Use rhetorical questions to connect with your audience. Hook your audience with various techniques that create anticipation, cluster them in sets of threes and construct sentences in a way that your audience will focus on what you’re about to say, then say it. Using more adjectives (enormous, substantial, etc.) helps you articulate better (Compare British English vs. Pausing at the right places for example, helps get your message across wherein your audience is able to conceptualise and digest what you are saying with ease. This will make your talk more entertaining, more understandable, more memorable, and consequently, less boring.
Use articulation, clustering and pausing when speaking. In fact “around” sounds as dry as a desert!Ĥ. Both words mean the same, but the second sounds far richer. Following on from the second point above, learn the art of selecting “wet” rather than “dry” words.Ĭompare “around” and “in the region of”. With an electronic device such as a microphone or telephone, the effect is further enhanced. Just say these two words aloud and you will easily see that “essential” is far richer than “important”. A simple counterpoint would be the words “important” and “essential”. Select words that enrich your voice and make you sound impressive. Learn to select words that everybody knows, but are not often used. One of the greatest gifts of the English language is its vocabulary. When talking about graphs, charts, tables and numbers, make it interesting.Īvoid cliché words such as “increase”, “decrease”, “important” and “approximately”. Design your sentences to create interest and anticipation.Ģ. Hook your audience, right from the start, using techniques such as stories, analogies, jokes or simply tell them something amazing. This should be planned and memorised to perfection so that delivery is natural. Let’s consider some of the essentials in speaking, examine what it takes to get the ‘wow’ factor and explore proven techniques to hook your audience.įirst impressions are the most critical. So how do we ‘hook’ them, so that at the very least, we have 80 percent of their attention? We know that, while we are saying such smart, intelligent things, the problem is the audience is not always listening. What would be our biggest challenge when speaking to any audience? That’s simple. In sales talks or pitches, it is clear that people buy from people they like, connect to, and who engage them in a talk or presentation. This does not necessarily have to be speeches and presentations to large audiences this could apply to your meetings, office motivational talks or any speaking you do. When you finish and depart, you leave them wanting more. Not only do you start with a bang but you grab the audience’s attention right from the outset all the way until you deliver your final words. I am referring, instead, to a state where the audience just cannot get enough of you, akin to a performer in a concert. After all, you wouldn’t be speaking up there if you didn’t have these fundamental qualities. I am not referring to subject matter knowledge or intelligence. The ‘wow’ factor is when your audience says, “Wow, he/she is just wonderful, impressive and breath-taking”. I am a firm believer that every presentation or talk, regardless of platform, must contain a ‘wow’ factor. So, what is the essence of it all? What are those ingredients that distinguish one speaker from another? And as Patricia Fripp very aptly puts it, “All speaking outside our home is public speaking, there is no such thing as private speaking”. Today’s audiences are stimulation junkies. Success in speaking, as in everything else, is not accidental. People are judged, not always by what they know or the depth of their knowledge, but on how they deliver their message : how they sound, look and their body language. In today’s highly competitive world, people are often judged based on how they are perceived. These can be developed, cultivated and nurtured. It requires planning, combining powerful expressions, practice and careful follow-through. But if you are speaking to impress, to be remembered, to be visible, to convince, to ooze confidence and to be diplomatic – this is certainly a very different ballgame altogether. Speaking at a presentation, meeting, conference call, business dinner, or simply, a cocktail session is not an insurmountable task, by any means. I am not sure if my voice will tremble in the first few minutes. Yet, my palms are sweating, my heartbeat’s racing.
I am even regarded as a guru in this field. I have been in this business for many years and I know absolutely and thoroughly what I talk about.
I am standing on the podium, looking out at the sea of faces before me, as I am about to deliver a presentation on a subject I know well.
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