in the idea he seeks to sell, but he must present it logically.

In our Professional Speakers Course, participants learn to tell stories from their life and hone them to be engaging for listeners. Most people are masters of their personal life history but few people can tell a story about their life and hold the attention of the room while doing so.

A big problem speakers have is lack of mental organization. They just don’t know what they are going to talk about without reading it from Power Point or knowing their material like they know that personal history.

I’ve been in audiences where speakers read straight from a document…for the entire presentation. This is true for online presentations as well. Rehearsed is good. Reading is bad. Very bad. Never do this! Throw away your speech and use only a few words for “trigger” notes!

With rare exception, I personally don’t go to these events any more. It’s mind boggling to think that ANYONE would be interested in listening to someone read to them other than Garrison Keillor or their own child…and sometimes not even the child….

Mastery means you know your subject cold.
Now don’t confuse this with having a cheat sheet handy. The cheat sheet contains 10-15 WORDS on it that will get you back on track.

If you know where you are going you don’t need to read from a piece of paper. Probably the biggest reason people prepare such wordy power points is they experience fear.

Since I was very young through most of my adulthood, I’ve suffered from Panic Disorder. Panic Disorder for the purpose of this discussion is like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In current times, once every couple of years, I might have a panic attack on stage, live, in person, so I’m very familiar with fear that can’t be controlled.

When something like that happens, the body goes into fight/flight and prefers not to communicate or think. A panic attack can last 20 minutes and then it goes….but those minutes are like hours.

When I began professional speaking, I had a major challenge. Panic Disorder was a a big part of the reason I wanted to be in public speaking was BECAUSE I had panic disorder and I knew the only way to truly fight the fears and feelings that come with panic attacks, was to put myself in the most vulnerable position of all. Ultimately the life strategy worked and the world is a much safer place to be today.

When you know your material and know it like your biography, even a panic attack can only side track you for a few moments. Because you know the material so well, you simply pull out your cheat sheet (or look up on the flip chart) and see where you “want to go next.”

I typically keep a 15 word cheat sheet, which I make the night before I present, in my coat pocket. I pull it out perhaps once per year.

Make a Connection

Mastery allows you to do one thing when you are on stage. Bond with your audience.

Nothing matters more than truly caring about your audience, being with them, being vulnerable with them. Being open and honest with them. Letting them get to know you in story and sharing what you have with them so they go home with a list of “take-aways” a mile long.

The Excellence Formula…

Self Confidence Causes Persistence Which Causes Excellence

Self-confidence comes as a natural consequence of careful preparation and mastery.

Any normal person can become a successful public speaker if she allows herself to be natural and if she observes certain cardinal canons of presenting to an audience. Of course she becomes better by working at it, but many talents are lost to the world for want of courage. The woods would have little music if no birds sang except those that sang best.

To become an effective speaker, you must develop presentations well and you must constantly test your material by taking every opportunity to speak publicly. More than any other human activity, this is learned by doing and improved by practice.

The first public speaking lesson, just as the first swimming lesson, requires gathering up enough confidence to try. A library of literature on swimming techniques, knowing which direction is shore, is without meaning until the beginner shakes off his shakes. Until the swimmer (or speaker) discovers that what he fears is not the water (or the audience) but himself, he is lacking in confidence and further effort is a waste of time.

Keep it SHORT

I tell everyone I teach that if you are speaking in conjunction with a number of other speakers and you want to make the best impression, go FIRST or LAST and where everyone else will bore the bejesus out of the audience, you will KEEP IT SHORT and save your audience by letting them out of the torture they are probably facing… EARLY.

Rule of thumb? It’s usually torture if the people are not paying to be there.

Keep it short, go last, be vulnerable, you will be the hero of the day.

If you are a rookie at speaking before an audience, say, OK folks, this is my first time before an audience, so if I fall down, help me back up….and then get to it.

Don’t freak out because you’re a novice… you just might may make a hit by acknowledging that fact.

You should always start your presentation with either a timely story or a personal story that is SHORT and funny.

Don’t tell jokes. You will always “offend” some whiney audience member who appears to be paid to be offended…

Make light of yourself, be self-deprecating, let your story speak for itself….never tell the MORAL of the story or people will feel (and rightly so) that you are arrogant enough to think that you need to tell them the moral…that they are too dang stupid to figure it out for themselves….

