Speaking of Speaking…How to Be Effective

Since this is Freedom from Fear of Speaking Week, I thought I would follow up my discussion yesterday of why you need to do public speaking to promote your business, with some tips for Effective Business Speaking.

The TED Conference has some great “commandments” for public speaking:

In addition: Some tips from my experience as a public speaker and teacher of public speaking:

• Find a topic you enjoy talking about. If you don’t enjoy the topic, your lack of excitement will show through.
• Show your expertise. As I mentioned yesterday, don’t directly promote your business, but show your expertise indirectly and people will want to learn more.
• Work on one good speech. Spend time honing the content of that speech, so that you are extremely comfortable with it.  DO NOT MEMORIZE the speech.  Expect to take notes with you and refer to them if necessary.  I have seen too many people attempt to memorize a speech, only to freeze when they get up to deliver it.
• Practice your delivery. HOW you give the speech is much more important than what you say.  About 87% of what your audience is paying attention to is your delivery and the way you smile when you are talking.
• Make it interesting. Add lots of stories.  If you don’t have them, make them up.  People want to hear about other people, not about dry dull statistics.
• Focus on the start and finish. People remember the end of a great speech, followed by a great beginning.  The middle is the place for those stories to keep the folks interested until you can get to the end.
• Finish with a “call to action.” Tell people what you want them to do – Brush every day, learn a language, start a business.  Make your call clear and specific and memorable.
• Use the “tell ‘em” principle.  Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them.  Every speech must have those three parts.
• Watch the distractions. Pay attention to those things that distract your audience’s attention from what you are saying: non-words (um, ah, yaknow, like…), body language, clothing (nothing too flashy), movement (pacing, jumping from foot to foot).  Anything you do too often will be distracting.
• Keep it short. People want speeches to be (1) interesting and (2) short.  You can give an excellent speech and make your point in 15-20 minutes.  If you go longer than that, people will lose interest.

Finally, and most important of all, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Practice helps you get comfortable, eliminates the distractions, and hones your speeches.  You can’t learn public speaking from a book or by watching people speak on YouTube.  If you want to be a good speaker, you must speak.  The more you speak, the more comfortable you will get and the better your speaking ability.

So, get a great speech, practice in front of the dog or your best friend, and get out there and speak!

Image: dullhunk@flickr