Public Speaking

Key Points: 

1. Public Speaking is not a performance --- it’s a conversation: one on one, on one, on one, et. cetera. A performance is memorized --- dancers in a ballet, musicians playing in a symphony, singers remembering lyrics, actors remembering lines.

But speaking to a group had better not be memorized. Your listeners want to feel that you’re spontaneously communicating ideas to them, not reciting a pre-ordained set of memorized words. 

And guess what --- we all know when someone is  reciting. And we don’t like it.

2. Everyone in an audience is a “one” – listening with his or her own ears, looking with his or her own eyes, individually deciding whether or not you’ve got something to say that they can use. If they decide (and they do this quickly) that you aren’t worth the trouble of listening to you, you’re out in the ocean without a life raft.I3. Key to remember: No matter how many people are listening to you, each one is listening to you as an individual. So, you need to speak to him and her conversationally, about something that they already care about. You need to know that they need, or quickly discover that whatever it is you’re saying, is of importance to them. One-on one, on one, on one……..

The solution?

All you need to do to keep them on your side is to find out what they need. Or you need to make them  aware of a need that they don’t yet have but now want. Now you’ve got them rooting for you! Good news: unless there’s someone in your audience who wants your job, everyone wants you to succeed out of pure self-interest. Bingo!  No one wants to be bored or feel that it’s a waste of his or her time to sit and listen to something they don’t care about. They're hoping against hope that you’re worth their precious time. Your job is to make them believe that what you’re sharing with them is going to help them in some way.