Fight Your Fright

Even after the initial lesson, almost everyone who rises to speak suffers some degree of stage fright. Many outstanding speakers admit they are nervous before every performance or presentation. If this is you too, realize it’s NORMAL.

When a speaker is fully informed on his subject, he knows more about it at the moment than anyone present, and that thought in itself should give you great comfort.

Fear happens when you self-evaluate.

I do this sometimes, if I think an audience is sitting on their hands or aren’t laughing when they SHOULD be laughing.

But the fact is that there are a lot more variables in a room than you and the audience. You have no idea what happened that day with the organization or company or if someone got fired. WHATEVER, remain vulnerable and be with your audience 100% until you have completed what you have to say.

A good presentation goes wrong when you’re up there thinking, “Huh, I think she’s looking at me like I’m weird, screwed up, that she knows I am nervous, that she thinks I’m wrong….” WHATEVER. LOOK AT SOMEONE ELSE.

The speaker who has a full understanding of his subject literally radiates confidence.

The chances are quite good that no matter how bad you think you are “doing,” you’re probably doing fine if you are well prepared and the authority on the subject at hand.

The Golden Key to Profits…

Where Do You Hold Your Pre-Season Games?

In the month of August, Pro Football teams all over the country hold their “Pre-season games.” They are real games with real hitting and injuries, but they don’t count because they are practice.

You do the same thing.

Luncheon clubs, lodge meetings, military orders, and community gatherings, afford any speaker plenty of opportunities to practice their craft. Speak to Civic and Service Club Forums. This is how I started and I am VERY GLAD that I did.

Finally, in Pre-season, remember there are injuries…the hitting is real. But because the games don’t count, you might as well…

Invite Criticism

I’m like everyone else. I hate criticism. I don’t like some Joe telling me what I did wrong or how to do it “right,” BUT every piece of criticism YOU GET, says something about YOU, the person giving you the feedback and the connection between the two.

In NLP, they say that the meaning of the communication is the result you get.

That’s wrong.

You aren’t responsible for the entire communication. Audience members bring in biases, attitudes and personal psychological problems that can make for a challenging day for any speaker.

BUT, learning what that goofball in the audience tells you allows you to KNOW that you’ll have people in the audience in the future thinking the SAME THING. That means you can PREPARE for it and use Omega Strategies (See The Science of Influence: Tactics and Techniques of Persuasion) to disarm these threats long before you get heckled.

Public Speaking…The Golden Key to Power and Profits

Today, the majority of salespeople communicate their ideas as clearly as did most Presidential Contenders did at the turn of the century. In 2022, high achieving people must not only have a good command of the language, they must have a powerful and charismatic presence.

Achievers must express themselves clearly and fluently in commonplace business conversation, across the conference table, or from a speaker’s platform. The world has changed a lot in the last century…the skills of success are evolving…

To succeed today, you have no choice but to be able to speak effectively. The identical rules that a public speaker observes apply to the professional who wants to reach C-level positions.

Part of what causes excellent speakers to be persuasive is simply being able to articulate the other person’s viewpoint (no matter how inconsequential) and giving it great consideration.

Studies have accumulated in the past few years and they clearly reveal that resistance is derailed by being able to point out weaknesses in one’s own self, platform, service or product and being able to say something good about the competitor, if anything at all.

Think about it – the most successful trial lawyer is the one who can set out the opponent’s case more clearly than the opponent’s own attorney. Right?

What Some Think Is the Unforgivable Sin…and What it Really Is

I’m like every speaker who isn’t a scripted actor. I can be distracted and have my train get derailed.

A lot of speakers are terrified of such a moment. The fact is, it’s next to unimportant.

It’s pretty human and happens to the best.

But, if your mind wanders from the MESSAGE you hope to convey and you wonder whether the audience is impressed by your platform appearance, studied gestures or polished delivery, you will lose their attention….THAT is the unforgivable sin….

They are not interested in your evaluation of your own showmanship — only in the idea you came to convey and your own vulnerability.

If you can give that…you win…and so do they.

People Prefer to Listen to…

How do you Convey Ideas?

When a speaker has certainty in his message and is eager to have his listeners share it, what he says rings with sincerity. The sincere person has won half the battle.

The truly sincere speaker who conveys his message merely by expressing his thoughts in a clear, orderly and articulate manner WILL PERSUADE.

