Public speaking
How to avoid three common non-verbal communication #Zoomfails
Virtual communication is a veritable mine-field of potential mishaps. Apart from the obvious challenges of connectivity, platform pitfalls, and the distractions of working from home, non-verbal communication has also suffered in the virtual environment. We can’t always see the other person slump in discouragement or light up with enthusiasm if they’re off camera or on a second page of participants.
A significant portion of communication is non-verbal, comprised of facial expressions, gestures, and movement. Our messages are reinforced by what our bodies convey. The virtual format has subdued (or eliminated) those while also amplifying some of our worst non-verbal habits and introducing others.
Read MoreHow to deal with audience interruptions
You’ve scarcely begun your presentation, and someone interrupts you with a question. And the interruptions just keep coming.
What do you do?
This question surfaces often in my trainings. Last week, when someone asked it, the chat box lit up with others echoing the challenge. All the heads were nodding.
If it happens to you, too, you’re in good company.
Here’s the upside: The audience is engaged. They want what you have and they believe you can answer their questions.
But pause to recognize why they’re asking: They’re not entirely sure you will answer them. And they’re not willing to risk it (or wait).
Four ways to address the challenge of being interrupted during your presentation:
Read MoreHow to hook your audience’s attention—immediately
A speaker’s most precious commodity is their audience’s attention—a fact that’s even more important to recognize in the virtual setting where distraction is a prolific thief. Your audience will decide whether or not they want to pay attention to you in the first 30 seconds of your time with them. Don’t squander those precious seconds with pleasantries; cut straight to a well-crafted hook. (You can embed a nod of gratitude into your talk after you’ve earned their attention.)
How to start your presentation in a way that captures your audience’s attention immediately
As with all presentation preparation, it begins with the audience. If you haven’t first paused to reflect on who they are and why they’ll be in the (virtual) room, you won’t be able to grab their attention, let alone sustain it.
Analyzing your audience can be a rigorous process—one I recommend investing in proportionately to the importance of your talk: the higher the stakes, the more time and effort you’ll need to invest in understanding who they are and what they need from you. At its most basic level, answer the following questions to help yourself find the right hook for your introduction (and to provide the right content for the rest of your message):
Read MoreHow to refresh your signature talk—and why you need to
Gift guide for the speaker in your life
Public speaking is a life skill… a skill you need if you ever utter words aloud when another person is in the room. It’s particularly vital to one’s career—so much so that it’s been dubbed a power skill. Help someone you love to improve that skill with a gift of any of the following resources from my toolkit. You’ll put a smile on their face and equip them to better communicate themselves: win-win!
Read MoreHow to improve your odds of being selected for a TEDx talk
After working with the TEDxBoise program for five years (and consulting with other TEDx programs), I’m often asked how one gets an opportunity to grace the famous red dot.
I was recently interviewed by the Nonfiction Authors Association on exactly this topic. They’ve graciously made the podcast available to my audience for free; you can listen to that here.
There are a few points from the interview that merit elaboration and emphasis, so here are some insider tips to help you chart a course to giving a TEDx talk:
Read MorePublic speaking insights for entrepreneurs
Last week’s Boise Startup Week was a smorgasbord of helpfulness for anyone in the process of starting or building their entrepreneurial venture. I had the fun job of speaking to those readying themselves to pitch for funding.
While it’s not necessarily part of their core business, all entrepreneurs need public speaking skills to:
- win customers and clients, and secure suppliers,
- solicit the right people for your board of advisors,
- talk about their idea in professional and social settings,
- and, perhaps most importantly, to successfully pitch for funding.
The full talk can be viewed here and the slide deck can be downloaded here. For those preferring a synopsis in written format, here are the key principles:
Read MoreReclaimed: TEDxBoise 2020
In March, TEDxBoise, like so many other events, was postponed until April of 2021.
Not long ago, our board met again out of concern over the viability of having a spring 2021 event.
We decided to have our 2020 event after all. (Take that, COVID-19.)
It looked vastly different from the 400+ person event it normally is; we held it outside on the Idaho Shakespeare Festival stage with a very small (masked) audience last Saturday.
Read MoreYour allotted time to present just got cut—dramatically. Now what?
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s taught it us to be flexible, to hold our plans loosely. Nothing, it seems, has gone “to plan” since March. That truth as shown us the necessity of being adaptable. And it applies to presentations, too. Sometimes the amount of time we’re allotted to present gets significantly cut due to the agenda falling behind or the unexpected early departure of the key stakeholders. (Or—inexcusably—you don’t manage your own time well while speaking.)
How does a speaker adapt to the new time allotment?
Read MoreIf you have more than one image on a slide, do this
I’m a proponent of a single image on a presentation slide.
Just a single, clear, compelling image. As the old adage goes, it’s “worth thousand words.” More images are likely to confuse the image with too many “words.”
If, however, you really need to incorporate more than one image on a slide in order to convey the intended message of the slide (as in the case of a “team” slide in a pitch deck, for example), here are a few ways to make that message come through clearly and minimize visual clutter:
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