How to give a great presentation every time…

A funny thing happened to me on the way to this presentation.  Sorry, in over 28 years of being a full time speaker, NOTHING ‘funny’ ever happened to me on the way to a presentation. Instead of opening up with a trite line and throwing in a joke that chances are, many in your audience have heard, here is a really simple formula we use in our Public Speaking as Easy as ABCD! public seminar to ensure your next presentation is magical.

It’s as easy as ABCD…

A stands for Attention. Get their attention by calling to mind a significant even in their recent past or one they experienced just that day. At a recent speech, I waited and waited for my spot to speak after what seemed like 100 awards were being presented. Also, about 6 people received over half the awards. I threw out my planned opening and started with, Next time you all could save a lot of time by just having (naming those 6 people) sit at a table right on stage. You’d save all that time of coming and going!  It got a huge laugh and then applause. Then I added,  If you ever need a fund raiser, just start an awards factory. You’d make a fortune just supplying your own awards!  Again, a lot of laughter and a second applause…great way to start a talk.

B stands for Blueprint.  The Blueprint is the plan or pathway you are leading them through. You have to tell them after you get their Attention, what they will learn, hear, experience. It puts their minds at ease and makes the rest of the talk understandable, even if you digress or get into a long story.

C stands for Coaster, the roller coaster ride of emotional ups and downs you put them through during the talk. A friend and man I really admire never does this. He’s a really good speaker. IF he did it, he would be a FANTASTIC speaker. His methodology is just FAST, LOUD, HARD all the time. He wears people out after 15 minutes. Instead, lift them up and then slow it down. Get them up with laughter and fun and then get serious. The HIGHS are what help the LOWS sink in.

D stands for Destination. Ya gotta bring them to a definite Destination at the conclusion of your talk. This is when they can say, having reached the Destination, THAT’s what it was all about. Your Destination may be a repeat of what you shared earlier, a surprise ending, an incredibly moving or emotional story or a rousing, Let’s all stand and shout together… kind of ending.  I remembered at IBM in Malaysia, I concluded with a story about spending a weekend with Steven Seagal, the movie actor and martial artists. It involves a true story of a six-year-old boy with cancer who asked Steven Segal, How can I have the courage not to die?  By the time I concluded the story and applied it back to them at work and what we just learned, several people were crying, including the MC. Not tears of sadness necessarily, but tears of hope and realizing, they, like that boy, CAN have the courage to live right and to give it their best.

If you learn and apply your ABCs and D to speaking opportunities, you can always give a quick, easy to understand and deliver talk that will make a profound impact upon your audience!

I will conduct a fantastic course and one-on-one coaching on public speaking this July.

Public Speaking as easy as ABCD!
Public Seminar in Singapore (22 – 23 July 2010)

Learn to Give a Great Presentation every time…

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3 Key Public Speaking Touch Points

When speaking to an audience, consider the touch points. These are points when you touch their hearts. Even if you are sharing a highly technical subject, do not forget you are STILL talking to human beings. We ALL have hearts and emotions. In sales, we say they ‘justify’ with logic, but ‘buy’ with emotion. In public speaking, this rule applies too. They come for the data, but they remember the story. They remember the time you touched their hearts, their emotions. These are touch-points.

Public Speaking Touch Point #1: As our example, let’s say you are speaking to engineers, VERY data-intensive people. After 10 slides of data, they are tuned-out from your words and are thinking deeply about the data you have presented.

Instead of giving them another 10 slides of data, at the end of the first 2 slides, ask them a question requiring them to reflect on their past. Something like, “Do you remember the first time you were taught XXX? Was it in secondary school, poly or university?” The interactive question wakes them up and simultaneously gives them an emotional response to the current information. It also aids memory as it connects past, present and future to make a memory that lasts (We cover this in our courses in public speaking and training in great depth.) This touchpoint is an emotional connection to their past, usually a warm and pleasant feeling from their life.

Public Speaking Touch Point #2: Later, ask them to share their greatest frustration with the subject matter or some problem they have incurred with it. This brings out a very powerful emotion of anger or frustration. After recognizing their frustration or anger, either share the solution for them (ideal) or at least empathize with them and you win them over… another key touch-point.

Public Speaking

Public Speaking Touch Point #3: Finally, at your close, rather than just summarize your presentation, ask THEM what were the most important points of the talk. If you are afraid you will get silence, take a tip from our Facilitation Skills programme and ask them to write down the 3 most important take-aways from the speech. Ask them then to quickly share their 3 points with someone next to them in less than 1 minute. Then simply ask, “How many of you had a similar point to a partner, please raise your hand.” All the hands raised are ‘volunteers’ to share their points. The audience summarizes FOR you. They are engaged and they believe the message more as it comes from their colleagues. The touch-point is the BELIEF in what you shared, not just the data itself.

There are dozens of touch-points in a great presentation and literally HUNDREDS of ways to make them. These are just 3 key touch-points you should incorporate to make your next presentation not only memorable, but one where the information gets USED. Enjoy connecting with your audiences using touch-points.

I will share dozens of great secrets like this in our  programme, Public Speaking as Easy as ABCD!. Hope to see you there so I can share more with you.