When it’s his turn to talk, he’ll rise and shine. He leaves the bogus approaches to the professional politicians.

Bargain of Public Speaking

As long as people remain connected and hold conventions and meetings, you and I will exchange ideas.

As long as people need a medium for exchanging ideas, public speaking will be necessary. The best thing, perhaps, about speaking is that it’s such an unbeatable bargain. If you have a dollar and I have a dollar and we exchange dollars, we will each still have one dollar; but if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange ideas, we will each have two ideas.

The value of experience in public speaking cannot be estimated in dollars and cents for it accumulates intangible assets. It develops an enormous amount of business and advances the professions. It’s a public relations format that brings massive returns.

Communities look to people who talk well and convincingly for leadership. The person who can express an idea clearly becomes a V.I.P.

Their presence and their opinions are sought at public functions. A speaker may acquire more prestige in five minutes of successful public speaking than in five years of grinding work.

Have you ever noticed how the person who receives the most favorable attention and who commands the greatest respect is the one who delivers a few well-chosen words on some subject under discussion?

He is the one that is remembered long after the regular “attender” is forgotten.

Effective Speakers Become Leaders

Public speakers are perceived as leaders.

The people who run a country are those who speak with emotion, communicate well and fluently convey important ideas. More people have talked themselves into prominence than have gained world renown through all other fields of endeavor combined.

Some people play down the influence of persuasive speakers, yet you cannot escape the fact that a good speaker frequently takes over a critical situation, grabs the reins and rides in the driver’s seat.

An intelligent business person accepts the inevitable; instead of resisting public speaking, he becomes one of them. The ability to speak well can carry an individual far in the capacity of an interesting conversationalist.

Take any group of people…. the persons they prefer to hear are those who have something to say and know how to say it.

The same instincts that make people turn and listen to the articulate individual in private conversation, make you and I turn and listen to public speakers. The ability to say something articulately is likewise the ability to give lucid directions on a job, instructions to subordinates, and followed suggestions in the home.

How to tell or sell an interesting topic is the elusive goal of many and the coveted secret of few, yet it’s an ability within the reach of all.

Holding Their Attention …

For the shy or dry, a little preparation can add wit and sparkle to speech.

Very few comedians are naturally, spontaneously funny. They need one-liners and superb delivery to put them over. With few exceptions, entertainers follow their scripts so closely they don’t ad lib so much as a sneeze – yet many of them rack up reputations as clever personalities when in reality they’re cashing in on the creativity of their writers.

This doesn’t mean you need to be scripted, but it does mean that the stories you tell should be those you have successfully told over and over.

Some “older” speakers still depend upon eloquent language and rather bombastic delivery to excite their listeners, but their style is fading fast. The televangelist is rarely believed in 2022…and it’s a good thing…

A few still get away with the con, but the reality is that when a sincere speaker presents his ideas, when he believes what he says and sincerely tries to sell the idea, he automatically speaks clearly, calmly, and properly places his pauses. His sincerity puts across his talk; and when his talk goes over, he’s a good speaker.

The change in emphasis from emotionalism to straightforwardness has materially promoted interest in public and professional speaking. As more people learn how to become competent speakers, the impact of public speakings value becomes obvious.

Fewer people hesitate to convey a thought when the thought rather than its conveyor captures the attention of the audience.

Private Conversation and Public Speaking

This is probably the key to my success on stage. I’m VERY VULNERABLE on stage. Being authentic provides many advantages and one disadvantage. By being open, forthright, honest, ….there WILL BE people in the audience who flat out don’t like you…but it’s a lot easier to be me…than it is to be anyone else…

The biggest difference between private conversation and public speaking is that in a presentation there is no exchange of remarks. (At least, you hope that’s the case!)

Other than that, the speech is conversation addressed to more than one listener. A good example is when a man is talking to one individual and another person joins them. More people are attracted and as the group grows, the conversationalist is no longer carrying on a conversation, he’s making a speech. He must raise the volume of his voice so that he can be heard yet he should retain the informal manner which is the most effective style.

Learning how to communicate to a group and hold attention consistently is another story, but the fact is that people who recognize that a group is like a person with a shorter attention span will help you prepare for group presentations.

And the core is the well-told story. I’ll save that creation of masterpiece for the Professional Speakers Course!