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Articles » Presentation SkillsNo One’s a Born Speaker — But Speaking is Natural
Back in 1989, I was in Los Angeles, California, getting ready to speak in front of a thousand people at a sales training seminar. My job was to do a three-minute introduction for the main speaker of the day. I’d been the National Sales Manager for the seminar sales training company for a couple of years, and I was pretty comfortable doing presentations before groups of five to fifty people. But a thousand? That was terrifying. I had all kinds of things prepared, but when I went onstage I forgot everything I wanted to say. I was so nervous I babbled a few sentences and then, my voice cracking, said, “Please welcome Tony Robbins!” and ran offstage as fast as I could. It was embarrassing, humiliating, terrifying—all the adjectives most people associate with the words “public speaking.” I was a total failure. Me, the guy who was supposed to be the best at persuading people! I vowed I would never let something like that happen to me again. Today, I make my living as a speaker and communicator, offering seminars and training sessions all over the world. I’m not trying to say that I know everything about speaking, or that I’ve got it all handled when it comes to my own presentations—in fact, just the opposite. I’m fundamentally a shy person. Being a public speaker was never my goal growing up, and I think the same is true for most people. That’s why I consider myself a walking, talking example of the fact that anyone can learn to be a persuasive communicator, whether the audience is five people or five thousand. And I have developed a clear, easy system that will show you step by step how to create and deliver persuasive presentations in any context, with ease and enjoyment. I call this system the “Fire-UP!” system for reasons you’ll discover later (the letters F-I-R-E-U-P stand for different aspects of creating powerful and persuasive presentations). But I also like the term “fire up!” because that describes what every great presenter must do. When I look at an audience that I am about to speak to the first thing I do is focus on the outcome or the result that I will be creating through my presentation. If I have a powerful solution or outcome that will truly benefit my audience then I know that the audience has the potential to embrace my outcome. But just because they have the potential to embrace it, does not mean that they necessarily will. It is my job to make sure they do! The audience’s potential to embrace the outcome of my presentation is similar to a small flickering flame. If the flickering flame is not fed with the proper fuel, it will eventually be extinguished. The presentation I give is the fuel for the flickering flame. If I deliver the necessary information in the proper pattern of persuasion and with the proper emotions, then I can FIRE-UP the flickering flame of potential in each audience member into a rip-roaring fire that drives them to embrace my outcome. Great presenters get their audiences fired up and excited about the outcome that their presentation was designed to create. They engage the emotions of the people they’re in front of. But in order to fire up the audience, the presenter also must be “fired up” as well. We’ve all sat through dreadful presentations by speakers who either hate what they’re doing, or, what’s almost worse, they’re bored doing the same old speech yet again. To be persuasive, you must be excited about what you have to offer. Only when you are emotionally engaged yourself will you be able to move your audience as well. Whether it’s your first speech or your five hundredth, you must be committed to your audience and emotionally involved in your content. At this point you may be thinking, I don’t want to be a professional speaker, Tom—what will this book do for me? Well, in business if you are going to be a leader in any organization, or if you are going to persuade a customer to embrace a new solution, you’d better be able to express yourself in a powerful way. One of the best examples I have seen of this is the CEO of Cisco Systems, John Chambers. Through the FAST program at Cisco I have had the opportunity to listen to John speak to new employees as they are educated about the Cisco culture. As excited as the audience is about being a part of Cisco when John starts his presentation, they are always even more excited and committed to Cisco when he is finished speaking. Though his communication he always moves his audience’s to a better and more productive place. They leave his presentations with even stronger beliefs about themselves and Cisco and a resolve to deliver outstanding individual and team performance. It’s no wonder that many people regard John as one of the world’s top CEO’s. Truthfully, the ability to persuade groups is essential in today’s business climate. More and more businesses are structured around teams, and everyone needs to be able to communicate comfortably and effectively within a team environment. The skills you will learn in these pages are applicable to almost every situation—not just presentations where you’re standing up in front of a group, but at tables or board meetings or sales conferences or department meetings or the P.T.A. Indeed, these skills can be used whenever you communicate, whether it’s with one person or a group. No One is a “Born” Speaker Great Speakers Create a Series of Interesting, Connected Conversations. Speaking is one of the fundamental activities of the human race. In fact, it’s one of the few things that separates us from other animals. Speaking is something we learn to do as babies and usually keep doing until we die. We’re driven to communicate with others of our species. So what is it about speaking to groups that turns us from experienced talkers into terrified, tongue-tied amateurs? There’s something about standing up in front of a group of people that seems to make us forget how to talk naturally. Presenters start doing things that are not normal or natural: talking above people’s heads, listening to their own inner dialogue instead of focusing on the audience, using stilted language or bad jokes—the kind of stuff they would never do when they’re talking to one person. I don’t believe that anyone is a “born” speaker. Sure, there may be people who are more comfortable in the limelight, but being in front of an audience is scary. We feel exposed. We’re afraid of looking like fools. But most of us think that because speaking makes us scared or uncomfortable that we’ll never be any good at it. And nothing could be further from the truth. To become a persuasive communicator, you need to realize that speaking in front of a group is no different than having a conversation with another person. In fact, that’s all you’re really doing. An effective presentation is simply a series of connected conversations. Viewed this way, speaking to a group becomes something very natural and normal. It’s kind of like being at a party: you have one conversation, then move on to another person or group and have another conversation, and so on. Most conversations are usually pretty easy. After all, you have conversations with people every single day. What do you do when you have a conversation with someone? You do your best to find something in common with them. You look at them directly. You smile at them. You ask them questions. You’re interested in what they bring to the interaction. You read their responses and change your communication as a result. You speak informally, casually, in a normal, conversational tone of voice. You use humor. You’re not afraid to express yourself passionately on a subject. Now, think about the ways that great presenters communicate. Don’t they do exactly what I just described; only they do it with audiences? They’re comfortable. They are genuinely interested in their audience. They try to find something in common with the people they’re speaking to. They ask questions. They smile. They speak normally and naturally; they don’t use elevated language that no one understands. They often use humor. They’re not afraid of being passionate about their subject. And people will often say after the presentation is done, “You know, I felt like he was speaking directly to me!” That’s because most great presenters know that giving a speech is not that different from having a conversation. You simply speak to one person at a time. Staying with each person long enough to create a connection and then moving on to the next person, while using all your communication skills to make the conversation interesting for your audience. The outcome is simple: to touch other human beings with thoughts, words, and emotions and move them to a pre-defined outcome. Learn more about effective presentation skills - Signup to receive Tom's free newsletter ezine. Click here to signup now! |
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