Executives
How many times have you said…?
“What I’ve been doing has gotten me this far; it must be good enough.”
“I speak quite often.”
“I just need to deliver the facts.”
“I really don’t have time to fuss over my speech”
“I know all that.”
“We don’t have time to customize every presentation.”
“They have to get to know us.”
“I want everyone who represents the company to say the same thing; otherwise no one will know what we stand for.”
“I have to have a script and stand behind a podium—that’s how I feel comfortable speaking.”
All of these statements and ideas are all about you and not at all about your audiences.
I’ll be blunt: Your audiences don’t care about you and your company. They only care about themselves and what they will get from listening to you.
Wishing to be a better business speaker won’t make it happen.
Here’s why:
Too general. What does “better speaker” mean?
No context. Where do you speak? Who is your audience? What is the topic? What do you hope to accomplish with your speaking?
Wishes are wishy-washy. Wishing isn’t a commitment to action.
You can change your speaking and presenting by articulating several concrete and specific thoughts. Once these are clearly in your mind, you can then take action to reach your goals.
Thought #1: Be absolute and unequivocal in your desire.
Thought #2: Do it because you want to, not because your boss is telling you that you have to.
Thought #3: Focus on the future. Don’t rehash all your past mistakes, feelings of discomfort, or embarrassments. They won’t change but every time you think about them, you dig yourself a deeper hole.
Thought #4: Know the specific context. Who, where, what, why? The more detailed the better.
Thought #5: State your desire in positive language. Once you’re unequivocal, doing it because you want to, focused on the future and specific, state the outcome in positive language such as “I am a speaker to my peers who grabs and keeps their attention, who knows how much to cover, and who generates an “I’m glad I came” feeling in the audience.
Only once you have honestly articulated and internalized these five thoughts, can you take action steps to move towards the desired state. When you are ready, these action steps will help the most:
Action #1: Create a schedule of hours and days that you will devote to preparing your speech or presentation. Know exactly how many hours/days equal 30% of the total time, and how many hours/days equal 70%. You will write for 30% and practice/rehearse for 70%.
Action #2: Know what’s on the mind of your intended audience. Formulate a couple of open-ended questions they might ask, such as “How will I make time to do a new project when I’m already overloaded?” “What are three options I can offer to this customer that will also make us a profit?”
Action #3: Know your call to action first. Figure out the shortest and clearest answer to their question and plan to end with that as your call-to-action. Your whole speech or presentation must drive the audience to the call-to-action.
Action #4: Reflect on your experience in relationship to the questions. How have you done this before? What actions have worked for you? You will use your experience to craft stories that show the audience what and how to address their questions.
Action #5: Once you have your own stories, you can find a few fun facts, references to news or popular culture, or surprising quotations as additional content for the presentation. Be as original as possible.
Actions #6-10: Practice, practice, practice; rehearse and rehearse some more. Practices are for you to get your content in your mind; to listen to your voice; work on any sticky parts; and generally hear the words on the page come to life. Rehearsals are for the audience. You picture the room, the set up and the audience and speak full-out as if they were here. You’re training yourself to do this for real.
Wishing to be a better speaker won’t make it so. Thinking and acting will make it so, sooner and more impressively than you can imagine.
The top three questions audiences ask themselves are:
- So what?
- Who cares?
- What’s in it for me?
Accept this truth and live by it and you’ll open your mind to crafting meaningful speeches and presentations that will generate a return on your investment of time and money.
You can choose to learn it now, or you can wait to learn it later…after an important audience walks away less than impressed
Overcome your self-focus and see immediate and lasting results
- More interest by prospects;
- More business from customers;
- More productivity;
- Better customer service;
- Greater market share as you become known as industry experts and the ‘go-to’ company.
What the famous television talk show host (“O”) does for personal challenges I do for executives and leaders…
- Meet your issues head on
- Dispel old thinking
- De-clutter your speeches and presentations
- Enhance your relationships
- Zero in on what you can control and reject what you can’t
- Inspire people to take action on hard things
What constitutes professional success for you?
- Memorable persuasion
- Status and recognition
- Successful rainmaking
Become a Speakonomics!™ Speaker and achieve your desired professional success
Speakonomics!™ Inspire Them First…Inform Them Later
