Formulistic presentations tick the boxes, but don’t ignite much enthusiasm in the audience. The things that go missing are often passion and commitment about the topic. Additionally, it may be an already low energy, flat delivery is further hindered by a poor structure. We enter a room full of pre-occupied people, with microscopic attention spans, basically entirely distracted before we start. We need to grab their attention away from whatever it was they were doing before we get up to the podium.
Our opening needs to be excellently planned. It must be a battering ram to break through the wall of disinterest and skepticism. It must have a powerful hook to keep our attention. So our opening has to instantly grab attention and then we need to lead the flock through the wilderness of our topic, so that they can keep up and understand where we are going.
Wrapping it up is a critical component, because this is the final impression for the speaker for the audience. Often, the final words of the talk just fade out as the voice drops away, instead of rising to a crescendo of a powerful hypnotic, embracing call to action to metaphorically storm the barricades.
Passion for the topic or the audience is a requirement. This is not an optional extra, a useful add on, we can include or not at will. If we don’t feel something for our topic or our audience then we come across as flat. The audience leaves the venue. The speaker, topic and organisation are immediately forgotten.
You may not have great technique, structure, openings or control of Q&A, but at a minimum you should communicate your passion. You really want to share this vital information with others. You really want to help those in the audience who have given up their precious time to hear you out. Enthusiasm is contagious and we will forgive a lot of faults, if we feel your energy for the topic. Just talk to the key points, rather than read it all out from you prepared notes.
Yes, your written speech is grammatically perfect, but it is often boring because of the flat way in which it is delivered. The reading cadence doesn’t suit the live speaking situation. You notice that a flat, boring speech can be followed by a very engaging Q&A session.
This is because the speaker is now freed from their self-imposed limitations of the speech draft. They start telling us stories of people to illustrate their points. They pepper us with useful information and data that gives us insights. We see some passion in what they are telling us. We all need to be like this in the main body of the speaking time.
Be passionate, enthusiastic, well organised, well structured when you speak. If you do, then your audience will recall both you and your firm with positive regard as professionals and isn’t that what we want in business?
