Public speaking can do wonders for networking and lead generation – but that doesn’t make it any less daunting. Here are some tips from top communication experts on how you can be a master of the stage.
Public speaking opportunities can do wonders for your public profile, networking and lead generation – but that doesn’t make them any less daunting. Here are some tips from top communication experts on how you can become a master of the stage.
- Name the elephant in the room
Rather than avoiding tricky topics and crossing your fingers your audience will do the same, communication skills coach Gary Wohlman tells Human Capital Online the best way to keep control of the situation is to raise the prickly points yourself.
“It takes away the attack by being able to preview the questions that one would otherwise be afraid to be asked, it also gives them a greater command of speaking,” he says.
MC and professional speaker Michael Neaylon suggests claiming ‘the elephant’ and turning it into a positive for yourself. He gives the example of giving a presentation to an audience that is much older than yourself.
“Frame that and say ‘I understand that I’m 20 years younger, or thereabouts, to everyone else in this room. Where I do have something unique that I can bring to the table is XYZ, and even though I may not have the 20 years’ experience that you have, and I extremely respect that, I do have this expertise that I can bring'.”
- Be yourself
Neaylon compares giving a public presentation to giving a speech at a wedding or a 21st. While the setting and the language may be more formal in the former, that doesn’t mean you can’t show your personality in the same way you would in the latter.
“Often if the idea’s a really big one or a complex strategy that you need to get across, the more relaxed you are and the more you you are, the more we’ll hear it, so it actually works for you across the board.”
- Find your focus point
When speaking to a large audience, Wohlman suggests finding one person who’s regarding you positively, and look them in the eye. To find out who else is giving you encouraging body language, Wohlman recommends sweeping the audience “like you’re an orchestra conductor, with your hands, your eyes and your body”.
“You’ll see different groups of people; seeing the room like a pie you can slice into different elements, two or three slices, and therefore when I make a key point in one area and finish and make a key point in another area I’m always having my eyes on someone who’s having contact with me.”
- And if you lose it?
Everybody gets nervous, and if you’re making a lot of presentations, at some point you’re bound to lose your thread – but that doesn’t mean your audience has to know it, says Neaylon.
“It’s very embarrassing to say, ‘I forgot what to say, I can’t find my notes, I lost track of what to tell you’. No one wants to look like that on stage.”
The best way to prompt yourself and give yourself time to recover, without letting your audience catch on, is to follow a simple formula, says Neaylon.
- Start with an inclusive question such as ‘Where are we going to go from here?’
- Follow up with a recap of what you’ve said throughout the presentation
- Give a brief summary of your last point
- Give an outline of your next topic
“That simple structure, for any excellent speaker works beautifully,” says Neaylon.
