WAKE 'EM
UP!
Business
Presentations
A book on public speaking by Tom Antion
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Vulnerability
Make 'em Wonder
Bounce Around
Vulnerability
I picked up some more tips for my
book on public speaking, recently, while I was standing around talking to other
presenters at the National Speakers Association convention.
A professional speaker named John Meluso, spent some time watching me and noted that I was not showing the audience any vulnerability near the start of my program.
I would roll along in my usual style and then give a signature story at the END of my talk that showed my sensitive humorous style. John, pointed out to me that being the kind of public speaker that I am, I have probably been alienating many of the sensitive audience members. Once alienated, those members don't hear you anymore.
It is likely that right from the start my stage persona ran right over them, causing them to retreat for cover and making them retreat emotionally.
Because of John's astute observation, when I'm speaking I will change the order of some of my material to better connect with more subdued audience members.
Having grown up not far from Pittsburgh in Washington, Pennsylvania, and having my brains battered playing lineman in football at school at West Virginia U, I can still recall how an old boy coal miner friend of mine once told me, 'The schoolhouse door is always open.'
The vulnerability is to admit that not always can we say "Our minds be always open".
John, I want to thank you for reminding me that as we master the skills from my book on public speaking, always and in all ways, we all can get better and improve our skills.
Make 'em
Wonder
Most of the students from my
book on public speaking and my readers know that when I do a presentation I
always try to push the limits of he norm, to make sure my audience is going
to stay awake and listen to my presentation.
In this article from my book on public speaking I will attack another common old school style technique on public speaking. (and I know I will get letters from educational theory folks yelling at me, but that is OK). The technique I am referring to is that you should tell the people in your audience what you are going to cover during your presentation.
I say let 'em figure it out as you go.
If your audience thinks they know where you are going during your presentation, then it makes it easy for them to 'zone out' since they 'think' they know what you are going to say.
Instead make them wonder, 'What in the heck is he going to do next?,' which forces them to stay alert to find out.
If they are asleep it will be impossible for you to use what you learn from my book on public speaking so make 'em wake up, and make 'em wonder at your words.
Bounce Around
Bouncing around in your
presentation in an important skills taught in my book on public speaking. I
recently had one of the hardest public speaking presentations of my career.
It was a three hour afternoon session on Reverend Martin Luther King's
federal holiday in Baltimore, Maryland.
The main reason it was so hard was because the audience consisted of all the
employees from one company, ranging from the lowest level to the highest
level in the company.
This may not sound like a big deal, but it was. When you have all managers
or all executives, it is easy to focus in on their particular interests and
concerns. But when you speaking to such a diverse group, you need to
'bounce around' and not spend too much time on the interests and concerns of
any one particular profession. If you do, you will lose the interest of all
the other groups.
By bouncing around between groups you show every audience member you care
about them, whether they are a secretary or CEO.
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